Bobby Jindal's unnecessary lie

When will politicians learn to stop giving themselves leading roles in the stories they tell? The real story would've made his point just as well as the revised version he told.

late Oscar update

I did manage to see all 5 best picture nominees this year. The last one I saw was The Curious Case of Benjamin Button which I only managed to see on Sunday afternoon. The movie ended less than an hour before the start of the award ceremony. It's close, but a goal met is a goal met, right?

I'm not that crazy about the movie. David Fincher's movies tend to be about ideas rather than about people. His gift is in his visual flair and nimble editing, and given the right material he can make great movies. Films like Seven and Fight Club are among my favorites. However, his style is just not a good fit for the material in Benjamin Button.

I have not read the original short story, but I can imagine that the author intended to explore the transitory nature of life through the central conceit of a man aging backwards. Whether we're aging forwards or backwards, we are always changing and how difficult is it to stay connected with the people in our lives when change is a given? The problem with Benjamin Button is that the eponymous character didn't change much through the movie. In fact, he never developed anything resembling a real personality. He is a cipher that's used to showcase life in New Orleans in the 20th century. This device worked well in Forest Gump because Gump is a likable guy whom the audience can root for, but it's hard to give a damn about someone who likes to drink and hang out with women and friends but otherwise has no interests.

I would put this movie below the other nominees except for The Reader which I liked even less.

Murakami in Israel

One of my favorite authors has this to say when he was in Israel accepting a literary award.

Early movie review

I went to an early screening of I Love You, Man last night. It's pretty much par for the course compared to other recent Paul Rudd/Jason Stegl collaborations. I would put it above Superbad and Forgetting Sarah Marshall but slightly below Knocked Up. The first half is as brilliantly hilarious as The 40 Year Old Virgin's, but the second half is plagued by too many romantic comedy cliches.

All in all, an enthusiastic two-thumbs up for those who like to laugh out loud during movies.

Honor killing or domestic violence?

I'm with "Faux New" on this one. Most of the mainstream articles I read about this story either downplayed the religious angle or ignored it completely.

AiiYahhh

A woman missed her flight in Hong Kong and the rest if viral history. Loved the AiiYahh's at 1:30.

Was there a German Resistance?

I just saw Sophie Scholl: The Last Days over the weekend and was somewhat disappointed. It's not that the movie's not well made and the story's not compelling, but because the film's been touted as the best about German Resistance to the Nazi Regime. I've even heard of the name of this particular group, which calls itself the White Rose.

So, what kind of heroic activities does this most well known of the Anti-Nazi groups engage in? why, printing pamphlets, of course. The entire "movement", as far as I can tell from the film, is about seven college students and one professor who wrote, printed, and distributed pamphlets (in secret) about the nefarious deeds of the Nazi government. One can almost dismiss the whole thing as a prank by one of today's fringe group (like PETA, for example), except for the fast that every last one of the them were executed by gullotine for the act of printing and distributing pamphlets.

However ineffective the White Rose group was, its members still showed more bravery than the conspirators in The Valkyrie; at least the players in Valkyrie were army generals who commanded valuable military assets. In a totalitarian society that keeps track of how many stamps you buy and registers every typewriter in existence, it is extremely dangerous to engage in covert printing operations. Even if the movement's entirely successful, its impact is bound to be minimal, as the offending pamphlets were quickly confiscated and the people who could've read them are powerless students anyway. These people were not in a position to make a difference, and therefore under no moral obligation to act, yet they decided to do so even in the face of certain death.

For every one of the symbolic gestures of resistance that's recorded, I'll bet at least two are forgotten. How can one sustain the belief that what you do is worthwhile, knowing that most of it will be unacknowledged and forgotten?

farm raised trouts - elusive prey

Every year the Texas Fish & Wildlife releases thousands of farm raised trouts into ponds in state and municipal parks all over the state. Catching these should be as easy as shooting fish in a barrel, right? Not when you showed up a week after the stocked the fish and it's raining cats and dogs. It's the fourth time in two years I bought a $10 one day fishing pass and not catch anything. The fifth time's the charm, I can feel it.

Oscar predictions

This year I'm on the verge of having seen all of the Best Picture nominees. Here's my order of preference on who should win, from favorite to least favorite:

Revolutionary Road - perfect demonstration of Satre's maxim "Hell is other people." This movie shows that, as hard as we may try, it is almost impossible to do the right thing, especially in a family.

Frost/Nixon - an over-the-hill British talk show host interviews the only President in US history to resign in disgrace. When I heard this is what the movie's about I thought "who cares, it happened 30 years ago and I already know all the facts." But the movie managed to have me give a damn about what's happening on the screen for 2 hours so it must be well made.

Slumdog Millionaire - a disturbing and graphic depiction of hard life in the slums, told through an implausible story framed by the Indian version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire. I may give this film a higher rating if I haven't already seen lots of movies about India, poverty, and poverty in India. I bet most of the people who gush over this film have not read Oliver Twist or seen many movies about India.

The Reader - one of the worst movies about the Holocaust I've ever seen. It couldn't decide whether it's about how the postwar generation in Germany came to terms with the Holocaust, or about those who are complicit during the war. The only good thing was Kate Winslet's effective portrayal of the banality of evil.

I plan to see The Curious Life of Benjamin Button this weekend. I have a feeling that it will end up in the middle of this list.

places to live

Houston is ranked the 19th most desirable place to live by the Pew Research center. That sounded about right to me until I saw that Phoenix is among the top 10. I've been to Phoenix and I can't imagine why anyone would prefer that hellhole over Houston.

Another shocker is that more people would rather live in a place with a lot of McDonalds than a place with a lot of Starbucks. Has this country been taken over by Sarah Palin clones?

overpaid

The previous administration apparently overpaid for the assets purchased during bailout. The incompetence of the previous administration knows no bounds.

Obama admitted he screwed up

It's refreshing to have a president who admits he's made a mistake before the last days of his office.

On Tom Daschle's tax problems, at first I thought it was pretty bad because the amount not paid is in six figures but then I found out that it's for a car and driver services loaned to him by a business associate. I could see how someone may not understand that a service loaned to you needs to be reported as income for tax purposes. That's too bad because he's probably the most qualified person to drive healthcare reform.

Chinese earthquake possibly manmade

Another story about how fragile our planet can be.