Thoroughly enjoyable! Not really a lot to it, all told (Greek-American girl meets American boy, boy has to cope with her very proudly Greek family), but a quite pleasant and silly movie. When Dad was telling me about it after he saw it, he compared it to his family — having survived (and enjoyed) a couple family reunions, I can definitely see the parallels. While our middle-American roots aren’t quite the same as the Greek roots in the movie’s family, in many ways, a big family is a big family, no matter what their heritage…and I think I’m glad I don’t have 27 first cousins! Anyway, definitely worth a rent.
TV And Films
The shows and movies I like (or don’t).
Signs
First and foremost — creepy. Extremely so. Shyamalan excels when it comes to creating unsettling moods, and he uses that to full effect throughout the movie. Unfortunately, after ninety minutes of buildup, the end is something of a letdown — a bit too pat and sudden after all that suspense, not to mention an extremely heavy dose of ‘deus ex machina‘. I was reminded both of Chrichton’s ‘Andromeda Strain’ and many Heinlein novels — page turners ’til the very end, when everything just suddenly stops. Quite unsatisfying.
Having watched all three of Shyamalan’s films now (The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, and Signs), I think he’s an excellent director, and a very gifted conceptualizer, but I also think he could benefit from turning over his ideas to a more accomplished writer. While I’ve enjoyed each of his films, I’ve also found each of them somewhat lacking. The Sixth Sense was very much a one-trick pony (worth watching only twice: once to be surprised by the twist end, and again to catch all the clues you missed the first time), Unbreakable was an interesting idea but was too distant and cold in its execution to really grab me, and Signs topped off an atmosphere of tension and suspense that many horror movies could really use with a letdown of a resolution.
Secretary
Wow…now that was an interesting film. I can definitely see why Kirsten’s been suggesting it! A fascinating portrayal of two people breaking out of their respective self-imposed psychological prisons to find support and love through a light S&M, D/s relationship. Wonderfully done, too — they manage to present a fetish that has a lot of misunderstanding among most people as something that, while unusual, is not freakish, and is actually healthy and liberating for both of the parties involved. Admittedly, it’s not a fetish that I’ve got much interest in, but I’ve certainly got more of an understanding of and appreciation for why some people do find it to their taste. I’ll probably be keeping this disc long enough to listen to the commentary track (from the writer and the director), just to get a bit more insight into the film.
About a Boy
Hugh Grant plays his “charming slimeball” routine to a T, as the world’s shallowest bachelor who finds acceptance, and hidden depths, after stumbling into becoming a surrogate father figure for the quirky son of a troubled single mom. Quite enjoyable, with a lot of cute lines.
Besides — even though it was in all the trailers, his reaction to being asked to be the godfather to his friends’ newborn daughter is priceless! “Let’s face it, I’d make a horrible godfather. I’d drop her on her head at her christening, forget all her birthdays until her 18th when I’d take her out, get her drunk and, let’s face it, probably try to shag her. This is a horrid idea.”
NORAD? Um, nope!
There’s a very interesting site that I found via Atrios that, among other things, has a very comprehensive look at the events of Sept. 11^th^ in this timeline. They seem to have done a good job of piecing together the various news reports about the events of that day, comparing them and questioning the many inconsistencies that exist.
From there, I started browsing through the rest of the source site, the Center for Cooperative Research. Looking at another page on the site, a more straightforward timeline of Sept. 11^th^, imagine my surprise when I saw a picture captioned ‘NORAD’s war room in Cheyenne, Wyoming,’ that, rather than being a picture of the Norad control room, is actually a screen shot from the 1983 adventure/suspense film Wargames!
As important as I think it is that we continue to investigate the events of Sept. 11^th^, and the events surrounding it, when a site does something like this — no matter how good their overall intentions may be — it only serves to damage their credibility. The webmaster of the Center for Cooperative Research should either replace that photo with a real photo of NORAD (if such a photo exists in the private sector), or simply remove the Wargames photo. Leaving it there can only damage how seriously people take their site, no matter how much effort they’ve put into their research.
Update: I e-mailed my concerns about the picture to the webmaster, and they’ve replaced the former photo with one from Discover magazine. While I’ve never been in NORAD, and therefore can’t assert to the photo’s accuracy firsthand, it does look far more likely to be the real thing (more realistic graphics on the monitors, more realistic computer terminals, less flashy overall — and I don’t recognize it from a movie!).
My Netflix queue
After severely decimating my movie collection, I got to talking with one of the guys at work, and he gave Netflix a glowing recommendation.
It looks like a handy little service. You select what moves you’d like to rent, and then subscribe for a \$20/month fee. As movies become available, Netflix sends them to you. You watch them, then send them back. No per-day charges, no late fees — just send them back whenever you’re done. You’re allowed to have three out at a time, and when you send any back, more from your list get sent to you.
So, I figured what the heck, and signed up. ~~If anyone’s really morbidly curious, I’ll keep track of what’s in my queue here.~~ Feel free to suggest some, too!
Update: Trying to keep track of my rental queue was rapidly becoming fairly obnoxious to try to deal with as I kept adding stuff, so I’ve discontinued that. I’ve also moved my mini-reviews to posts of their own, rather than perpetually adding comments to this post. They’ll show up on the main page, or you can always check the MovieReviews category listing to catch up.
Peace is our profession
Operation Strangelove: On May 14^th^, host a screening (even if it’s just for yourself!) of Dr Strangelove (or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb)!
Be part of a national anti-war action on May 14. Screen “Dr. Strangelove,” and raise money for groups still working hard for peace, justice and relief in Iraq.
Pre-emptive strikes. Cowboy diplomacy. Men conspiring in the War Room, bent on world domination. Weapons of mass destruction. And most terrifying of all, an invasion begun for one overwhelming reason: precious fluids.
Forty years after its filming, the dark and explosively funny “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb” seems like a satirical time bomb planted by Stanley Kubrick and Terry Southern, set to detonate on Bush’s doctrine of unilateral warfare, anytime, anywhere.
As the war on Iraq winds down (at least on TV), as the perils (and profits) of occupation loom, and as the Bushies plot the next pre-emptive strike, Operation Strangelove aims to show the warmongers in their true light.
On May 14, put on a screening of “Dr. Strangelove” — in your living room, at the local theater, on campus, on your laptop, anywhere you can — and say no to unilateral invasions, to endangering our troops for the sake of oil, to flouting international law and the world community in the name of empire. Follow the film with discussions, forums, debates. Keep talking. Keep acting. Let’s give new meaning to the old Strategic Air Command motto, “Peace Is Our Profession.”
(via Kalilily)
Renew! Renew! Renew!
Well, I’m still here and kicking around, so it seems I didn’t go up in a fiery explosion in the ritual of Carousel. Frankly, I’m relieved — I’ve always said I wanted to go out with a bang, but not that literally.
Incidentally, for those who I may have entirely lost with my birthday post, I highly suggest you check out the movie Logan’s Run. Classic sci-fi.
Anyway, overall a good day yesterday. Wandered around town for a bit with Prairie, and went down to see X-Men 2 midway through the day. Very, very cool — I’ve never been a huge comic person, but I’ve read enough about the X-Men over the years to be very impressed with how they’re handling the movies. Accessible and fun action-adventure flicks for the masses, with a lot of intelligent nods to the fans and creative ties to established comic book canon while creating a new storyline. All in all, lots of fun.
Spent the evening hanging out with Chad and Prairie at the Bad JuJu Lounge and bouncing around at the Vogue. I’d tried to get ahold of Rick and Candice too, but never reached them. Was a little bit of a bummer, but the three of us had fun. I just got a call from Rick, though — he’s collecting Chad and heading this way, and we’re going to go find something to do for the afternoon. Woohoo! Off to go play…
Last Day
Last Day: Taurus 3’s, Year of the City 2003: Carousel begins…
Carousel was developed as a means for Body Retirement. When a person reaches their 30^th^ Birthday, their face begins to show signs of ‘aging’. They may notice some wrinkles under their eyes, they may notice that their eyesight is not as good as it once was. Also, they may begin to develop white hairs on the head, or worse — loss of hair (known as balding).
This is your body telling you that it’s time to transfer yourself into a new, fresh body — a baby’s body. A body that will take you through another 30 years.
Baby bodies are provided through ‘seed mothering’ — from the female citizens of our society. After being delivered, these babies are taken in by our nuturing Mother Computer and are then given the ‘souls’ of those Last Dayer’s who were able to reach Life Renewal on Carrousel.
Last Day?
When your lifeclock in the palm of your left hand begins to blink, your time is up in your present body. Upon blinking, proceed to our Headquartes on Nolan Street, 7th Floor, Room 1976.
There, you will be given proper ceremonial garb and final instructions for participating in Life-Renewal on Carousel.
Remember, the higher you are able to ‘fly’ while the Carousel turns, the greater your Renewal chances. Don’t let the fear of knowing that your old body will explode into a fiery pulp as you try to reach these heights hinder your efforts, or you may not make it to the Renewal Stage.
Carousel is meant to be an enjoyable, life-renewable experience. As you’re out there standing with your fellow ‘Renewer’s’, and with all your friends watching and shouting from the stands, by keeping a positive outlook on the process…
…YOU WILL BE RENEWED
TV Turnoff Week Apr. 21-27
This’ll be amazingly easy for me to do — I stopped watching TV roughly, oh, ten or twelve years or so, I think. Since then, the only times I’ve been around much TV has been when I’ve been over at someone elses house and they’ve happened to have it turned on.
There’s too many other things to do in life for me to waste time sitting around in front of the boob tube.
(via MeFi)