Brokewrist Molehill

There’s a pretty sizable discrepancy between the channel lineup my half-assed cable company claims to provide and they channel lineup my half-assed cable company actually provides.
The biggest problem is the repeats. Channels 42 and 46, for example, are supposed to be WGN and HSN (or QVC; I forget which) respectively, but both channels are actually WGN.
Similarly, channels 8 and 68 are both Univision.
Now I’m not upset about not having a shopping channel, but I am bothered by the fact that they just can’t get their shit together.
I recently got a letter informing me that the company’s name has changed and that soon they will offer exciting new services. Here’s hoping that accuracy figures into them somewhere along the line.
In any case, the channel that’s supposed to be G4TV, formerly Tech TV, and formerly ZDTV before that, and which I haven’t watched since the Tech TV days, and have not watched regularly since the ZDTV days (even though Morgan Webb is hot), is in reality, randomly, HBO2.
Earlier today when I’d sat down to watch some TV while eating lunch, I noticed that a certain movie that had gotten a lot of acclaim, but which I’d had no particular desire to see, was going to be coming on.
Lacking anything better to do, I decided that I might as well give it a shot and see what all the fuss was about.
The movie in question? Brokeback Mountain.
Now the reason that I’d not previously seen it had nothing to do with homophobia. As most of the homos I know whom I’m not afraid of can attest, I have no problem with homosexuality. It’s not my bag, but I have no moral or religious objections to it, particularly as I believe that it’s not a choice and is an entirely natural phenomenon. The simple fact of the matter is that for the sake of the survival of the species not all of us can be breeders, and nature tends to seek out homeostasis (no, I didn’t mean to say “homostasis”). Hell, I don’t even have any particularly strong aesthetic objections to it and am not shocked and horrified at the sight of two guys getting hot and heavy. My preference would be for that to be two chicks getting hot and heavy, but the point is that I’m not going to get a raging case of the heebie-jeebies from watching Heath Ledger gently take Jake Gylen…Gylenh….Bubble Boy into his arms.
No, the main reason I didn’t see the movie was that it sounded boring as shit, and would sound equally boring if it were about a man and a woman instead of two men.
The movies I tend to seek out are comedies, comic book movies, and fantasy/science fiction movies. A dramatic examination of the forbidden relationship between two men as it progresses over the course of nearly two decades is not likely to have a lot of laughs, CGI effects, or explosions, and as such is not likely to get my butt into a seat in the theater.
All that being said, it was on, it was free, and I had no other plans, so I watched it.
And I was surprised.
Ang Lee did a much better job than he did with Hulk (no split screen attempts at creating a “comic book” feel, for example), though it wouldn’t have killed him to include a little wire-fighting on the treetops.
Seriously, though, I was pretty well impressed by all of the performances, and I liked the way the film focused on the impact their relationship had not only on the two of them but on all of the people around them, and ultimately the “gay” scenes were fairly tame and actually pretty few and far between.
The relationship between Ennis and Jack actually reminded me a little of Keller and Beecher on Oz (for those of you familiar with the former HBO series).
One line that I found entertaining was delivered by the girl who played Velma in the Scooby-Doo movies, who is a lot hotter than any actress who played Velma could reasonably be expected to be, when she said to Ledger’s character, in response to him saying that he “probably wasn’t much fun anyway” as she trying to get some closure on their relationship, “Girls don’t fall in love with fun.”
If that were true, I’d have them lining up outside my door…
In any case, overall I was surprised and impressed, and yes, even moved (It was so sad!) by the movie.
Still wouldn’t have paid to see it in a theater or on DVD, though.
After watching the movie I ventured out into the world to pick up a few things, including one of those Duraflame logs so that I can finally break in my fireplace.
Yep, I’ll have a nice romantic evening in front of a roaring fire curled up on the couch with…oh, right, you need at least two people to make an evening romantic. Never mind then.
Speaking of the fireplace, though, when examining it earlier today and looking for the lever for opening and closing the flue I ended up cracking my head on the mantle and knocking myself on my ass.
Sometimes I can’t help but wonder how I’ve managed to survive this long, having all of the grace of a drunk Inspector Clouseau.
On my way back from the store I was looking up at the rather funky-looking sky with its odd cloud formations and strange light and I realized that I’ve probably been doing too many graphics tutorials lately as my first thought upon looking at a patch of sky that was incongruously bright was, “God overid it with the Dodge Tool.”
I’d say my wrist would agree with the notion that I’ve been doing too many tutorials, what with the searing, electric agony that’s been emanating out from it up my arm and all the way to my shoulder and down to my fingertips.
Looks like more than a decade spent in front of a computer, to say nothing of the years spent slinging a mop as a janitor, or working a pricing gun and hand pricing scanner at a grocery store, have taken their toll.
I guess I finally need to get in touch with Brian’s chiropractor, who apparently worked wonders on his carpal tunnel problems a while ago.
I don’t think I’ll be much drawing for a while, as that seems to cause the most pain, though just sitting around not using my hand causes just about as much,.
Typing isn’t exactly a delight either, so I guess that’ll – ow – do it for this entry.