Summer's goin by fast...

Well, July is pretty much over now but the blogging bug has bit me again so let's see what's been going on in my world.

Rachel's parents came down this weekend to spend some time with us. We managed to celebrate Dave's birthday by going to Natt Spil, an eclectic fusion restaurant just off the Square that has what is, in my humble opinion, the best damn pork sandwich EVER. On crispy home made french bread, with spicy mayo and plenty of cilantro and jalapenos. Mmm-mmm good.

We managed to get quite a bit of theater in this weekend as well. On Friday after attending a bbq at Joseph and Leah's we headed out to go see You've Ruined A Perfectly Good Mystery, a play written and performed by Madisonians that is headed off to the New York Fringe. The play was about a Sherlock Holmes rip off set in a completely irreverent choose-your-own-adventure and narrated by someone with a hilarious love of overworked simile and heavy handed puns, much to our main characters' dismay. Probably the best part about this play was the scenery, which was carried and acted out by the rotating portion of the cast. Particularly awesome whenever there was travel involved. Plus, at the end, dirigible battle!

Next up was Captain America. I liked it, maybe not as much as I liked Thor (THOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRR!!!) but it was a fine addition to the Marvel line up. Hugo Weaving had an amazing clipped German accent as the Red Skull and, as Rachel put it, "Everyone hates Nazis, and when you have people that even the Nazis hate then you just don't care how many get blown up!" Hat tip to Marvel for including Nick Fury's Howling Commandos as part of the storyline and making Bucky into a badass. Also, the Avengers trailer at the end? YES.

Finally we traveled an hour out of town to Spring Green, WI to watch a play at the American Players Theatre. This place was very cool as it's an outdoor theater, and we have been blessed all weekend with absolutely perfect weather. Unfortunately we were a bit confused as to exactly how seating was going to work and brought a picnic dinner, only to find that there were actual theater seats and outside food wasn't allowed in the theater. Nonetheless we quietly broke out our peanut butter and raspberry & hot pepper jelly sandwiches and served ourselves slices of gourmet sheep and goat cheese on crackers while the play was going on.

The play that we saw was Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit, a comedy about a man who accidentally brings the spirit of his first wife back from the grave with terrible results. It was very witty and the actors performed quite admirably and, for being an outdoor production, the special effects were good. I do have to say that it did drag on a bit especially towards the beginning, but overall it was a great way to finish out the evening. Plus I think I saw more bats during the play than I have at any other point, which is awesome.

And that's mostly what's been going on. Deb, as I know you're reading this, if you could send me some of the pics from the weekend I'd love to post them up.

Thanks for reading!

Inception

To escape the 100 degree heat and torrential rain last Tuesday my friends and I headed out to the local theater to watch the new movie Inception. All I can say is, WOW.

For those unfamiliar with the movie's premise, our protagonists are thieves, but they don't steal paltry gems or rubies. Instead they leap into their victims' dreams using some poorly defined technology and extract the information that they need from the sleeper's mind. The heist that they are involved with at the beginning of the movie goes wrong, setting the pair up to being forced into a new contract with a difficult task at its core: Inception, the art of placing an idea in someone's head and making them believe that it was their's all along. To do so they have to hire a host of notable characters, leading to some quite epic scenes when the heist finally gets going.

Leonardo DiCaprio is the lead of the film and is a tortured man. A woman appears when he is on his missions, always ruining his chances at success. We soon find out that this is his late wife, whose death is inextricably tied up with dreams, betrayal and Inception. She lends a very menacing air to the movie, as DiCaprio's character can't be sure that the repressed memories in his mind won't come back to haunt him in a very physical sense.

The film has very rigorous internal logic that gets drilled into your head right from the beginning. I won't go into an indepth explanation, but there are rules to walking in people's dreams. Don't change too many things, the secret ideas are kept in a safe/protected location, and always, always have a way for you to wake up. You can even do dreams within dreams by having the characters "use" the dream technology inside a dream... though that can have its own consequences, as well.

The fact that they rely on dreams as the setting for most of the movie allows for some pretty crazy stunts. Since your senses are still intact any interference from the outside world has impacts on the dream world. Sleeping in a car that is screeching around a turn? The gravity in the dream starts coming from a sideways direction. Hear a song? It fills the air.

Of course, the logic they use doesn't really come from dreams- it comes more from a pastiche of different movies all blended into one. This is one of the neat aspects of the movie, at least to me. Since dreams are a comingled mishmash of influences from the real world it would only make sense that a movie about dreams would use other movies as its inspiration. So instead of impressionistic artsy sequences we get James Bond, Bourne and a host of other action (and some other genres) movies blended into one smart package.

This probably seemed a bit rushed and confused, but that's part of Inception as well. They switch from scene to scene as they cascade down the levels of a target's mind, each level containing unique geography and challenges, yet it all makes sense when scrolling in front of you on the screen. It's one of those movies that you are enraptured by while its on the screen and has you discussing it for hours after.

Busy Independence Weekend

Things have been moving this weekend- I've barely had any time to sit back and relax! Well, here's the rundown:

The World Cup continues its strange and exciting journey! While I missed the Netherland's upset victory over Brazil on Friday and Spain's last minute frantic goal over Paraguay, I did get to see the other two games this weekend. First, Ghana vs Uruguay. This was a really good game- plenty of back and forth action, lots of shots on goal, and it went all the way to a shoot out. Of course it shouldn't have gone to a shoot out, if not for some brilliant and unorthodox thinking on the part of a Paraguayan defender.

It was the last minute of double overtime, the score tied at 1-1. Ghana put in their all for one last desperate attempt at a goal and there was frenzied action at the Uruguayan goal. The keeper deflected the ball three times, twice just as it was about to cross the line. The third save had him fall to the ground and another Ghana striker slammed the ball home... only to have it blocked right on the line by a handball. As one of my soccer buddies later mentioned, he had always wondered when an intentional hand ball would be tactically sound, and this was it. Ghana failed at the penalty kick in the last second of double overtime and went on to lose the shootout.

The Germany Argentina game, however, was even more awesome. Germany came on strong, scoring in the first 4 minutes. They then continued to be strong, dominating every phase of the game and scoring three more goals in the last 20 minutes. Schweinsteiger continued to be the best midfielder ever, setting up goal after goal with ease. The keeper, Manuel Neuer, blocked every Argentinan shot with remarkable aplomb. And Klose moved into place for second most World Cup goals scored, only one goal behind Ronaldo. A 4-0 slaughter should see them do very well against Spain, who have not shown the greatest amount of initiative so far. And after that, World Cup glory in the finals!

The games that I've watched I've tried to watch over at the Nomad World Pub, my favorite bar in the Cities. Every game they have a raffle and some trivia questions, and for the Argentina-Germany game Rachel actually got chosen to win a pair of Taste of Minnesota tickets! For those not in the know, it's a festival where there are lots of cool shows going on and we can try out all sorts of awesome food. We're planning on going on Monday night, so I'll be sure to report about it later.

I've also been hanging out with my CTEP folks a lot. Last night was a potluck at a drive in movie theater where we watched Toy Story 3 (AMAZING) and the Karate Kid (surprisingly brutal, but good) remake late into the night, the day before was a Corps Day at my site and tonight is hopefully going to be a BBQ and watching the fireworks down by the river, so long as it doesn't rain at least. They're a great group, and they'll be another thing I'm sorry to move away from in August. But that's part of the deal, so I'll just make the most of it while I can.

Until next time...

"It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either."
- Following the Equator, Pudd'nhead Wilson's New Calendar

Stitch-Dargon!

This past weekend me and a couple of my friends went out to go see Dreamwork's How to Train Your Dragon as one of Rachel's students was working at the theater that night and offered us free comestibles. That was probably the only reason that we went to go see the movie- the previews that I had seen were not terribly enticing, so we thought it would simply be a coming of age story told in a kid friendly manner.

Well, we were kind of right. First of all, just to get it out there, this movie is good. Really good. The animations are fantastic, the character choices lean towards the generic but still get their own spin, and the dragons are really well done.

The story is that this village of Vikings (who all mysteriously have Scottish accents) is constantly under attack by dragons that steal their sheep and burn their houses. Our hero, Hiccup (yes, that really is his name), is not your typical Viking. He is scrawny, not terribly good with weapons, and has been relegated to serving in the foundry as his "help" on the front lines tends to cause more harm than good.

Luck is with our hero when he manages to ensnare the most fearsome dragon of all, a Night Fury*, with an invention that he built. Of course no one believes him, but he is determined to prove them wrong and find the dragon that he snared.

Without spoiling too much, the Night Fury is the second lead in the movie. Rachel likened him to "a dragon version of Stitch [from Lilo and Stitch]- Stitch-Dargon!" And, really, that's what he is. Think of the grace of a cat crossed with the loyalty of a dog crossed with Stitch and bound up into a sleek black ball of wonderment, supersonic flight and destructive mini-nuke breath. His interactions with Hiccup are definitely the highlight of the movie- their getting to know you sequence is completely adorable, hilarious and surprisingly well thought out. And the level of expression that he can get out of his very Stitch-esque face is amazing. And he's CUTE! Yet bad-ass enough at the same time to lend credence to his rep as "born of lightning and swift death." To quote Rachel again "I want one!" So do I, Rachel, so do I.

The flight scenes are really well done and the progression from hunter and hunted to BFF is done nicely. Hiccup definitely doesn't get it right away, and even when he takes to the sky on the dragon's back there are setbacks. It's a bit refreshing to see a kiddie movie where character progression isn't necessarily so cut and dried. There is also the progression of his relationship with his father, who is chief of their village. There are some pretty cute moments between the two that are animated to great effect.

The flight sequences are really well done and I can imagine that in 3D they'd be even more awesome. All of the action sequences have great effects that match the aesthetics of the movie really well. Dragons crackle with flame all over their bodies, the little bulldog/beetle dragons zip around with a bemused grin on their faces, and others light up the sky with huge rivers of well rendered flame.

All in all, a very fun movie and one that I would definitely go and see again. And you should too!

*They have a Pokemon or Harry Potter-esque delineation of different kinds of dragons, each with a different weak spot, breath attack and fighting style. Gotta slay (or tame) 'em all!

Until next time...

"A village fire-company does not often get a chance to show off, and so when it does get a chance it makes the most of it. Such citizens of that village as were of a thoughtful and judicious temperament did not insure against fire; they insured gainst the fire-company."


- Pudd'nhead Wilson, by Mark Twain

Technicolor Cardboard Dreams

For our Corps Day this past Friday we headed over to the building of the Saint Paul Neighborhood Network, a local channel, and got to play around with cameras. We were split into groups and were tasked with coming up with a movie that could be planned in 30 minutes, shot in an hour and edited in two and a half hours. We were also all given a genre, a prop, and a line that had to be included in our film.

For me:
Genre: Experimental
Prop: Cardboard Box
Line: "I'm glad that we have technology on our side."

Thus was born Technicolor Cardboard dreams, starring yours truly:

Technicolor Cardboard Dreams from CTEP on Vimeo.

Until next time...

"...a good and wholesome thing is a little harmless fun in this world; it tones a body up and keeps him human and prevents him from souring."
- Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc, by Mark Twain

The Hurt Locker

Last night Rachel and I decided to rent a movie from our local Blockbuster. We originally were aiming for the last season and a half of The Wire, but unfortunately they were all out of it at the time. So, we decided to increase our knowledge of Oscar hopeful movies by renting The Hurt Locker.

The Hurt Locker is set in Iraq in 2004 and follows a bomb-disposal squad during the last month or so of their deployment. When the team leader is killed by a cell phone triggered IED he is replaced by Sgt. James, a "wild man" who thoroughly enjoys his job of defusing enemy ordnance. He enjoys it perhaps too much, as his lack of care for his own personal safety and at times impulsive nature lead the team into potentially deadly situations again and again.

If you have heard any of the hype surrounding this movie, believe it- it is that good. The relationships between the three men of the team and those around them are electrifying and add a great level of tension even during their down time. Their reactions to the local environs are also excellently tense and believable- in an arena where ANYONE watching their delicate operations could be an insurgent, even scenes where there is no weapons fire will grab you by the edge of your seat. That is not to say that the entire movie is a tension grinder- there are (sometimes darkly) light parts between and during the action to break up the pace at the right times.

I think that probably the best thing about the movie is that it doesn't exactly have a bias on the war. While it certainly shows the terrible side of it, it also shows more humane sides of the conflict. Sgt. James in particular is drawn to the combat partially because he wants to help people- the scenes in which he struggles with the situation at hand to help out Iraqi citizens are some of the best in the movie. It also subtly weaves in the reasons why soldiers often end up re-enlisting- the movie's byline, "War is a drug" certainly sits as an apt description of this reason.

Another reason that this movie sat so well with me is that while it is "adrenaline-soaked" and "action packed" it does not glorify in violence or turn to war-porn. The explosions are mostly sudden plumes of grey smoke and debris that leave little in their wake except rubble. There are a few disturbing scenes, but the camera does not dwell on them to focus on the blood and gore, more the horrible reality of the situation. Even situations where someone is shot are done realistically with a puff of red mist as the bullet impacts on the target... and even that doesn't happen very much in the film. They also show the mundanely terrifying that can be found in battles- the sniper scene is a keen example of this, where waiting in the hot sun for hours for a possible gunman to appear is made exceedingly tense. And of course there are the parts outside of the action, which show more of how the soldiers react to the locals and to each other.

In all, this is an excellent movie that I think most people will like. There is plenty of action, plenty of excitement, a really good story, believable characters, and great moral questions that appear throughout the movie. If it gets best picture, it will definitely have deserved it, as this is one that you don't want to miss.

Das Weisse Band

On Monday Rachel and I went to go see The White Ribbon over at the Uptown Theater. It's a limited release film that picked up a ton of awards at Cannes, and this combined with the fact that it is German and had a really interesting premise made me really want to go see it.

The film is set in a small German town on the eve of the assassination of Archduke Franz. Our narrator is the local schoolteacher, though the camera certainly does not only follow his perspective on things. Right off the bat we know that something is amiss in this town, as the narrator informs us that "the mysterious accidents began with the Doctor as he was taking a ride in his garden." He then goes on to explain (as the camera shows) that someone had strung up invisible wire around two trees, causing his horse to collapse and him to be thrown violently from the saddle.

The "accidents" continue through the film and become even more brutal as the story continues, but they are almost simple side projects or merely symptoms in comparison with all of the other things that are going on in the village. We get intimate looks into five of the families in the town and each is wracked with hereditary violence, pride and an innate sense of righteousness. There is the pastor who solemenly punishes even the slightest infraction among his children with force and humiliation, the steward who is genial only so long as his job is not at stake, the baron and baronness who are detached from the cares of the villagers unless their own family is in harm, and this is to say nothing of the farmer or even more darkly the Doctor.

Each of these families has a patriarch who is convinced of his own right and that believes that he has the authority to carry out his will with whatever means are deemed necessary. This pride and violence are passed down to their children, who take out their frustration and rage against their unassailable parents in quiet and terrible ways. The title of the film, The White Ribbon, is an example of this. It is supposed to symbolize and serve as a reminder of purity and innocence, but is used as a humiliating form of punishment by the pastor.

I believe that it is this sense of righteousness and the need to be in control physically, mentally and morally that the director was talking about when he said that he wanted to show "perhaps a reason as to why what happened later did happen." The idea that a country can force a moral high ground on the rest of the world through force of arms is not such a far stretch from some of the quiet atrocities committed in this seemingly quiet village.

As you may have guessed, I was very impressed with this film but was also pretty traumatized by it. The acts shown in the story are often terrible but very believable, especially for the time period. There are definite beacons of hope, mainly in the schoolteacher's life. He lives seemingly untouched by the acts around him and manages to find others like him that show reasonable reactions to situations and attempt to treat their fellow man with respect. But even this has a dark edge, as while he attempts to figure out who is causing all of the incidents in town he lacks the conviction or ability to do anything about it. Then the war comes and his life takes a different turn, and, as he says, "I never saw anyone from that village again."

In the end (and, indeed, in the very beginning) we get a glimpse at who is causing all of the accidents, but it doesn't really matter. They were a symptom of passed on rage and frustration for which precious few of the characters know the cure.

Until next time...

"In early times some sufferer had to sit up with a toothache, and he put in the time inventing the German language."


- Mark Twain's Notebook #14, 11/1877 - 7/1878

Up In The Air

As you can probably tell form the title and the large movie poster located just above these words, this is going to be a movie review of the film Up In The Air, which came out a couple of weeks ago. The story follows one man, Ryan Bingham, at a pivotal moment in his life. Ryan works for a company that fires employees for other companies that "don't have the balls to do it themselves" and flies all over the country to do so. He's also a motivational speaker whose talk is titled "What's In Your Backpack?", the metaphorical backpack being your life. He advocates that it should only be filled with the things that you absolutely need, throwing away the rest of the people and possessions that unnecessarily clutter your life. He also advocates stereotyping as "it saves more time that way."

These factors combine to conjure a man whose only "real" home is in the airport. There's a very neat sequence that's repeated a few times throughout the film showing just how at home he is- the carefully choreographed dance of putting things on and taking them off at the security checkpoint, the breezy pace that he can use thanks to his many elite statuses, and the casual, measured stroll of someone cheerfully strolling through a park. The airport and its accessories are his domain, and he treats them with more tenderness and care than anyone from what most people would call his "real" life. The concierges at the airports know him by name and wait on his every whim. His own neighbor he rarely sees as he is away most of the year, and there's the family that barely communicates with- these are unneeded peripherals that would unnecessarily hassle his streamlined existence. The only goal that he has in mind is to earn a truly spectacular number of frequent flyer miles and thus earn the ultimate of elite statuses. Ryan is all about loyalty, but only to those things that benefit him and his miles.

But of course, stories are all about conflict, and conflict enters Ryan's life in the form of Natalie Keener, a recent addition to the company who has convinced his boss to suspend the constant flying and have his employees fire people via video conference. Ryan takes her to task, and is himself tasked with showing her how his job works out on the road. He also meets a fellow travel-junkie by chance and begins unwittingly trying to fit her into his metaphorical backpack.

It's not only because he loves his ephemeral airport world that he defends his "life style choice." He isn't a misanthrope- instead he looks at his job and philosophy as beneficial ones. In his job he has the skills, training and experience to be the best person to help these unfortunates through what is probably one of the toughest times of their lives. Other people (like their actual bosses) don't have the right touch to deal with the situation in an efficient and effective manner. He firmly believes that a video conference would break that fragile bridge that he is trying to build between the shattered remains of their now previous employment and the next opportunity that they can grasp. And as for his philosophy, he is merely trying to make sure that he gets the best out of what he enjoys in life without encumbering others unduly- we're all going to die alone anyway, so what's the point?

Of course, this is only the beginning of the plot- it has plenty of quite logical and starkly realistic twists and turns as Ryan tries to deal with the possibility of losing his current lifestyle and being forced to build something permanent with the fixtures in his life. He definitely shows himself as a character capable of making change if convinced to do so, but the world often reacts to his attempted changes with the mixed message that is reality. That's not to say that everything is serious- there are plenty of light hearted and snarky moments in the movie that had us laughing, just that overall things tend to be based on reality.

If you are going to watch this movie, don't watch it for moral stories or a plot building to some kind of conclusive whole- there isn't one. Instead it is a great character study into the ways that people deal with the big events in their lives. Being forced to come home, ending a relationship, getting married- these all appear in the film, and the reactions are, like the rest of the movie, logical and realistic. So are the characters, especially the female ones, which is excellent as they are what cause the changes in Ryan's life. Even the bit parts like his sister's groom are played like they were the stars of the show- nothing is left to stereotyping.

So, in summary: I liked it. If you liked Jason Reitman's other films like Thank You For Smoking or Juno (though, a little less on the latter) you'll like this one. If you like character studies, I think you'll like this one too. It's a movie that, (shamelessly stealing from the Los Angeles Times) "makes it look easy. Not just in its casual and apparently effortless excellence, but in its ability to blend entertainment and insight, comedy and poignancy, even drama and reality, things that are difficult by themselves but a whole lot harder in combination. This film does all that and never seems to break a sweat."

Until next time...

"It liberates the vandal to travel--you never saw a bigoted, opinionated, stubborn, narrow-minded, self-conceited, almighty mean man in your life but he had stuck in one place since he was born and thought God made the world and dyspepsia and bile for his especial comfort and satisfaction."
- The American Abroad speech by Mark Twain, 1868

The Weekend

Rachel and I have been incredibly social this past weekend (at least by our humble standards). On Thursday, as I said last time, Justin and Kyle were around. This past Friday we went with Russell to see Avatar in 3D at an incredibly swanky (and expensive!) theater in St. Louis Park. This theater was so swanky that they not only had assigned seating inside the theater but also had an option to upgrade to a VIP ticket which would let you have access to a cash bar while the movie is going on. Crazy, no?

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Anyway, quick movie review:

• very pretty; the visuals were gorgeous, the 3D added to the effect and wasn't annoying, and everything either had a sense of gritty sci-fi or wonderful alienness
• ok plot; stolen from Pocahontas, Fern Gully and half a dozen other films/stories over the years. Still a good story, but definitely derivative.
• overall- worth your money, especially 3D version.

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Then on Saturday we had the gang over to watch Labyrinth in celebration of David Bowie's birthday on Friday. I had never seen the film before, so I had no idea what to expect. After the movie, I still have no idea what to expect. It was that trippy. Entertaining, in the cult classic and awesomeness of Jim Henson kind of way, but very, very trippy.


Finally, on Sunday Rachel and I got to play hero twice. First was an unprecedented going into work on Sunday to help out one of my students with her college applications. Rachel was great with her, and between the two of us we managed to get three of her applications finished before her due date on Monday. Later that evening our housemate Zoe created a big, deep slice into her finger when trying to open a can. After some doctoral consultation she and I headed out to the hospital to get it all stitched up. My job there seemed solely to keep her knowledgeable of the fact that she was not going to die or be horribly scarred from this minor wound. As I said to her "Dumb things happen to smart people all the time..." and went on to relate several instances in which that exact thing has happened to me and people that I know.

Well, that's all the news from Minneapolis. Next time there will be some pics from over Winter break that I've been wanting to get out there for a while. Until next time...

"We find not much in ourselves to admire, we are always privately wanting to be like somebody else. If everybody was satisfied with himself there would be no heroes."
- Mark Twain's Autobiography

This past weekend Rach and I headed up to Duluth to attend the reception for a  wedding that we went to a month ago or so. It was a pretty good party, though the dancing portion left much to be desired. Still, I soldiered on and valiantly made a fool of myself on the dance floor doing the YMCA and air guitaring to Queen.

We also got to see Rachel’s parents and hang out with them for a while. Rachel forced her mom to start watching Planet Earth with us, which was jaw-droppingly amazing. Even if you don’t like animal/National Geographic documentaries you will like this gorgeous masterpiece. Things like swooping silently through snow covered trees, seeing the full extent of a caribou migration and the incredible tactics of African Wild Dogs on the hunt are just spectacular experiences.

 

I also got to see Where the Wild Things Are last night, and it was pretty good. It does feel a bit stretched out at points but the entire thing is beautifully done and very true to the book’s artistic style. It’s definitely not so much a movie for kids as it is a movie about kids, as all of the Wild Things represent different child archetypes. There’s the rambunctious child who flies into a tantrum at the slightest provocation, the quiet loner looking in from the outside, the universal crush, the couple, etc. as well as plenty of the activities that kids tend to do. But they're not just children- they are also Wild Things that are large and have very sharp teeth. As one of them said, "If you have a problem, just eat it. It's what I always do." It's pretty, it's funny, it's scary, and it's pretty enjoyable for those who want to see a great look at what being a kid is like. Just don’t expect kids to be incredibly entertained by it.

Well, that’s it for now. Until next time…

 "Children have but little charity for one another's defects."
- Autobiography of Mark Twain

Terrible Yellow Eyes

As you may have heard, they are making a movie version of what is probably my favorite childhood book: Where the Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak. I am understandably pretty excited about this as
a) the trailers look good
b) It's where the wild things are
c) Max is the hero!

Going along with all this craze is http://www.terribleyelloweyes.com/. It's a collection of tribute art about WtWTA and some of it is pretty amazing. The piece at the start of this article is from there, and so is this one:

It's a retelling of Where the Wild Things Are as The Magic Flute, which is pretty amazingly complex and well executed. More stuff like this and other awesome things are on the site. Go check it out!

Also, a trailer for the movie, in case you haven't seen it yet:



Until next time...

"...this curious & pathetic fact of life: that when parents are old & their children grown up, the grown-up children are not the persons they formerly were; that their former selves have wandered away, never to return again, save in dream-glimpses of their young forms that tarry a moment & gladden the eye, then vanish & break the heart."
- "Memorial to Olivia Susan Clemens"

District 9: A Review

District 9 has been out for a while, but I figured that some of you might be interested in seeing it/simply dismiss it as "an alien movie." It is much more than that. In my previous post I believe that I used the term "Hotel Rwanda with aliens" and I meant it. This is the most realistic, gut wrenching movie involving aliens that I have ever seen as it takes the entire premise and turns it on its head.

The movie begins (and is interspersed) with documentary style interview with various people and their views on the events of the movie. We learn that 20 years ago a large alien space ship entered Earth's atmosphere and came to rest over, of all places, Johannesburg, South Africa. The South African government breaks into the ship after several weeks of waiting to discover that the craft is basically derelict and the occupants are barely clinging to life. In a humanitarian move the gov't brings the aliens to earth and sets them up in what becomes the eponymous slums known as District 9.

The aliens in this movie are an oppressed minority that are generally looked down upon by humanity. While possessed of great technology, they do not have the capacity to create more, and most seem to be devoid of any kind of motivation to use it. They are easily taken advantage of by Nigerian crime lords, the decidedly questionably moral company Multi-National United and any others that come across them. More importantly, because they are in fact not human humanity seems on the whole to not deem them worthy of humane consideration. There technology is also almost worthless to humans as only beings with alien DNA can use them, leaving the aliens (racial slur of choice: Prawn) with few to no bargaining chips on the table.

The movie is very graphic, realistic and at times depressing. The actions scenes fully take in how horrible the combat is, especially when the awesome might of alien technology is used against a human target. And even then, you realize that most of the movie is simply about survival: survival of the main character, survival of the aliens, survival of hope. The atrocities that humans inflict on the aliens is rather incredible in its brutality, vehemence and conviction, recalling and surpassing anything that happened in any human race conflict.

That isn't to say that everything is horrible in the movie- the seemless blending of computer generated imagery and real world footage is simply amazing and the absolute best job that I have seen of it in any film whatsoever. Everything feels real- the whine of ships' engines, the awkward gait of the aliens, the rust on everything, the lighting, firing and damage effects of the alien weapons, the omnipresent site of the alien mothership- all feels solid and truly there. And I guess that that is part of the reason that it is so horrible at times, as it feels that this could easily happen.

Because it was so realistic and because it has a pretty damn good story overall, I really liked District 9. I'm not sure if I would see it again, but seeing it once was an excellent experience. Just make sure that you know what kind of movie it is before going in.

But, words only do so much. Here are a few of Neil's previous works so that you can get a feel for what kind of movie it is.






Until next time...

"It's lovely to live on a raft. We had the sky up there, all speckled with stars, and we used to lay on our backs and look up at them, and discuss about whether they was made or only just happened. Jim he allowed they was made, but I allowed they happened; I judged it would have took too long to make so many. Jim said the moon could 'a' laid them; well, that looked kind of reasonable, so I didn't say nothing against it, because I've seen a frog lay most as many, so of course, it could be done. We used to watch the stars that fell, too, and see them streak down. Jim allowed they'd got spoiled and was hove out of the nest."
- Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Back Again

Well, I originally intended to wait for my computer to be fixed before I started blogging again, but that seems to be taking an inordinate amount of time. So here I am, yet again.

The new term of Americorps service began two weeks ago, and so far the new corps looks to be shaping up rather well. A new thing that we're trying this year is being social outside of Corps activities, and so far it seems to be a success. There's talk of going to the Summit brewery in a few weeks for a free tour for some free beer which I am particularly quite excited about. The corps also seems much geekier this year, which makes my alpha geek status an asset rather than an albatross.

I've also started doing some training on teaching finally! Only a year late, but better late than never I guess... It's with the Minnesota Literacy Council and is targeted at teaching us to teach adults how to read, write, do math and prepare for the GED, but there is plenty of material about classroom management and whatnot that I believe will be very useful for my basic computer class as well.

But not everything has been work related. I've been hunting down grad schools, studying for the Physics GRE again, and doing plenty of hanging out. Of particular interest:

- I was involved in a theater production! Bedlam Theatre, one of the more liberal establishments out there held a variety show called Super-ROMP and apparently always has a segment called the Five Minute Movie. This year's selection: Wrath of Khan. I got to play the part of First Officer Chekov and the Starship Reliant and it was very fun (if exceedingly chaotic and crazy).

- Went to a wedding on Wednesday September 9th where there were exactly three people that I knew and none of them were related to the bride or groom. Apparently one of Rachel's old family friends was getting married and chose her to be the maid of honor. Speaking of which, I need to get a pic of her in her dress up here, because WOW... The couple and their friends were all total dorks which was awesome, and the wedding was held in a large park with a vey nice vista to serve as the backdrop. We also got to take one of the three wedding cakes home, which was incredibly awesome! General note: allowing the wedding guests to blow bubbles rather than throw rice is a very nice and smart alternative. Plus it makes for some great photos!

- Went to go see the Muppet Movie last night at the Uptown Theater. I had never seen it before and Rachel was super excited about seeing it on the big screen. Have to say that I loved it and all of the exceedingly random celebrity cameos that populate it, plus general insanity of the different muppets and the plot line.

-District 9:  a gut punch of a movie if there ever was one. Expect a full post on this awesome but emotionally draining movie. And yes, I did just use emotionally draining to describe an alien movie... think Hotel Rwanda but with aliens.

That's all for now... will attempt to do some regular postage of stuffs. Until next time...

"Let us adopt geologic time. Then -- time being money -- there will be no more poverty."
- Mark Twain's Notebook, p. 137