Life in high definition
0 Comments Published by Steven Friedman on Monday, January 28, 2008 at 3:54 PM.
Man, I love high definition imagery. It's like looking out the window, only more interesting. Because when I look out my window, all I can see is dreary Dutch weather, dogs taking a crap in front of my house and people walking around in tracksuits for no apparent reason (at least they're not exercising in it or anything). Yet when I turn on my brand new Samsung 50" high definition plasma screen, I'm immersed in a glorious world of clarity, where you can actually count the pores on actors' faces and shit blows up better than ever before.Admittedly, acquiring such a piece of nifty high-end equipment does require coughing up some serious dough. But as Uncle Ben said in Spider-Man: "With a great new house, comes the great responsibility of buying a 50" plasma screen". Or something to that extent.
As was to be expected, Marije did not immediately share my feisty enthusiasm for spending 2000 dollars on a flat screen-TV. But several conversations with some of my male friends (about their partners) made me realize that there's something inherently wrong with the female gene when it comes down to must-have electronic devices. I mean, I don't want to sound like a sexist or anything, but only a woman could utter words like: "What on earth do we need a 50" screen for? That 20" works just fine". Usually followed by something even more inane, like: "I think that window needs new curtains. Let's go and buy that. You want them too, don't you? Don't you?".
No, I don't. I don't want new fucking curtains, because frankly I don't care if I can look out the window or not. Instead, I want to look at my brand new 50" plasma screen and be amazed by all the little details I never noticed in some of my favorite films before. For instance, did you ever notice that in John Carpenter's 'The Thing', Doc Copper (you know, the guy who gets his arms bitten off during that famous resuscitation-scene) has a little nose ring in his right nostril? I didn't. Now I can happily watch his arms getting chewed off, knowing that he has a little nose ring in his right nostril. How cool is that?
Anyway, it took some persuasion, but I think Marije is now just as happy with the plasma screen as I am. Showing one of her favorite series (the animated show 'Avatar', which - by the way - is actually pretty cool) on the big screen finally did the trick. Now if only every television-broadcast, every film, every show could be in high definition. That would make life so much better. Beats looking out the window anyway.
Well, it's been a while. Over three months now, if I'm not mistaken. Longest hiatus I've ever taken from this blog, I guess, which doesn't mean I just spent a quarter of a year sitting on my ass.On the contrary. The whole process of rebuilding our new house in Delft, moving there, visiting IKEA, organizing everything from contractors to new furniture, visiting IKEA, trying to write stuff whenever there's time to spare and visiting IKEA has more than taken its toll. Add to that the obligatory Yultide-celebrations and it's 'Hello, Mr. Burnout' before you can even think about taking it a little easier.
Not to worry, though. Our own little version of Extreme Home Makeover is behind us and the stuff that still needs to be done couldn't possibly be categorized as agonizingly hard labor (because mounting a 50 inch plasma screen on the wall is FUN!). It's just that, looking back at these past months, it seems like regular life (writing, visting friends, watching films...) grounded to a halt. A complete standstill where everything just happened around me while I was... I don't know... zombified by the whole rebuilding-process.
Now that everything's behind us and our new house is finally starting to feel like home, I can happily say I'm a zombie no more. The battery's recharging, the wheels have started turning again and I'm back to giving the first draft of Sky the attention it so dearly deserves. Of course, I'll also update this blog as often as I can. There are some interesting ideas and projects lined up for 2008 and I, for one, hope that I'll finally manage to pry open some doors I've wanted to open for a long time. At least I'll work my ass off to make sure the material's there for the people on the other side of that door when opportunity presents itself.
