Her

I'd like to think we were friends by now. So, in all honesty, this isn't a review. I'm reluctant to point out flaws in this movie. I'm merely sharing my discovery of a great film I watched at 2am. And so, with a prologue written, I'd like to introduce you to Her.

I've fallen in love with Her.

If you haven't heard of this movie, a) I'm surprised and b) you should definitely check the trailer out (which you can do right here).

It's a completely bizarre concept - set in a sci-fi future, where our techno-culture has expanded into unbelievable reaches, we're introduced to a man named Theodore (played brilliantly by Joaquin Phoenix. I might have a crush on him. Definite silver fox) His love life, like so many of us can relate to, hasn't been the smoothest.

His quirky yet fickle character finds a company that produces software beyond anything you could ever dream of - OS is an operating system that amplifies the already existing Siri by leaps and bounds. It organises your shit, it reads your emails out and it can even act as a personal companion, growing by learning. Theodore's OS is called Samantha (played fantastically by the gorgeous Scarlett Johansson) and they develop this unlikely relationship.

Anyways - the plot from there on shall be left a mystery as incentive to go see the film! It's so thought provoking in so many ways…

a) how we as a species are reliant on technology
b) the difficulty in unrequited love
c) the fear of the unknown
d) the prejudice we feel and even emit when we are faced with the unfamiliar

… are just a couple of things that crossed my mind when I watched it. It's so honest and raw and such a great piece of cinematic writing. It's an unlikely love story. And I'm a sucker for love stories. Kudos to Spike Jonze and the whole cast and crew.

Image source: http://cdn3.pitchfork.com/news/51817/3bf2e981.jpg
This is not my image.

L.

The Stranger Smile

I know the title is borderline creepy, but I hope it intrigues you too. See, this blog post is about you: as a person, as someone who emits their feelings into the world, and as someone who might seem insignificant, but in the light of things, in the telescopic tunnel of 'retrospect', has impacted more lives than you could ever imagine.

I recently started to think about people who have 'made my day'. A lot of these people I could put a name to: my nearest, my dearest, and ...well, a couple strangers to add to the mix.
I live in a small-knit community, and so even walking to the bus stop ensures me of a couple 'good morning's. And those minute gestures are important.

What I'm trying to say is that we're all in this rat race, and a couple kind words here and there are the final knots to a compliment. You don't have to be Angel Gabriel and carry messages of gold or go out of your way to compliment someone, but these social cues, these iconic gestures have developed in our world for one reason - to communicate, no?

This technological era has brought so many opportunities to branch out and communicate with people that are out of arm's reach. But it has also brought solitude and independence and isolation - not necessarily bad attributes, but ones that suffocate an open community.

It's almost like the dying art of whistling in public - the stranger smile is hidden underneath parallel-to-the-floor foreheads and tucked into the gap between your upper and lower front teeth.

Don't stranger grin though. Now THAT is creepy.

L.