no fat chicks
"...and that's how I fucked up that interview" I finished angrily. "Aaargh! I can't believe I messed that up!"
Peter looked at me a little incredulously. "Why do you care? You didn't even want that job"
"You missed the point - it's the principle of it" I explained. He rolled his eyes. It was one of those here-we-go-again-theres-no-point-talking-to-him gestures that everyone who knows me picks up after awhile.
"Look..it's like a fat chick right? You have absolutely no interest in her, but you'd rather she was attracted to you and you have to blow her off than let her tell you she's not that into you". Peter stared at me.
"You know what I mean right?" I prodded him. "Like, you know, what's wrong with me? What's so bad about me that this fat chick doesn't like? As if she can be choosy, right?"
"You should consider yourself lucky." He told me. "I once interviewed badly at Titan Ford and it turns out it was a good thing. You don't even work on real cars there 'til the second year".
I threw my hands up in the air. "Gah, sometimes there's just no point talking to you".
He was right of course. I didn't care for the job. I was angry at myself. I just cared that I'd done so badly in it - for a job I didn't want. And I also knew I wouldn't be able to let this go until sometime after next week.
Still, it's a well known large corporation and there were a lot of applicants, and yet I was shortlisted. That should be something maybe?
Nope. Still angry at myself. Aargh!
P.S - Here's a link for anyone who's had a crappy interview
gatsby, you fool
"...for a transitory enchanted moment man must have held his breath in the presence of this continent, compelled into an aesthetic contemplation he neither understood nor desired, face to face for the last time in history with something commensurate to his capacity for wonder".
The Great Gatsby
but so am I! Freed from the shackles of forced essays and enrichened ever so slightly by what little wisdom I acquired in the 8 years since I last read the Great Gatsby, I found that what had become so boring and so tedious had in fact, like a seed to flower, bloomed into a rich bocquet of quotes; a story of unrequited love amongst the aimlessness of the poverty-free.
Anyway, as I failed to mention in my last post, this year is to catch up on classics, books that my lit professor would've recommended to me had I not chosen for the safer path of commerce, dooming me to a life of stripey ties and corporate catch phrases.
To finish my "best of 2007" thingabob, I present to you, the only three books I read last year:
1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
2. High Fidelity
3. Battle Royale
Two of which were not released that year (or even, this decade). What a failing! Hence I have embarked myself on a healthy literary diet. None of that fatty sci-fi/fantasy junk thank you!
Next on the list: The Little Prince, followed by the Illiad / Odyssey
(Admittedly I've already read the Odyssey, but I'll read it again because Odysseus is awesome - and it is a sequel to the Illiad, of sorts).
norwegian wood (no penis jokes here)
Norwegian Wood by Murakami is a novel set in the turbulent years of the late 60s and early 70s where the hippie revolution was coming to sweep the world (or so they thought). In a private university in Tokyo, the protagonist (Toru Watanabe ) struggles to choose between a girl of the past and a girl of the present amongst an existence filled with empty sex, alcohol binges and turbulent uncertainty.
What I liked about this book was the first person perspective of Toru, and the way he views the world. He is a quiessential loner, and through his narration , you really get a sense of how devoid his world is of people. So when he does talk to the few people in his life, the dialogue really jumps at you, especially since he's an incredibly interesting and intelligent person. He reads Marx. He can explain the purpose of English subjunctive. His favourite book is the Great Gatsby. He's in love with Naoko and writes to her regularly. Yet he sleeps around almost as if to pass time. He's flawed, old fashioned, but at the same time uniquely male, with a firm grasp of the situation around him despite his insularity. These recollections are tinged with the unfocused lens of half forgotten memory and a little hindsight.
Like the song it takes its title from, its subliminally haunting and mysterious. But worth a read should you have the chance.
Oh - and read this. It's possibly one of the greatest short stories ever written. Bear with me - you'll thank me later.
norwegian wood
Just finished Norwegian Wood by Murakami, and I have to say I love it. Brilliant. The ending is a little unsatisfying, but I do prefer endings that have a air of finality about it rather than ambiguity. Plus, it's japanese so the end was always going to be a little ambiguous.
I'll talk somemore about the book (and another short story I read) later but I just wanted to share something. Every good book has one or more defining moments where it pulls your attention and takes you for a ride. For me, my surrounds become muffled and still, and the words become larger, as if literally tearing themselves off the page. I can almost hear the storyteller telling the tale in recesses of my mind, the character speaking in my ears , as if I'm actually there, watching the scene as an invisible specter.
That's when I know it's a good book.
perth music scene to return to pre 2007 shafted status
Sufjan Stevens and Kevin Drew are NOT coming to Perth
Words cannot express my extreme disappointment. But I'll try anyway.
MASSIVE FAIL
Soofy, I heart you! Must the rest of Perth pay because I send you creepy love letters written in blood? :((
EDIT: Feist is still coming via Perth International Arts Festival. I still heart her after all! Even if I'll most likely be out of the country at the time. Which brings me back to the above bolded statement.
2007 listmania cont: no longer hungover edition
listmania - film & television
Top 5 movies
5. 300
Its trashy unthinking filler made for guys (also see #2). But I enjoyed it.
4. Bourne Ultimatum
It's a satisfying end(?) to the series...unlike my much anticipated but in the end slightly disappointing Pirates of the Carribean 3. It's an espionage film free from James Bond-esque trappings of unrealistic gadgets and fast women. In fact, a reversal has happened - Casino Royale was more Bourne than James Bond. Instead, the Bourne Ultimatum contains all the things I liked about the Bourne movies - flawed characters, beautifully choreographed fight scenes featuring improbable weapons (Bourne beats up an assassin with a book!) and a sense of urgency all the way to the end of the movie. It may have one more movie in it, but as it stands I'm happy to see it end on a high note.
3. Paris je taime
Token foreign film to maintain my indie cred? Its a collection of shorts about all kinds of love, each set in the 18 different districts of Paris. Some are weird, some are sentimental. Some end abruptly, others sadly. It's a grab bag of stories that, for someone time poor like me, is able to watch short sections without having to worry about an overarching plot. I liked it, even if it's not going to win awards or make bold statements about controversial subjects.
2. Transformers
It should've been a terrible rape of my childhood memories. Instead, it's over the top action filled with shallow characters that I somehow loved. I guess it's the way you approach it. Go in with low expectations.
1. Superbad
Had to drag people to watch this but it was totally worth it. It's funny in both a slapstick and intelligent way. Featuring both believable dialogue and a bullseye capture of the trials and tribulations of a bunch of underage teenage boys trying to score booze and women, its something thats pulled from the essential primal psyche of a guy growing up. So many times in the movie I found myself thinking "Wow, this was just like me in high school". Which speaks volumes about my lameness I'm sure. It ends on a slighltly bittersweet note, but it reinforces the image that this movies just isn't about cheap gags. Watch it if you haven't already.
Dishonorable Mention:
Spider Man 3
I didn't know what I hated most about the movie: The mediocre acting, overlong pacing, the sudden and disjointed shifts in atmosphere and tone (the movie never recovers from the over-the-top-acrobatic-dancing-scene-with-jazz-music-and-emo-haircut lowpoint), the sickly generic Hollywood ending or the fact that I'd been convinced to pay $25 to watch this in a Gold Cinema all the way in Innaloo. Oh, that's right, it was all of it.
TV Shows:
Heroes.
I don't watch much TV, but I liked Heroes. Sure, some of the story arcs are useless (ie Nikki/Black guy/black boy), Claire seems to get horrific injuries over the simplest of tasks and Milo Vensomthingsomething can't act for shit (Keanu-Reaves-style-hammying-it-up-in-every-scene school of acting). But it takes an interesting premise, adds in an air of mystery and is filled with a backstory that is oddly compelling. What spawned these powers? What is their parents link to each other. Just who are the Outfit? Answers to be solved soonish I hope (and not in a dragged out Lost way hopefully)
Gossip Girl
I love Gossip Girl. The new series from Josh Schwartzman of Welcome-to-the-OC-bitch fame, it has all the hallmarks of OC design (and success): the good lookingtwentysomethings posing as high school students, trendy fashion and music, all set in the glamorous world of the well off in Upper East Side Manhattan. It's trash, right down to the way Kristen Bell narrates "xoxo" in the beginning and end. But oh how I love it. A guilty pleasure, and one I'll never admit in public. YOU HAVE BEEN NOTIFIED
