I have a lot of post ideas, but not enough time to write detailed post on all of them. So I've decided to write a sentence or two on each in one post.
- Avatar: I agree with all the political criticism that's been written about Avatar (Brooks, Goldberg). But the thing that really bugs me about this movie is how the technology in the "future" hasn't evolved far enough to have unmanned aircraft, or unmanned robot warriors. Absurd.
- The Fugitive: I just realized that this movie has a ridiculously leftist plot, that as many times as I've watched doesn't really make complete sense. Still I watch this movie almost every time it's on TV.
- No Country for Old Men. Saw this on USA. Really bloody for cable. The story's seems simple yet I think there is some deeper meaning. There must be something to this "film making" talent. Have you seen it and do you think that it is a conservative movie? Also, what does it mean?
- Elders Quorum Moves: Do you think that church members should rely upon the elder's quorum to move them when they could probably handle it themselves? Is it abusing a church system to do so, or giving others a chance to serve?
- Conan v. Leno. I like Leno but love Conan. (I've never liked Letterman, although I think he is edgier/usually funnier than Leno.) But I don't think Conan ever had the broad appeal necessary to make the Tonight Show work. I also don't think it's Leno's job to just get out of Conan's way either. Maybe Conan can partially blame the low ratings on the Leno Show's bad lead in. (Although there is still the local new in between.) But the Tonight Show is not Conan's entitlement. I do think this mess is Zucker's. He thought he could promise Conan the Tonight Show to keep him at the network and the day of reckoning would never come. He was right. It's going to be more like a month or reckoning.
- I have this compulsion to always make another blog comment. It's not that I necessarily want to have the last word, just that I always have some other thing to say or new way to make an argument that I dwell on until I put it down in a comment. In real life I just bit my tongue and the urge leave after the subject has changed. In blogging, the post is always out their taunting me. When do you say "when" when blogging?
- Art, it seems to me, is best when it combines something familiar, yet somewhat edgy. Music that pushes boundaries but is still melodic. Movies that have not formulaic plots, but still have plots. Does that mean that trends are necessary to keep art great?
- Being a lawyer is considerably suckier than I anticipated. I think this is for two reasons. First, you clients usually aren't happy. Frequently the kind of people that are involved in a lawsuit are shady characters. At a minimum they have sharp elbows. Also, they're not happy because almost all cases end in a compromise. Second, cases have real value, usually in the tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars range. It's not fun making close decisions when an errors can have huge ramifications.
7 comments:
Maybe you should've numbered these.
Avatar: If all goes well with babysitting plans, I'll see it tonight. I haven't read/heard the political criticism.
Fugitive: Haven't seen it for probably 10 years, don't remember any details.
Elders Quorum Moves: I'm ok with people getting an extra hand even if they could've handled it themselves. What I don't like is when people aren't organized and half the helpers stand around not knowing what to do.
Conan: Definitely my favorite, definitely a niche market.
Blogging: Get help.
Art: Ask Leigh. I think it's more about being able to relate to it, which might necessitate patterns/trends.
Being a lawyer: Everyone hates some aspect of their job. Probably centered around dealing with other people.
Now that I've seen the movie, I can't believe your biggest problem was with unmanned vehicles/warriors. How about floating mountains, traveling to another star system in a matter of few years, not to mention transferring bodies. And by far the most bothersome, the metal they were mining being named unobtainium.
Despite all that, I thought the movie was amazing.
Avatar- I was blown away by the movie for about 8 hours and then reality set in.. I am starting to become a complete hater of this movie and don't really want to be "that guy" the "fun hater". The technology advancements is one of about 6 things that killed me in the movie.. c'mon you can become a walking IRONMAN but you still have a glass wind sheild that gets broken by a wood spear... I just can't get over the acclaim for a movie that is EXACTLY the same as Pocahontas.
How is the Fugitive leftist?
No Country for Old Men- the book is a quick read and makes 100X more sense. Cormac McCarthy is one of the best authors of our time, I would highly recommend the book.. and then re-post about the meaning.
EQ Moves - I think it gets otherwise selfish people out serving or at least a chance to serve. It is often annoying but I am a big believer in serving with brute strength, cause its brainless, its sort of like the vacation version of service.
I don't know anyone that prefers Leno over Conan, I however, don't think it is Leno's fault that NBC dropped the ball on the whole thing. Who are these people that stay up every night and watch late night tv. Don't people go to work? I guess their need to be more than 2.5 mil to make it work.
Its your blog, you sort of get the last word. I am always surprised when you leave a post without the last word. Even its its just an "Amen".
-eh.. Art, Music and Movies are completely personal taste. I have not idea what you will need next.
-Every job I have ever had pretty much sucks. I just realized I am motivated by winning. I couldn't do lawyer work unless I felt like I was winning and compromise is pretty much a tie.
Brett,
You're right, there are all kinds of problems with the science in Avatar. Some of your objections could probably be handled by arguing that future technology we don't know about solves those problems, although travel faster than the speed of light is a hard problem to solve.
I guess my problem is more like, we already almost have the technology to make unmanned things work (like unmanned aircraft). It's easier to suspend my disbelief and imagine future technological answers to current impossibilities, than it is to swallow the future disappearance of inchoate technology.
Danny,
Here's the basic plot of the fugitive. The wife of a doctor is murdered by an heath insurance company because the doctor submits tissue samples to the lab that show a potential drug actually kills people, instead of helping them. The Chicago police completely bungle the investigation, even though the doctor fingers the one-armed man (who is ostensibly interviewed at the time of the death). In the mean time the stubborn police just won't believe he is innocent in the face of mounting evidence, and decide to shoot first ask questions later because he killed a cop on the subway (not the one armed man).
Danny, your comment on the arrows piercing the glass was dead on.
In case you're interested, Jonah Goldberg on Avatar:
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YTE4NTY2MTM0MDIzZDFiZDhlYTMwNDkyOTJjYzhmZWE=
Brooks:
http://justoneminute.typepad.com/main/2010/01/now-david-brooks-goes-to-the-movies.html
I guess some people find their perfect music and listen to it for the rest of their lives. like the guys in their late 30s that know Metallica is the perfect band. I was just trying to decide why I don't like all the music I used to like as much. I actually like music less than I used to in general.
The problem with Danny's theory on elder's quorum moves is that the people who are selfish are also the people who always have an excuse for not making it out to the move.
I think you guys are right that it's a good opportunity to serve even when not strictly needed. There was, however, one month where we had a move every week for 3 weeks in a row. Saturdays are precious and it got old.
Avatar.. a great quote from the article "It rests on the assumption that illiteracy is the path to grace" ouch.. very funny youtube clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdIIqoDakHU&feature=related
Fugitive- I guess I have a hard time claiming that any movie that has a business as a bad guy= leftist. Drug companies make good bad guys, so do lots of big scary businesses and drug dealers. If the Fugitive has an agenda, I don't really see it.
EQ- I was actually referring to myself about the selfish guy. You had to do service 3 saturdays in a row? I feel your pain, too bad the recipients of the service didn't schedule a little better.
It does seem to me like that bad guy in Hollywood is always the military guy, the pharmaceutical corporation, the oil company, the white suburban dad. Everyone but Muslim terrorists. There are some exceptions, but they generally prove the rule.
It has occurred to me that some of this may be due to movie makers attempting to twist the plot. It's always the non-minority you least suspect! But I suspect most of it is due to a liberal mindset.
Back to the fugitive. Selling a drug that regularly harms or kills your customers seems like a good way to go out of business to those of us who believe in free markets. It's also a good way to get sued a bunch. Yeah, I guess sometimes overly risky drugs make it to the market. But to make the movie work, the drug had to seem really bad, which of course undercuts how much the movie makes sense. So there's a leftist view of the world.
There is more than just the pharmaceutical company as a bad guy. the other bad guys are the cops. the Chicago PD who are 1. incompetent, 2. unwilling to admit a mistake, and 3. vengeful. A very bad portrayal of men in uniform and another liberal cliche.
You could say that the U.S. Marshall's redeem the police. But not at first. Samuel Gerard makes unreasonable demands to catch his man; Gerard says he doesn't care, when Dr. Kimble tells him that he didn't kill his wife; He refuses to negotiate with the other escapee; He doggedly insists that Kimble did not return to Chicago; He shoots at Kimble, even after Kimble saved the kid's life in the hospital, and even after he gets a good hint (Kimble risking capture to do research about one-armed men) that Kimble may actually be innocent.
Only after a good, long process does Gerard finally redeem himself by turning from the police, and realigning himself with the convict.
Also a liberal cliche is that our criminal justice system regularly sends innocent people to jail. I guess this movie only provides one example, but it's a pretty blatant mistake.
I will say however that this movie is strikingly similar to Les Miserable, and that does bother me some, because Les miserable is not liberal in my opinion.
I think there is a key difference. In Les Miserable, the Jean Val Jean is actually guilty. He redeems himself through repenting and changing his life. Inspector Javier, however, refuses to forgive, and is the tragic figure.
In the fugitive, the convict need not do anything to change. All the repenting is left to indefatigable, single-minded cop.
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