“If I post this letter to New York, does that strengthen my conviction that the world exists?”

At the moment I’m enjoying a few CDs I got from the library…the soundtrack to Spy Game, and a three-disc soundtrack to Bladerunner.

My little film club resumed this evening. I picked out a couple of films that we watched…I wasn’t really paying attention at the time, but later noticed how similar the two films ended up being. So much so I decreed a theme for the evening.

The first was Trafic (1971), a French film which I suppose would be called a comedy above all else. Basically the premise is a French car designer and public relations girl are trying to get the demonstration car to an auto show in Amsterdam. On the way, they encounter every conceivable difficulty. I think the sleeve describes it as a “case of technology run amok”, a topic I think we all in the 21st century can appreciate.

The second was Le Grand Voyage (2004) which also was done in the French language.  In this film, a Muslim father instructs his (less than religious) son to drive him from France to Mecca for his Hadj.  This film is a drama spotlighting the gap between a traditional father and a modern son.  For people who aren’t aware of Muslim customs, there’s opportunity to learn some along the way.

So at the end of the night, both films were about automobile journeys, taking the occupants through a variety of situations…many believable, and others less so.  Both had endings that weren’t really that great for the travelers…I think almost no one was satisfied.  But it’s true of a lot of journeys…the travel itself is often where the real story lies.

Saw some of the E-channel’s top 100 moments in Saturday Night Live history tonight. I caught it midway through and had to watch it until the end. A lot of people have opinions about SNL and how it’s not as good as it used to be (which can be debated). Regardless of how you feel, the show has had a great run and has a lot of memorable moments.

I’m a big fan of memorable moments involving the uber-talented Christopher Walken…the infamous cowbell skit ranked number 5, and I thought it could have gone higher. I’ve got it on the Best of Will Ferrell DVD, and watch it often. Jay Mohr was on Carson Daly tonight, doing his impressions…and he has a Christopher Walken. So I guess that’s why I’ve been spending the last hour or so checking out Christopher Walken impressions on YouTube. I knew it’d be popular.

Turns out there was a “Walk the Walken” contest last year leading into this year…a lot of people had response videos and posted themselves imitating Christopher Walken. Here’s one of my favorites…I thought the material was original, but I could be wrong.

I’ve seen the GEICO commercial with the motorcycles a few times now, and I thought it was pretty catchy.  I wanted to see who the song was done by, and YouTube had the answer of course.  The answer is “The Sounds” and the original song is called “Don’t Want To Hurt You”.

You can say what you like about GEICO as a company, but their commercials are fairly memorable.

Power and Glory is the name given to the new exhibit coming to the Indianapolis Museum of Art.  I got the invitation to the “exclusive preview” that all museum members get.  It’s fifty bucks for members and seventy-five to the public.  I’m kind of interested in going, the only deterrent is the “cocktail attire encouraged” clause.  It’s not that I hate being dressy, it’s the dread of having to find and assemble something to fit my Frankenstein body frame that falls under the category “cocktail attire”.

What is cocktail attire for a man anyway?  With women, they can get away with anything.  All kinds of fancy little dresses and shoes and jewelery (which by the way, I just realized, can also be spelled jewellery) to choose from.  Usually a man puts on a suit and just gets by.  I hate suits because they match to the point of insanity, it’s like the jacket and pants might as well be sold as a onesie or a bodysuit.  Yeah, I’d rather find multiple pieces that just sort of fit together.  And that’s a lot of work.

A cocktail party at the art museum.  Have I become the type of person who attends these?  I don’t think so.  At least not yet.  But hmm, this sounds like the sort of thing European girls would be attending.  Maybe there’s some merit.  It’s weeks away, so I can decide later.

So what’s the exhibit about anyway?  It looks like the focus is the Ming dynasty, which is listed 1368-1644.  The collection is here from one of the Chinese museums, and I reckon it’s a bit more difficult to get Chinese antiquities outside of Chinese borders.  The exhibit itself is probably going to be a must-see.  Maybe I can jive some of this information with the things I saw in China last year.  The exhibit goes on view October 26th.

I felt like getting some blueberry pancakes and then spending a couple of hours at the Indianapolis Zoo today.  It’s clear to me that Hoosiers mistake bonnethead sharks for hammerhead sharks (the difference is SO obvious).  Soon the color-changing of the leaves will be at its height, and it will be very nice to see.  The lions were off-exhibit today, but the seals were extremely active, even performing a bit for the crowd.  The polar bear was also active, and even spent quite a bit of time looking at people through the glass from very close distances.

It was in the gift shop that I noticed an interesting paper.  There were sheets of green and brown papers, as well as small notebooks.  The paper itself is made from elephant dung.  Yep, that’s right.  Apparently a company known as The Great Elephant Poo Poo Paper Company Limited makes all sorts of paper products from elephant poop.  There’s over 150 products in all.  I didn’t get any, but the very idea of it has stuck with me.

Check out the company site at http://www.poopoopaper.com/.