Nine Movies

My friend Sare does a lot of blog memes such as Sunday Stealing.  She's doing something in October which has her stating a certain number of things (such as "10 people I couldn't live without"; I was #10).  Yesterday she did nine movies.  Which inspired me to do nine movies.  I've avoided repeating any of her movies:

The Lord of the Rings. Technically three movies, but didn't want to use up all my choices. These moves are damn near perfect. The production values, the music, the settings, the acting, the direction, the special effects. Yes, those 6,000 horses are CGI but you don't care because the horses are the forces of good and you want good to win. Occasionally the writers strayed from Tolkien and that's when the movies are at their worst but their worst is better then most movies' best. Just amazing movies.

Star Wars. Okay, technically I'm talking about Star War IV: A New Hope, but when it was released and I first saw it, it was called "Star Wars" and that's it. It was an amazing break-through movie for the times. The special effects were like nothing seen before and here was a science fiction movie that wasn't a glum, depressing, or disturbing movie (viz Silent Running). This changed movies forever as Hollywood learned they could make money making fun movies. It also led to the revitalization of "Star Trek" which led to . . .

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Made cheap and fast (parts of its special effects are clipped right out of Star Trek: The Motion Picture) the writing saves this movie. The clever dialogue between Kirk and Bones and Spock and of course, the nemesis, Khan. Also the only Star Trek movie where they actually fire phasers! Not deep entertainment, but fun.

Talk to Her. A film made in Spain (subtitled) with complex relationships and perhaps a rapist as an unlikely hero (it's never answered, never resolved). Two women are in comas and each one has a man who is in love with them. Something that has to be seen to understand.  For some reason for days I couldn't stop thinking about this movie.

The Empire Strikes Back. A lot of times a director will make a great movie on a shoestring budget, have a hit, then have all the money he needs to make that "movie I've always wanted to make" and ends up making some self-indulgent drivel (viz: Heaven's Gate). George Lucas managed to avoid this trap in making Empire (he waited until the Star Wars prequels). Just a great, fun movie. The asteroid sequence is amazing for pre-CGI special effects and this was when Lucas knew to leave the audience wanting more, not less. (Or he couldn't afford to run the sequence into the ground like he did so often in the prequels.)

Forrest Gump. There's something about this story that profoundly affects me. Maybe I've known too many Jennys in my life. First time I saw it I cried. Bawled. Could not stop. Luckily I was home.

House of Flying Daggers. Basically the director's excuse to film beautiful sequences with almost no plot. But you don't care because they are breathtakingly beautiful.  Made in China with subtitles.

Twelve O'clock High. One of the first post-World War II movies to show the horror of combat (albeit, very subtly). Story of a "bad luck" bomber squadron that gets turned around by a hard-nosed commander. Not very sentimental nor maudlin, more of a "war is hell and if you don't run your unit right, it's even worse hell." Lessons can be applied to business and life. Worst part of the movie is the sequence with actual battle footage.

Toy Story 2. In the first Toy Story, Pixar made an amazing film. Not only a technological achievement but a touching, humorous, amazingly written warm story. In Toy Story 2, they took everything they'd learned up until then and made an even better movie. Bigger in scope and wider in narrative, has moments you want to cry and moments you want to cheer and moments that are so funny you have to stop the Blu-Ray and giggle for five minutes.

What are your favorite movies?

Freelancing

Yesterday and today I'm working on a freelance project.  Freelance is fun, challenging, and helps pay the bills.  And I get to meet some interesting people.  Right now I have three freelance assignments.  One I'm finishing up and two, well, the subjects aren't returning my calls.  That is the part I hate about freelancing is when I can't get the people I'm supposed to interview to return my calls.  I try to be polite and professional but I've called one guy twice and the other three times and so far, no luck.  Today after lunch I'm going to try again.

I remember one assignment (about a farmer with a race car) that I could not get a hold of the guy and the deadline was looming.  Finally on a Friday I got a hold of him and made arrangements to meet and interview him at the racetrack Saturday.  Turned out to be one of my better stories.  But it was very stressful when I couldn't get in touch.  One guy I couldn't talk to because he was out of town until the day the assignment was due.  And he was an hour drive away.  I got home and started typing, getting the story emailed off about nine that night.

What's stressful about your job?

Another Football Post

I managed to last this long before I had to gloat about last night's win over Oregon State by the University of Washington Huskies. 

My friend, Sare, calls this sport "stupidball" but the rest of the world calls it "football" (not to be confused with "fútbol" which is played in backward nations where they don't recognize the freedom of using one's hands and a South American village is burned to the ground with every goal). 

A week ago I was waxing rhapsodical about how the Dawgs were probably going to have a 8-4 record after having a very tough beginning-of-a-season schedule.  I thought they could beat all the unranked teams but would probably lose to Oregon State who is having their best year since something like 1929.  I mean look at what the Huskies faced up until now (the rankings are the teams rankings when they played the Huskies):

LSU (3) (blowout loss)
Stanford (8) (win)
Oregon (2) (blowout loss)
Oregon State (7) (win)

But then we lost to (unranked) Arizona.  Badly.  Oh, man, was that a blowout.  At that point I thought we'd be lucky to end the season 6-6 we looked so bad.

Then we played Oregon State last night.  And the defense rocked (the offense, not so much).  And we won making our record 4-4 and 2-3 in conference.  Looking at the remaining schedule we could, if the offense will work just a little bit better, win the last four games (California, no push-over, Utah, Colorado, and Washington State).  Which would still means an 8-4 record (6-3 in conference).  Which ain't bad.  Unfortunately, it's not an improvement on last year's 8-4 record.  But at least we aren't going backwards.

But, boy, was that win nice last night.

CORRECTION: Last year we were 7-5 in regular season, not 8-4 so 8-4 this year would be a (slight) improvement.

Another Blog Interview

Find out how I got my first paid writing gig at Laurie's Thoughts and Reviews Blog.  Also read a character interview with the star of Book of Death, Peter Branton.

Sunday Six: Ball Bearings

Today's Sunday Six from Chapter Three of Book of Death:

"What is this?" Vaughan asked.
"A ball bearing," Karamessines stated without mirth.
"And why do I care?" Vaughan queried, handing the ball bearing to me.  It was heavier than I thought it would be.
Helms looked at us seriously.  "You'd be amazed how much national security rides on ball bearings."

 

Driving

Anyone who knows me knows I like to drive.  And when I drive I prefer to drive fast.  I just got back from a little excursion that probably burned $20 worth of gas on basically entertainment.  I know of a back road near here that is very little traveled, mostly straight, and has nothing built up around it.  Perfect for exceeding the speed limit.

I've always liked driving.  I'm old enough I drove when the National Maximum Speed Limit was 55.  When they raised it to 65 (circa 1986) in rural areas it was wonderful.  When they eliminated it, it was amazing.  I even got to drive in Montana when they didn't have a speed limit (lasted about two years, I think).  Here in Washington State rural interstates are at 70 but really, there are places it could be 80 easily.

Driving can be a chore such as in traffic, around town, or stuck behind a slow-moving vehicle.  It can be a challenge that I admit I enjoy when the weather gets bad.  But mostly I enjoy it and the faster the better.  This is why I don't welcome driverless cars.  And they are coming sooner than I ever thought.  It may be a boon to safety and reduce congestion, but it will eliminate the fun, too.  If I couldn't drive I would miss it.

Buried Treasure of a Movie

For some reason I put October Sky on my Netflix queue ages ago.  It finally peculated to the top this week and I watched it last night.  I often say "so many books, so little time."  The same could be said of movies (although my opinion is there's a lot fewer movies worth watching than books worth reading).  I don't know how I let this 1999 movie slip by me for so long.  It's a gem of a film.  It does play to one typical Hollywood trope: the overbearing father who wants to quash his offspring's dreams.  But in this movie (perhaps because it was based on a true story) the father comes off more sympathetic and believable.  He just wants what's best for his son, but he's basing his beliefs on outmoded thinking.  In fact, the contrast couldn't be more stark between the father (coal miner, underground, looking to the past) and the son (dreaming about rockets and space, looking up, thinking about the future).

It's a very good, uplifting film that extols the virtues of "book learning" and looking beyond the horizon.  It's set in a coal-mining town in West Virginia where every man pretty much works for the mining company and every man's son is expected to do the same.  As the school principle states, a "few lucky ones" might escape on football scholarships.

If you haven't seen this film, gather the family around the flatscreen and show it to them.  Very good movie.