Talking About Stuff, with Mike and Christiana

... become bad things.

Now, I'm all for safety in schools, but this is just stupid... and a little scary.

A student has been arrested for writing a zombie story. He wrote it for English class, featuring a fictional high school and entirely fictional characters.

"My story is based on fiction," said Poole, who faces a second-degree felony terrorist threatening charge. "It's a fake story. I made it up. I've been working on one of my short stories, (and) the short story they found was about zombies. Yes, it did say a high school. It was about a high school over ran by zombies."

Even so, police say the nature of the story makes it a felony. "Anytime you make any threat or possess matter involving a school or function it's a felony in the state of Kentucky," said Winchester Police detective Steven Caudill.

Did a little Blog Template modifications. Mostly subtle stuff. I had to lose the rounded corners, but now the site is compatible with different screen widths. Also, check out the peek-a-boo comments. The comments appear on the main page now instead of requiring you to go to the post page.

Also, re-did the links on the movie reviews post so that on the posts with multiple reviews the link will take you right to the appropriate review.

What does everybody think?

The reason I got a late start on my Oscar-cast last night was because I had a friend over and we had a Miyazaki movie marathon with: The Castle of Cagliostro, Porco Rosso, and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.

If you're not yet familiar with Hayao Miyazaki, then I think you're in for a treat. Some have called him the Japanese Disney, but I think a more apt moniker would be the Japanese Pixar. Everything I have seen from him, I have absolutely loved.

If anime brings to mind images of Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh, then you really owe it to yourself to have a look at some Miyazaki. Pokémon is cheap, mass-produced anime. A Miyazaki film is a work of art. Think of it like this: Pokémon is a cheeseburger at McDonalds, A Miyazaki film is a great steak. In theory, they both come from a cow, but the difference in taste and presentation is immense.

The three films listed above are some of his older work, and as such, some of the animation is a little less sophisticated than the more recent films, but the stories are just as magical.

The Castle of Cagliostro

This is the very first full-length film that Mr. Miyazaki directed. He had done some television work before this, but even with his very first film, he achieves tremendous success. It features an adventure of the famous Lupin III, a classic Japanese Manga character. If you already know who Lupin III is, then you probably already know about Miyazaki as well, so I'll write this review as a primer for the uninitiated.

Lupin is like James Bond's id. His playful, impulsive side, freed from all that stuffy, old-fashioned patriotism and thus allowed to use his considerable skills for things that are more fun, like stealing expensive things, hitting on beautiful women, and generally having a really good time.

In this film, he decides to seek out the origin of the famous "goat bills", counterfeit money that is supposedly 'better than the originals.' This particular adventure will lead to evil Counts, giant castles, a runaway bride, ancient conspiracies, lost treasures, booby traps, impersonations, ninjas and eating to the point of unconsciousness.

It's loads of fun, with some real drama but without ever really taking itself too seriously. I came to it new, without really knowing anything about Lupin or his friends and adversaries, and the movie introduced me to each of them brilliantly and I was never confused for a second. That said, my friend, who is a Lupin fan, informed me that the film is literally filled with in jokes and little bonuses for long-time fans.

One early scene captures a lot of the fun: Lupin and his long-time friend Jigen are pulled over on the side of the road, changing the tire of their tiny Eastern-European car. It's a serene picture, until they hear the sound of an approaching car. Soon, a car races by them at high speed, driven by a woman in a bridal gown. Only seconds later, another car zips by, in hot pursuit, driven by a number of armed thugs.

Without wasting a second, (and indeed, barely allowing Jigen time to get back into the car,) Lupin presses a hidden switch, opening a secret panel in the back of the car, revealing a souped up engine. They take off like a shot, going after the two cars.

"Which one are we helping?" asks Jigen.
"The girl," says Lupin with a maniacal grin.
"Hmph... Typical," grumps Jigen.

The Castle of Cagliostro is available on DVD.

Porco Rosso

This is probably the most mature and sophisticated of Miyazaki's films. I mean that thematically, not in terms of content. Porco Rosso tells the story of a seaplane WWI-style flying ace who was the sole survivor of a doomed military unit. Since then, he's had the feeling that he's meant to be alone, on the outside of life. This makes him wary of getting too close to people, even when it's what he really wants. Oh, and for reasons never made explicit, he was cursed by a magic spell to have the head of a pig, thus the title, which translates as "Red Pig".

It sounds bizarre, and, well, it is kinda. But Marco, aka, "Porco" is a gruff, but likeable loner, and you really root for him. Both that he is able to defeat his romantic and flying rival, Curtis, and that he is able to come out of his shell and finally court the woman he loves from afar. Along for the ride is Fio, a plucky teenage girl who happens to be a top-notch airplane engineer.

The story is sweet, bittersweet actually. When Fio asks for the story of how he became a pig, he doesn't quite comply, telling a different story instead, but a truly touching one with some wonderful visuals. Likewise, the film also has some really exciting arial dogfights; complex, but comprehensible in a way only animation is really capable of. The climactic fight is simultaneously tense and funny and the film is incredible. Bittersweet, but hopeful.

Porco Rosso is available on DVD.

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

Nausicaä starts small. An old man in a strange outfit that includes a gas mask is exploring the ruins of a town that has been overgrown by odd, alien-looking spores. We learn that thousands of years ago, the human industrial civilization has collapsed, and "The Sea of Decay" has spread over much of the world, an entire alien ecosystem that produces clouds of toxic gas, rendering entire regions uninhabitable by humans.

Next, we meet a teenage girl, wearing a similar mask, collecting samples from a vast alien jungle populated by giant insects and bizarre plants. She's cautious, but not fearful, talking to the creatures she finds there as though they can understand her, and taking time to appreciate the alien beauty of the place.

She hears a gunshot in the distance and knows immediately that it means trouble. The insects don't tolerate human violence in their territory. She leaps onto a one-person jet-powered glider and soars off towards the noise. It's the man from the opening, and he's being pursued by an Ohmu, a tremendous alien insect thing the size of a five-story building.

The story grows from there, getting bigger and bigger until it encompasses a vast war featuring many human nations and armies of thousands. It's fantastic science fiction, with rich interesting aliens, cultures, technology, etc.

But it's also the story of a girl, Nausicaä, the princess of her valley. She instinctively knows that there has to be more to the insects and the spores. When soldiers invade, intent on burning away the Sea of Decay, she knows that it's a mistake. Every time it has been tried, the attempt failed, and the retribution from swarms of Ohmus was terrible and killed millions. That won't happen this time, they say, they have a secret weapon.

The film follows Nausicaä as she tries to protect her valley, to avert a war, to save all civilization from its own mistakes. She's a fantastic character. Tough, capable, brave, but without sacrificing femininity or emotion. One of the things that Miyazaki is incredibly good at is writing extremely strong female protagonists. Many of the other characters are really cool as well. The film is grand in scope without losing sight of character or detail. A scene near the climax with Nausicaä and a baby Ohmu is enormously powerful.

I wish I could write like this.

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is available on DVD.

And don't forget all the other wonderful Miyazaki films!
My Neighbor Totoro, also on DVD
Kiki's Delivery Service, also on DVD
Castle in the Sky, also on DVD
Princess Mononoke, also on DVD (this is the only one that might warrant a caution, it's different in a lot of ways, dealing with a lot of animal spirits. Still good, just unusual.)
and Spirited Away, last year's Oscar-winning Best Animated Feature, also on DVD

Pick up any of these and you won't be disappointed.

Troy was the last of the films on my Oscar marathon list, so perhaps by going ahead and putting the review up, I can achieve a sense of closure on that otherwise painful night. (In truth, the wounds are already scabbed over, so unless provoked, I won't be bringing them up again here.)

So anyway, Troy.

...

*shrug* Well, I liked it.

Of course, I've never read The Iliad, so I can't comment on its faithfulness as an adaptation, so that may have been the film's one saving grace. From what I understand, first and foremost amongst complaints about the film are its utter inadequacy at presenting a classic story of Greek myth.

Cartoon Network's Robot Chicken.

Right now, I'm watching Voltron compete against a space monster in a hip-hop dance-off. He gets totally served. Somehow, that makes everything seem a little better.

All right, so I made 95.7% on my Oscar Spreadsheet. If you'll all allow me a bit of self-congratulation, I'm pretty damn impressed with myself.

Okay, enough of that. Onto the broadcast itself...

Two sausages are sitting in a pan being fried.
One sausage says to the other, "Boy, it's getting hot in here."
The other sausage replies, "Wow, a talking sausage!"

--Credit to Mike C at Dean's World

Anyone got more?

*Sigh*

I'm still pondering it. Is it just that the movie is dramatically different from what I wanted it to be, or is it just really that bad?

The first half of I, Robot disappointed me in one aspect after another, to the point where I was just bored and disinterested by the whole thing. The second half of the movie had a few good elements, but by then, I was done caring.

It's Oscar Nominated for its visual effects, and at least on that score, it delivers. The various robot effects and everything are pretty much flawless, and they are definitely visually interesting, though Spiderman 2 still will and should win. There are also a few ideas later in the movie that I liked.

There, that's everything that was good.

Should I really list everything that I didn't like about it, or should I just tell you it's a slick, but ultimately boring and dumbed down action cliché and be done with it?

Well, thanks to the miracles of hypertext, I can do both. If you don't care about the list, just move on now.

I really wanted to like this movie. I remember when I first heard about it, I was really psyched. Isaac Asimov's collection of short stories, the original "I, Robot", was one of the very first science-fiction novels I ever read, and I really loved it. It had an interesting premise and applied it in a number of interesting ways and placed it all in a number of compelling plots with believable characters. A movie of it could have been so cool.

This movie basically takes the Three Laws of Robotics premise and a few character names. The rest, it apparently had no use for.

I like Will Smith as an actor, but I HATED the character he played in this movie. I know, lets make the main character of a Robot movie into a technology hating luddite with an irrational fear of robots! Yeah, that's exactly the sort of character that all the millions of sci-fi fans will identify with! Brilliant! Oh, oh! And lets make him turn out to be right! Yeah. Oh, and those three laws of robotics are too complicated and limiting, so lets introduce a robot not bound by them in the first twenty minutes of the movie! Oh, and lets include all sorts of nonsensical plot twists and have police and robots and civilians and cars and trucks and security systems behave in ways that make no sense at all but move the ridiculous plot forward! And while we're at it, lets throw in a bunch of tired cop-movie clichés too. And then, at last, lets take one of the central characters from the original novel and strip away everything that made her interesting so that she can be the cardboard damsel in distress for Will Smith to save. None of the jokes were funny. Will Smith's character name was stupid (Detective Spooner!?!) and his lame "reason" to hate robots was stupid. The whole movie was a boring, unoriginal, cliché-ridden piece of garbage. There were a few nice things, but they were like antiques in a junkyard. Some value, perhaps, but you have to wade through a lot of crap to get to them.

I think, that if I was not such a fan of the original novel, then I would have been just bored by this movie, instead of angered. But I am such a fan, and this movie made me angry.

Maybe it's a waste for me to devote such emotional energy to it. Maybe I should just dismiss it and move on, but the one reason I don't do that is because this movie has just made it infinitely harder for a GOOD I, Robot movie to ever get made. That pisses me off.

Like with Vera Drake, which I saw on the same day, this film wasn't quite what I expected.

For a movie about euthanasia, The Sea Inside is surprisingly funny.

That is to say, it has a fair amount of humor. It's far from a comedy. It is, after all, a movie about a quadriplegic petitioning the Spanish government to be allowed to commit assisted suicide. Javier Bardem plays Ramon Sampedro, a man of intelligence, wit, and a deep sadness. Ramon is completely paralyzed from the neck down, and has been for the last 28 years. He wants out, and no one can convince him otherwise.

Also, like with Vera Drake, the movie does not really take the side of the protagonist on this controversial subject. Instead, it simply tells his story. There are many scenes where he makes rational arguments and emotional pleas, trying to make his case. There are other scenes where his family members, friends, and a priest try to change his mind. Everyone in the movie has an emotional stake in what will eventually happen to him, and that makes for powerful drama.

In my review of Vera Drake, I said that film was more neutral and detached than balanced. This film is balanced, and far from detached. Whereas in Vera Drake, the actual issue of whether abortion should be legal or not is something for the characters to discuss, but not something the movie is otherwise concerned about. On the other hand, the topic of euthanasia is at the very heart of this film. The characters feel passionately about it, some on one side, some on the other. In the end, the film settles down onto the pro-euthanasia side, but the opposition has definitely been given the chance to speak.

The experience of watching this movie places us in the shoes of his friends and family. We feel terrible for him, that such a charming, intelligent, funny man has fallen into this condition. We are distraught that he wants to die. We want to tell him, no, there is so much that you still have to live for. You have loving friends and family all around you. You have your mind. Your voice. You are loved. You don't have to die. But we are frustrated and upset, just like his family, because none of our words can change his mind.

No doubt some find the whole subject depressing. I find it sad and complicated, but the very discussion brings to mind the most important things in life. Euthanasia is such a hard thing, because although suicide is wrong, and a tragedy, we also want to end suffering. Where do we draw the line? "Do Not Resuscitate" orders? Heroic measures? The case of Terry Schiavo comes to mind. It's a hard subject, but if one of the purposes of good cinema and good art is to raise hard subjects and attempt to make sense of them, then The Sea Inside is good cinema and good art. It's not entertaining exactly, but it is very powerful.

I saw this film as a double-feature with The Sea Inside, and as it happened, they made an interesting pairing, because neither film was quite what I expected.

What I knew about Vera Drake was that it was about a middle-aged woman who worked as underground abortionist in 1950's London. "Oh great," I thought, "another movie that will present me with contrived situations and weepy melodrama designed to make me say, 'Gosh, how barbaric it was back then when abortion was illegal. Thank God we don't live like that anymore.'" For the record, I concede that the issue of abortion is a complex one, but for me, it comes down to the fact that an abortion is killing a baby, and I think that's wrong. I went to see it because it was on the list (for Best Actress, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay,) and so I hoped that at least it would be a well-made piece of propaganda.

The film itself isn't perfect, but it is far more complex and interesting portrayal than I had expected.
I began to call it balanced, but I think the better word would be detached, or neutral. The film tells the story of, surprise, Vera Drake, a tiny, friendly, jovial, almost hobbit-like middle-aged woman, living in London. She loves her family, cares for her ailing elderly mother, invites young bachelor's over for tea (and to meet her shy single daughter,) and oh yeah, occasionally, she "helps out" young girls, by helping them to induce miscarriages.

I don't put it that way to be flippant, but because that's how the movie presents it, almost as an after-thought. Just another errand that she runs after buying the groceries and making tea for her invalid mother. She doesn't accept money for it, she just does it because, as she sees it, they need her help and no one else will do it for them. Still, despite her friendly reassuring demeanor, she seems to find it hard to talk about. She talks how about how 'it will all pass away' and how 'it will all be over', never actually using the words: abortion, miscarriage, baby. She's got a whole little routine she goes through. Things she does, things she says. But when things don't follow the routine, the girl won't stop crying, or another person is there, somehow she loses her confidence and you see the hint of fear in her eyes.

As it turns out, something goes wrong. It's not all that surprising really. After all, there wouldn't be much of a movie if nothing else happened. And where things go from there is obvious and inevitable, but that doesn't remove the tension, or the drama as Vera and her family must deal with the situation. It's not an action-thriller, not even a suspense drama. It's more of a tragedy.

There are some, I'm sure, who will say that the tragedy is that someone who just wanted to help girls in trouble was prosecuted unjustly for it. I'm not in that category. Instead, the tragedy is a loving, kind woman who has unfortunately deceived herself into thinking that she's doing the right thing. But she isn't, and that deception has tragic consequences, not just for her, but for many others.

It's interesting, and sad, and deep. It's also a little slow in the second half when there are a few too many scenes where she's overcome with emotion and can't speak. Still, it's a very good film, and good, I imagine, for sparking debate.

If you don't already know who the Numa-Numa guy is, watch this. I've posted about him before.

His name is Gary Brolsma, and I had heard that the guy was Dutch, but apparently, he is actually from Saddlebrook, New Jersey.

Over at Dean's World, they pointed me to a New York Times article today about how he is embarrassed by his recent celebrity.

He has now sought refuge from his fame in his family's small house on a gritty street in Saddle Brook. He has stopped taking phone calls from the news media, including The New York Times. He canceled an appearance on NBC's "Today." According to his relatives, he mopes around the house.

What's worse is that no one seems to understand.

I've put a new link under my profile picture to a document with some of my favorite recipes. Um... I feel like I should say more, but that's about it really.

Ain't It Cool News just pointed me to a brand-new Internet-only trailer for the Hitchhiker's Guide movie.

Now, the first teaser got me smiling. The next trailer was fun just because it showed me footage from the film for the first time. That one might be better for people who have no idea what's going on.

But this...

Wow. This one is for fans. This one is awesome.

People who've been reading for a while know that I've posted a few times about an ongoing debate where some scientists and others are insisting that HIV does not in fact cause AIDS. I came across the debate on Dean's World, and in his most recent post on the subject, he also asserts that HIV does not cause AIDS.

Prior to hearing about this debate, it had never occurred to me to even question the connection, and so in reading about it, I began to do just that. Question it, and do more research. Now, it's a sufficiently complicated subject as to be near-impossible for a lay-person to penetrate, even a relatively informed lay-person like myself. Still, in all my reading, I have come to the following conclusions:

There is a causal relationship between the HIV virus and AIDS. It may not be the only factor, and in fact, I'm inclined to think that there are perhaps multiple co-factors required for the virus to actually develop into AIDS. What these cofactors are remains in the realm of speculation at this point.

That said, I still think there are a number of sketchy things going on in the administration of medications, and the diagnostic criteria being used in Africa. I suspect that there are a lot of people in Africa who are being diagnosed as AIDS patients when they are in fact suffering immune suppression due to malnutrition and other aggravating factors, such as malaria.

So after floating a bit, I have settled once more on the HIV=AIDS side, though certainly closer to the fence than before. Furthermore, I definitely plan to continue following the debate and viewing news reports on the subject with a more skeptical eye. I think the research that I've done on the subject while pursuing this issue has been very valuable and I'm glad that the debate prodded me into doing it.

Wow, the awards kind of snuck up on me. For some reason, I was thinking they were in March this year, but no, they are taking place this Sunday night. I have a busy weekend ahead of me if I'm going to see the four more movies I need.

That will not bring me to 100% of course, because some of the movies, the foreign-language films in particular, have not yet been shown here at all. I'm currently at 88%. Before Sunday, I plan to see I, Robot and Troy on DVD, and to see Vera Drake and The Sea Inside in the theater. If I manage to see all four, that will bring me up to 95.7%, a substantial improvement over last year, in which I only managed 89%. The only film that I have not seen that I had the opportunity to see was Closer, but unfortunately, it left theaters before the Oscar Nominations were announced and has not yet come to DVD.

You'll note, if you check out my 2005 Oscars Spreadsheet, that I have color-coded the various categories. Categories where I have seen all the nominated films are in green. Categories where I plan on seeing all the nominated films are in yellow, and categories where I will be unable to see all the nominated films are in orange. Watch this space for reviews of the four remaining films and during the Oscar award ceremony, I'll be watching and updating live as the awards are given out. See if my predictions will be accurate! See if I have anything interesting to say! See if it turns into a lame wanna-be version of bad director's commentaries! (Frex. And there's Jude Law... He's got a nice smile... and there's Natalie Portman... um...)

Hopefully, it will be fun!

Day 14:
Starting Weight: 247.5
Current Weight: 248.5
Day 14 Target Weight: 246
My Weight Loss Plan Spreadsheet

Analysis

Okay, clearly not a very good start. My weight trendline is actually going up instead of down. I attribute this to a number of factors. First is that I've not done any official exercise since Day 2. A good chunk of that is due to simple laziness, but for the last four days, I've not been feeling well, and so I've been avoiding strenuous exercise for that reason. Next, though I've largely avoided fast food, I have had a larger than usual number of heavy restaurant meals, plus I've been indulging my sweet tooth with girl-scout cookies and candy. Not a good start at all.

That said, despite the weight gain, there have been some small victories. First and foremost, the very act of tracking my weight this way is, I think, a huge step in making me more aware of what I'm eating, how much I'm exercising, and my health in general. Not that it's done me a lot of good so far, but I think it's an important first step.

Second, I have succeeded in dramatically reducing my consumption of fast food, with only two meals in two weeks, and both of those were smaller/healthier than normal. That was a priority, as watching Super-Size Me was a big part of my decision to start this in the first place. (See my review) In place of fast food and other non-fast but still processed food products (Hamburger Helper, Ramen Noodles, etc.) I've been preparing a lot more of my own meals using known ingredients. At some point, I will put up a link to some of the recipes I've been enjoying. So, although I'm still eating too much and not exercising enough, I have made some progress in eating healthier things.

Plan of Action

Item 1: Avoid restaurants whenever possible, and when it is not possible, make sure that I order healthier items. (salads with dressing on the side, grilled chicken, etc.)

Item 2: Continue preparing my own meals, but be more conscious of my serving sizes and how much I am eating per meal.

Item 3: Renew my exercise regimen, making sure to stay hydrated.

Item 4: No more Candy! If I must have sweet things, eat fruit instead. Begin tracking sweets as well as fast food on spreadsheet.

Item 5: Perform updates once a week at minimum.

Man, I wish I had seen this one in the theater. I thought about it at the time. I had heard good things about it. I wanted to see it. It just never made the top of the list. Oh well, can't see everything, I suppose. Anyway, some of the South American scenery in this movie is simply breathtaking, and to see it on a big screen must really have been something. It's pretty impressive even on a television, so let me just begin the review by telling you the scenery and landscapes are absolutely gorgeous.

What about the story, you ask? Ah, yes. The Motorcycle Diaries is based on the diary entries of one Ernesto Guevara, relating the story of a cross-continent motorcycle trip he took through South America with his friend Alberto. If the last name sounds vaguely familiar, it is because young Ernesto eventually became "Che" Guevara, the famous Cuban Revolutionary, the 'Comandante' who led a fierce rebellion through passion, bravery and force of will.

But all that happens later. This movie is about his motorcycle trip. It is not about Che the revolutionary, but about Ernesto, the young man who would later become a revolutionary. I've already said the landscapes were amazing, but the rest of the film is terrific as well.

Ernesto is played with a deep charisma and wonderful range by Gael García Bernal, who is also in Bad Education, the latest film by Pedro Almodóvar, another Spanish language filmmaker whom I really admire. I'm looking forward to seeing him in that, and I think he's really got a serious career ahead of him.

As played by Mr. Bernal, Ernesto is a charming, but serious young man from a well-off family. Only a semester away from finishing medical school. His friend Alberto is a biochemist. These are not members of the poverty-stricken under-class. They aren't riding across the continent because they need work or because they are fleeing persecution. They're going because they are young and restless and it sounds like fun.

Some of it is fun. Some of it is hard. Some of it is scary. But it's the people he meets that really start to work on young Ernesto. Farmers kicked off land that has been in their families for generations. A couple fleeing arrest because of their political party, traveling the long, lonely roads, looking for work. Mistreated outcasts in a leper colony. All of things begin to stir something deep in his heart, planting the seeds of the revolutionary to come.

It must be remembered, I think, that Che Guevara fought for communism, and while I disagree rather wholeheartedly that communism is the way to go, I can nonetheless feel sympathetic with the plight of the poverty-stricken. Ernesto feels a deep sense of injustice, as would anyone, (except perhaps the people benefiting from it,) and I think that pretty much all of us can identify with that and even feel passionate that something must be done. We may disagree with his conclusions, but not with his motives. For the most part, the movie is not advocating his position as much as showing the experiences that shaped the man.

The movie is captivating, well-photographed, touching, and thought-provoking. In short, excellent. Frankly, I was a little surprised to discover that it was only nominated for best screenplay and best original song. Certainly I liked it more than Million Dollar Baby, though I'm evidently in the minority on that score.

Well, my company just sprang for new cell phones for everyone. I got an LG VX6100. It's pretty spiffy. Also pretty overdue, as the last phone was getting pretty clunky and boring by today's standards.

The new one's a camera phone, and can get all sorts of games and fancy ringtones.

Check out this picture of my little guinea pig, Guinevere, taken by my camera-phone. Ain't she sweet? I rarely get good pictures of her because she's scared of... well, everything, really.

The Story of the Weeping Camel follows a rural Mongolian family through an episode of their lives. It should be said up front that there was a little fuzziness when it came to classifying this film as a documentary, because technically it is a scripted film. However, Roger Ebert points out the following:

The movie has been made in the same way that Robert Flaherty made such documentaries as "Nanook of the North," "Men of Aran" and "Louisiana Story." It uses real people in real places and essentially has them play themselves in a story inspired by their lives. That makes it a "narrative documentary," according to the filmmakers. A great many documentaries are closer to this model than their makers will admit; even "cinema verite" must pick and choose from the available footage and reflect a point of view.

Before seeing Tupac: Resurrection, I had only a passing familiarity with Tupac Shakur. I knew who he was. I remember hearing about when he died. I knew he had something to do with the whole "West-coast/East-coast" thing, but that was about it.

Tupac: Resurrection is a documentary about him, largely narrated by the late rapper himself, through clips from various interviews, and making heavy use of personal photographs and videos. From a strictly visual perspective, the documentary is extremely slick and very well put together. Furthermore, it gave me a new level of insight into a complicated man who lived an interesting life. The filmmakers should definitely be proud of themselves for the film they've made.

Still, I've never been a fan of so-called 'gangsta-rap', though I respect it as a legitimate musical sub-genre. Perhaps it's a cultural thing, but I've found that I can't really identify with the violence and anger in it. Still, despite that, I've often wondered about how it plays into the art-imitates-life-imitates-art dynamic.

In this documentary, Tupac compares his rap to the war footage of Vietnam, suggesting that he isn't creating the violence, only reporting on it to people who don't want to hear about those sorts of things. He felt that the war would have gone on longer if not for the war footage, and therefore, he hopes that gangsta rap music will begin to change the problems that can occur in the inner-city. Sounds good, to be sure, and it may even have some truth to it, but it's hard to deny that many of his songs (and not just his) seem to glorify the more violent and sometimes misogynistic elements of inner-city culture. Without wanting to dismiss his whole point, it occasionally came off (to me) as rationalization. He was successful with that type of music and it appealed to a lot of people. Further, he says in the film that he got writer's block whenever he tried to make his music a little more positive. Given all that, it's understandable that he wouldn't want to hear that his music may be bad for people, or at least for some people. As such, he defends it to the best of his ability, which is pretty good, but was not (to me) entirely convincing.

For example, he makes a strong case that use of the word "bitch" in rap songs is meant to apply to a specific type of woman, the type who sleeps around merely to get close to money or fame, and is not meant to apply to all women. Also, he tries to define 'thug' as in "Thug Life" not according to the dictionary definition, but rather as someone who has decided to be who they are, regardless of how society feels about it. Perhaps in that context, the terms are less problematic, but frankly, I'm reminded of Rush Limbaugh and his use of the term: "Feminazi." He has said that that term is only meant to apply to a very specific subset of feminists, but it is not always used consistently in that context, and it is completely understandable that that term might be offensive to all feminists and not just the ones he intends to target. I think that it is a similar situation. For every song where he urges respect and kindness toward women, there's a dozen that talk about 'bitches' and 'hoes'.

In the end, the documentary is well put-together, and I really appreciated the opportunity to gain new insight on a complex individual. I was not ultimately won over to the 'gangsta-rap' fandom, but I do have a renewed respect for it. Anyone who is already a fan would do well to check this documentary out. I doubt you'll be disappointed.

Russian Scientists Develop Tablet to Prolong drunkenness

If you take a tablet you need less alcohol to stay drunk, the scientists were quoted by the paper as saying. “RU-21 Red prolongs drunkenness and enhances intoxication,” the company co-founder, Emil Chiabery, born in the ex-Soviet republic of Georgia said.

There's a meme going around where people list ten things they've done that most people probably haven't. For example, Hannah Bowen, Wendy Delmater, Kevin Kibelstis and Elizabeth Bear.

So here's my list:
1. Performed in a puppet show in a Mexican church.

2. Been asked "Are you sure you're in the right seat?" by a passenger that was later escorted off the plane by armed air marshals.

3. Been asked out to dinner by a stranger on Alcatraz Island.

4. Placed a three-pound steel ball-bearing inside a tennis ball as a joke.

5. Sustained a second-degree burn onstage in the middle of a play and finished the show without anyone knowing.

6. Seen the Challenger disaster in person.

7. Qualified for the national-level tournament in speech and debate.

8. Took notes for an entire semester of Music Appreciation class left-handed and backwards like Leonardo DaVinci, just for the hell of it.

9. Stolen a letter from a fast-food restaurant's marquee because they were using it irresponsibly.

10. Dropped to the floor of my apartment because my disturbed pot-head next-door neighbor was being arrested at gunpoint.

Note also, that I have surpassed 1000 hits on my blog's counter! Hooray!

Hmm, not feeling super perky today. Mostly feeling thoughtful, with a little brooding and pouting thrown in.

Having a little bit of a crummy morning today which, added to a couple of things from yesterday has just got me in a little bit of a whiny mood this morning. First of all, this morning I nearly ran out of gas on the way to work because I wasn't paying attention. I didn't run out, but I had to get off the highway at an unfamiliar exit to find a gas station when I was already late for work. Then I pull into a BP station and for some bizarre reason, the gas pumps were having some sort of electronic hissy-fit and they wouldn't let me pay with a card and they wouldn't let me select pay inside either. So I give up on them and get back in the car to drive to another station, which doesn't have the pay-at-the-pump stuff at all. So then I have to stand there in the frigid wind while the slowest pump ever dribbles gas into my car. Then the traffic sucked on the way in, with people driving slow in the left lane and big-ass trucks looming over the center line and scaring the hell out of me more than once.

Add to that the fact that I cut my finger making dinner last night. (Actually, given the amount of vegetable and meat chopping I had to do for the empeneda recipe I was trying, I'm surprised I didn't cut myself worse.) It's not a big cut, but it's in an annoying place that hurts when I type. The recipe itself was pretty tasty, but it didn't tell me how much crust I needed so I didn't have nearly enough, and as I have no experience rolling the little empeneda rolls, they were pretty awful looking. Tasted okay though. I might talk more about my recent grocery/recipe/cooking adventures in another post, if I feel like it.

Those are just normal sort of grumpy-day type things though. What's really got me brooding a bit is a couple of the reviews I got on the Online Writing Workshop. They stung more than a little, not because they were particularly harsh, but because I recognized immediately that they were right in almost everything they suggested. Ouch. It's not that I'm feeling discouraged exactly, but I do feel like a little of the wind has been let out of my sails.

Writing a novel is kind of like climbing a mountain. It's a lot of work, and you have to be in it for the long haul. Basically what happened to me is that I could see the top. I wasn't feeling that tired and I was enjoying the landscape around me. I was excited to be so close and I was really moving along, enjoying myself. Then I reach what I thought was the top and realize that it was just a little ridge and that the real peak is still REALLY far away and that the climb still to come is way harder than what I've already done.

*sigh* I'm not giving up or anything. After all, it's an early draft, so I knew that it needs a lot of work still. That's the whole reason I put it on the workshop! So that I can get outside perspectives on what's working and what isn't. Still, it's just a little bit disheartening to realize that it needs a lot more work than I had been thinking it needed. Oh well, I've been in this spot before and I know I'll come out of it, the better for having received legitimate constructive criticism. Still, I think I may take a couple of days to feel sorry for myself in the meantime. *Bleagh*


In the meantime, Aint-it-Cool-News has a pretty dramatic site re-design up today. I'm not totally sure what I think about it at this point, because it's still too new, and I'm used to the old version. Anyway, could be cool once I get used to it.

Dave Barry's got a few things that made me smile:
First: A pothead gets narced on by his own dog

Next: Panda Poo Excites Experts

Last of all, I was extremely pleased with last night's first episode of Survivor: Pulau. New and interesting twists, a surprising amount of drama and backstabbing for just the first episode, and my early favorite is Ian. They've got a bunch of extra video up on their website too, for those of you who, like me, can't get enough.

Also, the fantasy league adds an extra level of enjoyment for me, although it's odd that they haven't posted the scores yet. Not sure what's up with that. Just another reminder though that you can join the league at any time, so if you want to join my mini-tribe, email me, and I'll send you an invite. You're still competing with everyone in the league, but it will give you a little web-page where you can easily compare your scores to mine and the other tribe-members. There's three of us so far, but room for plenty more!

Anyway, that's what's up with me today.

Artwork, and Land

Listening to...
Shaun of the Dead Soundtrack
David Sedaris: Live at Carnegie Hall
Cathy Richardson: The Road to Bliss (and others by her)


Just recently imported myself a copy of the Shaun of the Dead Soundtrack. If you haven't seen the movie, you should go check it out immediately. It's fabulous. Very funny, but completely respectful of the zombie-movie genre. The soundtrack is pretty darn good too. Rather than simply being an album of songs that are associated with the movie, many of them are remixes especially for the soundtrack, even occasionally sampling lines from the movie. There's no US release at the moment, but they have it on Amazon. Some of the songs are better than others, but the tracks blend well and it's extremely well put-together. Anyway, a must have for all zombie-lovers!

Because I regularly listen to and appreciate National Public Radio, (and because I'm a sucker,) I contributed to my local NPR station this year. My thank you gift was David Sedaris: Live at Carnegie Hall. Less a stand-up album than an abridged audio-book, it features him reading from some of his funny essays. He's got a great delivery and many of his observations are very entertaining, as when he's musing about the different ways that Santa Clause is seen in other cultures, or pondering the meaning behind the words spoken by his sister's parrot, Henry. It was enough to make me start looking into some of the books he has written.

Last, I've got some CDs that aren't new, even to me, but I was just re-appreciating them recently. There's a local musician in Chicago by the name of Cathy Richardson, and I think she's really really good. Her music is pretty varied, from almost(but not quite) gospel, to hard rock, to chick-rock, to psychedelic rock. Check out her site, and you can listen to a couple samples of her songs and even order her CD's there. I direct you there instead of Amazon, because she has specifically complained (check the Customer Review) about the way they dealt with her, specifically, the way they offer "used" copies of the CD's on the same page as the new ones.

Currently Reading...
Hammered by Elizabeth Bear
Smart Women Finish Rich by David Bach.
The Man who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks
Recently read...
Star Dragon by Mike Botherton
Looking forward to reading:
Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris
Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett
Going Postal by Terry Pratchett

The first, is Hammered, by Elizabeth Bear, a member of the same Online Writing Workshop that I belong to. She's a genuine success story, not only having gotten her novel published, but it's been receiving some legitimate acclaim. It's about a lot of things, but it starts with a middle-aged cyborg ex-soldier who does medic work for the local gangsters in a run-down future version of Hartford, Connecticut. How fun is that? I'm still only a third of the way through it, but I'm definitely enjoying so far. I'll talk more about it when I've finished it.

Next, I've got a financial book recommended to me by my mom, Smart Women Finish Rich by David Bach. I'm only one chapter into it, and it seems a little more aimed at investments rather than just budgeting and saving and such. Still, it seems well-written and sensible so far.

I've also just started reading, and am already a quarter of the way through, The Man who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks. It's a neuropsychiatry book about people with unusual problems, like a man who loses the ability to assemble individual details into a cohesive whole. Looking at a photograph of a park, say, he might point out specific things like a pink flower or a green bench, but when asked a general question like: What is this a picture of? He couldn't answer at all. Also, he would sometimes confuse objects with the parts of the body they are associated with. For example, foot and shoe, head and hat, thus the title.

In another case, a woman lost all "proprioception" which refers to the body's ability to sense itself. Meaning, unless she actually looked at it, she had no sense of what position her body was in. She said she felt disembodied. She could control her arms and legs, but only by looking at them and guiding them by sight.

Another man was seized with the delusion that his own leg was no longer part of his body. He literally fell out of bed because he woke up and someone had put a severed leg in bed with him and it was somehow stuck to him. He insisted that his own leg had somehow disappeared, and that someone had taken a different leg and attached it to him.

It's a fascinating book. I've always been intrigued by the inner workings of the mind and the various conditions that can occur when things go wrong, and this book is custom-tailored for that, though I should warn that it occasionally uses some scientific jargon without explaining it, so reading with a dictionary by your side wouldn't hurt. Still, it has given me a lot of insight and has really triggered my imagination and given me some ideas that I plan to use in some of my writing. I have two characters in particular who suffer from various maladies, and some of this book has really given me some ideas about how to handle those characters.

The last book I finished reading was Star Dragon by Mike Botherton. Several hundred years from now, a space probe examining a distant star detects what looks like a strange, dragon-like creature, swimming through the hot plasma of a binary star system. A mission is put together to investigate, even though, due to relativity, 500 years will go by on Earth by the time they return. An interesting premise, though the characters were not all that impressive. Diverse, but ultimately cardboard, and I repeatedly found myself thinking that they hadn't profiled the crew of this ship very well. Though I suppose when recruiting for a mission that will return the crew to Earth after 500 years have passed, beggars can't be choosers. However, the actual science and technical details of the story were exceptionally well-done, especially the far-future advances in biotech, which I always enjoy. If you're a geek for astronomy or biotech, this book is worth a read. Just don't expect exciting, compelling characters.

As for books that I've been eyeing on the bookshelf...

Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris. I've recently been listening to a comedy CD of his, and I've always enjoyed his pieces on This American Life, on NPR. He's a funny, guy, so I want to read one of his books.

Also, I'm falling behind on my Discworld books! There are two out now that I haven't read. I'd better get a move on! Monstrous Regiment and Going Postal, both by Terry Pratchett.

Yeah, I know, it's just another link that could have gone in the link roundup post, but I felt this one was important enough to merit it's own post... Okay, and I forgot to put it in when I was writing that one.

Anyway, here it is, in all it's tiny-screened, bizarre-formatted, but still entertaining micro-glory! It looks pretty good, but I'd like to see it on the big screen before I make final judgement. Still, I'm really psyched about the movie!

F.D.A. to Create Advisory Board on Drug Safety

Gee, is that really their job?


Also,

No Big Spider Walked the Earth

[World News]: Edinburgh, Feb 16 : It was known as the biggest spider ever to have walked on earth and inspired many a fearsome model in museums the world over. But now a British scientist says the creature wasn't a spider at all!

Super Size Me director Morgan Spurlock has won the Writers Guild of America's award for documentary feature writing.

Organisers said the rising popularity of documentary films led them to honour a writer for a documentary screenplay for the first time.

The truth is, says Paul, he didn't set out to be a hero. It just happened. At the time, there didn't seem to be any other choice. "One terrible thing I learned," he said, "is that a human being is even more wild than a lion. A lion eats to kill. And a human being kills for killing."
...
In order to make the movie appealing to a wide audience — and to earn it its hard-fought PG-rating in America — Irish director and screenwriter Terry George softened the scenes of Paul's life. For instance, when the militia attacked the UN convoy carrying Paul's wife and kids, they beat Tatiana so badly that her back was broken. The filmed version shows militias holding a machete to her neck threateningly, but she escapes unscathed.

TAKING the Pill has a surprising side-effect according to research: it changes the type of face that a woman finds attractive.

British scientists have discovered that women on the Pill have different ideals of male sexual attractiveness to those who are not taking oral contraceptives.

As many of you know, the new season of Survivor starts this Thursday on CBS. I'm really excited about it, and if you haven't yet been initiated as a Survivor fan, I really recommend that you give the show a try. It's at its best though when you start to get a feel for the people as characters, so you really owe it to yourself to give it at least a couple of episodes.

Anyway, the new Survivor Fantasy League is up! I did it last season and it's loads of fun. Basically you select four of the survivors and then you get points based on how well each of them does that week. You can change your choices at any time except the day of the episode. It adds an additional level of entertainment to an already fun show, and if you're already planning to watch, you should definitely sign up!

When you do, send me an email to let me know and I will send you an invite to join my private tribe! What that means essentially is that we will have a tribe page where we can compare scores with each other all at once. Hope to see you there and looking forward to a fun season, full of manipulation, backstabbing and physical challenges!

What a movie to see on Valentine's Day! A Very Long Engagement is a heart-felt romance, staged across the backdrop of World War I. This makes for a wonderfully dramatic story, but I must point out that the movie is not particularly suitable as a "date" movie. The war scenes, though not as sustained, are on pretty much the same level as Saving Private Ryan in terms of intensity. War sucks in general, but damn! The trench warfare that occurred in World War I is about as close to hell as I think any of us can imagine.

The movie begins with five soldiers, each accused of self-mutilation (shooting themselves in the hand in the hope that they will be sent home,) and sentenced to death. Some of them are guilty and some of them are not, but they are to be taken to the front lines and thrown over the top of the trench into "No Man's Land." One of these soldiers is Manech, the fiancé of our heroine, Matilde.

She's been told that he's dead, but her heart won't let her believe it. So she hopes, and she searches, trying her best to unravel the mystery of what happened to her fiancé. Maintaining that hope is hard work, because one trail after another keeps coming to the same horrible conclusion: Manech is dead.

But no! She can't let herself think that. If he was dead, she would know. She's sure of it. She plays little games with herself, "If the train goes into the tunnel before the count of seven, he's alive," and "If I reach the bend in the road before the car does, Manech will come home." Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes, something else entirely happens.

At first, she is told that the story is simple. He was thrown out of the trench and was killed by the Germans. Nothing more to it than that. But the deeper she looks, the more complex the story becomes, and in her searching, she comes across many other searchers, each of them just as desperate as she is.

I won't say any more about the plot, because the mystery is one of the things that make this movie so wonderful and powerful. Matilde is played by Audrey Tautou, who many of you will remember from the magical film Amelie. She is just as wonderful here, though where Amelie was shy and uncertain, Matilde is determined and resolute. Jean-Pierre Jenuet, the writer/director, is also the same, but the scope of this film is much wider, with far more characters and far more to say. (A little advice: If you see the film, pay attention to the character names early on, because there are a lot of them and it can get a little confusing if you don't remember them.)

Though the movie is more serious-minded than Amelie, it has loads of charm and humor as well, much of it supplied by Matilde's loving, but concerned parents. In particular, the father's friendly feud with the mailman and the mother's appreciation for something you wouldn't normally appreciate. There is plenty of intrigue as well, with secret assassins and coded letters. It's also quite touching throughout, but pay special notice of Jodie Foster's (yes, the Jodie Foster) role as a war widow with an unusual, but all too human, story to tell.

The movie is nominated for Best Art Direction and Best Cinematography and it really shines in these areas as well. The set designs absolutely gorgeous, the war scenes harrowing, and the homey scenes feeling like an old, but treasured, photograph. Matilde travels by picturesque trains, rides Manech's shoulders to the top of a scenic lighthouse, visits a huge military library archive. The color palette in the war scenes is dank and cold and scary. In Matilde's scenes, it is warm and cozy and inviting. The opening and closing credits, while similar in some respects, evoke completely different moods. The first is like looking for something with a flashlight, in the dark and in the rain. The last is like looking at something by candlelight, in the wee hours, when you know you should blow out the candle and go to sleep, but you keep looking anyway.

In summary, it's a truly wonderful film, and I heartily recommend it to anyone.

Just a quick one for now, as I'm pretty busy today...

I was listening to NPR this morning on the way to work and a guest on Morning Edition was talking about the niche filled by news commentary shows in the overall field of journalism.

He said something like: "The thing with shows like Crossfire is that people use them like a drunk uses a lamppost: More for support than illumination."

*rim-shot*

UPDATE!!!
I've been informed that the original link I used for the Numa-numa guy (the one I got from Dave Barry's blog) is dead. It took me a while, but I found it again. It was tough going because there are a lot of inferiour versions out there. Some that were smaller, some that had much worse picture quality, some that had these stupid lame pictures added to it. But at long last I found the good one again, and I've taken the liberty of saving the file on my own site, so no worries about a dea