creative ninja
Recently I sat down to watch a Sci-fi film called The Wall. That's all the info that the TV listings magazine gave me. It gave the film three stars. Perfect, I thought, and hoped for a brainless romp with aliens and big explosions. What I got was a subtitled, Austrian-German mood piece called Die Wand (dir Julian Polsler). It wasn't at all what I thought I was buying into. Twice in the first 15 minutes I reached for the remote control and twice I put it down again. The film drew me in slowly, and held me, and it's stayed with me since. I've just opened A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway, a book that has been gathering dust on my shelf. I chose it over a detective novel that would have been a familiar and easy read. I'm assuming the Hemingway will be more of a challenge, or at least take more of my focus, but I'm certain it'll live longer in my memory. I'm not the first to realise that indulging in quality creative works by top draw exponents is v...