A couple false starts, and I wound up bagging my trip to Smith for the weekend. I felt bad for bailing on Ben, but really, he got in some climbing without me, so I didn’t feel THAT bad. Plus I’m going out there this coming weekend and will be gone for over a week, so I needed the time at home.

Add to that a creeping cold that came on board on Saturday, and I was perfectly content to spend half the day in bed and finally get my car a badly-needed oil change.

Of the weekend’s sparse events, the most notable was a viewing on Friday night of the 1922 F.W. Murnau film, Nosferatu, with a live score by The Devil Music Ensemble. Some of the score was rather traditional, but a lot of it was very reminiscent of the Neil Young score from Dead Man. The thing that really got me was how much difference a live score makes with a film like that. Just by updating the music, it made the film much more current and intriguing. Also, I hadn’t seen Nosferatu, or any silent film for that matter, in a very long time, and watching it with a mind for how new the medium was and how much lack of sound made the director and actors compensate made it that much more interesting.

And really, Max Schreck is one creepy mofo. You could be Captain Badass Von Killinthings, he’d still make your skin try to migrate up your scalp.