Went to see Hair with work last night. I had read up on Wikipedia and listened to the cast recording about once before going and it feels so clear how much extra enjoyment and depth there is to be had from diving in deeper. Knowing more of the lyrics, noticing more details and following the stories and characters better. All the years spent listening to Kent made their gigs infinitely deeper for me, and each time I listen to Hamilton I find more to like.
It all makes me think once again about books and movies, and how I as much as most people settle for one and only one shot at each. I wonder if movies are made with this in mind. If not, how much more could we get from every single well-made movie if we just spent the time?
I write this as I am enjoying some of the leftovers of yesterday's dinner buffet. We rounded off the work day with our now usual quick summary of the week which went straight into the buffet, a beer or two and a surprising amount of ping pong before we headed out to the musical. Afterward a few beers and more good talk at Ölrepubliken. Surely one of the best ways to end the work week and drift over to weekend.
Back home
I completely missed this when writing the above paragraphs, but mere hours later I was watching a movie for the second time. A movie I did not particularly like the first time around, either. The movie in question was Sunshine, and despite all the things which annoyed me about it both times I found the second watching worthwhile. My big problem is that I want it to be a science fiction movie, and the fact that the people who made it chose to give it the looks of one keeps leading me onto the wrong path. I catch myself time and time again wondering just how anything in the movie universe works. Why the crew is so rarely informed about important things by the computer, how they can stop in orbit around the sun, why they slingshot around Mercury, what material the window of the observation room is made of, why people are allowed to kill themselves in there, why they even need a manned mission, why the bad guy disturbs the camera …
Phew, sorry. See how easy I fall into it? It works pretty well as a visually pleasing mood piece though, and the characters are interesting. I just wish the evil writers had put them in a world which felt consistent with itself.