Who the fuck are you?
I'm the guy who does his job. You must be the other guy.
Wow! This has got to be one of the best films I’ve seen in awhile – superb acting, nail-biting tension, complex characters, super sharp dialog, and south Boston accents so thick the rest of the country needs subtitles. Every character in The Departed is thoroughly steeped in the world of lies and deception, but Matt Damon's Colin Sullivan and Leonardo DiCaprio's Billy Costigan perfectly illuminate the psychological damage and behaviors associated with living a dual, and deathly secret, life. DiCaprio creates empathy for Costigan as the young man whose schizophrenic upbringing shuttling between housing projects and elite boarding schools allows him to authentically navigate the Southie underworld whereas Damon creates disdain for Sullivan as the duplicitous cop whose has risen through the ranks as a result of his mob connections. Jack Nicholson and Mark Wahlberg have some of the best, obscenity-infused lines this side of The Sopranos. Only drawback to The Departed – the freakin' bagpipe music – enough of that already….
29 July 2007
27 July 2007
Admissions
I was looking for a quick, fluffy read to devour before Harry Potter arrived and Admissions by Nancy Lieberman fit the bill quite nicely. I guess this is considered part of the "mommy-lit" (as opposed to "chick-lit") genre as the majority of characters are late-30s well-heeled Manhattan-ites frantically negotiating the roller coaster ride of private high school admissions. In this world anticipation isn't about being seen in the right places with the beautiful people, but instead about receiving a phone call or an email from an aloof and/or toad-like admissions officer. Yeah, it sounds about as enjoyable as visiting the Whole Foods in White Plains on a Saturday morning, but it's actually rather entertaining and realistic without being overblown.
Headmistress Pamela Rothschild isn't quite as evil as Miranda Priestly (the Queen B from The Devil Wears Prada) but more than a bit buffoonish and unbelievable. The children in the story are well drawn – particularly Julian , the budding fashion designer whose father wants to send him to "Manover Academy" to "straighten him out," and Zoe, who grapples with issues of race and economic advantage as she tries to decide which type of school she most belongs in. Ideal for the beach, the morning commute, or while waiting for your delayed flight to wherever.
Headmistress Pamela Rothschild isn't quite as evil as Miranda Priestly (the Queen B from The Devil Wears Prada) but more than a bit buffoonish and unbelievable. The children in the story are well drawn – particularly Julian , the budding fashion designer whose father wants to send him to "Manover Academy" to "straighten him out," and Zoe, who grapples with issues of race and economic advantage as she tries to decide which type of school she most belongs in. Ideal for the beach, the morning commute, or while waiting for your delayed flight to wherever.
24 July 2007
Rock and Roll High School + 24 Hour Party People
Did they have tickets for the Sermon on the Mount? Of course they didn't, people just turned up because they knew it would be a great gig.
Featuring some of the best songs by the legendary US punk bank, The Ramones, Rock and Roll High School is a cult classical for all the obvious reasons – the acting is generally bad, the dialog horribly clichéd, the gags juvenile, and the wardrobes downright horrific (P.J. Soles as Riff Randell looks like an escapee from a Jane Fonda exercise video)…but Rock and Roll High School is really all about The Ramones, and with half the film devotes to “live” performances (with terrible tracking) you’ll get to hear all your favorites. And is there anyone else who thinks that Parker Posey resembles Mary Woronov (and is it intentional?)
For those of us who also remember the “Manchester sound” of the late 80s and early 90s, 24 Hour Party People transports us back to 1976, reminds us of the Sex Pistols, and then introduces us to the band that would be known as Joy Division. It’s a heady start to a film that centers on the larger and crazier than real life world of Brit TV personality, music promoter, and Factory Records founder Tony Wilson. Sean Harris is chillingly accurate as the late Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis and Steve Coogan is simultaneously funny, annoying, intellectually deep, and socially shallow as the effervescent Tony Wilson. The film becomes slightly derailed as the dawn of rave culture begins and IMHO a bit too much significance is granted to the highly dysfunctional drug addicted Happy Mondays (does anyone care any more?). But, if you like Joy Division and New Order, 24 Hour Party People will have digging out that old 12 inch of "Blue Monday" and remembering the days of auld lang syne...
Featuring some of the best songs by the legendary US punk bank, The Ramones, Rock and Roll High School is a cult classical for all the obvious reasons – the acting is generally bad, the dialog horribly clichéd, the gags juvenile, and the wardrobes downright horrific (P.J. Soles as Riff Randell looks like an escapee from a Jane Fonda exercise video)…but Rock and Roll High School is really all about The Ramones, and with half the film devotes to “live” performances (with terrible tracking) you’ll get to hear all your favorites. And is there anyone else who thinks that Parker Posey resembles Mary Woronov (and is it intentional?)
For those of us who also remember the “Manchester sound” of the late 80s and early 90s, 24 Hour Party People transports us back to 1976, reminds us of the Sex Pistols, and then introduces us to the band that would be known as Joy Division. It’s a heady start to a film that centers on the larger and crazier than real life world of Brit TV personality, music promoter, and Factory Records founder Tony Wilson. Sean Harris is chillingly accurate as the late Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis and Steve Coogan is simultaneously funny, annoying, intellectually deep, and socially shallow as the effervescent Tony Wilson. The film becomes slightly derailed as the dawn of rave culture begins and IMHO a bit too much significance is granted to the highly dysfunctional drug addicted Happy Mondays (does anyone care any more?). But, if you like Joy Division and New Order, 24 Hour Party People will have digging out that old 12 inch of "Blue Monday" and remembering the days of auld lang syne...
23 July 2007
Unbreakable + Signs
I loved Lady in the Water and The Sixth Sense, but had been warned by IMDB about the spotty “in between” offerings by M. Night Shyamalan. After viewing both I agree that Unbreakable is a waste of time. A more appropriate title would have been Unbelievable as that’s how the characters and plot develop. Bruce Willis is…well…a typical Bruce Willis character – a gruff and ruff guy who takes on a somewhat unbelievable task. Samuel Jackson’s character starts out interesting and slightly freaky but gradually degenerates into something…unbelievable (unbelievably stupid is more like it).
Signs, on the other hand, is somewhat suspenseful and even though I’m not a big Mel Gibson fan, he gives a decent performance as a reverend whose lost faith is returned as his community (nay, the world in total) is attacked by aliens from outer space. There are a few super cheesy LOL moments involving the aliens – let’s just say it might have been better for M. Night to refrain from using full body shots. Listen to the professional reviewers and stick with the better films.
Signs, on the other hand, is somewhat suspenseful and even though I’m not a big Mel Gibson fan, he gives a decent performance as a reverend whose lost faith is returned as his community (nay, the world in total) is attacked by aliens from outer space. There are a few super cheesy LOL moments involving the aliens – let’s just say it might have been better for M. Night to refrain from using full body shots. Listen to the professional reviewers and stick with the better films.
20 July 2007
Baghdad Burning: Girl Blog from Iraq
Baghdad Burning: Girl Blog from Iraq 8/2003 – 9/2004
By Riverbend
I’m kicking myself for being behind the curve on Riverbend as I wish I had been able to read the Baghdad Burning blog “live” as events were unfolding in 2003 as opposed to years after the fact. So, for the other folks who have been living under the rock with me, go out and get this book now – and while you’re at it, check out http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/.
Riverbend provides a moving, thoughtful, and at times mundane accounting of everyday existence in Baghdad. This includes losing her computer programming job (because she is a woman), surviving with sporadic electricity and phone connection (yes, she was blogging with a dial-up), and living with the constant fear of assassination, abduction, and/or imprisonment of herself, her family, and her friends. One of the most emotionally tragic entries describes, in simple, loving details, the importance and beauty of date trees in Iraq – and the results, both emotional and psychological, of the seemingly trivial destruction of thousands of these revered trees by coalition forces.
What would you do if a foreign soldier came onto your property without just cause and cut down the ancient oak/pine/maple/birch tree in your yard? Offer sincere thanks and a cold drink?
By Riverbend
I’m kicking myself for being behind the curve on Riverbend as I wish I had been able to read the Baghdad Burning blog “live” as events were unfolding in 2003 as opposed to years after the fact. So, for the other folks who have been living under the rock with me, go out and get this book now – and while you’re at it, check out http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/.
Riverbend provides a moving, thoughtful, and at times mundane accounting of everyday existence in Baghdad. This includes losing her computer programming job (because she is a woman), surviving with sporadic electricity and phone connection (yes, she was blogging with a dial-up), and living with the constant fear of assassination, abduction, and/or imprisonment of herself, her family, and her friends. One of the most emotionally tragic entries describes, in simple, loving details, the importance and beauty of date trees in Iraq – and the results, both emotional and psychological, of the seemingly trivial destruction of thousands of these revered trees by coalition forces.
What would you do if a foreign soldier came onto your property without just cause and cut down the ancient oak/pine/maple/birch tree in your yard? Offer sincere thanks and a cold drink?
07 July 2007
Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
by Malcolm Gladwell
Gladwell’s second book is a relatively quick read with lots of food for thought. Some of my favorite highlights include:
1) We’ve all been here before, haven’t we?
“The Four Horsemen of Ruinous Relationships: defensiveness, stonewalling, criticism, and contempt. With contempt being the true death knell. If you can measure the contempt level in a relationship you don’t need to know other details – you’re pretty much done.” (agreed)
2) Because snooping (a-hem, “research”) is a necessary evil.
“You can learn as much – or more – from one glance at a private space as you can from hours of exposure to the public space.” Damn! If only job interviews involved private time in your future boss’s office and/or home – you’d know exactly what you were getting yourself before you accepted that “fantastic” opportunity.
3) You mean I like furniture better than beer?
Visit www.implicit.harvard.edu for the home of the IAT. Participate in research which shows that our unconscious attitudes may be utterly incompatible with our stated conscious values.
4) Easier said than done, Malcolm…
“When we talk about analytic versus intuitive decision making, neither is good or bad. What is bad is if you use either of them in an inappropriate circumstance.” This is why those Myers-Briggs consultants are in demand. You trying telling those NTs that their analytic, rational decision making process is inappropriate. See what that gets you…
by Malcolm Gladwell
Gladwell’s second book is a relatively quick read with lots of food for thought. Some of my favorite highlights include:
1) We’ve all been here before, haven’t we?
“The Four Horsemen of Ruinous Relationships: defensiveness, stonewalling, criticism, and contempt. With contempt being the true death knell. If you can measure the contempt level in a relationship you don’t need to know other details – you’re pretty much done.” (agreed)
2) Because snooping (a-hem, “research”) is a necessary evil.
“You can learn as much – or more – from one glance at a private space as you can from hours of exposure to the public space.” Damn! If only job interviews involved private time in your future boss’s office and/or home – you’d know exactly what you were getting yourself before you accepted that “fantastic” opportunity.
3) You mean I like furniture better than beer?
Visit www.implicit.harvard.edu for the home of the IAT. Participate in research which shows that our unconscious attitudes may be utterly incompatible with our stated conscious values.
4) Easier said than done, Malcolm…
“When we talk about analytic versus intuitive decision making, neither is good or bad. What is bad is if you use either of them in an inappropriate circumstance.” This is why those Myers-Briggs consultants are in demand. You trying telling those NTs that their analytic, rational decision making process is inappropriate. See what that gets you…
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