Posted inEntertainment

“Hero”

If you haven’t seen “Hero,” the marvelous Chinese martial arts movie, you should do it while it is still viewable on a big screen. Last night Laurel and I marveled at the cinematography of “Hero.” You’ll see things that you’ve never seen in a movie before, and probably never will again—unless Zhang Yimou directs a sequel. If you have an aversion to sub-titles, quash your qualms and buy a ticket anyway. Ditto if you usually stay away from martial arts flicks, because “Hero” is to the typical martial arts movie as “The Godfather” is to the typical gangster movie: in…
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Da Ali G, for real!

Hear me now. Check it out. Da Ali G is my main man. Aye! If you’re a bit thick with this Queen’s English, HBO has a glossary for you on their Da Ali G web site. The new season started this week. Laurel and I laughed for almost the whole thirty minutes. And believe me, Laurel isn’t a big laugh-out-loud fit bitch (fit: attractive, cute, goodlooking, pretty, sexy, blonde; bitch: baby, chick, darling, female, freak, girl, honey, lady, lover, wife; fit bitch: babe). We saw Sacha Baron Cohen, a.k.a. Ali G, interviewed by Jon Stewart on The Daily Show recently.…
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“House of Sand and Fog”

I loved this movie. And I loved watching the DVD at our Camp Sherman cabin on my almost-new Emachines 6809 laptop. The only drawback to Emachines movie viewing is the tinny built-in speakers. After our first laptop DVD experience I immediately ordered some small battery-powered Creative TravelSound external speakers, which connect to the headphone plug. I can highly recommend these little wonders. Now we enjoy a crystal-clear picture with great sound. Laurel meandered around the cabin much of the time I was watching “House of Sand and Fog” because previews we had seen in a movie theatre caused her to…
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Posted inDogs Entertainment Home life

“Fahrenheit 9/11” heats up audience (and our dog)

In our never-ending marital “told you so!” competition, my wife beat me two to one last night. We went to see “Fahrenheit 9/11” at Movieland in downtown Salem, and as the 7:45 pm showing time grew near I told Laurel that we should leave earlier than usual, since the movie was proving to be hugely popular among die-hard liberals—who, like almost everyone, love to be exposed to communications that confirm existing strongly held beliefs. Drawing myself up to the full height of my Alpha Male Head of Household Kingly Dominant position in our relationship, about 6:45 I emphatically decreed with…
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Posted inEntertainment Science

“What the #$*! Do We Know?!”

Great question. Great movie. Short answer: not much. Made in Portland, and starring the wonderfully expressive actress Marlee Matlin (an Oscar winner for “Children of a Lesser God”), “What the #$*! Do We Know?!” mixes together a fictional storyline with non-fictional expositions of quantum physics, neuroscience, and other findings from the cutting edge of science. Having written a book about the relation of the new physics and old mystics (“God’s Whisper, Creation’s Thunder,” which I’ve revised and am working to get back-in-print), this was a movie that I couldn’t miss. Unfortunately, lots of other people will. I only found two…
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Posted inEntertainment

Vote for Rupert, Smile at Rumsfeld

Now that almost 24 hours has passed since last night’s “Survivor” debacle, the depression that hit me when Amber won is finally starting to fade. I should count my blessings, of course, because if Rob had won I’d still be in bed with the covers pulled over my head, trying to block out the harsh sunlight of reality. But since Rob proposed to Amber right there on live TV before the votes were counted, he ended up getting the million dollars anyway. Or at least as much of it as Amber will let him have, which likely is most of…
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Posted inEntertainment

Getting anxious about the “Survivor” finale

With all there is to worry about in the world today—Iraq, global warming, gas prices, getting Windows to work reliably—now I’ve got to spend an anxious 24 hours worrying about who is going to win “Survivor.” OK, I realize that many people don’t even watch “Survivor,” much less agonize over the outcome, but this is a pretty big deal for Laurel and me. Thursday night is sacred to us. We sit down together in front of the TV after the week’s episode has taped (or, rather, PVR’d) and hugely enjoy immersing ourselves in the reality soap opera that is Survivor…
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Posted inEntertainment Neighborhood

Kill Bill, Volume 1 (and Volume 3: The Qwest)

I’ve got a new plan for finally getting DSL in our neighborhood. I came up with it after making use of a two-for-one Hollywood Video coupon, which enabled me to watch “Kill Bill: Volume 1” along with “The Secret Lives of Dentists” the past few days. It took me that long to finish “Kill Bill,” because I had to watch it in snatches when Laurel wasn’t within eyeshot or earshot of the television. For some reason that, after fourteen years of marriage I still haven’t fully understood, Laurel believes that almost every movie should be (1) realistic, and (2) uplifting.…
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Posted inEntertainment

The Secret Lives of Dentists

We finished watching “The Secret Lives of Dentists” on DVD last night, a Sundance sort of movie. Another way of saying “Sundance sort of movie” is “grittily realistic, well acted, and a film that made us immediately watch The Daily Show so we could get smiles back on our faces.” Nonetheless, we enjoyed “The Secret Lives of Dentists,” which centers around Campbell Scott’s increasingly strong suspicion that his wife, Hope Davis, is having an affair with someone she met at an operatic production. And that just about sums up the plot line. Denis Leary, a trumpet-playing patient, serves as Scott’s…
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The Triplets of Belleville

Wow. Last night we saw “The Triplets of Belleville” at Salem’s one and only “art house,” Salem Cinema—an Italian soda/truffle oasis in the Coke/popcorn desert of our local movie-going options. I loved the song from this animated movie that was nominated for an Oscar, but the snippet from “The Triplets of Belleville” that was shown at the Academy Awards doesn’t begin to do justice to the amazing originality of this artistic creation. As Ebert notes in the linked review above, this is a movie that you can’t neatly categorize in the usual “X meets Y” fashion, as in horror flick…
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“Wonderfalls” is wonderful

Here’s a Friday evening TV watching tip: the second episode of “Wonderfalls” on Fox. I wasn’t expecting much last night. But Laurel had noticed that the pilot episode was being repeated, and the show got a positive mention in the newspaper’s television section yesterday. Both of us liked it a lot. Original, quirky, honest, philosophical. A recurring theme in the first episode was “embrace your destiny.” And also, “what is real?” Can animal figurines talk? Are you crazy if you can hear them? Are you crazy if you can’t hear them? Why do things happen the way they do? Is…
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Posted inEntertainment Home life

Larry David would be proud of me

Tonight is this season’s last episode of “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” a must-see for Laurel and me ever since a friend, Randy, recommended this HBO show to us. Randy, quite reasonably, told me once that he is Larry David, personality-wise. However, I, starting from a lower rung on the in-your-face-take-me-as-I-am ladder, am only now—after several seasons—finally starting to feel that I am becoming Larry David. One could argue, of course, whether this is a good thing. If you don’t watch “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” or if your home is a cultural HBO wasteland bereft of this show, the “Sopranos,” and “Six Feet…
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The Housekeeper

When Laurel glanced at the cover of the DVD movie, “The Housekeeper,” that I brought home recently she said, “I can see why you want to watch this.” I was offended. True, the cover shows a beautiful curvaceous young woman, wearing every man’s fantasy of a “cleaning uniform,” posed provocatively on her side, smiling sensually. But the reason I chose this French sub-titled movie went far beyond the cover image. All the way to the back cover, which summarized the plot. The aforementioned housekeeper, Laura, is hired by a balding man in his 50s, Jacques, who has separated from his…
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Posted inEntertainment

Panic setting in…can’t breathe…

Oh, my God! I couldn’t believe it! I thought I’d become inured to all of the horrible news in the world. But when I saw the headline on the CNN web site, I knew that Laurel and I now had to face something that would catapult us into a new category of fear and trembling: loss of Comedy Central on our Dish Network receiver, which means…NO “DAILY SHOW”! The only bright side in this nightmare is that the Portland CBS station is still on the air, not being owned by Viacom—with whom Dish Network is having a pissing match. So…
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Posted inEntertainment Philosophy Plotinus

Plotinus and “The Passion of the Christ”

This is the first time I’ve commented on a movie without having seen it. But I’m pretty sure that Laurel and I won’t ever see “The Passion of the Christ,” so I might as well throw in my two cents now rather than later. We’d probably see the movie if either (1) we were Christians, (2) the film had a significant spiritual message, or (3) we relished watching people get tortured. Since none of these things is true, Mel Gibson will have to get along without our $16, or whatever outrageous amount Regal Cinemas is demanding for entry these days.…
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Posted inEntertainment Home life

American Splendor/I learn to wash lettuce

Recently we rented a DVD of “American Splendor,” a great movie about the life of Harvey Pekar, who wrote comic books about the life of Harvey Pekar, and who appears in the film at various times playing himself, Harvey Pekar, while at other times an actor (Paul Giamatti) plays the life of Harvey Pekar. All this intermingling of real life and cinematic life reflects the theme of the comic book (called, naturally, “American Splendor,” like the movie), which could be stated as: life is art is life is art. Laurel didn’t like the film as much as I did, perhaps…
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Cold Mountain

Whew…just got back from seeing “Cold Mountain,” and I’m exhausted. Almost feel like I’ve lived through the Civil War, though I don’t think the actual Civil War lasted as long as the movie. Or maybe it felt that long to me because the only major battle scene was right at the start, and the remaining two and a quarter hours mostly featured Jude Law walking, extremely slowly, back to Cold Mountain and Nicole Kidman, while Kidman learned from Renee Zellweger learned how to live just fine, thank you, without a man around. Proving that Laurel’s liking of any film is…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Entertainment Sustainability

On remaining in a room

Pascal said something to the effect that all of our miseries stem from our not being able to remain quietly in a room. I’ve always assumed that he meant in a room alone with ourselves, but lately I’ve begun to extend this concept in an unified effort to explain some seemingly unrelated phenomena and personal experiences. Such as…why John Kerry and John Edwards did so well in the Iowa caucuses…why I can’t stand going to meetings of Sustainable Fairview Associates…why Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson hit it off, eventually, in “Somethings Gotta Give.” Why? Because misery also is remaining in…
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Posted inEntertainment Home life Sustainability

Holiday catch-up

Oh, my, ten days since my last posting—must be almost a HinesSight procrastination record. In my defense (as if I need one; heck, it’s my weblog, and I can do what I want with it, but the Protestant ethic is hard to get rid of), the holidays spread stress, along with good cheer. In my experience, the good cheer starts about now, the weekend before Christmas, by which time we start to get out of the preparing-for-Christmas mode, and begin entering the actually-enjoy-Christmas mode. Anyway, here’s my attempt to catch up on the trajectory of our mid-December life: Artificial tree…
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Posted inEntertainment

“Bad Santa” strangely compelling

We got ourselves into the Christmas spirit, Laurel and Brian style, by going to see “Bad Santa” last night. Since the reviews of this movie had emphasized that no one should see it who expects to be uplifted or inspired, naturally it was tops on our Must-See Holiday Flick list. Our sense of humor tilts decidedly in the direction of wry dry cynicism, so a movie that stars Billie Bob Thornton as a drunken, womanizing, thieving Santa is right up our alley. We also love HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and Comedy Central’s “Reno 911”—when we’re not watching PBS or listening…
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