I liked this better than the reviews led me to believe. Apparently it's more faithful to the book but since I've never read it, I don't know. The first half hour was well done as we see the golden tickets given out and meet Charlie and his family. They live in a very poor house that's tilted in a Dr. Seuss way that only Tim Burton could do. The movie changes once they get into the factory. Again as you'd expect from Burton, the factory is fantastical. A chocolate river and candy garden, a few crazy machines, a great glass elevator and an odd white room that's an homage to 2001: A Space Odyssey. My favorite was how Wonka used a room full of real squirels to shell nuts.
There are some good performances. Freddie Highmore as Charlie is very good. David Kelly of Waking Ned Devine does a more memorable job in the Grandpa Joe role than Jack Albertson did in the original. The various kids are are all fine as kids spoiled in various ways. The Oompa Loompa's in this film are digital clones of one person (Deep Roy) and I found that a little creepy. The songs aren't as fun as in the original film though I've read the lyrics come from the book and Danny Elfman did the music. It also bother me that they speak their own language but sing in English.
But the film really does rest on Willy Wonka and Johnny Depp does an odd job at that. I think he does a cross between Michael Jackson's looks and Dana Carvey's Church Lady's mannerisms. Now this review says he modeled his performance on "Howard Hughes and Edward Scissorhands" and this one says he modeled it on "Vogue editor Anna Wintour" so who knows. Regardless it's creepy and annoying and detracts from the film. They also fill in Wonka's background with various flashbacks that try to explain things. Turns out his father (Christopher Lee) was a dentist and kept him from having candy. And I'm sure having Saruman or a Sith Lord as your father would screw up anyone. But the overall effect is to push the character from an excentric inventor to a crazy Batman villian. It might work for you but it didn't for me as much as I really liked the rest of the film.
Oh and it's narrated by the awesome Geoffrey Holder who's voice you'll recognize from Doctor Dolittle, Live and Let Die and 7-Up commercials.
Monday, February 27, 2006
Sunday, February 26, 2006
Saturday, February 25, 2006
Iraqi Troop Readiness
CNN reports on the Congressionally mandated quarterly report from the Pentagon on Measuring Stability and Security in Iraq.
There are no Iraqi battalions capable of operating independently (aka Level 1). There was one, it was downgraded. "There are 53 Iraqi battalions at level 2 status, up from 36 in October. There are 45 battalions at level 3. Overall, Pentagon officials said close to 100 Iraqi army battalions are operational, and more than 100 Iraq Security Force battalions are operational at levels 2 or 3."
There are no Iraqi battalions capable of operating independently (aka Level 1). There was one, it was downgraded. "There are 53 Iraqi battalions at level 2 status, up from 36 in October. There are 45 battalions at level 3. Overall, Pentagon officials said close to 100 Iraqi army battalions are operational, and more than 100 Iraq Security Force battalions are operational at levels 2 or 3."
Thursday, February 23, 2006
Four Movie Reviews
Movie Review: Pride and Prejudice
I really enjoyed this film. Of course it's a well known good Jane Austin story, but it was told well, had good performances, sets, costumes, etc. You really felt like you were there. Also for a 2 hour version of a 350 page novel of which a 6 hour mini series is based, they did a good job with pacing and getting enough of the story in. This was one of my favorites of the year.
Movie Review: Memoirs of a Geisha
I saw many so-so reviews of this but I liked it. The story follows a young girl sold into slavery at one of the geisha houses in Japan (Kyoto?). She sees an older man (Ken Watanabe) who buys her an ice cream cone and falls in love. Then a rival geisha (Michelle Yeoh) trains her and she (ziyi Zhang) becomes the star of the town and of course see her love again. There's much more to the story, involving her rival (Li Gong) and once friend (youki Kudoh) which pushes the melodrama scale very far. If you look past the creepiness factor and an out of place dance scene that reminded me of Flashdance I was very entertained.
Movie Review: Mrs. Henderson Presents
I knew nothing about the story going into this film and was surprised. It starts out in 1937 with Mrs. Henderson (Judi Dench) burying her wealthy British husband and figuring out what to do with her new widowed life. But this seems to be comedy and some of these scenes are quite funny as she decides to run a theater in the West End. She hires Vivian Van Damm (Bob Hoskins) to run it and they create a vaudville-like show that runs continuously. When others copy it, Mrs. Henderson suggests turning it into a nude review to bring in the crowd. It's then part musical and still pretty fun. Of course World War II intervenes some personal issues pop up to give the film some dramatic bite. The movie kept wanting to shock us by having Judi Dench swear and it pretty much works.
Movie Review: Transamerica
In this one Felicity Huffman plays Stanley Osbourne who's a week away from becoming Bree Osbourne. Having taken hormones and dressing the part, she already goes by Bree. And then she gets a phone call from someone claiming to be Stanley's unknown 17 year-old son Toby (Kevin Zegers). Her therapist (Elizabeth Peña) says she has to resolve this before she can give approval for the sugery and delaying it would mean a long scheduling delay. So off to New York goes Bree to bail out Toby. She doesn't tell him that she's his father and a road trip to Los Angeles ensues. Oh yeah, Toby is a 17 year male prostitute drug-user who dreams of being a porn star, a model child. You can guess the bonding plot summary but none of the details. The middle of the film with the road trip isn't all that good but it does pick up in the last act. I would have liked this better if the characters were a little more likable. Bree's situation didn't bother me but did they have to make her someone who corrects everyone's grammer and uses the vocabulary of a anthropologist? They explain she went to college for 10 years but failed to get a degree, but I don't think that explains that she works as a dishwasher in a small mexican restaurant and does telemarketing from home. Among all the characters and performances, Huffman is the only one of note, and she's very good, almost good enough to carry the film, if only there was more for her to work with.
I really enjoyed this film. Of course it's a well known good Jane Austin story, but it was told well, had good performances, sets, costumes, etc. You really felt like you were there. Also for a 2 hour version of a 350 page novel of which a 6 hour mini series is based, they did a good job with pacing and getting enough of the story in. This was one of my favorites of the year.
Movie Review: Memoirs of a Geisha
I saw many so-so reviews of this but I liked it. The story follows a young girl sold into slavery at one of the geisha houses in Japan (Kyoto?). She sees an older man (Ken Watanabe) who buys her an ice cream cone and falls in love. Then a rival geisha (Michelle Yeoh) trains her and she (ziyi Zhang) becomes the star of the town and of course see her love again. There's much more to the story, involving her rival (Li Gong) and once friend (youki Kudoh) which pushes the melodrama scale very far. If you look past the creepiness factor and an out of place dance scene that reminded me of Flashdance I was very entertained.
Movie Review: Mrs. Henderson Presents
I knew nothing about the story going into this film and was surprised. It starts out in 1937 with Mrs. Henderson (Judi Dench) burying her wealthy British husband and figuring out what to do with her new widowed life. But this seems to be comedy and some of these scenes are quite funny as she decides to run a theater in the West End. She hires Vivian Van Damm (Bob Hoskins) to run it and they create a vaudville-like show that runs continuously. When others copy it, Mrs. Henderson suggests turning it into a nude review to bring in the crowd. It's then part musical and still pretty fun. Of course World War II intervenes some personal issues pop up to give the film some dramatic bite. The movie kept wanting to shock us by having Judi Dench swear and it pretty much works.
Movie Review: Transamerica
In this one Felicity Huffman plays Stanley Osbourne who's a week away from becoming Bree Osbourne. Having taken hormones and dressing the part, she already goes by Bree. And then she gets a phone call from someone claiming to be Stanley's unknown 17 year-old son Toby (Kevin Zegers). Her therapist (Elizabeth Peña) says she has to resolve this before she can give approval for the sugery and delaying it would mean a long scheduling delay. So off to New York goes Bree to bail out Toby. She doesn't tell him that she's his father and a road trip to Los Angeles ensues. Oh yeah, Toby is a 17 year male prostitute drug-user who dreams of being a porn star, a model child. You can guess the bonding plot summary but none of the details. The middle of the film with the road trip isn't all that good but it does pick up in the last act. I would have liked this better if the characters were a little more likable. Bree's situation didn't bother me but did they have to make her someone who corrects everyone's grammer and uses the vocabulary of a anthropologist? They explain she went to college for 10 years but failed to get a degree, but I don't think that explains that she works as a dishwasher in a small mexican restaurant and does telemarketing from home. Among all the characters and performances, Huffman is the only one of note, and she's very good, almost good enough to carry the film, if only there was more for her to work with.
The Real Port Issue
I haven't commented on the Port Ownership issue because I haven't figured it out. It seems odd that another country would want to own 6 ports in the US and it seems odder that the US would want to sell them. If you think if a port a purely a capitalistic endeavor then sure, globalization would mean foreign ownership could happen and even make sense. But ports aren't just economic means, they are part of our borders, in fact deliberate holes in our borders to allow things in and out. Protecting the borders is a fundamental responsibility of any government and outsourcing that responsibility seems crazy; particularly to a country that was a valued counterterrorism ally of the United States and a persistent counterterrorism problem.
Andrew Sullivan however points out that this whole issue really is a sidetrack from the real problem that our ports are vulnerable to terrorist attacks and are not being adequately secured. This is from the US Coast Guard and Department of Homeland Security. I don't even want to mention nuclear or chemical plant security which I'm sure is worse. Who is that keeps repeating "and Americans are safer?". Bleech.
Andrew Sullivan however points out that this whole issue really is a sidetrack from the real problem that our ports are vulnerable to terrorist attacks and are not being adequately secured. This is from the US Coast Guard and Department of Homeland Security. I don't even want to mention nuclear or chemical plant security which I'm sure is worse. Who is that keeps repeating "and Americans are safer?". Bleech.
Pink Commuter iPod Tie
Gizmodo reports on Thomas Pink's new effort to make a tie useful. Turn it into an iPod case. The Commuter Tie has a sleeve for an iPod nano and a loop to run the headphone cord. I imagine it creates an ugly bulge but it's an interesting idea.
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Clever World Clock
Gizmodo pointed me at this clever world clock. It has no numbers on the face or am/pm indicator, so by just rotating the whole clock around you can change where it's telling the time of. So it's cylinder shaped and you rotate it until your desired location is pointing up. At $75 it seems way overpriced, but it is a good design.
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
U.S. Reclassifies Many Documents in Secret Review - New York Times
The New York Times reports that the U.S. has Reclassified Many Documents in Secret Review. "In a seven-year-old secret program at the National Archives, intelligence agencies have been removing from public access thousands of historical documents that were available for years, including some already published by the State Department and others photocopied years ago by private historians."
An intelligence historian, Matthew M. Aid, said of the items reclassified: "Some of it is mundane, and some of it is outright ridiculous."
An intelligence historian, Matthew M. Aid, said of the items reclassified: "Some of it is mundane, and some of it is outright ridiculous."
Justice Stevens
The Washington Post has a good article on Justice Stevens. Appointed by Ford, a left-leaning centrist, he's now the 3rd oldest justice ever, with a ton of influence. A good read.
Saturday, February 18, 2006
Music Copyright in Britian
Seems that British companies are starting to be more concerned with copyright. In 2013 the copyright on some huge selling works from the Beatles and Elvis will come up. The copyright is 50 years and record companies are starting to get scared so they are proposing extending the copyright to 95 years. That will show 'em.
"The argument for the extension of copyright is often presented as win-win situation for all. If we do not extend copyright, then the Beatles' sound recordings could be packaged and released by anybody, and the recording artists would not receive any money from future sales of the songs they recorded and made popular."
Except, the article points out that's bull (not in so many words). See it's the specific recording that has a 50 year copyright. The "original work belonging to the songwriter lasts for the length of their lives plus 70 years." So they're pretty safe. And the consumers will benefit from multiple sources offering the work and being able to compete on price. So the only loser is the record company, which really, just got 50 years to be able to profit from the work so I don't feel too sorry for them.
Copyright is limited so that at after a fair period of time, others can borrow and create from the work. If the record companies got their extension to 95 years, do you think in 2058 they wouldn't be complaining again?
"The argument for the extension of copyright is often presented as win-win situation for all. If we do not extend copyright, then the Beatles' sound recordings could be packaged and released by anybody, and the recording artists would not receive any money from future sales of the songs they recorded and made popular."
Except, the article points out that's bull (not in so many words). See it's the specific recording that has a 50 year copyright. The "original work belonging to the songwriter lasts for the length of their lives plus 70 years." So they're pretty safe. And the consumers will benefit from multiple sources offering the work and being able to compete on price. So the only loser is the record company, which really, just got 50 years to be able to profit from the work so I don't feel too sorry for them.
Copyright is limited so that at after a fair period of time, others can borrow and create from the work. If the record companies got their extension to 95 years, do you think in 2058 they wouldn't be complaining again?
Cheney Shooting Discrepancies
The AP has an article pointing out VP Accident Tale Filled With Discrepancies. Turns out, when you ask different people a lot of questions about the same thing, you get different answers. Wonder why that is? In this case we get differences on: blame, drinking, the victim's condition, the hunting license, and the disclosure. I'm not sure there was anything nefarious involved, just some bungling by the VP's office in getting the story out, just like they always do. Facts don't quite matter, just what they want to do.
Fact Checking Bush
"Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) hits back at President Bush's speech earlier today with a list of fact checks that range from the pre-war claims of WMD in Iraq, Congressional briefings about NSA wiretapping, and Vice President Cheney's involvement in putting together Colin Powell Speech to the UN in 2003"
Friday, February 17, 2006
Stars after the Star
After seeing Halle Berry I hung around Harvard Square and then went to the Monthly Observatory Night at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. The speaker was Bryan Gaensler who spoke about "The Brightest Explosion in History". It was a great talk.
On December 27, 2004, satellites detected the brightest explosion we've ever seen. It was a thousand times brighter than the Milky Way and lasted a half a second. it ionized the earth's upper atmosphere. We actually saw it twice because it echoed off the moon and hit us again. Why don't you remember seeing it? It wasn't in visible light but rather in gamma rays, which are filtered out by the atmosphere. But man has only seen two things brighter: the sun and the Great Comet of 1882. Satellites detected it and in fact were overloaded by it. In addition to the main explosion, there were (basically) aftershocks on a 7.56 second cycle.
Using data from several satellites that were affected, and knowing their position and the exact time it hit them, astronomers triangulated the explosion to a the magnetar called SGR 1806-20 located in Sagitarious. SGR 1806-20 rotates every 7.56 seconds so this matched up nicely with the aftershocks. This magnetar is 50,000 light-years away, on the far side of our Milky Way galaxy.
In case you were wondering, the International Space Station was fortunately on the other side of the earth so it was protected. If it weren't the occupants would have gotten the equivalent of a dental x-ray. Which is pretty impressive as it came from 50,000 light-years away (that's about 3,000,000,000,000,000,000 miles).
So what's a magnetar? Basically it's a rare type of neutron star (the remnants of a supernova) with a very strong magnetic field. There are 10 known in the Milky Way. They were first theorized in 1992 and the first one was observed in 1998, coincidently it was SGR 1806-20, so to us they're quite new. It's about 15 miles in diameter but has 1.5 times the mass of our sun. Made of neutrons, they are the densest stars in the universe. They are very hot, a million degrees on the surface, (our sun is only 6 000 degrees on its surface). Given their name, you might guess that they are the strongest known magnets, with a magnetic field a thousand million times that of the earth.
So what was the explosion? The surface of our sun has many magnetic feld arcs moving about and when they touch they release debris and energy. These are called solar flares. We think this explosion was the result of something similar on the magnetar. But with it's much greater magnetic field, it was much larger. The magnetar released more energy in one-tenth of a second than our sun has released in 100,000 years. It killed off everything within 10 light-years. If earth were that close it would have burned off the ozone layer. The magnetar lost about 1% of its energy but it's still there, spinning every 7.56 seconds.
This NASA site has some interesting animations you can watch. People have wondered if this event could have cause the tsunami at about the same time. Nope, the tsunami was 2 days prior. Someone had sent him a picture they took on a vacation in Rome. It had some flares on it and they wondered if it was the magnetar. Nope.
Afterwards we went to the roof for some observation. I'll never get tired of seeing Saturn through a telescope. The we also looked at the moon and mars. We looked at a double star in the Big Dipper called Mizar and at M44 The Beehive Cluster. One of the graduate students was giving her tour of stellar evolution. Stars form from clouds of gas called nebula and then spread out as they are affected by other stellar objects. We looked at three objects. First was M42, the Orion Nebula where you can see stars and the cloud that formed them. Then we saw M45, the Pleiades a young open cluster with young blue stars but with none of the original nebula visible. Last we looked at the Double Cluster in Perseus which while young has some stars old enough to have evolved into red-giants. It was a great night.
On December 27, 2004, satellites detected the brightest explosion we've ever seen. It was a thousand times brighter than the Milky Way and lasted a half a second. it ionized the earth's upper atmosphere. We actually saw it twice because it echoed off the moon and hit us again. Why don't you remember seeing it? It wasn't in visible light but rather in gamma rays, which are filtered out by the atmosphere. But man has only seen two things brighter: the sun and the Great Comet of 1882. Satellites detected it and in fact were overloaded by it. In addition to the main explosion, there were (basically) aftershocks on a 7.56 second cycle.
Using data from several satellites that were affected, and knowing their position and the exact time it hit them, astronomers triangulated the explosion to a the magnetar called SGR 1806-20 located in Sagitarious. SGR 1806-20 rotates every 7.56 seconds so this matched up nicely with the aftershocks. This magnetar is 50,000 light-years away, on the far side of our Milky Way galaxy.
In case you were wondering, the International Space Station was fortunately on the other side of the earth so it was protected. If it weren't the occupants would have gotten the equivalent of a dental x-ray. Which is pretty impressive as it came from 50,000 light-years away (that's about 3,000,000,000,000,000,000 miles).
So what's a magnetar? Basically it's a rare type of neutron star (the remnants of a supernova) with a very strong magnetic field. There are 10 known in the Milky Way. They were first theorized in 1992 and the first one was observed in 1998, coincidently it was SGR 1806-20, so to us they're quite new. It's about 15 miles in diameter but has 1.5 times the mass of our sun. Made of neutrons, they are the densest stars in the universe. They are very hot, a million degrees on the surface, (our sun is only 6 000 degrees on its surface). Given their name, you might guess that they are the strongest known magnets, with a magnetic field a thousand million times that of the earth.
So what was the explosion? The surface of our sun has many magnetic feld arcs moving about and when they touch they release debris and energy. These are called solar flares. We think this explosion was the result of something similar on the magnetar. But with it's much greater magnetic field, it was much larger. The magnetar released more energy in one-tenth of a second than our sun has released in 100,000 years. It killed off everything within 10 light-years. If earth were that close it would have burned off the ozone layer. The magnetar lost about 1% of its energy but it's still there, spinning every 7.56 seconds.
This NASA site has some interesting animations you can watch. People have wondered if this event could have cause the tsunami at about the same time. Nope, the tsunami was 2 days prior. Someone had sent him a picture they took on a vacation in Rome. It had some flares on it and they wondered if it was the magnetar. Nope.
Afterwards we went to the roof for some observation. I'll never get tired of seeing Saturn through a telescope. The we also looked at the moon and mars. We looked at a double star in the Big Dipper called Mizar and at M44 The Beehive Cluster. One of the graduate students was giving her tour of stellar evolution. Stars form from clouds of gas called nebula and then spread out as they are affected by other stellar objects. We looked at three objects. First was M42, the Orion Nebula where you can see stars and the cloud that formed them. Then we saw M45, the Pleiades a young open cluster with young blue stars but with none of the original nebula visible. Last we looked at the Double Cluster in Perseus which while young has some stars old enough to have evolved into red-giants. It was a great night.
Halle Berry, Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year
Thursday I went to the Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year Roast. This years winner was Halle Berry. I've read about this every year I've been up here and always thought that would be fun to see. This year I did hear about the event beforehand and managed to buy a ticket.
At first I stood by the parade route which went about three blocks down Mass Ave into Harvard Square. At 2pm there were a few people standing by the start area, by 2:30 the whole course was pretty mobbed with people moving closer and closer into the street to get a view. As I walked down the block I heard a lot of different languages that I couldn't identify, and then I'd always hear "Halle Berry". I think half the people knew what was going on and the other half were asking what was going on. When she drove by it was pretty anti-climatic as it was very difficult to see her. I was more interested in the contraption driving in front of her car. A four row bleecher filled with photographers. Very strange.
The roast was done by two students and was very funny. They had a mock debate on whether Miss Berry was an action star or a dramatic actress. To resolve the issue, they put her through a few tests. One said the stunts were fake and weren't the only fake things in the movie. She took offense and made it clear saying "If I took my bra off you'd see how real they are." They brought out a guy dressed as a poodle and said he was Dogman, Catwoman's enemy. They made her defeat him in a dance competition. She won that handily and at one point the cat mounted the dog.
To prove her dramatic abilities they had her act out some scenes from Monster's Ball. The first was to talk her way into car. I'll let the small pic show you how she did. The hosts described it as unprecedented. In acting out the couch scene from Monster's Ball she basically gave him a lapdance.
They mentioned that she won Miss USA in 1986. She corrected them that she came in second. One pointed out that in '86 he was two years old. Ouch. The crowd turned on him for that. The other said second is like Yale. Then they had a the Hasty Pudding Beauty Contest. First they made her answer a question in her BAPS character. They asked something like what was the most serious problem in the world today. She said, "that fucking president, George W. what's that nigga's name?" They said that was also unprecedented. Then they moved to the talent portion of the competition and had her use a bullwhip on a poster of Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman. Before they would give her the Pudding Pot, they made her write "I will not make 'Catwoman 2" four times on a chalkboard. They wanted her to sign it but she wouldn't, instead she used Angela Basset's name.
It was very funny and surprisingly outrageous. She looked great, though very much like an everyday person. All right a very good looking everyday person. But it wasn't the glamour you see on a red carpet.
At first I stood by the parade route which went about three blocks down Mass Ave into Harvard Square. At 2pm there were a few people standing by the start area, by 2:30 the whole course was pretty mobbed with people moving closer and closer into the street to get a view. As I walked down the block I heard a lot of different languages that I couldn't identify, and then I'd always hear "Halle Berry". I think half the people knew what was going on and the other half were asking what was going on. When she drove by it was pretty anti-climatic as it was very difficult to see her. I was more interested in the contraption driving in front of her car. A four row bleecher filled with photographers. Very strange.
The roast was done by two students and was very funny. They had a mock debate on whether Miss Berry was an action star or a dramatic actress. To resolve the issue, they put her through a few tests. One said the stunts were fake and weren't the only fake things in the movie. She took offense and made it clear saying "If I took my bra off you'd see how real they are." They brought out a guy dressed as a poodle and said he was Dogman, Catwoman's enemy. They made her defeat him in a dance competition. She won that handily and at one point the cat mounted the dog. 
To prove her dramatic abilities they had her act out some scenes from Monster's Ball. The first was to talk her way into car. I'll let the small pic show you how she did. The hosts described it as unprecedented. In acting out the couch scene from Monster's Ball she basically gave him a lapdance.They mentioned that she won Miss USA in 1986. She corrected them that she came in second. One pointed out that in '86 he was two years old. Ouch. The crowd turned on him for that. The other said second is like Yale. Then they had a the Hasty Pudding Beauty Contest. First they made her answer a question in her BAPS character. They asked something like what was the most serious problem in the world today. She said, "that fucking president, George W. what's that nigga's name?" They said that was also unprecedented. Then they moved to the talent portion of the competition and had her use a bullwhip on a poster of Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman. Before they would give her the Pudding Pot, they made her write "I will not make 'Catwoman 2" four times on a chalkboard. They wanted her to sign it but she wouldn't, instead she used Angela Basset's name.
It was very funny and surprisingly outrageous. She looked great, though very much like an everyday person. All right a very good looking everyday person. But it wasn't the glamour you see on a red carpet.
HD Olympics
Here's a blog called HD Olympics with details about NBC's production facilities for the Torino Olympics. It includes pics of racks with huge numbers of wires and other geek things. Good stuff.
Thursday, February 16, 2006
Here are pics of some amazing Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Movie Review: War of the Worlds
Spielberg remade War of the Worlds last year and I didn't see it. Then it got nominated for 3 oscars, so I saw it. It opens with a shot of Tom Cruise as Ray Ferrier operating a crane on dock overlooking New York City. His boss asks him to work an extra shift, but he just walks off. Oh good, another Tom Cruise cocky asshole character. Cut to a Mustang driving way too fast through the streets. Yep, cocky asshole. He gets home and we see that his ex-wife (Miranda Otto) is there to drop off the kids for the weekend. Robbie (Justin Chatwin) is a teenager who hates his father and Rachel (Dakota Fanning) is the 10 year-old going on 40. No really, we learn she has a bad back even though she does yoga. Learn is probably too strong a term, as both of these facts are mentioned once in passing and never revisited. To remind us that this was directed by Steven Spielberg, the dropoff scene has an odd soft back lighting on the street behind his ex-wife. This seems to be for no reason than to say to say, look what I can do.
Cruise quickly ignores his kids. There's no food in the house so he tells them to order out, he's going to sleep. Rachel of course orders organic health food and Ray it turns out has no idea what hummus is. I was thrilled to hear Rachel suggest that Ray get TiVo nice plug there. But I was annoyed to hear him say he couldn't afford it when we see he has a large TV, several stereo components, a game console and an expensive cell phone. I guess Tivo should have spent more for product placement. Anyway, in the background during this meet-the-characters time we hear about an odd storm overseas that was accompanied by an EMP. If you're attentive enough to listen to the background, you're rewarded with foreshadowing. If you're not, don't worry, it's about to happen here. Everyone goes outside to see a freakish lightening storm. Ray knows it's odd because the wind is blowing away from the storm, as if he would know this trvial fact about wind. Then New Jersey gets the EMP so all the cars stop.
Our ten minutes of opening pleasantries are up, time for a destructive set piece. It turns out, just around the corner lightening has struck 26 times in the same place, so Cruise goes to investigate. Here we're treated to another useless observation. He picks up a piece of asphault from the site, someone asks if it's hot, he says no it's freezing cold. Nothing is ever mentioned about this again. The earth starts cracking and the (classic) alien tripod rises from the ground and starts destroying things. Death rays beam out from it, turning people to dust so that their outer clothing is left blowing in the wind. This is PG-13 so apparently their undergarments turn to dust too. Ray makes it home, gathers the family and prepares to leave. We hear how packing food will be difficult since Ray doesn't have any, wink wink, but that's ok, no one ever gets hungry in the rest of the movie. Ray finds the only working car and they begin their drive. Where? To Boston because that's where mom is. They make it pretty far since the EMP stopped the other cars on the road in a convenient pattern that Ray can slalom. Apparently EMPs prevent gridlock too. The aliens are right on their tails, and the talented Miss Fanning spends the rest of the film screaming.
We follow this family in their flight, they have several other run ins with the aliens and with angry mobs. One mob behaves like a group of henchmen in a Bruce Lee film, each attacking one at a time, you know, just like a mob wouldn't. This theme is picked up again when light reflects off a river into Rachel's face, in exactly the way light from a river wouldn't. Cruise drives the car slowly through a mob, with the people moving out of the way, just like they wouldn't. Let's say you're a ferry boat captain, with death and destruction is on it's way, do you wait to bring up the ramp before leaving?
All right, I could keep this up throughout the whole film, but you hopefully get the point by now. The thing I haven't mentioned yet is that parts of this film are genuinely thrilling. I'm not sure about frightening but the destruction is presented from the point of view of the common man, not some Rambo-like super soldier, and that's effective. Our heroes are helpless as aliens exterminate mankind. Speilberg made Jaws, Poltergeist, Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan, he knows how to push the audience's buttons. You'll catch little references to E.T., Jurrasic Park, and Minority Report as well. Every Sci-Fi geek knows the ending, but if you don't, I think the focus of this film detracts from it. The point of it all seems to be enjoy some popcorn and get your thrills at these thrilling scenes. This was a summer film, and it's better than most of the crap that passes for a summer action flick, but it's also Spielberg stepping down a bit to make merely summer action flick. Too bad.
Cruise quickly ignores his kids. There's no food in the house so he tells them to order out, he's going to sleep. Rachel of course orders organic health food and Ray it turns out has no idea what hummus is. I was thrilled to hear Rachel suggest that Ray get TiVo nice plug there. But I was annoyed to hear him say he couldn't afford it when we see he has a large TV, several stereo components, a game console and an expensive cell phone. I guess Tivo should have spent more for product placement. Anyway, in the background during this meet-the-characters time we hear about an odd storm overseas that was accompanied by an EMP. If you're attentive enough to listen to the background, you're rewarded with foreshadowing. If you're not, don't worry, it's about to happen here. Everyone goes outside to see a freakish lightening storm. Ray knows it's odd because the wind is blowing away from the storm, as if he would know this trvial fact about wind. Then New Jersey gets the EMP so all the cars stop.
Our ten minutes of opening pleasantries are up, time for a destructive set piece. It turns out, just around the corner lightening has struck 26 times in the same place, so Cruise goes to investigate. Here we're treated to another useless observation. He picks up a piece of asphault from the site, someone asks if it's hot, he says no it's freezing cold. Nothing is ever mentioned about this again. The earth starts cracking and the (classic) alien tripod rises from the ground and starts destroying things. Death rays beam out from it, turning people to dust so that their outer clothing is left blowing in the wind. This is PG-13 so apparently their undergarments turn to dust too. Ray makes it home, gathers the family and prepares to leave. We hear how packing food will be difficult since Ray doesn't have any, wink wink, but that's ok, no one ever gets hungry in the rest of the movie. Ray finds the only working car and they begin their drive. Where? To Boston because that's where mom is. They make it pretty far since the EMP stopped the other cars on the road in a convenient pattern that Ray can slalom. Apparently EMPs prevent gridlock too. The aliens are right on their tails, and the talented Miss Fanning spends the rest of the film screaming.
We follow this family in their flight, they have several other run ins with the aliens and with angry mobs. One mob behaves like a group of henchmen in a Bruce Lee film, each attacking one at a time, you know, just like a mob wouldn't. This theme is picked up again when light reflects off a river into Rachel's face, in exactly the way light from a river wouldn't. Cruise drives the car slowly through a mob, with the people moving out of the way, just like they wouldn't. Let's say you're a ferry boat captain, with death and destruction is on it's way, do you wait to bring up the ramp before leaving?
All right, I could keep this up throughout the whole film, but you hopefully get the point by now. The thing I haven't mentioned yet is that parts of this film are genuinely thrilling. I'm not sure about frightening but the destruction is presented from the point of view of the common man, not some Rambo-like super soldier, and that's effective. Our heroes are helpless as aliens exterminate mankind. Speilberg made Jaws, Poltergeist, Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan, he knows how to push the audience's buttons. You'll catch little references to E.T., Jurrasic Park, and Minority Report as well. Every Sci-Fi geek knows the ending, but if you don't, I think the focus of this film detracts from it. The point of it all seems to be enjoy some popcorn and get your thrills at these thrilling scenes. This was a summer film, and it's better than most of the crap that passes for a summer action flick, but it's also Spielberg stepping down a bit to make merely summer action flick. Too bad.
Atomic Bomb Detonation Photos by Harold Edgerton
Three Atomic Bomb Detonation Photos by Harold Edgerton. Not sure if they're real, but they are funky.
No-Fly List Errors
Here are two more examples of why the no-fly list isn't working. First, a
4 year-old boy is stopped because his name is on the list. Second, is the story of a Canadian citizen traveling to Mexico with his family for vacation. "U.S. fighter jets shadowed an Air Transat flight from Toronto to Mexico this week, following a passenger from Mississauga who was eventually detained upon landing and forced to spend a night in a Mexican jail because his name appears on an American no-fly list."
4 year-old boy is stopped because his name is on the list. Second, is the story of a Canadian citizen traveling to Mexico with his family for vacation. "U.S. fighter jets shadowed an Air Transat flight from Toronto to Mexico this week, following a passenger from Mississauga who was eventually detained upon landing and forced to spend a night in a Mexican jail because his name appears on an American no-fly list."
Congressional Probe of NSA Spying Is in Doubt
It seems that Congressional Probe of NSA Spying Is in Doubt. "They attributed the shift to last week's closed briefings given by top administration officials to the full House and Senate intelligence committees, and to private appeals to wavering GOP senators by officials, including Vice President Cheney."
So it seems that the $1.6 billion the administration spent on advertising was unnecessary. They seem very effective just talking by themselves. Then again, I think talking to Cheney is a little scarier now. Pat Leahy joked that he got off easy, referring to when Cheney told him to go fuck himself in June 2004.
I can't believe I found a personal injury lawyer using this reference I thought of: "If you were a fan of television in the '70s, there is a great Happy Days episode directly on point: Richie Cunningham was being picked on by a bully. Fonzie revealed his secret to why he rarely got into fights: Sound tough, act tough, and people will think you are tough. Stand up to the bully, Fonzie told Ritchie, and he will back down. Ritchie prepared to fight the bully but the bully did not back down. Ritchie asked Fonzie why the bully was not backing down. Fonzie comically told Ritchie that he forgot to tell him one thing: once in his life, he would have had to hit someone for the 'act tough, sound tough strategy' to work." Maybe Cheney could have just gotten a new wallet instead of shooting someone to prove he's tough.
So it seems that the $1.6 billion the administration spent on advertising was unnecessary. They seem very effective just talking by themselves. Then again, I think talking to Cheney is a little scarier now. Pat Leahy joked that he got off easy, referring to when Cheney told him to go fuck himself in June 2004.
I can't believe I found a personal injury lawyer using this reference I thought of: "If you were a fan of television in the '70s, there is a great Happy Days episode directly on point: Richie Cunningham was being picked on by a bully. Fonzie revealed his secret to why he rarely got into fights: Sound tough, act tough, and people will think you are tough. Stand up to the bully, Fonzie told Ritchie, and he will back down. Ritchie prepared to fight the bully but the bully did not back down. Ritchie asked Fonzie why the bully was not backing down. Fonzie comically told Ritchie that he forgot to tell him one thing: once in his life, he would have had to hit someone for the 'act tough, sound tough strategy' to work." Maybe Cheney could have just gotten a new wallet instead of shooting someone to prove he's tough.
Abu Ghraib Called Incubator for Terrorists - New York Times
In the New York Times yesterday was this article: Abu Ghraib Called Incubator for Terrorists. "American commanders in Iraq are expressing grave concerns that the overcrowded Abu Ghraib prison has become a breeding ground for extremist leaders and a school for terrorist foot soldiers." Great.
Top Sci-Fi Films That Never Existed
David Wong has written his list of The Top Ten Sci-Fi Films That Never Existed. It's pretty amusing in a geek fan-boy kind of way.
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Billions in Tax Breaks for Oil Companies?
Here's another complicated story broken by the New York Times. The one line summary is causing people to have a knee-jerk disgusted reaction. That summary is this, over the next 5 years, the government is giving oil companies $7 billion in tax relief. These are the same oil companies reporting insane record setting profits. Of course the left is blaming Bush for this and Bush is blaming Clinton. Here's the scoop.
In 1996 Congress wanted to encourage oil companies to explore and drill in the Gulf of Mexico, but this was expensive so oil companies balked. So Congress passed and Clinton signed the Deep Water Royalty Relief Act to offer tax breaks to encourage this. Lessening on our demand on foreign oil, sounds like a good thing. The tax breaks came in the form of relief from paying royalties to the government for drilling on federal land. Well it worked and oil companies started the long process to explore and drill in these areas. They are just now starting to produce oil. But now prices are much higher. The 12% royalty the government was giving up for oil at $10/barrel was one thing. To some people 12% of $50/barrel is another.
The way to solve this is with price triggers. Currently if oil is more than $35/barrel the royalties still need to be paid, but, Clinton wavied the price triggers for all leases awarded in 1998 and 1999. "The Interior Department announced that 41 oil companies had improperly claimed more than $500 million in royalty relief for 2004." Most paid up in January, but one, Kerr-McGee, is fighting it in court. They claim that Congress didn't set price thresholds for leases awarded between 1996 and 2000. If Kerr-McGee wins, the overall cost in royalities will be about $35 billion in the next 5 years.
So all of this happened 10 years ago and what can we do now? It turns out Congress has tried a few things. Last years energy bill had more tax relief in it. Administration officials say they opposed those features, but apprently not very hard. The Senate tax bill has a one-year tax of $5 billion on profits of major oil companies, but the administration is threatening to veto it.
So what's right here? Honor the original agreement which did what it was trying to do (encourage more oil production) and was perhaps badly written to not account for a possibility for huge oil price increases, or get money from companies making enormous profits when the budget is so crazy out of wack? The article points out that $35 billion is "about the same amount that Mr. Bush is proposing to cut from Medicare, Medicaid and child support enforcement programs over the same period."
Companies are clearly about making money. Some argue that companies also have a responsibility to society. Apparently some companies like Exxon Mobil have stopped claiming royalty relief. You'd think there might be a way to compromise here.
In 1996 Congress wanted to encourage oil companies to explore and drill in the Gulf of Mexico, but this was expensive so oil companies balked. So Congress passed and Clinton signed the Deep Water Royalty Relief Act to offer tax breaks to encourage this. Lessening on our demand on foreign oil, sounds like a good thing. The tax breaks came in the form of relief from paying royalties to the government for drilling on federal land. Well it worked and oil companies started the long process to explore and drill in these areas. They are just now starting to produce oil. But now prices are much higher. The 12% royalty the government was giving up for oil at $10/barrel was one thing. To some people 12% of $50/barrel is another.
The way to solve this is with price triggers. Currently if oil is more than $35/barrel the royalties still need to be paid, but, Clinton wavied the price triggers for all leases awarded in 1998 and 1999. "The Interior Department announced that 41 oil companies had improperly claimed more than $500 million in royalty relief for 2004." Most paid up in January, but one, Kerr-McGee, is fighting it in court. They claim that Congress didn't set price thresholds for leases awarded between 1996 and 2000. If Kerr-McGee wins, the overall cost in royalities will be about $35 billion in the next 5 years.
So all of this happened 10 years ago and what can we do now? It turns out Congress has tried a few things. Last years energy bill had more tax relief in it. Administration officials say they opposed those features, but apprently not very hard. The Senate tax bill has a one-year tax of $5 billion on profits of major oil companies, but the administration is threatening to veto it.
So what's right here? Honor the original agreement which did what it was trying to do (encourage more oil production) and was perhaps badly written to not account for a possibility for huge oil price increases, or get money from companies making enormous profits when the budget is so crazy out of wack? The article points out that $35 billion is "about the same amount that Mr. Bush is proposing to cut from Medicare, Medicaid and child support enforcement programs over the same period."
Companies are clearly about making money. Some argue that companies also have a responsibility to society. Apparently some companies like Exxon Mobil have stopped claiming royalty relief. You'd think there might be a way to compromise here.
Bush Spent $1.6 Billion on Advertising
You know how Bush is always saying he doesn't govern with focus groups? Well that may be, but he does spend a lot on advertising.
According to the GAO from the beginning of 2003 to the middle of 2005, the Bush administration spent $1.6 billion on "contracts with public relations firms, advertising agencies, media organizations, and individual members of the media". $1.1 billion of that was spent by the Department of Defense. The details are in this fact sheet.
This guy's fiscal management is disgusting.
According to the GAO from the beginning of 2003 to the middle of 2005, the Bush administration spent $1.6 billion on "contracts with public relations firms, advertising agencies, media organizations, and individual members of the media". $1.1 billion of that was spent by the Department of Defense. The details are in this fact sheet.
This guy's fiscal management is disgusting.
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