So, I'm at my friends' (Terry and Lisa) house, having a barbecue in their backyard. We've had steaks, chicken and some giant hot dogs. I'm full as a tick and I'm amused as hell that I can blog without a computer.
Earlier today I went out looking for an iced americano (and found one at Metropolis Cafe down the street) and saw one of those guys with the bicycle-driven ice cream carts. I decided needed a popsicle; there is a mexican brand of fruit-flavored ones that I love. The man didn't have those, but he did have watermelon ones. I discovered these were actually slices of watermelon frozen on sticks. They were very sweet and had intense flavor. It reminded me of the watermelon we had on Emeishan in Sichuan, which in turn brought up a flood of memories of the students who befriended us, temples overlooking cliffs, thunderstorms on mountaintops and thieving monkeys.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Happy Buddha Day
Today, Buddhists everywhere celebrate the life of Buddha. Sort of like Christmas, except without the crass commercialism.
I have always loved Buddha. As a kid, we always had at least one statue of him around the house. Officially, we were Catholic, but it was also the 70s and everyone was a little bit hippy. My mom loved incense and wind chimes and Indian and Chinese art (my older siblings simply loved pot). My favorite Buddha, somewhat ironically, was a plaster coin bank that was so heavy with change that it was nearly immobile. I wonder what Buddha would have made of that.
Regardless, as a child, I could relate to Buddha more than I could Christ. Even off the cross, Jesus was serious and sad. And a little bit scary: we had a picture of him on our stairs that showed his heart outside of his body and either on fire or crowned with thorns.
But Buddha was either cheerful or beautifully serene. His statues were magnets for children; as kids, and later my nieces and nephews, we loved rubbing his tummy, which we were told would bring us luck. As an adult, I feel such peace and love when I look at paintings and statues of him.
Unless it's the buddha bank, which is now at my sister's house. Then I'm thinking about how I can steal it from her. She can keep the money, I just want the statue.
I have always loved Buddha. As a kid, we always had at least one statue of him around the house. Officially, we were Catholic, but it was also the 70s and everyone was a little bit hippy. My mom loved incense and wind chimes and Indian and Chinese art (my older siblings simply loved pot). My favorite Buddha, somewhat ironically, was a plaster coin bank that was so heavy with change that it was nearly immobile. I wonder what Buddha would have made of that.
Regardless, as a child, I could relate to Buddha more than I could Christ. Even off the cross, Jesus was serious and sad. And a little bit scary: we had a picture of him on our stairs that showed his heart outside of his body and either on fire or crowned with thorns.
But Buddha was either cheerful or beautifully serene. His statues were magnets for children; as kids, and later my nieces and nephews, we loved rubbing his tummy, which we were told would bring us luck. As an adult, I feel such peace and love when I look at paintings and statues of him.
Unless it's the buddha bank, which is now at my sister's house. Then I'm thinking about how I can steal it from her. She can keep the money, I just want the statue.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
What I'm Listening to Now: Nine Inch Nails - The Slip
Downloaded this last night and installed it on the iPodPerson. On first listen, most of it reminds me of the music from Ghosts, although a little harder and fuzzier, maybe. I haven't deciphered the lyrics yet, but I'm intrigued. Some sound on the angry political side, others seem to be giving a big "fuck you" to Reznor's critics. In between Downward Spiral and Ghosts, I didn't buy any NIN because I didn't think he (they?) were doing anything all that interesting. But his sound since Ghosts has matured a little; he's still as angry and self-indulgent as ever, but now he's producing lush, eerie soundtracks to dystopia that raise the hair on the back of my neck. And really, isn't that what you want from a band called "Nine Inch Nails?"
Happiness is a warm computer...
The Satellite of Love (my Toshiba Satellite laptop) got a well-deserved overhaul last night. I archived big files, got rid of bloated programs (good bye Nero and BitDefender!), defragmented the hard drive, and ran CCleaner to get rid of unnecessary files and fix any registry problems. It's so nice to have a clean computer again, but the bloat was only part of the problem. My real problem is RAM. I have only 1 gig, but I'll have to upgrade to 2 soon. Of course, maybe if I wasn't running resource hogs like Photoshop that would help.
Now that my computer is clean, of course I added a bunch of new programs. I downloaded Avast (because I'm too nervous to go without) and CDBurnerXP (a free and much, much lighter DVD burning software) to replace the horror that is Nero. I had to install a torrent client in order to download the new Nine Inch Nails album (more on that later) and I finally got around to installing that free version of Bryce (3D modeling software). That last one is the least necessary and may be uninstalled depending on how much I like it.
The Satellite will be 3 years old in June and I'm hoping to squeeze a few more years out of the old boy yet. :)
Now that my computer is clean, of course I added a bunch of new programs. I downloaded Avast (because I'm too nervous to go without) and CDBurnerXP (a free and much, much lighter DVD burning software) to replace the horror that is Nero. I had to install a torrent client in order to download the new Nine Inch Nails album (more on that later) and I finally got around to installing that free version of Bryce (3D modeling software). That last one is the least necessary and may be uninstalled depending on how much I like it.
The Satellite will be 3 years old in June and I'm hoping to squeeze a few more years out of the old boy yet. :)
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Summer 2008 will be amazing
This summer is going to be crazy-busy and fun.
For one thing, there are so many movies coming out that I think I will be back to seeing at least one movie a week, something I haven't done since my film school days. Off the top of my head, I can list at ten movies I am dying to see and there are probably ten more that I am forgetting or am not as excited about but will probably see anyway.
On the top of my list (and probably everyone else's) is The Dark Knight. I saw I Am Legend at the IMax just so that I could see the "trailer." I put the word trailer in quotes because it was about 5 minutes of actual, completed footage from the movie. You can find some pretty awful video of it on YouTube (think hand-held camera smuggled into a theater) if you want to see it, but trust me, it was well worth the inflated IMax ticket price alone.
At the very least, I have to see my city stand in for Gotham. I can't tell you how proud I am that Chicago is Gotham; I truly love this city and it's nice that someone else appreciates it enough to use it as the Batman's city.
True story: my friend Keidra attended a meeting recently and realized that it was being held in Bruce Wayne's "bedroom." How cool is that?
Aside from movies, Lollapalooza happens in August and I have to see Nine Inch Nails play in Grant Park. Also in June is Wizard World Chicago, our answer to ComiCon - that deserves a post of its own for several reasons. And summer wraps up with Nick Cave and Bad Seeds playing down the street from me at the Riv in September.
This is going to be spectacular.
For one thing, there are so many movies coming out that I think I will be back to seeing at least one movie a week, something I haven't done since my film school days. Off the top of my head, I can list at ten movies I am dying to see and there are probably ten more that I am forgetting or am not as excited about but will probably see anyway.
On the top of my list (and probably everyone else's) is The Dark Knight. I saw I Am Legend at the IMax just so that I could see the "trailer." I put the word trailer in quotes because it was about 5 minutes of actual, completed footage from the movie. You can find some pretty awful video of it on YouTube (think hand-held camera smuggled into a theater) if you want to see it, but trust me, it was well worth the inflated IMax ticket price alone.
At the very least, I have to see my city stand in for Gotham. I can't tell you how proud I am that Chicago is Gotham; I truly love this city and it's nice that someone else appreciates it enough to use it as the Batman's city.
True story: my friend Keidra attended a meeting recently and realized that it was being held in Bruce Wayne's "bedroom." How cool is that?
Aside from movies, Lollapalooza happens in August and I have to see Nine Inch Nails play in Grant Park. Also in June is Wizard World Chicago, our answer to ComiCon - that deserves a post of its own for several reasons. And summer wraps up with Nick Cave and Bad Seeds playing down the street from me at the Riv in September.
This is going to be spectacular.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Iron Man
Here's the short, spoiler-free review: it's really good. Go see it.
I was very surprised by how much I liked this movie. Sure, I love comic books and I love movies and I like Jon Favreau. I even used to watch his Dinner for Five television show, even if it did get pretentious at times (as an aside, watch any episodes with Peter Berg - the man tells great stories). But, I did go in knowing next to nothing about the Iron Man character, and I had read some advanced reviews that were mixed, saying the pacing was off or some such. And in the end, the movie is about superheroes, a subject matter for Hollywood that tends to be hit or miss. Superheroes are often dismissed as fluff or worse, escapist fantasies for overgrown boys; the much-maligned, garish and vapid Batman movies produced by Joel Schumacher come to mind as falling into both categories.
I think what surprised me about this movie was how much soul it possesses. There is a sincerity to the actors, who seem to be both having fun and taking the material seriously. Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man is especially good. He is at his witty and charming best as the womanizing, boozing Stark, but he also gives the character depth. Stark, a brilliant weapons inventor, is kidnapped by warlords/terrorist group while on a promotional tour in Afghanistan, and his fear (and later outrage) is nearly palpable. He has excellent chemistry with Gwenyth Paltrow, who plays Pepper Potts, Stark's capable and quick-witted assistant. Romance in action movies often feels ham-fisted and tacked on, an afterthought, but here the budding relationship is actually touching. "I don't have anyone else," Stark admits to her, and though he states this as a simple fact, we can also detect the loneliness lying beneath his admission.
The dialog is where this movie really exceeds. It reveals the development of the characters with grace. There are two "monologues' that really stand out. The first is a speech from Raza, the leader of the terrorists, to Stark while in captivity. Unlike his men, Raza presents himself as a confident, polished and cultured man. He talks of history, particularly of Genghis Khan and the conquering of Asia. In a lesser movie, this would have been the rantings of a power-hungry mad man, but Raza is a practical man, shrewd and ambitious.
The second monologue comes from an exhausted Tony Stark, having returned to the U.S. after a harrowing escape. Surrounded by reporters, Stark is not his flippant, party-boy self. He is introspective and begins by saying "I never got a chance to say good-bye to my father." Stark's late father, a genius who worked on the Manhattan Project, haunts his son throughout the movie. Stark is always reminded of his father's brilliance and his father's belief in the weapons their company produces. But after his three-month ordeal, Stark wonders aloud to the press how his father truly felt about being one of the inventor's of the atomic bomb and the suffering it caused. Having seen his own weapons being used against U.S. soldiers (ones he had only moments before had been joking with) and Afghani civilians alike, he realizes he wants to make up for the pain and destruction his inventions have caused.
This scene underscores what I feel is the message of the movie. In one sense, Stark is the United States - selfish, wealthy, shallow and profiting from war. But underneath that indolent exterior, is a good heart, ingenuity and sincere desire to atone for past mistakes. Stark wants to turn his genius towards solving problems, like finding new energy sources. Ultimately, he takes on the role of Iron Man to destroy the weapons he created, protect those whose lives are threatened by them and thereby be redeemed. In this movie, I found a message of hope for my country, that we can turn away from war and use our superpowers for good instead of evil. It's not too late for us to be redeemed.
If I find any fault with the movie, it lies with the characterization of Obediah Stane, Stark's erstwhile mentor, business partner and friend, but also the real villain of this story. Jeff Bridges does an excellent job with what he's given, but the character descends into the mindlessly-greedy, jealous, insane, corporate villain used many times before. I think had Stane been portrayed more like Raza he would have made a much more interesting, and in the end effective, antagonist for Stark. We don't really get to see Stark deal with Stane's betrayal in meaningful way and I think that was a missed opportunity to elevate Stane to the true villainy he deserves.
My rating: 9 out of 10
I was very surprised by how much I liked this movie. Sure, I love comic books and I love movies and I like Jon Favreau. I even used to watch his Dinner for Five television show, even if it did get pretentious at times (as an aside, watch any episodes with Peter Berg - the man tells great stories). But, I did go in knowing next to nothing about the Iron Man character, and I had read some advanced reviews that were mixed, saying the pacing was off or some such. And in the end, the movie is about superheroes, a subject matter for Hollywood that tends to be hit or miss. Superheroes are often dismissed as fluff or worse, escapist fantasies for overgrown boys; the much-maligned, garish and vapid Batman movies produced by Joel Schumacher come to mind as falling into both categories.
I think what surprised me about this movie was how much soul it possesses. There is a sincerity to the actors, who seem to be both having fun and taking the material seriously. Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man is especially good. He is at his witty and charming best as the womanizing, boozing Stark, but he also gives the character depth. Stark, a brilliant weapons inventor, is kidnapped by warlords/terrorist group while on a promotional tour in Afghanistan, and his fear (and later outrage) is nearly palpable. He has excellent chemistry with Gwenyth Paltrow, who plays Pepper Potts, Stark's capable and quick-witted assistant. Romance in action movies often feels ham-fisted and tacked on, an afterthought, but here the budding relationship is actually touching. "I don't have anyone else," Stark admits to her, and though he states this as a simple fact, we can also detect the loneliness lying beneath his admission.
The dialog is where this movie really exceeds. It reveals the development of the characters with grace. There are two "monologues' that really stand out. The first is a speech from Raza, the leader of the terrorists, to Stark while in captivity. Unlike his men, Raza presents himself as a confident, polished and cultured man. He talks of history, particularly of Genghis Khan and the conquering of Asia. In a lesser movie, this would have been the rantings of a power-hungry mad man, but Raza is a practical man, shrewd and ambitious.
The second monologue comes from an exhausted Tony Stark, having returned to the U.S. after a harrowing escape. Surrounded by reporters, Stark is not his flippant, party-boy self. He is introspective and begins by saying "I never got a chance to say good-bye to my father." Stark's late father, a genius who worked on the Manhattan Project, haunts his son throughout the movie. Stark is always reminded of his father's brilliance and his father's belief in the weapons their company produces. But after his three-month ordeal, Stark wonders aloud to the press how his father truly felt about being one of the inventor's of the atomic bomb and the suffering it caused. Having seen his own weapons being used against U.S. soldiers (ones he had only moments before had been joking with) and Afghani civilians alike, he realizes he wants to make up for the pain and destruction his inventions have caused.
This scene underscores what I feel is the message of the movie. In one sense, Stark is the United States - selfish, wealthy, shallow and profiting from war. But underneath that indolent exterior, is a good heart, ingenuity and sincere desire to atone for past mistakes. Stark wants to turn his genius towards solving problems, like finding new energy sources. Ultimately, he takes on the role of Iron Man to destroy the weapons he created, protect those whose lives are threatened by them and thereby be redeemed. In this movie, I found a message of hope for my country, that we can turn away from war and use our superpowers for good instead of evil. It's not too late for us to be redeemed.
If I find any fault with the movie, it lies with the characterization of Obediah Stane, Stark's erstwhile mentor, business partner and friend, but also the real villain of this story. Jeff Bridges does an excellent job with what he's given, but the character descends into the mindlessly-greedy, jealous, insane, corporate villain used many times before. I think had Stane been portrayed more like Raza he would have made a much more interesting, and in the end effective, antagonist for Stark. We don't really get to see Stark deal with Stane's betrayal in meaningful way and I think that was a missed opportunity to elevate Stane to the true villainy he deserves.
My rating: 9 out of 10
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