fine whine

So now it's 2004. If I were a check-writin' kind of guy I think it would matter a little more to me. Now that I have posted this, though, the calendar rolls over to 2004 and all we are left with on the left side is a linked calendar of the last month of 2003, which coincidently saw me typing something every day but three or four. I wasn't even that diligent on my novel. Sometimes things just need a second shot, I guess.

Second chances are something I occasionally grant something or somebody that initially had rubbed me the wrong way. Last year (ha ha ha it was less than half an hour ago) I watched Reindeer games for the second time, albeit this time in the form of the "Exclusive Director's Cut". The first time I watched it I wasn't too impressed, though I tagged the blame for my disdain on the overly twisted bits at the end. I think I was just looking for an excuse to dislike the movie, which on second glance, isn't so horrible. Maybe the scenes Frankenheimer reinserted helped, but overall it wasn't nearly as bad as I had remembered. Everybody does what they're there to do, and overall it works pretty well. I had only a couple niggling questions but to ask them would all but give the whole thing away, and I'd like to leave the surprises for the rest of everybody. Then again, there are enough of them in there to go around, I'd say. Unlike a Sixth sense, though, there aren't really any clues or knowing winks thrown in to reward a second viewing. So go out, rent it and watch it sometime this year—once.