Bite sized 2.

Trying to keep my posts shorter.

2) Good news/bad news category: The Royal Shakespeare Company in Straford, England is closing two of its theaters for renovation. They're spending 100 million pounds, and it sounds like the end result will be really cool. However, it will take THREE YEARS and because the theaters will be dark all that time, they have to lay off a bunch of their staff. Yikes! Again, for those who don't do the math, the story says that they may lay off as many as 58 employees, which would be 8% of their total workforce. That means they employ 725 people. Then the article mentions the concern that 27 of the proposed layoffs come from the backstage and production departments, and represent a third of the staff of those departments. Which means that only 81 out of those 725 work in the backstage and production departments. That seems ridiculous, doesn't it? I shall have to look into it further.

Bite sized 1.

Trying to keep my posts shorter.

1) Remember in the spring when I was excited that Gillian Anderson is single again? Apparently she's not that single. She is pregnant with her new boyfriend's child and due by the end of the year. For those of you who can't do the math, if she's due in December, that means she got pregnant in March. But she didn't get divorced until April. What was that article about being a slut.....?

Simple joys.

It's the little things that get you through the day, right? Thanks to Mikey B. for some of these thoughts.


-- They're making a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie.

-- They're making an Iron Man movie:



-- They're making a "Stardust" movie. And Matthew Vaughn's directing!

-- They're making a new version of Monopoly that uses credit cards instead of cash.

-- And, this was on sale, so I bought it. I've been wanting a portable hard drive for quite awhile now, and this one is fantastic. Yay!

Too darn hot.

So, the heat warnings are out. The heat index in Chicago is expected to be over 100 degrees for all of next week. But as I'm sure you all well know, it's not the heat, it's the humanity. Here are some ramblings to take your mind off of it.

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Pop Culture 101 -- today's lesson: Luna

Susan introduced me to the band Luna. They're excellent, and you should check them out. Especially since they just broke up. Yup. However, they also just released a greatest hits album, an album of all covers (called "Lunafied" -- great title!), and a DVD about the band that focuses on the breakup. And, in a cool twist that I was completely unaware of until hearing about their dissolution, their bass player was the voice of Jem from the 80's cartoon! Truly outrageous, indeed.

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A question to ponder: You're a theatrical producer for New York's Shakespeare in the Park, and you've got a production coming up of Brecht's "Mother Courage and Her Children." You've booked Meryl Streep in the title role, which should help get some butts in the chairs (always a problem when you're doing Brecht), and in an inspired bit of stunt casting you arrange to reunite her with her "Deer Hunter" co-star Christopher Walken, casting him as Cook. But Walken has to drop out suddenly due to scheduling conflicts! Quick -- whom do you cast to replace him? What famous star would be the closest thing to Christopher Walken? Wrong! It's Kevin Kline, of course. Now don't you feel silly?

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Like many of you, I've heard of silly things like cryptozoology ("the search for animals whose existence is disputed or unsubstantiated, like the Loch Ness monster"), but I never suspected that not only was it real, there's a center for it in England, and they have a team currently in Africa searching for the legendary Ninki-Nanka! Awesome or crazy? You decide. But either way, England is cooler than we are. Again.

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Big, big news from the NYT today: girls get mixed messages about sexuality. And slut is still a bad word. Wow. I'm shocked. Here's what I find to be the most interesting passage:

“When I think of the word slut,” wrote Don Reisinger, a student doing accounting and law work in Albany, in an e-mail message, “I think of a woman who has been around the block more times than my dad’s Chevy. I might date a slut, but I certainly wouldn’t marry one.”

For that reason, perhaps, women sometimes feel pressured to downplay their sexual experience. “Women still have a script for their future that involves marriage, that involves children,” said Dr. Susan Freeman, an assistant professor of women’s studies at Minnesota StateUniversity, Mankato. “It governs a lot of choices they make, how sexually active they can be, what risks they are willing to take in terms of alienating a possible marriage partner.”

There seems to be a mysterious line between being experienced and being a slut, and no one can put a number on it. According to a government report released last year (“Sexual Behavior and Selected Health Measures”), men age 30 to 44 have had a median of six to eight sexual partners in their lifetimes. The women’s median was about four.

Issues raised: 1) Why the hell should I care what Don Reisinger thinks? 2) Does he mean "when he thinks of the word 'slut' in particular out of all words," or does he mean "when he thinks of a woman who has sex with a lot of words" (the 'word slut')? I think it should be illegal to quote people in the New York Times if they can't use punctuation. 3) Why did Don's dad drive his Chevy around the block so often? 4) It really frustrates me that marriage and children is still the primary goal for so many people -- men as well as women. Not that there's anything inherently wrong with it, but there are so many other options in today's society, it would be nice if people started exploring them. 5) Hey, I'm between 30 and 44 and I've had eight sexual partners in my lifetime. I'm average!

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Apparently, the RIAA is relying on you to roll over and die if they sue you. If you actually fight them, and ask for silly things like details on WHAT files they say you downloaded illegally, and WHEN they say you downloaded them, then they drop the case, pay your legal fees and run away. Not that I'm endorsing illegal downloading (although I've done my share, I never inhaled), but I think their stupid scare tactics are worse.

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I've talked a lot here in the blog about my fascination with reinterpreting existing media. In the theater, many people produce the same plays with different interpretations, and even the same production is subtly different from one performance to the next. In comic books, new writers and artists offer new takes on established characters. (How many interpretations have there been of Superman, just in movies?) And I love collecting cover songs. In fact, for years I've had an idea for a TV show that would allow users to download a new song, and then make a video for it. The top submissions would be aired on the show, and the audience could vote for their favorite, which would then win a prize and become the "official" version aired on MTV, etc. The beauty of the concept is that the longer it's not realized, the closer technology comes to making it completely feasible. Here's a link to a very interesting article about modern teens and the ways they use technology to reinterpret existing art. PS -- that TV show idea is copyrighted, so if you steal it from me, I will get the RIAA to sue you. So there.

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In a related story, what I just did there is called "anthimeria" -- the rhetorical device of using a word as a part of speech it's not intended to be. You can have a copyright, and you can copyright a product, but I don't think "copyrighted" as an adjective form is actually acceptable. Unless you're anthimeric like me.

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Quick reviews of recent movies:

"Click" -- I loved "The Wedding Singer," and was looking forward to this reteaming of Adam Sandler and Frank Coraci (the director of both). Ultimately, it was disappointing. The ending still got me a little choked up, and I left feeling good, but there just weren't any moments in the movie that I found actually funny. The one or two that might have gotten a chuckle if they were surprises were spoiled by the trailer. The rest of the people in the theater disagreed with me, and quite vocally expressed their opinion that farting in David Hasselhoff's face is the funniest thing ever.

"A Scanner Darkly" -- I would put this movie in my top ten so far this year. I didn't like the trademark Phillip K. Dick twist at the end, but everything leading up to it was so good I couldn't get too upset. Who knew that a cast of folks whose careers hit their peaks back in the early 90's could do such good work? And Richard Linklater! His work keeps getting better and better. With this, "Before Sunset" and "School of Rock" he's directed three of my favorite movies of the DECADE. I'm ashamed to say that I've never seen "Waking Life," but it's now at the top of my to-rent list. The animation in "Scanner" was just amazing! It's one of the few movies I can think of where I'm actually excited about seeing a making-of feature.

"Superman Returns" -- The biggest problem with "Superman Returns" is that it was released in the summer. The feel of this movie is not that of a stupid summer blockbuster -- it has a darker style, and is reaching for emotions that I don't think people are expecting to give it. If it had been released at, say, Thanksgiving, when our hearts and minds are turned inward anyway, it might have gotten a better reception. I enjoyed moments in it, and the big action sequences did have me on the edge of my seat. I was looking for the "plastic" appearance of Supes that many had mentioned, but it never jumped out at me. I admire Singer for picking an interpretation of the character that he liked, firmly placing his own stamp on it, and sticking to his guns. I don't care that it didn't follow the comics. I do care that the cast sucked so hard. Kate Bosworth was just plain terrible. I could sense that Brandon Routh might have been better if he'd had more to work with, but James Marsden was more interesting than Routh at every turn (which is a big deal for me to say, because I hate his work as Cyclops in the X-Men movies). Spacey was great, but was left playing Luthor smarter than he'd been written, which was hard to watch. Perry White? Jimmy Olsen? God-awful! Parker Posey and Kal Penn as Luthor's henchmen? Eva Marie Saint as Clark's mom? Wasted! I left with the bad taste of disappointed expectations in my mouth, but I suspect and hope that on future (winter) viewings when I can watch it on its own terms it will grow on me.

"Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" -- Not bad. On an arbitrary numerical scale of sequel goodness from 1 to 10, where 1 is "Matrix Reloaded" and 10 is "Empire Strikes Back," I would rank it around a 6.5 or 7. I liked the ideas of it. I liked the mythology of it. I liked Stellan Skarsgard and Naomie Harris. I always like Johnny Depp. I liked the cliffhanger ending. I liked the effects of the Flying Dutchman coming up out of the water and the crew's nautical appearance (especially Davy Jones). I liked watching Keira Knightley, who is very pretty (especially when dressed like a man, oddly enough). I was bored by the antics of the pirate crew, even more so than in the first movie. I was bored by Orlando Bloom every time he was onscreen. I was bored by the predictable plot. I was bored by how easy it was to defeat every obstacle. I was bored by the infamous swordfight, which had to make itself interesting by moving around a lot, instead of actually having good fight choreography. But in the end it was an enjoyable way to spend an evening, and I would recommend it to you if you're already leaning that way.

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And now, here it is, your moment of zen:



I'm audi. C-ya!

Say anything.

Do I have anything to say today? I thought I did -- there were several bits of news I wanted to address recently, but as I looked into them further, they became less and less interesting to me. So, here we are. I have two movies to report on, but I'm going to save them as well. Instead, I've been meaning to do this for a while, so I'd like to talk a little bit about music.

I love music. Who doesn't, right? I really enjoy discovering new bands and new songs. Not too long ago, I was complaining that I had collected too much music -- it's become very difficult to create mix-tapes (really mix cds these days) for people because it takes me a whole day to scroll through my huge collection. I resolved to cut back, and maybe spend some time paring down what I had already gathered, or at least organizing it in a more efficient manner so I can find stuff more easily.

However, the best laid plans of mice and men gang oft aglay, as Robert Burns would say. In the last couple of months, I have been drawn into the world of MP3 blogs -- where other people do the work of discovering new bands for me, and then post a song or two by that band online. This way I can get a taste of the band, see if I like them, and then follow the links to buy their stuff if I really want to. It's great!! Since late May I've added over 1,000 songs to my collection, and discovered a lot of really cool new bands.

And not only discovered them, but bought their albums as well. Note to all those in the record industry: file sharing really does contribute to people spending money on cds! I've spent more money on cds in the last two months than I had in the last year.

Right this second as I type, I'm listening to a band called The Mountain Goats. They sound a little like They Might Be Giants, but with a much more depressing worldview. Or maybe they're like The Magnetic Fields with a higher-pitched singer. Something like that. Anyway, I'm in love with them right now. I've bought four of their albums and am looking into ordering some of their older, harder-to-find stuff from Amazon.com.

I really like it when bands are local, as in the case of Canasta. They came to my attention because of their song "Slow Down Chicago." It's just fun when they reference things like the corner of State and Madison (which is the origin point of the Chicago street grid, for those who don't know). Anyway, I only have their newest album, but it's great. They have some shows in town coming up, and I'm thinking of going -- also a change in my behavior brought on by hearing all this great new music. [UPDATE: In case you were wondering what they sound like, they were recently interviewed on the NPR show Eight Forty-Eight, which described them as a "chamber-pop band." What a great term!]

Note: if you're interested in a fun way to get albums by independent bands like the two mentioned above, try eMusic.com. For $10 a month, you can download 40 songs (with no goddamn DRM!). That's 25 cents a song -- suck it, iTunes! I like it so much that I've upgraded to the $15 a month for 65 downloads level.

Then there's Final Fantasy. They don't really have a web page; the link is to an interview with Owen Pallett, who's the driving force behind the band. I ordered two of their albums, but they won't arrive until next week. But the few songs I've heard are SO good that I have to list them here as one of my favorite new bands (and not just because of their inherent geek factor, given that they're named after a video game and write songs inspired by Dungeons and Dragons). I missed their recent Chicago show, sadly, but at least I will soon have two new cds!

Other cool musical-type stuff:

"Whipped Cream and Other Delights Re-Whipped" -- I've always dug on the beats of Herb Alpert, and this album just makes them even cooler. The reviewer linked to didn't love it as much as I do, but you should be aware of allmusic.com anyway -- it's like the IMDB only for music.

Little Yellow Perfect -- the lead singer of this band is the brother of a friend of mine from high school, but even without that connection I think they're great.

"Barenaked Ladies Are Me" -- they recorded too many tracks for their new album, and so will be releasing an online only version that's double length!

Jollyship The Whizbang -- are you on a pirate kick right now? [Obviously a lot of people in America are.] If so, then check out this Pyrate Puppet Rock Opera Consortium. If only they would come to Chicago...

And lastly, Jonathan Coulton -- I discovered him when the Onion A/V Club ranked his hilariously self-serious version of "Baby Got Back" as the best cover song of 2005 (and you know how I love cover songs!). Now, his podcast "Thing A Week" is the best part of every Friday for me. Check him out -- you won't be sorry!

That's what I've got for now. Tell me about some of your favorite music right now!

I can't drive 55.

They say that the journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step. But in my case, the journey of 3,500 miles began with renting a car. Here's the break-down of the mega-road-trip of 2006:

Friday, June 16: Last day of work before the trip. Poker game that night at Kelly's place. Lost $20. I was the second one eliminated in the Texas Hold'em round, but came in second place in the Dealer's Choice round. Second place doesn't buy you much, though : )

Saturday & Sunday, June 17 & 18: Packing, packing, packing. I've written some about the weekend previously. On Sunday (Father's Day!) I head down to Midway and pick up the rental car (midsize SUV).

Monday, June 19: The pods come. I try to refrain from Body Snatchers jokes and succeed only because there's no one around to hear them.

Tuesday, June 20: The pods go. I clean the attic in Evanston, drop my stuff at the sublet on Summerdale, and swing by work to use the internet one last time before the journey.

Wednesday, June 21: Relaxing. Sorting out the camping gear. Planning out a route to take.

Thursday, June 22: And we're off. Total time on the road: 11 hours. I make all the way through Iowa and most of Nebraska before stopping for the night here. This strange roadside attraction contains a motel, restaurant, and campground, so I pitched my tent and checked the place out.




Words can't do justice to this crazy museum-cum-theme-park (with the emphasis on park). Here's a link to a review.




All I can say is that it was pretty crazy. I found it cool at first, but it soon became overwhelming. If you find yourself there, focus on the village part and ignore the warehouses at the back. But all-in-all, I do recommend finding yourself there if you can.

Apropos of nothing, I spent the evening sending e-mail from my tent via my cell phone. Ain't technology grand?

Friday, June 23: Made it into Denver. Met with Matt, Jenna and Matt's parents for dinner (that's Matt Hovde, who directed the show, is a good friend of mine, and was kind enough to let me crash on his floor for the night). Got a call in the middle of dinner that Craig Taylor, the stage manager of Mainstage, was having heart problems again and was back in the hospital for an angioplasty. Here we go again!

Despite the bad news from Chicago, went to the opening night of the new Second City Denver show ("How I Lost My Denverginity"). Most of the cast were good friends of mine, but even if I hadn't known them I would have really enjoyed the show. It was really funny and tight. I tend to be overly critical of other stage managers, and I could certainly have given theirs a few pointers on lighting design (they're using a local who has a less technical background), but overall she did a great job. Here are links to reviews of the show.

Enjoyed the party afterward.



Called it a night somewhat early.

Saturday, June 24: Got up and explored downtown Denver for awhile. Then met up with several of the cast members and some other SC folks who were in town for the opening for lunch. I was torn between getting on the road early and having a leisurely day of it, and waiting around for them to sleep off their hangovers and be ready for lunch. I went with being sociable, and I'm glad I did. It was a fun time. I love those guys!

Finally got on the road around 2pm Mountain Time. Drove to Topeka, KS and spent the night at a Motel 6. I had hoped to camp again, but because of the time spent on lunch, had to drive until pretty late to get my mileage in for the day (8 hours driven). And since I had just seen Tom Bodett live a few weeks before, Motel 6 was the obvious choice!

Sunday, June 25: Drove on into Nashville (8 more hours). I was hoping to visit with Susan while I was down there, but she was out of town for the week on a trip of her own. She was kind enough to let me stay at her house while I was in town, even though she wasn't there. It was much more comfortable than a hotel, and I got to visit with her dog Moose, which is always fun.

Monday, June 26: Headed in to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (4 more hours).



Met up with my mother and Pat (who I've taken to calling my step-father for simplicity's sake, even though they aren't technically married). It was pouring down rain, and there were tornado warnings in the area, so we decided to check into a hotel in Gatlinburg instead of pitching the tents. But the weather cleared up in the evening, and we were able to go back into the park and see the synchronous fireflies, which was the whole reason I came anyway. There weren't as many as Susan and I had seen in the summer of 2004, but there were enough to convince Mom and Pat that they were real! It was a blast.

Tuesday, June 27: Drove across the mountains (3 hours) to the North Carolina side, where we rented a cabin for a few days.



It was really nice. Not really roughing it, I know (note the hot tub on the porch). We were honestly planning to tent camp for a few days, but the weather just didn't cooperate. Next year!

To get to the cabins, we had to drive up the beautiful Blue Ridge Parkway, which I had never done.



It was pretty cool. Explored the local stores, and had dinner at a nice restaurant.

Wednesday, June 28: Went hiking in the Pisgah National Forest. Headed for the local waterfall.



We didn't get lost along the way, but sometimes the signs were confusing.....



Then grilled out, and afterward turned the grill into a tiny little campfire for s'mores.

Thursday, June 29: More local scenery. After complaining in Gatlinburg of being unable to find hats that looked good on me, when we discovered one at a local outfitter, my mother insisted on buying it for me as a belated birthday present. I don't have any pictures of it yet, but I'm sure you'll see me in it soon. Also, Mom bought a percolator for making coffee while camping, which worked just as well on the stove in the cabin. It was fun to play around with that.

Friday, June 30: Drove 13 hours back to Chicago. Some of that was just sitting in traffic. Got to Second City just in time to grab a bite of dinner and run two shows in ETC. Jeremy Smith had been running the Mainstage while Craig was out, and he couldn't do the whole weekend. Since I couldn't get back in time to get up to speed on the new show, Lee from ETC trained with Jeremy and took over Mainstage, while I ran ETC for him since I already knew that show. Complicated, I know, but everything went well. Great audiences, and great shows, despite having (including me) 4 understudies in!

Saturday, July 1: Dropped by Evanston to grab my mail and run some errands. I had hoped to see a concert by one of my newest favorite bands, Final Fantasy, but had to run the shows at SC instead. Heather and Henry were going to a concert downtown, so I attempted to give them a ride, but we ended up stuck in horrible holiday traffic. Yuck.

Sunday, July 2: Was originally heading over to Michigan today, but had to run a show at SC instead. It worked out well, though, because tonight was the opening of the new Mainstage show, "War! Now In Its Fourth Smash Year." So, I got to see the show and all the folks that I haven't seen in months over there. Then I ran the 10pm show in ETC.

Monday, July 3: Headed to Michigan. Took the South Shore train down to South Bend and then drove up with my aunt and uncle, who were also coming to Muskegon for a visit. That was really nice, since I haven't seen them in a year. We spent the afternoon at my dad's house playing with my brother's kids (I can't believe how big they're getting!):

Lavender



Xavier


Aunt Sherrie and Uncle Winston with the kids


Dad watching over everyone


My sister-in-law Nicole (the kids' mom) arrives, despite her headache


A splendid time. Always nice to see the fam.

Tuesday, July 4: Happy Birthday, America. Spent the afternoon at my sister's house, seeing the rest of the munchkins in the family.

Jesse (shown with his dad, Anthony)


who has finally learned to crawl...


and Nicholas, who for some reason I didn't get a good picture of this trip. Then we headed back to Dad's. Sherrie and Winston headed back to Indiana. Dad and I took a nap and then went downtown to watch the fireworks. Wow -- what a great idea that turned out to be! The weather was just absolutely perfect, and Dad remembered that there's this old military ship docked in Muskegon Harbor that they're trying to restore. As a fundraiser, for $2 you could watch the fireworks from the deck of the ship, which we did. It was the perfect location -- a great view of both the ones in the sky and the ones they did that were on the water. The show was great; many fireworks that I hadn't seen before, and a good mix of the ones that I had. We just had a really nice time.

Wednesday, July 5: Tried to take the Amtrak back to Chicago, but it was sold out, so we headed down to Michigan City to catch the South Shore line again. The trains were at 8:40 and 10:30. We arrived in town at 9:30, so we decided to get some coffee. In the coffee shop, however, we realized that Michigan City was back on Central Time for the summer, and we could have made the 8:40, but now had a full 2 hours to wait for the next train. Luckily, the outlet mall was open, so we were able to do some shopping (I got some new pants, which I had desperately needed) and then have a nice walk around downtown Michigan City before I jumped on the train. I got back to Chicago at a little after noon and went straight to work (the train station is only a block from Columbia).

Thursday, July 6: Worked again. Trying to get caught up from all the time off. Then went with Mikey B. to see a show at IO that I had a couple of friends in. It was an all female sketch comedy show (the group is called the Ragdolls), and it was great! Last night was their first preview, and already things were really awesome, so as they get tightened up I'm sure the show will really rock. It's Thursdays at 8pm, if you're in the neighborhood.

Today: More catching up. Had a production meeting at 2 for the first mainstage show of the fall semester. My boss couldn't be there because I just found out today that he was in a really bad car accident while I was gone. So I ran the meeting, which went very well, and then reported to him over the phone. Much craziness, but as I said a few posts ago, that's what I've been missing in my life : D

From outer space.

I'm back. The trip was wonderful -- even the part in the middle where I had to come back and then leave again. Don't ask. By which I mean that you don't have to ask because I'll be putting up a long post about the whole thing as soon as I get unpacked and find the cable to upload pictures from my camera.

In the meantime, just know that I am safe and well, and that I love you all. Even those of you that I am normally somewhat ambivalent about, today you are loved. Peace!

Done and done.

And I mean done.

Wow. That went so much more smoothly than I anticipated. Everything fell into place, everything stayed on schedule. I honestly can't complain!

A big part of that was thanks to Public Storage. They have just been a joy to deal with -- punctual, thorough, friendly, and (most important) reasonably priced. I highly recommend them for your future storage needs.

After finishing yesterday, I was tired and sore, so of course I went to see a movie -- what better way to rest up than sitting in a dark, air-conditioned theater? I caught a showing of "Nacho Libre." What a disappointment. My first clue that something was wrong came during the previews when a trailer for "How To Eat Fried Worms" came on (loved the book, but the movie looks idiotic). Then, once the movie started, the first words I see on the screen are "Nickelodeon Pictures presents..." Why on earth was this movie marketed towards Jack Black fans? And "Napoleon Dynamite" fans? (Wait, I haven't seen "Napoleon Dynamite" -- was it a kid's movie too?) Weak script. Weak direction. Weak performances (except for Hector Jimenez, who deserves to be the Jon Heder-style breakout star from this film). What can I say good about it? The soundtrack was great. Actually, other than being a let down, the film wasn't terrible. It was just bland. And sometimes that's a worse crime than being terrible.

So, this will be my last post for awhile. I'm not leaving until Thursday morning, but I don't think I have internet access at the sublet (I'm at work right now for just this reason). If I get a chance to post while I'm on the road, I'll do so, but I don't expect to. I'll be back on Wednesday, July 5th, so until then, keep cool and eat your veggies.

Lights in the tunnel.

Well, the weather was a little better today. Still very very humid, but not so opressively hot. Picked up the rental car -- realizing that this trip is going to make me very very broke, but not so opressively hot. I'm slowly getting everything done, though. I'm so close now I can taste it! No, wait, that's the rivers of sweat streaming down my forehead and into my mouth. Never mind. Anyway, back to the grindstone. Don't you feel very very sorry for me?

But not so opressively hot. : )

Worldwide pants.

Guess who lives in an attic that has no ventilation and gets really hot in the summer time? Okay, now guess who has to pack all of his shit on the hottest day so far this year? Okay, now guess who's about to pass out from heat exhaustion? Get it? Got it? Good.

Don't know much...

I consider myself to be a reasonably well-informed individual. Maybe too much so, sometimes -- I had a conversation yesterday that consisted solely of my friend telling me things about her life, and me responding with recent articles I had read that related. But it wasn't always this way. In my misspent youth, I was as guilty as most young Americans in my ignorance of the world around me. I remember vividly the day the Berlin Wall came down, two of my friends and I spent the afternoon wandering around campus, looking for change on the ground so we could buy a paper and find out what was happening. It wasn't until second semester of my junior year of college (spring of '93), when I had a history class at Columbia taught by a Mr. Craig, that I started getting excited about politics. I don't remember Mr. Craig's first name, and he doesn't teach at Columbia any more, but damn, he was one of the best professors I ever had. (It's always amused me how broad Columbia's history classes are -- the class I had with Mr. Craig was "U.S. History II: Civil War to present day"!)

Anyway, sometimes things that I should have known kind of shock me, because they happened during those dark years when I paid attention to nothing but my own little world. For example, today I stumbled across this explanation of the ratification of the 27th amendment to the Constitution. It happened in 1992. You'd think that an amendment to the Constitution would be big enough news that I might have heard about it (I mean come on, it's the only Amendment that has been ratified in my lifetime!), but no, I had no idea whatsoever that all this had taken place. Sigh.

So, anyway, thanks Straight Dope! Once again you have shone a light on the dark corners of my ignorance. Or something like that.

I just don't know.

So, what, all I can post about these days is movies? I guess I'm just lame. Sorry.

Anyway, I saw "A Prairie Home Companion" this week. It was great -- I've only seen a couple of other Robert Altman movies ("Gosford Park," which I liked, and "Pret-a-Porter," which I didn't), but I really enjoyed this one. The entertwining of the different storylines that all touched on the same theme was really cool. And the cast is just amazing. Except for Lindsey Lohan. She was AWFUL. I don't know what has happened to her. Too many drugs, I guess. I even heard that Garrison Keillor re-wrote one of her scenes to have less dialogue after she complained, "You're not going to make me say all that, are you?" What a freak. "Off the reservation," as I've said before. Was Altman aware of this? Is he using her awfulness as a statement? In a movie about death, she appears as the only representative of the next generation (a traditional source of immortality, or at least comfort at death's door), and doesn't make them look good. Maybe that was deliberate.....

I honestly don't have much else to report. I went to a couple of parties over the weekend -- a birthday bash for my friend Liz (from euchre -- and do you have any idea how hard it is to explain that to someone who asks "So how do you know Liz?" at her birthday party?) on Saturday, and a going away party for my friend Janet (from Second City) on Sunday. I also stopped by Second City and checked out a preview of the new mainstage show they're working on. It was good but surprisingly old-school. There were several scenes I really liked, although I don't think they've done a very good job of integrating their newest cast member (my friend Ithamar Enriquez). Yesterday I had a coffee and cribbage night with Mikey B. And that pretty much brings us up to date.

UPDATE: In this week's Entertainment Weekly, there's an interview with Robert Altman which includes the following passage:

"For Lohan, clearly eager to prove herself a grown-up thespian, hitching a ride on the Prairie wagon as Streep's morose daughter was a shrewd career move. But Altman, who wasn't too familiar with the ingenue before casting her ('I saw that Mean Girls thing she did,' he muses), has only this to say about her place in his movie: 'If we didn't have name actors, the picture wouldn't be made. She's got a nice aura. And she'll bring [a different] audience to the picture.' "

And nobody knows us.

Haven't posted for a few days because the blogger.com servers have been down for maintenance. I was going to write all about last weekend, which was incredibly fun. Heather's mother and sister were in town, it was houseguest central at Casa de Foster-Orrington, and craziness abounded. I need more craziness right now. Anyway, I was going to write about all that, but now it was so long ago that I don't feel like it. So there. ;-P

Saw "The Proposition" tonight. It was really well made and well acted, and BEAUTIFUL. But in the end, it was a bit thin as a story. More of a character study than a plot with an arc. Still, enjoyable. And very violent -- not a good date movie. Not that I would have to worry about that. Sigh.

Ah, well. Only a week and a half until the big move, followed by the big trip! Now that'll be some craziness.

Team Aniston.

Okay, I admit it: I think I may have been wrong. I've been yammering on for years about how on the opening weekend of a movie, all of the profits go to the studio, but as the successive weeks go by, the percentage which goes to the theater gets higher and higher. So, why go on the opening weekend? Why not wait until you've had a chance to read some reviews, and if you still really want to go, then you can be sure that your money is supporting your local theater?

After thinking about this, and discussing it with several other people, I've decided that it actually doesn't make that much of a difference. First of all, the percentage change is not that great -- the bulk of the ticket price will still always go to the studio and distributor. Second of all, the place where the theater makes the bulk of their money is from concession sales. So if you really want to support your local theater (and keep in mind of course that most theaters are not owned locally but are national chains), then go whenever you want, just be sure to buy a $4 bottle of water while you're there.

That said, I went and contributed to "The Break-Up" being the number one movie at the box office this weekend. And, yes, I bought a $4 bottle of water. Christine went with me, which was fun -- we don't get many chances to just hang out. And since we're both moving in the next couple of weeks, this was probably our last chance to do it!

The movie was pretty good. There were a number of very funny moments, and the acapella version of "Rainbow Connection" over the credits was worth the whole price of admission. I thought Jennifer Aniston acquitted herself quite well. The reviews have been somewhat negative toward her, saying that her character was unlikeable, but I think that's kind of the point -- the character has gotten herself to a place in her life where she has become unlikeable. She isn't sure how she got to that point, and she wants out. The first and easiest way to make a change like that is to break up with your significant other. It's a fairly real situation (one that I've been in myself), and if I have any complaint about the movie, it's that she's TOO likeable at the beginning.

The other part of Jen's problem is that this is definitely Vince Vaughn's movie (he co-wrote it, too, in case you didn't know). She really should be only a supporting character, and I suspect that the girlfriend's role might have started out that way before Aniston signed on. This is essentially Vince Vaughn's "Punch-Drunk Love." That movie took Adam Sandler's comedic persona, the man-boy with an unpredictably violent temper, took it to a logical extreme, and examined the consequences of that behavior. "The Break-Up" does the same thing to Vaughn -- takes his quintessental guy's guy; that sports-lovin', beer-drinkin', video-game-playin' motor mouth; and wonders what would happen when that guy got into a relationship. Sure, he's charming as can be, but really only in small doses. Once you're living with him, a lot of that charm starts to wear a little thin. And what happens is: he gets dumped.

By the end of the movie, of course, he realizes his mistakes, learns a lesson, and we're left with the tacked-on happy ending that test audiences demanded. But all of this felt very real to me. I really liked the script, though it was not nearly as funny as I think most people will anticipate. They are looking for "Wedding Crashers 2," but they're getting something a little closer to a Gen-X "thirtysomething." I understand how likeable people can take step after step that each seem completely reasonable, yet lead them somewhere they never expected to be. And I understand how hard it is to come back from that place, and how sometimes it's easier to hate the other person than to work things out. The characters also get bad advice from their best friends, which is a fairly common and real problem, I would imagine : )

Roger Ebert said in his review that he didn't like them as a couple, so he was never rooting for them to get back together. But I think he missed the point. The movie is called "The Break-Up" for a reason -- they're NOT good together at this point (although it would have been nice to see a little more backstory about when they were good together), and the best possible thing for them IS to break up. You should be rooting for them NOT to get back together. Then they might actually learn something from the experience. And they do.

[Update: here's a link to a great review of the film from the Onion AV Club that feels the same way I do, and says it more eloquently.]

Cryptic.

So, here's the thing: some of you may know that I used to be something of a poet. There was a time in my misspent youth when writing poetry did for me what this blog essentially does now; which is to give me an outlet for venting my feelings without having to actually explain myself. In that spirit, here is a poem I was inspired to write today. It's called "The French Connection."


i Forgot. i totally forgot
how Uncontrollable life can be.
it's so Completely frustrating sometimes that
i could Kick myself.
why now? why am i? why not?
i'm on another planet indeed.


Of course, none of you will understand what that's about, but I needed to say it, so thanks for listening. And, hey, if you can figure it out, call me. 'Cause I'd love to vent about it.... ; )

Sequel-itis.

The more things change, the more they stay the same, eh?

- Saw "X-Men 3," also known as "The Last Stand." It was fair to middling, I would say. I didn't hate it, but it sure had plot holes you could drive a truck through. Then there's this article from Entertainment Weekly, where the director comes off looking like a total prick. What was I saying last week about separating the artist from his art?

- Saw "Art School Confidential." Not a sequel, per se, but it has basically been reviewed as one. Everyone loved Terry Zwigoff's "Ghost World" so much that this movie has been under especially intense scrutiny. And it can't hold up -- it's a so-so picture on its own, and looks especially bad when compared to something like "Ghost World." It's not even as good as his "Bad Santa," which people thought was a fluke after "Ghost World," but now it looks like "Ghost World" was the fluke.

- Am finally going to try and finish the final book of Neal Stephenson's "The Baroque Cycle." I started it once before and got distracted, but I expect to have finished it before the camping trip next month (see below).

- It's an adaptation, not a sequel, but I think "Spamalot" fits into this category (the link is a review of the New York production, and harsher than I might have been, but relatively accurate). As I mentioned, my friend Chris Sutton is in the touring company, so he got Kingston and I some REALLY good house seats for Tuesday night's great show. It was total cheesy fun -- not just endearing but agressively charming. There was so much going on that I was waiting for them to drop in a kitchen sink! It was fabulous. After the show, we had fancy martinis at a swanky downtown bar with Chris and his fiancee, which was more fun than I imagined it could be, mostly due to the excellent company.

- This is a sequel to one of my very earliest posts here. In the NYT this week, Garrison Keillor, (who in the last two years has become a personal favorite) uses the word "trepidatious"!! Some of you may remember that I love this word, but am concerned about using it because it doesn't actually exist. Well, if it's seen print in the New York Times, then I think the folks at the dictionary had better start thinking about adding it to the next edition.....

- And then there's my summer living arrangements, which are a series of sequels. In a couple of weeks, I'll be moving out of Evanston. First, I'll load everything but some clothes and the computer (and my camping gear) into a storage pod and send it off. Then I'll move into a small apartment next door to my friends Jason and Kate (and their daughter Lily). Kate's mother owns both buildings, so I got a nice "friend arrangement" on subletting for a couple of months. For those of you who weren't aware, Jason was my roommate my first year in Amsterdam, and Kate (then his girlfriend, now his wife) lived with us for several months. An extra benefit of that move will be the time it creates for Kate and I to talk about the show we'll be directing together in the fall (she also directed "AmeriKafka" last year). After that move, I'll head immediately out to Denver for the opening of the new Second City stage out there, which features 3 actors I used to tour with, and was directed by a friend as well. I'll go straight from there down to Tennessee for a week of camping in and around the Great Smoky Mountains National Park with my mom and Pat, coming home just in time for the 4th of July. Then once Michael Kingston's current roommates move out (date unclear, but no later than September 1), I'll move in permanently with him. Michael was my very first roommate when I moved to Chicago, so this whole summer is going to be like a journey back through time!

That's all for today. C-ya!

Plague plushies.

Susan sent me a link to these, and I simply couldn't resist. I promised her I would take some pictures, so here they are:

The following is a summary of the Biblical account of the plagues which is found in chapters 7-12 of Exodus, which I got from Wikipedia. : )

Prelude (5:1 - 5:9, 7:8 - 7:13): Moses and Aaron approached Pharaoh, and delivered God's demand that the Israelite slaves be allowed to leave Egypt for the purpose of observing a holiday. After an initial refusal by Pharaoh, God sent Moses and Aaron back to show him a miraculous sign of warning - Aaron's staff turned into a serpent, and swallowed the staffs of Pharaoh's sorcerers. Pharaoh remained unimpressed.

Blood (7:14 - 7:25):


The first plague was blood. God instructed Aaron to strike the river Nile with his staff; all of its water turned into blood. As a result of the blood, the fish of the Nile died, filling Egypt with an awful stench. Other water resources used by the Egyptians were turned to blood as well (7:19). Pharaoh's sorcerers demonstrated that they too could turn water to blood, and Pharaoh therefore made no concession to Moses' demands. This plague lasted for seven days.


Frogs (7:26 - 8:11):


The second plague of Egypt was frogs. God commanded Aaron to stretch his staff over the water, and hordes of frogs came and overran Egypt. Pharaoh's sorcerers were also able to duplicate this plague with their magic. However, since they were unable to remove it, Pharaoh was forced to grant permission for the Hebrews to leave so that Moses would agree to remove the frogs. To prove that the plague was actually a divine punishment, Moses let Pharaoh choose the time that it would end. Pharaoh chose the following day, and all the frogs died the next day. Nevertheless, Pharaoh rescinded his permission, and the Israelites stayed in Egypt.


Fleas or Lice (8:12 - 8:15):


The third plague of Egypt was fleas. God instructed Aaron to take his staff and strike at the dust, which turned into a mass of fleas that the Egyptians could not get rid of. The Egyptian sorcerers declared that this act was "the Finger of God", since they were unable to reproduce its effects with their magic.


Beasts or Flies (8:16 - 8:28):


The fourth plague of Egypt was Arov. Commentaries usually render this word as flies, but some understand it to mean beasts, capable of harming people and livestock. The Torah emphasizes that the arov only came against the Egyptians, and that it did not affect the Land of Goshen (where the Hebrews lived). Pharaoh asked Moses to remove this plague and promised to allow the Israelites to worship God in the wilderness. However, after the plague was gone, Pharaoh "hardened his heart" and again refused to keep his promise.


Pestilence (9:1 - 9:7):


The fifth plague of Egypt was an epidemic disease which exterminated the Egyptian livestock; that is, horses, donkeys, camels, cattle, sheep and goats. The Israelites' cattle were unharmed. Once again, Pharaoh made no concessions.


Boils (9:8 - 9:12):


The sixth plague of Egypt was Shkhin. The Shkhin was a kind of skin disease, usually translated as "boils". God commanded Moses and Aaron to each take two handfuls of soot from a furnace, which Moses scattered skyward in Pharaoh's presence. The soot induced festering Shkhin eruptions on Egyptian men and livestock. The Egyptian sorcerers were afflicted along with everyone else, and were unable to heal themselves, much less the rest of Egypt.


Storm (fiery hail) (9:13 - 9:35):


The seventh plague of Egypt was a destructive storm. God commanded Moses to stretch his staff skyward, at which point the storm commenced. It was even more evidently supernatural than the previous plagues, a powerful shower of hail intermixed with fire. The storm heavily damaged Egyptian orchards and crops, as well as men and livestock. The storm struck all of Egypt except for the Land of Goshen. Pharaoh asked Moses to remove this plague and promised to allow the Israelites to worship God in the desert, saying "This time I have sinned; God is righteous, I and my people are wicked." As a show of God's mastery over the world, the hail stopped as soon as Moses began praying to God - hail which was then in the air never reached the ground; it simply disappeared. However, after the storm ceased, Pharaoh "hardened his heart" and refused to keep his promise.


Locusts (10:1 - 10:20):


The eighth plague of Egypt was locusts. Before the plague, God informed Moses that from that point on He would "harden Pharaoh's heart," (as promised earlier in 4:21) so that Pharaoh would not give in, and the remaining miracles (the final plagues and the splitting of the sea) would play out. As with previous plagues, Moses came to Pharaoh and warned him of the impending plague of locusts. Pharaoh's officials begged him to let the Hebrews go rather than suffer the devastating effects of a locust-swarm, but he was still unwilling to give in. He proposed a compromise: the Israelite men would be allowed to go, while women, children and livestock would remain in Egypt. Moses repeated God's demand that every last person and animal should go, but Pharaoh refused. God then had Moses stretch his staff over Egypt, and a wind picked up from the east. The wind continued until the following day, when it brought a locust swarm. The swarm covered the sky, casting a shadow over Egypt. It consumed all the remaining Egyptian crops, leaving no tree or plant standing. Pharaoh again asked Moses to remove this plague and promised to allow all the Israelites to worship God in the desert. As promised, God hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not allow the Israelites to leave.


Darkness (10:21 - 10:29):


God instructed Moses to stretch his hand over Egypt, and this brought a plague of complete and utter darkness, which lasted for three days. This was an unnatural darkness, and was tangible. However, the Israelites were able to see perfectly. After the plague subsided, Pharaoh summoned Moses, and again tried to bargain with him: he offered to let all the Hebrews go out to the wilderness, but required them to leave their livestock in Egypt. Moses refused this condition, and implied that before long, Pharaoh himself would offer to provide the sacrifices, as long as the Israelites would leave. This outraged Pharaoh, and he threatened Moses with death.


Death of Firstborn (11:1 - 12:36):


The tenth and final plague of Egypt was the death of all Egyptian first born males - no one escaped, from the lowest servant to Pharaoh's own first-born son, including first-born of livestock. This was the hardest and cruelest blow upon Egypt and the plague that finally convinced Pharaoh to submit, and let the Israelites go. God told Moses that this plague would cause Pharaoh to send the Israelites away, and ordered him to prepare the people to leave. He also commanded Moses to teach the ritual of Pesah - the sacrifice of a lamb for God, and the eating of Matzot ("Poor-man's Bread"). God told Moses to order the Hebrews to mark their doorpost with the lamb's blood, in order that the plague of death would pass over them. In the middle of the night, God himself came upon Egypt and directed the Angel of Death to take the life of all the Egyptian first-born sons, including that of Pharaoh's own son, and all Egyptian sons. That night, there was a great outcry in Egypt, such as had never been heard before. However, no Hebrew first-born was killed, as God "passed over" the Israelite houses.

After this, Pharaoh, furious and saddened, ordered the Israelites to go away, taking whatever they wanted. The Israelites didn't hesitate; and at the end of that night Moses led them out of Egypt, with "arms upraised".

But how much more would they have celebrated had they known that one day their troubles would be made into toys for children, eh? Oh, and by the way, the cow, the frog, the louse and the locust all have a string that you can pull to make them vibrate! However, I really don't understand why the blood and the darkness get little googly eyes, but the hail and the boil don't. Hmm.....

Repaint! Repaint!

And thin no more.

A bad joke, I know, but one of my favorites. So, anyway, here are 7 possible signs of the Apocalypse that have come to my attention lately:

1) The upcoming opening of the new "sex theme park" Amora in London. And here I thought the British couldn't widen their cooler-than-us lead any more than they had with the whole "banning Snoop Dogg from the country" thing. Who do we ban? Cat Stevens. Sigh.

2) God is calling on people to sacrifice their children again! Hey, it worked for him with Abraham and Isaac, why fix something that ain't broken? Although, Isaac actually survived the test.

3) In what appears to be a massive wealth redistribution program, God is having Nigerian teenagers collect "reparation for the sins of the West" from white people via computer. ("What do you want me to do? It is my God-given talent." -- emphasis mine)

4) In the meantime, "No, to answer your question, there is nothing sacred." This quote is from an article in the New York Times about LIVE COMMERCIALS being performed before plays. "'They're a captive audience,' Mr. Kelling said. 'They can't switch channels or change over or walk out once the thing is started.'" Mr. Kelling, you, sir, are the devil.

5) Human nature trumps the grassroots nature of the internet. First, this e-mail was forwarded to me today. What's funny about this "prank"? I just don't get it. Second, on Monday I was the victim of a MySpace virus -- a bulletin came from a friend with a link in it. I clicked on the link, watched the mildly amusing video, and thought nothing more of it. The next morning, however, I see that I have now sent out a bulletin with the exact same text and link. And my friend says he never sent the first one, either. Apparently when you click it, embedded programming lets it send itself out as being from you. But it doesn't do anything malicious, it just invites people to see this same stupid video. I just don't get this either. Maybe these were perpetrated by Nigerian teenagers.

6) I actually saw and enjoyed the movie of "The DaVinci Code." I haven't read the book, but have read the horrible reviews, so I didn't expect to like it. But it was pretty good, although it suffered from Harry Potter syndrome, in which the filmmakers try so hard to cram in all of the plot points from the book that they sacrifice all of the characterization that makes us care about the plot. Ian McKellan steals the show, but when doesn't he?

7) Pat Robertson may be crazy, but he is apparently the strongest man in the world. According to his website, he can leg press 2,000 pounds. See here for an explanation of why this is impossible, but I can't imagine Pat Robertson would lie. This has gotta be a harbinger of doom. Or an "Omen" if you will..... (and pity my poor nephew, who's about the same age I was when "Damien: Omen II" came out and I had to spend months being called Damien by my classmates.)

There you have it. The end is near. See you in the next life!

Ain't it cool?

Other things I have enjoyed recently:

Saw "Over The Hedge." It didn't have enough meat on its bones to merit a mention in yesterday's monster movie post, but it was fluffy fun nonetheless. Garry Shandling is surprisingly good, and I especially enjoyed Nick Nolte as the cynical bear.

Got bored with all my video games recently and had to go buy a new one. Have now been playing and LOVING "Dungeon Siege II" for about a week. It wasn't my first choice, but it was what the store nearest the house had in stock; and I have been surprised and pleased by it. I enjoyed the first "Dungeon Siege," and the sequel has (so far) done a great job of keeping the good parts and fixing the bad parts from the first installment.

Had dinner last night with Kingston and, in a big surprise, Chris Sutton, an old friend from our summer stock days that I haven't seen in years. He's in town with the tour of "Spamalot," and Kingston ran into him on the train, so they arranged to surprise me at dinner. It was a great night -- hours of eating, drinking and catching up. We also plan to hang out with him this weekend, and hopefully see the show next week before they move on to their next city.

Finally finished reading the newest Robert Jordan book, "Knife of Dreams." It was much better than the recent books in the series. I really enjoyed reading it. I bought a bunch of new books, so I have a lot to look forward to! Some of it will be non-fiction, as I'm beginning to do research for a show I'll be assistant directing in the fall, "Emma," about the life of early-twentieth-century anarchist and feminist Emma Goldman. I picked up her autobiography, as well as the autobiography of the playwright, historian Howard Zinn.

The weather is finally nice enough to ride my bike some!

It looks like I have found a place to live, although I have a meeting about it tonight and I don't want to jinx things, so that's all I'll say for now.

I've also been really digging on comics again this summer -- there is some really good work being done out there right now, and I'm glad to be back to reading them.

And that's what's making me happy this week!

Who shot JR?

Hoo-boy. Where to start? Sorry this is delayed. The end of the semester was pretty crazy and I've been in something of a waking coma since, trying to recover my sanity. [I've recovered it now -- I took the weekend off!]

So, as I mentioned in my last post, the weekend before last, I saw three movies -- "The Promise," "Friends with Money" and "Mission: Impossible 3." I can also now add "Poseidon" to the list. Let's talk about this.

The title of this post is a dual reference -- one part a nod to the fact that I promised to write this and then disappeared, and also a comment on the seeming semi-retirement of Reader movie critic Jonathan Rosenbaum. I miss ol' J.R. because his movie reviews were always so smart (almost to the point of inscrutability) and would explain how the movie being reviewed related to both the history of cinema as well as the modern world around us. But now that he rarely writes anymore, I have to do everything myself. Sigh.

I'm going to start by reviewing each movie simply as a moviegoer out for a good time.

"The Promise" is a very interesting movie. The reviews on it have been very mixed, and for good reason -- it's kind of all over the map. Sometimes this results in something for everyone, sometimes it results in not enough of anything for anyone. At the beginning of the movie, I found myself detached from it, appreciating the beauty but wondering why they had bothered with actors at all when everything was SO heavily computer retouched that it could have just been animated. Halfway through, though, I was intrigued by its fairy-tale-mash-up plot and archetypal simpleness of the characters. I was also getting used to the visual style and beginning to relax into it. And by the end of the movie I was completely drawn in. The ending felt a little anticlimactic to me, but I know it was heavily edited for its US release, so maybe there's a fuller resolution floating out there that I can see someday.

"Friends with Money" really moved me. Everyone in it had problems, but no one was given short shrift -- we are equal in our neuroses. It did leave a lot of questions unanswered at the end, but the acting was uniformly excellent. And it doesn't hurt that all the actors are oh-so-pretty. I have to agree with the reviews I've read that said Joan Cusack was underused, but Keener, McDormand and Aniston really shine, and Simon McBurney is a huge stand-out among the men.

"M:I 3" was actually pretty good for a dumb summer action flick (Note: I refuse to write it as "M:I III" because that just looks weird). Keri Russell wasn't in it enough to bug me, Phillip Seymour Hoffman couldn't have been in it enough for me, and Ving Rhames was in it more than in the previous installments, which was nice. Cruise was fine, and I really liked the whole supporting cast -- besides Keri and Ving, there were Jonathan Rhys Meyers (who I recently loved in "Match Point") and Maggie Q (who I've never seen before but fully expect to see more of soon) rounding out the field team, Billy Crudup (always great) and Laurence Fishbourne (haven't seen him since the "Matrix" trilogy) in the home office, Michelle Monaghan (who I recently loved in "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang") as Cruise's clueless wife, and Simon Pegg (who I recently loved in "Sean of the Dead") as the comic relief.

"Poseidon" was really quite thrilling -- I was on the edge of my seat for much of the movie, and actually found myself holding my breath along with our heroes at one point! A great, good-looking cast and crazy fun special effects made for quite the thrill ride. Kurt Russell is always great, this may be Josh Lucas's best role ever, and I've always enjoyed Richard Dreyfuss; he needs to stop doing TV movies and get back into some meaty roles. The girls aren't given much to do, but Mia Maestro is great as the claustrophobic stowaway, and aside from Jacinda Barrett's on-again-off-again accent, they do a lot with what they're given.

Okay. There's the review in brief: I enjoyed all four films very much. Now let's talk about the cultural implications of each film. [Warning: some spoilers ahead. I tried to keep them small. Sorry if it ruins anything for you.]

"The Promise" is an easy film to dismiss at first -- the story and characters are seemingly too simple to sustain much analysis. It's just a fairy tale, right? But the premise of the film brought up a lot of questions for me. The character of Qincheng is a poor, starving child at the beginning of the movie. Her mother has just died and she has no prospects for food, let alone the future. A goddess appears to her and offers her a proposition: she can become the most beautiful woman in the world, showered with riches and worshipped by men, but any man she ever loves in return will be taken from her. Desperate and hungry, she agrees, but of course ultimately wishes she could take back that choice because life isn't worth living without love. Remember our discussion about regret awhile back? How does one cope with a choice that turns out badly? Especially if that choice was made when one was young and ill-informed? Or in the heat of passion? Is love really what it's all about? Is my life any less worth living because I don't have a girlfriend right now? Obviously a lot of our mythology about love stems from a natural instinct toward the preservation of the species -- you need to fall in love so that you'll have children (and it's not just movies that support that myth; see here and here). Isn't it time to move past that? Aren't we overcrowded on this planet anyway? In the movie, the servant Kunlun loves Qingcheng so much that even though she doesn't love him back (or at least isn't given a chance to find out if she loves him back), he sacrifices himself to give her the chance to go back in time and change her decision. Is that a noble ideal -- the fullest expression of service to others? It's presented as such, but only because his sacrifice will enable her to choose love and go on to perpetuate the human race. Like I said, a lot of questions.

"Friends with Money" touches on some of the same themes, but also moves beyond them in interesting ways. In brief: Joan Cusack's character has the most money, but she has lost touch with what it's like not to have it; she lives in what's basically a dreamworld. Frances McDormand has plenty of money, but she's having something of a midlife crisis -- she knows that this is as much as she's going to get, and it's not as much as she always dreamed of having, and she's angry at the world because of what she perceives as its unfairness towards her. Catherine Keener has plenty of money, but it can't save her marriage. When the remodelling project that she and her husband embark on makes them the black sheep of the neighborhood, the loss of that simple civility from her neighbors points up the fact that she doesn't get even simple civility from her husband anymore, either. And Jennifer Aniston has no money, and wouldn't care about that if she were happy, but she doesn't seem to know how to get that either. Similarly to "The Promise," most of the characters' unhappiness stems from the problem of rising expectations -- not getting things that aren't physical necessities, but which you think you deserve. What this movie does, though, is take on all of these problems from the point of view that as much as we blame our problems on external forces, all of our issues ulitmately come from within ourselves. What redemption the characters are able to find comes from accepting their own limitations and learning to love themselves again. The last line of the movie is from Aniston to the unlikely guy she has finally found to love, "That's okay. I have issues, too." A good lesson that we could all stand to hear more often.

There's a lot more to talk about with "Mission: Impossible 3," however. To begin with, there's the utterly ridiculous "love story" between Cruise and his wife, in which all of his lies and deceit are forgiven, even though they result in the endangerment of her life, because he risks his life to save her, and what greater expression of love could there be than that? I can think of one: NOT LYING TO HER IN THE FIRST PLACE. Just a thought. Standard crappy movie version of love, but depressingly common and thus certain to be influencing the way a generation thinks of relationships. In other crappy movie cliches, there's a lot of collateral damage in the movie that no one seems to give a second thought to. Not as much as in, say, a Jerry Bruckheimer film, but still a lot. Why is it that no one ever seems to care how many lives our hero ruins, as long as he catches the bad guy? I guess theoretically it's because it's less lives than would be ruined if the bad guy had his way, but it's still pretty ridiculous.

Second, this movie really put the MPAA ratings system into perspective for me. I do NOT understand why this movie was rated PG-13. There were people at the performance I saw who brought young children, and there was violence in this film that disturbed even me. Not that giving it an R-rating would have stopped them from bringing their children, but maybe it would have made them think twice. I know that an R results in less ticket sales for the studio, and if you want to make a PG-13 movie to get more money, I can respect that. But for god's sake, THIS WAS NOT A PG-13 MOVIE. The only reason it wasn't rated R is because there was no nudity, and that's the double standard that people have been talking about for years but that I've never really understood as viscerally as I did while watching Phillips Seymour Hoffman torture Tom Cruise's wife in front of him with an 8-year-old sitting in front of me. I'm reminded of the story from the making of "South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut" when the ratings board told Trey Parker and Matt Stone that their characters could discus fisting and get an R-rating, but if they had a character define it, then they would get an NC-17; but when they changed it rim-job then everything was okay. The system just seems so arbitrary.

Third, the movie didn't do very well. I was at a prime-time showing on the Sunday of opening weekend and the theater was barely a third full. Is this a referendum on Tom Cruise's personal life (or his religion)? If so, is that a good thing? Some people find it very hard to separate the artist from their art. (Some people would also take issue with me for implying that Tom Cruise is an artist.) I am torn on this issue, I must say. It does make sense to want to give your money to people whose views you support. I do it myself -- for example, I have refused to see "The Chronicles of Narnia" because I don't want to support Phillip Anschutz in any way. But nothing is ever that black and white, you know? For example, Anschutz may be an An-schmuck, but that doesn't mean everyone who works for him is. I guess we all just have to make those decisions on a case-by-case basis.

And lastly, "Poseidon." I enjoyed the movie, but I have to question why it was made. Somehow in the world as we know it after 9/11/2001, the traditional disaster flick doesn't make as much sense as it used to. Are we supposed to feel good because 5 people survive the disaster? Are we supposed to sympathize with their struggle? Is it supposed to be symbolic of something? Are we supposed to feel better about the world when Kurt Russell tells us, "It doesn't make any sense -- who lives and who dies"? Are we supposed to identify with their heroic efforts and belive that we would do the same if we were in that situation? Honestly, I left the movie not feeling hopeful about the future of those 5 survivors, but feeling depressed about the thousands of meaningless deaths. I didn't see Wolfgang Peterson's last nature film, "A Perfect Storm," but from what I've heard of it, even there I feel like the characters had reasons for braving the storm, and there was some scientific interest in the weather patterns described. In "Poseidon," Andre Braugher casually tells us they were struck by a "rogue wave," which is unusual but not unheard of. How anticlimactic. At least with a movie like "The Day After Tomorrow," there's more of a national/global sense of the tragedy -- everyone is affected, but as a species we will survive! All I felt here was that maybe everyone should join the Navy so that when tragedy strikes, they, like Josh Lucas's character in "Poseidon," have the knowledge and skills to lead a plucky band of survivors to freedom.


So, I know that this was really long. Sorry. That's part of why it took so long for me to get back to it -- it was a little daunting to finish. There's other stuff I wanted to work in that just didn't make the cut because this was approaching novella length already. Anyway, thanks for reading this far and I'll see you in the funny pages!

Egads.

Here's some crazy stuff:

Disney's cancelling their exclusive promotions deal w/ McDonald's, citing concern over being linked to negative publicity about juvenile obesity. Never thought I'd see the day.

I was a big fan of John Edwards in the last election, even (no -- especially) before he became Kerry's running mate. The link is to an interesting article on some of his positions for 2008.

I saw a thing recently where someone was asked to name five things they couldn't live without, and their number 5 answer was "hyperbole -- I don't know what I'd do without it... probably I'd DIE!" I think if anyone ever asks our president the same question, he would have the same answer, but not ironically.

Ooh -- a new play by Irvine Welsh! Ooh -- it's premiering at a new theater in Dublin! Oh... it's about Munchkins?!

Those Freakonomics guys are great. Here we have a take from them on the old "nature vs. nurture" argument.

What do you think about this? It's like Netflix for books, except you borrow books that other people are willing to lend from their personal libraries. I like the idea, but there aren't a lot of books on the site right now. Obviously, there has to be a certain level of trust involved for the initial people who sign up, or there never will be a lot of books on it. I think I might try it...

I have much more to talk about -- see here and here if you want to bone up ahead of time -- but I want to tie it in to a discussion of the three movies I saw over the weekend, so it won't be until at least tomorrow, if not later in the week. See ya then.

Good ol' TJ.

Okay. So I'm a little obsessive. I know, big surprise. "The guy with the blog called 'Punctuation Fetish' fixates on little details? What a shock."

Yes, it bugs me when things are wrong. When people say things that are incorrect for whatever reason. But there are times when you want so much for them to be right that it seems counterproductive to make the correction. This is when you stand at the line; and it's interesting to see who crosses over. Is it really about the importance of what is right? Is it really about how obsessed with perfection I am? Whatever it's about, I'm crossing that line here today. [Note: there are also times when you want something from the person so much that it's counterproductive to correct them. But that's not what we're talking about today.]

A little background: I don't read the Chicago Sun-Times. I think it's a crappy paper. If it's lying around and there's nothing else to read and I'm stuck waiting for something, then sometimes I'll pick it up, but it seems like I never actually enjoy reading it. They have lame articles and lame comics and too many classifieds (although they do have Roger Ebert). And their columnists just make me angry. Especially Mark Steyn. That guy is such a jerk. He's totally full of himself, and he often comes across as bigoted, or at least mean-spirited. He's a conservative Republican through and through. But goddamn the man can write a good column, and as much as it pains me to say so, I have to say that I liked and agreed with his column of April 30th.

In it, Steyn attacks John Kerry for using a quote in a speech that Kerry mistakenly attributes to Thomas Jefferson ("Dissent is the highest form of patriotism"). I think Steyn relies too heavily on ad hominem attacks against Kerry (a common Steyn problem), but his basic point is correct: Get a fact checker, John! I, like Steyn, find continued use of this non-Jeffersonian quotation RIDICULOUS.

However, I object to it simply on the grounds that it is incorrect. Steyn seems to object to it because he thinks what the quote is talking about is wrong, and doesn't want such a bad idea attributed to a great American like TJ. For example, Steyn says that "As far as I can tell, it was Nadine Strosser, the ACLU's head honcho, who cooked up the Jefferson fake." First of all, her last name is Strossen, not Strosser. And second of all, yes, she's an easy target, and one that I'm sure Steyn would like to nail with a charge of making stuff up. But, even a simple Google search will turn up an article on About.com attributing it to historian Howard Zinn. And these guys did some research on Lexis and Westlaw and discovered that Dorothy Hewitt Hutchinson said it all the way back in 1965. So, um, get a fact checker, Mark!

The worst part is how accurate he is about the state of politics in America today. Like I said, the man can write. Toward the end of the column is this powerful quote: "If the right is full of armchair generals, the left is full of armchair generalities: Nothing can be done, any course is futile, everything's a quagmire." It's true that the hardest thing in the world right now (certainly for me at least) is believing that anything's ever going to change. My favorite quote from the Illuminatus! trilogy is:

"They did then look further and, lo, high as they were they saw the founding of a great republic and proclamations hailing new gods named Due Process and Equal Rights for All. And they saw many in high places in the republic form a separate cult and worship Mammon and Power. And the Republic became an Empire, and soon Due Process and Equal Rights for All were not worshipped, and even Mammon and Power were given only lip-service, for the true god of all was now the impotent What Can I Do and his dull brother What We Did Yesterday and his ugly and vicious sister Get Them Before They Get Us."

Amen.