"the sound of silence" - simon and garfunkel

"people writing songs that voices never share and no one dared disturb the sound of silence"



i don't get the graduate. there's nothing sexy about it. hoffman is too old looking at 30 to convincingly be young. bancroft at only 6 years older is too similar an age for the age gap thing to be believable. i know the jumpyness is part of the mood but it just irritates me - as does the whole formality of pretty much noone having a first name. far be it from me to disregard what is widely regarded as a classic - but i honestly don't understand what all the fuss is about.

and then there's the soundtrack. maybe my modern ear expects too much from a soundtrack but it mostly seems to consist of variations on mrs robinson and sound of silence over and over again - doing nothing to enhance for me the viewing experience.

but here's the kicker. i don't get simon and garfunkel. i don't understand why anyone would choose to listen to them - let alone get excited about them. i'll give you that paul simon is a talented songwriter with a pretty good voice - but i'm not really sure what garfunkel is for. the pretty much live versions of the same songs on "the paul simon songbook" are much more listenable. but i still don't really like that material. his eponymous album, or even graceland, are so much better and have videos where he takes pride in beating children at baseball or pretending to be chevy chase.

and if i never hear bridge over troubled waters again it will be much too soon.

"somebody kill me" - adam sandler

"somebody kill me please. somebody kill me please"


i must have watched the wedding singer on video a lot. i was one of those films my ex-girlf would put on in her room to distract us from the fact that our relationship had long-since slipped from "romantic and physical" territory into "convenient, needy and habitual" - though i for one didnt really realise it at the time. there were several videos that fell into that category - but with hindsight tws was a notable example because it reminded us of early in our relationship when we had gone to see it. its a likable nothing of a movie with two real strong features. the first is the couple of scenes in which drew barrymore looks really cute, and the second is the soundtrack. sure if you feel like being a pedant it doesnt entirely conjure 1985 - but it consistently falls on the cool side of cheesy.


the reason the song is circling my mind with accelerating angular velocity is that ive just come to a shuddering realisation of just how bored i am at my job. dont expect me to do anything about it, mind.