"It appears this is my first entry in two years."

July 31, 2016 1:15 AM

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind timeline
posted by paleyellowwithorange (14 comments total)

Blessed are the forgetful, for they get the better even of their blunders.
posted by fairmettle at 2:14 AM on July 31, 2016

Am I missing something ? Is there a larger version somewhere ? The text is unreadable for me.
posted by Pendragon at 3:35 AM on July 31, 2016 [11 favorites]

Yep. Can't read a word. It sounded like a cool idea, though.
posted by mmoncur at 4:16 AM on July 31, 2016

I'm using Windows. When I right-click on the timeline, and select View Image, the image is opened in its own URL, and it's possible to zoom in. The text is still on the small side, though.
posted by paleyellowwithorange at 4:21 AM on July 31, 2016

When I right-click on the timeline, and select View Image, the image is opened in its own URL, and it's possible to zoom in.

Here you go.
posted by Fizz at 5:10 AM on July 31, 2016 [1 favorite]

Yes I know how to open an image in a new tab. Still can't read it.
posted by Pendragon at 7:40 AM on July 31, 2016 [3 favorites]

White text on pastel backgrounds is never a great design choice.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:21 AM on July 31, 2016

Once it was readable, it's amazing. I need to watch the movie again with this structural clarity, especially that the timeline of the memory-erasure narrative (in Joel's house) runs in the opposite direction of the events in Joel's life.

(perception of form is key to a meaningful experience)
posted by LooseFilter at 2:23 PM on July 31, 2016

I tried to do this the last time I watched it. This has been one of my fav movies since it came out. At the time I couldn't get anyone else into it because they found it too confusing. I dunno I really enjoyed the feeling of having a story being revealed backwards. But after having enjoyed it this way so many times, I think it would be amazing to see it edited into it's straight-ahead timeline. At least with the real-life scenes, if not the procedure scenes. I wonder how it would hold up as movie. I remember reading something that said they edited the movie this way to make Clementine seem likeable because otherwise we first meet her at "the perfect ending to this piece of SHIT story". But this kind of feels like the "Monday morning quarterback studio executive" school of criticism. Sometimes art is just art and things are the way they are because it makes better art that way.
posted by bleep at 10:20 PM on July 31, 2016 [2 favorites]

In Firefox on El Capitan, right click on "view image" and you get a new window with a zoom that reveals (idk) .05 pt font instead of negative a zillion pt font. (This information is... not beautiful, not accessible, essays are ok sometimes :/ Annoying because I adore this movie and want to read this ish)
posted by cotton dress sock at 12:17 PM on August 1, 2016

Weird, I've seen this movie so many times and I never interpreted it in a way that the timeline is like this. Maybe it's the way that this is laid out, but it seems convoluted and confusing. Is it saying that the procedure is happening simultaneously with Joel's early memories?
posted by gucci mane at 9:07 PM on August 1, 2016

The day after I saw this movie, I went into the coffee room at work midmorning like usual. All of the furniture, and the tiles from the far half of the floor, had been removed from the coffee room. The cabinets, appliances, and vending machines were still in place. I stood in that doorway for a long time.

When I went to ask if there was some remodeling in progress that I hadn't heard about, I couldn't find anyone else in the building.

When I finally found someone, they hadn't heard of this movie and were perplexed by my distress.
posted by fantabulous timewaster at 12:21 AM on August 2, 2016 [2 favorites]

I typically can't stand dark movies, especially dark comedies, but i see the sadness in this movie as more being cathartic and sweet rather than just "dark cause we're getting off on dark" like every movie made in the 70s-90s.
posted by bleep at 7:23 AM on August 2, 2016

This desperately needs to be a PDF with vectored text. I seriously have not been able to come up with a way to make this readable, even zoomed in.
posted by emptythought at 4:49 PM on August 2, 2016