It was. I won't gush about Ryan Gosling or the very strong supporting cast, or how the movie subtly enriches an otherwise unoriginal story. I am not much of a film critic, and ever since I went into medicine, I find myself drawn to increasingly mind-numbing entertainment, so one should probably not listen to my opinion anyway.
But the film is set in LA, a place of which I've never been particularly fond. I lived in Southern California for about a year. There is something the movie portrays that really struck a chord. The film is set right in LA, but the characters are quite isolated. They seem to have their little sphere, but are fairly solitary. Now granted, some of this is the constraint of storytelling and keeping things focused. But some of it also seems true.
I used to drive a lot in Southern California, it's a place very well-suited for driving despite the horrific traffic at times. There are so many people living here in California. In some ways, it wasn't even that different from my early days living in San Francisco, when I hadn't yet found my footing. Everywhere around, people, but yet, so many people were alone.
Me, I don't feel so lonely. I like being by myself most of the time, and when I don't, I'm fortunate in that I'm not in want of a friend when I'm in need. But it's an interesting juxtaposition, this concept of being surrounded, of being in densely populated places, and yet, being isolated.
Maybe I've been thinking about this even more because medicine is like that. All day long, inundated with people- fellow residents, attendings, nurses, patients and countless others. But it's a bit of a ruse, much like living in a city. During work hours, you are surrounded, but the work itself can isolate. Just something I'm pondering.
In other, more familiar news, big shock- I spent some of the day baking. I'm still fooling around with frosting cupcakes. I don't know why suddenly this has become a thing for me, but apparently it has. Anyway, here is my latest, weak attempt:
It probably would have helped if I had attempted this with something other than caramel frosting. I really should probably concentrate on actually getting the taste of cupcakes down before I start messing with the decorations, but as usual, I don't know how to do things in a stepwise process. Head first, dive in, make a mess, fudge it, shrug, and try, try again.
1 comment:
Agree, loved Drive (and have become something of a freshly-minted fan of the Baby Goose's oeuvre). The violence was raw and really frightening in a pulpy, noisy, ugly way.
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