I Heart Movies

But who the fuck is the Academy, anyways? Is it just me, or do half the movies that this mysterious institution fawn over just straight-up suck?

This weekend, Vicki and I bought/rented a handful of movies. I added Spider-Man 2 (which most everyone agrees is a fine film), I, Robot (there's some disagreement here, but Vicki and I enjoyed it) and I Heart Huckabees to my collection. We also rented Hotel Rwanda and Sideways. It was the last film on that list that inspired my opening comments for this post.

Sideways got 5 Oscar nominations, won 2 Golden Globes, got 96% at Rotten Tomatoes... and it sucked. The movie itself was passable, at best. It was like the movie would drag for ten or fifteen minutes, then have a promisingly funny moment... then drag some more. It was like a lure, drawing your attention so that just when you'd start to lose interest, you'd think "Maybe it will get better." Surprisingly, it never does. The movie wasn't walk-out-of-the-theater bad, but when the movie ended I couldn't figure out what I had just seen. Not because I didn't understand it, but because I couldn't figure out what was so good about it. If it was a comedy (which it supposedly is), it wasn't very funny. I would say it succeeded more as a drama, but it was so slow-paced and meandering...

Several of the reviews of the movie referred to it as a study of modern mediocrity. Two men, wallowing in their own aimlessness and failings, drive the action of the movie. If a movie about mediocrity sounds like a bad idea, well, it is. Or at least it was in Sideways. Nothing of note happens in this film. The two male leads, while very "human," were very boring and not particularly likeable. To be honest, the moment that I most enjoyed the film was when a fat, naked man was chasing the protagonists. It was completely absurd, but at least it was interesting.

One thing that Vicki mentioned was that it was nice to see normal people -- the characters in Sideways aren't your typical, super-attractive and made-up actors. A lot of people seem to be on that wavelength, but its nothing more than a gimmick. It is refreshing to see "real" people, flaws and all, but these people are just not interesting, or funny, or sympathetic.

I have to wonder if I'm just not old enough to appreciate the film. Do you have to have had a mid-life crisis to enjoy the film? Is that why the critics and the academy loved it? Every time I read a review of the film, I was wondering if I was watching the same movie. If anyone can clue me in to what I'm missing here, please help me out. I'm lost.

On the flipside is I Heart Huckabees. I think I'll have to watch the movie again to really say for sure, but I really enjoyed it and I don't know why. I'm not really sure I understood it fully, but it was witty, fun, and poignant. It has an entertaining sort of pseudo-philosophy. Much of the reason that I purchased the film was because I wanted to show it to others and say "What the hell do you make of this?" I may write more after I've watched it again, but I'm going to go ahead and reccomend this film.

Hotel Rwanda, the other film we rented, was also excellent for obviously different reasons. If you like a movie to have "real" characters, you can't really do much better than to go to a true story. Hotel Rwanda tells the tale of Paul Rosesabagina, a four-star hotel manager in Rwanda, 1994. For those who don't remember, this was when the two native groups of Rwanda, called the Hutus and the Tutsis, were embroiled in civil war. The sad truth is that it was more a massacre than a war.

A quick history lesson: the Belgians ran Rwanda, and they favored the taller, more fair-skinned Tutsis. The Tutsis had the power, and as people are wont to do, some of them abused it. When the Belgians left, for whatever reason, they left the Hutus in control of the government. Things festered for awhile, but the country was in relative peace. They exploded when Tutsis were implicated in a plane crash that killed the Hutu president. The backlash for that event led to a massacre of the Tutsi people and any who protected them. Nearly 1,000,000 were dead before the end.

This movie has two very powerful themes. First is the heroism of Mr. Rosesabagina, a Hutu, who kept over 1,000 Tutsis (including his wife and children) safe within his crowded hotel. I'm about to go way off-topic here, but I don't want to dilute this first point. Rosesabagina is a modern hero. He will make you proud to be a human, even if you're ashamed to be a westerner. Seriously, go see this movie. Obviously, this is movie-world and things are over dramatic and what-have-you, but someone who did even half of what he did would still be worthy of the term "hero."

The striking second theme was just how little the rest of the world seemed to care about Rwanda. The US bandied about words and the UN withdrew foreign nationals from the hotel while leaving the Tutsis defenseless against rampaging Hutus. One of the most powerful scenes in the movie is a moment when the clearly shamed leader of the UN forces in the area says to Rosesabagina (paraphrased): "You should spit in my face. You're not even worth a vote to us. You aren't even niggers. You're African." In another scene, a photographer is being evacuated as a Rwandan he met there begs him to take her with him. He tries to give her money, knowing its useless, and breaks down, saying "I'm so ashamed."

Vicki said something that really made sense to me. The movie makes you feel ashamed to be American, but it makes you feel better about our being in Iraq. I have to admit... I never thought I'd say it, but this movie has made me respect Dubya a little more. I'd always been in favor of the war, at least in terms of liberating the Iraqi people, but this movie made me think more about the politics. I applaud G. W.'s conviction in actually living up to American ideals.

I understand that part of the issue with Rwanda was that our efforts in Somalia was a bust -- but that should not have stopped us. There's no such thing as "an act of genocide." There's just genocide, and if you have the power to stop it, you have the responsibility to stop it. Sometimes accords and treaties and embargoes don't do enough, or don't do it fast enough. Sometimes, conflict is inevitable. Sometimes, action must be taken. A lot of innocent lives could've been saved 10 years ago. If one middle-class African with some good connection could save 1,000 of his people, imagine what an American intervention force could've accomplished? Hell, any European country could've stopped this. Christ, a lot of them were civilian militia armed with machetes. There was no reason for this genocide to be allowed to continue.

It's easy to demonize the west, but believe me, I'm not in that camp. I love this country, I feel lucky that I was born here. But sometimes, there is no excuse. Sometimes, you have to just do what is right. That's what I really took away from this movie. Politics be damned, we have a responsbility to take care of our fellow man.

Perhaps the saddest fact about this film is that most of us barely remember, if it all, the Rwandan tragedy. It's sad that it takes a movie to kindle interest in a murder of nearly 1,000,000 of our fellow men, women and children. We can only hope that nothing like that ever happens again... but since I'm certain that it will, I can only hope that next time, someone will be there.

Rap; random musings...

Don't you hate it when an idea just doesn't pan out?

I was originally going to talk about how I had gotten into rap, talk about the artists that I'm really digging on, quote some choice lines to hopefully open a few minds to the intelligence that I wish was prevalent throughout rap. But then I realized, if you don't care about hip-hop anyway, then you probably won't change your mind. You probably wouldn't click on any links to song lyrics or other points of interest. If you're the sort of person who enjoys the mainstream vapid rap scene, then you probably are more insterested in the beats than in the message... and I'm not in any position to comment on that. Feel free to prove me wrong.

Failing that, however, I will still say a few things.

First off, Black Star is an amazing album. However, it makes me very, very sad. I've seen what hip-hop could have been, had things been a little different six years ago. From what I've read, the album is considered a classic, but it never propelled its creators, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, and DJ Hi-Tek into a position to change the face of rap the way they might have. Maybe, just maybe, if black children had role model's who taught things like Knowledge of Self and Determination instead of drugs, rims and jewerly...

Second, Talib Kweli is probably smarter than you. Shit, when I knew he was something else when I actually had to look up the word "Diaspora." Seriously, both Kweli and Mos Def rhyme words at lightning speed that most rappers couldn't even pronounce, let alone define. Do yourself a big favor, and if you have the chance, download the song "Thieves in the Night." Or just read the lyrics. Seriously, just do it.

Okay, I guess that's all on the subject of hip-hop for now. I may do album reviews in the future. They'll probably be very long and possibly quite tedious. Just fair warning.

So what else? I'm finding that World of Warcraft (WoW) is an interesting cross-section of humanity. For those who aren't familiar, World of Warcraft is a Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG), which means that people from all over play together in a fictional world. The scope of these games is really quite impressive, as they essentially have interactive economies, politics, and so on. Another thing is that people pay a monthly fee to play these games, as they generally continue to add more and more content to the game as time goes on. What usually actually happens is the game is released before its ready, and by you're more or less paying to get content that was supposed to be in at release. That said, it's still a good investment -- you pay $15 a month and if you really wanted, you could easily play the game a good 25 hours a week (time permitting). That's a lot of bang for your buck.

Anyways, its really interesting how fucking crazy some people are when it comes to World of Warcraft (and any MMOG, I imagine).

For instance, a lot of people have extremely inflated ideas of what their $15 dollars is worth. Blizzard (who makes WoW) runs daily maintence on their servers every Tuesday. One particular Tuesday, Blizzard was upgrading their servers to deal with the large load of players they had acquired (the game was more popular than they had anticipated). As such, servers were down for over half the day. There was a bloody riot in the game's forums. People were screaming bloody murder because they did not get to play. Accusations flew about how Blizzard was "lying" to its customers, that people weren't getting their money's worth, etc., etc. People, it seemed, would literally sit at their computers and continuously try to log in for hours. Instead of just getting and up and, I don't know, doing something else? Whoa.

Funnier still was another day when about half the servers were up. People who could not access their servers (servers store all character data, so people tend to play on the same server and advance one character), would wait in 5-minute queques to login to another random server. They would create new, level 1 characters... and then just sit there. The game's "training areas," where players cut their teeth on the game and begin to advance their characters, were crowded with hundreds of freshly created characters. They weren't actually playing the game. They were just sitting there, as if just being logged into the game was satisfying them. It was disturbing.

Aside from server downtime complaints, people bitch and moan endlessly that the various classes in the game are imbalanced. For the uninitiated, classes are like professions, each of them are good at different things. All games strive for all classes to be balanced, but its really impossible to make 9 complete classes that are both balanced against each other and still unique. Thus, every time a player gets bested by another class of equal level, the players runs to the forums and makes a new post in all caps "OMFG NERF ." The idiocy is rampant, and almost frightening. I sincerely believe that some people spend more time whining about the game than actually playing it.

Many threaten to cancel their subscription if they don't get what they want. Most just stay and continue to whine. It's frustrating, because reason simply cannot win against these people. You can say time and time again, "If the game isn't fun for you, then stop playing." It's an excercise in futility.

I think it comes down to people being spoiled little bitches. They want what they want, and they want it now. It also proves the old adage, "You can't please all of the people all of the time." If servers go down, people whine they can't play. If servers stay up and are lagged due to overpopulation, people whine. If a class gets improved, other complain its too powerful. If a class gets nerfed (slang for weakened), then people in that class claim they are now useless. It never fails, and it never stops.

Worse still, its like a train wreck, and I can't stop reading the forums! It's like how people used to listen to Howard Stern just to see what outrageous thing he'd say... I read the forums to see what sort of BS is being flung around every few minutes.

Anyways, the overall point of this overlong story was that I think that a lot of people are like this in real life, but are too timid to assert themselves. We've been raised in a "me me me, now now now" culture, but one that's constrained by politeness and political correctness. Enter the anonymity provided by our mutual friend, the internet, and voila -- you've got a nation of spoiled pricks who can get away with saying whatever they want.

Or perhaps Something Awful is right, and the Internet Makes You Stupid.

Hip-hop = Not Garbage?! Wha-wha-what!?

And now, for my first trick...

I was going to bore you to death with stories of wonderful life, which consists of sleeping, working, and playing too many video games (and seeing Vicki on several weekends). Like I said before, somewhere between sublime happiness and being a complete waste of life.

I'll save it for another time, and instead talk about something that's really been interesting me lately. Hip-hop.

That's right. Hip-hop. Those of you who know me well enough know that I'm very much into the modern rock scene. Allow me a brief tangent: I don't like where rock is going lately. This whole retro, 80s style was cool and original when Franz Ferdinand did it, less so when the Killers did it, and now everytime I flip past MTV I see some retarded looking guys with spacey sounds and haughty vocals. 3 years ago the 80s were still the most shameful era of American pop culture, and now suddenly its cool again? Oi.

Anyways, I've been a rock fan since the mid-nineties, when a friend introduced me to The Smashing Pumpkins. They were one of my first favorites. Actually, I have to say that my first rock album was probably Green Day's "Dookie" back during its heydey, when everyone had it. Before that, I was in that hazy musical era where music didn't really matter, where I listened to country (because my parents did) and then Vanilla Ice and MC Hammer (because my cousin did) and even... *shudder* Ace of Base.

In any case, I've been a straight-up rock fan since I really cared about music. I've disliked rap and hip-hop for just as long. It started way back then, in the gangsta rap era. I've always been very conscious of lyrics in music, and if the lyrics turn me off to a song, I tend not to like it. Gangsta rap, wit all of its violent machismo and little else, struck a bad chord with me. I still don't like it.

Nowadays, this processed pop-rap "Ice Rap" rules the charts. It really, really irks me. You know who I'm talking about -- Jay-Z, Ludacris, fucking Lil' Jon. Don't even get me started on Lil' Jon. I don't give a fuck about how much jewelry you've got, how big your rims are, or our how many hoes you've screwed. I don't understand why anyone does.

Sadly, the answer is usually "because the beat is good." What can I say to that? While I've definately grown more tolerant of rap since being in college, and can appreciate rappers who have a good "flow," like Jay-Z or Nelly. Even so... Take Lil' Jon for example. I've ranted about this plenty, but I'll do it again for posterity: so many people, girls especially, love Lil' Jon's "Get Low." It makes no sense. The lyrics to the song include "'Til the sweat drips from my balls / 'til all the bitches crawl / Ah, skeet skeet skeet skeet skeet skeet skeet." For the uninitiated, "skeet skeet" refers to the act of ejaculating all over. Let that process for a second.

Good beat or not, I don't see how anyone can consciously like this song. Except misogynists, maybe. But come on!

Okay, ranting aside, the reason that I wanted to talk about hip-hop is to bring the good word -- there's good hip-hop music out there! Seriously. I'll admit that I used to be of the camp that said "Eh, rap is just some guy making up stupid rhymes over bass. It's not music." That's not always how it's gotta be though. While some people will never see rap as "music" -- being that there's no real instruments and whatnot -- you cannot deny the lyricism of some of these artists. If not music, it is nothing less than phenomenal poetry. Wordsmanship at its absolute finest.

What could turn a die-hard rock fan, anti-rap purist into a hip-hop fan in less than a month? Well, that's a long story... well not really, but this is already long enough as it is. Next time, I'll take you through my journey into the hip-hop underground. Yes, that's right, I'm so indie that I skipped right over liking the mainstream. Stay tuned.

Peace.

The Blog Rides Again!

I can write.

At least I think I still can. I feel like all of my reasons are gone. I used to write for catharsis, but all my teenage angst is now long gone, and I'm floating somewhere between sublime happiness and becoming a complete waste of life. I used to write to entertain, but come on, how often do people care what you have to say? I'm even guilty of that. So many times when I could've just taken five damn minutes to read something and actually read it, and I didn't. Let alone comment. Which makes me a gigantic hypocrite, as feedback is like crack to me. I can't get enough, and when I don't get it I just sort of fade away.

So many projects, much like this blog, have died because -- whether this is true or not I don't know -- no one seemed to care. And if no one seems to care, then what is the point, really? ... Well, if you're still here, then I'm going to just shut up now, before I make this into a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I'll try and keep this short. I'm resurrecting this blog in part so I can reconnect to the outside world. In part so I can do something worthwhile with my time. Yes, it's sad that this about as "worthwhile" as I'm getting these days... but you know, baby steps... baby steps. I've got a whole lot of stuff to un-fuck up, and you gotta start somewhere. Maybe I lied, maybe I do need the catharsis. I promise I'll do my best to keep the angst to a minimum.

So why should you believe that I'll actually keep with a blog this go-round? Well, you probably shouldn't. I'm not even sure I'll do it myself. Sad as it is, I can't even give myself a vote of confidence. That said, I'm going to do to things to make this a little easier for everyone: a) I'm going to be more focused, and also going to give myself a general topic to keep the engine fueled, and b) I'm going be less verbose. Yes, I realize that I'm failing at that already. What can I say? It's just how I roll.

I'm going to stop for today to keep this digestable. I'll update it tomorrow. For those of you who read, take a second to comment. Assuming you've read my previous whopping four posts, do you like my stream-of-thought, tangental style, or would you prefer I try to focus more? I feel like I'm very "personal" as writer, like I'm talking to an old friend, though maybe it doesn't come across well in this medium. I actually wrote the letter to the academic commission in charge of pending dismissal in the same straightforward, honest way I always try to write. I guess it worked for them. Okay, I'm really done now.

Peace.