Exercise and Movies

Hi All, apologies for the lack of a post yesterday - after I went to the gym in the morning I took the rest of the afternoon to head into town and have a look around. I went for quite a large walk in town, from Kings Cross back to the city. As it was the afternoon by the time I got there, my partner asked me to wait in town and meet her there after she finished work. I decided that I may as well take in a film to kill some time, and afterwards we had a light Chinese meal for dinner and so we weren't home until late.

I went to see "Flags of Our Fathers". I was expecting quite a good film, having heard a lot of good reviews. I was a bit dissappointed by the film in the end - I found that it was disjointed, very poorly directed, often quite confusing, and the temporal connection between scenes was changed too often to follow accurately what happened during the battle. The whole "I don't want to be called a hero" side of the film was overplayed and stated too often to really develop into a theme of any consequence. The main problem is that the photo is a remarkable image of struggle and success, regardless of how it actually came to be taken and does capture the imagination of most people who see it.

Some of the action sequences were very good, but overall I was disappointed by what I considered to be a very poor retelling of monumental struggle in the face of adversity pitching tenacious defence against the projection of massive military power. By constantly juxtaposing the battle scenes of the past against the present of the film, the temporal nexus of the battle is destroyed and it is often difficult to place where and when scenes on the island are supposed to take place. In addition, the bits of the film about the fund raising tour that the heroes go on fall flat and the movie at times becomes overly laboured on the points of alcoholism, the effect of the battle on the men, and the public interest in identifying heroes to worship in difficult times. Eastwood has done much better than this, and hopefully will again. Mediocre at best.

I have been to the gym this morning, another cardio workout on the treadmill. Nothing of any great consequence arose this morning. I have been considering whether or not I should continue with the trainer and will make a decision today and call her about it. In the end, I think it will come down to finance as I don't think that I can really afford to continue to see her anymore. I would like to return to seeing her when I can, but for the meantime it may have to go on hold. I feel confident that I can keep up the good work on my own now, and perhaps even start to do more if I take over control on my own. I will let you all know what decision I make in the end.