Sylvia

Sylvia (2003) turned out to be a great movie for me to watch when my husband was out of town. He seemed to have a sense of that and had encouraged me to watch it while he was gone. While I don't think he would have minded it, this isn't a must-see in my book. It has its good points and the acting is very good across the board, but it's just not making the list.

Gwenyth Paltrow is great as Plath. In fact, there is no one in this cast who I doubt for a moment. I don't think that the script or direction fail so much as the topic just could not be contained in this particular vessel. The movie focuses mostly on Plath's marriage to Ted Hughes (played by Daniel Craig), but even then, I think I may have known more about that from hearsay than I got from the film. I remember when Hughes's last book, Birthday Letters, came out, there was a resurgence of grumbling about his treatment of Plath and whatnot. If anything, this film was more sympathetic to Hughes than Plath's fans generally are. Regardless of what may be seen as the film's shortfalls, however, it was lovely if a bit on the dark side. (And I mean this literally, not metaphoricallly; the cinematographer went for dark on dark here.) But Paltrow is very impressive, showing again that she is really a substantial talent and can tackle a very meaty role and that she can totally pull off everything from a twin set to a fisherman's sweater and braids. Right on.

An everyday hero

Scene: Grocery checkout line.
Clerk: Paper or plastic?
Shopper: Oh blast! I've forgotten my bags again!
[SWOOSH!]
Superhero: Not to worry, ma'am. Here, use these string bags.
Shopper: Oh thank you! Who are you, anyway?
Superhero: I'm Reusable-Bag Man. Here to help out forgetful would-be environmentally conscious folks such as yourself.
[As he flies away, getting fainter.] Reduce, Reuse, Recyyyycleee.....

Pie v Cake

Those crazy kids at Red v Blue have proposed January 25 to be Pie v Cake day.

I say 'pie.'

the 'g'

So I was doing my dutiful best a couple of months ago -- when I thought I was going to finish up my work at the Center -- to finally design my business cards. I did some preliminary designs and did some market research (i.e., had my family vote) and had almost settled on a design. But I was still waffling and didn't go ahead with printing. (Besides, my contract was extended, so I wasn't in self-promotion mode anymore.)

Last week, my boss comes in with these great new sandals. She slips one off, and there, on the footbed of the shoe, is my G.

Upon further examination, it isn't really exactly the same. But it was still, well, unsettling.

Oh well. I'd been working on another design anyway....

Happy Feet

Went to see Happy Feet for my (LK's) birthday last week. I like penguins, I like good animation, and I like tap dancing, so that was good. Some of the music was a pop style that we aren't terribly keen on, so we cringed a little here and there, but otherwise, it was really enjoyable. The score was done by John Powell (co-composer of the Chicken Run soundtrack, among other things), and there is this super-cool mass choral thing the emperor penguins do (600 voices in the huddle scene) that I would have loved to hear more of instead.

It is good animation and those little penguins sure can dance. Who knew they had those little knees?

Oh, and the movie definitely is coming down on the large-scale-fishing-operations-are-not-environmentally-sustainable side of that debate. When we went out for dinner afterward, I got tofu.

Hmm....

You just can't leave protein laying around here.

Tiny dead gecko in the bathroom went missing by morning.

There's only one explanation I can think of and it strikes fear in my heart --

Land Shark.

There's no (cheap) tortillas

Mexico is in an upheaval about the price of tortillas -- in some areas the price has risen 400% in the last month and a half. This might be blamed on everything from imported U.S. corn prices, hoarding, the threat of the petroleum industry being opnened up to foreign investment again, or just the fact that anytime there is a new president, prices spike. (B tells me that he remembers that as soon as any president assured the public that the price of something would not go up, shopkeepers would immediately set about raising their prices.)

Mexican politics and economics are fascinating.

Who Killed the Electric Car?

Well, I can't tell you, as it would give the ending away. But let's just say, the blame is shared.

Who Killed the Electric Car? (2006) is a documentary investigating why GM recalled their electric car, the EV1. It also touches on some other car makers and their short-lived electric cars as well.

The ubiquitous Ed Begley Jr. appears, and while David Zucker doesn't appear in person, there is a clip from Naked Gun 2 1/2.

We very much enjoyed this movie. It goes from thought-provoking to deeply depressing to charming and even optimistic. Get on your bicycle and go to the video store to rent it!


And P.S.: Despite their claims that consumers didn't want an electric car(!), GM has now unveiled their new -- you guessed it -- electric car, the Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid.

We shall see...

The Time Machine(s)

Often I catch myself being (compulsively) systematic. For instance, if I become interested in a film and discover there is some series (re-makes, sequels, etc.) I want to watch them in chronological order.

The Time Machine is the latest subject of this impulse. But this time -- this time, we also ended up reading the H. G. Wells book (1895).

We sort of went out of order, because we were inspired to read it as a result of having seen these film versions that bore little resemblance to our fragmented memories of reading the story in our respective youths (I read an illustrated version, LK read the book at some point).

When we did get around to read the literary version of The Time Machine, we were able to determine several things:

1. The 2002 film is really a remake of the 1960 film rather than a reinterpretation of the novella.
2. Wells’s text is far richer than the films (duh!).
3. The ambiguity of the book may have encouraged these creative interpretations -- no motivation for the Time Traveler is ever given in the book and both films revolve around what they decided his motivation might be.
4. Both films, like the book (and in fact all science fiction), reflect more about the times in which they were written than about the historical time in which Wells’s wrote his text.

So here are the executive summaries (book, 1960 film, 2002 film):

The book:
Motivation for time travel: scientific curiosity. Reflects the idea of intellectual pursuits for their own sake (the gentleman scholar). Reason for Eloi-Morlock split: the elite grew weak, proletariat grew powerful. The Time Traveler returns briefly to his own time to relate account of adventures, then leaves again to the far future never to return. Apparent motivation for his last departure is his dismay no one believes him (takes a camera when he goes back). Weena: physical companion only. She dies, no big deal.

1960 movie:
Motivation for time travel: disgust with war. The reason for Eloi-Morlock split was the war between "East" and "West." War destroyed the earth and some people went underground while others stayed above. Like the book, the Eloi are clothed and fed by the Morlocks -- its unclear if they can survive without Morlocks. The Time Traveler returns to his own time briefly to relate account of adventures. Decides to go back to "rescue" Weena and takes 3 books with him but we never know which ones.

2002 movie:
Motivation for travel: tragic loss of loved one, becomes obsessed with wondering why he can’t change the past (and prevent her death). Reason for Eloi-Morlock split: science goes too far -- moon is damaged and causes extreme environmental change. Some went underground, developed their own society with very clearly delineated castes (hunter, spy, leader), and are barely human. Elois stayed above -- primitive, but beautiful, very human. Eloi's survival is not dependent on the Morlocks. Not cattle, like in both previous versions, but certainly food supply for Morlocks. The Time Traveller never returns to his own time.

What they have in common:
A time machine and a Time Traveller.

Should you watch them? Nah. But do read the book!

Wordplay

You know how you spent years listening to Garrison Keillor's sonorous voice on the radio, only to be a bit surprised when you saw a photo? While maybe you didn't really have a specific picture in your mind when you heard heard him, you had some general sense, and it was difficult to integrate the voice-picture you had held with a 7-foot-tall man with a slighty froglike face.

So it is a bit of a relief that although it turned out that Will Shortz didn't quite jibe with what I had in my mind, he didn't clash with it either (another picture here -- better groomed, looks like the same shirt). I suppose if nothing else, he was much younger than I expected. And -- while this likely only makes sense to me -- he just didn't sound like he'd have a moustache. (When they showed him actually reading NPR's Sunday Puzzle it was a bit...disorienting. Like, hey, that guy sounds just like Will Shortz!)

Best part (besides seeing Will Shortz): Seeing how a crossword puzzle is constructed.
Another best part: Bill Clinton can talk and write at the same time. (I'd like to see W. do that!)
And gee whiz: You wouldn't believe how many of these people are left-handed.

The movie is quite charming and we both enjoyed it (B more than he thought he would). Who would enjoy it? Puzzlers, for sure, but I think others as well. I don't consider myself a puzzler and I liked it, but I am a geek. Oh, and while there are celebrity puzzlers (Clinton, Jon Stewart, Mike Mussina, Indigo Girls, Ken Burns) its really just not a sexy movie. (Well, maybe Mussina. Maybe I should be paying more attention to baseball...) Let's just say that the crossword puzzler convention attendees made our usual academic conferences look like Cannes.

Shopgirl

Shopgirl (2005) is based on Steve Martin's novella of the same name. I certainly enjoyed the book and was more than willing to give the movie version a go (especially since I generally like Claire Danes -- ever since the short-lived tv series "My So-Called Life" -- and Steve Martin). The movie retains the thoughtful charm of the book. The shopgirl in question is Mirabelle (Danes), an aspiring artist who currently works at the glove counter at Saks. She gets involved with both Jeremy (Jason Schwartzman), who is about her age and who she meets at the laundromat, and Ray Porter (Martin), who she meets at Saks and who is not "age-appropriate" at 25 or so years older. Shortly after they meet, Jeremy leaves town for a few months. This allows Mirabelle's relationship with Ray to rise and fall by the time he returns. The fact that the narrator is also Steve Martin is a little odd, as the narrator has much better insight than Ray Porter does. But perhaps that it partly the author-screenwriter's way of linking him with this emotionally distant character. One of the refreshing things about these characters is that they are pretty much all out there. No one does anything all that surprising. (Well, Jeremy might be the exception to that -- he really does seem to grow as a result of his extended listening to self-help books on tape.) No character is all good or all bad -- they are in many ways just like normal, flawed human beings.

HI, North Shore

Finally. I no longer have to hang my head in shame. I went to the North Shore. (B had actually gone previously on the boogie board with a surfer friend. Did not drown, but learned how it could be done.)

I was granted an extra day of holiday as a result of Bush's pandering to the American public, and I decided I wouldn't waste it and wanted to do something special. It was big surf today and it was amazing to watch. When we first got there, we were just south of Pipeline and got to watch lots of boogie boarders. Awesome.

Later, at Pipeline watched mostly surfers and a couple of spongers (boogie boarders). A sponger doing a knee-drop on a huge wave. (Spongers should get some kind of valour medal when it's that big.) It was just like the movies -- these guys riding huge waves, going into the barrel and coming out the far end alive. (Did I already say it was amazing?)

We also watched people watching the surfers. Lines of guys with cameras on tripods and all kinds of other spectators. If any normal people (non-surfers) got anywhere near the water's edge, the lifeguards would call them back with their bullhorns. The surf was that big. Signs and flags everywhere. It was great! B saw some surfer guy giving autographs. No one but pros and/or lunatics would have been out there. We saw one guy lose his board when his leash broke and have to get towed in to shore. And we also saw another guy with a board neatly broken in half. (We saw the result, not the incident.)

Oh yeah. And this was nothing. The surf can get much bigger.

Casino Royale and my new fitness regimen

Daniel Craig is James Bond. (Boy, is he.)

Yes, this Bond film is a bit more brutish than its predecessors, but it retains enough of the Bond-esque humor, charm, good looks, and fancy cars to be true to the genre. While we couldn't predict the plot (which is a real pleasure), it was easy enough for my sensitive self to see where a scene might turn a bit ugly with plenty of time to squinch my eyes shut. And while I haven't ever had to do that in a Bond film before, it wasn't such a huge divergence that it really bothered us. In fact, the greater physicality of it all was part of what really made it great fun, so I'm willing to take the bad with the good. For one thing, I don't remember ever seeing a Bond spend so much time running full speed. Craig really looks believably powerful when he's going flat out. There is a lengthy chase scene early in the movie that features free-running -- this might be the best on-foot chase scene ever in movies. The fellow he is chasing is played by Sebastien Foucan, one of the originators of parkour and the creator of free-running. These ain't no stunts.

Overall, great fun and true Bond.

(And just for the record: My husband had his sporty little Craig-Bond swim trunks way before this movie ever came out.)

Dead Man

B: We tend not to be very big fans of Johnny Depp. Perhaps this has to do with his mannerisms when speaking, or the weird stuff he sometimes does with his facial hair, or perhaps he didn't leave a very positive impression in the interview we caught on James Lipton's Inside the Actors Studio -- particularly with regards to what we saw as the unnecessary pretentiousness of rolling his own cigarettes during said interview (you can find the interview on YouTube). However, in Dead Man (1995), Jim Jarmusch's literary, post-modern, tripped-out western, we seem to be quite pleased watching him as "William Blake."

William Blake's journey to his new post as an accountant at Dickinson Metalworks in the town of Machine is actually the entrance to the more challenging journey that will test and prepare him for his final journey to where all souls come from. William Blake is guided and protected by Nobody (Gary Farmer) on the last leg of his journey. (And here I allow LK to interject since I don't know a thing about the historical Blake). The most important thing about him (that is the historical Blake) is that he is already dead, just like the movie's Blake (Depp).

LK: The fact that Depp-Blake never confirms that he is the William Blake and doesn't know any of "his own" poetry doesn't seem to bother Nobody. Depp-Blake morphs into a combination of the the identity given to him by Nobody and the circumstances in which he finds himself. It's not always clear when Nobody is reciting poetry, but early on he quotes "Some are born to sweet delight, Some are born to endless night" from Blake's "Auguries of Innocence." The reason Nobody does not closely examine whether Depp-Blake is the Blake may be because all that really matters is, as B states above, that they are both dead. All dead men are dead men. When souls return to where they come from, they are all joined -- therefore if Depp-Blake is dead, as Nobody says he is, he is therefore all Blakes.

Dead Man is not a passive viewing experience. No questions will be answered. While the movie can be watched as a literal narrative, it also is extremely complex on all levels. B has one interpretation that this may all be a journey through Purgatory, that Depp-Blake is either dead before he gets on the train or dies shortly after arriving in Machine, and he must go on this journey to finally achieve peace. (I never read The Divine Comedy -- anyone?) I think it's a compelling idea. There is some implication that the town of Machine is Hell, and Mr. Dickinson, who runs the metalworks, is the devil. This could mean that all of the characters in this place are either trapped there and reenacting the same events over and over (and their deaths within the realm of the dead are therefore very complex or are meaningless -- I haven't worked that out...), or the characters are other souls journeying through this land of the dead and who will either go back to Machine/Hell or on to the next level as Blake does. The souls in this place certainly are suffering (although purification seems to be less evident). Minions of hell (working for Dickinson) come after Depp-Blake to try to re-claim him before he finishes his journey.

B: As we watched the film we kept wondering why we didn't find Depp difficult to take but we eventually realized that it might have been that he doesn't talk much and doesn't do weird things with his facial hair (or any of his hair). [LK: Maybe we can actually watch another Depp movie after this. That irritation from the Actors Studio interview really did linger on for us...] Anyway, the film is shot in grainy black and white and Neil Young's music fills in the otherwise silent episodes with raspy chords that make the film a full sensory experience. Certainly, Dead Man is a film worth watching.

Mele Kalikimaka

Tree

We have a tiny little Christmas tree that arrived this week. Bet those trees in Maine never would have imagined their branches would go all the way to Hawaii. It smells fabulous and, frankly, the little pile of gifts did look a little dorky on the bookshelf -- much nicer to have them by a Christmas tree. What a treat. We even put a few ornaments on it. We sit and enjoy it while eating the cookies my mother and sister sent...

Language: She could of been a role model

By now, many of you know about Lindsay Lohan's literacy-challenged tribute to Robert Altman. Personally, I was more than willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. She's young. She was inspired in the moment. So she didn't have anyone proofread her heartfelt note before she pressed 'send,' big deal. We've all done it, in some way or another. Foolish, yes, but not unforgivable. Nit-picking it would be just plain mean-spirited, right? I'd heard about her comical mis-spelling of "adequate." So what?

But that was before I saw the letter text myself and it sent me reeling. There, in black and white, is what I believe to be one of the most frightening, yet disturbingly common errors made by non-readers. But I assure you, Miss Lohan, and others like you:

"Of" is not a verb.

Really. It's not.

Therefore, "I am lucky enough to of been able to work with Robert Altman" is NOT OKAY!

And as if the negative attention for this was not enough, she sent out another email this week of even greater grammatical spasticity. (Check out the Fug blog's funny--if a bit bitchy--mark-up of her email.)

Besides, what would "Be adequate" even mean? Is this some kind of motivational statement? Jeez, aim high, why don't you?

Cookie monsters

Cookies, cookies everywhere. I made about 250 Christmas cookies on Sunday. At least a dozen of them went directly into the husband (which I take as a sign they turned out fine). I was nearly delirious by the end.

And I only make one kind. (And last year I made none kinds.) This year it's whipped shortbread. Just my speed. Four ingredients (five, counting the nonpareils). Both my sister and my mother make multiple varieties every year, and some of those are very labor-intensive (like buckeyes).

I stand in awe.

And in great appreciation of all the cookies of Christmases past.

Movie: The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005)

El primer entierro de Melquiades Estrada: Allows the viewer to briefly know some of the characters and perhaps formulate some conjectures of how each one of them might fit into the story. Tommy Lee Jones directs and stars (as Pete Perkins) in this magnificent film in which nothing seems to be anticipated before it's time.

Alongside Julio Cedillo (Melquiades Estrada), Jones slowly develops the narratives of the various facets of migrant life, friendships, and the need for awareness beyond our own borders, whether they are personal, political or otherwise.

El segundo entierro de Melquiades Estrada: As I reflect on this movie, I can not help but wonder (with the help of LK's background comments) about Jones's extensive knowledge of literature which is clearly not limited to traditional stage theater. With each burial, the tension builds and the various narratives and plots begin to gain complexity to the point that we are no longer wondering how, why or who killed Melquiades. Rather the deep psychological evolution of the characters as they intermingle with the plot details pulls us from out deep gut emotions and takes us beyond the events that are appearing on screen.

El tercer entierro de Melquiades Estrada: This is a definite must see. While some of the scenes might be too graphic for some, the film is very worth while watching and the reflections that might be capable of causing beyond the end titles can be priceless.

This Spartan Life

Being the public-radio-podcast-geek that I am, I listen to a wide variety of programming. Studio 360 is one of my favorites. One of the recent episodes included Kurt Anderson's interview with Chris Burke, host and creator of This Spartan Life. This talk show is filmed in an alternative...okay, "cyber"-universe: inside the online video game Halo 2. I was heretofore unfamiliar with Halo 2, but I can't help be fascinated by the concept. This game is so complex, that players are figuring out alternative activities to use it for--not just for actually playing the game. You can listen to the interview on Studio 360, and then you can watch the episode of This Spartan Life for the full effect.