Oh, yeah

Now I remember what it is I hate about having a management-type job: it doesn't feel like real work. Yesterday it was like I was playing "Operator" - developer A tells me he fixed a defect and sends me a file, and I send the file to deployer B and ask if he can deploy it today; when B says okay, I ask tester C if deploying the fix will interrupt testing; when C says it's okay, I tell B to go ahead and deploy; then I wait for B to tell me if the deployment was successful. Which it wasn't, because for some reason a "node" was down, which was causing business analyst D to panic. For this I went to college? Twice? Retirement cannot come soon enough.

Most recent evenings I have been watching the Olympics, which is mildly entertaining and surprisingly engrossing. I'm not attracted to action movies, but wipe-outs on skates or skis? I'm so there. If I was the boss of the Olympics, though, I would turn it back into amateur competition. The primary rules would be, you can enter only one event, and once you have won a medal, you can never return. We could call it the Olympics for Real People.

I finished Bright-Sided. It was okay. Some of my friends are into the Law of Attraction and The Secret and I was hoping B-S would supply me with some ammunition against their magical thinking. But it didn't. Barbara Ehrenreich's bias is about all that carries the book, although the history of positive thinking was interesting. (I didn't know I was such a Calvinist.) Anyway, we all engage in magical thinking in one form or another, which is okay as long as it doesn't supplant critical thinking.

Now I am reading Horse Boy, which is about an autistic kid with an affinity for animals. The dad is convinced his son can be healed if they seek out shamans in Mongolia. No, this is not fiction, which is what makes it such a compelling story.

Somewhere in there, I watched "Bon Voyage" which I would describe as a French romantic farce. It must not have made much of an impression on me because all I can remember is that Gerard Depardieu was in it. Oh! Wait! It was about an actress and her besotted childhood friend in pre-World War II France. Gerard played a government minister the actress was leeching off. Not exactly a fun time in history, but the movie did make me laugh.

1000 Journals

“It's more important to do something personal than to do something important. That's what I think now.” — 1000 Journals

My SO and I watched this documentary last night. In a nutshell, a graphic designer who calls himself SomeGuy took one thousand blank books, added artwork to the covers, stamped the inside with instructions - keep for two weeks, add whatever you want, pass it on, send it back when it is full - and launched them into the world. His goal was to spark our innate creativity, that fresh way we looked at the world when we were young. "1000 Journals" contains interviews with some of the contributors and how the project impacted their lives. No one was "saved" but everyone gave something and gained something from participating. According to the website FAQ, only one has come back, but in the movie, I think more like two dozen did. There was talk about a museum exhibit - not sure if that ever happened - and a book about the project was published and obviously this movie was made. Oh, and another project, 1001 Journals, came into being.

While I was intrigued by the idea and entertained by the movie, I'm not sure what to think about it all. I am one of those many adults who would not answer "YES" if asked whether I were an artist. In the not so distant past, I tried to keep a journal like these, something that contained more than my daily whine, but could not sustain any interest in it. But now that I am approaching the end of my 50's (GAH!), my interest in this sort of thing is increasing, not as an expression of creativity but as an exploration of my inner life, the real me, whoever that may be.

In the era of the Internet, keeping a journal of any sort on paper seems like an anachronism, but then how to explain the popularity of scrapbooking? In A Year of Cats and Dogs, the protagonist complains about how life has no plot. Maybe journals and scrapbooks and photo albums are our attempts to capture events and apply a storyline of some sort to our existence.

Julie and Julia

Back in my teen years, my mother grew a bit bored with the roast beef and meatloaf meals she had been cooking for decades. We were less than gracious about what we called her "gourmet cooking" but I don't recall refusing to eat what was served. I think she favored the Galloping Gourmet over Julia Child, but it was impossible to be alive in America back then and not to know who Julia Child was. Her style was as unique as William F. Buckley's.

Meryl Streep's Julia ranks right up there with Philip Seymour Hoffman's Capote and Kate Blanchett's Dylan and Hepburn. It would have been so easy to paint Julia's large personality with ridicule or farce, but that line was not crossed.

Briefly, the movie is about Julia Child's path to becoming a famous chef juxtaposed with Julie Powell's blog about cooking every recipe from Julia's first book in the course of a year. Quite frankly, I would have been happy with more of the former and less of the latter. While Julia is a cultural icon, Julie is a pop phenomenon, and a not very interesting one at that. I have to give her kudos, though, for being able to bone a duck.

Amy Adams played Julie. She is one those actresses who morph enough with each role that I don't pick up on the fact that I have seen her in other movies, including important films like "June Bug" and "Doubt". Ditto Stanley Tucci as Paul. I raked over his filmography, trying to figure out just where I've seen him before. It appears I've seen him all over the place, but not in any roles that stick in my mind.

This movie could have been the story of a great romance. I wish someone loved me the way Paul loved Julia. And I wish I loved someone like Julia loved Paul. Maybe I need to cultivate a big personality, a grating falsetto, and a love of French cooking.

Religulous

A few weeks ago, my neighbor called, wanting to foist some Mad Ants basketball tickets onto me. I told him I had other plans, but I did not elaborate, because those plans involved a butt dent in the couch and watching Bill Maher make fun of religion in "Religulous". Some people would not think that was funny.

But I did. Religion, and the people who practice it, are easy targets for ridicule. I just don't understand how an individual can reject scientific evidence that supports the concept of evolution and yet believe in talking snakes, virgin birth, and raising people from the dead, without suffering enough cognitive dissonance to make his/her head explode.

I confess that I lack the capacity (or the imagination?) to make the leap of faith that religion requires. And I have tried, I truly have. I can get excited about becoming a believer for about 15 minutes, but then it all just fades away. Consequently, while I found "Religulous" to be entertaining, it didn't tell me anything I didn't already know. The movie was obviously edited for comedic effect as well, so any insight it might appear to provide should be taken with a grain of salt.

Gran Torino

I like Clint Eastwood. I like most Clint Eastwood movies. "Gran Torino" is no exception.

Basically, the story involves recently widowed Walt who lives in a changing neighborhood. Walt likes to growl and complain. Estranged from his own family, he unwillingly gets involved with the Hmong family next door. There is gang violence involved, and Walt decides he has to do something about it.

Like most Clint Eastwood movies, it is best not to examine this one too closely, or you will notice that there is only one multi-dimensional character and that the rest of the cast is there to move the plot along. And don't think too much about how good-natured the Hmong are about being called a wide variety of racial epithets. And don't get caught up in wondering if your own death will have meaning.

Instead, laugh out loud when Walt decides to "man up" his teenage neighbor Thao by teaching him how men talk to each other (it involves a lot of profanity and ethnic slurs) and cry a little about the need for some to drag down the others and nod approvingly at the surprisingly satisfying ending.

Mystic River

Many years ago, I watched "Mystic Pizza" so I assumed "Mystic River" took place in a southern Connecticut port town. But no, it's Boston based. A second level of confusion resulted in the fact that one character is named "Sean" but not the character played by Sean Penn, who is "Jimmy". Just as I can't keep track of who has the ball when the Vikings play Green Bay, I had trouble keeping the names straight, except for "Dave". And I did not realize this was a Clint Eastwood-directed film until the end, when the credits rolled.

This was one long, slow-paced, dark movie. I don't think there was a moment of levity in the whole thing. And a certain amount of knowledge had to be inferred from the dialog. Fortunately, my daughter was on hand to keep me up to speed.

The basic story line is, three eleven-year-old boys are deeply affected by what happens to one of them, Dave. Flash forward 25 years, and we see that one is a cop and one is a petty thief turned local boss of his own little fiefdom, while damaged Dave acts kind of dumb but is smarter than we think. Jimmy's nineteen-year-old daughter is brutally murdered, and Sean the cop works the case. He and his partner focus on one likely candidate after another, but by the time they nab the perpetrator, one of their suspects becomes fish food.

This movie reminds me of "Unforgiven" - another Clint Eastwood movie - which I "got" but could not explain. Things are not tied up in a neat little bundle in the end. If you can stand that kind of uncertainty, this may be a movie for you.

To Joy

I'm a fan of Ingmar Bergman, but I found "To Joy" a bit difficult to watch. The acting seemed overwrought, even for 1950, and the story a bit disjointed. Fortunately, it was a short film.

But there were some solid themes running through it:
* What happens when we find out we are not as special as we thought?
* How do we parse out freedom and responsibility?
* Where does love go when it takes a holiday? And how do we lure it back?

I watch (read) a lot of foreign films and wonder about the nuances of the translations. And I'm not very familiar with most of the classical music that punctuated this movie. I think I would have appreciated the movie more were I better educated.

Vitus

This Swiss film is the sweet and funny story of a boy genius who wants to be normal. Vitus is a prodigy who truly loves music, but doesn't like how people, especially his parents, treat him because of his gift. Grandpa is the exception, as are a few others who realize he is fine just the way he is.

It is telling that, after viewing one too many Hollywood movies, I kept waiting for something bad to happen - a tragedy, a molestation, a prank gone horribly wrong. But instead, the story progresses along a natural timeline. Along side the plot are questions of parentage - dad is a workaholic, mom becomes overly invested in Vitus's success - and questions about just what is "normal".

The storyline gets a bit fantastic toward the happily-ever-after conclusion, but the ending fits the story. A pleasant, intelligent movie appropriate for most ages.

P.S. All my blogs are getting spam from "anonymous" commenters. So I am going to disallow anonymous comments, to see if that eliminates this pesky problem. Not that anyone will notice.

Doubt

Last week I watched "Doubt", starring Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman.

And what a well-written, finely-directed, superbly-acted movie that was! The story of a priest of questionable character, an old crotchety nun and a young naive nun could easily have slipped into stereotype and predictability. But the priest is not so easily categorized (nor is his supposed victim), the old nun is tough but covertly caring, and the young nun turns out to be stronger than we expect, plus she reflects our own confusion about the truth.

The dialog, where delicate topics are disguised in oblique vocabulary that those of us who experienced the '50s and early '60s will recognize, contributes to our own doubts about what exactly is going on. The best scene is the conversation between the old nun and the child's mother. Deliciously complex!

Highly recommended.

The Secret Life of Words

A quiet film, "The Secret Life of Words" starts by introducing Hanna. Deaf, she works in a factory and lives in isolation, exhibiting some OC behavior. Her boss forces her to take a holiday, which she dutifully does by traveling to Ireland. There, she overhears a phone conversation and, revealing that she is a nurse, offers to tend an injured man on an oil rig.

Hanna has suffered a monstrous tragedy in her past, which is slowly revealed. Likewise, the fire on the oil rig that killed one man and injured another, carries its own tragedy, which is also slowly revealed. The sick bay, an island within the island of the oil rig, provides a safe place for both Hanna and her charge to reveal their injured selves, both physical and emotional.

The oil rig is populated by a small crew of "quirky alones". The men are drawn to Hanna despite her initial aloofness, and her interaction with them allows her to emerge from her self-imposed shell.

The movie is sad, but there is an undercurrent of joy (partially provided by the sound track) that illustrates how the human spirit can carry forward despite unspeakable horrors.

The movie is driven by dialog, hence played well on my small TV. Highly recommended.

Interesting but not compelling

I watched "Frost/Nixon" last night. Since it was based on a play, I figured that watching would not be as important as listening, so I knitted while it ran. That may have been a mistake because I have noticed that when I knit and "watch" a movie, I'm not really engaged in the movie. Occasionally I will pick up my knitting halfway through a movie, but that is because the movie is boring me, and I either must knit or quit watching. And I hate to leave a movie unfinished, just in case it gets better or the last ten minutes make it worthwhile.

Anyway, I have vivid memories of the 1972 election because it was the first election in which I was able to exercise my franchise. I was a hippie back in those days, and spent a sweaty day or two at the county fair, (wo)manning a booth for some liberal cause I cannot recall. I do remember the men associated with the Committee to Reelect the President, though, because they looked like mafia hit men in their dark suits. I mean, really. Who wears a suit to a county fair except goons who need to hide their gats?

Having lived through the era in question, I expected to feel a stronger sense of history from "Frost/Nixon" but did not. As much as I despised Tricky Dick back in the day, I have also harbored a secret sympathy for him, maybe because of a slight resemblance between him and my dad (specifically, the jowls). The movie did not feed my sympathy, either. Something about Langella's Nixon just did not do it for me. I think Nixon was meaner and darker and more wounded in real life. And David Frost is not all that interesting just by himself.

Would I recommend the movie? Only if there is nothing else you really want to see. If you have seen the previews, you have seen the best parts.

Pierrepoint: The Last Hangman

I watched this movie several weeks ago, but forgot to post my "review". So here ya go!

Just as "Vera Drake" was about abortion, "Pierrepoint" is about capital punishment. Like "Vera Drake," it doesn't beat you about the head and shoulders with pros and cons. Instead, it tells the story of Britain's most prolific executioner, then lets you form your own opinion.

Albert Pierrepoint follows in his father's footsteps by qualifying to be on "the list" of executioners who carry out the courts' orders. He does his job well, performing the executions in a few seconds to prevent prolonging the condemn's agony, then treating the dead body with dignity. His work exists in the shadows and his identity remains a secret, until the end of World War II, when his professionalism earns him the privilege of executing war criminals in Germany.

Up until this point, Pierrepoint has carefully compartmentalized his emotions, viewing himself as a tool of the justice system. But the number of executions he performs in Germany undoes something within him. Also, the powers that be, wishing to present themselves as humane executioners, are not above publicizing his identity. His newfound fame does not sit well with him, but his wife is quick to capitalize on it. They buy a pub and his notoriety helps bring in customers.

I won't reveal more about the plot other than to say the movie raises the issues surrounding capital punishment and depicts the public's change in attitude toward it. Regardless of your own position on the issue, the film will make you think.

The Duchess

I read a good review of "The Duchess" somewhere. The movie sounded intriguing and stars Ralph Fiennes, so I figured it would be better than average. But it was not.

Based on a true story (although I'm sure the details were embellished), the movie tells the tale of one clueless eighteenth-century duchess. Georgiana marries well, but the duke is uninterested in his wife except for her ability to produce an heir. Everyone else is in love with her, though, especially Charles Grey, a political up-and-comer. He is rather clueless as well. Maybe if the two of them had watched "Becoming Jane" they would have had an inkling of how the society they lived in worked. Anyway, in the end Georgiana chooses her children over her lover, the lover avoids scandal and is elected prime minister, and G, the duke, and his mistress all live happily ever after. Until G dies. Then the duke and the mistress marry and continue to live happily ever after. (The movie is so predictable, I don't feel bad about revealing the ending.)

The movie was rated PG-13. Today's 13-year-olds must be more sophisticated than I was at that age, because I would have been aghast to see a bare backside in a movie back then. In some ways, I still am, but now in a good way.

Friday Night at the Movies

By Friday, I am done. I curse profusely at the least little irritant, tears well up over the silliest things, and anything attempted is doomed to frustrating failure, all because instead of being thankful it's Friday, I am already angry that Monday arrives in two days. What a good night to watch a movie!

Confession time: I watched "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." as a tween (I even got David McCallum's autograph!) And I also watched the other spy-related series, including "Get Smart" the television show. I also like stupid movies and sight gags, so it was only natural that I should rent "Get Smart" the movie.

I expected to snicker and I did. I expected to laugh out loud and I did. I expected to lose myself for a couple of hours and I did. It helped that I was familiar with the television series but forgetful enough not to recall all the details. And the movie was kind enough to include references to the series without beating me over the head with them.

The characters are not exactly complex but they are portrayed as being more than two dimensional. Max is a former fatty who dances with the morbidly obese woman at a party (who tells him he is light on his feet). Agent 99's identity was compromised, so she had plastic surgery, wistfully noting that she used to look like her mother. Max protests "Am I invisible?!?" when repeatedly bumped on the street. Agent 99 kicks a former lover in the face for suggesting that she is not feminine.

No surprises, but all in all, a pleasant and entertaining way to while away what is usually a pissy evening in this household. Thanks for the endorphins, Max!

I Must Be Getting Old

One word. Syriana. Has anybody else seen this movie? Can they explain it to me? I tried, I really, really tried to follow all the story lines, knowing that at the end, they would lead to a significant conclusion. But everything just did not add up for me.

At the beginning of the movie, there was some explanatory dialog. And there was something about oil companies and covert operations and selling missiles. And there was this lawyer and these sheiks and the CIA and the CLI and the radical Muslims. And too many middle aged white guys - they all look alike to me.

Some of the characters I could keep track of, but their backstories were lost on me. Who was the older guy living with the lawyer? Were the scenes of George Clooney and his son supposed to mean something? What was the point of the Matt Damon character?

Ordinarily, I like movies that make me think, but this one just made my head hurt.

Mini Movie Reviews

I like my friends, but we have divergent tastes in movies. I like the quirky and/or foreign and/or oddball films; most of my friends favor lightweight movies, particularly romantic comedies.

At WW, we usually watch several movies. This past weekend was no exception. I brought "27 Dresses" because I thought it would go over relatively well, unlike "Something's Gotta Give" and "The Station Agent". Here are some mini reviews:

"Broken English" - reminded me of "Pieces of April" - painful to watch but a sweet ending. Directed by Zoe Cassavetes - the camera style reflects her dad's influence and of course her mom is in the movie as well.

"No Reservations" - somebody please explain to me why Hollywood takes an award-winning movie ("Mostly Martha") and remakes it into garbage. Skip this one and watch the original instead.

"27 Dresses" - if you like formulaic romantic comedies that are mindless but still kind of fun to watch, this is the movie for you. Reminds me of "In Her Shoes." Warning: the Elton John song "Benny and the Jets" will get stuck in your head.

Reading Movies

I like foreign films. Sometimes I suspect that they are not as good as they seem - maybe the translations make the dialog sound smarter or the locales feel more exotic or the fresh faces are just, well, refreshing - or maybe the crummy foreign films are not released in the US. Anyway, not too often do I find one I don't like.

Last night I watched "Babette's Feast" which is based on a novel by Karen Blixen (aka Isak Dinesen). The only name I recognized from the cast was Bibi Andersson as I have seen her in Bergman films, although Babbette (Stephane Audran) looked familiar. Twenty years old, the film felt older, like a Bergman film although it was directed by Gabriel Axel, who also wrote the screenplay.

Briefly, the movie is about two elderly sisters who have carried on their father's work, ministering to the needy and maintaining the church he founded. In their youth, each sister has a brush with romance but the suitors are turned away. Later, one ex-suitor sends the sisters Babette, a refugee from the French Revolution. She willingly serves the sisters in their desolate outpost on the sea in Jutland. Many years later, Babette wins the lottery. The sisters expect they will lose Babette. Babette offers to prepare a feast to celebrate what would have been the sisters' father's 100th birthday. The remaining church members are invited, a surprise visitor arrives, and the feast transforms them all.

This is a quiet film, with religious overtones and no big climax, but the themes are large. It doesn't follow any formula, but the ending is very satisfying.

In the Valley of Elah

What a heart breaking movie! On the surface, this movie is about a father, a former Army man, looking for his Army son who disappeared shortly after returning from Iraq. His remains indicate he was stabbed, dismembered, and burned, which lead us through a laundry list of possible scenarios and perpetrators. But the movie is also about the trauma of war on "warriors" and their survivors.

While the plotline is compelling, what really sucked me in was the character development and the relationships between the characters. There is Hank Deerfield (played by Tommy Lee Jones), a distrustful veteran who starts the movie proud of his country and proud of his sons. There is his wife Joan; Susan Sarandon has about a dozen lines in this movie but they are all perfectly rendered and bursting with backstory. And there is Det. Emily Sanders, a single mother who knows how to play with the big boys even though they don't want her to play.

The Valley of Elah is where David met and slew Goliath. It is also where we face our fears and learn to accept the truth, about our loved ones and ourselves, even when that truth is hard to bear.

Martha Mostly Meets the Cindarella Man

Two movies I watched recently:

"Mostly Martha" - This is a German film about an anal retentive, workaholic chef whose life is interrupted when her sister is killed in a car accident and she takes in her niece and a new cook is hired at the restaurant. There is a G-rated sex scene - at least, I think it culminated in sex - where the foreplay involved a blindfold and a bowl of soup. And it has a happy ending.

"Cinderella Man" - Yes, Russell Crowe and Renee Zellweger in a "feel good" movie - if you like boxing. If you don't like boxing, you may not enjoy this flick. Oh, and Paul Giamatti, whom I almost did not recognize without his "Sideways" beard. I happen to like watching boxing, so I found the movie engrossing. Also, the ethical characters were refreshing. But when Max Baer came on the scene, I kept thinking about his son, Max Baer, Jr, who played Jethro on "The Beverly Hillbillies." This flick also had a happy ending.

The Lives of Others

I really liked this movie, which (unlike Hollywood-made movies) was about the story and not the actors. It is long, but I did not feel it. In fact, I kept worrying that it would end too soon, and without satisfaction. My concerns were unfounded, though.

Basic synopsis: East Germany, 1984 (yes, shades of George Orwell). Some actually have faith in socialism, but two of these men become disillusioned, by different paths. And one, who works for the secret police, meddles in the life of the other, with mixed results. That's all I'm going to say. See the movie for yourself.