The Fountain (2006)*
A major disappointment. I had hoped at least for some extraordinary visual scenes and there are a few but the majority of the film consists of extreme, and I do mean EXTREME, close-ups of Hugh Jackman or Rachel Weisz. You know when that happens the picture is in trouble. In addition, the film just seems badly lit. Darren Aronofsky said he made the film on a shoestring budget and it shows. Not an enjoyable film experience.

Flushed Away (2006)****
Laugh out loud funny as well as one of the most imaginative and inventive films (not just animated films) of the year. I don't know if it is easier or cheaper (probably the former) to reproduce the claymation techniques used in the Wallace & Gromit films using CGI, but it is certainly an effective and brilliant idea and here it is executed flawlessly. And the voice work is first class, particularly Ian McKellan who is marvelous as the pompous, royal-loving Toad. I read somewhere that production costs approached $150M. That just floors me for an animated picture. I would like to get a breakdown on those costs some day. What in the world do they spend it on?

Press Conference by the President (11/08/2006):
"Q Thank you, Mr. President. Last week you told us that Secretary Rumsfeld will be staying on. Why is the timing right now for this, and how much does it have to do with the election results?

THE PRESIDENT: Right. No, you and Hunt and Keil came in the Oval Office, and Hunt asked me the question one week before the campaign, and basically it was, are you going to do something about Rumsfeld and the Vice President? And my answer was, they're going to stay on. And the reason why is I didn't want to inject a major decision about this war in the final days of a campaign. And so the only way to answer that question and to get you on to another question was to give you that answer."

Interesting. He didn't want to "inject a major decision about this war" during an election campaign. Then he goes on to say well it was because he hadn't yet met with Gates about becoming the nominee, then he says well Gates was going to be the nominee regardless of the election results so it didn't matter. Well if it didn't matter, why not just do it before the election? In other words, why did you lie to us again, Mr. President? What else are you lying about? Why do you find it so difficult to level with the American people, your employers? Bill Clinton was, and rightly so, hounded mercilessly by the press for his lying. Yet Bush gets a free pass. Interesting.

Bush Says Rumsfeld Is Stepping Down
I just hope he doesn't try and leave the country. It would be a shame to have to have him extradited back here for his trial.

Democrats Take Control of House; Decisive Races in Senate Are Tight - New York Times
It's still a bit early but it looks like the Democrats have come very close to control of the Senate with an incredibly tight race in Virginia likely to be contested. And the question that Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Reid and the rest of the Democrats need to answer is the same one faced by Bill McKay after he won: what do we do now?

And my answer to them all is you need to do what you should have been doing for the past 5 years and STAND UP! Somewhere, somehow you all need to find your principles and start saying "NO". If they can't do that, and immediately, then it was all for naught.

Lindsey Buckingham - Under The Skin****Here's another disc that is rather difficult to listen to in one sitting. Yet each song is an impressive blend of hooks, aural gymnastics, incredible guitar work and intense lyrics that the entire album must be considered a unique work of art.

The New Yorker: Q&A: Civic Emotions
"The gate we walk through when we become parents is, in my experience, the most one-sided gate we walk through in life. One morning, you are a ship out on the ocean, heading for Byzantium; the next, you and your spouse have become a harbor for another boat getting ready for its own voyage out. And, though you sneak away for weeks on book tours, you are never anything but a harbor again. (An abandoned harbor, eventually, searching the horizon for the long-gone ships.)

This is a good thing, of course, but becoming a parent made me, I think, more impatient with writing anything that seemed to me homework—work made to order, and not about the things that truly obsess one but about the things about which one is expected to have a professional opinion. I recall standing at the entrance of a Bruce Nauman exhibition, shortly after my son was born—and Nauman is an artist I keenly admire and have analyzed at exhausting length—where one of his “Clown Torture” videos was shouting at people, and thinking, I am interested in this, but I do not care about this as obsessively as I do about watching my child grow into consciousness. Life is too short, and parenting too exhausting, to allow you much time for mere professional opinionating.

And then, for all the joys that parenting provides, it also makes you keenly aware of the temporariness of all experience. To a child, family life looks as fixed and solid as a civilization, with rituals and routines and prohibitions—boxes of ornaments that have always been in the basement and silverware that has always been resting in the drawer. In fact, to the parents, it’s a frantic improvisation, as fragile and contingent as a truce in wartime. We see the bills and they see—and should only see—the ongoing surface of reassuring sameness.

More than the continuity of time, what parenting provides, I think, is a sense of the fragility of existence. Darwin grasped this after the tragic death of his daughter, who was only ten, and there is, as I’ve tried to show recently in the magazine, illuminating his work a half-stoical, half-heartbroken sense of the irreconcilable demands of deep time, where rocks are made and animals evolve, and quick time, human time, where our children are born and can depart. You can’t reconcile one time with the other; you just have to live in the knowledge of both. This fracture of vision is part of what being a parent is about."

Adam Gopnik nails the experience of parenthood.

"30 Rock" (2006)****
This is the best new show on television. Densely funny, smartly produced, with a standout cast. Sharply written with none of the "watch what I do with this line" snobbery of say Studio 60. I hope the no laugh-track policy starts to catch on. And I love the fact that it is NOT "filmed before a live audience". This show and The Office have renewed my faith in the sitcom. Now if they can only pull in the ratings...

Aimee Mann - One More Drifter in the Snow***
An interesting holiday album from Ms. Mann. The lead-off track, Jimmy Webb's "Whatever Happened to Christmas?" sets the tone, one of melancholy primarily. There's a fresh take on "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" as well as other standards, along with Michael Penn's "Christmastime" and a new Mann tune "Calling On Mary" which is well done. The only real clunker is her take on "White Christmas" which, and as an Aimee Mann fan from way back I hate to say it, sounds plain awful. One unusual note: there is an almost overwhelming emphasis on the bass line in the production on this record. You would be advised to lower the bass or pump up the treble when playing this disc. Not sure why this was done as it is way overboard. Perhaps because the bass player, Paul Bryan, also produced?

The Prestige (2006)***I guess what it boils down to is I don't like Christian Bale. He seems like a good actor and his performance is fine, it's just I don't see him in this role and I don't enjoy seeing him on the screen. The script is smart and sharp, the direction is clever and artful. It's a good film, just not up to the level of Memento which I always seem to expect, admittedly unfairly, from Christopher Nolan.

Pernice Brothers - Live A Little ***
Literate, tightly constructed pop songs filled with catchy hooks and riffs. "Automaton", "Cruelty to Animals", "Sommerville" and "Lightheaded" are standouts. I would have given this record 4 stars but I find lead singer Joe Pernice's almost-whispered, delicately precise diction incredibly annoying. Don't listen to the album all at once and you'll be fine.

Jules et Jim (1962)***
The first half seems self-consciously "arty" and amazingly rushed. It all goes by in a whirlwind with no time to really connect to the characters. But the second half has many moments of deep emotion and despair as the principles realize that their dreams cannot be fulfilled yet they cannot bring themselves to dream anew. Jeanne Moreau is luminous.

DLP Cinema technology
When I went to my local cinema to see The Departed, the theater in which it was playing used DLP (digital light processing) projectors instead of film projectors. This was my first experience with digital film projection.

Wow.

I know it sounds cliched, but I have to say it: this changes everything. Absolutely crystal clear images FINALLY! You can keep your snap-crackle-pop, jittery, scratch-infested, color-faded film stock and do whatever you want with it. If I were running a cinema today, I would switch over to this technology overnight. It is really that good. I really wish I had seen The New World at a DLP theater.

The Departed (2006)***
Terrific, violent actioner from Martin Scorsese evokes comparisons to his masterpiece Goodfellas but falls a bit short. The direction is top-notch, with several innovative touches that shows Scorsese is not just phoning it in here. The only problem with the flick is the cast. It's not that they aren't all good (Alec Baldwin does a great job with a small supporting role) but they are all movie stars. I never felt like I wasn't watching Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon or Leonardo DiCaprio. And that little bit of distance to their characters meant I was just not totally involved in the drama. But it's an enjoyable and thoughtful film, well worth your time.

The Killers - Sam's Town***
Quite enjoyable second album from The Killers. "When You Were Young" and "Bones" are standout songs, driving and energetic, musically creative, with interesting lyrics. "This River Is Wild" though, while enjoyable, strays a little too close to Springsteen imitation/parody territory.

NBC.com - Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip*
Apparently if you want to talk with Aaron Sorkin you had better be wearing your running shoes. Everybody in his shows carries on conversations while walking at a brisk pace down tight hallways that twist and turn and have an abundance of overhead lighting. It gets annoying real fast. I tried to watch Sorkin's previous show "The West Wing" but it had such an oppressive air of self-importance I couldn't stand it. His first effor, "Sports Night" was by contrast breezy, light and most importantly, FUNNY! Studio 60 for all its fast-talking and fast-walking banter is turgid and so pretentious its almost a parody of itself. Maybe it is and I just don't get it. ALL the characters are geniuses who speak in one-liners and never fail to have a smart, sharp comeback to everything someone else says. Not a good show.

Yo La Tengo:I am not afraid of you and I will beat your ass ****
Wonderfully eclectic collection of tunes from Yo La Tengo covers a large range of musical styles. (I don't understand why some critics complain of a record not being 'cohesive'. What does that mean and why is it important?) There are a couple of jammin' instrumentals that tend to run a bit long, but the concise, smart pop song is theorder of the day here. Brilliant.

Mass murder in the skies: was the plot feasible? | The Register:
"Once the plane is over the ocean, very discreetly bring all of your gear into the toilet. You might need to make several trips to avoid drawing attention. Once your kit is in place, put a beaker containing the peroxide / acetone mixture into the ice water bath (Champagne bucket), and start adding the acid, drop by drop, while stirring constantly. Watch the reaction temperature carefully. The mixture will heat, and if it gets too hot, you'll end up with a weak explosive. In fact, if it gets really hot, you'll get a premature explosion possibly sufficient to kill you, but probably no one else.

After a few hours - assuming, by some miracle, that the fumes haven't overcome you or alerted passengers or the flight crew to your activities - you'll have a quantity of TATP with which to carry out your mission. Now all you need to do is dry it for an hour or two."

As I have to flt on a business trip last week, I am dismayed to learn that we STILL won't be able to carry on liquids. And for what? How can a small group of small-minded people be allowed to mess with our lives like this? Where are the true statesmen?

Papal Address at University of Regensburg:Three Stages in the Program of De-Hellenization:
"In this lecture I would like to discuss only one point -- itself rather marginal to the dialogue itself -- which, in the context of the issue of 'faith and reason,' I found interesting and which can serve as the starting point for my reflections on this issue."

Oh if only B16 hadn't exiled Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald, Vatican expert on the Islamic world so that he could have proof-read his text. If you read it, you are left with the sense of a smart guy trying to pull the wool over those he considers not so smart. In a speech purportedly about the differences between faith and reason, he decides that of all the possible ideas or citations available to him, he picks one, admittedly marginal to the overall idea, that is so disparaging, so completely ignorant of Islam's central idea, and then drops it. Really, that citation sticks out like a sore thumb. I can't think of any other reason to include that than to provoke a response and thereby prove the point of the speech that the Islamic world cannot be counted upon to act reasonably about anything.

Gee, what a smart guy this pope is.

Facebook's "Privacy Trainwreck": Exposure, Invasion, and Drama:
"What happened with Facebook was not about a change in the bit state - it was about people feeling icky. It made people felt icky for different reasons - some felt it for the exposure while others felt it for the invasion. Let me explain."

And danah boyd goes on to explain that, in a nutshell, news readers make her feel icky. What this really is about is danah being slapped upside the head by reality and not being able to handle it all at once. Certainly understandable. But what people need to understand right off the bat, is that The Internet is public. Every, every, EVERY bit of it. And just because YOU don't have some nifty little app that lets you make use of that fact, you can be assured that somebody, and most likely many "somebodies", do. The people that signed on to Facebook didn't know that going in and that's their fault, not Facebook's. To borrow danah's analogy, Facebook had the music up loud, but everyone in the room should have realized that the music could stop or change at any moment. And often does and sometimes you don't even realize it.

And I love it that way.