high fidelity

August has flown by at such a rate I'd have to believe it used Mass Effect technology. In any case, August has been fantastic. In the course of the last 3 weeks I've seen Scott Pilgrim twice, secured my new apartment in Chicago with a good writing partner of mine, and even started working on 2 projects. I guess I just took my time in relaxing so I didn't have a ton of time to sit down and write.

I'm very excited for Chicago. VERY. I feel like it's ten times the geek outlet my current location is. I want to connect with "my people", and not have it be over the internet. I got a taste of that at the Scott Pilgrim premiere and I forgot how therapeutic it is to be in the presence of people who truly "get" you. I'm also seeing my super fantastic awesome girlfriend in 2 days out in San Diego so I'm sure I'll get that same rush when I'm around her.

Moving to Illinois will bring about its own series of problems and triumphs. I would lie if I said I wasn't a little scared about it, but once I start auditioning I'm sure all that fear and trepidation will fade away. It is just natural to be 'scurred' right? I mean it's a totally foreign place for me. It's like placing Picard in Star Wars! Amirite? Amirite? *pushes glasses up on nose*

The name of the game for the rest of the year is Collaboration. Kyle and I are ready to jump into the LAN'ded abyss once again, and thanks to Elton John I finally found an outlet for a smaller project I had swishing around in my head. Gotta love those homosexual english knighted musicians. Always good for inspiration.

I'm a bit turned off by the media's handling of the Scott Pilgrim movie. It seems like half the critics are turned off because they are unwilling to even try to connect with the ideals and virtues of the twenty-something lifestyle in the film. Did their disagreements about Tyler Durden sway them from saying Fight Club was a modern classic? If critics think that superheroes dressing up in crazy costumes is outlandish and childish, then why would they idolize The Dark Knight? I feel like there is a terrible double standard at play here simply because the comic book/movie uses video games as a tentpole for some of its deeper themes.

I see Scott Pilgrim as a conceptual film. Obviously it is very seldom a realistic movie. It dabbles in realism but shrouds itself in surrealistic tendencies and metaphysics. These are the same principles musical theatre is consistently founded on. Every time Scott sees an evil ex or an obstacle in his world, he views it simply as a level to be completed. He must work out a strategy. Does every critic believe that Scott must actually engage in hand-to-hand combat in order to defeat the enemy? No. This is simply a conceptual device employed skillfully by O'Malley and Wright to show how Scott thinks. In reality, the encounter could be just a short exchange of words or MAYBE a shoulder brushing past him while he tries to ignore a bad scene.

I don't know, it just makes me a little sad. You can invest so many geek hours into reading and watching something you connect with only to have a few snobby older critics turn up their nose. It doesn't ruin the experience at all for me, but I don't like it when someone tries to invalidate my opinion using the excuse that older viewers "know what they're talking about". *shruggity*

And now I'm packing for San Diego. I think that is spanish for something, not sure though.

~ Aaron J.