Despite the silly title, Play Ring Pass Not is a really cool puzzle game. You have to create a ring by matching pieces by either color or pattern. It gets tricky when certain requirements are thrown in. I found the game on Kongregate, which has become even more addicting now that they have added achievements, similar to those on X-Box Live, for a variety of different games.

Neuromancer by William Gibson

Slaughterhouse Five

I went to see Fracture at the dollar theater a couple of weeks ago. I'm pretty glad I waited to see it there. The story is about a man whose wife is having an affair, who decides to shoot her. He does so up-close and more than once, but somehow doesn't manage to kill her. He also confesses to the cops but plays mind games with them and the legal system in such a way that he can plead not guilty and get away with it. The guy he plays with the most is the prosecution lawyer.

Anthony Hopkins stars as the husband, who is too smart for pretty much everyone. Ryan Gosling is the lawyer for the prosecution, whose life plans hang on the line because of this trial. David Strathairn also makes a couple of appearances. So, here we have three amazing actors, and a not so amazing script. I'm trying to understand why everyone signed on to this film, because it pretty much runs like a lengthy episode of any law television show. It's not bad. It's good, but along the way, each and every plot point feels so... expected. And that's probably because the audience is shown the answers at the beginning of the movie. When the audience knows all of the answers at the beginning, then the rest of the movie is merely watching a lawyer figure it all out; how interesting is that? Only just interesting enough.

Since that's pretty much my review of the movie ("it's standard with good actors"), I'd just like to address something that's been bugging me lately:

We all know that the Walt Disney Concert Hall is a very cool looking location. Mr. Gehry's shiny ball-of-tinfoil-esque building is a work of art and is amazing in many ways. But I'm sick to death of seeing it in movies and commercials, especially car commercials. It's getting to the point of being cliche. Please, if you are a location scout for a living, just stop. And, speaking of cliche, whoever chooses the music for movie and tv previews, they need to stop using the Requiem for a Dream music. I'm tired of that too.

Okay, I'm done.

It's too bad she has to work with such idiots.

Hat tip This Modern World

A coworker sent me a link to this article on the Onion. I've been that guy. It's so true, though. You menu clickers are frittering away precious seconds of your life. I posted about one of my favorites a few weeks ago. If I learn a few more shortcuts I'll be ready to tackle one of my life goals: Go through a normal productive day at work without touching my mouse. It's good to have dreams, eh?

Happy keyboarding.

Recently a report was published that shows talk radio is dominated almost exclusively by conservative points of view. Big shock, I know. Now, as this NPR story points out, a few people are starting to talk about re-instating something called the Fairness Doctrine.

Basically, the idea is that the airwaves are owned by the public and should be used in the public interest. This is why we have the FCC. Apparently, at one time the FCC mandated that broadcasters not just avoid objectionable content, but that they give equal time to multiple views on political issues. It's important to note that NO legislation is being considered to reinstate this doctrine, and only a few people are even suggesting there should be. Still, this is creating a stink among some people and is worth at least discussing.

I think this Fairness Doctrine sounds like a terrible idea. First of all, the idea of creating "balance" by giving voice to "both sides" of any given debate is exactly what's wrong with the media today. For starters, the very idea of there being two sides to every issue is a false one, created by the two-party system that has developed in our government. Until very recently, people in the broadcast media talked as if the only courses of action available to the army in Iraq were to Stay the Course or Cut and Run. Only now that it's become impossible to deny what a horrible mess the operation has become are other options being discussed publicly.

Another problem is the fact that sometimes there are not two points of view that are equally valid. This has been the problem with the global warming debate. On the one hand we have the undeniable facts that average temperatures across the planet have been steadily increasing, in direct correlation with increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. There's also a near-unanimous consensus among experts that the increase in temperature and CO2 is due to emissions caused by humans. Whenever the commercial media report on global warning, though, in the interest of "balance" they give voice to detractors with no credibility who deny the findings of the entire scientific community. Both of these sides are given equal airtime, and the result is that something that should be undeniable fact has been turned into a point of contention. While people on TV and the radio continue to debate what has already been conclusively proven, the important details of what we can do to curb global warming go unaddressed.

Clearly there are problems with the broadcast media, but the last thing we need to fix them is more of this artificially imposed "balance." As Bill Moyers said, "Splitting the difference between two opinions does not get you to the truth. It gets you to another opinion." What we need is a return to quality reporting that cares more about informing people than about getting ratings or meeting certain ideological requirements. The FCC can't do this for us. It's up to us consumers to make a change.

To this end I propose the following:

1: Stop listening to commercial talk radio and stop watching commercial news on TV. Clear Channel, CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX, CNN, and the rest are equally as bad. If they sell news for profit then they can't be trusted. For American broadcast media that pretty much leaves us with NPR and PBS. But many people have claimed these are the most liberal news outlets in America, which brings me to the next step...

2: Forget the "Liberal Media" myth. The truth is that the people at NPR and PBS are the most responsible, ethical, and informative journalists in America. They don't use scandal, controversy, and sensationalism to sell their news because they don't work for profit. Their priority is to responsibly inform people of what's happening in the world.

That's actually pretty much it. Sorry, I thought the list was going to be longer, but this is a very simple plan. The commercial media sell whatever people want, so if people start seeking out quality journalism then that's what the TV and radio stations will be forced to offer. This may sound impossible considering the kind of culture we live in, but that's no reason to not try. I guess I'm just an eternal optimist.

A couple of weeks ago I headed out to see Day Watch with Jon, Grace, and Chris. We had to drive out to Irvine on a weeknight, but it was worth it! This movie follows after Night Watch, which left our hero Anton a bit devastated when his son, a great Other, decided to side with the forces of Darkness. Svetlana, the girl who cursed herself in the first movie, is now in training with the Night Watch, and joins Anton as he tries to save his son, despite schemes from the Darkness to bring on an epic battle between both sides. This is one of those rare times when a sequel is superior to its predecessor.

The interesting additions to this movie are those in which we learn more about the rules of the supernatural world (different levels of Gloom, training, rules of pursuit, arrest, etc.), and the introduction of the chalk of fate. I admit, I laughed when I heard that everyone was going crazy over a piece of chalk, but I ended up liking the way they went with it.

In all sorts of ways, this movie takes the original movie and improves on it. While the first focused a lot on setting up the plot and making the action happen quickly, this one takes time for relationships and character. And, as such, the movie has a lot more laughs as well. In fact, I don't remember laughing very often when I saw Night Watch, but this time around, there were plenty of light-hearted moments, which were good relief from the (literal) Gloom. The special effects, action, and acting are all a lot more impressive too. I keep wanting to give examples, but I don't want to spoil anything.

And at the end of the movie, we're left with the wonderful question, "What now?" If you see it, you'll get what I mean. It's an ending that leaves one slightly frustrated yet mostly satisfied - at least that's how I experienced it. I know it sounds like just a battle of dark and light like so many that have gone before, but this series of movies has an awesome style and such a creative take that it's worth checking out. If anything, you should see the movie just to experience subtitles used to their best ability. They're almost another character, the way they get responses from the audience!

I'm definitely looking forward to Dusk Watch (or Twilight Watch, as it's called on imdb), although I have no idea how the story will continue..

Live Free or Die Hard comes out today and I'm pretty excited about it. I'll probably go sometime this weekend. From all the reviews so far, it sounds like it's a fun movie and people are digging it. Kevin Smith is getting very positive reviews for his brief role in the movie. I'm also interested to see the pairing of Bruce Willis and Justin Long, who I really dig. This came out a few days ago, but I forgot to post it, so check it out. It's a pretty good clip of Kevin interviewing Bruce Willis about the movie. There's also some good clips from the movie itself. With this, Ratatouille, and Transformers all coming out in the next week, it appears the summer movie season is still moving ahead with full steam. Should be fun.

You know, many things around campus make me smile, but I never thought something in the parking lot would be one of them.

Warning: The following discussion of 14th century literature may contain material that is not suitable for all audiences. Parental guidance is strongly suggested.

Reason #4: The Miller's Tale

As I mentioned in my last installment, the pilgrims' contest begins with the Knight telling a classic story of chivalry, romance, nobility, and all those other lofty ideals that good people are supposed to aspire to. The tale receives the praise of the whole company and the Host asks the Monk to tell another tale that can match it. Instead the Miller, who is so drunk he's almost falling off his horse, announces that he has a story, which he begins to tell over the host's protests.

Before the Miller begins, though, Chaucer inserts his own tongue-in-cheek disclaimer (as always, the Modern English translation comes from Harvard):

What more should I say, but this Miller
He would not refrain from speaking for any man,
But told his churl's tale in his manner.
I regret that I must repeat it here.
And therefore every respectable person I pray,
For God's love, think not that I speak
Out of evil intention, but because I must repeat
All their tales, be they better or worse,
Or else (I must) falsify some of my material.
And therefore, whoever does not want to hear it,
Turn over the leaf and choose another tale;
For he shall find enough, of every sort,
Of historical matter that concerns nobility,
And also morality and holiness.
Blame not me if you choose amiss.
The Miller is a churl; you know this well.
So was the Reeve also and many others,
And ribaldry they told, both of the two.
Think about this, and don't blame me;
And also people should not take a joke too seriously.

I think Chaucer is extremely funny when he writes this way. We know that he composed every word of The Canterbury Tales, but he has invented this clever construction in which he is a character in his
own story and is merely recording the words and actions of the people in his company. Thus Chaucer essentially beats any critics to the punch by disparaging his own writing. Later he even more directly mocks the fictional version of himself, but that's a post for another day.

For now, let's take a look at what, exactly, is so filthy that it merits a disclaimer from the author.

In some ways The Miller's Tale is a parody of The Knight's Tale: a story of two men in pursuit of the same woman. But while the Knight's Tale, would be comparable to the film Ben Hur in our culture, the Miller's is more like Porky's (or, if you prefer, American Pie). The tale tells about John, an old carpenter, who has taken a very young and very beautiful wife, Alison. John is past his prime and cannot...um...satisfy his wife. He suspects that Alison is cheating on him, and with good reason. There is a third person living in the house: Nicholas, a poor student, who rents a room from the carpenter (you can probably see where this is going).

On the day this tale begins Nicholas is flirting with Alison:

And intimately he caught her by her crotch,
And said, "Indeed, unless I have my will,
For secret love of thee, sweetheart, I die."

I'm going to stop for a second because this is one of the things that bugs me about modern English translations of The Canterbury Tales. The word crotch here, I believe, is a polite substitute chosen by the translator, and fails to capture the coarseness of the original language. Here's what Chaucer wrote:

And prively he caughte hire by the queynte,
And seyde, "Ywis, but if ich have my wille,
For deerne love of thee, lemman, I spille."

The word is queynte, which is Chaucer's version of a word that is still used in English today and is considered very offensive. I bring this up not because love gratuitously offensive language, but because it has a lot to do with the style of the story, the type of language it is told in, and the character of the Miller (remember, Chaucer reveals the characters of the pilgrims through the stories they tell). Already we can see a huge contrast just between the first two tales: The Knight's Tale is an edifying story of romantic love amongst the noble classes, filled with lofty language. The Miller's Tale is a coarsely humorous tale of sex amongst the lower classes, filled with offensive language.

Anyway, back to the story. Nicholas has just sworn to Alison that if he doesn't sleep with her right away he will die. Alison plays hard-to-get for about eight lines before giving in. But, she says, she cannot do it right away: she says they must wait for the right opportunity so her husband won't find out about it. Nicholas agrees to wait and he begins to plan a way to trick the carpenter. At this time Chauc--I mean, the Miller introduces the fourth character in his story: Absalon, another young man who believes he is in love with Alison. He is the clown of the story, a loser who dresses in ridiculously elegant and ill-suited clothes in an attempt to attract women. He sits under Alison's window with his guitar and attempts to serenade her.

This goes on for quite some time:

From day to day this elegant Absolon
So woos her that he is in a sorry state.
He stays awake all the night and all the day;
He combs his flowing locks, and dressed himself elegantly;
He woos her by go-betweens and agents,
And swore he would be her own servant;

On more thing: Absalon is, for some unexplained reason, very squeamish about farting (this detail becomes very important later).

Meanwhile, Nicholas has devised an elaborate scheme to occupy the carpenter: he convinces the simple man that God is sending a flood. So John sleeps in a bathtub suspended from the ceiling, which frees up Nicholas and Alison for the entire night. Early the next morning Absalon comes calling outside the window, looking for a kiss. He won't take no for an answer, and Alison finally agrees to give him a smooch to make him go away. The next part I'll let you read for yourself:

This Absolon wiped his mouth very dry.
Dark was the night as pitch, or as the coal,
And at the window out she put her hole,
And Absolon, to him it happened no better nor worse,
But with his mouth he kissed her naked ass
With great relish, before he was aware of this.
Back he jumped, and thought it was amiss,
For well he knew a woman has no beard.
He felt a thing all rough and long haired,
And said, "Fie! alas! what have I done?"

Humiliated, Absalon runs off plotting revenge. He obtains a red-hot poker and returns to Alison's window. This time he says he has a ring which he will give her in return for a kiss. Nicholas decides he wants in on the action:

This Nicholas was risen to piss,
And thought he would make the joke even better;
He should kiss his ass before he escapes.
And he opened up the window hastily,
And he puts out his ass stealthily
Over the buttock, to the thigh;
And then spoke this clerk, this Absolon,
"Speak, sweet bird, I know not where thou art."

This Nicholas immediately let fly a fart
As great as if it had been a thunder-bolt,
So that with the stroke he was almost blinded;
And he was ready with his hot iron,
And he smote Nicholas in the middle of the ass.

Off goes the skin a hand's breadth about,
The hot plough blade so burned his rump
And for the pain he thought he would die.
As if he were crazy, for woe he began to cry,
"Help! Water! Water! Help, for God's heart!"

This carpenter woke suddenly out of his slumber,
And heard someone cry "water!" as if he were crazy,
And thought, "Alas, now comes Nowell's flood!"
He sits up without more words,
And with his ax he smote the cord in two,
And down goes all; he found nothing to sell (wasted no time),
Neither bread nor ale, until he came to the pavement
Upon the floor, and there he lay in a swoon.

At this point I can imagine a 14th century audience rolling in the aisles. People's sense of humor doesn't change as much as we think, and it seems that fart jokes are more or less timeless. Indeed, Chaucer tells us that after the Miller is finished with his tale the pilgrims all, more or less, laughed and enjoyed themselves...except for one man.

Reason #5: The Reeve's Tale

Sometimes, in large group settings, when a bunch of people are laughing and having a good time (perhaps at someone else's expense, but in an innocent and good-natured way), there will be one person who doesn't really have a good sense of humor. He wants in on the fun, though, and attempts a similar joke, but goes way over the line. Instead of laughing the other people react in horror or disgust at the guy's dismal attempt at humor (I know you've seen this before).

The Reeve is that guy.

From the beginning of The Miller's Tale the Reeve, being a carpenter himself, believes that the story is supposed to be about him, so he takes great offense at the telling of it. To get back he follows it with his own story that is supposed to similarly embarrass the Miller. In his tale a dishonest miller is patronized by two college students needing their wheat ground. They try to watch the miller do it to make sure he doesn't steal any of the flour, but the miller cuts the men's horses loose so they have to run after them. By the time the students catch the horses it is late and they must stay the night at the miller's house...in the same room as the miller, his wife, and his 20-year-old daughter (again, I'm sure you can see where this is going). The two men, as repayment for their stolen flour, decide to swyve the miller's wife and daughter (here also the most appropriate translation for swyve is a four-letter word I'd rather not use myself). The means by which they accomplish this is a crude and simple one involving moving a crib from one bed to another so that the wife forgets which is hers.

The Reeve is clearly not as good a storyteller as the Miller, lacking and kind of cleverness or comedic timing. All his attempts at humor fall flat. Not only that, but when you think about the actual story it's rather disturbing. While Nicholas and Alison from The Miller's Tale are consenting adults and co-conspirators, the wife and daughter in The Reeve's Tale are mostly innocent parties who essentially become victims of rape. Of course, the Reeve doesn't see it this way--he thinks his tale is a hilarious story about a miller getting what's coming to him.

The contrast between the two tales and the personal conflict that plays out between the storytellers are what I enjoy most about this part of the book. Many people have objected to these two tales on the grounds of their indecency, and it's interesting that Chaucer's stories can still stir up trouble over 600 years after they written--and with good reason. These are very dirty stories. But I think that dismissing them on such grounds does a great discredit to the cleverness of Chaucer's writing, especially with The Reeve's Tale. The Miller's Tale is actually fairly well-written, but The Reeve's Tale is bad, and intentionally so. Remember Chaucer's disclaimer: he wants us to believe that these stories are coming from the fictional storytellers, not him. So when the Reeve tells a dreadfully unfunny tale it's a reflection on his character, not Chaucer's writing. The intentionally and painfully bad is a much more sophisticated kind of satire that we may be used to seeing in contemporary art and literature (think along the lines of Spinal Tap or The Office), but it's something I'm not used to seeing in the classics. To me, this puts Chaucer literally centuries ahead of his time. I would argue that literature has only recently caught up with him.

I don't want to overstate the point right now (I'll have much more to say about it later). So I'll just end things here by repeating Chaucer's disclaimer:

Avyseth yow, and put me out of blame;
And eek men shal nat maken ernest of game.

(Think about this, and don't blame me;
And also people should not take a joke too seriously.)

To read my complete series on The Canterbury Tales, follow the links below.

Introduction and Reason #1: The Language

Reason #10: Chaucer's Tales of Sir Topas and Melibee and Wrap-up

Superstar wrestler Chris Benoit strangled his wife and smothered his son before hanging himself in his weight room, according to a law enforcement source quoted by the Associated Press.

The couple and their 7-year-old son were found dead Monday in their home on Green Meadow Lane just east of Peachtree City.Nancy Benoit and her son, Daniel, were killed during the weekend and Benoit died Monday, police said.

Source.

I wonder how everyone who was showering with praise just this morning are going to feel about him now, lol.

To be fair (and in keeping with the sleep theme), I must have been very tired while watching this movie. I watched it in two installments, and each time I fell asleep. Perhaps director Louis Bruñuel's style is just so comfortable and friendly that it lulled me to dreamland. Actually, his style is a very flowy and familiar one, with moments of surprise (which were what woke me up). In this rambling yet carefully composed film, a group of six middle-class friends try to sit down to a meal together, only to be prevented by one excuse or another--sometimes a simple thing like a confusion of dates, and others a little more complex, like being interrupted by military exercises.

I've not seen any other work by Bruñuel, but some refer to him in the school of surrealism. I can see that influence here, although the film itself does not feel very surreal. It's exaggerated and contains some dream sequences and visions of storytelling, but it all feels like it makes sense with his themes in playing with this class of people.

I enjoyed how the movie began casually and gave no hints of the more extreme scenes to follow. The special effects of the soldier's story were completely unexpected, but very cool, and I like how they seemed grotesque but also funny in light of the soldier's manner of sitting down at tea to tell his story and then leave. I wasn't sure how to take the movie as a whole when watching it, because it kept going in different directions, but I'm sure with a second viewing, I'd be laughing a lot more. Even now, looking back, the absurdity of each situation (especially the man hiding under the table from soldiers who is discovered when he reaches up from under the table cloth to grab some food) makes me smile.

I'm not sure there's much of a message so much as a general commentary going on here, and was somewhat confused by the repeated scenes of the friends walking down the street in silence, but the movie was entertaining, funny, weird, and definitely a new experience. Glad I caught it on TiVo.

I didn't have an extremely exciting weekend, especially because I slept through a lot of it.

On Friday Amy was nice enough to give me a ride to my parents' place (remember I locked myself out) after we picked up food and had lunch with Ryan. I finally had Chick-fil-a, which is all the rage around the university these days since one just opened where Krispy Kreme once stood. It was chicken, all right! I'm not sure why everyone's obsessed with it, but the food was good. After I got dropped off at my folks' house, I borrowed my dad's car to go run errands. Finally got my wedding dress boxed. Jenny and I used the buy-one get-one coupon at Jamba Juice for dinner, and then Ric picked me up. I think I might have boxed a few items before Ric and I decided to take a nap... which lasted until noon the next day. I probably slept for about 15 hours.

Saturday I picked up my sister and headed out to the South Coast Repertory to see Hamlet. More thoughts on that later, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend that anyone seek this production out. I came back and had a yummy aromatic shrimp dinner with Ric at China Cottage. We split the shrimp instead of getting two dishes, and the lady there was surprised: "What, no beef today?" I guess we're pretty predictable. They gave us a bunch of free stuff to eat too. Wohoo! We also went out to see Evan Almighty, which deserves a little more credit than the critics have been giving it.

Sunday we went to church and hung out with the Andersons and their drooling wonder, Emily. Afterwards, we ran around town buying moving items at Lowe's and U-Haul. I intended to do a lot of packing, but I fell asleep, into a deep, deep sleep, for about four hours. I think it's a medication I'm on that's making this happen. Anyway, four hours later, I woke up and finished my book, packed a couple of boxes, and went to hang out with Ric's family for spaghetti dinner and laundry. When we got back home, I packed while we watched more Lost episodes. And yes, I was able to go to sleep no problem at bedtime.

Up this week: A whole lotta nothing! I'm hoping to get a lot more packing done. I'm making pretty good progress. And score! IT just got a load of computers in and is giving away Dell boxes, so I'm coming home with a ton of them today.

Last but not least, even though I don't think he's reading: Happy Birthday, Dan! We hope you and J9 have fun celebrating your birthdays this week. We wish we could be there with you and miss you terribly. Life out here just isn't the same without the Danine. (p.s. the Robert Jordan book I just finished--I know, your favorite, Dan--had a character named Danine in it.)

A couple of weeks ago, right after jury duty concluded, I took a (long) drive out to Riverside for the event of the night: Morrissey playing yet another of his odd venue choices - the Riverside Municipal Auditorium. Yo was staying at the Mission Inn, so I met up with him and his roommate at the hotel. If you haven't seen or heard of this place, it's impressive. We relaxed in the hotel room for a while (or at least I did, because the back was bad that day) and watched some of the disappointing Stanley Cup Final Game. I think Ric and I were the only people rooting against the Ducks that day. Jenny joined us and we all had dinner at one of the Mission Inn's restaurants, a pretty cool Mexican place that was outdoors and heated by firepits. Good food and good fun.

We all walked over to the auditorium after dinner, which only took a few minutes. Getting in, however, took quite a while. We made it just in time, because the intro was starting right as we located our seats! Yo and Dwayne sat in one section while Jenny and I sat in another. I had a great view of a post, so I spent most of the night sitting on the ledge, peeking around it.

The venue was a very cool older mission-style building, and the stage was decorated with three huge, identical banners with a photo of James Dean. The gong was in place, and Morrissey entered with his bandmates (who all dressed alike). The show was good, but short. The merchandise table had tshirts that said it was a Best Of tour, so we were pleased to hear all sorts of hits from Morrissey and the Smiths, although the second half of the show seemed a lot like his tour for Ringleader of the Tormentors. My favorites were Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want, Life is a Pigsty, and You're Gonna Need Someone on Your Side (which was a huge highlight for me--I once spent about six months listening to Your Arsenal while I went out walking, and YGNSOYS is one of my fun favorites).

After the show, we went walking to find a bar that Yo remembered. We got directions from a scary drugged-up kid who was sitting on the sidewalk, and spent a while there. I had a long drive, so I took off around 11:45 and headed home. Worst drive ever, by the way. First I couldn't find the freeway entrance, and then when I did it was closed, so I had to find another, and then figured out that I went a different way than I meant to, and was upset when the whole freeway shut down because of an accident (no detours available), and then my exchange to another freeway was closed off. I made it to a gas station with 5 miles left on the tank. Yikes.

Anyway, it was an eventful night and a fun one for the most part, and thanks to Yo for being so generous! One of these days you'll let me pay.

Palestine by Joe Sacco

I added about 15 more pictures to the gallery from what was saved on Stephanie's computer. Once I can access the rest, I will post pictures of Samuel's and Galilee's families.

Also, enjoy the new captions. Mostly benign, but you might get one or two chuckles.

Sorry folks, I don't really have an excuse this time. I guess I've just been busy, keeping myself occupied and trying to find some gainful employment. Summer school has kept me quite busy since I have assignments due so frequently, but that is almost done. Here's what I've done since my birthday party a week ago:

• Went to Universal Studios. I got a free ticket in the mail, so that was sweet.
• Took a test and did a bunch of homework.
• Tried to sell my laptop on ebay but the winner of the auction turned out to be a scammer from Nigeria. Nice try, pal.
• Saw The Princess Bride out under the stars at the L.A. Film Fest.
• Watched a bunch of DVDs. Top picks included LolliLove, Run Ronnie Run, Crimes and Misdemeanors, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, and Lady Vengeance.
• Went to San Onofre State Beach with a bunch of folks. It was great. Probably the first time I've spent all day at the beach in ages.
• Saw Evan Almighty with a bunch of friends yesterday. It was pretty funny, better than I expected.
• Continued the Alias marathon with Phil and Janelle after a long hiatus. We're now back on pace to finish before summer's over. Hopefully.

Whew! Yeah, lots of things going on. This week is pretty busy too. I'm going to Disneyland tonight with some folks to say goodbye to some friends who are moving out of state. Wednesday it's back to the L.A. Film Festival for a screening of "Once More With Feeling," the musical Buffy episode. I'm really excited for that. Thursday is our big Ann Lynn show at U.C. Irvine. Check out our Events Page for all the details on that. Hope everyone else is doing all right, having a good summer and all that good stuff.

There is a new picture album with a few of the pictures that I took while in MO. Most of the pictures I took during the trip I put on my brother's computer, so I will get those pictures as soon as I can. There are also quite a few on Stephanie's computer that I will send up soon. In the meantime, enjoy the pictures of the thunderstorm that rolled through the last night I was there.

...oh yeah--forgot to mention that you click on "Photo Gallery" at the top of the right margin.

I think I might redesign the blog. Well, look at me. Two posts in one day and I think I can do anything!

For those of you who have not heard, there will soon be a "Somebody Else" joining the blog! December 29 is the release date, and we couldn't be happier. We have moved into a two bedroom apartment right across the street from the library where Stephanie works, so let us know if you need or want the new address. Just email me and I will send it to you.

The Best American Comics 2006 by Harvey Pekar, Anne Elizabeth Moore

Plain View #71 - June 14, 2007

Bufe

summer school

doctor doctor

rotten tomatoes

Heroes

Studio 60

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Rabbit's ear

Apocalypto

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Hmm.. Well there goes driving all over the place for this short Friday. I somehow got the wrong set of keys in my purse and locked myself out of house and car for the day. Had to call for a ride to work and beg friends to drop me at the parents' until Ric gets back. Boooo!

Hope you all have a great weekend. Jenny and I are going to go see Hamlet tomorrow afternoon. I think this will be my first non-college Shakespearean production. Sweet. Other than that, no plans!

Dick Cheney likes his office to operate in secret, starting from his second week as Vice President. Now this:

For four years, Vice President Dick Cheney has resisted routine oversight of his office’s handling of classified information, and when the office in charge of overseeing classification in the executive branch objected, the vice president’s office suggested that the oversight office be shut down, according to documents released today by a Democratic congressman.

The oversight office, a unit of the National Archives, appealed the issue to the Justice Department, which has not yet ruled on the matter.

-- New York Times (June 22, 2007)

Well, at least we know that the Justice Department will be absolutely impartial and apolitical.

I saw at Neatorama the link to a story about a dog that paints. What amazed me is how much that dog resembles someone else I know.

I think Waitress has to be my favorite sleeper film from this year, which came as a complete surprise to me. Starring Keri Russell as a pie-making expert who works at a diner by day with her friends and gets hassled by her crude husband by night, the film is filled with sarcasm, color, laughter, and food, all of which make a great combination. Russell's character, Jenna, finds out she's pregnant just about when she's ready to leave her abusive husband. Her pregnancy doesn't stop her escape plans, but it does bring a new person into her life - her doctor, played by Nathan Fillion, with whom she falls in love. With a big pie contest coming soon and the eventual need to tell her husband that she isn't just getting fat, Jenna's got a lot on her plate. Okay, I swear, that's the only pie reference I'm going to make in this review.

Writer/director Adrienne Shelly got this one just right. The characters are all a little bit exaggerated, but so is the color palette and the dialogue, and in the end, it all comes across as colorful and fun, with just enough touches of sincerity to make it feel realistic. Unfortunately, this is the first and last I've seen of Adrienne Shelly, who also plays Dawn, a fellow waitress at the diner. Shelly was murdered while Waitress was still in production, by a guy in the apartment below hers, when she complained about the noise, and he punched her and then staged her suicide. If Waitress is any indication of where she was headed in the movie world, this is definitely a big loss.

I've never seen anything with Keri Russell in it before, but this role was made for her. With perfect balances of sarcasm and cuteness, she sells the script and holds the movie together. I loved her interactions with her husband, who is equally perfectly played by Jeremy Sisto. Rounding out the great performances are Cheryl Hines and Eddie Jemison, as well as the great Andy Griffith, who plays the grumpy yet secretly kind old man who owns the diner.

In case you haven't seen the previews, Jenna makes a pie each day to represent her mood. So don't go to the theater while you're hungry, because there are tons of scenes that will make your stomach growl. You'll also laugh a lot, and hopefully enjoy it as much as I did.

I wasn't in much of a hurry to see the third installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean series, since the second one really failed to impress with all of its gimmicks. This time around, the focus is on the story, the characters, and building up to an extremely awesome final battle.

Some say that because of the run-time, the movie's just long and boring. I disagree. I felt like the timing was adequate to set up all of the pieces of the story. After all, this was the final movie in the series (or the last planned for at least a while), and the ending needed to be bigger and better than the first two while bringing all of the story threads from the first two movies together to resolve everything. Oh, by the way, the PG-13 is pretty well-earned this time around, so please don't take young ones to see it.

The focus on characters was much better this time around as well. It resolved the issues between Will Turner and his father, Davy Jones and his long-lost love, and even Elizabeth and Will (and even Norrington), each story feeling like it got proper treatment instead of just having a quick-written ending. My favorite character was Davy Jones (who I somehow did not realize was Bill Nighy). I guess he must be a big favorite in general, because he was inserted a lot into the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland--a bit too frequently, if you ask me.

The final battle scene involves two giant ships and a maelstrom. Wow.

While the first movie held the best senses of comic timing and adventure (this time around, Elizabeth just seems a bit too bitter) and is all around the best of the three Pirates movies, this one comes in high above the second. I thought it was amazing to look at and had plenty to entertain.

The Complete Robot by Isaac Asimov

For the first 10,000 miles my fuel economy on the Prius was around 39 mpg. Since then it's gone up steadily until it hit about 45 mpg. I reset the counter and paid a bit more attention to how I was driving for 2 tanks of gas and this is where it ended up. 54 mpg is pretty good, considering the fact that it was mostly on the highway and the EPA rating for this car is 51 mpg on the highway (60 in the city, 55 combined).

With gas at this price, the investment in a hybrid is paying for itself more quickly than I expected.

I'm not quite sure how, but I managed to miss seeing this movie until a couple of weekends ago. Honestly, every time I passed by it on tv, I just saw Lili Taylor (whom I love) singing songs and Eric Stoltz partying, and I didn't think much of it. But wow, I have to say I'm really glad I finally gave it a chance. I feel like now I can understand why John Cusack is a star. I mean, I have always liked him, but this is the best role I've ever seen him in.

I always thought Say Anything was a party movie, but it's much more serious. Who would have thought post-high school life involving a guy's girlfriends' dad being audited for fraud would have been so charming and effective? I never even knew John Mahoney was in the movie. Since I'm a fan of his from Frasier, that instantly made me like the movie all the more. I really enjoyed the dynamic between father and daughter, James and Diane Court. Oh, and shut up! I just looked up Diane Court and realized that Ione Skye played Ann's mother on Arrested Development - you know, the one who tried to make out with Michael. That's awesome.

From classic 1980s editing to very natural acting, the movie is a lot of fun and very sincere. It was able to capture the all-around feeling of two people falling in love for the first time perfectly. I loved the movie's end, as Lloyd and Diane sit in the airplane waiting to see if their future will be okay, as long as the plane takes off successfully. Great movie.

Wooohee. I just finished watching the first season of Jericho. And I'm really glad that nuts campaign worked, because if I would have seen that season finale without being promised new episodes in the fall, I would have been so ticked! Quite a cliffhanger. Anyway, if you haven't checked it out yet, start watching on Fridays, beginning July 6th. They're going to replay the entire season for people who haven't seen it yet. Either that, or hop online!

That's Burma, Liberia, and the US.

(via Digg)

This may sound funny, but I've been a fan of Sarah Polley's since she starred in Avonlea, which I watched when I was younger. As she grew up, I'd catch movies just to see what she was up to (see: The Sweet Hereafter, eXistenZ) and it turns out she seems to choose her roles and projects carefully. This time around, she's behind the camera as writer and director of Away From Her, which shows us that she's talented in more ways than just acting. The story of this movie features a husband's journey as his wife loses herself to Alzheimer's and has to be institutionalized.

Gordon Pinsent gives one of the most moving performances I've seen this year as Grant, who faithfully visits his wife in her nursing home, only to see her grow more and more distant from him--to the point where she has forgotten her relationship with him and started up an affection for one of her fellow patients.

The combination of Polley's direction and writing and Pinsent's performance make this movie more than Julie Christie's performance, which has gotten more attention from critics. While she does an excellent job (as always), the movie is more a story of Grant than anything else. He and his wife didn't have a perfect relationship, but their situation changes their dynamic in more ways than one.

With a story that sounds so simple, Polley was able to take it in more directions than I expected, and it was definitely a success. Let me tell you, it's difficult to watch because it's so heartbreaking, especially for audience member who has a loved one affected by Alzheimer's. I don't know anyone personally, but thinking about the possibility of something like this in Ric and my old age was enough to make me feel pretty affected by the end. I'm definitely looking forward to future projects of Polley's.

I played this game a few days ago and I didn't really get it. After giving it another go, it's become one of my faves out of the recent crop of games. The real secret to this one is learning to shoot your bow while you are in mid-air. I'm still getting the hang of it so I haven't been able to finish with a good score, but it's a lot of fun.

Woo... Thanks guys for making my 27th birthday awesome. We went to this awesome Mexican restaurant I had never been to called La Capilla. I chose it because Phil and Janelle told me about it and they give you free food on your birthday. IT ended up being quite awesome. Folks just now left my house since we were all hanging out afterwards. I got some good stuff. Jeri got me a pre-order of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows which I was so stoked about since she had hear me say I hadn't ordered it yet when we went to the morrissey show. Thanks Jeri! Greg got me a Castle Greyskull shirt as well as some Duck Tales DVDs (yes!) and he also got me tickets to the True Colors tour next week with Erasure and Cyndi Lauper and Debbie Harry. Greg is quite awesome. I also got a great assortment of gift cards. But the most awesome thing was i had the best attendance at a birthday party that I've had in ages. I think we ended up with 19 people. Yay! Thanks to all you folks around the internets with your assorted birthday wishes. Things have been kind of rough lately and it put a big smile on my face. Peace and love...

I started reading Slaughterhouse-five on Friday night and finished it on Sunday afternoon. It's about a man that comes unstuck in time and experiences his life in a random order. Part of the story follows him through the allied fire-bombing of Dresden, Germany, where he was held as a prisoner of war by the Germans in World War II. After the war, the main character is up late one night when this happens:

He went into the living room, swinging the bottle like a dinner bell, turned on the television. He came slightly unstuck in time, saw the late movie backwards, then forwards again. It was a movie about American bombers in the Second World War and the gallant men who flew them. Seen backwards by Billy, the story went like this:

American planes, full of holes and wounded men and corpses took off backwards from an airfield in England. Over France a few German fighter planes flew at them backwards, sucked bullets and shell fragments from some of the planes and crewmen. They did the same for wrecked American bombers on the ground, and those planes flew up backwards to join the formation.

The formation flew backwards over a German city that was in flames. The bombers opened their bomb bay doors, exerted a miraculous magnetism which shrunk the fires, gathered them into cylindrical steel containers, and lifted the containers into the bellies of the planes. The containers were stored neatly in racks. The Germans below had miraculous devices of their own, which were long steel tubes. They used them to suck more fragments from the crewmen and planes. But there were still a few wounded Americans, though, and some of the bombers were in bad repair. Over France, though, German fighters came up again, made everything and everybody as good as new.

When the bombers got back to their base, the steel cylinders were taken from the racks and shipped back to the United States of America, where factories were operating night and day, dismantling the cylinders, separating the dangerous contents into minerals. Touchingly, it was mainly women who did this work. The minerals were then shipped to specialists in remote areas. It was their business to put them into the ground, to hide them cleverly, so they would never hurt anybody ever again.

I thought that was one of the more poignant passages of the book.

Heyo! It's another week and I've got lots of blog catching up to do! But for now, a weekend recap.

Friday we had all-staff training at the university, so we had sexual harassment training, awards, musical performances, and lots of stuff about our centennial celebration. It was an okay morning. We all had lunch in the cafe. Not a lot of selection if you're trying to stay healthy, but I loved the fruit bowl I made! I swung by the bank to pick up some money and realized it was probably start time for some movies at the dollar theater, so I stopped by and saw Fracture (because I love me some Hopkins and Ryan Gosling's not so bad either). My mom is in Kansas this week, and my sister and I had a plan to help update the parents' bedroom because some of it is looking pretty old-fashioned. We went to Lowes, Target, Linens and Things, another Target, and Lowes again, searching for new hardware for their bedroom furniture, new doorknobs, and lampshades. Poor mom doesn't even try with that house any more. It's so outdated and needs so much repair that I think it's too overwhelming to even begin. So our plan was to do what we could to spruce things up without starting a major overhaul. Later on, Ric and I spent the evening packing. Exciting!

Saturday I slept in (I think the early morning workouts are a thing of the past, unless Ruth wants to start it up again, 'cause I just can't do it by myself), but not as long as usual. I was at my parents' place by noon with laundry and screwdrivers in hand. Luckily my dad was at a senior driving class all day, so we could work without him realizing it. Well, turns out the furniture was scraped up underneath the old drawer pulls, so if we replaced it, there would be new pulls, but scratched up furniture. We also found a bag in the corner of the room with new lampshades that hadn't been taken out of the wrapping yet. So basically, the whole thing was a bust. Boo! We returned everything. We did make a cake and picked up some sushi to treat my dad for Father's day (which is probably more than we've done in a few years), and Ric came over to join us for dinner. Then after a trip to Target to spend the extra cash I had because of the returns, we came home with a couple new Wii remotes so we could all three play Mario Kart together. That pretty much took up the rest of the night.

Sunday, we had church, laughed a lot at Colin and Liz' kid, and were scared to hear that Colin's unit going out in the fall will be special forces. Sounds dangerous to me. After a lot of chatting, we came home, and I left quickly to go catch Once at the theater in Brea. I forgot they were having a car show on the promenade, so that made parking and the line at the theater pretty long, but even though there was a packed theater, it was a quiet audience and a good show. In the evening, we had pizza at the Creek Park with Ric's parents and gave Todd his gift of an official Kings jersey to wear in the fall. We chatted a lot and went for a walk in the park, which was nice. When we came home, I worked on finances and hit up a couple episodes of Jericho, which I started watching last week online. It's pretty good for a CBS show! :)

This week's got a lot going on: Brendan's birthday, a trip to Disneyland, more packing, and Hamlet at the OC ("don't call it that") Repertory. AND, hopefully I'll finish the book I've been reading the past couple months. I'm excited!

It's been awhile since we heard from Joel and Ethan Coen and even longer since we've heard from P.T. Anderson. Both have some big projects releasing this Oscar season and the thing they have in common is in both they have decided to eschew their regular cast members that have appeared in most of their films. First off we have the Coen' No Country for Old Men:

The word at Cannes was very positive, especially for Javier Bardem, who looks stinking awesome. This one reminds me most of Blood Simple but looks even darker. Very cool. Next we have P.T. Anderson's There Will Be Blood. This isn't an official trailer, mind you, just a teaser of sorts that was released a couple days ago.

Looks pretty sweet. I might be speaking ahead of myself a little bit but I really hope Daniel Day Lewis wins the Oscar he should have gotten for Gangs of New York with this performance. Yeah, he already has an Oscar, but he definitely should have more than the one. I'm also excited for this one because of Paul Dano. With these two flicks alone I'm definitely looking forward to this winter.

There are several names being thrown around in connection with Zack Snyder's Watchmen film. Here's a roundup, with my reactions.

Rorschach: Jackie Earle Haley.

I saw him in Little Children lately, and I was impressed with his acting. At least we know he's got the creepy part of the character down. This may be the best news I've heard about the Watchmen film in a long time (aside from learning that Keanu Reeves turned down the part of Dr. Manhattan).

Nite Owl: Patrick Wilson.

I saw him also in the aforementioned Little Children. I wasn't impressed with how he did, but it may have been partially because of the lousy script. All I know is that if he's going to be playing a middle-aged Dan Dreiberg he's going to need to put on a lot of weight (and maybe look less pretty).

Dr. Manhattan: Jason Patric and The Comedian: Thomas Jane


I don't really know anything about either of these actors, so I have no opinion as to their credentials. Anyway, this just sounds like a rumor right now, so maybe neither actor will even be in the film.

I'm still not getting my hopes up for this movie. From what I've seen of Zack Snyder's films he tends toward sensational, over-the-top filmmaking. Even if he tries to make it look gritty and dark, I have a feeling it will turn out as a glamorous Hollywood version of gritty and dark, rather than the truly understated realism it needs. I'm afraid that our only chance for a really great adaptation left with Paul Greengrass.