Going solo at the movies

I just saw "Capote" at the movies tonight. The gf's away in NYC and I decided to head out for a Saturday night at the cinema.

I love going alone. I love the solitude of a large theatre sitting dead centre. Being alone at the movies feels like dedicated time to just being. It's permission to get in your own head and not think about the world. Or to think about it in ways you don't have to qualify or translate for others.

One thing I abhor at the movies are these trivia screens that run in a horrid loop before the movie. Now, the idle chatter throughout the cinema often comes back to answering the questions on the screen..."Oh, that was Brad Pitt in that movie? I didn't know..." Who the fuck cares?

Much better to have a blank screen with muzak piped in. Nothing to do then but talk amongst yourselves. And listening to that is always far more interesting than anything a cinema slide can offer.

Nonetheless, it hasn't destroyed my love of solo cinema. I find I can lose myself utterly in a good film. Bad films I just fall asleep. Made that mistake going alone to some horrible flick with Ben Kingsley. Some murder/thriller that didn't thrill or murder enough. I woke to some shriek midway through the movie and decided to finish my nap at home.

So I went solo to Capote tonight. I really loved the film. You get a great window into the writer's world...or at least, Truman Capote the writer. We really are a deceitful bunch. I always recognized that in myself. And you hear that of other writers. But to see it played out in such convincing detail in the film, I don't know whether to admire the trait or take a bath.

I was envious of his dedication to the research for the book. Six years with a single story. I don't know if I could do it. I've had stories I've dusted off and tackled again, but I've never tackled one story consistently for so long. I really need to learn that dedication. To stay with a project when it's starting to throw up road blocks. I can be quick to park it and walk but I really need to wrestle it through the kinks. Every time I have done just that, I've been rewarded. It's just an annoying, painful part of writing.

I much prefer when I sit down and presto! Magical pages in 30 minutes. That rarely happens and when it does, the pages don't stand a test of 24 hours.

Okay, I'm nodding off. It was the late screening and it's now 1:30am. I just ordered "In Cold Blood" online - impossible to find at stores in Vancouver. It's one of those books I've always wanted to read but never have. It's a list that spans centuries and just keeps growing and growing.