It’s amazing how crafty the computer-machine is at distracting you from getting work done. I can sit in front of this thing for hours and step away, confused, wondering what just happened.

I’ll run in from the kitchen to find a track on iTunes and suddenly the house is filled with smoke and I’m watching the intro video for an iPhone app I don’t need but will probably buy when drunk because I like to support developers like myself who… wait a second.

Some strong irony in the fact that my workplace is solely on the machine that easily distracts me with sites and apps that are just like what I’m trying to focus on coding. Wow, deep. Should I tweet that or make it a facebook status update? Or make a clever one-panel comic and post to flickr? And then tweet about that? OH MY GOD IS THIS HUMAN LIFE IN THE 21ST CENTURY? Shoot me now.

I finally got around to watching the original Russian 1972 Solyaris and fucking loved it. Highly recommended for a day when you are so hungover you can barely move. You will relish the haunting electronic score and the delicious treat of staring at Natalya Bondarchuk as neutrino-powered space-hottie. I also watched the 2002 Soderbergh Solaris (not a remake, but definite similarities), and was struck with how much I dislike American humans talking. It’s a good flick, but did not elicit the haunting reaction of the original.

I’m not a fan of arty, disjointed cinema unless it offers enough of a thread to carry you along, giving context for the non-linear visuals. Solyaris rides this delicate line perfectly. Another foreign film I recently watched that not only pulled this balancing act off with aplomb, but also renewed my wonder and appreciation of existence: the German Wings of Desire. (Which also has an eyeball treat, beautiful Solveig Dommartin onscreen for 2 hours. I’m seeing a trend here.)