Beltmann

If he's into all kinds of anime and not just the sci-fi stuff, then a box set of Studio Ghibli movies can't be beat. There are various editions out there, ranging from 5 to 21 titles.

Happy Birthday!

I dunno. Mongol mostly feels like an Asian Braveheart--which means it's entertaining and smoothly realized, but also rather repetitive and lunkheaded.

Kids always lose it when I show the last 30 minutes of The Crucible, while a bunch of them are clearly working overtime not to lose it. Others deal with the emotion through nervous laughter. Sometimes I use the moment to talk about why it's beneficial--important, even--to let art get to us.

Years ago I showed that movie to a class of high schoolers, including the quarterback of the football team. Near the end, when that Nazi guard came around the corner, alone, the quarterback dropped his jaw and shouted, "Are you kiddin' me!!" He then started to cry.

Happy Birthday, Matt!

A Christmas Tale is one of the best of the year, I think--even better than Desplechin's last great movie, Kings and Queen.

The Times of Harvey Milk won the 1985 Oscar for Best Feature Documentary. When I first saw the documentary (about 10 years ago), it made a huge impact on me. I remember thinking that the story would make a great feature, so I wasn't shocked when Van Sant eventually announced such plans--although I was surprised to learn that it was one of two competing productions. Obviously Van Sant finished first; the Bryan Singer one is still scheduled for release next year. Can't wait for Milk to arrive in Milwaukee.

Yung Chang's Up the Yangtze is an interesting documentary about the impact of China's Three Gorges Dam, the largest hydroelectric project in the world. It weighs the national benefits of such a large-scale public-works project against the human stories of those pushed aside for the sake of progress, including those impoverished residents forced to re-locate due to the new flooding.

I watched that tonight, too. One of his best documentaries, I think. Mesmerizing.

I watched Torturing Democracy over the weekend. While it's a coherent, well-researched, well-documented, and easy to digest examination of how the United States shamefully practiced torture as part of the War on Terror--and willingly sacrificed its moral compass in the process--it covers very familiar territory in very familiar ways. I'm not sure it adds anything new to the conversation that wasn't presented better in films like Taxi to the Dark Side and Standard Operating Procedure (or even broader Iraq films like The Road to Guantanamo, No End in Sight, and Why We Fight). Those films foun

I watched Tod Browning's The Blackbird (1926) over the weekend. Lon Chaney in one of his most memorable roles.

Rachel Getting Married is vibrant, humane, and true--plus, as usual with a Demme movie, it has fantastic music throughout. (Robyn Hitchcock and Tunde Adebimpe both sing, among others.) It's probably my favorite Demme film since Something Wild, which is one of my all-time favorite movies and also, incidentally, showcases Sister Carol East.

I kinda liked that Reed story, even though it is sentimental and cheesy. You know what else is cheesy? For much of the day, I've been listening to Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come" on repeat.

I enjoy Olbermann's show, but his smug, self-righteous indignation is ripe for satire. I thought the skit was damn funny. Here's an that tries the same approach. Mildly amusing.

This morning I was watching the DVD of the Democratic Convention, and watched a bonus Obama ad called "Signs of Hope and Change." I was pleasantly surprised to recognize some familiar music by The National:

The song reminded me a lot of "Just a Kid," and the band looked like just kids having a blast. Cool.

Awesome.

I just watched Sarah Palin give her stump rhetoric on live TV. Every time I listen to her, I am struck by how eagerly and simplistically she divides the country into Us and Them, and then frames our national discourse as a battle that must be won by destroying Them. There's something surreal about listening to her try to inspire confidence and enthusiasm by sowing division and fear. Worse, I feel that Palin is utterly, strangely (refreshingly?) transparent about how she, if elected, intends to leave me and my concerns behind, because I'm one of Them, and therefore not a true American, and t

I voted last week. The ballots here are always amusing. I live in the most conservative city in one of the most conservative counties in Wisconsin, so all of the local races are a joke. On the ballot, the Republican incumbent is listed, and there are no challengers of any kind. I voted for Obama, and for the independent running against our local Republican state senator. I left all the others blank.

Bummer. There's no way I can get to Madison to snag two tickets.

Man, that Sex and the City movie sure is one big stinking pile of crap. Torturous.

What the what the hey?