The Runner
January 6th, 2009Man On Wire
January 5th, 2009
While watching Man On Wire, I kept wondering to myself, "Why isn't that guy bugging the crap out of me? He's tweeing around the streets of Paris on a unicycle with his Mick Jagger hair and a top hat, juggling — I should kind of want to kill that guy. Why don't I want to kill that guy?"
My theory: it's his Frenchness. An American named Philip Little, wearing the rainbow Dr-Pepper-guy suspenders and erecting his own wire-walking set in his backyard? Annoying. Philippe Petit doing the same thing, with no discernible source of income save the aforementioned fey busking? Charming. Weird, monomaniacal, wouldn't want to date him, but he made a good hero. Well, until the end there.
And that end felt rushed, a little bit, especially after the build-up to the walk between the Towers, with the whole crew hiding under tarps and behind bulkheads and so on for like eight hours, but then, what else is there to say? The man walked on a wire between the Twin Towers. He, like, hung out up there. Lay down. Teased the police. For close to an hour. Once it's over, it's over.
And I wondered about that, too, after the movie — once you've pulled off a stunt like that and survived, then what? What do you look forward to, down on the ground?
It's a great movie, a good mix of interviews and old footage and absolutely dizzying stills from the Towers walk that made me glad I hadn't seen it on the big screen. I have the worst balance of an abled person ever; I couldn't stay on a wire if you laid it flat on the ground. Some of the photos, I had to lie down.
The Vine: January 2, 2009
January 2nd, 2009Seven years ago in freshman English, we read a book that I've almost forgotten but am dying to reread.
A girl grows up in a small African-American community and lives with her great aunt or grandmother. She moves to a big city and meets and falls in love with a man who was orphaned (maybe) in his childhood. For some reason she has to go back home and she takes him with her.
I very distinctly remember an older woman in the community who is very jealous and possessive of her husband, and although this girl was like a daughter to her, she mistakenly believes she is trying to steal her husband. She offers to do her hair and places "bad magic herbs" of some kind in her hair making the girl very sick. I also distinctly remember that the boyfriend was very skeptical of this small community's beliefs in herbal medicines and "magic." He also ends up dying after frantically searching a chicken coop for something the grandmother said she needed to help the girl get better. His death results in the healing of the girl.
If anyone can help me with the name of this book, as it's been bothering me for weeks, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks again!
Signed,
Probably Never Wrote In Before Because I Couldn't Think Of A Witty Name To Sign
Dear Sign,
We'll see what the readers come up with here. Readers?
The Enforcer
December 31st, 2008
It's not an unlikeable movie; it has good bits, and Eastwood's reaction shots as Harry during certain exchanges almost imbue The Enforcer with a point.
But the plot is both excessively convoluted and not meaty enough for a feature-length action movie. It's only 90-ish minutes and it still feels padded — and the bulk of the padding, the action sequences, don't really work. It lacks tension.
Again, it's not bad; it's not good, either, but I watched it while taking care of some filing, and it's perfect to accompany that sort of thing. The problem with the Dirty Harry franchise, though, and to an extent with the Die Hard movies…it's hard to articulate, but basically it's as if the sequels haven't seen the originals. It's not bothersome per se that John McClain keeps finding himself in that situation over and over; it's that the movie doesn't acknowledge it properly. I think, in Die Hard 2, Bruce Willis has a "jeez, what're the odds" type of throwaway line at some point, which is fine, but…well, really, the odds are impossibly slender, and for us to continue buying these guys in these situations, the script has to make the odds a bit fatter. Make McClain a hostage-negotiation expert now, or an extraction something-something with a private contractor, based on what he learned in the original movie.
Leverage
December 29th, 2008
I DVR'd this initially because I expected it to suck really bad, in that special way a Timothy "I Won An Oscar, So I Just Won't Even Try" Hutton project sometimes has of sucking.
It doesn't suck at all; Hutton is quite good, I like Christian Kane, and Leverage's rogues'-gallery continuing-capers concept is one of my favorites in film and TV. Unfortunately, the characterization is consistently inconsistent, with traits we saw established in the pilot sacrificed for a not-funny-enough-to-merit-it punchline in the next episode, then brought back again later, sometimes in another character. Smith had that problem too, which is perhaps why nobody but me watched it: the pilot brings together a group of people who don't trust one another, some of whom have emotional problems, but then partway through the second episode the audience is expected to buy into a familial bond among them for the sake of the show's continuing premise. The plot of each episode is fantastical enough; let's not strain every bond of writing credulity at once.
Also, Aldis Hodge is asked to do entirely too much Chris-Tucker-esque "say whaaaaaaat?" mugging. Isn't the audience to assume that Hardison is the best at what he does? And shouldn't that mean that Hardison should occasionally keep his cool?
It's better than I'd expected; it's probably not quite good enough to keep on the season-pass list.
Pete Rose has a MySpace page
December 22nd, 2008I don't know why Pete ROSE of all goddamn people lives in Las Vegas, the gambling capital of North America, but if he's going to live there, and he's going to sign shit at Caesar's EVERY WEEKEND as he apparently does, could whoever's in charge of his crappalicious MySpace at least know HOW TO SPELL THE WORD "MEMORABILIA"?
Ga…aaaaaaahhh.
update 2 PM: Rose's miscarriage of an internet presence fells Dock Ellis. (Okay, not really; he had cirrhosis. But I died a little when my dad pointed out "portfoilio." [facepalm])
Dear Zachary: A Letter To A Son About His Father
December 21st, 2008
I don't really know what to say about Kurt Kuenne's documentary, because to describe it in a way that won't discourage you from seeing it will in turn spoil you. The official website of the film may do so as well, so if you'd like to have the experience I had while watching, namely to recoil physically and to emit a series of involuntary meeps of anguish because you didn't see it coming, you may want to avoid clicking the link.
I can't say that you would "like" to have that experience; it's…not something you "like." Dear Zachary isn't "good" in an enjoyable way, although Kuenne's editing style, which initially presents as overdone and precious, makes his subjects enjoyable. You know them quickly and you wish you knew them personally, counted them as friends yourself. But that in turn amplifies the worst of the events, the affront to sense. It's very effective, and affecting — personal but not amateurish, suffused with grief but not maudlin — and it's a movie I want other people to have seen so that I can discuss it with them. But at the same time it's not a movie I want to send other people off to see all, "Ya gotta see it, it's awesome!"
The Vine: December 19, 2008
December 19th, 2008Hi Sars,
I'm hoping you and your readers will be able help me and my colleagues out. A treasured co-worker is leaving us to return home after working here in America for the last three years. We're getting him some personal in-joke gifts, but we also want to give a main gift that fits with his interests and reminds him of his time working in the United States.
Our budget is in the $100-200 range. He's an economist/lawyer by trade but loves modern American history — civil rights, post-WWII Presidents, that sort of thing. I know he's listened to podcasts of speeches by past Presidents while commuting. He also loves political scandals. Needless to say, he's a bit of a geek, so if there's a great history book or set of DVDs, even if they are a bit dense, he'll love it. I was trying to find a book or a series books or multiple books which I could maybe buy nice hardback editions of, but any ideas that are not books would be very welcome.
And yes, we will be checking with his wife to make sure he doesn't already have what we plan to get him.
Not Quite Santa
Dear Not Quite,
Off the top of my head, I'd go with the oral history of RFK, which I believe is — well, not "written," but collated, I guess, by the same peeps who did Edie. It's not in print as far as I know but maybe it's possible to find a copy; let me look…
Ah, here it is: American Journey: The Times of Robert Kennedy. I don't know how he feels about oral histories, but I love them; they offer a dimension that straight bios sometimes don't, or can't. If you can find a hardcover copy in good condition, it's a good gift for content and for form (a vintage book is its own gift packaging).
Check half.com and see what's on offer — or see what my readers have to say. Readers?
Odds; ends
December 18th, 2008A comprehensive piece by Omar G on Twittiquette/Twitter annoyances.
My new favorite site, via Glark: Sexy People.
My latest Dirty Sexy Money write-up for SOAPnet. (SHUT UP, LISA.)