I've always liked Roger Ebert -- mostly because we seem to share the same taste in movies. He also seems like a good guy. Today I read his review of a new movie "Osama", about a woman living in Taliban ruled Afghanistan. The movie is about how horrifically the Taliban treated women, and one woman's attempts to life a normal life. Roger gave the movie 3.5 stars. Sounds good -- probably not easy to watch, but necessary.
I was struck by the last paragraph in his review, which read:
"In this country Janet Jackson bares a breast and causes a silly scandal. The Taliban would have stoned her to death. If you put these things into context, the Jackson case begins to look like an affirmation of Western civilization."
Which is probably, if not definitely, the most intelligent thing I've read regarding the Janet Jackson incident. Kind of puts it in a new perspective, no?
Friday, February 20, 2004
Wednesday, February 18, 2004
Movie Day
Was feeling sick Monday (Feb 16) and decided to take the opportunity to watch some of the seemingly infinite supply of movies currently being stored (and overwritten) on my beloved Tivo... see, I am one of those people with a serious love/hate relationship with a little electronic box - actually, more of a love/annoyance relationship. I read an article about it once, or rather, about "us" - the Tivo junkies, and the stress our most precious device causes us. The article pointed out how the Tivo was touted to be the great black (box) hope, allowing people to "time-shift" TV - play their favorite show when ever they wanted, freeing them from the evil TV scheduling empire that loves to put our favorite shows all on the same night (jerks). However, the article pointed out, what has happened, is that rather than be FREED from our TV's, we are now becoming SLAVE to our Tivo's.. and you know what? It's true! And you know what else? We love it! See what happens is that Tivo gives you too many options, and too many features! Feature rich I tell you! Tivo has enabled dopes like me to search out every little movie I might ever have an interest in, and record it on one unit that requires no tapes, and no manual intervention. Heck, I don't even have to know what's being recorded. What dopes like me, or more specifically, I, have done, is to give Tivo a list of every Movie I would ever like to see and told it to record them if ever they appear on the TV dial. Additionally, I have instructed my Tivo to show me a list of all movies that are going to be on the next month starring my favorite big screen stars, or directed by my favorite movie moguls.
So, day after day, week after week, my Tivo does it's duty and records me more movies than I could ever hope to watch. And what does this ever-growing (and re-writing) pile of unwatched movies cause? That's right - STRESS! But not too much really... I make sure Tivo keeps what I one day hope to watch, and allow the deletion of things I care less about (and wondered why where recorded in the first place), and yes, ever once in a while find time to watch some of the damned things...
Which brings me to Monday... Monday I had a whole day with nothing to do but lay on the couch feeling sorry for myself, so I seized the opportunity to get down and dirty with my Tivo.
Here's what I watched:
Independent Lens (PBS) - WHY CAN’T WE BE A FAMILY AGAIN?: This is a new (I think) PBS series that features a short film every week. This week's was about these two kids living with their grandmother as their mother goes in and out a rehab. It was good, but sad since the Mom will never go clean, you can tell. Kids seemed smart though. I recommend Tivoing this series.
Driver 23: A documentary about the singer of a metal band called "Dark Horse.” This guy's dream is to be a big rock star, but probably lacks talent. This movie documents his efforts to get his band going (2 members leave) and to record a CD in his homemade basement studio. The singer, Dan, is on medication for being bipolar or something, and likes to create things, mostly but duct taping them together it appears (including his cigars). One of his creations is his workout machine, which consists of a milk crate full of concrete blocks attached to a series of pulleys. Nice. I enjoyed the movie - it reminded me of American Movie, but not near as good. One big flaw -- they end the movie with Dan recording his album (like a year and a half into it), but never tell us how it ends! What the heck! I was expecting some explanations to pop up in the screen "Dan finished the album 8 months later" etc. But nothing. Oh well. Tivo gave this 1.5 stars, I give it 2.5 (3 if not for the lack of a conclusion). I should also point out that movies like this make me very nervous that I am also just a hopeless dreamer with no real notable talent and no chance of succeeding at anything creative, but I try not to let those feelings stop me for too long :)
Update: I just found out there is a second movie to this entitled "Atlas Moth"... off to the Tivo I go!
Das Experiment: German film about a scientific study of prisons. Scientists create a fake prison with volunteers who play the part of the prisoners and security guards for 2 weeks. The whole project gets out of hand and violence is the result. I liked it! After the movie I looked on the net and found that this movie was inspired by an actual experiment called the "Stanford Prison Experiment" done at Stanford University in 1971 (http://www.prisonexp.org/) The movie follows the real story pretty much to the point where the real study was cancelled (6 days in). The movie then continues the story and explores what would have happened it the study had continued, and if the study took place in a movie where unrealistic event are allowed to happen. I liked it! If you get a change, check out the link to the real study... it creeps me out that the behaviours of the students changed so dramatically so quickly -- e.g. the prisoners rebelled on the 2nd day, and the guards got very brutal and authoritarian. Wild. At then end, I think 3 of the kids had physiological breakdowns, and the guards turned truly brutal. It's amazing to see how people change so quickly when put in a new environment. I've seen this to a smaller extent when playing games, or working on projects. I've been involved in some team building exercises at work where the regular work roles between people completely disappear as they get drawn into the game. Soon they take on the roles enforced by the game to the point where the games rules become the reality in which they are now living. This is what happened in the fake jail -- to them it became a real jail to the point where they felt that there was no escape, even though their imprisonment was voluntary. And the guards took their roles so seriously they actually abused the prisoners, even though in the real world, they were no different from the prisoners, and this was just an experiment. Fascinating stuff. I had never heard about this experiment before. I blame my education, or maybe I just skipped that class. Oh well. Thanks to Das Experiment now I know. The movie itself was good, although there were several subplots, I wish they had explored more (e.g. the woman), and some of the guard’s behaviour I found had to swallow. They got more evil than seems possible - even if you were so into the role I imagine you would still realize laws apply to you. Nevertheless, good, nonetheless.
With a Friend Like Harry - Sheesh, why'd I have to watch so many movies? This one was French. It's about a guy and his family who run into an old schoolmate. The schoolmate turns out to be a nut job. The movie was good, but kind of long.
I think I watched another movie but I can't remember what it was... that's enough anyways...
So, day after day, week after week, my Tivo does it's duty and records me more movies than I could ever hope to watch. And what does this ever-growing (and re-writing) pile of unwatched movies cause? That's right - STRESS! But not too much really... I make sure Tivo keeps what I one day hope to watch, and allow the deletion of things I care less about (and wondered why where recorded in the first place), and yes, ever once in a while find time to watch some of the damned things...
Which brings me to Monday... Monday I had a whole day with nothing to do but lay on the couch feeling sorry for myself, so I seized the opportunity to get down and dirty with my Tivo.
Here's what I watched:
Independent Lens (PBS) - WHY CAN’T WE BE A FAMILY AGAIN?: This is a new (I think) PBS series that features a short film every week. This week's was about these two kids living with their grandmother as their mother goes in and out a rehab. It was good, but sad since the Mom will never go clean, you can tell. Kids seemed smart though. I recommend Tivoing this series.
Driver 23: A documentary about the singer of a metal band called "Dark Horse.” This guy's dream is to be a big rock star, but probably lacks talent. This movie documents his efforts to get his band going (2 members leave) and to record a CD in his homemade basement studio. The singer, Dan, is on medication for being bipolar or something, and likes to create things, mostly but duct taping them together it appears (including his cigars). One of his creations is his workout machine, which consists of a milk crate full of concrete blocks attached to a series of pulleys. Nice. I enjoyed the movie - it reminded me of American Movie, but not near as good. One big flaw -- they end the movie with Dan recording his album (like a year and a half into it), but never tell us how it ends! What the heck! I was expecting some explanations to pop up in the screen "Dan finished the album 8 months later" etc. But nothing. Oh well. Tivo gave this 1.5 stars, I give it 2.5 (3 if not for the lack of a conclusion). I should also point out that movies like this make me very nervous that I am also just a hopeless dreamer with no real notable talent and no chance of succeeding at anything creative, but I try not to let those feelings stop me for too long :)
Update: I just found out there is a second movie to this entitled "Atlas Moth"... off to the Tivo I go!
Das Experiment: German film about a scientific study of prisons. Scientists create a fake prison with volunteers who play the part of the prisoners and security guards for 2 weeks. The whole project gets out of hand and violence is the result. I liked it! After the movie I looked on the net and found that this movie was inspired by an actual experiment called the "Stanford Prison Experiment" done at Stanford University in 1971 (http://www.prisonexp.org/) The movie follows the real story pretty much to the point where the real study was cancelled (6 days in). The movie then continues the story and explores what would have happened it the study had continued, and if the study took place in a movie where unrealistic event are allowed to happen. I liked it! If you get a change, check out the link to the real study... it creeps me out that the behaviours of the students changed so dramatically so quickly -- e.g. the prisoners rebelled on the 2nd day, and the guards got very brutal and authoritarian. Wild. At then end, I think 3 of the kids had physiological breakdowns, and the guards turned truly brutal. It's amazing to see how people change so quickly when put in a new environment. I've seen this to a smaller extent when playing games, or working on projects. I've been involved in some team building exercises at work where the regular work roles between people completely disappear as they get drawn into the game. Soon they take on the roles enforced by the game to the point where the games rules become the reality in which they are now living. This is what happened in the fake jail -- to them it became a real jail to the point where they felt that there was no escape, even though their imprisonment was voluntary. And the guards took their roles so seriously they actually abused the prisoners, even though in the real world, they were no different from the prisoners, and this was just an experiment. Fascinating stuff. I had never heard about this experiment before. I blame my education, or maybe I just skipped that class. Oh well. Thanks to Das Experiment now I know. The movie itself was good, although there were several subplots, I wish they had explored more (e.g. the woman), and some of the guard’s behaviour I found had to swallow. They got more evil than seems possible - even if you were so into the role I imagine you would still realize laws apply to you. Nevertheless, good, nonetheless.
With a Friend Like Harry - Sheesh, why'd I have to watch so many movies? This one was French. It's about a guy and his family who run into an old schoolmate. The schoolmate turns out to be a nut job. The movie was good, but kind of long.
I think I watched another movie but I can't remember what it was... that's enough anyways...
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