Start them young
Seems like he knows what he’s doing:
一个三岁孩子的几张图片震撼中国 (组图)[社会]
Archive for January 23, 2006
Today I read a short story
Here’s Isaac Asimov talking about The Last Question, first published in 1956:
This is by far my favorite story of all those I have written.
After all, I undertook to tell several trillion years of human history in the space of a short story and I leave it to you as to how well I succeeded. I also undertook another task, but I won’t tell you what that was lest l spoil the story for you.
It is a curious fact that innumerable readers have asked me if I wrote this story. They seem never to remember the title of the story or (for sure) the author, except for the vague thought it might be me. But, of course, they never forget the story itself especially the ending. The idea seems to drown out everything — and I’m satisfied that it should.
Dressed to Kill (1980)
Dressed to Kill is a deeply stupid movie. Brian De Palma knows his way around a camera; it’s just a shame that that camera has to be filled with film. The wordless sequence of seduction at the museum (the Philadelphia Museum of Art, stuck in the middle of Manhattan) is terrific. It’s a whole story, told completely by images and Pino Donaggio’s score. It’s great, and it’s sandwiched by crap.
The parts that are stolen from Psycho are great, in Psycho. The opening shower scene is pretty much the definition of gratuitous, and why bother with an obvious body double?
The dialog is pretty much nonstop awful. Cringeworthy awful. I have already blocked most of it out, or I would provide examples.
The big twist is only a surprise if you haven’t seen the aforementioned Psycho.
It’s another early ’80s movie with Keith ‘Christine’ Gordon, who seems to be here to get a version of Mr. De Palma into the story. Otherwise, mostly pointless.
I’m glad Brian was tryin’ on this one. He’s reaching for greatness. It’s just that he missed, by a lot.
