4 Weeks Until Italy!

Persee et Andromede

Before we start, a painting today by French Symbolist Gustave Moreau (1826-1898), who passed away on this date 115 years ago.  Moreau was an Academy-approved artist who painted mythological and biblical imagery and scenes. 

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Word of the day : milieu
                                        : environment ; the physical or social setting in which something occurs or
                                          develops

Well, the hits just keep on coming: 

- A tragic explosion at a fertilizer plant outside Waco has, according to the most recent reporting, killed 15 and injured at least 175. 

- The Senate voted not to pass gun-control legislation yesterday.  Although it's only a first setback, it was still shameful and disgraceful and an embarrassment to anyone in this country with half a brain.  I'll take that back: Most gun-owners should have rights and are responsible, and I have no problem with them owning guns.  I do have a problem - and I think everyone should - with a Congress that willingly ignores what the majority of Americans want done, the same Americans that voted them in, Reps and Dems alike.  Disgusting. 

Here are the new movies opening this weekend: 

Not much.  There's Oblivion, Tom Cruise's new sci-fi epic, co-starring Morgan Freeman.  Directed by Joseph Kosinksy (the Tron sequel), it's getting average reviews.  There's also director Rob Zombie's Lords of Salem, a disturbing-looking movie about a radio DJ in Salem, Mass. troubled by eerie visions of the past. 

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Vamps, Amy Heckerling's campy, affectionate tale about two members of the undead (Alicia Silverstone and Krysten Ritter) trying to be young and romantic in New York City, is a vampire movie that - thank God! - doesn't take itself too seriously, unlike the Twilight movies.  It's a jokey, silly movie with mediocre-at-best CGI but there's actually an affectionate, nostalgic undercurrent here - about living outside your time, watching the world (and history) go by without being able to do anything about it.  It's a movie about aging, folks.  Lot of pop culture references, of course (would you expect otherwise from the Clueless scribe?), and plenty of familiar faces, all of whom are in the cheesy spirit of the thing: Sigourney Weaver, Wallace Shawn (as a Van Helsing), Justin Kirk, Richard Lewis.    



Image courtesy of: 

http://art-magique.blogspot.com/2011/04/gustave-moreau-1826-1898.html

Orphaned

On a sad day in America, let's turn our focus instead to the newest Pulitzer Prize winner- the first in two years.  (Remember that there was no winner last year.)   


The Orphan Master's Son

What it's about :

Well, an orphan, as you can imagine.  Pak Jun Do is a parentless kid in North Korea who grows up in an orphanage and eventually goes to work for the state, as a kidnapper (!) and fishing boat signal operator.  For unknown reasons, Jun Do eventually assumes the identity of a North Korean national hero and is assigned to a highly risky, dangerous assignment by Kim Jong II. 

Who wrote it: 

45-year old, South Dakota-born Adam Johnson.  Johnson earned his PhD in English from Florida State in 2000.  He is currently an associate professor in English at Stanford University.  Johnson had previously written the novel Parasites Like Us (2003), the 2002 short story collection Emporium, and numerous other stories that have been published, in among other periodicals, Esquire, Harper's Weekly, The Missouri Review, and The Paris Review.   

Monday

Word of the day :
                            heinous : hateful or shockingly evil

Top of the week to you, readers!  Julia has an extremely busy week at school, Gabriel returns to school after his spring break, and hopefully I have a busy week too.  Will this be the week we get good news - or will be next week... or the week after?  We've learned that one of the great truths about life in small-town SE Georgia is that you're always in limbo, always waiting for that one opportunity that will take you elsewhere. 

I'm finally going to watch Lincoln this afternoon - I'm expecting a lot of acting and a lot of facial hair. 

NBA Playoffs start next weekend.  It's hard to envision anyone beating the Miami Heat.  Watching them play yesterday, I realized - if I hadn't already - how deep they are.  It's hard to make up any ground when their second unit is in: Ray Allen, Rashard Lewis, Norris Cole, Birdman Anderson, Mike Miller.  From the West, it sure looks like it's going to be the Thunder - maybe a Thunder-Grizzlies conference final. 

Total Recall (2012), the Len Wiseman-directed remake of the Paul Verhoeven 1990 adaptation of the Philip K.Dick short story "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale," is atrocious - atrociously bland, unoriginal, and forgettable.  There's nothing in here you haven't seen done better in The Bourne Identity and Minority Report, movies this one apes.  Rather than talk about the tedious staging, the boring plot or the overreliance on unexciting CGI-digitially enhanced futuristic worlds, I'll instead pose some questions:  Has director Len Wiseman, in his third collaboration with wife Kate Beckinsale, actually done anything to enhance her career - all he does is direct her in junky movies where she is often in a provocative state of undress.  Does Jessica Biel ever make any good movies?  And, more importantly, how irreplaceable is Arnold Schwarzenegger?  In the last five years or so, three Schwarzenegger sci-f tentpoles from his heyday have been re-booted - Terminator, Predator, and now this, all with superior actors (Christian Bale, Adrien Brody, and Colin Farrell, respectively) - and yet they've all stunk and the lead actors have all been less successful in the parts than Arnold was.  Goes to show you can't replace an icon with an actor.

Animal of the week:

Fennec Fox
What it looks like:  The smallest fox in the world, but with Big Ears, the fox is cream-colored, with a black-tipped tail.  It has thick fur and hairy feet and those ears both radiate body heat and keep the fox cool. 

Where it lives:  The sandy Sahara and throughout North Africa, in small, territorial communities. 

What it does:  A nocturnal creature, the fox forages for insects, rodents, reptiles, and eggs.  It can go long periods without water.

Is it endangered:  Likely.  Although its population is unknown, its adorable appearance has made it a favorite of the illegal-trade hunters and sellers - deplorable people all. 

(Information courtesy of:  http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/fennec-fox/)


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Finally, an overdue selection to my list of the 500 Greatest Performances of All Time list

Irrfan Khan       
as Ashoke in The Namesake (2007)

The great Indian actor Irrfan Khan is probably best known to American audiences for his small parts in Slumdog Millionaire, A Mighty Heart, or Life of Pi.  But his best role, his most rounded part, is in this intelligent, overlooked adaptation of Jhumpa Lahiri's fine novel.  Khan and Tabu (also superb) play a young couple who emigrate to the U.S. in the late 1970s to raise a family, and throughout the course of the movie we see this relationship evolve from its cold, scary early days - where the arranged couple hardly knew each other - through the formation of their family.  Khan is mesmerizing here, a lifetime of wisdom and accumulated knowledge - disappointment, happiness, comfort - in his eyes and voice, and he breaks your heart too when he tells his son Gogol (Kal Penn) why he was named after the Russian author.  






Images courtesy of: 

http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/files/2013/03/fennec-fox-baby.jpg

http://thisdistractedglobe.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/namesake-2007-tabu-irrfan-khan-pic-3.jpg

5 Weeks Till Italy!

Word of the day :
                            indissoluble : incapable of being dissolved or disintegrated
                                                 : permanent
                                                 : incapable of being annulled, undone, or broken 

Well, Julia's back - interview went well.  Pray that she gets the job, we move to Chicago, and say sayonara to fuckin' Statesboro!

The Louvre closed its doors yesterday - too many "aggressive" pickpockets. 

Massive thunderstorms, storm system in the midwest, tons of snow up in Minnesota and Canada.  Guess we should be grateful we live down here in Georgia, but how thankful can you really be when every time it rains hard and long, the septic tanks act up?  If you want great weather and no calamities, move to New Mexico. 

Animal of the week: (new feature)
 

Pangolin
What it is:  "A scaly anteater." 

What it looks like:  Covered in brown scales.  Dark grey to black sin, no scales in its underparts.  Small head. 

Where it lives:  Mostly in Africa and Asia.  Bush and savanna country.  Rocky hills and open flood plains where there is sandy soil and, hence, plenty of anthills.

What it does:  Forages nocturnally.  It uses its long, viscous claws to dig ants out of their holes and slurp them up with its tongue.  It moves slowly and has a repugnant odor to ward off predators.  When in danger, it folds itself up into a ball, its head tucked beneath its tail. 

Is it endangered:  Yeah, because Asians are slaughtering them for "traditional" medicine.  Did you expect anything different? 

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New Movies Opening This Weekend: 

42    A square, old-fashioned biopic with newcomer Chadwick Boseman as the boundary-breaking Jackie Robinson, the Dodgers second baseman who became the first African-American professional ballplayer.  Harrison Ford is said to be gruffly entertaining as Robinson's manager Branch Rickey.  Critics are saying it's fine, not great.  Written and directed by Oscar-winning screenwriter Brian Helgeland (L.A. Confidential). 

Scary Movie 5    Um, nope. 

Disconnect    Richard Roeper gave this one four stars.  It's a tale of modern alienation, composed of different stories, all of which revolve around the dangers of the internet: from identity theft to online gambling and prostitution to cruel teenage pranks.  From the director of the fascinating doc Murderball, the film has a terrific cast: Jason Bateman, Paula Patton, Alexander Skarsgard, and Hope Davis. 
(Yes)

To the Wonder    Terrence Malick (Tree of Life) has to be one of the most overrated directors in the history of cinema.  He is a great pictorialist, has a great eye (with the help of his recent, brilliant cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki), but that's it.  His mystical films have nothing to say.  Some love him.  Some hate him.  Some are bored silly by him.  This new one is a largely wordless (!), vague exercise in which Ben Affleck (who has almost no lines) and Olga Kurylenko are an unhappy couple somewhere in the Midwest.  Javier Bardem (as a priest) and Rachel McAdams have some voiceover, but it seems Malick is slowly on his way to discarding actors altogether. 

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After finishing and loving Robert Kurson's nonfiction book Shadow Divers, I thought that it was about time I sought out other true-life adventure books.  Here's as good a list as any:

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/0404/adventure_books_1-19.html 


No post till Sunday.  Have a nice weekend! 







Image courtesy of: 

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/extinction-countdown/files/2012/02/pangolin.jpg

http://collider.com/wp-content/uploads/disconnect-hope-davis-jason-bateman.jpg


Information courtesy of: 

http://www.wildlifesafari.info/pangolin.html
 

Interview

Word of the day : doxology
                                            : a usually liturgical expression of praise to God 

Well, Julia is in Chicago today for a job interview - and God if I don't hope that she gets it.  It will be Gabriel and I all day, which equals A LOT OF FUN.  (Swinging - not that kind, pervs - cartoons, walks, Honey Bunches of Oats...)

I was so glad Louisville won the Tourney.  I like Michigan a lot, but I was glad Louisville prevailed: what a terrific game it was, one of the best Championship games of the last decade or so.  All Hail Luke Hancock! 
Too bad I thought Michigan would win - my tourney predictions were as follows: Correct 45 ; Incorrect 22
Brief Reviews:

- Phil Spector (2012), David Mamet's HBO film about the relationship between Spector and his defense attorney Linda Kenney Baden in the days before Spector goes on trial for the murder of actress Lana Clarkson in 2003, is an intelligent but at times pointless examination of the ambiguity of a deluded man.  The movie suffers from writer-director Mamet's typical elliptical, stagy dialogue.  As Spector, Al Pacino is flamboyantly watchful and can mesmerize when he gets some great dialogue to chew on; ass Baden, Helen Mirren is intense and focused, with a spot-on American accent.  The movie is short, but I never really figured out what the point of it was. 

- North Face (2008),a German film that follows the true-life 1936 exploits of four mountaineers (one German pair, one Austrian pair) to climb the notorious, intimidating north face of the Swiss Alps - the Eiger.  The first hour of the film, which features a subplot involving a newspaper reporter who grew up with the German climbers Kurz and Hinterstoisser and hopes to write a breakthrough story of the pair's ascent up the Eiger, is more involving, at least for me, than the second half.  The sound effects, production design, and location shooting are all first-rate; the film's rugged, muscular second half, in which Bad Things Happen, actually was a little boring for me.  If anything, it will give promising director Philipp Stolzl, a chance to make English-language films. 

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I want to start getting more into classical music.  I used to be more into it and had more classical CDs (when I actually owned CDs) but, thanks to Liberal Arts, I have a goal - to be able to successfully identify these:

http://www.greatestclassicalmusicever.com/50GreatestPieces/   





 

Go Cardinals!

Word of the day : gest
                                   : an adventure or exploit ; especially, a romance in verse

Happy birthday, Rene Lalique (1860-1945).  The most famous jeweler of his generation and a titan in both glassmaking an Art Deco deign.  (I just learned about him the other day.)

Information on Lalique: http://rlalique.com/rene-lalique-biography

Well, it's Arts Fest day for Julia (oh no!), a torridly boring, pointless affair/festival thrown by Georgia Southern to try and reach out to the indifferent local community of hicks.  Good thing Gabriel and I get to stay home and play and read and get ready for the Final Four tonight.

Picks:
Louisville over Wichita St. 
Michigan over Syracuse
(So far:  Correct - 43 ; Incorrect - 21)

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I watched Shame (2011) yesterday, an often harrowing, often ponderous account of an N.Y.C. man (Michael Fassbender) in the throes of sexual addiction and forced to confront his own isolated, emotionally hollow existence when his needy artist sister (Carey Mulligan, in a sharp, vulnerable performance).  Director Steve McQueen (no, not that one) hampers himself with his own script, which gives no background and depth to Fassbender's Brandon, a white collar, handsome worker who thinks about and pursues sex around the clock.  Fassbender's otherwise riveting performance is shackled by his character's unlikable vagueness; he's contemptuous, cold.  The film is sleekly shot, but the film is drably moralizing at times too.  Because this is an Addiction, we can't revel in any of Brandon's behavior or consider its plusses.  (Hollywood couldn't have us enjoying sex.)  When Brandon does find someone he has a slight emotional connection to (Nicole Beharie's Marianne), he naturally can't get it up.  Very graphic. 



 


Image courtesy of: 

http://9.asset.soup.io/asset/1415/1161_d885_960.jpeg

Evil Dead!

Well, it's a rainy Thursday in Statesboro, which is fine by us, since I don't have any great plans for today.   Just spending the morning in my wife's office, taking Gabriel out for ice cream, catching up on Justified, starting the nonfiction book Shadow Divers, and doing God-knows-what-else. 

Here are the new movies opening this weekend (besides the 3D original Jurassic Park):

Evil Dead    Director Sam Raimi and star Bruce Campbell approved (and produced) the remake of their cult 1981 original, one of the craftiest, funniest, most terrifying horror films ever made.   The new film is getting good reviews, critics saying that director Fede Alvarez honors the goofy spirit of the original - and serves up plenty of scares.  The story's the same, of course: five friends hole up in a remote cabin and stumble upon the Book of the Dead.  Beware.
(Yes)

Trance    A new Danny Boyle film is always an occasion, and this one is supposed to be twisty as all-get-out.  James McAvoy stars as a London art auctioneer who teams up with a gang of thieves to steal a Goya painting.  Things go wrong, of course, and McAvoy finds himself knocked out.  Upon awakening, he can't remember where he hid the painting.  Some critics find it too dizzying, too hallucinogenic, too much flash and style.  Rosario Dawson, Michael Fassbender, and Vincent Cassel co-star. 
(Yes)

The Company You Keep    A good week for movies continues with Robert Redford's all-star drama/thriller about a former Weather Underground militant (Redford) who has been successfully hiding out for three decades until a nosy reporter (Shia LaBeouf) discovers his true identity.  A cast of Oscar winners and nominees: Chris Cooper, Susan Sarandon, Nick Nolte, Julie Christie, Terrence Howard, Stanley Tucci, and Richard Jenkins. 
(Yes)

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Jussi Adler Olsen's The Keeper of Lost Causes, which introduced Danish detective Carl Morck and his understaffed, overburdened Department Q, was my favorite thriller of 2012 and one of my favorite thrillers ever, really.  Relentlessly exciting and scary, original, tense as anything, leavened with offbeat humor, it was a knockout - Scandanavian crime lit at its best. 

The second Olsen book, the next in the Morck series, The Absent One (2012) is a major comedown, a truly preposterous book that is full of bad writing and translation.  Nevertheless, I still breezed through it, enjoying it despite myself. 

The story involves another cold case: The murder of two teens at a summer cottage in 1987.  It seems that the man serving a sentence for the murder was one of an elite group of wealthy boarding school students - the members of which, Olsen reminds us repeatedly, grew into the "jet set" of Danish society: wealthy, amoral, violent, soulless criminals. 

Morck and his assistant Assad are joined by a new partner, Rose, who seems to exist solely as lame comic relief, consistently annoying Carl; although I must say that Olsen's writing is so bad here that I wasn't sure what exactly Rose was doing to annoy Carl.  She seemed helpful and idiosyncratic. 

Anyway, as Carl narrows in on the "jet set" group, it appears that a lost member of the group - the group's lone female member, Kimmie, who has been hiding on the street for years, carrying around her aborted fetus (!!!!) - is also stalking her old comrades, for reasons to be discovered. 

Everything comes to a head at a hunting weekend on one of the criminal's lavish estate.  The ending was ludicrous but rousing.  There is a lot of animal cruelty in the book; the one-dimensional villains hunt endangered game for sport.  In fact, the villains are so over-the-top in their villainy that it almost defies belief: they watch A Clockwork Orange for kicks, get blowjobs from their illegally-employed workers, rape and beat on the weekends, kill without remorse.  Has Olsen a subtle bone in his body?  You wouldn't think so based on this book. 

So why did I like it?  I'm not sure.  I still Carl and Assad compelling enough characters (though we learn nothing more about them this time around) and Olsen's style is so your in-face and he can grip with you his plot machinations like a pro. 

It's a good Bad Book. 
But I hope the next one's better.