on stories and self-loathing

so... two points to hit on this evening.

first up: while in Edinburgh, a wise young lady was attempting to extract an explanation from me as to why I was so impressed by the castle. I fumbled with my words, as I often do, trying to explain why I was moved by being in this place that humans have inhabited for a thousand years, and she offered this beautiful possibility: I liked the story. There have been a few phrases that I've heard in my life that have changed how I watch the world around me, and this was one of them. It's colored my perceptions of just about everything since jacquii said this to me. I catch myself reading interviews in Entertainment Weekly and Premiere and realize that I'm going to enjoy the movie more because I read this interview, and know something of the story behind the movie. I slavered over stories about Snakes on a Plane for six months before that movie came out, and told nearly everyone I met about how they nearly changed the title but then Samuel L. Jackson said he wouldn't do the movie with any other name. The movie was good fun while I was drunk, but I enjoyed the anticipation as much as the movie itself because of the story behind it. I enjoy old movies like Dial M for Murder because they're good films, but also because I know that the reason I thought it was filmed strangely was because it was originally shown as a 3D film, so the shots when the actor on screen is reaching towards the audience - shots that would normally be done at a 3/4 angle to give depth perception in normal 2D viewing - take on a whole new meaning. This came to a head tonight while, thanks to TIVO, I was catching up on the last two weeks of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. One of my favorite TV shows ever is Sports Night. I could care less about sports, but I loved that show - a half hour about the producing of a live sports center-like show with enough dialog to fill a normal hour-long show. Now I have Studio 60, an hour long show from the same writer/producer, Aaron Sorkin, about one of my other favorite shows - Saturday Night Live - and starring my favorite Friend, Matt Perry. It's funny, it's sharp, and it's a story about something I can relate to. And all of my favorite tv shows are like that. I enjoy Law & Order and CSI and House as much as the next person, but give me a 25 episode serialized drama and I will never miss an episode - Veronica Mars, Lost, Eureka, Gilmore Girls, Smallville. Even my books - my favorite single books are Steven King's 1000 page behemoths - The Stand, Tommyknockers, but my real favorites are the series - The Dark Tower (7 huge books), A Song of Ice & Fire (4 books so far, 3 more expected), The Wheel of Time (the twelfth and final book is forthcoming; if they were all published as one volume it would be the longest novel ever written in the english language). These are stories that go on for years. I mean, I've been reading Robert Jordan's series since I was in the Sixth grade. I have committed half of my life to this man's series.
Hell, I can even fit it into my musical taste. My favorite band, U2, has been around for coming up on 30 years, and part of what I love about them is that I can talk about their evolution - from mainstream-ish punk in the early eighties, through the height of the Joshua Tree and Achtung! Baby era, up to the modern Aging Hipsters on a Quest to Save the World of today.

On the self-loathing note, I just bought Promiscuous, by Nelly feat. Timberland, from iTunes. I hate myself a little bit for that, but good lord the beat resonates with my soul. Or something. Maybe I've just enjoyed my Tuesday night a little too much. Anyway, there it is. G'night.