The weather has been fantastic the past week or two, but today has descended into a more cloudy, damper, and colder version of its earlier glory. I know that weather affects mood, but what's odd is that it also seems that the expectation of weather can also affect mood. For example, I expected this Sunday to be beautiful, which put me in a good mood. It turns out not to be, which now has me slightly depressed. Ah well.

I'm a big fan of movie trilogies, and seem to be in the habit of collecting them of late. I recently purchased one of the best trilogies ever: The Godfather, and just watched the first two. Man, those movies are brilliant (especially the first one). Francis Ford Copolla's best movies by far. The sheer grittiness and tensions that comes through, the perfect blend of intrigue and politics, is wonderful. This is of course aided by some amazing performances, notably by Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, and Robert Duvall. The movies are on the longer side by today's standards, but I find that most of the movies I really enjoy are on the longer side. It allows the director to establish a complex and multi-faceted storyline without losing the audience, and without doing the classic 10 second shots and cutting to another scene. Copolla in these films, like other great directors like Scorcese and Kubrick, has long shots that almost stretch the length of a reel. For lack of a better word, I'd say these directors create 'atmosphere' through this technique.

In case you are wondering, the trilogy I bought before The Godfather was The Lord of the Rings (extended trilogy). And yes, I'm a huge fan -- absolutely brilliant movies, although perhaps a little carried away at the end. But that is a post for another time.