Missy | November 29, 2003

So I’ve been looking for some light reading to plow through, since I’ve had traveling and downtime at the homestead on my hands. A conversation I overheard on a plane ride piqued my interest: The Da Vinci Code, a mix of religious history and math and cryptography and symbology! Except fiction! I bought it at a bookstore on Black Friday (because I am a proud consumer), and now a mere 24 hours after starting it, I plan to finish. Now that’s what I call readin’! It is not, however, what I would call writin’. Ugh. This book is painfully written, a reminder of why I steer clear of most bestsellers. And I can see why it’s a bestseller: it makes the reader feel like he’s in on something secretive and smart, except that everything’s spelled out without any real burden of thought on the part of the reader. Any math coolness I had imagined is actually quite pedestrian. It’s got formula-thriller written all over it. When the film version comes out, it will probably star Ashley Judd. Stay away, people!

Other things:
Last weekend in Chicago I introduced Josh to my mother. I dare say it was delightful. I saw Master and Commander which was merely okay (fatigue and disinterest prevents me from writing anything more descriptive). I fought with my brother’s new kitten, with battle scars to prove it. My brother and I sat through most of the 3.5 hour The Seven Samurai until succumbing to sleep. I didn’t overeat. I saw my best friend’s baby, a very happy baby who is starting to turn into a little person. 3 of my 4 flights in the past week were delayed. I haven’t done any of the work I brought home for my week off. I have enough small-town blog material for days on end but which will probably never see the light of day, due to sheer laziness. I wished I had brought along a camera, if only for my fleeting idea for a photoblog, which would start out by featuring dilapidated barns (which are everywhere in Ohio). I’m glad to be back, but not glad to be starting back to work on Monday. And I miss my boyfriend.

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Missy | November 20, 2003

Hitchcock’s cameos. (Thank you Scrubbles.)

Is going to church good for the economy? (Thank you The Economist.)

I’ve said it many times before, but Sarah B. is funny. (Thank you Sarah B.)

Did you notice, in last night’s Angel, Spike was listening to the Dead Kennedys? That was awesome. Thank you Joss & co. And thank you The O.C. writers for making your show so awesome that, when faced with an early turn into bed (last week), I chose to tape you over Angel.

(I may be delinquent blogger, but I’m thankful. For this and that. Also, I’m doing a lot of traveling in the next week, and most importantly, I won’t be anywhere near work. As such, I’m trying to tidy things up now so that when I come back on December 1, I won’t have a major panic attack. In other words, what you’ve come to expect from my lack of bloggage is doubly true ’til month’s end.)

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Missy | November 16, 2003

I was channel surfing and happened across episodes of Homicide: Life on the Street on Court TV–actually, a marathon of producer/writer Tom Fontana’s favorite episodes. (Why didn’t I find this earlier today? Oh I know; I was watching figure skating. Also, I actually own most of the episodes being shown.) In the opening scene from the “Hate Crimes” episode, Frank Pembleton (Andre Braugher) lays his head on the pavement next to a guy who was beaten, seconds away from dying. Pembleton then stands up and screams at the gawkers standing around the crime scene, “Get out of my blood!” Damn, damn, damn I miss this show.

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Missy | November 14, 2003

Greg.org points to this list in The Guardian of the world’s 40 best (living & working) film directors. After a quick once-over, I quibble with the ordering (Tarantino & the Coens should be much lower) and some of the choices (Michael Moore?! Two unlisted candidates immediately come to mind before Moore ever would: Claire Denis and Olivier Assayas. And apparently Robert Altman is viewed as too much of an old fart to be included. And though I’m no LOTR fangirl by any stretch of the imagination, it seems a shame to leave Peter Jackson off the list.) But they’ve hit my favs (Malick, Soderbergh, Wong Kar-Wai, among others) along with directors I’ve been pleasingly exposed to for the first time in just the past year (Aki Kaurismaki, Hayao Miyazaki). Josh will be happy to see Lukas Moodysson placing so high, but not so happy that Gaspar No

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Lane | November 13, 2003

Yet another political appeal to the folks of D.C.:

The D.C. Nightlife Coalition is dedicated to reducing arbitrary regulations of nightlife venues, of which the impending smoking ban is just one onerous example. Their site provides good information on how to be politically active in your (very) local community. If you go out at night, I suggest you take a look at it.

This Sunday night the DCNC is having a party at the Velvet Lounge to raise awareness. A $5 cover gets you music and that warm feeling inside that you get when you turn to the person next to you and say “I’m helping.” Here is the flier. See you there!

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Missy | November 11, 2003

Elephant:
If you’re not already aware of this film, it’s Gus Van Sant’s meditation on Columbine, having the feel of a documentary without actually being one. Actors are real high school kids who use their real names, and from what I’ve read, their own personal stories went into their characterizations.

The film’s main success is in its nonlinearity; scenes are shown and reshown from different angles (literally) and thus different perspectives (which wipes out preferences towards one character’s story over another), and in certain instances, the multiple versions give weight to an aspect of a situation that would otherwise be mere background noise. In other words, every kid portrayed has a voice in the story. This is crucial, since the crux of the story is high school life: some kids lead a charmed life, some are ignored. Most live some kind of miserable existence, sometimes readily apparent to others, sometimes not. And in fewer cases, some are very, very angry.

Van Sant is very careful with his shot set-ups, and (similar to Gerry) finds some way to fit as much in a frame as possible, be it with the aforementioned multiple perspectives, or by circling the camera in a scene. But what he doesn’t offer, and rightly so, is an opinion, or an answer. One can place blame wherever they want, but that comes from only an inherent need for explanation, even when there necessarily isn’t one. Without a cross-section of teenage life, Van Sant could never have arrived at this point. Columbine was an extreme example; how many kids can’t deal and so resort to some self-destructive behavior, from bulemia, to drug use, to suicide? And yet even at their worst, kids have something to offer the world, even if it may be perceived as irrelevant–as we see with one of the killers who demonstrates some talent on the piano (a part which he ends by flipping off the music). A more subtle point in the film is the role of parents, which is to say, when you’re a teenager (as I remember well), parents are often insignificant except when (to quote one character, Elias) “they’re being bitches”.

It may be an obvious point, but there’s a commonality among all teenagers simply because they’re trying to assert their way in the world, and with some kids it is much, much harder. (Here I should note that Van Sant only touches upon the killers’ interest in violent video games and Nazism, and being bullied, but that the killer’s scenes were told (from what I recall) only once–unlike all of the other kids in the film–I took as reflecting directly on their perceived invisibility. The exceptions occur when they are geared up & walking into the school.) I didn’t get a sense of sympathy towards the victims over the killers, or vice versa; after all, we’re talking about mass murderers here. That’s a good thing unless you want the murderers to be perceived as the true victims.

That all said, the major problem with the film is that it was way too easy to make because we as viewers are already expecting a bloodbath; a filmmaker could challenge himself or herself with something smaller, something that doesn’t end with such a grand finale. I can understand the arguments against the film as being exploitative–it means setting up characters only to see them die. And at minimum, there were a few…..I wouldn’t even call them missteps, but rather, stupid moments. Our first view of Michelle, for example, where we hear Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata” while she looks across the sky….felt staged & silly. Another one is, without spoiling, the shower scene, which I found completely out of place and unnecessary.

Yeah, so overall, I’m mixed on the film.

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Missy | November 10, 2003

Believe it or not, I have never been to the opera. And I live in a town with, from what I understand, a pretty great opera company. On Friday, The Washington Post said of the Washington Opera’s recent mounting of Wagner’s Die Walk

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Missy | November 9, 2003

I forgot to post this awhile back. Ban the Ban, a grassroots movement opposing a proposed DC smoking ban in workplaces (read: bars & restaurants) is up and running. Check it out; there’s quite a lively discussion going on already. Be versed on the issue, in case your area is one day affected (if not already).

(Please note: I’m happy to take comments here so long as they are civil, but know that there’s a better outlet for it and a greater chance for response there.)

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Missy | November 9, 2003

Shattered Glass:
By now many, if not most, people are aware of the infamous Glass fabrications scandal at The New Republic, thanks in part to Jayson Blair’s similar shenanigans at The New York Times, even though the former happened all the way back in 1998. “Shenanigans” is perhaps an overly trite word, since there’s something fundamentally deeper at work, psychologically speaking, at least with Stephen Glass. (I admit I glossed over much of the Blair scandal.) Granted, I’m gleaning this merely from the performances in the film and the script, but that’s exactly why the film, for me, worked. Hayden Christensen is a much smarter actor than I would have ever given him credit for, in that his characterization of Glass leaves the viewers wondering if they, too, are being duped. Are his constant apologies and (perhaps faux) self-deprecation just an act–if not to garner empathy, then merely to implicitly cover one’s ass? I wonder, because I see those kinds of people every day, and in most cases it’s the result of genuine low self-esteem. And that’s really the crux of the story–why does someone go to such lengths to repeatedly fabricate relatively high-profile stories? Glory? Or simply validation? The film wraps up in such a satisfying way, leaving intriguing questions behind Glass’ motivation, and it’s those lingering wonderings that make the film a success. The performances–and in some cases, curious casting–of supporting characters (Peter Sarsgaard as Chuck Lane, and the generally comedic Hank Azaria as Michael Kelly and Steve Zahn as Adam Penenberg, who broke the story at forbes.com) are all wonderfully understated, especially Sarsgaard. And on top of this, we get an insider’s glimpse at the journalistic process of publications that matter, ala All The President’s Men.

Also, here is why I am an asshole: I was thinking throughout the movie that I haven’t read a Michael Kelly column in awhile (he was a contributor to the WaPo editorial page), until the end when I was reminded he was killed earlier this year in Iraq.

Also, to those of you who have seen the film, you do not have my permission to correct my overuse of commas in this post or any other. I like the comma! Too much!

Next up, for my day off on Tuesday: Gus Van Sant’s Elephant and Clint Eastwood’s Mystic River.

UPDATE: An interview with Charles Lane regarding the film Shattered Glass. There’s some criticism therein that Christensen didn’t portray Glass with enough complexity.

UPDATE #2: People are still very angry with Glass.

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Lane | November 8, 2003

Re: British Sea Power

Well, it was true about the foliage.

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Lane | November 7, 2003

Part the First: In which our heroine unwittingly relinquishes control of her ‘blog to an ex-blogger suffering dangerous levels of withdrawal.

Pity poor Missy, swamped beneaths spreadsheets full of data, her six-line government-issue phone lit up like a Christmas tree, her whiteboard covered in unanswerable questions, and her inbox full of memos demanding she increase American exports by 14% before 5 P.M. today, using only Lebesque spaces and a protractor. Meanwhile, I will try to keep you entertained, and I will do so in four categories. Read on at your own peril.

1. Political/Typographical
My homepage is Blogdex, which means I don’t actually get any “news.” Instead I get the popular Flash movie of the day, links to releases of software I don’t care about like the new Mac OS, and the full text of everything that Mark Steyn has ever written. Today, I noticed that our President gave a speech. The beauty of the Internet (well, besides the aforementioned Flash movies) is that rather than reading the front-page story in the WaPo, I can just read the full text of the speech itself.

I read a full three paragraphs, so I am well-informed to discuss this. President Bush starts out by saying “20 years ago, President Reagan gave a speech and said that democracy would win and all the Communists were losing. But it wasn’t easy, and you have to fight for it. Everyone made fun of him and called him a simpleton, but it turned out he was right.” Hmm. So far, so good. This is true.

And then he says “By the end of [1989], every communist dictatorship in Central America* had collapsed.” I didn’t add that asterisk. They did. It leads to a footnote that says “Central Europe.” Sigh. I appreciate that the President has “that vision thing” down pat, but 3 years after getting elected, it’s time to stop overshadowing otherwise good speeches by making stupid mistakes out loud.

2. Musical
I’m going to see British Sea Power tonight, and so should you. Their shows are notoriously weird (the review I linked refers to the stage being strewn with dead birds and foliage, and the band wearing vintage WWI costumes), and I look forward to seeing them try to freak out the crossed-arms crowd. But I’m also gaining a new appreciation for this sort of retro-New Wave craze that is sweeping the nation. I mean, at first I simply didn’t get Interpol. I saw them May 2002 opening for Belle & Sebastian, and all I could think was how boring they were. Now, they still are, but I do in fact find myself singing along to whichever song’s chorus is “turn on the bright lights” (from the album of the same name). And there’s this whole Williamsburg thing where ex-electroclashers are now making the music that my older goth sister would have been listening to in 1985 if she had existed. A year ago, the mere sound of a Casio synth turned me off as “gimmicky,” but now I’m starting to get into it.

British Sea Power doesn’t do any of that stuff, but basically the whole pompous, arty rock thing, which is too over-produced to be “indie” and too tonally off-kilter to be mainstream alternative rock, reminds me of what the 80’s must have been like for people not listening to pop radio (which I very much was). I’m kind of thankful, in a way, because I got to rock out to Sussudio back then, but if I missed anything I can just catch it now. Best of all, it’s not “retro,” it’s cutting-edge. When they’re on the cover of CMJ in a year, we can all yawn knowingly.

P.S. The album is really good, too, I may have forgotten to mention that.

3. Movies
I haven’t seen Martin & Orloff, but it is opening in NYC tonight, and I am willing to bet that it’s hilarious. I remember reading about it in Time Out last year, briefly. But how could it not be, starring the Upright Citizens Brigade and David Cross, not to mention the guaranteed-chuckle cameos of Andy Richter and Janeane Garofalo? I like David Cross so much that I thought Run Ronnie Run was hilarious, despite the fact that even David Cross hated it. So now I have something to look forward to seeing, along with Gerry, which received high praise from Missy herself.

4. Useless Friday-afternoon goofing off
If you haven’t already seen it, the Church Sign Generator” is the best way I’ve found to send obscene messages to my friends.

Suggestions for guest-blogged subjects kindly appreciated.

Epilogue: Is this the end of all that is good and decent on the Internet? Will our heroine’s public virtual reputation ever be salvaged? Stay tuned for the heart-stopping conclusion!

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Missy | November 6, 2003

Listen Missy, after several iterations, is three years old. Actually, three years and 4 days. And my archive links are still dead. Sorry.

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Missy | November 3, 2003

I admit that I, too, loved–LOVED–Xanadu. Past tense, of course. Not as much as this person, however.

I cannot believe that someone with only two months of training, also suffering from knee tendonitis (which I have known all too well) not only finished the NYC marathon, but did it in just over four hours. Good job, P. Diddy, as annoying as you otherwise are.

UPDATE: I just got a ticket to see The Life of Galileo, and it was not easy. My options were the night before I go see Josh in a couple of weeks, or the night I get back from my Thanksgiving trip, both being less convenient and more expensive showtimes….compared with Wednesdays, my free night; why are people going to plays on Wednesdays? Don’t they know that’s *my* free night? Anyway, it’s not surprising. Reviews are good and the lead actor is a popular one locally. If my memory is correct, Lane drunkenly purchased season tickets when the Studio Theatre rang him one evening, and so is seeing the play this week.

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