Shit that Pissed Me off This Week 7/20
I note that yes, the shooting in Colorado pissed me off. But I’m not going to write about it because fuck that guy. This is all the 1’s and 0’s I’m going to commit to him.
What pisses me off is that there is no there there. I’m a liberal. I don’t like Romney.
Yet if you read the article linked above that quotes both anonymous and public sources who are Democrats that Support Obama, this whole thing appears to be much ado about nothing.
The Bain issue appears to be the Democratic equivalent of a swiftboat campaign. There are a lot of good reasons why Romney shouldn’t be our next President. If there is an honest belief he can’t be beaten on those grounds, the problem is with our campaign.
Just look at the guy! I’m telling you, he’s an Auton!
I don’t like it when Republicans lie and obscure facts because I don’t agree with the majority of their agenda and if people really understood it, I don’t think a lot of others would either.
What I really hate, though, is when Democrats do the same thing. I know – they do it all the time.
But I agree with them most of the time and I wish they would figure out how to get people to understand their point of view without resorting to misdirection.
Alphabetical Movie – Insomnia
I’m trying to be a good geek. Really. I love a good Super Hero film and Christopher Nolan has made two of the best already. I’m super jazzed for The Dark Knight Rises. I don’t know if it is going to be great but I want it to be great.
I have a lot of faith that Nolan can deliver.
So it is with almost a whisper I admit that I don’t think The Dark Knight is Nolan’s best film.
I think it’s Insomnia.
Alphabetical Movie – Inside Man
Inside Man is a heist movie that, like most Spike Lee movies, has an agenda. While it is possible to enjoy the movie as thriller and ignore all the deeper philosophy, I’m not going to do that.
Because one of the central philosophical issues the film asks us to consider is one of redemption.
Alphabetical Movie – Innerspace
Every generation has at least one comedian who ends up being popular in films in spite of the fact that they are almost universally despised. Or so it would seem.
Take Martin Short, who stars in Innerspace. At the time the film came out, he was a fairly popular comedian and most of the people I knew could never figure out why. His spastic characters grew tiresome very quickly and while he had the likable nerd thing going on, Rick Moranis did it way better.
Alphabetical Movie – Inglourious Basterds
I was at a panel about Tarantino films at CONvergence this weekend. Because the convention theme was Wonder Women, the panel was about Tarantino as a “feminist” filmmaker.
I’m not going to rehash the entire panel but the question of Tarantino as a feminist filmmaker is a complex one. Some of his films pass the Bechdel test but by no means all of them. Inglourious Basterds, for instance, does not.
Alphabetical Movie – Inherit the Wind
Inherit the Wind is one of my favorite movies of all time. Spencer Tracy, Fredric March, Gene Kelly and, in fact, all of the main actors are amazing. I could write an essay about nothing but how much I love the film.
But I’m me. So I’m not going to do that.
Instead, I’m going to talk about how this movie impacted my thoughts on science and religion.
“Brave” and “Strong” – a Catch-22
In reading some criticism about Brave, I’ve seen a fair amount of frustration directed at the fact that to be “strong,” a female protagonist must excel at things that a man would do well. The question then becomes: What does it take to come up with a strong woman in the first place?
I’m going into spoiler territory now so read no further if you would prefer to avoid hearing about the film!
Alphabetical Movie – Indiscreet
Indiscreet is probably best characterized as a romantic comedy even though the first part of the film is more of a romance and the second is more of a comedy. They are sort of slapped together like one of those crackers that is a cracker on one side and a different kind of cracker on the other.
Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman are the stars and constitute the sole reason to watch the film. The movie isn’t bad but I can’t recall a single memorable bit of dialogue or particularly notable scene. And I just watched it.
Alphabetical movie – Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
I think all the folks who love and all the folks who hate Temple of Doom can agree on at least one point: Willie Scott is damned annoying.
Unlike Marion, who is brash and tough or Ilsa, who is, at least, Indy’s intellectual equal, Willie is pretty much whiny and useless.
Alphabetical Movie – Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
While it is easily the second best Indiana Jones movie, Last Crusade is not without problems. In one aspect, however, it makes one of the best storytelling choices I’ve ever seen.
It’s a small choice but when I first saw the film, I was completely surprised by its simplicity. It is the sort of choice that must have been very easy to make and yet it was unusual enough to be a complete surprise.
Grail Diary 