"Tell me, Mister Anderson. What good is freedom of speech, if you have nothing to say?"

Such are the words that seem to echo through my mind whenever I try to start a rambling lately. Oh well. Not the first time, and probably not the last.

The Mists of Avalon has been successful in depriving me of sleep each night so far this week. I can't say I regret it either. There's nothing quite like the experience of letting one's mind sink deep into a really good epic fantasy tale, as must happen every now and again.

Page 138 now. Hehe. I've barely scratched the surface. The must upgrade visual language parser mantra comes to mind, but I presently realize that saying such is not only futile, but not even a true wish. As it is, I'm not running at maximum speed, and I even prefer it that way. There's something very enjoyable about savoring every paragraph, every word of dialog. I think a better mantra would be: must allocate more time to reading...

Memorable random quote from Pleasantville (which I just now grepped from the ascii-formatted screenplay, which they so conveniently put on the disc (more DVD releases should do that; it's very handy)):

Here's a thought to ponder: Is time truly a zero sum game? For example, if I were to say, "I'm going to spend more time reading", does this necessarily mean that I must spend less time doing some other activity?

Of course, the obvious, common sense, objectivist answer would be, "Yes." It's only logical that in order for more of any resource to be allocated to one area, it must be removed from another.

There is another logic that says that if you make a clean and certain decision to do something (rather than a vague "50% this" and "75% that"), that somehow, a human being can conjure something where there otherwise would have been nothing.

Ever heard this quote (I don't know who said it first, and I'm paraphrasing anyway): "If you really want something to get done, and have a choice between asking someone who's already busy and someone who's idle, which should you choose? Ask the busy person to do it, because they won't have time to not get it done."

Ok, I slaughtered that horribly, and I know it.

That is a sign that it is after midnight, and it is past time for me to sleep.

"Sweet dreams... you bastard."