Enough with the "librarian shortage" already!
Missouri university gets $615,000 grant to fight nonexistent "librarian shortage"... or, to be more accurate, to ensure continued chattel status for those lucky enough to have jobs in the profession at all.
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Recent Reads
A Trace of Memory, by Keith Laumer
An early work by Laumer, better known for his satirical Retief books, involving a spacegoing diplomat, and his military SF about Bolos, or self-aware tanks. This one falls into the category described by the current Wikipedia entry as "fast-paced, straight adventures in time and space, with an emphasis on lone-wolf, latent superman protagonists, self-sacrifice and transcendence".
The protagonist, a small time criminal inexplicably named "Legion", meets up with Foster, a wealthy eccentric who, as the plot develops, turns out to be a nearly immortal refugee from a fantastically advanced alien culture. (No spoilers here; that's pretty clearly signalled in the introduction). Foster regenerates into a young and amnesiac form of himself at one point in the story. I wonder if any of the early scriptwriters of Doctor Who read this book?
A Trace of Memory, by Keith Laumer
An early work by Laumer, better known for his satirical Retief books, involving a spacegoing diplomat, and his military SF about Bolos, or self-aware tanks. This one falls into the category described by the current Wikipedia entry as "fast-paced, straight adventures in time and space, with an emphasis on lone-wolf, latent superman protagonists, self-sacrifice and transcendence".
The protagonist, a small time criminal inexplicably named "Legion", meets up with Foster, a wealthy eccentric who, as the plot develops, turns out to be a nearly immortal refugee from a fantastically advanced alien culture. (No spoilers here; that's pretty clearly signalled in the introduction). Foster regenerates into a young and amnesiac form of himself at one point in the story. I wonder if any of the early scriptwriters of Doctor Who read this book?
Upcoming primary in Michigan
Yup, that time of year is approaching. And although it's still early in the political season, I checked to see who's on the various parties' ballots. It turns out that I'm "represented" -- if that's the word for it -- by Chris Ward, a generic Republican fratboy who regards his perch in the safe, mechanically-lockstepping Republican suburbs with calm complacency. Oh, and what does he stand for? Here's what longtime political reporter Jack Lessenberry has to say:
The likely Democratic nominee? Well, he has a free Blogger website. I wish him well in his race against Chris "BeerBoy" Ward, and I'll probably vote for him. He and his "Communications Guru" do seem to have a sense of humor, a rare thing in politics. A few snippets:
For Governor? Well, there I get a choice between a former beauty queen from Canada and Mr. Amway. I may not know much about their officially-codified economic policies, but I know which one looks better on television, and I know which one got his fortune from a cultlike, barely-legal pyramid scheme with shady political connections.
Yup, that time of year is approaching. And although it's still early in the political season, I checked to see who's on the various parties' ballots. It turns out that I'm "represented" -- if that's the word for it -- by Chris Ward, a generic Republican fratboy who regards his perch in the safe, mechanically-lockstepping Republican suburbs with calm complacency. Oh, and what does he stand for? Here's what longtime political reporter Jack Lessenberry has to say:
Michigan had a law for years saying that you couldn’t order a bottle of wine from a winery in, say, Napa Valley. The middlemen and their lobbyists were behind that.Conservationists aren't impressed with him, either. He seems to have directed some attention to drug costs, but I can't tell from that article exactly what he proposed. And he wants to require photo ID's at the voting booth, at least in areas where the majority doesn't vote Republican. And of course, the lobbyists for the Chamber of Commerce set love him.
Outraged, some wine connoisseurs took that all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that Michigan couldn’t discriminate that way. Good old Chris gallantly stepped into the breach — and introduced a bill that would have prevented you and me from buying a bottle of wine from a Michigan winery! That is, not without going through a wholesaler first.
One guess who the major funding source of his last campaign was: The Michigan Beer and Wine Wholesalers Association. Naturally, Ward didn’t mention that at the time; he actually said he was doing it to spare the health of Michigan’s children, who presumably were about to order a single bottle of Lake Leelanau Riesling and then kill their siblings with shards of glass from the bottle.
The likely Democratic nominee? Well, he has a free Blogger website. I wish him well in his race against Chris "BeerBoy" Ward, and I'll probably vote for him. He and his "Communications Guru" do seem to have a sense of humor, a rare thing in politics. A few snippets:
We decided to make the [campaign] announcement at the Brighton Mill Pond. It was initially going to be given to the ducks, but Joe Carney said that they don’t vote and they’re anti-gun...McGonegal has a tough task ahead of him, given the number of rural and suburban voters who are happy to unthinkingly assume that anyone who isn't a Republican is a black left-handed non-English-speaking communist terrorist homosexual servant of Satan.
I worked in law enforcement as a State Parole officer in the ghettoes of Cleveland. I carried a gun; I had a gun pointed at me. I arrested people, investigated crimes. I learned first hand the devastation of crime and poverty on a community. I developed an understanding of the rule of law. I realized that in the final analysis our freedom is nothing more then the adherence to technicalities. This candidate will not have to be brought up to speed on issues of law and order.
For Governor? Well, there I get a choice between a former beauty queen from Canada and Mr. Amway. I may not know much about their officially-codified economic policies, but I know which one looks better on television, and I know which one got his fortune from a cultlike, barely-legal pyramid scheme with shady political connections.
Modern "conservatism" as simple authoritarianism
A fascinating diary and related discussion from DailyKos.
Also, an article from Media Matters about the reporting and portrayal of "extremism" on the left and right.
A fascinating diary and related discussion from DailyKos.
Also, an article from Media Matters about the reporting and portrayal of "extremism" on the left and right.
Monday, July 17, 2006
Recent viewings
The Office (BBC version), series one
I've commented before that it may not be fair of me to start watching movies or television programs late at night after getting home from work, and then criticize them for not keeping me awake. That's particularly true of this British import. It's so laid-back and unaggressive, so persistently beige and off-white and monotone, that it will put you to sleep if you already have any inclination to do so.
On the other hand, if you're awake and alert, it's great subtly sarcastic fun. The characters are recognizable and only slightly exaggerated versions of the co-workers from hell that most of us office-drones have encountered in Cubicle World. The lack of a laugh track or a sound track, along with the actors' occasional sly, sideways eye-flickering glances at the camera, reinforce the illusion that it's a real office and that the footage on screen was, perhaps, shot as part of some kind of real life documentary.
A low-key comical treat for those who are awake and alert.
The Office (BBC version), series one
I've commented before that it may not be fair of me to start watching movies or television programs late at night after getting home from work, and then criticize them for not keeping me awake. That's particularly true of this British import. It's so laid-back and unaggressive, so persistently beige and off-white and monotone, that it will put you to sleep if you already have any inclination to do so.
On the other hand, if you're awake and alert, it's great subtly sarcastic fun. The characters are recognizable and only slightly exaggerated versions of the co-workers from hell that most of us office-drones have encountered in Cubicle World. The lack of a laugh track or a sound track, along with the actors' occasional sly, sideways eye-flickering glances at the camera, reinforce the illusion that it's a real office and that the footage on screen was, perhaps, shot as part of some kind of real life documentary.
A low-key comical treat for those who are awake and alert.
Recent Viewings
Born into Brothels
A glimpse into the dismal world of children born to prostitutes in the red-light districts of urban India. Their plight is truly horrific, with the boys having little or no apparent future other than to become drug addicts like their fathers, and the girls facing the near certainty of being forced into prostitution by the time they're twelve years old. It's especially wrenching when the producer shows, over and over again, that in many ways these are bright, outgoing, and emotionally sensitive kids. Except for their language, they're much like the kids you would meet if you picked a random sample out of any suburban elementary school.
The producer's heroic attempts to get some of the children that she works with into educational programs that will give them a chance to get out of this horrific environment produces mixed results. Sometimes this is due to bureaucratic obstructionism; sometimes it's due to snobbishness on the part of the schools; sometimes it's due to obstruction from the parents themselves, who apparently see any improvement in their children's lives as an insult to themselves. Or maybe they just crave the money that they expect to get from pimping their eleven-year-old daughters, so that they can go buy more drugs for themselves.
I found that, above and beyond the children's depraved and deprived social environment, I was disgusted by the incredible overcrowding and filth of their physical environment. I have a feeling that I would, quite literally, go insane if I were constantly crowded in, elbow-to-elbow, with such teeming hordes of sullen, hostile, people, and forced to wade through ankle-deep puddles of unidentified slop in order to go down the length of a street.
Born into Brothels
A glimpse into the dismal world of children born to prostitutes in the red-light districts of urban India. Their plight is truly horrific, with the boys having little or no apparent future other than to become drug addicts like their fathers, and the girls facing the near certainty of being forced into prostitution by the time they're twelve years old. It's especially wrenching when the producer shows, over and over again, that in many ways these are bright, outgoing, and emotionally sensitive kids. Except for their language, they're much like the kids you would meet if you picked a random sample out of any suburban elementary school.
The producer's heroic attempts to get some of the children that she works with into educational programs that will give them a chance to get out of this horrific environment produces mixed results. Sometimes this is due to bureaucratic obstructionism; sometimes it's due to snobbishness on the part of the schools; sometimes it's due to obstruction from the parents themselves, who apparently see any improvement in their children's lives as an insult to themselves. Or maybe they just crave the money that they expect to get from pimping their eleven-year-old daughters, so that they can go buy more drugs for themselves.
I found that, above and beyond the children's depraved and deprived social environment, I was disgusted by the incredible overcrowding and filth of their physical environment. I have a feeling that I would, quite literally, go insane if I were constantly crowded in, elbow-to-elbow, with such teeming hordes of sullen, hostile, people, and forced to wade through ankle-deep puddles of unidentified slop in order to go down the length of a street.
Recent Reads
Siddhartha, by Herman Hesse (a new translation, ca. 2000, by Sherab Chodzin Kohn)
This is supposed to be one of those books that is beloved of college philosophy students. I found it rather disappointing. The first half of the book describes the life and experiences of a Gautama-like young man who seeks spiritual enlightenment and eventually arrives, with his friend, before the Buddha himself. However, our young man rejects the proffered discipleship, noting that to be with his friend as a follower of Buddha would itself be a form of attachment to the world, and goes off to seek his own kind of enlightenment. Like Titus Groan in the last of Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast books, Siddhartha seeks something diligently, only to renounce it once he finds it. This is where part one ends, and according to the introduction, Hesse found himself stuck for a good long while before he was able to continue the story.
Siddhartha seems to reverse his course in the second part. What he initially renounced in search of enlightenment -- wealth, women, worldly involvement -- he now seeks and acquires to excess, before once again encountering his boyhood friend whom he left standing before the Buddha, taking up life beside a river ferry, and meeting and acknowledging the son whom he fathered upon a female companion. The ending suggests that he attains some kind of spiritual enlightenment.
Is there any more to this than an extended parable of disengagement and reengagement with the world? Or transcendence and re-entry, as Walker Percy might describe it?
Siddhartha, by Herman Hesse (a new translation, ca. 2000, by Sherab Chodzin Kohn)
This is supposed to be one of those books that is beloved of college philosophy students. I found it rather disappointing. The first half of the book describes the life and experiences of a Gautama-like young man who seeks spiritual enlightenment and eventually arrives, with his friend, before the Buddha himself. However, our young man rejects the proffered discipleship, noting that to be with his friend as a follower of Buddha would itself be a form of attachment to the world, and goes off to seek his own kind of enlightenment. Like Titus Groan in the last of Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast books, Siddhartha seeks something diligently, only to renounce it once he finds it. This is where part one ends, and according to the introduction, Hesse found himself stuck for a good long while before he was able to continue the story.
Siddhartha seems to reverse his course in the second part. What he initially renounced in search of enlightenment -- wealth, women, worldly involvement -- he now seeks and acquires to excess, before once again encountering his boyhood friend whom he left standing before the Buddha, taking up life beside a river ferry, and meeting and acknowledging the son whom he fathered upon a female companion. The ending suggests that he attains some kind of spiritual enlightenment.
Is there any more to this than an extended parable of disengagement and reengagement with the world? Or transcendence and re-entry, as Walker Percy might describe it?
And today's Darwin Award goes to....
The woman who came up to the reference desk this evening and asked for help with printing. I told her that in order to pick up her print job, she would need to type or scan her library card number into the computer that manages the print queue. She then stuck her card under the scanner upside down. Then at right-angles to the scanner beam, which is easily visible as a flickering red beam of light. Then diagonally. "The barcode needs to go under the red laser light," I suggested. "Laser?" says she, and promptly stoops and tries to look up into it.
Sigh. How do these people manage to reproduce?
PS. Yes, I told her not to look into the laser.
The woman who came up to the reference desk this evening and asked for help with printing. I told her that in order to pick up her print job, she would need to type or scan her library card number into the computer that manages the print queue. She then stuck her card under the scanner upside down. Then at right-angles to the scanner beam, which is easily visible as a flickering red beam of light. Then diagonally. "The barcode needs to go under the red laser light," I suggested. "Laser?" says she, and promptly stoops and tries to look up into it.
Sigh. How do these people manage to reproduce?
PS. Yes, I told her not to look into the laser.
The Conservative Nanny State
A worthwhile e-read addressing the myth of conservative support for small-government principles.
A worthwhile e-read addressing the myth of conservative support for small-government principles.
Recent viewings
Forbidden Planet (1956)
I've heard great things about this movie for years. Turns out they're right.
From a 2006 perspective, the movie looks a lot like an above-average episode of the original Star Trek series. One can only imagine what a gigantic leap forward and upward this must have been from the frankly dismal production values of early science fiction television serials like Flash Gordon and Rocky Jones, Space Ranger.
The effects and props don't look bad even today. The three-dimensional navigational display on the bridge of the protagonist's spaceship looks cool and maybe even functional, although it does take up a good deal of room. The alien planetscapes are surprisingly believable, and the animated interpretations of futuristic weapons and their effects, if not quite believable, are at least colorful and dynamic. Even the plot makes sense on its own terms, possibly because it was, famously, partially inspired by Shakespeare's The Tempest.
In fact, the only truly jarring bits are the "flying saucer" appearance of the spaceship from Earth, the dated "futuristic" fashions worn by the only female on the planet, and a few jokey allusions to 1950s stereotypes such as a food replicator being "a housewife's dream". Some of the acting is a bit stiff and hokey, especially from Leslie Nielsen, who plays an entirely straitlaced "hero" role here. I suppose I can accept some stiffness and hokeyness as part of a "military bearing".
The identity of the "monster from the id" that attacks the spaceship crew, when it is finally revealed, anticipates a surprising degree of knowledge of psychological terms and principles on the part of its audience. Would it get green-lighted today?
I find myself wondering if the invisible monster that terrorizes the planewrecked survivors of Lost is indirectly descended from Forbidden Planet's "monster from the id" . I had a moment of deja vu when the "monster from the id" came crashing invisibly through the grass and trees of the garden, much like the unseen monster of the island crashing through the trees on Lost.
Well worth seeing for any fan of filmic science fiction.
Forbidden Planet (1956)
I've heard great things about this movie for years. Turns out they're right.
From a 2006 perspective, the movie looks a lot like an above-average episode of the original Star Trek series. One can only imagine what a gigantic leap forward and upward this must have been from the frankly dismal production values of early science fiction television serials like Flash Gordon and Rocky Jones, Space Ranger.
The effects and props don't look bad even today. The three-dimensional navigational display on the bridge of the protagonist's spaceship looks cool and maybe even functional, although it does take up a good deal of room. The alien planetscapes are surprisingly believable, and the animated interpretations of futuristic weapons and their effects, if not quite believable, are at least colorful and dynamic. Even the plot makes sense on its own terms, possibly because it was, famously, partially inspired by Shakespeare's The Tempest.
In fact, the only truly jarring bits are the "flying saucer" appearance of the spaceship from Earth, the dated "futuristic" fashions worn by the only female on the planet, and a few jokey allusions to 1950s stereotypes such as a food replicator being "a housewife's dream". Some of the acting is a bit stiff and hokey, especially from Leslie Nielsen, who plays an entirely straitlaced "hero" role here. I suppose I can accept some stiffness and hokeyness as part of a "military bearing".
The identity of the "monster from the id" that attacks the spaceship crew, when it is finally revealed, anticipates a surprising degree of knowledge of psychological terms and principles on the part of its audience. Would it get green-lighted today?
I find myself wondering if the invisible monster that terrorizes the planewrecked survivors of Lost is indirectly descended from Forbidden Planet's "monster from the id" . I had a moment of deja vu when the "monster from the id" came crashing invisibly through the grass and trees of the garden, much like the unseen monster of the island crashing through the trees on Lost.
Well worth seeing for any fan of filmic science fiction.
Saturday, July 15, 2006
Another tradable commodity?
In the heyday of the railroads, it was not unusual for an otherwise failed railroad company to retain a certain amount of value, not because of its physical assets or ongoing business, but because it possessed a state-granted charter giving it legal permission to build, operate and exercise the power of eminent domain within certain geographical parameters. Purchasing a bankrupt, broken-down shortline that possessed a desirable charter was sometimes easier than getting such a charter granted anew if a large railroad concern decided it wanted to expand.
In some major cities today, taxicab medallions, which connote the privilege of participating in a business where competition is limited by government edict, sell for extraordinarily high prices. (A 2005 price of $379,000 for a New York City corporate taxicab medallion is quoted by this website.)
Both are, essentially, intangible assets representing nothing but legal permission to do things which are otherwise restricted.
Now it seems that educational accreditation may be about to join the ranks of intangible assets of this type that can be bought and sold as part of an institution, regardless of any significant degree of continuity in the identity of the institution itself, according to this article from the Chronicle of Higher Ed. (Subscription required for full article, but a short summary is available for free.) Is this a good thing?
In the heyday of the railroads, it was not unusual for an otherwise failed railroad company to retain a certain amount of value, not because of its physical assets or ongoing business, but because it possessed a state-granted charter giving it legal permission to build, operate and exercise the power of eminent domain within certain geographical parameters. Purchasing a bankrupt, broken-down shortline that possessed a desirable charter was sometimes easier than getting such a charter granted anew if a large railroad concern decided it wanted to expand.
In some major cities today, taxicab medallions, which connote the privilege of participating in a business where competition is limited by government edict, sell for extraordinarily high prices. (A 2005 price of $379,000 for a New York City corporate taxicab medallion is quoted by this website.)
Both are, essentially, intangible assets representing nothing but legal permission to do things which are otherwise restricted.
Now it seems that educational accreditation may be about to join the ranks of intangible assets of this type that can be bought and sold as part of an institution, regardless of any significant degree of continuity in the identity of the institution itself, according to this article from the Chronicle of Higher Ed. (Subscription required for full article, but a short summary is available for free.) Is this a good thing?
Divide and conquer
The Austin American-Statesman describes a Republican-proposed plan by which the Republican-controlled legislature would eradicate the historically Democrat-leaning legislative district containing the state capital, Austin, and split it into fragments which will be attached to Republican-controlled majorities from San Antonio and Laredo. Politics as usual.... but with the recently added Republican innovation that now they can change the electoral districts whenever they please, not just when the actual population has changed. Won't this be a fun ride.
The Austin American-Statesman describes a Republican-proposed plan by which the Republican-controlled legislature would eradicate the historically Democrat-leaning legislative district containing the state capital, Austin, and split it into fragments which will be attached to Republican-controlled majorities from San Antonio and Laredo. Politics as usual.... but with the recently added Republican innovation that now they can change the electoral districts whenever they please, not just when the actual population has changed. Won't this be a fun ride.
Meet the new House Majority Leader...
Same as the old House Majority Leader....
New House Majority Leader Keeps Ties to Old Lobbyists (NYT)
Same as the old House Majority Leader....
New House Majority Leader Keeps Ties to Old Lobbyists (NYT)
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Beowulf : the monsters and the producers
Over the past few months I've watched a couple of different visual adaptations of the Beowulf legend.
Version number one was Beowulf and Grendel, a low-budget 2005 effort filmed on location on the gorgeously brutal coast of Iceland. I wanted to like this movie. I really did. But it's hard to like a grim medieval revenge-saga that veers (unintentionally?)into Monty Python territory as often as this one does.
There are some good points. The scenery is gorgeous, all towering jagged black rocky cliffs and rumpled, rocky Nordic pastures. The film's portrayal of Hrothgar as a ineffectual, sodden old man and his "kingdom" as little more than a collection of crude wooden buildings thrown up on the edge of the known world makes sense. And the actors, most of whom sport Scandinavian names positively bristling with umlauts and phlegm-hawking clusters of consonants that could have been lifted straight from the Elder Edda, are convincing medieval barbarians. They look scary; their accents sound scary; their scowls and snarls are scary; and the film's makeup-and-grunge artistry convinced me that they probably smelled scary, too. Genghis Khan would think twice about tackling these guys.
Unfortunately, the spell is broken whenever the script rears its ugly head. The script attempts to blend vulgar modern slang with medieval attitude, and the result all too often trips over the edge of self-parody. "I tell ya, this troll must be one tough prick," says one of the stalwart soldiers in the midst of a strategic conference. In another excruciating, Monty-Python-like conversation, Beowulf chats with a half-crazed old fisherman while they chow down on boiled eels. Beowulf discovers that an eel has slithered inside his boot and munched on his foot while he floated in the ocean, clad in furs and armor. The old fisherman tosses the anthropophagic eel into the pot with the rest. Handing a bit of the concoction to Our Hero, he wheezes "Be-yo'-self!" As in, indirectly eat yourself, thus "being" oneself.
Hardy har.
Also unfortunately, the filmmakers have tried to graft typically modern attitudes onto the bones of the ancient legend. In a prologue pretentiously entitled "A Hate Is Born", we see that Grendel is not evil, he's just a misunderstood victim of violent prejudice. We also meet a pretty feminist witch with a Canadian accent who doesn't mind humping men, trolls, or much of anything else that crawls into her solitary hovel, plus a bizarrely warped version of Hrothgar's generous queen, Wealtheow, who in the filmmakers' imagination has become a dour middle-aged harridan plotting to murder her husband. (Inexplicably but mercifully, this plot threat is dropped with no further explanation or development.)
Fiend suggested that I should take a look at the version of the Beowulf story presented in a couple of episodes of Star Trek : Voyager. It was better than Beowulf & Grendel, which is admittedly setting a rather low standard. ST:V's producers won't win any awards for authenticity from me, if only because they insisted on adding a female warrior to their holodeck-Heorot, along with gratuitous references to Freya. But at least the framing-story involving the Voyager crew made some sense once allowance was made for the usual Star Trek technobabble.
Good grief, though... why can't anybody seem to do this story right? It's not as if it's a complicated story!
Over the past few months I've watched a couple of different visual adaptations of the Beowulf legend.
Version number one was Beowulf and Grendel, a low-budget 2005 effort filmed on location on the gorgeously brutal coast of Iceland. I wanted to like this movie. I really did. But it's hard to like a grim medieval revenge-saga that veers (unintentionally?)into Monty Python territory as often as this one does.
There are some good points. The scenery is gorgeous, all towering jagged black rocky cliffs and rumpled, rocky Nordic pastures. The film's portrayal of Hrothgar as a ineffectual, sodden old man and his "kingdom" as little more than a collection of crude wooden buildings thrown up on the edge of the known world makes sense. And the actors, most of whom sport Scandinavian names positively bristling with umlauts and phlegm-hawking clusters of consonants that could have been lifted straight from the Elder Edda, are convincing medieval barbarians. They look scary; their accents sound scary; their scowls and snarls are scary; and the film's makeup-and-grunge artistry convinced me that they probably smelled scary, too. Genghis Khan would think twice about tackling these guys.
Unfortunately, the spell is broken whenever the script rears its ugly head. The script attempts to blend vulgar modern slang with medieval attitude, and the result all too often trips over the edge of self-parody. "I tell ya, this troll must be one tough prick," says one of the stalwart soldiers in the midst of a strategic conference. In another excruciating, Monty-Python-like conversation, Beowulf chats with a half-crazed old fisherman while they chow down on boiled eels. Beowulf discovers that an eel has slithered inside his boot and munched on his foot while he floated in the ocean, clad in furs and armor. The old fisherman tosses the anthropophagic eel into the pot with the rest. Handing a bit of the concoction to Our Hero, he wheezes "Be-yo'-self!" As in, indirectly eat yourself, thus "being" oneself.
Hardy har.
Also unfortunately, the filmmakers have tried to graft typically modern attitudes onto the bones of the ancient legend. In a prologue pretentiously entitled "A Hate Is Born", we see that Grendel is not evil, he's just a misunderstood victim of violent prejudice. We also meet a pretty feminist witch with a Canadian accent who doesn't mind humping men, trolls, or much of anything else that crawls into her solitary hovel, plus a bizarrely warped version of Hrothgar's generous queen, Wealtheow, who in the filmmakers' imagination has become a dour middle-aged harridan plotting to murder her husband. (Inexplicably but mercifully, this plot threat is dropped with no further explanation or development.)
Fiend suggested that I should take a look at the version of the Beowulf story presented in a couple of episodes of Star Trek : Voyager. It was better than Beowulf & Grendel, which is admittedly setting a rather low standard. ST:V's producers won't win any awards for authenticity from me, if only because they insisted on adding a female warrior to their holodeck-Heorot, along with gratuitous references to Freya. But at least the framing-story involving the Voyager crew made some sense once allowance was made for the usual Star Trek technobabble.
Good grief, though... why can't anybody seem to do this story right? It's not as if it's a complicated story!
Recent viewings
Ride With the Devil.
Ang Lee's tale of confusion, violence and betrayal in Civil War Missouri is one of the most beautifully filmed movies I've ever seen, full of achingly beautiful shots of lush, rolling pastures, deep dappled woods, and whitewashed farmhouses that gleam in the brilliant summer sun. Unfortunately, the plot seems to move in a very slow and leisurely fashion in between the brutal outbursts of violence that characterize the guerilla war on the western frontier. The movie's low-key approach to the characters' personal emotional lives means that critical plot points can slip past an inattentive viewer without even registering. Still, it's worth seeing if you like historical war dramas.
NOTE: I initially tried to watch this movie in the wee-morning hours after covering a late reference shift at the library. Am I being unfair in watching movies at this late hour and then criticizing them because I fall asleep during them?
Ride With the Devil.
Ang Lee's tale of confusion, violence and betrayal in Civil War Missouri is one of the most beautifully filmed movies I've ever seen, full of achingly beautiful shots of lush, rolling pastures, deep dappled woods, and whitewashed farmhouses that gleam in the brilliant summer sun. Unfortunately, the plot seems to move in a very slow and leisurely fashion in between the brutal outbursts of violence that characterize the guerilla war on the western frontier. The movie's low-key approach to the characters' personal emotional lives means that critical plot points can slip past an inattentive viewer without even registering. Still, it's worth seeing if you like historical war dramas.
NOTE: I initially tried to watch this movie in the wee-morning hours after covering a late reference shift at the library. Am I being unfair in watching movies at this late hour and then criticizing them because I fall asleep during them?
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
From the Department of Irresistible Irony:
MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin (AP) -- Two car crashes occurred and four people were arrested in excitement over a gasoline giveaway Wednesday to reward the city for its safe-driving record....(from CNN)
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