Actual Drinking Buddies

What feels normal at first, starts to feel slow halfway through as you wonder when the "action" is going to happen, then near the end you realize that it has been happening all along. Good writing, good acting, great directing, and it didn't end how I thought it would. Delightful!

Rating:
4 out of 5 pints

Present Shock

Present Shock: When Everything Happens Now by Douglas Rushkoff is sort of like Keen's Digital Vertigo, but a bit less disjointed. Rushkoff describes what he calls a "presentist" culture where everything is about the now. We have confused "flow" with "storage", kairos time with chronos time, and our current anemic state is the failure to reconcile two fundamentally different levels of identity: digital, where we are spending most of our (mental) time, and analog, where we still live and must return to inevitably. We are addicted to possibility and stimulation as the digital realm provides it for us. Also, Rushkoff's media ecologist tendencies sporadically flare up.

Man of FEEL

Saw Man Of Steel last night. Really enjoyed it. Gritty and re-boot-ish enough but still fun and campy in just the right places. With the exception of the random military woman saying Superman is "kind of hot" near the end of the movie, I was happy with my decision to suspend disbelief and enter its world. The Krypton technology, visual effects, awesome use of sound, etc. everything was great and sucked me right in. Even the story (specifically, the father/son relationships and self-control/fate issues) got me. I was on the verge of tears like 8 times. Despite our pre-movie debate where she claimed to prefer DC comics to Marvel, Vicky was not impressed with Man Of Steel.

I will make her watch the most recent Green Lantern and DareDevil movies until she repents.




Rating:
1/1 Seinfeld montages set to Superman music

Side Effects may include

Steven Soderbergh's latest film Side Effects had me hooked from the long, opening tracking shot that panned from a zoomed-out city shot, graaaaadually, over to a zoomed-in shot of a single apartment. So in the span of the first minute or so, you already have the feeling of a single, lonely individual somehow stuck in the cold, mechanical structure of society. 

That kind of thoughtfulness is rampant in this movie. Then, halfway though, the movie jumps genres. Everyone in our living room watching the movie let out a collective "Whaaaaaaattttttt?!??!?!" Great commentary on our proclivity to prescribe and the power of scorn/greed.

You should probably see it.

Rating: 4 1/2 out of 5  pills.

Storytelling Animals

Jonathan Gottschall's The Storytelling Animal has been my pleasure reading for the past week. If I wasn't in my final two weeks of Seminary I would probably write more, but I'll just say that this book was really engaging. I blitzed through it. Gottschall explores how and why human beings are addicted to fiction... so much so that we even create it in our sleep! The notion of story serves no apparent purpose, yet it has defined/motivated/explained human activity for millennia.

His name is Mud

Saw Mud last night.. The poster (and even the trailer, to some extent) are misleading. It is not a tough-guy tale of Matthew McConaughey fighting for the love of his life, Reese Witherspoon. Well, it is, but only sort of. Really, it is a great coming-of-age-type story about a 14-year old boy, his best friend, and their adventures that teach them much about manhood, sex, love, hope, trust, and snakes. Those damn snakes. The two best "reviews" so far, that I have heard, came from my wife and friend right after we left the theater.

Luke: "I feel like it was a really good movie.... but I can't say exactly why...."

then 10 minutes later, walking home

Vicky: "I was constantly surprised! I never knew what was going to happen next!"

This is an impressive feat for a film that is over 2 hours and really takes its time divulging information. And yes, McConaughey's shirt does come off, but this is an "indie" film, so they make you wait 110 minutes for it.





Rating: 4 out of 5 snakes

Cosmopolis

What a beautiful movie. The dialogue and cinematography make for a hypnotic combination. The characters speak as though they are members of two societies—one that you want to live in, and one that you are afraid you already do. This movie is not necessarily accessible, but is poses funny and fascinating questions about wealth, technology, politics, time, power, and more. Pattinson is great.

Also, I never thought I would watch the hunky vampire from Twilight get a rectal exam in a limousine while lecturing an employee on her financial and sexual acumen.