What I Watched -- Let the Right One In

I read a review of this movie somewhere, which was so glowing that I was compelled to watch the movie. Let me start out by saying that I'm not much for vampire movies. I've seen two of the Twilight films, mostly because I wanted to know what all the fuss was about.

I'm not sure what was so great about this movie. I mean, it was good, but I'm not sure what everyone's raving about.

It's really a simple story. Two outcast children find each other and make friends. Oskar is a nerdy boy who is the unfortunate object of the attentions of the school bullies. Eli is a strange girl, a recent addition to his apartment block, who just so happens to be a vampire. They make friends, and are stronger together than either of them could have been apart. Oskar doesn't judge Eli, because he knows what it's like to be judged. Eli's strength and speed help Oskar assert himself. The story of the relationship they build, though simple, is powerful. Eli not only has to control herself around Oskar, but also has to decide to let him know the real her. And he has to decide whether or not to accept her. Serious stuff, for a pair of 12-year-olds, even if one of them has been 12 for "a while."

The film, based on a novel by the screenwriter, was originally made in Sweden. The dubbing into English is awful; the voices are unaffected and they don't sound like they belong to the characters at all. The Swedish setting - the Stockholm suburbs - is perfect. It's stark, cold, and terribly appropriate. Everything about this movie is harsh: Oskar's relationship with his (separated) parents; Eli's relationship with the strange man who looks after her; life in Stockholm; school as a bullied kid. Many of the scenes take place at night, which is not surprising, but adds to the dark tone.

Somehow, though, despite being about kids and vampires, and despite not leaving out a single one of the "vampire" cliches (avoiding sunlight, not eating, being impervious to cold, physical strength, etc.), this movie takes itself seriously enough that you take it seriously also. It avoids the comical over-dramatization of the Twilight movies, and that lack of acknowledgment of its silliness somehow makes it compelling.

Bottom line: I almost have to agree with the critic quoted on the front of the DVD - probably the best vampire movie I've ever seen. But take that with a grain of salt, because (a) I'm not a cult vampire movie fanatic, and (b) I've actually never even seen the classic Dracula - or any version of Dracula, come to think of it - so how can I really judge?

Happy Birthday to Me!

What I Watched -- Green Zone

Is it possible to make a war movie without politics? I think so, but apparently it's either (a) very hard, or (b) very undesirable. I imagine they're both true: (a) is probably true because war is a product of politics, and therefore the two are nearly inextricably intertwined; and (b)? Well, as far as I can tell - and I have extensive experience based on watching the Oscars telecast approximately once every three years - Hollywood types love to hear themselves talk about politics, so why make a movie without politics when you have the option to make a movie with it?

I don't like talking/reading/thinking politics much - okay, at all - but, c'mon, Green Zone had Matt Damon in it! What was I supposed to do? The limit of my political commentary is this: regardless of the truth of the specific facts, the movie - which is ostensibly fiction - does a great job showing lies and deceit and confusion and misinformation that may have led to the war in Iraq. I say "ostensibly fiction," because the parallels with what played out in our newspapers were clearly not accidental. What Green Zone does not show, though, are the complicated international relationships and many, many moving pieces of the puzzle which also played a role. Rather, the movie is just the story of one good guy against the world, trying to expose the deceit he stumbles onto by asking the right question of the wrong person - or maybe the wrong question of the right person. And that's fair enough; the perspective is the prerogative of the movie makers.

And for what they do, they do a decent job. The story is engaging, and you want Chief Miller (Matt Damon) to discover the truth, so that you can too. You understand the pressure he's under as a soldier on the ground and as part of the military machine. Miller meets an Iraqi man they call Freddie, who acts as his informant/translator, and together they provide the voices of reason in the movie. Other players are Clark Poundstone (Greg Kinnear), the American architect of the Iraqi invasion and subsequent political puppeteer; Martin Brown (Brendan Gleeson), the CIA's Baghdad bureau chief; and Lawrie Dayne (Amy Ryan), the journalist who has the power to report or misreport everything she learns. They all do a decent job.

Back to my complaint: the problem is that I just listed all the main characters, and I can count them on one hand. This politics nonsense is way more complicated than that. True - heady, interwoven, complex stories don't always play well in the action arena, where shootings and explosions are the name of the game. The one place where Green Zone actually gets interesting is unfortunately ill-explored: the role of NGOs who act like the military, but don't operate under the same rules (or guidelines). But, like I said, the type of movie to be made is a decision best left up to someone who is not me. (Director Paul Greengrass has previously worked with Matt Damon on The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum, and this movie is stylistically similar.)

Bottom line: while this film was enjoyable for what it was, I think it sells itself a little short by having such a simplified plot. However, I'll never complain about seeing a totally buff Matt Damon (my boyfriend!) running around shooting at stuff.

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to!

Thanks to everybody who came and helped out at my party yesterday! Special thanks to K for cleaning up her house and buying/making lots of things! Thanks also to E and E, who contributed to the impressive spread of food we had (which I forgot to take a picture of), to T for the contribution of wine, and to Grandma for the unintentional contribution of a bottle of champagne!

But back to the food! We had a cheese plate, fruit and amaretto dip, chips with garage sale dip (cheese, sour cream, cream cheese and salsa), a plate of chocolate chip cookies as well as a mixed plate of various types of cookies, ice cream pie with Whoppers, almond tart with raspberry jam, champagne, red and white wine, and a beautifully decorated chocolate cake!

Me and my cake!

E1

E2 and me (E, you made it!)

Also in attendance were E2's husband S, our family friend P, Grandma and Grandpa (Grandma was in her lovely jacket with the ruffle, which unfortunately I also don't have a picture of), T, and of course our hostess K, who will not let me post her picture. Thanks everybody!!

Christmas Festivus, Part V

What a day yesterday! The weather was perfect, for a Christmas day - snowy and cold, but not too cold. There was cooking going on all day! Dad made braised lamb shanks. E made the butternut squash ravioli with sage butter, and I made the wilted spinach. I think I was mostly excused from cooking duties because I had already made so many cookies!



We took a break between dinner and dessert to open presents, which was great fun for everybody! There were so many!








I saved Little Women to watch today, mostly because I was exhausted by the day and K had appendicitis (or not, still TBD), which rendered her able only to get in bed. But I watched it this afternoon, and it was just as fantastic as I remember. Seriously. It is an awesome movie, if you're a girl who has sisters.

Oh, I almost forgot! Dad got a toy remote control helicopter from J&T for Christmas, which he was learning how to fly this morning. The dogs didn't quite know what to make of it, so they mostly stayed away. The light fixture, being a fixture, was unfortunately unable to vacate the premises.

All in all, it was a fantastic day (and following morning). Thanks everybody!

Merry Christmas to All

Merry Christmas everybody!

Feliz navidad, prospero año y felicidad!

Christmas Festivus, Part IV

It's Christmas Eve!

Tonight we had dinner at dad's, which was delish. We had venison roast, hericots verts, and roasted potatoes,with a big plateful of cookies for dessert. G&G came over with Baxter, so there was a plethora of dogs fighting for food. And we managed to break two things - a wine glass and a glass magnet. Oops! No more wine for us.

We watched Love Actually, which I've seen about 1,000 times, but which is still fantastic. I have a collection of movies I watch every Christmas, which includes the following:
- Love Actually
- The Polar Express
- How the Grinch Stole Christmas
- Little Women
I realize that Little Women isn't actually a Christmas movie, but there are a number of Christmas scenes in it, and it seems fitting somehow.

The neighborhood Christmas carolers came by our house as well! Hooray! It was awesome. Hardly anybody sings carols anymore, not in the old-school door-to-door fashion anyway.

Quote of the Day

“Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
- Benjamin Franklin

Christmas Festivus, Part III

What have I done since last time? E and I spent Sunday afternoon watching The Polar Express which, if you haven't seen it, is an awesome movie. And then we decorated the tree! That was fun, and colorful, and tinsel-ful.

Then I made biscuits for the dogs for Christmas. I found a super-simple recipe online, and they seem to really like them! I halved the recipe, and I didn't have any spelt flour, so I used all whole wheat. And I had to add a little extra water. But you just mix, roll, cut, and bake. Easy as...dog biscuits.

Oh, and I realized looking back at my other posts that I think I forgot to mention two important things! First, I made sugar cookies too! Sugar cookies deserve special recognition because they are hard to make - all that rolling and cutting and re-rolling and re-cutting and chilling, etc. And then I iced them too, which is another challenge. And T was kind enough not to complain too much that I had them spread over the entire kitchen counter for two days!

Second, Dad and I went to the Yuletide Reflections concert at the Sheldon last Monday. It was a great concert - a small ensemble of musicians, and a choir of probably about 40. The Sheldon is a small venue, which adds a nice touch of coziness to the whole experience. It was awesome! I think I have a program for it somewhere still, but I'll have to find it and post it later.

And in case you're curious, this is the program from our trip to the symphony. Did I mention there was a sing-along?

P.S. I think this post gets the award for having the most labels so far. And it's not even that long of a post!

What I Watched -- Touching Evil, Series 2 and 3

Our intrepid detective carries on through the second and third seasons (or series, if you're a Brit) of Touching Evil, rushing around England solving some nasty crimes.

Robson Green continues in his role as Dave Creegan, our favorite troubled-but-good-guy cop. He works in the Organised and Serial Crimes Unit, which means he and his partners are responsible for solving some of the grittier crimes around the country. His personal life - which had already fallen apart when we met him in season one - comes to a screeching halt when he has to send his ex-wife and kids away under the British version of the witness protection program after some of the past cases he worked on come back to haunt them. This leaves him a total wreck. At work, he's toeing the line between genius and madness. In his personal life, he gets through the rest of the seasons with the help of a couple of bad choices, as relationships go. But hey, who hasn't been there? That's why we like him.

As for the show, it continues its trend of unsatisfying conclusions - or total lack of conclusions - but in a good way. I'm pretty sure, though, that there was an unexpected cancellation at the end of the third season, because they didn't try to cram the ends of any storylines into the last show; it ended without real resolution, just like any other episode. That's fitting, though, for a show that always made you work to figure out what the heck was going on in the first place. It leaves you working to figure out what's going to happen next.

Christmas Festivus, Part II

More Christmas activities! What have I done?

I've made more cookies. We had a repeat of the cherry-almond biscotti, as well as another batch made with cranberries instead. I also made coconut macaroons and polvorones (walnut cookies).

On Friday night, L and I went to the zoo to see the Wild Lights show.

Tree #1

Remember this elephant from last year? He got dressed up a little bit differently this year!

L and me with the snowman

Rockhopper penguin

Emperor penguin

Tree #2

On Saturday night, L (of L&L), E, and I went to the symphony to see their Holiday Celebration. It was a really good show, and there was even a sing-a-long at the end!

Quote of the Day

"The nerve of those Whos, inviting me down there on such short notice! Even if I wanted to go, my schedule wouldn't allow it!
4:00 - wallow in self pity
4:30 - stare into the abyss
5:00 - solve world hunger; tell no one
5:30 - jazzercize
6:30 - dinner with me; I can't cancel that again!
7:00 - wrestle with my self loathing...
I'm booked! Of course if I move the loathing to nine, I can still be done in time to lay in bed, stare at the ceiling, and slip slowly into madness. But what would I wear?!?"


"All right, you're a reindeer. Here's your motivation: your name is Rudolph. You're a freak with a red nose and no one likes you. Then one day, Santa picks you and you save Christmas. No, forget that part. We'll improvise; just keep it kind of loosey-goosey. You hate Christmas! You're gonna steal it! Saving Christmas is a lousy ending, way too commercial. Action!

[Max knocks off his red nose.]

BRILLIANT! You reject your own nose because it represents the glitter of commercialism. Why didn't I think of that? Cut, print, check the gate, moving on."

- The Grinch, How the Grinch Stole Christmas

What I Watched -- Pretty in Pink

Somehow I managed to escape the 80s, and the 90s, and a flatmate in London who was obsessed with James Spader (I know. Don't ask.), without ever having seen Pretty in Pink. I don't know how that happened. I've seen The Breakfast Club more times than I can count, and I've even seen Sixteen Candles once or twice, although not in many, many years.

So anyway, I decided it was about time I catch up on one more movie of the Brat Pack era. And I have to say, that's was the best bad idea I've had in a long time. Pretty in Pink is a great story: poor guy loves poor girl, poor girl loves rich guy, rich guy loves poor girl, poor guy really loves poor girl, so wishes her well.

It's actually a very sweet movie. Duckie (poor guy, Jon Cryer) is so head over heels in love with Andie (poor girl, Molly Ringwald), that - after some fit-throwing - he sends her off with his blessing chasing after Blane (rich guy, Andrew McCarthy). If that's not love, I don't know what is.

Bottom line: awesome for reminiscing. Oh, and let's not forget the fabulously disastrous outfits Andie puts together, and Duckie's amazing rendition of Otis Redding's "Try a Little Tenderness!"

Pat's in Dogtown

L and I met up at Pat's on Friday night to have a beer and exchange gifts. Pat's is just a little neighborhood place that's been around since...forever. Actually 1942. It's not big, and we were lucky enough to get one of the booths so we could chat with some level of privacy. But it's a great place to stop in for a drink if you need one!

Banner Week for Keystone

Remember how cute Keystone looked here? Or even way back here?

Well, he doesn't look nearly so cute anymore. In the last week or so, he has:
- Eaten Christmas cookies off the counter in an unknown quantity;
- Eaten half a bowl of M&Ms off the table;
- Eaten a loaf of homemade bread off the counter;
- Knocked a dinner plate - salad, dressing, and all - out of my hand and sent it crashing to the floor;
- Dug a smallish hole in the yard;
- Dug a much bigger hole in the yard - 3 feet across!

Keystone is in the proverbial and literal doghouse.

What I Watched - Flame and Citron

This movie is pretty intense. It seems a bit disjointed at the beginning, but I find that's often the case with spy movies. The directors like to keep you off balance, so don't give you too much information at once.

Beware: this movie does require you to pay pretty close attention. It's set in Denmark during WWII - Flame and Citron are the code names of two Danish assassins working to eliminate fellow Danes who are friendly towards the Nazis - so all but one character is a white northern European dude. And given that it's a spy movie, lots of interactions take place in dark, shady corners. It can be a bit of a challenge remembering the who's who for everybody but the two main characters and the one woman.

It all comes together by the end, and it's unexpected. The end itself isn't quite unexpected; it really could have gone only one of two ways, and sure enough, it goes one of those ways. What's unexpected, though, is how the characters change as the end gets closer. To quote Roger Ebert's review of the movie, "Murder takes an emotional toll, no matter how righteous the motivation." What's more, Flame and Citron is based on a true story, which lends a certain gravitas to the changes taking place in the characters. Flame and Citron both ask questions about whether they're doing the right thing. At different times, they reach different answers. Most of the time, you're not sure who to believe.

Bottom line: it's dark and dirty, but worth watching if you're in the mood. Great character development, a fair amount of blood and guts, loads of doubt, and some totally awesome red hair.

Christmas Festivus, Part I

Yes, I realize that Christmas and Festivus are two different holidays. But for me, it seems appropriate to combine the two. No judgment.

The festivities have commenced! The mad cookie-baking started last weekend. So far there are 7-layer cookies (aka Santa Snacks), chocolate gooey butter cookies, cherry almond biscotti, molasses crinkles, and apricot squares. Still to be made are pfefferneusse cookies and rum balls. And anything else I can come up with :-)

I've also attended two high school celebrations. The first was the SJA chorus concert. It was a good show, and a few of the soloists were phenomenal. A lovely Sunday afternoon.

Last night, I went (along with K, A, and G&G) to the Dimensions Dance Center production of The Nutcracker at Clayton High School. There were a number of amusing technical glitches: someone knocked their champagne glass off the table; Clara's chair fell over; in the process of fixing it, she knocked over some trellis work; and there was a long, awkward, unexplained pause in the middle of the second act, where there were no dancers appearing on the stage. But there were a few really good dancers - the Arabian, the Russian, and of course the Sugar Plum Fairy - and it was enjoyable to watch.

I have a number of other activities coming up, and hopefully I'll have some pictures I can post!

Quote of the Day

"I gaze beyond the rain-drenched streets
To England where my heart lies."
- Simon and Garfunkel, Kathy's Song

Rihanna - Rock Star or Crackwhore?

E was kind enough to alert me to this new Rihanna video. I recommend an especially lovely shot of Rihanna's apparel-related, um, creativity(?), which appears at 2:35.

For the sake of entertainment, I thought I would share with you E's commentary:
"I want to be famous just so I can wear sh** like that and have people be like, 'Yeah... it's really interesting what she did here, mixing the black and white patterns' instead of 'What the f**k is she wearing? What a crackwhore.'"

Amen, sister.

Calendars, Part II

Hello again calendar-loving people of all types. Remember a few posts back (okay, longer ago than that) how I gushed about my love for paper calendars? Consider this a reinforcement of that post, with a minor addendum.

What I didn't say in the last post was that there are three major drawbacks to paper calendars: (1) you lose it and you're totally out of luck - no back-up for paper; (2) you don't lose it, but you don't happen to have it with you when you need it; (3) it's just one more thing to lug around all the time, when I'm very busy trying to cut down on the amount of junk I lug around all the time.

Having aired those items in the "con" column of my pro/con comparison, I will return to another major pro. If you can manage to not lose/always carry your calendar, it's there when you need it. Items don't get randomly deleted.

By way of background, here's some info I left out of last post. I was gushing about calendars because I had made the decision to switch to use of my Google calendar rather than a paper calendar. I was seeing them at my bookstore and wishing I could buy seven of them, but was resisting because of my recent decision. Why did I decide to do this when I love paper calendars so much? Please see the above list of cons about paper calendars for the answer to that question.

But. BUT. What I have discovered is that Google is randomly deleting various events from my calendar! Not okay. Not okay at all! How can I rely on it if things periodically just disappear? It had happened a few times and I wrote it off as user error: "Huh. I thought I put that in there, but maybe I didn't." But then I went looking for something I know I had put in. And it was gone!

To compound the problem, it's also Christmas-card-writing season. I was writing out a few cards this afternoon and went to my Google contacts (another change I recently made from paper to electronic formats). And my cousin A's address was gone. And - again - I know it was in there, because I've sent him stuff before!

Google, I need to talk to you for a minute. I love you almost as much as I love paper calendars. But, my beloved Google, why are you acting like an unreliable boyfriend? How can you expect me to stand by you when you when I can't count on you in return? I'm disappointed.

Therefore, I have made the epic decision, despite many hours spent inputting date and contact information into my Google account, to revert to the paper calendar and address book. Like I said, I'm disappointed, but at least there's a silver lining. (There usually is.) See the previous post about the wonders of paper calendars.

Unfortunately, though, in an effort to minimize the negative effects of number (3), above, I bought the smallest calendar I think I can handle (which is still bigger than what a lot of people have). Earlier tonight when I was at my bookstore, I got this. Not Van Gogh, not NYC, but shoes aren't a bad option either, especially since 52 weeks' worth of shoes is far less to lug around than the whole of the island of Manhattan.

Unfortunate Changes

Over the last few years, I've noticed some unfortunate changes in myself. I blame them all - fairly or unfairly - on law school.

First: I have become a night owl. This is not something I'm happy about. I like going to bed; I look forward to it. But these days, I seem to be most productive beginning at about 9pm. I don't know why this is and I don't like it. But I know I have to take spurts of mad productivity where I can get them. So I give in, have a midnight snack, and keep on truckin'.

But do not confuse staying up late with sleeping in. I still have to get up early for rowing, but I go to bed later. I'll squeeze in a nap when I can, although that's unfortunately infrequent.

Second: I am perpetually late. This started my third year in law school and I hate it. In fact, I would like to use this forum to issue a blanket apology to all those people whom I have kept waiting. My sincerest apologies.

Second-and-a-half: See number 3.

Third: Wait, was was number three? Oh yeah - I have become super-forgetful. I used to remember everything, but now I can't remember my own name if I'm not carrying around my license. I think my recognition of this inconvenient trait goes hand-in-hand with number 2 because I tend to have things spring to mind right as I'm about to do something else. I know that if I don't do that something else now, I'll forget about it for days, and the consequences of that might be disastrous. But of course, doing that something else takes longer than I expect, so then I'm way late for the thing I was supposed to be doing in the first place.

Fourth: eh, nah. That's enough for you to criticize me about for now :-)

The Song I'm Loving Today

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (Barenaked Ladies and Sarah McLaughlin)

Everybody who knows me knows I love Christmas. In addition to all the gazillion other things I could say about Christmas, it's also the one time of the year I can listen to religiously-themed music and not be too bothered by it.

I have liked BNL since I was in high school, and their harmonies on this with Sarah McL are fantastic!



God rest ye merry gentlemen, let nothing you dismay,
Remember Christ our savior was born upon this day,
To save us all from Satan's power when we were gone astray,
Oh, tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy,
Oh, tidings of comfort and joy.

From God our heavenly father this blessed angel came,
And unto certain shepherds brought tidings of the same,
How that in Bethlehem was born the son of God by name,
Oh, tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy,
Oh, tidings of comfort and joy.

Oh, star of wonder, star of night,
Star with royal beauty bright,
Westward leading, still proceeding,
Guide us to thy perfect light.

Born a king on Bethlehem's plain,
Gold I bring to crown him again,
King forever, ceasing never,
Over us all to reign.

Oh, star of wonder, star of night,
Star with royal beauty bright,
Westward leading, still proceeding,
Guide us to thy perfect light.

Glorious now, behold him arise,
King and God and sacrifice,
Hallelujah, hallelujah,
Worship him, God most high.

Oh, star of wonder, star of night,
Star with royal beauty bright,
Westward leading, still proceeding,
Guide us to thy perfect light.

[Round]

Happy Sneezing. Or not.

Why do random people whom I've never met before feel the need to say "God bless you" to me? And I'm not talking in the context of sneezing, because there I say "bless you" as often as the next guy (although I leave out God and it comes out sounding something like "bleshu"). I also support a good "gesundheit" (German) or "salud" (Spanish), and there are a bunch of other options you can choose from too! Maybe I will try "na zdravi" (Czech) from now on when people sneeze.

Back to my point. I'm talking about people ending a conversation with something like "thanks and God bless you."

I feel like Miranda in that one episode of Sex and the City ("Attack of the Five Foot Ten Woman"). Her new housekeeper Magda keeps saying "God bless you" practically every time she talks to Miranda. Finally Miranda puts the issue to rest with "I don't need you to bless me. I don't need God to bless me. I'm fine with my life as it is."

If you want God to bless you, that's fine. Go ahead and ask him to. If I want God to bless me, that's fine too. I'll ask him for that. But I don't need you to ask for me, thank you very much.

Na zdravi.

Quote of the Day

"True words are often not beautiful, just as beautiful words are often not true."
- Japanese Proverb

What I Watched -- Why We Fight

For starters, I'll voice my frustration with the marketing of this movie. It's really just an excuse to rail against the Iraq war. So why all the promotion of DDE? Sure, he warned against the military-industrial complex, but that's about 30 seconds at the beginning of the movie. After that, it's a brisk march from 9/11 right through to Iraq. Let's try to be honest about our promotion, shall we?

Having gotten that off my chest, I suppose I can talk about the movie. After reading that first paragraph, I'm sure you won't be surprised to know that it's a largely one-sided critique of US actions in the last 10 years, and of the commercialization of war. And now having said that, I can say that the movie made some good points. My thoughts follow - lots of questions, no real answers:

LtCol Karen Kwatkowski commented on the "disconnection of our foreign policy from the average American citizen." Well ain't that the truth? If we didn't hear out it on the news periodically, we wouldn't even know there was a war going on. What would be different if we did know there was a war going on, if we felt it in our everyday lives? Maybe we'd feel more obligated to support the effort because we were invested. Maybe we'd be even more opposed because it was cramping our style. No telling. But either way, it would be a truer test of our support. It's right for us to question, but only if we have the stomach to make the tough, ugly decision, if and when that becomes necessary. I'm not sure we do.

John McCain asked the following question: "Where is the line between a force for good and a force for imperialism?" Shades of gray, buddy, shades of gray. Obviously, this was the answer he was implying, but asking the question that way does make one think a bit about the similarity between the two positions, and how easy it is to slide from one to the other.

The movie digs into Boeing, McDonnell Douglas (now part of Boeing), and Northrop Grumman as the drivers of the commercialization of war for profit. True? Yes. In the US, undoubtedly companies are constantly developing newer, faster, smarter, better technologies. That doesn't mean anyone has to buy it, but they know the military will. Often these corporations have a contract for development even before they make something. But even without a contract, no one wants to tell a grieving mother that her son died because his equipment was out of date. The military will buy the newest products so they don't end up in that position. But what's the other part of the story? Drumroll please.... Other countries are doing the same thing. The US doesn't have the only smarty-pantses in the world, and scientists in loads of other countries are working to develop newer, faster, smarter, better stuff just the same as we are. And now we circle back to the first argument again. No one wants to have to tell grieving kids that their mom died because the other side had cooler, tech-ier gear. And so we continue spending trillions to stay ahead. And we'll keep doing that until we're ready and willing to either massively change strategy or to allow ourselves to fall behind.

The filmmakers vilify the Congressmen who vote to increase defense spending because it will bring jobs to their districts. Is this the wisest way to spend our tax dollars? No. But it's no different than any of the other billions that are spent on pork by our charming government. That's the wonder of politics.

And one last comment. Somebody in the movie - I can't remember whom - was discussing how American power was flaunted by those who "rub their shoe in the face of the enemy." But the guys who are literally rubbing their shoes in the faces of the enemy aren't thinking about foreign policy; they're thinking about staying alive. Maybe they should be thinking a little more about policy and the image they project, but I imagine that there's limited capacity for complicated thought when you're pretty sure you're about to die. Witness The Hurt Locker, The Good Soldiers, and any number of additional war stories told in recent years for a view from the other side.

I guess the point I'm getting at is that the movie seemed to start to ask a lot of questions, but not take them all the way through to (what seems to me to be) their logical conclusions. Duh, this is because it doesn't support the point of view of the movie, and because there aren't really answers and it's all complicated and messy. But still. I was irritated. The end.

Bottom line: interesting, but be prepared to be annoyed by the incompleteness.

North Carolina

I was a bad blogger on my most recent out-of-town adventure. I try to post daily, with lots of pictures and fun stuff about what I've done, but on this last trip, I did nothing of the sort. But I was with half the people who read my blog, so I guess I probably didn't offend too many people. Anyway, for the offendees, here is my effort at an apology and recap.

Tuesday, 11/23: Lesson of the day: gate checking a bag can be a good idea. Sometimes it is a bad idea. If they are going to send your bags to the baggage carousel rather than return it to you at the jetway, it is a bad idea. Lesson learned.

Wednesday, 11/24: the first of a handful of very similar days. K, E, and I went to yoga; K and I went for a jog; we ate a lot; we built a fire; we read books; we played digital scrabble on K's iPod. Not a bad day, all told.

Thursday, 11/25: happy Thanksgiving! We went to yoga again, gratis! E brought her roommate J over for the day. He's from France and it was a long way to go home for the holiday. And when he got there, he would discover that Thanksgiving is an American holiday, and he would have had to turn around and come right back. So probably better that he didn't go at all. We all ate a ton of food. Mom made the usual suspects: a turkey, stuffing, gravy, sweet potatoes, three (3!) kinds of cranberry sauce, a salad, and three (3!) desserts! I feel like I'm forgetting some of the food. K and E will fill me in. We also started a wickedly challenging jigsaw puzzle which we didn't even finish before we left! Thankfully Mom has a nifty thing that she can roll it up on in case she needs her table ever again.

Friday, 11/26: we worked lots on the puzzle, but didn't make much progress. This is a tough one!

Molly, Mom's perrito, staying out of trouble

I went for a jog on Friday, but did not go to yoga. I left that to K and E. Although as I was sitting at the ballet on Friday night and watching how delicate and graceful the dancers were, I decided that maybe skipping yoga was a bad idea. And that brings us to the end of the day - we went to see the Carolina Ballet! It was a two-part show; pre-intermission was Pinocchio and post-intermission was a movement-by-movement interpretation of selections from Bach's work, The Musical Offering. Pinocchio was quite enjoyable (although Neptune and The Pearl sort of stole the show); the interpretive pieces were hit-or-miss. Some I loved. Some were less than exciting. But thankfully some of them were also very short, so often the lack of excitement didn't go on for too long. And for a Friday night, it wasn't too crowded (which is bad for the ballet, but good for those people who happen to be there!). It was lovely.

Saturday, 11/27: as a group, we finally decided it was time to leave the house during daylight. We headed to the NC Museum of Art to see a special exhibition on the art of Norman Rockwell. And you know what? It was fascinating. I'm too young to have lived through any part of the Rockwell era - which spanned many, many decades - so I didn't fully appreciate (a) the impact of his art, (b) how he developed as a social critic through his art over the years, and (c) how well you can follow the events of a lifetime through his art. Fascinating stuff, truly. He was a chronicler of a generation, sometimes as it was, and sometimes as he wished it.

The Thinker outside the NCMA

We returned home for another evening in front of the fire, this time with good old-fashioned Scrabble! Even Surya seemed to enjoy himself immensely, both in front of the fire and participating in the game!

Sunday, 11/28: the big excitement of the day was that my friend BK came to visit. He and his wife are currently living in Virginia, so he hopped in the car and headed down to chill for the day. Despite (and not because of) his later-than-expected arrival, we were still off to a terribly slow start. We had talked of going to brunch, but instead noshed on miscellany we found in the kitchen until we finally managed to drag ourselves out into the fresh air in the early afternoon. We went back to Raleigh again (third time in as many days), this time to hit up the NC Museum of History. We skipped the special exhibition on George Washington (although I did see how I measured up), opting instead to spend our time learning about NC's military history and David Marshall "Carbine" Williams (a famous weapons inventor), experiencing a 1920's pharmacy, and ogling the hand-carved furniture of Thomas Day.

George and me

BK and me
(Both slightly fuzzy - sorry!)

We stopped for an early dinner at the Mellow Mushroom, where we said adios to BK and shortly thereafter to K, whom we dropped at the airport on the way home. Mom and I watched The Hunting Party to finish out the day.

Oh, and I almost forgot! I saw my first real Christmas lights, by which I mean they are not ones that are left up all year! Hooray!

Monday, 11/29: despite my good intentions while sitting at the ballet on Friday night, I slept too late to go to yoga, so instead I went for a short jog. Nothing too serious, but enough to make me feel slightly less bad about the copious amounts of leftovers I was consuming. Then Mom and I headed over to E's house (where I met another roommate of hers whose name starts with a J, and saw the J I had already met also), picked her up, and went for lunch at -- shoot, I forget the name of it. E, I need your help again.

After lunch, mom dropped us off for E's class, a nutrition class, during which we were supposed to talk about beverages. Instead, we tasted two types of coffees and cakes brought to class by the lovely employees of the local Starbucks. Then we talked a little about beverages. I guess. Mostly I read my book. A lot of the people chatted, seemingly oblivious to the fact that there was a professor lecturing. But the professor continued to lecture, seemingly oblivious to the fact that half the class wasn't listening to him. (E was.) Then it came time for the cooking. The class is split into four kitchens, and each kitchen has an assignment. E's kitchen's tasks were to make pumpkin ice cream and hard candies. I helped. A little. But I took a picture to prove to T that she really does go to class.

E - wearing her apron and working on pumpkin ice cream - in Kitchen #4

And that, ladies and gents, was basically the end of my trip to NC. Mom picked me up early from class (haha, I was in class!) and took me to the airport, where I was only mildly terrified that I was not going to make it home. Due to delays, I had 10 minutes to make my connection in Atlanta - and the last thing I wanted was to be stuck in Atlanta again. But I made it. Got home an hour late, but that's better than a day late :-)

What I Watched -- The Hunting Party

This movie was not at all what I expected. I judged the movie by its title. Let that be a lesson to you.

What I expected was some Victorian drama which included a gaggle of basset hounds. No dice. Instead, I got a trio of in-over-their-heads journalists out for some vigilante justice in the wake of the Serbian genocide. Not a bad trade actually, once you make the adjustment to the totally different genre.

Richard Gere and Terrence Howard are former partners (reporter and cameraman, respectively), who reunite - joined by an intern played by Jesse Eisenberg - with the hare-brained idea of bringing one of the world's most hated and elusive war criminals to justice in the years following the breakup of Yugoslavia. Nothing, needless to say, goes as planned. It's sort of a modern day comedy of errors.

Eisenberg and Gere actually do a great job in their respective roles. Richard Gere is just crazy enough to make you think he might really be crazy - until you learn the back story. Eisenberg plays his character with a Michael Cera-like innocence, except with slightly less boyish dopiness and slightly more adult wit. It works.

What did not work in the movie was the weird combination of humor and horror and politics. This movie addresses the atrocities of a genocide, for Pete's sake. (Who's Pete?) For example:

Boris (UN official): "It took me months to gain the trust of certain people who normally would be protecting the Fox. That's how I know you didn't just stumble on the fact he's up in Celibici."
Duck (Cameraman): "Well, it's been printed in the press."
Boris: "So are the horoscopes. Do you believe them?"
Duck: "You're not making any sense now."
Boris: "I know. I'm the United Nations."

So, it totally doesn't fit together. The whole thing seems very discordant. Except you know what the weird thing about it is? It's true. It's a true story - or based on one, anyway. I guess sometimes life doesn't fit together, and seems all discordant. Sometimes we have to laugh, or else we would just cry.

Anyway, the real experience happened to a group of journalists, one of whom wrote about the experience for Variety in an essay entitled "What I Did on My Summer Vacation." The article is available online in full, and is worth a read.

Bottom line: entertaining if you think it's fiction. Even more interesting if you know it's mostly fact. A decent film which, however oddly, takes a semi-serious look at an oft-overlooked political disaster.

What I'm Reading Now -- The Girl Who Played With Fire

Finally! I'm on to the second book in the Millennium Trilogy, The Girl Who Played With Fire. It's about time, since I read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (book #1) over six months ago, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (book #3) has already been published! Although in fairness, they did rush the publication because the first two were such huge hits. At least it's not out in paperback yet (except in large print), so I don't feel quite so bad.

As of the writing of this post, I haven't actually started reading yet, so I'll keep you posted on my thoughts later on.

Quote of the Day

"When you love, you see what you want to see. Everybody knows that."
- Ira Glass, This American Life, "Reunited"

Wanted: Rowing Coach -- Take 2

Another book it took me way too long to read, not because it wasn't entertaining, but because I was doing other things. Like watching movies. (Anyone noticed that I've watched a ton of movies lately?) And other things which I'm sure were very important, but don't really excuse my taking so long to read someone else's book.

For anybody who's starting out as a rowing coach, this is a must-read. For anyone who ever rowed, it's an interesting read because it allows you to see things from the other side. And for those of you who never rowed, a lot of it probably won't make any sense at all; he might as well have written half the book in Japanese. Unless you speak Japanese, in which case, he might as well have written it in some other language you don't speak.

The book is an interesting mish-mash of rowing drills, coaching tips, life lessons, and general observations, such as the following:

"As I drove home I thought about how everyone acts about the same when things are rolling along well. The human animal becomes quite interesting when a monkey wrench is thrown into the works, or a buoy pops out of nowhere, or you're suddenly presented with some crisis that jars your sense of normalcy. That's when a person's character is tested. You get a peek into their soul. Quite revealing. Sometimes scary, as in this case. Other times refreshingly reassuring."

The best quote about rowing which I found comes when Coach Lewis is talking to potential rowers at a recruiting meeting, and gives them this little lecture:

"Rowing can offer many things. You gain awesome physical and spiritual strength. You learn the secrets of focus and discipline, which are critical for success in any arena. You make friends that will last a lifetime. All good reasons. All worthy reasons. I'll end with a quote by one of my favorite authors, William Glass. 'If you are a fully realized person---whatever the heck that is---you wouldn't fool around writing books.' Nor would you fool around rowing. To spend copious amounts of time going backward on a self-propelled craft at 6:00 a.m. is not for everyone. We row to fill in some missing piece of ourselves. If you stay with it long enough, take enough hard strokes, win and lose enough races, you will find what you're looking for."

The Song I'm Loving Today

The Book of Love (Peter Gabriel)

This is another one from a movie I watched, this time it's from Shall We Dance. I guess that's a good thing about movies; other than the entertainment you get from watching the movie, sometimes you also find cool new songs. I was watching Shall We Dance while I was working out, so I had subtitles on to make it easier to understand what was happening. The subtitles said "Book of Love - Peter Gabriel" right on the screen - how handy is that? Then you don't even have to watch the tiny-print credits at the end and try to pause it in the right spot to see what the song is!

The song was written by a band called The Magnetic Fields and released on their album 69 Love Songs. Their version is linked to the song title, above. But I like the Peter Gabriel remake better, so a still-photo mash-up of his version is below.

The song itself is actually sort of odd if you listen to the lyrics, but I love its slow, melancholy yet satisfied sort of quality.



The book of love is long and boring,
No one can lift the damn thing.
It's full of charts and facts and figures,
And instructions for dancing.

But I, I love it when you read to me.
And you, you can read me anything.

The book of love is full of music,
In fact that's where music comes from.
Some of it's just transcendental,
Most of it is just really dumb.

But I, I love it when you sing to me.
And you, you can sing me anything.

The book of love is long and boring,
And written very long ago.
It's full of flowers and heart-shaped boxes,
And things we're all too young to know.

But I, I love it when you give me things,
And you, you ought to give me wedding rings.
And I, I love it when you give me things,
And you, you ought to give me wedding rings.
You ought to give me wedding rings.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you all get to eat some delicious food today!

What I Watched -- Carrie

Carrie is one of those movies that you always hear about but have never seen. I have a bunch of those: The Godfather, North by Northwest, The Graduate, and The Bridge on the River Kwai, to name a few. I decided, for whatever reason, that it would be a good idea to watch Carrie. My goal was to watch it the weekend T was out of town so I could be good and freaked out while I was all by myself, but (a) I couldn't squeeze it in (I was busy going to Arrow Rock), and (b) it's actually not scary. So I failed on both counts. Story of my life.

Anyway, for those other people out there who haven't seen it, here's the rundown: Carrie is a poor, nerdy, sheltered girl who is tormented by her high school classmates to no end. What the classmates don't know is that Carrie, when she gets angry, can make stuff happen just with her mind. And Carrie gets her revenge when it all hits the fan at prom. Actually, the scariest part of the movie are the crazy eyes Carrie has for about the last 20 minutes. Creepy! Actually, as a general statement, Sissy Spacek is pretty awesome at being super creepy. I'm not sure that's a good thing.

There are a lot of things going on in Carrie, though. There's the issue of teen bullying, there's Carrie's super-Christian mother, there's the idea of revenge. And then there's the character of Sue Snell (played by Amy Irving), who together with Sue's boyfriend Tommy and the gym teacher are the only characters who show any compassion for Carrie - not that it works out terribly well for any of them, in the end. Somebody at LSU (with too much free time) took it upon themselves to write quite a summary of the underlying ideas.

Bottom line: see it so you know what happens. And so you can be freaked out by the creepy eyes.

Arrow Rock

What did you do on Sunday? Anything interesting? I went to Arrow Rock.

Never heard of it? I hadn't either. But it's a cute place. The town is tiny (population 80, or thereabouts), plus the 14 of us. The activity planner at G&G's place mapped out a trip to Arrow Rock for the day, which was actually quite lovely. We started out with lunch at J. Huston's Tavern, which was delicious. The servers were these two super-cute high school girls, who were dressed in period frocks! And check out the super-fancy menu:

I got the smoked BBQ chicken, and it was juicy and tender, the green beans had just a touch of sweetness, and the potatoes with gravy were perfect for sopping everything up. We also got warm bread rolls with delicious country style butter and - best of all - apple butter!

After lunch I poked my head into some of the shops in the "historic shopping district" - there are probably 8 shops total. Lots of antiques and the like, but very cute. And of course they have a little coffee shop! I didn't get to stop in the ice cream shop, which was quite a disappointment, but after that huge lunch, I didn't have much room. They also have their own very cute little post office in downtown Arrow Rock, which is open from 8:00 - 9:45 a.m. on Saturdays. Charming. The weather was lovely - warm and breezy. Perfect for wandering around outside.

We finished off the day with a trip to the Lyceum Theater to see Nuncrackers, the Christmas production of the Nunsense series of plays.

The Lyceum, it turns out, is a fairly famous theater. It's Missouri's oldest regional theater (50 years), and draws actors from all over the country. The biographies of the company in the back of the brochure reveal that people come to Arrow Rock from as far away as San Diego and LA, and there are lots of actors from NYC, including one Rockette! There's even a girl who has performed at the Globe Theater in London! Who knew all of that talent was in little Arrow Rock?

Anyway, the show was actually really funny - lots of laughing out loud! It was a small cast: 5 nuns, a priest, and 4 school kids, as best as I can remember. They all did a great job!

I managed to sneak in a little nap on the bus on the way home, and got lots of reading done. And K had dinner waiting for me when I arrived back at the house! All in all, quite a lovely day.