daredevil

Minor Daredevil spoilers later in this entry, just to warn you.

Yesterday, I forced myself to stay off my computer most of the day because of mild case of tendonitis in my right arm. I'm amazed that I have only experienced repetitive stress symptoms only once before in my life; I spend so many of my waking hours on the keyboard, after all. Having said that, I still feel stupid for this most recent lapse.

I know what exactly what caused it this time. When I switched over to OSX, I had to move my Cumulus photo catalogs as well. This involved a lot of repetitive mouse-oriented tasks, and I was stupid enough to engage in this process for several hours on Wednesday evening without taking a break. My right arm was sore by the time I went to bed, and worse the next morning. Even a few minutes of typing/mousework with my right hand was enough to send shooting pains up my arm.

Not good, I realized. Despite my desire to work on my novel and several deadlines approaching, I decided to stay off my computer yesterday after uploading Blatherings. Better to lose one day than risk losing many more. My livelihood revolves around being able to use the computer, don't want to mess with that.

Back on today. My arm's still sore, but I've switched my mouse to the left side of my keyboard, and am also trying to type as much as possible with my left hand.

But back to Daredevil.

Jeff, Angela, Parki and I went to see it last night. Ugh. I haven't disliked a movie so much in a long time. I had heard mixed reviews, but had hopes anyway. I was appalled by the writing. I hatedHATED what they did to Elektra's character. And Ben Affleck just didn't cut it for me as a superhero. I started cringing every time he put on his costume; he was semi-believeable as a blind lawyer, but laughable as Daredevil.

I couldn't help but compare the movie to Spiderman. Tobey Maguire would never strike me as an actor that could pull off the superhero role either, but it worked. Maybe because the writing was better, and more time was spent on character development as well as showing how his character gradually became Spiderman, making some mistakes along the way. He knew how to laugh at himself without losing dignity, was vulnerable at the same time as being heroic. I believed in Spiderman, rooted for him.

Ben Affleck's character, however, seemed to turn into a superhero overnight, with an unearned arrogance that assumed the audience would immediately be on his side, enthralled at his superhero prowess, gasping with awe at his lightning fast reflexes and enhanced special effects. Too much time was spent on his character in various brooding rooftop poses, not enough time on character development.

And I will refrain from a full-on rant about how much I disliked about what they did with Elektra's character. I would have been far more accepting of how completely they changed her background if they hadn't turned her into such an over-emotional doe-eyed wimpy WEAKLING. At a formal dinner party, explaining to Matt why she had dressed up: "I wanted to look beautiful for YOU, Matt. I wish you could see me now."

Gag! Puke! Sigh.

Links/News:

Flash Psychic: Thanks to Ray for the link. Jeff figured out how this works...can you?

Feb/2003 comments: Read | Post | LJ