sdelmonte: (Default)
Alex W ([personal profile] sdelmonte) wrote2005-06-16 04:05 pm

How I (Mis)Spent My Vacation

Greetings, all. I am on vacation this week, and felt it was time to do an update regarding me.

I am fine. How are you?

What have I done with my time off? Well, some people go away. I went to favorite spots, [livejournal.com profile] milliways_bar and Casablanca

The former is the online LJ-based RPG I’ve been playing for a few months. It’s more fun to do this at home, in part because I really should be working at work, and in part because there is an associated chatroom where players hang out, plot, and have fun. I don’t get to chat with many of the players since I am rarely online when they are, so it’s nice to be able to get in there. Nicer still when I can touch base with those I am RPing with. And nicer still beyond that just to have fun. The RPers in the game are generally cool and witty and fannish and weird and a hoot.

Are there better things to do with my time off? Maybe. But Milliways has expanded my circle of friends, given me a chance to practice writing two things I stunk at writing, dialogue and romance - in case you missed it, Barry Allen has fallen in love with CSI’s Sara Sidle, and it’s been a really wonderful bit of RP for me to be part of (thanks, [Bad username or site: dawning star @ livejournal.com]!). I am even beginning to think that my fiction writing skills, long dormant, are ready to go back to work for real.

And my other destination? OK, that would be Casablanca, which I took out of the library to listen to commentaries by a film historian and by my favorite film critic, Roger Ebert. Interesting stuff, full of trenchant observations and historical tidbits. But the main appeal of the DVD is the film itself.

Casablanca is among the most rewatchable films ever made, the only film that when it’s on TV I cannot resist watching. Some scenes remain gripping every time. And the dialogue is still amazing. I wonder, dear readers, what film you watch over and over above all others? Please enlighten me.

A reminder, folks, while I am chewing your virtual ear off, that next weekend is Contata, the New York area version of the Northeast Floating Filk Convention. It’s too late to get the hotel room rates and the lower con fee, but if you are interested in coming to some or all of it, you are always welcome. For more info, see www.contata.org.

Have a good one!

[identity profile] bercilakslady.livejournal.com 2005-06-16 08:10 pm (UTC)(link)
There are no movies that I can think of that I'll watch whenever they come on TV, but then, I don't watch much TV at all.

See you at Contata!

[identity profile] dawning-star.livejournal.com 2005-06-16 10:03 pm (UTC)(link)
Hey, it's a blast for me as well. :)

[identity profile] dotsomething.livejournal.com 2005-06-17 12:03 am (UTC)(link)
I love "Casablanca." The DVD is faboo. It's one of those movies that never seems to get less shiny, and everytime I watch it I get a different take on it and form different opinions about why everybody does what they do. It's the definition of "timeless."

Plus, best ending EVER.

[identity profile] doeeyedbunny.livejournal.com 2005-06-17 02:32 am (UTC)(link)
Shawshank Redemption.
It's in my top ten favorite movies, but not the top five. I don't even own a copy. Yet every time I come across it on TNT (and that's quite often) I am compelled to stop what I am doing and watch. It is a damn fine movie and really should not have lost the Oscar to Forrest Gump (which was a hackneyed piece of melodrama.)