Movies, movies, movies. That's been a theme for me this week. I watched Scarface and Vanilla Sky over the past few days, and I enjoyed both. I won't say anything about Vanilla Sky, just in case there are people in my small audience who haven't seen it.

I would like to say a little about Scarface, though. This movie is over the top; excessive. The whole movie is about excess. The colors are bright and garish, the music is loud, the profanity and the blood are equally flowing, and even quiet dialogue is delivered with gusto and force. My personal favorite line: "All I have in this world is my balls, and my word. And I don't break them for no one." The movie is all about the rise and fall of Tony Montana, whose final scene involves a mountain of cocaine, a Heston-class assault rifle, and the phrase "Say hello to my little friend!" As the credits roll, I got to thinking about how rich he was, and how I live at home under a mountain of student loan debt, and how diametrically opposed I am from this character. I'm kind of glad that I'm so boring now, given the alternative.

Tonight I went to the Cinema Center to see The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. It's an old German silent film with some of the craziest and creepiest visuals ever committed to celluloid. The set design has a cool cubist style, and you can actually see the brush strokes in many of the scenery pieces, so the whole film is like a painting. The really cool part about the movie tonight, though, was the music. All of the music in the movie was performed live by three musicians. They had keyboards, guitars, drums, almost anything that would make a cool sound. The violin would play a sinister little tune every time the mysterious Caligari would come on screen, the sound effects were all instrumental, and everything fit the action perfectly. Apparently this is a touring company, and tomorrow they'll be in Chicago doing this show and a silent western too.

It's back to work for me tomorrow. It's been a little weird for me lately. I've befriended a Gap employee who comes into the store a lot. The other night we talked about Hellboy for a couple minutes. She likes my name and asks intelligent questions about good books, thus completely disrupting my hard and fast reasoning for not liking the Gap. Elsewhere in the mall, Victoria's Secret is offering a free Bob Dylan CD single. I'm not a huge Dylan fan, but it would be cool to get the free CD. This is foreign territory for me, though; a complete no-fly zone. When I walk past the store I always feel like a South Korean staring across the 38th parallel, not fully knowing what lies on the other side. If I could figure out a way to retrieve the item with a fishing pole, a la Wile E. Coyote, I'd be set.

Still no reply from Ball State.