Kümme aastat varem - 20/12/99 - 26/12/99

ancientboy's weekly notes. 20/12/99 - 26/12/99.

Cherchez la femme... Before Christmas we had another session of talk between me and my almost ex best friend to find a way out from our dead end relationship. I'm glad to say that we agreed to listen each other in future before getting mad and starting to bark anything which may hurt the other. And after a hour of talk (and bottle of Merlot') he said that it was his wife who had told nasty things about me. For some reason he believed her. I keep on wondering why a person who had met me only about ten times on strictly social meetings and living less than 3 years in our town, why she should tell such lies, why she should have loathsome fantasies about things which had never happened and never will happen? Anyway, I should have been wiser.

I have to apologise. I had promised to put new galleries up to Christmas and I remember that but couldn't finish this stuff. And however I have still uploaded a "secret" gallery (actually a test for new layout which address was sent to some of you weeks ago) with few new pictures (URL is http://members.xoom.com/ancientboy/sport/gallery5.html*), any other work is yet not done. Sorry for the early promises!

I changed the counter on my main page at last. When my previous one (LinkExchange - don't try this at home!) had showed within two weeks very strange and wrong numbers (of course it's only then if it showed some numbers at all!), I get angry and made a new choice. Something which I should have been done ages ago.

And then Christmas of course. Actually Christmas and whole end of year is not my party, I don't like this time of year at all because I always get another depression. It's probably my own fault (as Pierre says: "You made it happen.") but I'm very good at it.

Last days before Christmas were real madness but at least our shops were good this time, I got almost everything I needed (well, my wishes were also not very specific) and nobody told me that they don't have this or that anymore. Professionals.

What else? Gifts to people who are around me, remembrance candles to graves of friends and relatives, departed from this life, delicious Christmas supper with my family... A routine actually.

This year was in some ways different though. Never before I'd received so many gifts from people whom I never met in person. Special thanks goes to (in alphabetical order): Chris, Cristiano, Jon, Kalju, Martin and Pierre! But also I want to thank all of you who have been reading my pages, sent me comments and ideas, wrote me about funny and sad things. You're the best! And Internet is the real thing.
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* as of December 2009, this link is obviously not working anymore

Keelatud reklaam tunnistati lubatuks

Uus-Meremaal põhjustas pisikese veeklaasi tormi AIDSi-vastase kampaania telereklaam, mis "mitmete kaebuste põhjal" (tegelikult oli neid kokku täpselt viis) ära keelati. Reklaamiklipis "tantsivad" kondoomidesse riietatud nimetissõrmed ja kui nendega tahab ühineda ilma kaitsevahendita sõrm, siis peatub trall ja tagaajamine seniks kuni ka see endale kummi otsa tõmbab. Protestijad väitsid, et reklaam on "solvav, vastuvõetamatu ning kõlblust rikkuv". Samuti arvasid mõned, et õhtul kella poole üheksa paiku on "seksuaalse sisu" näitamine teleekraanil kohatu.

Nüüdseks on Uus-Meremaa Advertising Standards Authority kaalunud kõiki poolt- ja vastuargumente ning leidnud, et reklaam ei ole midagi sellist, mida moralistide vahikoerad väidavad ning kannab endas väga olulist tervishoiualast infot. Seega sai skandaalne reklaam taas eetriloa. Vaata ka siit:

Kümme aastat varem - 13/12/99 - 19/12/99

ancientboy's weekly notes. 13/12/99 - 19/12/99.

The background for whole week was Uuno Millennium Top 2000, voted by the people of Estonia and all 2000 songs/tracks/musical-pieces/whatever were played by four DJ-s in Radio Uuno during 6 days (and nights), 10 hours, 27 minutes and 28 seconds, starting from Monday's noon. Pretty ecclectic selection indeed, from Beethoven to Madonna, from anthems of USA and Soviet Union (sic!) to Pink Floyd. New record, good for Guinness.

Week itself was filled with typical boring pre-Christmas rush: shopping, hunting for some less common products, fighting with wind and flying hats on the streets (yes, we had again the storm, electricity blackouts and ferries, hiding in harbours) and clearing my relationships with friend (see last week).

We agreed that we both crossed the line, that he's not that freaky kind of person as I said and I'm not the monster as he told. So we're "having a moment" between us right now. Neutral one.

In fact there was also many brighter moments during last week. So for example Saturday I found a puppy, shivering with cold in the freezing snow next to the entrance of my shop. I bring him in and thankfully he was in good shape, so soon he began to explore the backroom and about the same moment as he crashed something there, a little girl from neighbour house ran in and asked me, haven't I seen her puppy. She had been looking for him more than hour...

Plus e-mails and phone calls (hi Kalju! :-) from different corners of the world, giving so needed glamourous glitter to everyday's routine. Thanks guys and gals!

Plakat poisist, kellele meeldivad poisid

Tõlge:
"See siin on poiss, kellele meeldivad poisid. Aga sellele poisile, kellele meeldivad poisid, ei meeldi poisid, kellele ei meeldi poisid, kellele meeldivad poisid.
See fraas on keeruline, aga vähem keeruline kui tema elu homoseksuaalse tudengina."

Kümme aastat varem - 06/12/99 - 12/12/99

ancientboy's weekly notes. 06/12/99 - 12/12/99.

I thought whole Sunday what is the essence of last week, what's so important that I simply have to write about it in my diary...

Because nothing extraordinary happened. I didn't fell in love (however I hope, he's somewhere close :-), didn't won on lottery (however I really could use any amount of money), heck, I even didn't saved the world last week.

Half of Monday I spent with learning the spirit of my brandnew mobile phone (cheap Ericsson this time) because it was bit different from logic of my old Nokia and however the difference wasn't big, it could be pretty confusing sometimes.

Tuesday I ordered some Christmas gifts from online shop and next day I had to tell to my brother that he shouldn't buy Sarah Brightman's "Dive" album because I already bought it... I never saw in our town any Sarah's CD-s for sale before but here it was, fresh and shiny. So much of surprises!

Friday I did something which may be classified as pure stupidity. I had a serious verbal fight with one of my best friends, so I gave him opportunity to say very seriously insulting things and however I am still angry (don't know actually, more on him or more on myself) I really hope that this wasn't the beginning of end. Our friendship has last for more than 25 years and it's something which I don't want to lose, no matter what. But yes, that's the deepest crisis in our relationship.

Saturday? Saturday I was angry, pissed off and in the end I had to go and open the shops twice because of some customers from United States. Which actually wasn't bad, because it gave me time to be away from my own thoughts.

And as said in the beginning, whole Sunday I was thinking...

The box (Laegas) (2009)

The box (Laegas)
Lavastaja: Richard Kelly
2009
http:/imdb.com/title/tt0362478/

Eelmise sajandi seitsmekümnendatel aastatel elab Virginias üks igati ontlik abielupaar. Selline kõigiti keskmine ameerika pere: NASA heaks töötav mees, õpetajannast naine ja nende teismeline poeg, kes kõik elavad vanemate palgapäevast palgapäevani kuni ühel päeval tekivad tõsised rahamured. Ja sel ajal ilmub varahommikul nende majatrepile üks saladuslik pappkast, mille sees on veel saladuslikum puidust karp, mille peal omakorda lukustatud klaaskupli all suur punane nupp. Karbiga käib kaasas pakkumine hirmsasti moonutatud näoga mehelt: kui abielupaar seda nuppu muljub, sureb kusagil keegi nende jaoks tundmatu inimene ning nemad saavad miljon dollarit maksuvaba raha. Otsuse tegemiseks on aega ööpäev ning pakkumine on ahvatlev. Mida nad aga veel ei tea, on see, et nende valikust sõltumata on hirmsate tagajärgede laviin juba liikvele lükatud ja kui nad mõne aja pärast taipavad, et nende võimuses pole enam midagi muuta, siis saavad juba vaid vooluga kaasa minna. Kogu sündmusteahelal on aga vaid nende isiklikust õnnest ja saatusest kaugelt sügavam tähendus...

Hoolimata asjaolust, et viimasel ajal on mu filmivaatamine kuidagi üsna olematuks vaibunud, oli see linatöö kohustuslik. Esimesel võimalusel. Esiteks on see "Donnie Darko" geeniusest lavastaja uusim (ja järjekorras ka alles kolmas) film ja teiseks mängib siin üks mu isikliku kutemeetri seierit punasesse viiv kutt nimega James Marsden (enim tuntud ehk X-mees Cyclops'ina).

Film põhineb osaliselt pea nelikümmend aastat tagasi Playboy's ilmunud Richard Matheson'i ulmelisel lühilool "Button, button" ja tõtt-öelda on natuke kahju, et algne stoori nii kapitaalselt ümber on kirjutatud ning omaaegne mõtlemapanev puänt ("You actually never really knew him" või kuidas see nüüd täpselt oligi...) täielikult kaduma läks. Mis küll ei tähenda, et siin mõtlemapanevat kraami ei oleks aga üldiselt jääb see supp siiski lurriks. Ei Marsden ega Cameron Diaz esine eriti veenvalt (hea küll, tõele au andes, millal nad seda varemgi teinud on?) ning suurepärase rolli teinud vanameister Frank Langella ei suuda kogu kremplit üksinda kah ülal hoida.

Et ma hoidusin enne vaatamist igasuguseid arvamusi selle kohta lugemast ja vaatasin vaid ühte teaser-treilerit, siis oli tagantjärele veidi kriitikat sirvida üsna huvitav, eriti kuna see oli sõna otseses mõttes seinast seina. Silma hakkas ka tendents, et ameeriklastest tavavaatajatele film ei meeldi ning jookseb seal kuuldavasti päris tühjadele saalidele. Selle põhjusena on muuseas välja toodud ka asjaolu, et siin puudub ulmades elava ameeriklase jaoks kohustuslik happy end. Mõned elukutselised filmikriitikud seevastu on filmi vastu aga oluliselt armulisemad olnud. Ometigi on selge see, et seda geniaalsust, mis oli lavastaja esikfilmis, siin ei ole. Ehk kunagi edaspidi, mil Kelly ei punnita spetsiaalselt teha "kommertslikult edukat filmi ning samal ajal säilitada oma loomingulist kreatiivsust" (nagu ta kusagil esilinastuse eel kilkas) õnnestub see tal jälle.

5/10

Kümme aastat varem - 29/11/99 - 05/12/99

ancientboy's weekly notes. 29/11/99 - 05/12/99.

It started with a storm and Monday's night was like back in stone-age: without lights, fridge, telephone, heat, anything which needs electricity. In the end our power lines were down for more than 7 hours, some villages get their lights back after two days. And they say, we're ready for Y2K...

Heavenly boys continued their work on Tuesday, blowing over the trees, trying to rise some roofs up to the sky and giving free flying lessons to humans and our dog.

Thursday I had a weird meeting. When I was standing in store and tried to decide, do I want apples or oranges, I noticed him staring at me from the distance. I had a strange feeling that I should know him but couldn't remember, from where or why it's so important. Next time I saw him again, was after twenty minutes in another store, and then after more fifteen or so minutes at town's market. I decided to gave him a chance to contact me but he just walked by, throwing a glance from his big innocent eyes. Now I'm thinking, was he really following me or am I simply lunatic. In fact whole situation was a bit like illustration to Pier Paolo Pasolini's "Teorema".

End of week was pretty busy, Saturday in Pärnu and Sunday in Tallinn. Sometimes I really hate these business trips, especially when I have to drive on the roads which looks (and not only looks!) like coming straight from glacial ages.