I took a little tour of South Wedge and got pizza from Little Venice Pizza (742 South Ave., formerly Skippy’s) which I ate at Solera Wine Bar (647 South Ave.) with a glass of wine. I stopped by Lux Lounge (666 South Ave.) for a bit and hung out with some friends before heading to The Method Lab (650 South Ave.) Photographer Clark Condé’s work was on display. It’s really good stuff: evocative and slightly abstract — and large, which always helps if all else fails.

I also went to the Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) to see La planète sauvage (Fantastic Planet). The woman who gave the introductory presentation was new-to-me — she was young, and I believe attending The University of Rochester. Among the other tidbits about the film, she mentioned that it was an allegory to the way the USSR treated its satellite states. I was surprised to find this caused me to try and make direct comparisons for the first 20 minutes or so, at which point I finally freed myself of that thought and could just absorb it as a work of art — and do the analysis later.

Anyway, it was amazing. It’s an animated work of speculative fiction about these two species of intelligent beings: the Om are small and human-like and are treated like pets by the Dragg: the more advanced, 8-times larger, blue bipeds. Wild (that is, not domesticated) Om learn from the Dragg and become more adept, even learning to read the language. I was struck by the attention to detail (two examples: the doll-like clothing the Dragg make domesticated Om wear, and the debate between wild Om where each one ties himself to a vicious creature and the two fight until one Om is killed) and the lack of explanation (i.e. no attempt is made to explain how anything works, and no attempt is made to identify this world’s relation to our own world — not in deep space, nor a tiny sub-world). My only disappointment was how abruptly the film concludes.

I thought it also interesting to note that the film is French, and the central character is a domesticated Om named Terr (both in French and subtitled): “Om” is a homophone for “homme”, the French word for “man” and “Terr” is a homophone for “terre”, the French word for Earth. I suspect the film would have been far more campy if it were about a Man named Earth instead.

Thank you all for sharing my “coming out” with me. No, no I am not leaving Jay for some cute girl, so back off ladies. I have finally given in and purchased my first computer, an Apple Laptop. I’m not sure what triggered the need, it may have to do with the fact it was raining today so the Apple Store at the Mall sounded like a good idea. The salesperson Julie was so fantastic that I ended up walking out with an iPod Shuffle, printer, warranty, and One on One classes on how to use it all! I have to say I am pretty excited but I wish I could have gotten it in Blue. And I am pretty sure Jay is excited too, wow a new computer to monkey with. This will now enable me to be a foreign correspondent for Jayceland. Jason has agreed to fly me all over the world for stories. I hope I serve you all very well.