Fausta's blog

Faustam fortuna adiuvat
The official blog of Fausta's Blog Talk Radio show.

Monday, May 26, 2008

Benicio wins the Cannes' Best Actor award...

...for glorifying a psychopath mass murderer: Benicio Del Toro, 'Latino Brad Pitt', wins Cannes award as 'Che'
"I'd like to dedicate this to the man himself, Che Guevara," said the actor, after accepting his second big award under the US director's helmsmanship.

"I wouldn't be here without Che Guevera, and through all the awards the movie gets you'll have to pay your respects to the man."
As if there was anything to respect about Che Guevara.

The article continues,
Some critics slammed the film shot in Spanish for its length and meticulous documentary-style presentation, as well as for failing to focus on the politically controversial aspects of the Cuban revolution.

Soderbergh needed to tighten it for average movie-goers, they said.
Benicio has his share of the blame for this aberration:
Del Toro, who has a quiet but immensely strong presence, was involved from the start on the "Che" film, which took nine years of research and 60 million dollars to complete.
Too bad he couldn't spare fifteen minutes in the Cuba Archive.

I fully expect Benicio will get an Oscar for this movie. For now, he also got a Come Mierda Of the Week Award

Prior post: Benicio's Che vs reality's Che.

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Friday, May 23, 2008

Today at 11AM Eastern: Erik Svane's back in Cannes!

UPDATE
You can listen to the podcast here

In today's podcast, my friend Erik Svane of No Pasaran will be reporting live from the Cannes Film Festival.


Erik's the author of three books, La Bannière Étalée, and two General Leonardo graphic novels. Don't miss also Erik's essay on patriotism.

Erik is in his annual pilgrimage to the Cannes Film Festival and we'll be talking about that and about the French. If we decide to get on serious topics, we'll also talk about the al-Dura decision.


Listen to Faustas blog on internet talk radio

Chat's open at 10:45AM and the call-in number is 646 652-2639. Join us!

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Sunday, May 18, 2008

The Bear hunters are back


It's that time of year: dozens of Bear Grylls fans come to my blog looking for "Bear Grylls naked."

Unfortunately I don't have any still photos of the very delectable Mr. Grylls in the buff.

However, here's a nice YouTube of behind the scenes in Patagonia:


And let's not forget the naked scene of the same episode:


Unfortunately they blurred the naughty bits.

He also sings "I love a-rach-nids" in the Discovery Channel ad:


For more Bear treats, here's the official Discovery Channel website and his blog. Don't miss the slideshow.

I wonder where he goes on vacation.

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Saturday, May 17, 2008

Saturday night House

The USA channel's playing the seven deadly sins of House marathon, so here's lust for you (probably not really suitable for work):

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Saturday, May 10, 2008

Macbeth makes a sandwich

Just got back from seeing Macbeth on Broadway. Spectacularly good production, and Macbeth is very clearly a Stalinist. Patrick Stewart was at least as good as I expected, and does fabulous work with props.

He decants the wine when talking to Lady Macbeth before plotting the first murder. Their relationship is very sexual but that diminishes as their thirst for blood and power takes over.



Banquo's death becomes a topic to discuss while making a sandwich; here's how he did it:

Macbeth, talking to the two murderers, takes a sandwich board out of the refrigerator.

The sandwich board has a loaf of rye, bread knife, mustard pot, dish of mayo, plate with sliced cheese, and spatulas for spreading.

MACBETH:

I did so, and went further, which is now
Our point of second meeting. Do you find
Your patience so predominant in your nature
That you can let this go?
Slices bread once.

Are you so gospell'd
To pray for this good man and for his issue,
Whose heavy hand hath bow'd you to the grave
And beggar'd yours for ever?
Slices bread again. Dips spatula on mayo.

First murderer:

We are men, my liege.
MACBETH:

Ay, in the catalogue ye go for men;
Speads mayo on one slice...

As hounds and greyhounds,
spreading...

mongrels, spaniels,
as he...

curs,
Shoughs,
goes along...

water-rugs and demi-wolves,
puts spreader back.

are clept
Uncovers the cheese ...


All by the name of dogs: the valued file


Distinguishes the swift,



picks up one slice...

the slow, the subtle,
puts it on the bread...

The housekeeper,
licks finger ...

the hunter, every one
picks up another slice of cheese, puts on top.


According to the gift which bounteous nature
Hath in him closed;

Spreads mayo on the other slice of bread

whereby he does receive
Particular addition. from the bill
That writes them all alike:
Puts another cheese slice on the first slice of bread

and so of men.
Now, if you have a station in the file,
Not i' the worst rank of manhood, say 't;
And I will put that business in your bosoms,
Spreads mustard on the cheese

Whose execution takes your enemy off,
Grapples you to the heart and love of us,
Places both slices of bread together



Who wear our health but sickly in his life,
Which in his death were perfect.


Slices the sandwich in half.

Walks in front of the table.

Both of you
Know
Takes a big bite and says with his mouth full,

Banquo
chews, swallows...

was your enemy.
By the time he slices the remaining half of the sandwich in half and gives each quarter to the murderers, Banquo's fate is sealed.

Later in the play, his conscience starts to catch up with him and after the intermission he can not touch his soup.

Of course the rest of the production will knock your socks off, but he had me at the sandwich.

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Saturday, April 26, 2008

"My dearest love, Duncan comes here tonight"



Patrick Stewart is playing Macbeth on Broadway. You can buy your tickets here.

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Friday, April 18, 2008

Venezuela: The Simpsons are back


Simpsons Back to Bueno in Venezuela
A little more than a week after a Venezuelan TV station pulled a daily broadcast of The Simpsons amid viewer complaints of failing to be socially responsible programming - replacing it, ironically enough, with the jiggly bastion of family-friendly viewing that is Baywatch Hawaii - the cartoon series has made it back on the air.

Televen returned Matt Groening's brainchild to the airwaves Wednesday night, this time running the series at 7 p.m. as opposed to its previous scheduling of 11 a.m., when it was apparently consumed by an impressionable and much younger demographic.
The Beeb has more:
The National Telecommunications Commission also said the channel would be taken off air if it failed to move the show from its 1100 slot.

It claimed the saga of Homer Simpson, wife Marge and their three children flouted regulations that prohibit "messages that go against the whole education of boys, girls and adolescents".
It looks like the Venezuelan censors never caught on to the idea that The Simpsons are "quite an anarchic and liberal-left assault on that idea of the family".

Let's get this straight: The Simpsons got pulled off the 11AM time slot because they weren't "socially responsible", and Babewatch Hawaii is. But now the Simpsons are back at 7PM instead. You must admit, you can't say that Babewatch Hawaii (or any of the Babewatches) doesn't go against the whole of anyone's education; to the contrary.

I'm blinded by the brilliance of their logic. Mr. Spock would have been proud.

In other Venezuelan news, Venezuela is now the biggest importer of foreign weapons in South America, and ninth world-wide, and A First Nations chief from southern Manitoba is asking Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez for $1 million to fight for pipeline royalties. With bills like that, no wonder Hugo needs his money, pronto.

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Saturday, March 22, 2008

Two weeks to Spring Blog Fest East!

Two weeks away from the BlogFest, and you need to make your reservations right now since Triumph Brewery needs to know how many people are attenting.

Updated list of guests: TigerHawk, Jazz Shaw, Skye, Rich Davis, Gigglechick, KateSpot will be there!

From the Facebook page,
Martha Colmenares, EM Zanotti, Michael VanderGalien, Ali Eteraz, and Audrey Mullen said they're attending,
while Ron Coleman, Sean Hackbarth, Eneas Biglione, Dan Riehl, Dan Collins, Robert Stacy McCain, Andrew Hoffer, Dr Melissa Clouthier, Michel Gurfinkle, Judith Weiss, Mary Madigan, Jane Goodwin, BJ Van Look, Monday Morning Clacker and John Lindner may be attending.

All in addition to the bloggers whose payment already has been received,
Paul Budline
Jim of Parkway Rest Stop and his bodyguard
Joated
Technicalities
Shamrocketship
Gates of Vienna
Grouchy Old Cripple
Mr. Bingley of Coalition of the Swilling
Erica Sherman
Cripes Suzette
Sad Old Goth

Special thanks to Doug Ross for his support.

Have you made your reservations yet?



SPRING BLOG FEST EAST

When: Saturday April 5, 2008
6-11PM

Where: Sky Suite,
Triumph Brewing Company
138 Nassau Street
Princeton NJ 08540

Buffet Menu:
Hors d'oeuvres
House salad
Organic New York Strip "Prime Rib"
Seared Salmon with Pineapple-Mango Coulis
Tortellini with Tomato Parmesan Sauce
Chocolate covered white cake with peanut butter mousse and strawberry jam


How much: $45 per person, plus CASH BAR

You can make a check payable to Fausta Wertz, PO Box 1589, Princeton NJ 08542-1589, or pay through Paypal:







For more information, click here



Questions? Email me faustaw2 "at" gmail "dot" com

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Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Anthony Minghella 1954-2008


Bretibart News has a beautiful a tribute to Anthony Minghella.

Minghella directed some of my favorite movies and TV shows:
The Dead of Jericho episode of Inspector Morse,
Truly Madly Deeply,
The English Patient,
He died on the day The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency opened in London.

Get a hold of some Kleenex and watch a beautiful scene from Truly, Madly, Deeply. I've only been able to watch TMD once; it elicits so much sorrow I can't take it in its entirety.

Here's another tearjerker scene, from The English Patient, "Every night I cut out my heart"...


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Sunday, March 09, 2008

Three really good movies playing in theaters right now

As readers of this blog know, I've asking for quite a while "what happened to the 1 1/2 hour movie?"

Well, the 1 1/2 hour movie is alive and well and playing at a theather near you. In the last couple of weeks I've enjoyed three excellent movies, which are entirely different from each other: Persepolis, The Band's Visit, and Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day.

Persepolis is an animated moview entirely in black and white (very little grey) except for a few select scenes that take place outside Iran. It is based on the real-life memoirs of Marjane Satrapi which she had published in the graphic novel of the same title.

Persepolis is entirely in French with English subtitles and I'm glad they didn't dub it, since real-life mother and daughter team Chiara Mastroiani and Catherine Denueve do the voices of Marjaname and her mother. This is an intensely personal story and having their casting adds another layer to the film.

Anyone harboring any illussions that the Iranian regime respects women's rights would be well advised to stay away or risk losing that comfortable fantasy forever. Persepolis shows how the Ayatollahs killed all Communists upon reaching power, how young people perish for engaging in the most normal tasks, and how a woman's spirit can only survive by going into exile.

Persepolis is intense, heartbreaking, and possibly the best animated film I've seen.

Here's the trailer:



--------------------------------------------------------------------

The Band's Visit tell the story of the Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra's first twenty-four hours in Israel after getting off the airport and taking a bus to the wrong town.

Unfortunately for them, they arrive at a small town where not much is happening, they are low on funds, and there's no place to stay. They are scheduled to play at the opening of an Arab arts center and have no way to get to get there. This Arab arts center in Israel adds subtext to the story (particularly since one has to wonder, is there a Jewish arts center anywhere in the Arab world), without weighing down the film.

Luckily, the very beautiful Dina (played by Ronit Elkabetz) serves them a nice lunch at her cafe and arranges for some shelter for the night. The dynamic between Dina and Tawfik (played by Sasson Gabai) is the most interesting part of the plot but you don't need to wait for them to show up; indeed, the most moving scene may be when the clarinet player is talking to the young father in the father's bedroom.

I won't go into details of the rest of the band's adventure but this is a really good film about people who may be just like other people you know but who are never ordinary. The actors are perfect, and the movie is funny, endearing, and moving, sometimes all at once.

In Arabic, Hebrew, and heavily accented English, with subtitles in American.




--------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm not all that fond of chick flicks and have been known to really enjoy the Terminators, the Gladiator and 300, but I finally found a chick flick I absolutely adore: Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day. Even the tag line, "Every Woman Will Have Her Day" screams "Chick flick!" at you, so there's an element of farce that the producers didn't want to hide.

This is a Cinderella story, only that Cinderella is also Fairy Godmother, too.

Here's what to love:
Deep-voiced Brits wearing black tie: Ciaran Hinds, Mark Strong. Trust me, you're going to love Ciaran Hinds.
Americans doing a good job: Frances McDormand, Amy Adams and Lee Pace
Fun plot.
Good message, not heavy handed: Find the one who loves you for who you are, not the one who loves you for what you want them to think you are.
Great decor: Art Deco, with many flourishes that would be appropriate for the nightclub crowd
Beautiful 1930s style clothing.
1930s music, including big-band numbers and a duo.
Authentic London locations.
Classic cars.

Miss Pettigrew will put a smile on your face. Go see it.



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Thursday, March 06, 2008

Reviewing Matamoros


When I was at CPAC I had a chance to talk to the guys at the Mastys Comix booth about their new comic book, Matamoros


As you can read from the their website, the story was developed by
John Cox is a painter, cartoonist, and illustrator for hire. He’s the illustrator of the wildly popular Cox & Forkum political cartoon series and also maintains a portfolio of his work at his John Cox Art website. John pencilled, inked and lettered the inaugural of Matamoros. Look for his work again in Issue #2!

Darius LaMonica is a co-writer and co-developer of the Matamoros comic book. A former engineer, he’s published science fiction and first entered the blogosphere several years ago with the FireTariqRamadan blog.

Sleet and Darius are long-time friends. Sleet is the co-writer and co-developer of the Matamoros comic book and cursed even more than Chuck Sobietti on the day Captain America died.
The comic book stars Chuck Sobietti, four-time Purple Heart war hero, who at the start of the story has been severely maimed by an Iranian-made IED while in action in Iraq.

Chuck has more than a passing resemblance to the Six Million Dollar Man of the seventies, and emulates Captain America. His nemesis are Jihadists, not Nazis. Of course, the storyline bucks the trend in our politically-correct world, where entire countries are being pressured to not offend anyone deriding jihadists.

Additionally, the comic book is guaranteed to generate controversy, since it implies that a vigilante would "take care" of the problem. It will take more than that.

However, I was fascinated by the story, and loved the style of the illustrations (some clearly inspired by "300"). I look forward to the next installment of the adventures of Chuck Sobietti.

More than a comic book, it is a graphic novel that should generate discussion. I highly recommend it.

Today FrontPage interviews Darius LaMonica:
And our use of this word in the title has nothing to do with a desire to start some type of religious war. I've already dealt with fools raising this straw man against the book. They're completing missing the point of the title, which is to show that we've got to get inside the heads of today's jihadists to determine their motivation for attempting to restart a global jihad. These creeps are already talking about the "tragedy of Andalusia (Muslim Spain)" and how they want it back. And they're not basing these threats on some "root cause" of poverty - they're basing it on their notion that they have a religious duty to re-conquer any areas that once were held by the Caliphate. This is the same basis for their desire to conquer Israel and the people in Spain who voted Jose Aznar out of office had better realize that if Israel falls to radical Islam, Spain is going to be the next country in the jihadists' crosshairs.
Also,
FP: What do you hope to achieve with your comic book and with America's first anti-jihadist comic book hero?

LaMonica: I'd really like two things to happen with the book.

First, I'd like the readers to get interested in "World War IV" as Norman Podhoretz calls the current conflict. We've added some little "clues" in the book - the historical references with Sobietti's name, a panel that references "asymmetric warfare," etc. - which add to the plot.

Second, we really want the men and women in uniform to see one pop cultural artifact that's showing them as valorous in their fight against Islamofascism. The highlight of this book for me was sending some copies to a few soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. If they can get fifteen minutes of entertainment out of the book and know that they're fighting a true enemy of civilization then I'll consider the book a rousing success.
It'll be interesting to see if the blogs commenting at the Memeorandum link have bothered to read it.

They should.

You can buy it here.

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Thursday, December 27, 2007

Very Good, Jeeves!


Russians are going wild for P G Wodehouse
Outlawed by Stalin in 1929, P G Wodehouse - or Pyelem G Vudhaus as he is known - has undergone a remarkable revival since the ban on his books was lifted in 1990.

There can be few fans as dedicated, however, as Mr Kuzmenko.

As president and founder of the Russian Wodehouse Society he has attracted over 3,000 members, some from as far away as Cheliabinsk and Omsk, thousands of miles to the east. His monthly Wodehouse dinners at the Cleopatra and elsewhere are always sold out.

The actors Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie have played their part. Ever since their acclaimed television portrayal of Jeeves and Wooster was dubbed into Russian, young fans have started flocking to the club.

Wodehouse translations have mushroomed and even a souring of Anglo-Russian relations has done little to dim the enthusiasm for this quintessentially English author.
Is it because Kristol Talks, Ivan Listens?

Or is it due to a secret streak of Anglophilia?
"The reader is lifted into an English paradise, which many Russians believe is the best paradise of all."
I ask, you decide.

John O'Sullivan says there's a Drones Club in New York. I wonder if they accept women?

You, too, can do as the Russians and enjoy the whole Fry/Laurie Jeeves & Wooster series on DVD:


And of course, there are the books,


But if you become a Hugh Laurie fan (who, moi?)


I don't know about you, but I find it comforting to think that Bertie Wooster grew up to be Dr. House...

More blogging later.
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Friday, December 07, 2007

... and Elvis lives near the Princeton Shopping Center.

Did Morgan Spurlock find Osama bin Laden? How do you spell "publicity stunt"?
15 minutes of footage shown at film fest sparks bidding war, speculation

The speculation first began at the Berlin International Film Festival in February, where Spurlock showed a select group of potential buyers 15 minutes of footage from his new documentary, "Where in the World Is Osama bin Laden?" The film follows Spurlock through the Middle East in his search for the elusive leader of al-Qaida. According to Slashfilm.com, The Weinstein Co. quickly snapped up the picture after seeing the clips.
Spurlock, best known for Supersize Me, is also the brains behind 30 Days
I asked the show's executive producers--all of whom worked on "The Awful Truth With Michael Moore," a cable TV show--how this could be a documentary when they had decided the outcome in advance. Wasn't it possible that Mr. Stacy would come out seeing that there isn't Islamophobia to the extent that the Muslim community claims? Might he see that there is disturbingly strong support in the Detroit-area Islamic community for terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah--a fact regularly documented even in the normally pliant Detroit media?
No, the producers told me. "Morgan wants the show to demonstrate to America that we are Islamophobic and that 9/11's biggest victims are Muslims."
Move over, Michael Moore...
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Saturday, December 01, 2007

Dr. Fleming reviews Beowulf

My son, who has been corresponding with Dr. Fleming (who is visiting France), just informed me that Dr. Fleming wrote a review of Beowulf for The New Republic:
Good Grief, Grendel
There are poor adaptations of great works of the past--and then there is the latest film version of 'Beowulf.'
The film's signal originality, and the occasion of its most grotesque travesty of a great poem, is its "vision" of what should have been the second and most terrifying monster: Grendel's mother, who dwells in the depths of a haunted pool. But that's no monster, that's Angelina Jolie--and, boy, swiche wenche was never ere now found in mere, tarn, lagoon, or hwaelsweg, let alone in the giant fishbowl dreamed up by our director. In light-hearted mood, medieval scholars debated such questions as this: "If you are to be married to a mermaid, which half do you want to be fish?" Zemeckis appears to have the implied problem all figured out, since Grendel's Mom has been most fecund in her many matings with, apparently, every king in town. We have always known who Beowulf's father was. We now learn that actually, like poor old Job, he is a brother to dragons. This is too silly for words, but, alas, not for pictures.
You got to read all of it - he's at his best!

You will also enjoy my podcast interview of Dr. Fleming from last March, which I also transcribed.

Here's the Beowulf trailer:

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Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Early Sesame Street's not suitable for minors; this post may also not be

The NY Times reports that
According to an earnest warning on Volumes 1 and 2, "Sesame Street: Old School" is adults-only: "These early 'Sesame Street' episodes are intended for grown-ups, and may not suit the needs of today’s preschool child."
...
I asked Carol-Lynn Parente, the executive producer of "Sesame Street," how exactly the first episodes were unsuitable for toddlers in 2007. She told me about Alistair Cookie and the parody "Monsterpiece Theater." Alistair Cookie, played by Cookie Monster, used to appear with a pipe, which he later gobbled. According to Parente, "That modeled the wrong behavior" — smoking, eating pipes — "so we reshot those scenes without the pipe, and then we dropped the parody altogether."

Here's what the fuss is all about:

As Ed Driscoll said,
Forty years from now, when the current season of Sesame Street is being assembled for release on whatever the successor format to the successor format of DVD is, how much of it will have to be reshot to comply with how much further the nanny state is sure to have expanded further?
And how much more crap are we willing to put up with?

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Friday, October 26, 2007

Michael Fumento writes about Hollywood's War on the WOT

Hollywood's War on the War on Terror
Critics have labeled the new movie "Rendition" a "political thriller." Whether it thrills or not is subjective. But "political"? Absolutely. It’s merely the latest in an unbroken series of major films about the war on terror that range from those seeking to assure us that Islamist terrorism isn’t the threat we might think, to those depicting the terrorists as no worse than those who fight them - and by implication the American people as a whole.
Michael mentions The Sum of All Fears:
Consider, too, the odyssey of the conversion of Tom Clancy's massive best-selling 1991 book, "The Sum of All Fears," in which a nuclear bomb destroys an American city, into the 2002 film of the same name. In the book and the original script, the bad guys were Islamist terrorists. Little did Mr. Clancy know how realistic his choices of villains were: Federal court hearings in February 2001 revealed that as early as 1993, Osama bin Laden offered $1.5 million to buy uranium for a nuclear weapon.

But ultimately the Paramount movie depicted the bomber as yet another comic book character villain, an Austrian neo-Nazi. (Though at least he never says, "Vee haff vays uf making you talk!")
Thank goodness for that. The villain was played by Alan Bates, my idol, fresh from his part on off-Broadway's The Unexpected Man.

Michael continues,
Mr. Clancy, who unfortunately had no control over the process, took a swipe at director Phil Alden Robinson on the special features section of the DVD. Mr. Robinson, for his part, made the incredible claim on the DVD extra that the change was in the name of realism.

In reality, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) had lobbied to change the villains and won. "I hope you will be reassured that I have no intention of promoting negative images of Muslims or Arabs," Mr. Robinson wrote to them, "and I wish you the best in your continuing efforts to combat discrimination." Paramount's CEO at the time, Sherry Lansing, also suggested that she would steer clear of movies with Muslim villains.
Ed Driscoll notices Hollywood's nihillism:
I'm not sure when such a worldview developed; though James Piereson would argue this was the flashpoint. But in any case, the mindset that fuels Hollywood's dangerously self-destructive cocktail of nihilism and a punitive blind spot regarding America and its role in the world is surprisingly similiar to the elite news media's long-running sense of aloofness and cosmopolitanism.
As Glenn Reynolds points out,
"THE PROBLEM IS NOT WITH THE PEOPLE THAT STARTED THIS. THE PROBLEM'S WITH US." That's a Robert Redford breakout line from the trailer to his new war-on-terror movie that just appeared on my TV. It certainly sums up a certain worldview.
Indeed.

Audiences aren't buying it.

Michael Fumento was my podcast guest last March, when we talked about his work as an embed in Iraq. You can listen to the podcast here.
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Monday, September 17, 2007

Let's ditch entertainment

So, what are the top stories?
OJ, and Sally Fields.

Don't email me blaming the cable networks, or anything other than people's own stupidity.

More blogging later.



Update, Tuesday, 18 September
Can you tell I'm sick of the OJ coverage?

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Saturday, July 21, 2007

The loathesome AI: a movie review

Last night The Husband and I watched Artificial Intelligence: AI, the movie Steven Spielberg released in 2001.

We watched on cable TV, and briefly discussed during the ad breaks.

I knew AI was a box office flop, but had no idea why. All I knew was that it was a story about a boy robot and his friend, a gigolo robot, or something to that effect.

Well, there was plenty of reason for that film to flop, as it turns out.

On the surface, this is a retelling of Pinocchio in a high-tech setting. You are wrong if you think this film is suitable for children: There are sexual situations, violence, cruelty, and the message of the film is thoroughly pessimistic.

The film is overloaded with symbolism, which at times is explicit, "In the world of Orga, blue is the color of melancholy," and at a few rare times left for you to understand, but the sensory overload of special effects and audio has the effect of numbing you to whatever there is.

AI's high tech world is filled with gadgets and toys whose purpose is to ease the humans' lives. The humans use these toys, including the robots, to not only do their work, but also to conveniently ease or avoid the pain of real human-to-human relationships. To that end, they have manufactured sentient toys, called "supertoys", like a noxious-looking teddy bear that was thisclose to being a replica of an ewok, and also sentient, feeling, self-aware robots.

The humans refer to each other as "orgas" and to the robots as "mechas".

"Orgas" are cruel, sadistic beings (and don't tell me the scriptwriters had never heard of orcs, with whom they share several character flaws), who, rather than make the robots with an On/Off switch - something Mr. Data's maker had the presence of mind to do - dispose of the screaming, protesting robots in the most horrifying ways imaginable: Not only through a Roman Circus-like show which provides a truly disturbing sequence in the film, but by the human mother cruelly abandoning the loving (robot) child, David, in the woods.

David's quest then becomes to find the blue fairy that will turn him into a real boy so his mom will love him.



"Mecha" love is never the same as "Orga" love, and Jude Law's character, Gigolo Joe, has plenty of experience on that. In one of the more memorable scenes, Joe explains to David,
She loves what you do for her, as my customers love what it is I do for them. But she does not love you David, she cannot love you. You are neither flesh, nor blood. You are not a dog, a cat, or a canary. You were designed and built specific, like the rest of us. And you are alone now only because they tired of you, or replaced you with a younger model, or were displeased with something you said, or broke. They made us too smart, too quick, and too many. We are suffering for the mistakes they made because when the end comes, all that will be left is us. That's why they hate us, and that is why you must stay here, with me.
Poor David lives his existence unable to go beyond what he was created to be. Unfortunately in this film this is a parable for the human condition.

The message of this relentlessly depressing movie is that chasing your dreams is a useless quest, and that, try as he may, man will never overcome the limitations of his nature.

The nihilists in The Big Lebowski had better attitudes than that.

To complete the obnoxiousness of it all, the Narrator also drones on about melting icecaps and greenhouse gases.

I would speculate that the effect of this morose film on someone who's feeling sad or depressed would be equivalent to sitting down to listen to a stack of Billie Holiday CD with a bottle of booze immeditely after a break-up: it would increase your urge to defenestrate.

Avoid it.

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Sunday, July 08, 2007

Tea and Mma Ramotswe

I have enjoyed Alexander McCall Smith's No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency book series for several years, and just finished reading the latest installment, The Good Husband of Zebra Drive.

Smith's love of his characters and his deep affection for Botswana are palpable in each installment of the series. His characters respect and love each other deeply, and strive to lead lives of purpose and decency. To build an entire series of books based on these values while at the same time bringing humor and insightful commentary on the human condition and holding his readers' hearts is a remarkable accomplishment, yet, he succeeds again and again.

In The Good Husband of Zebra Drive, the traditionally-built Mma Ramotswe, her excellent husband Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, and their clients struggle to find the truth about a possible series of murders, and about a difficult marriage. At the same time, Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni's apprentice Charlie, and Mma Makutsi, Mma Ramotswe's right-hand woman, travel down different paths.

Mma Makutsi, who wears glasses and is as fond of shoes as I am, has a moment of insight (page 104),
She looked down at the broken shoe on her lap. It was such a sad thing, that shoe, like a body from which the life had gone. She stared at it. Almost challenging it to reproach her. But it did not, and all she heard, she thought, was a strangled voice which said, Narrow escape, Boss. You were walking in the wrong direction, you know. We shoes understand these things..
And now, for the tea
Mma Makutsi's fond of Indian tea, while Mma Ramotswe loves bush tea.

I like coffee in the morning, but tea in the afternoon.

The owner of the b&B where I stayed the first time I went to England taught me how to make tea:
In a teakettle, boil the water. Use freshly drawn water. When water is re-boiled, or stands for a while, it loses oxygen which prevents the full flavor of the tea being released.

Once the water boils, warm the teapot by swirling some of the boiling water in it. Pour out that water, and add 1 teaspoon of loose tea for each person, and one for the pot (I prefer to use a large tea ball so I can remove all the tea after it steeps. If you use a tea ball, make sure it remains less than half-full). Add boiling water.

Let the loose tea steep for 3-5 minutes. Stir and serve. I like my tea "black", with no milk, and no sugar. Sometimes a slice of fresh lemon is nice.

Here's where you can get the materials:
You can find a selection of fine loose teas basically everywhere.

The Chef's Choice teakettle turns itself off once the water boils, is cordless (the heating plate remains puggled), and keeps the water warm for cocoa:

We have had nearly every brand of teakettle by now and this one is worth it.

The Brown Betty teapot is the traditional English teapot:


Here's a nice tea ball:

and a mesh one:


While serving the tea in a porcelain cup and matching saucer is nice, ceramic mugs and hot tea glasses are good, too. Remember to pour the tea on a silver spoon in the tea glass to absorb some of the heat in order to avoid cracking the glass (the tea glasses also should not feel cold to the touch). I don't like drinking tea out of plastic.

I like buttered toast with my tea, and maybe a Pepperidge Farm sugar-free Milano cookie. Serve some for a friend, or sit on the porch and enjoy some of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency novels.

Enjoy!

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Thursday, June 14, 2007

Bear sightings


Yesterday three dozen people came to my blog from googling "Bear Grylls", plus two who were searching for "Bear Grylls naked".

At first I was puzzled as to why the sudden interest, but later last night when I was watching Mythbusters, I realized that Bear's new season starts tomorrow.

I'm sorry to dissapoint the latter two, but here's a shirtless Bear Grylls YouTube:


Monsters and Critics World Premiere Friday, June 15, 9 PM ET/PT
EVERGLADES: This premiere episode finds host Bear Grylls stranded in the swamps of the Florida Everglades, where each year at least 60 tourists need to be rescued. With more than a million alligators, thousands of snakes and even black bears roaming these waterlogged lands, the area has more than its share of hazards. Bear demonstrates how to keep alligators at bay, deal with vicious razor-sharp grass and find stomach-churning food that will keep you alive if you find yourself stranded in this beautiful but dangerous destination.
The first thing I'd do if stranded in the Everglades would be calling my sister on the cell phone, since she lives in the area. But then, she'd probably come along so then the two of us would be stranded.

The Phoenix is quite insulting, calling Bear "English boy adventurer".
Over on the Discovery Channel, English boy adventurer Bear Grylls backflipped off a chopper into the ultramarine waters of the Pacific, swam two miles to a desert island, scaled a cliff, descended through the root system of a banyan tree, and finally found a hospitable little cove, where he subsisted for a few days on coconuts and tiny fish ( MAN VS. WILD , Friday at 9 pm). A juicy turtle passed within harpoon range, but Bear courteously forwent a feast on account of the turtle's position on the endangered-species list. Both Bear and Criss, as they go about their respective tasks, make a selection of animalistic grunts and coughs. Shinning down the coconut tree seemed particularly hard on Bear, who grimaced against the chafing bole and warned the viewer against it "as a bloke."
Last month Bear glided over Everest
Flying over the top of the world A British Everest summiteer has become the first man to fly higher than the top of the world in a powered paraglider.

Bear Grylls, who at the age of 23 became the youngest British climber to scale Mount Everest in 1998, achieved a feat that had been deemed impossible by many critics prior to the mission.
The Telegraph carried his arcticles,Flying into a dream and has a video you can watch here

Here's a selection of books authored by Mr. Grylls,


I haven't found Man Vs Wild on DVD yet, but when I do I'll link to it.

Meanwhile, if Mr. Grylls is reading this, please email me at faustaw-at-yahoo-dot-com. I'd love to have you as my podcast guest.
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In other diversions, I have become addicted to Facebook. I'm learning the ropes and just this morning asked a question, but then I made a mistake and the question got sent to all my friends, which probably means I've annoyed everyone early in the morning. My apologies to all.

Jeff Jarvis (who is a lot better at figuring out Facebook than I am) has a terrific post, Facebook: the platform of people?

Does Bear Grylls have a Facebook page? Well, I looked and there are dozens of Bear Grylls Facebook pages. Will the real Bear Grylls please stand up?
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