My cousin the superstar
My cousin's daughter (cousin once removed?), Bryn, is featured in a recent Volvo ad. She's the youngest blonde girl. She and her twin sister have also had brief spots on the CBS series Moonlight. Enjoy:
April 01, 2008
March 25, 2008
Paul Giamatti the revolutionary dreamboat
Sarah and I have gotten hooked on HBO's new miniseries on John Adams. It's an interesting look at the dynamics of the early U.S. Particularly interesting to see how they represent the personalities of some of the founders--I knew Ben Franklin was a bit of a playboy, but still shocking to see him sharing a bathtub with his French mistress. And Thomas Jefferson comes off much shyer than I might have expected. It does solidify the importance of "the rule of law" for many of the founders, Adams in particular. He clearly gives up on the British throne when it becomes clear the king will ultimately do whatever he pleases, no matter whose rights get trampled in the process.
For those of you with access to HBO and a historical curiousity, it's definitely worth a look. I'd assume it will be out on DVD within the year as well. There's a link here to a discussion about the show involving historians and one of its staff.
February 01, 2008
People with too much time and money on their hands
Found this link on Andrew Sullivan's blog--10 quite extravagant home theaters. Even in the last ten years, it seems like home entertainment has become a massive industry. It's the theater experience at home. I can't help but wonder, though, if the novelty wears off when it's your house. Part of the appeal of an extravagant setting like this is the uniqueness of it. It's all feasting and no fasting, so to speak, which makes the feast less feast-like. Still, while the movie was mediocre in my opinion, I like the Titanic theme here...
January 16, 2008
Juno (movie review)
We took advantage of winter break to take in another matinee, Juno. It's the story of a high school junior who gets pregnant and decides to give the baby up for adoption. It's got the hallmarks of an indie film: quirky soundtrack and several characters have rather odd traits (a dog fetish, popping red tic tacs). It's quite funny at times, and certainly doesn't give teen pregnancy the stigma it often has in teen films. Jennifer Garner of all people stood out as an interesting character to me. Still, it wasn't without flaws. Sarah found the parenting a little unrealistically good, and thre relationship between the mother and father to be wasn't developed all that much. It's written by Diablo Cody, a Twin Cities narrative, and there's several Minnesota references throughout. Definitely worth a look. (4/5)
January 14, 2008
Once (movie review)
Sarah and I watched Once last night. She was a little skeptical, since it's technically a musical, but both of us loved it. It's a story set in Dublin about an Irish street musician who develops a friendship with a Czech woman. They've both got checkered romantic pasts, and the real tension of the movie is their vulnerabilities being revealed and wondering where this relationship is going. It's an adult film in the sense that it's about two people with pasts and complicated lives working out what it means in the present. Great music (though the songs do start to sound the same toward the end) and a really compelling story--the chemistry between the two leads is strong. The main actor is the lead singer from the Frames, an Irish band which looks like a big deal, but which I in my ignorance hadn't heard of. It's a musical that isn't a musical--no spontaneous bursting into song. Highly recommended.
5/5
October 03, 2007
Mahmoud in love
Saw this on SNL last week and thought it was quite clever (and catchy!). There's an interesting mashup of cultural issues here--a parody of hip-hop conventions and political commentary, and how both relate to the acceptance of homosexuality. Enjoy....
August 14, 2007
Interesting Speilberg blogs
Again, apologies to any actual regular readers I have out there. Between setting up a new computer and a family vacation, there hasn't been much time for blogging.
One of the entertainment blogs I started reading during the last season of The Sopranos has an interesting feature this month--"31 Days of Spielberg." These are some nice, in-depth reflections on the director's movies. Today's entry, for example, was The Temple of Doom. I remember being pretty scared of this film--particularly the heart removal scene--when I saw in theaters as a 10 year old. This reviewer talks about that dark tone at length, particularly making a connection with George Lucas's divorce at the time. In any case, movie buffs might find this interesting to check out.
June 11, 2007
Cut to black
**CAUTION: SOPRANOS SPOILERS AHEAD**
Sarah and I huddled around our TVs last night to watch the last episode of HBO's landmark, The Sopranos. I'm sure we weren't the only ones to wonder if our cable had cut out at the end. Having survived the latest assassination attempt (but still facing federal indictment), the series ends with Tony meeting his family at a neighborhood restaurant. Tension builds throughout the scene as Tony scans every new patron as they come through the door. Most look innocent enough. His daughter, Meadow, has trouble parallel parking, and we wait for the inevitable accident. One suspicious man walks to the bathroom, perhaps echoing the famous Michael Corleone sequence from The Godfather. Yet nothing happens--the biggest surprise is how the camera cuts to complete black just a Meadow enters--the bell rings, we see Tony look up, and then nothing.
To be fair, this episode had a good deal of closure. We got to revisit most of the main characters (at least those still alive) and say goodbye. Death hung like a cloud over the proceedings--both Junior and NYC's Little Italy seem in their final hours. Yet I was surprised how upbeat this episode seemed in the end. Tony makes it through, and everyone in his family seems reasonably happy. As Alan Sepinwall points out, there is some irony here--the characters' happiness could be seen a simple denial of the deeper issues they choose not to fully address: the violence that sustains them, the threat of terrorism and war, or an impending federal arrest. But still, I was left liking Tony more than I thought I would, almost despite myself.
As for the ending, it was common knowledge that David Chase, the series' creator, dislikes tidy endings. In his reflection, Matt Zoller Sietz describes this as a kind of "snuff the viewer" moment. Like so many characters on the show, our time in this world ends abruptly. We never reach full closure, and some characters' stories will always outlive us. Will Tony ever really change? Probably not. He may end up in jail or dead before his time, but we'll never know. In the end, the characters of the Sopranos rarely choose change over the status quo. Those who do (for good or bad) often end up dead.
After eight years, the Sopranos last season was certainly one of its best. It was a fun ride, and it now continues on (at least in a figurative sense) without us.
Image: http://www.hbo.com/sopranos/img/episode/season06B/ep86/ep86_02.jpg
June 09, 2007
Courage in action
This movie primarily focuses on Sophie Scholl. While references to her faith are somewhat rare, the entire film basically follows the format of a passion play. From other sources, it is clear that like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, faith was a prime motivator for her resistance. She's not a complete saint--her idealism comes across as a bit naive at times. But her courage is quite amazing, especially given her young age (21). There's one scene about halfway through where she and the chief investigator engage in a political discussion about the previous 20 years of German history. It's no car chase, but breathtaking nonetheless in its complexity and intelligence. One can almost see why someone could believe in the Nazis--until they get to the part about genocide.
In any case, if you're someone who can handle subtitles, it's definitely worth a view. It's a great movie about being a non-violent witness to truth in a difficult time. Also worthwhile to see a Christian character who is neither blantantly hypocritical or oversentimentalized.
April 25, 2007
Terminal diagnosis
This week's episode of House, MD, (which my wife and I have now become hooked on) was somehow all to familiar. A major plot point involved Foreman, one of the main team of physicians, talking with another doctor about delivering a terminal prognosis to a patient. Don't mince words, he learns. Give the patient time to process. Let them know they're still human.
Fortunately, my line of work involves much less weighty matters. At the same time, I found myself faced with two "terminal diagnosis" of my own--the message that they were either consigned to a failing grade or in very grave condition academically.
This is a tough conversation, especially late in the semester. I like both students I spoke with. For one, other life commitments (some noble, others less so) got in the way. The other got started late for reasons out of her control and has never seemed to fully catch up. These are not interactions I look forward to, but they've become increasingly easier, which may or may not be a good sign for me. Yet the advice on last night's show applies well here:
- It's best to be straightforward--no "well, I just think things don't look to good for you right now." Just be honest--you have no chance of passing.
- It's important to give students a time to respond. No, there's no extra credit. Unfortunately, you can't now decide to turn in work due eight weeks ago. The damage has been done.
- It's important to help students maintain a sense of dignity. On House this meant a gentle touch on the arm or shoulder. In my case, it might be reminding them of what they've done well this semester or something I've appreciated about their work. Perhaps we can talk about what their options are for the future. But there needs to be some recognition that this imminent or probably failing grade does not define them as students or people
Things don't always go well. I've had more than one student shed tears. Like Foreman last night, I usually feel some culpability in their academic demise. What if I had been more attentive or aggressive at inviting this student to office hours? Maybe if I had somehow made my expectations clearer earlier on? Can I bend a rule to let this student slip by? As a course instructor, I always share some blame in a students' failure, though here too I've become less self-blaming as time has gone on. I do my best, but often the prognosis may have been the same no matter who wrote the syllabus.
Learning how to be human in these moments is one of the more difficult tasks of teaching. There's so many ways to try to escape it--faceless emails or even just plain avoidance. Like doctors, though, I hope to continue improving at giving bad news a human face.
December 28, 2006
The Good Shepherd--review
Sarah and I took in the first movie we'd seen in a few months over the holiday in Barrington (Thanks, Grandpa and Grandma, for babysitting!) We're both suspense fans, so we chose the Good Shepherd dispite its lukewarm reviews. Sarah actually liked it quite a bit, but me not so much. There's so little emotional warmth in this film, it's hard to sustain two and a half hours of real interest. It reminds me somewhat of The Bourne Supremacy, another Matt Damon film. Interesting storylines and overall idea, but just not something I enjoyed all that much. One review of the film mentioned that this would make a better HBO series than a film, and I can definitely see that point as well. Several characters, most notably Angelina Jolie's, could have used more substantive development.
In the end, this is a movie about fathers and sons, as well as about loyalty and betrayal. The latter, we come to believe, is ultimately unavoidable in a real world. I know nothing about the world of secret intelligence, but this struck me as a much more realistic view into that world than any James Bond film. And the special effects here were much fewer, for those for whom that matters. Overall, worth seeing, perhaps, but not nearly as good as something like The Departed earlier this year, which aimed lower in terms of ambition, but was much more suspenseful and rewarding as a film.
August 10, 2006
Three things I learned from watching...
With the wife away in Montreal, I finally rented and watched The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe last night. I read all seven of the Narnia books several times as a child, so I was mildly surprised that I didn't feel more interested in seeing it. To me, all the hype, especially within Christian circles, surrounding its initial release drowned some of my interest. It felt like a movie designed to appease that audience. And after watching all three Lord of the Rings, I feel like I've had my fill of CGI battle sequences for a VERY long time.
Overall, I basically liked it. I actually think Aslan seemed a little too tame for my liking, but I'm 31 and not 11, so that may have something to do with it. It will be interesting to see how filmmakers handle Lewis's cariactures of Arabs in later books if further movies are made--there were only a few passing shots here of human-like creatures who weren't white. Here's three things that stood out to me from the movie--mostly questions that it raised for me.
1. War is a necessary part of life, both physical and spiritual. I actually liked how this movie framed the story with the bombing of London. It gave a slightly more melancholy note to the film. Yet in the movie, war and violence are unqualifiably endorsed. The Narnian side is fighting a just war--purely defensive and with acceptable means. They're clearly the good guys. Yet on Earth, war is hardly so attractive. The Nazis were a bad bunch, but the firebombing of Dresden (from the little I know if it) was no picnic either. And the long term psychological and physical effects of war are more than we see here. Yes--wars are necessary, and can be a helpful way to think of spirituality. I live in a neighborhood where there's clearly a battle, with real guns. But in Lewis's book, and in the gospels overall I would contend, Aslan's sacrifice is the better picture of this.
2. Men are meant to rule. Yes, all four of the kids in this film are crowned at the end. Yet it's clear that Peter is THE king. He's in charge. And one could have a hayday with the victory over a heavily maned lion (does it get more masculine?) over a cruel, emotionless (read: non-feminine) queen. And the prominance of physical strength in this film as a ruling force also favors the masculine.
3. Evil creatures are basically loveless, ugly sociopaths. This I find interesting from the Christian standpoint. Part of the point of the Gospels (and even Scripture as a whole) is that powerful, attractive people usually don't get the gospel. It's those on the margins who do. Yet, in movies like this, good creatures are noble, fine-looking things. The evil creatures have all kinds of physical distortions. Edmunds character was really the most interesting in this film, I think--partly because he's the most torn between the sides. The book makes more of his desire for Turkish Delight (and power) than the movie does. That's a very Lewis theme--that evil is "bent" desire--that I would have liked to seen highlighted. Evil isn't usually this obvious or easy to detect.
August 06, 2006
Now on AMC...
Over the summer, I've actually been watching more television. I know that this is supposedly time to go out and frolic in nature, but when I'm setting in for hours of test question writing (my summer gig) it helps the time go by. As a result, I have come to realize that I really like AMC. Now this is a network we're only receiving as a result of a generous cable filter installation (also including our fuzzy ESPN). We're not supposed to have it. But it's pretty darn good. They've got a good mix of old and new films, I think. Sarah and I caught the second half of Big today during Micah's down time, and while I think a lot of kids in our neighborhood couldn't relate to the idealized sentimental childhood of that movie, it's well-written and engaging. It says something when I actually like Tom Hanks in a role. They've also got Hustle, which is my current favorite network show--though I've only seen a handful of episodes, it's smartly written and stylish. DVD-TV is quite interesting as well.
So while the summer is rapidly drawing to a close and a Comcast takeover of TimeWarner's subscribers may bring our service to an end, I'll always be grateful for the time the two of us had this summer. And for any loyal readers out there who haven't checked it out, it may be worth a look.
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