Drama. I got some summer flu that pretty much kept me indoors for several days, but I got better now. Made me appreciate again being healthy most of the time.

What of the more ordinary stuff then? I visited Tampere for the first time in five years and bicycled around the city the whole day before seeing friends and returning home in the evening.

That city sure has changed a lot with new tram lines and a new arena. I’m thinking about revisiting the city to see the Tampere Jazz Happening for the first time.

Watching movies

I haven’t played any videogames for a month, so instead of gaming I’ve been watching a bunch of movies, some of them classics I haven’t seen before.

One was On the Waterfront, starring Marlon Brando. I knew nothing about it beforehand and during the film there was one scene in a cab that made me think “this must be a classic example how good Marlon is” and sure enough, afterwards I read it is an iconic scene not only in the movie, but in Brando’s career in general. Good to know.

Another classic movie I watched completely blindfolded (no, not literally) was Hiroshima – Mon Amour. Yeah, I can easily see why it is viewed so groundbreaking with its meditative examination of past memories. Glad I finally saw it.

Then there was a more recent movie 1917, which I wasn’t expecting to be more than a decent war movie, but I must admit I was shocked to realize around ten or fifteen minutes into the movie that it was going on in one seemingly continuous shot, and then it kept on basically going like that throughout the whole length! No wonder it won the Oscar for best cinematography. Impressive stuff.

I also watched Perfect Days again in the cinema and I still think it is a great movie, so I pre-ordered the movie on Bluray 4K UHD, even though I don’t have a television screen to support it. Luckily it comes with a standard Bluray disc as well.

Movies: they always seem to deliver. The good ones, at least.

Tags: bicycling, movies