Ebert and Roeper move on.....

I had an opportunity to read Roger Ebert's journal today where he expressed his thoughts and feelings about the ending of his and Roeper's relationship with Buena Vista Television. In his entry, he talks about the history of "At the Movies" and how he and Siskel had to adjust over the years. I thought it was a nice touch where he added video out-takes of he and Gene Siskel trying to tape promos for their television show and, of course, their clash of personalities become evident.
This clash of personalities, though, gave movie goers a barometer of what's good and what's crap as far as movies go. Here's an example showing this clash of egos:



I don't think movie reviews on TV will ever be the same. Of course, part of this is due to the popularity of Rotten Tomatoes and all forms of media in all cities employing their own film critic. But I will always appreciate the guys in the balcony for their intelligent, insightful reviews even though they were't totally compatible.

Not even a stump

When I came home from work last night, I noticed that the west side of my house was bathed in sunlight. My neighbor finally had an unwanted tree removed from her property. Up until yesterday, that tree deprived both of our yards sufficient sunlight for growing plants and grass. With the tree's removal, I need to make plans to install new sod and plant new flowers on the west side.

Dark Knight, a good night at the movies

I had trouble sleeping last Thursday night. It wasn’t that I had too much caffeine for the day or that I was worrying about everyday life things. I was thinking about how the midnight showing of the Dark Knight was progressing at my local movie theatre. I was honestly considering the idea of going to it, even knowing that I was scheduled to work the reference desk Friday morning.

I geek out for certain things, things like technologies and things like anticipated movie premieres. I remember the feeling of anticipation for both the Lord of the Rings and Matrix sequels. I even got excited for Episode One of the Star Wars franchise back in 1999 (before learning that Lucas’ version of the Star Wars story failed to match the preconception of the story that was running through the minds of the SW fans). For The Dark Knight, I was like a child too excited for Christmas morning.

But I think my fervor for The Dark Knight was unparalleled to other movie anticipations because, with the aid of web sites like Wikipedia and IMDB, I followed the production news from beginning to the projection on the big screen. So, with every view of still shots from the early production to news that Katie Holmes would NOT be in the sequel to news of Heath Ledger’s untimely death, my eagerness to see this movie grew.

And so, I had to wait an extra twenty-two-and-a-half hours from the midnight showing to see this movie. I can unabashedly say that the wait was worth it. I’ll leave it to you dear reader to read reviews, storylines, and news about the stars attending Hollywood parties. But, there are two things I need to say about this movie.

First, Heath Ledger’s performance was absolutely, 100% brilliant. In my opinion, you cannot compare the Ledger Joker to the Nicholson Joker because, quite simply, they are too different characters in two completely different conceptualized movies. (I write this because I want it to be known that Nicholson’s performance in Burton’s Batman is still marvelous given that the rest of this 1989 flick was given, metaphorically speaking, the taste of a rice cake). Wikipedia says that Ledger prepared for the Joker role by residing with minimal human contact in a hotel room for a month and, as such, created a separate reality from the outside world. And by acting on this preparation, the Joker in The Dark Knight is a character who operates on his own reality, a reality of chaos, evil, and fear. This is good spine-tingling stuff. Posthumous Oscar nom for Ledger? Yes, without any doubt.

Second, I want to applaud Jonathan and Christopher Nolan for making the decision of making Batman a vigilante, not a bubblegum superhero. With Batman Begins, we get the story of why Bruce Wayne wants to fight crime and evil and why he adopted the persona of Batman to protect Gotham. With The Dark Knight, we get a crime fighter who has to push the envelop of the goodness of his soul, who has to cross the line between good and evil, and who has to question himself as to whether the price to protect Gotham in such a way is worth it to his personal well-being. We all know that there are thousands of Batman media out there that tell the story in different fashions. I am just happy that the Nolans chose this direction and kept it focused.

I have already seen The Dark Knight twice as of this writing. I will see it a couple more times and I hope to see it at an IMAX theatre, especially since twenty minutes of the action of the movie were shot in the IMAX format. I think I can sleep comfortably tonight with an overwhelming feeling of satisfaction. The only disappointing feeling from this movie is the fact that Heath Ledger won’t be around for the next movie in the series.

So long, Cuckoo's Nest

The Oregon State Hospital where the movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was filmed 33-34 years ago is being torn down. For a brief article click the picture or click here.

No NEKLS Tech Day 2008

Because of a scheduling conflict with my trip to Seattle, I will be unable to attend NEKLS Tech Day this year. Bummer, because rumor had it that they were going to play with more gadgets.

House painting completed

With the exception of a few minor details, the wood rot repair and painting of the house is complete.
The next household project? Repair back porch steps, remodel both the guest and master bathroom, paint master bedroom, lay down new sod, eradicate all traces of poison ivy, caulk leaky exterior areas of house, re-stain back deck, install hot tub, install new guttering, put in swimming pool and tennis courts and baseball diamonds.........

:)

Not necessarily in that order.
The joys of home ownership.

Participating in the KCKPL Media Blog

I, along with other staff, participated in a new wrinkle with the library's media blog. PA, our media production specialist, sent out questionnaires. I answered mine and, lo and behold, PA was out at the library today taking my picture. The purpose of this wrinkle is a "Get to know your KCKPL staff" promotion. To view my profile, click on the picture below or click here.

Painting Update

I failed to blog about the decision to paint my house. First, I decided to contract with a gentleman who has been a painter for 18 years in KC. He has experience painting residential homes as well as large scale projects such as some older, more historic homes in town. He's also a regular patron at my library. Our initial consultation was extensive, more extensive and more thorough than the other candidates.
He started work this past week, powerwashing the house as well as the storage shed. He then removed the storm windows from the house which proved harder than it sounds. You see, whoever had possession of the house prior to me decided to install the storm windows using carpenter's glue. It took the painter a little longer to remove the windows than anticipated. I was a little concerned when the painter told me this, but the painter said he could work with this and reinstall the storm windows properly when ready.
(I have to add he removed the storm windows one night before the North KC area experienced a downpour of rain-4 inches of precip. During the storm, I went around to each room of the house to make sure the windows were tightly shut. There was no leakage. Whew!!)
Anyway, the painter will be coming tomorrow (July 5th) to begin scraping and sanding before painting begins next week.

Skid Row Superhero

The summer of super hero movies continued for me as I went to see Hancock last night. The movie stars Will Smith, Charlize Theron, and Jason Bateman. And, as with a majority of superhero movies, this one showed so much promise, but, in the end, seemed like a half-baked effort.
I thought the premise of the movie at the start was excellent: a superhero who tosses down bottles of Jim Beam like water and sleeps at bus stop benches. And even though most superheroes save the day with unbridled enthusiasm, Hancock has a "whatever" attitude and stops the bad guys in a not so graceful fashion, causing damage to the city to the tune of $7 million.
Another piece of the plot that I like is a public relations guy (Jason Bateman) tries to help Hancock to clean up his image, even to the point where he teaches Hancock to don a phony smile and say "Thank You" and "Good Job" to the cops of the city. Funny, amusing stuff.
Where the film disappoints is in its indecisive approach in describing Hancock's origin, and this is where the dialog between Hancock and the PR guy's wife comes in. Where did Hancock get his powers? How did he end up on skid row? What's with the I-don't-give-a-darn attitude at the start? To this very minute, I feel I needed those questions answered for this movie to be awesome instead of pedestrian.
So, go see Hancock for the action and the acting by Will Smith. It's not on the same level as SpiderMan, The Incredible Hulk, or even Iron Man.

Fuel for thought, Or, a thought about fuel

Please feel free to see if these stats actually bear out:

I was listening to NPR this morning to a story about gas prices and the gist of the story turned toward the fuel consumption to help our efforts in Iraq. Apparently, the military uses one and a half million gallons a day in Iraq. And the Air Force leads all branches of the military in consumption as they use 75%.

Now given the fact that I loathed my Econ 101 class back at school, I do understand the basic principle that when supplies are low, prices go high. Given that we are occupying an oil-rich area, shouldn't the Iraqi government foot the gas bill so to speak? And if they did, would not that free up supplies for consumer usage? Thus making gas prices 3.90 a gallon instead of four bucks?

I realize that there are other mitigating factors in today's high fuel prices. I have heard stories, for example, that other countries like China are consuming more. And other stories that say that oil industry refuses to open up the oil reserves. Whatever the cause, this million and a half gallon per day consumption by the military bothers me.