A personal diary keeping people abreast of what I am working on writing-wise.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

MISERABLISM, IS IS, AND ISN'T ISN'T



Before I make a run for the border, here are the DVD reviews I managed to squeeze in since my list last Thursday:

THIS WEEK IN DVD REVIEWS...

* Raymond Bernard - Eclipse Series 4, a collection of two classic French epics from the 1930s, Wooden Crosses and Les Miserables

* Renaissance, a disappointing French animated film that pummels Bladerunner with Frank Miller

* Weeds: Season Two, the new compilation of the one of television's best shows, starring the amazing Mary-Louise Parker

And just to prove that you always have something to learn, I got this e-mail yesterday:

I read your review of 'Pet Shop Boys: Cubism in Concert' and... would like to thank you for your excellent review, and bringing attention to a group that is surely much under-rated at the moment.

Surely, though, you don't mean to say that the Very album was the creative nadir (meaning rock bottom) for the Pet Shop Boys. 1993's Very album was a huge creative and commercial success - surely a highlight rather than a nadir.


Son of a bitch if he isn't right. It appears that for all this time I've been using "nadir" wrong, thinking it means "zenith" when in fact it is the exact opposite. You have to wonder how we get such notions and how they last so long without someone saying anything. Is it a common mix-up and most people interchange these terms? Because the mind boggles at how many times and in how many places I may have put "nadir" when I meant "the best."




Current Soundtrack: Mya, "Ridin';" Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Is Is


Current Mood: on the move

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All text (c) 2007 Jamie S. Rich

2 comments:

Chatterbox said...

Weeds is great! And Mary-Louise Parker truly is divine. Billy Crudup's just about the dumbest dumbshit on the planet, isn't he?

Anonymous said...

Well, i never noticed you using nadir the wrong, and i'm pretty anal. It could one of those things you mostly do in your head. For years, i read 'awry' as if it were "aw-ree", until i was present when someone read it correctly as "a-rye". Whoda thunk they'd put a silent W in the middle of a word.

wallflower