Last night I sat down in a marathon session and watched the whole 10 episodes. It was nuts, I couldn’t put it down and sleep. This box set would make a great gift for any guy during this holiday season. The top 4 war movies would go down as:
1. Das Boot
2. Band of Brothers
3. Saving Private Ryan
4. Apocalypse Now
=YC
Re: After First Month in Office, Schwarzenegger Continues to Surprise and Dance steps and missteps: Governor Displays Unique, Brash Style
When I visited NYC this past Thanksgiving holiday, a few friends joked with me about Governor “Ah-nold” and what a joke it was to have him be California’s newest governor via special elections. I admit yes, it’s rather bizarre and it could only happen in California, uniquely (and sometimes fondly known as) the land of fruits and nuts.
On the other hand, one had to have lived in California for a little while to appreciate why this could ever happen. Knowing this history, it’s not hard to understand that this was the only possible result due to a chaotic and broken political process. Viewing it from the lense of the common citizenry, this is nothing short of a citizen’s revolt against the political establishment. Both Republicans and Democrats fully participated in these elections — the outrage, the desire for change, or whatever was palpable. This was more a testimony against the California political establishment, not a right vs. left. Many conservatives voted against Arnold because he was too “left” for their tastes. Many Democrats/liberals voted for him because Gray Davis and his Latino side-kick Bustamente were just too Establishment and the California mess was blamed on the long-time politicos and needed someone new and not beholden to the usual constituencies was going to trump anything resembling a “professional politician”.
Arnold is a centrist and my prototypical Republican candidate. I can’t wait to vote Bush out of office.
=YC
I got the latest ABA E-Journal and found myself reading the latest The Rodent column. Now, I know he’s supposed to be humorous and sometimes he is funny. He’s more like smile-funny rather than laugh-out-loud funny, with his out-takes on the law profession and how screwy it is. The latest column is no exception. His column photograph is the weirdest thing for me, though. Despite being called “The Rodent” (no doubt meaning to evoke the negative stereotype of the law profession), his “photo” is not of the weasel-like form. No, it’s of a sweet looking, fuzzy head (mouse? chinchilla? definitely not chipmunk) atop of a decent looking suit. Huh? Stereotype bent over backwards – the Rodent not trying to chew you out of hearth and home; he’s your kid’s lovable cartoon figure. Gee whiz, had the column been by The Shark, would we have had little Nemo’s head stuck on?
Ooh, the big Entertainment Weekly Special Double Issue/Year Ender! This is going to be fun to flip through!
Bill Moyer’s Now news magazine on PBS is an enjoyable, informative show. Last week’s interview was with NYS’ Attorney General Elliot Spitzer; this week was a fascinating couple of minutes with former Governor Angus King of Maine (a fierce independent, he told the interviewer that the best time he had was antagonizing both parties; a man who spent his adult years in Maine, he accepts the ribbing about not being a native Mainer with good humor). I like watching the series; it has such a Bill Moyers flavor, gentle but not without toughness. There is an unveiled liberal sense to it, from the way he criticizes big businesses and brings in stories that mainstream media wouldn’t really spend much time on (Moyers was once a member of the Lyndon B. Johnson White House, which may explain the liberal feelings; and, as a longtime news veteran, Moyers knows what the mainstream media isn’t telling us). “Now” has a pretty interesting website too.
This week’s Time magazine was good subway reading. Coverage and analysis of Saddam Hussein’s capture. Coverage and analysis of the latest Afghanistan problems. Coverage and analysis of Howard Dean/Al Gore. Commentary on the early, non-canonical Christian gospels. Pictures of the year. Good stuff. I’m making my guesses about the person of the year, but I’m sure we’ll all be surprised. Maybe.
Slate.com has some good postings: “Do Muslims and Christians worship the Same God?” , which made a lot more sense than the mouths of the politically incorrect/ignorant. Michael Kinsley discusses “the politics of mixed emotions”, wherein Kinsley examines the dilemma of politicians, when they’re not the folks to demonstrate nuanced reactions even if they do feel less than proud about a given situation.
This is a rare moment, for once I cared to see what the nominees are as a precursor to the Oscars which I find to be as numbing as novacaine.
I’m shocked that The Last Samurai didn’t garner a nomination for Best Picture, Drama. Looks like this movie is going to be shut out. It’s a crime. So is this some punishment for Tom Cruise by the Hollywood society over Nicole Kidman (still?). Conspiracy theorists where art thou.
=YC
NYC’s local PBS (Channel 13) is currently showing “Dickens” and I’m more or less watching it, thinking I ought to know something more about Dickens and having been inspired after reading Virginia Heffernan’s review in today’s NY Times. Basically, it’s a documentary spliced with dramatic recreations (or “historic reconstructions”); actors portraying Dickens and his family and friends look into the camera as if they are actually being interviewed by the documentarian. Meanwhile, there are clips of PBS/BBC movies of Dickens’ books and narration by novelist/biographer, Peter Ackroyd. It seems well acted, but Dickens comes across as really whiny so far (“My mother made me work in the factory when I was 12! I was robbed of my childhood and I could never forgive her!”; “I dumped my wife; no, I will not talk about my mistress(es)”). The overarching theme feels like “Innocence lost” again and again. Could this Dickens portrayal be a tad less Freudian, please? (hates his mom, loves his dad…) And, not to mention how Dickens had every potential of being a snob: dresses like a gentleman as an adult; resents working in the factory; resents that his sister got to attend the Royal Academy for piano lessons while he was in the factory; did he ever realize he had to work because his family needed the money? It’s easy to see how Dickens created the character of Pip in “Great Expectations” – he used his own self as a model. Pip was convincingly portrayed as a young man who resented his working class circumstances because Dickens was that very same kind of person. Peter Ackroyd intones about how Dickens suffered “humiliations of his youth”; I get the feeling that had therapy been invented back then, perhaps Dickens wouldn’t have gone to his writing to get through his emotional turmoils!
Dickens was a snob (possibly), but championed outcasts. In his public speaking circuits, he was amusing but was internally dark. He apparently hated London for being the source of his sorrows, but all his books recreate 19th century London amazingly (did he really hate London, or was he doing all he could as a reformer because he saw the city had potential to be better than a place collecting the worse of society?). Dickens’ wife loved the man; how much did he love his wife, rather than just using her (marrying her because he needed a marriage)? Did he ever empathize with her pains (she bore all those kids for him; he was needy; she was needy; it was not a great marriage)… Dickens was human and the documentary is very good about making that very apparent.
I still don’t enjoy these kinds of documentaries that much; it’s weird to watch an actor speak as Dickens in such a revealing manner – it doesn’t feel like they’re speaking in a 19th century style, even if all the characters’ British accents are plummy and nice. A celebrity like Dickens revealing all his frustrations sounds too much like a 20th/21st century creation. And, I miss the talking heads; where are all the scholars who talk about their areas of expertise? I’m left wondering why I have to listen to only Peter Ackroyd (I’m not so well-read to have gotten around to reading Ackroyd’s works either). Oh, well, each person has his/her own taste about documentaries.
Sidenote – Virginia Heffernan used to be Slate.com’s tv critic; I enjoy her writing, because it always gives me the feeling that she’s someone who really enjoys television and writes well. I like to see that critics like their subject area, even if they’re critiquing something less-than-glowingly. The NY Times has an asset in Heffernan.
While in the process of cleaning up my apartment, I collected coins that fell out of pockets and onto the floor. Commerce Bank has a neat coin counting machine called the “Penny Arcade”. You dump the coins into the machine, the machine counts the coins and gives you a receipt, and you just go to the teller to collect fresh green bills. The really neat thing is that unlike CoinStar, which does the same thing at supermarkets, Commerce Bank does not take any commission for the service. There is also a guessing game — you get a free prize if you guess within $1.99 of the counted amount. I guessed $35, but it turned out to be $51.47 — what a find!
RE SSW’s comments in http://www.triscribe.com/wp/index.php?m=200312#post-69:
I thought that the boy scout leader’s strategy in keeping Sandra backfired. I suppose that if you had to spend your last night on the island with someone, it would be better for one’s sanity to not have Jon scheming and psyching you out all night. However, there was no way that anyone on the jury would have voted for Jon. When the questioning by Jon (I think) forced the scoutleader to renounce her uniform, that lost it for the jury, IMHO.
Not a real big movie goer and having missed a number of big ones this year (like T3 and Matrix3), I’m definitely not missing Lord of the Rings. I saw The Last Samurai only because a couple of my friends wanted to go. I’m really glad I did, despite me not being a big fan of Tom Cruise.
I saw The Last Samurai twice. The second time, it was more powerful emotionally to me. I was able to appreciate the actor’s and character portrayals more and realized that was a big reason for its effect. Probably won’t get a lot of awards but definitely for me a big winner. The movie spoke to me and I wasn’t sure if it was due to my “Asian-ness” or because of the universal (maybe, maybe not) virtues of service and honor. My swedish friend saw it twice and was also completely taken in by the movie and the virtues the movie tried to depict through the movies characters.
Don’t know enough about Chinese history to say whether or not there have been any similar classes in China. Service, honor are also very Confucian type of virtues. Going to do some preliminary research into this but probably won’t turn up much. I think this movie is a Top 5 movie of all time for me.
=YC
Watching enough tv this weekend:
The news’ broadcasting of Lt. Gen. Sanchez’s press conference of the capture Saddam Hussein in Iraq kept repeating Sanchez’s use of the phrase “spider hole” to describe the location in which Hussein was hiding. Today, Slate.com’s “Explainer” explains what the heck is a “spider hole.” Interesting explanation.
Slate.com also has a nice article on CBS’ “Two and a Half Men,” a.k.a. that show that Charlie Sheen and John Cryer are on, with the time slot after “Everybody loves Raymond.” I thought the article was on target. I have actually caught myself watching an episode of “Two and a Half Men,” and expected it to be below average; after all, I still saw Charlie Sheen as the one who lowered the standards on “Spin City.” However, imagine my surprise when I actually found myself laughing at some of the jokes and watching for the full half hour (granted, I may have been waiting for the 10:oo news). Hmm. Charlie Sheen isn’t so bad when playing a character with whom he seems to identify (there were moments when his character was reminiscent of the Sheen of the gossip pages). But, the series’ writing still seemed weak and one is left wondering if it could be just a little more original. (I haven’t watched it in a long while, so the spoiler in the article about Cryer’s on-screen wife was surprising – but not by much, since Friends on NBC has already done a similar storyline). But, tv shows that are considered “average” can manage to stay on the air; lucky for them, I guess. I still miss “Boomtown” and its challenging elements.
Last night’s “Survivor” was, as usual, riveting. I haven’t really followed it very much this season, but felt very much caught up by watching the last episode. Host Jeff Probst was as sharp as ever, and the “cast” was quite a bunch of crazies. The cast reunion in the third hour wasn’t too revealing, but I thought it was especially unsurprising that Mr. Savage was the contestant who was an attorney in real life, considering the way he analyzed everyone’s strategies in response to Probst’ questioning; could he possibly be less… analytical? Ah, well; a good tv night.