I was in the middle of reading about Laura getting a drink of water when mom called last night and I had to put American Gods down (there is an essay percolating there, I tell you what). Doing this, that, and the other thing for dinner led to sitting in the basement with Maribou and watching a couple of episodes of Burn Notice and then watching the movie Dredd
Holy Cow, if you have read some Judge Dredd comics and have said “they should make a movie about this”, then YOU NEED TO SEE THIS MOVIE.
“But what about Stallone’s Judge Dredd movie, Jaybird?”, I hear you ask. “Couldn’t I just watch that instead? It’s certainly less expensive!”
While this latter part is certainly true, you should know that the problems with Stallone’s movie were legion. There was the whole “we need comic relief”, mistake. There was the whole “we need Rob Schneider to act as comic relief” mistake to compound the previous mistake. There was the whole “isn’t this storyline a little bleak? We should lighten it up in general” mistake. There was the “let’s have him take his helmet off every 2 danged minutes” mistake. And there was the whole “It was a bad movie in general” thing.
By comparison, this movie could have been ripped from the pages of 2000 AD. Not a “major storyline” arc, either. A run-of-the-mill “Situation Is Normal: All Frigged Up” first day for the rookie that Dredd has been saddled with and asked to judge whether her considerable psychic abilities should have her be accepted into the judges despite marginal (though failing) test scores. (They investigate a triple homicide. Things get hairier from there.)
Anyway, if you know enough about Judge Dredd to know what level of violence you can expect and you don’t mind that (considerable) level of violence… hie thee to a Redbox. Holy cow was this movie good.
So… what are you reading and/or watching?
Oh, if I had one complaint: Karl Urban isn’t tall or wide enough. Other than that, he was perfect.
I’m watching it now, and Urban’s chin and voice more than make up for his lack of girth. And if I had one complaint, it would be that Olivia Thilby (I had to look her up) is far too pretty to play the rookie. Maybe if they hadn’t made her a blonde? Or perhaps her beauty (and blondness) is all part of the wide-eyed innocent rookie package that we’re meant to see get burned away and tempered during the course of the move.
I’ve nearly finished book 3 of the Wheel of Time.
I think it was someone here who recommended C. S. Lewis’s Till We Have Faces. whoever it was, thanks. It’s one of the few books I think I’ll come to love even while disagreeing with everything it says. (I’m on the Fox’s side, completely.)
Also, starting Season 3 of Friday Night Lights. Still great characters and acting, but it has the same regard for continuity as a Marx Brothers movie. Fznfu jvaqf hc ng na UOPH, rira gubhtu gurl qba’g tvir nguyrgvp fpubynefuvcf. Gura ur uhegf uvf xarr naq gurl gnxr njnl uvf fpubynefuvc. Jung?
Might’ve been me. I also love it while disagreeing with enormous swathes of it (actually, I feel that way about most of C.S. Lewis).
Qba’g sbetrg, YNAQEL XVYYRQ N THL.
Ohg gur fubj onfvpnyyl jvyy. 🙂
Ohg Oernxvat Onq erzrzorerq vg, Va fcnqrf.
Nid ydych pobl yn gwneud unrhyw synnwyr.
Welsher. ;-).
I honestly can’t get past the degree to which I disagree with Lewis. I became so frustrated with Mere Christianity that I wanted to throw it off a bridge. So I’ve had trouble enjoying his fiction. I recognize that this is a personal failing.
I felt the same way about Out of the Silent Planet. The preaching was so overt and so pervasive that I could barely finish it, and there’s no way I’ll try to read the rest of the trilogy.
I rather enjoyed Perelandra. I thought that “That Hideous Strength” committed the worst of sins: it was dull.
So know that, from here, you’re only denying yourself a little bit of awesome.
If I can enjoy stuff like Dredd, you should be able to enjoy stuff like The Magician’s Nephew.
So long as it’s, properly, book 6.
Jay covered yesterday’s watching up there. Otherwise, my elderly VCR/DVD combo has given up the DVD-side ghost, so I’ve been going through my old VHS tapes in preparation for getting rid of them. (The BluRay player is on its way…) Thus, I’ve rewatched a Lucille Clifton lecture, and I’m in the middle of rewatching The Object of My Affection. Which I have a disproportionate fondness for, mostly because I so love Stephen McCauley’s novels, but a little bit because of Paul Rudd. Coming up: A Knights Tale, The Usual Suspects, Gosford Park, Quiz Show, Topsy Turvy, Punch-Drunk Love, etc. (I have the sort of homework this semester that I can do, in part, while doing other things. LOVELY.)
I’m in the middle of Ira Wood’s memoir-by-comic-essay, You’re Married to Her? – delectable – and I read a huge run of excellent comics this week: Doug TenNapel’s Cardboard, the last volume of Northlanders, the first volume of Lucifer, the 18th (!) volume of Fables, Raina Telgemeier’s middle-grade comic farce Drama… it was a good week for sequential art!
Recovering from seeing The Who last night and enjoying a few cocktails afterwards. And Walking Dead tonight!
I am so envious of you. I didn’t realize the Who would be here until it was completely sold out.
Looks like Schilling got…
(puts on sunglasses)
FOOLED AGAIN!
YEAHHHHH!
+1
And the scalper’s prices were no bargain.
Um…no politics, but based on what I’ve heard of it I am astounded that you of all people like Dredd.
Well, the fact that it’s a movie allows for a certain level of compartmentalization.
Did you watch The Raid: Redemption?
No, not yet. (It *IS* on my list!)
I’ll get there!
It takes a whole ‘nuther layer of compartmentalization.
In the little hotel we’re staying at, they had a handful of books left on the mantle. One is called, “Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman”, a memoir of sorts by brilliant physicist Richard Feynman, whom I previously knew nothing about. It is a fascinating read, since Feynman clearly had a uniquely brilliant mind (earning him a Nobel Prize) and makes for an atypical but interesting story teller. My semi-amateuer assessment is that he would today qualify as being on the autism spectrum, perhaps having Aspergers. A quick Google search indicates no confirmation of this but other folks positing the same thing.
I don’t understand ALL of the science and math in it, though he does a good job of explaining it and none of that is really as crucial to the stories as one might think. An interesting read, especially for those who are interested in the minds of uniquely brilliant people.
Oh… and we also saw “Warm Bodies” last night, which Zazzy and I both quite enjoyed. I thought it did a really good job of straddling a variety of genres that aren’t normally associated and it did well with a unique premise. It had a genuine love story (with many not-so-subtle allusions to “Romeo and Juliet”), some genuinely laugh-out-loud moments, and a fairly mundane-save-for-one-twist zombie story. What made it work so well is that none of those different approaches stepped on any of the others. None of the humor seemed to mock the love story, which would have been easy. The zombies didn’t distract from the humor. And the romantic aspect didn’t make it any less “cool”. A good date night movie since it has a little something for everyone.
Glad to hear; I thought this looked interesting, but the reviews were mixed. Will probably try to catch when it comes out on video.
It’s nothing transformative, but simply trying to meld the genres (now obnoxiously being called rom-zom-com or something) is interesting and I think they largely succeed in this endeavor. It not a great romantic story, or a great comedy, or a great zombie movie, but is good enough of each to make it worth watching.
One of my current reads is Feynman’s “Six Easy Pieces,” a series of essays on basic physics topics based on his undergrad lecture series at Cal Tech. Good stuff.
Can you shed any light, either based on what you know about him or inferred, about my suspicions about him?
They don’t change anything about his work, mind you, it just jumped right off the pages to me the minute I picked up the book and was surprised to otherwise find very little on the topic.
No, I can’t really help you there. I do know from reading “The First War of Physics: The Secret History of the Atom Bomb, 1939-1949” by Jim Baggott that Feynman had a bit of a reputation as a practical joker.
The second book is also very good. (I think that one has his storied on the Challenger commission) To fill the gaps that any autobiography naturally leaves out*, and really flesh out a complete picture of one of the titans of 20th century science, finish with ‘Genius’ by James Gleick.
*mild spoiler – the thing that I think sorta takes away from the asperger’s hypothesis is that he was kinda of notorious woman chaser. And a fairly successful one at that.
And seemed to make friends everywhere he went. He was eccentric, but not at all asocial.
Yeah. I’ve read a huge amount of Feynman stuff + his letters… and I never thought Asperger’s. Geniuses are sort of by definition not neurotypical, you know?
It is mentioned that he was married several times (three, I believe) but he has not discussed women much up until this point. He discusses his wife’s illness, but shows little concern or attachment, part of what stands out to me.
I’ve only read 150+ pages of one book, so I am far from an expert. It just stands out to me that he seems wired differently, which Maribou accurately touches on could be any host of things that tend to be associated with genius but have nothing to do with ASD/Asperger’s.
He discusses, for instance, how he can’t make sense of things like poetry or history but can quickly learn any math or science. He seems to have a pathological need to solve puzzles once confronted with them. He is often unaware of social conventions and ambivalent about them once informed. At least, that is the portrayal he offers of himself.
I don’t mean to take anything away from the guy, mind you. I just was immediately struck by the guy and though, “Hmmm… that sounds like ASD/Asperger’s.” But I am not a doctor so what do I know? Regardless, it is a really fascinating read.
In another one of his books, he talks about his wife in great detail and about how heartbroken he was by her illness and death. It’s one of the more moving such literary passages I’ve ever read…
This letter isn’t the passage I remember, but it’s rather lovely (and, yup, definitely quirky, in what I find extremely relatable ways).
Dang it! I jacked up the link.
It should be http://www.lettersofnote.com/2012/02/i-love-my-wife-my-wife-is-dead.html
Wow… SUCH a different tone than the book I’m reading. That just might have been his intention, then… it is a bit more farcical… a bit more silly. Again, a truly fascinating guy, and I’m surprised that the name wasn’t the least bit familiar until I found the book lying in a hotel room.
Plus, the safecracking skill was much more derived on empathy and his knowledge of people vice his preternatural mathematical ability (which he did have).
This weekend I finished up Season 9 of Smallville and started Series 5 of Dr. Who. No time for movies this weekend.
I am still reading Ghostwritten and am nearly 2/3 of the way through. I will probably finish in a week or two, depending on how much time I get to read. It is an interesting book, with each chapter written from the viewpoint of a different character. The characters are connected in different ways, so that you typically see a viewpoint character or someone related to a viewpoint character in another character’s story. There is a larger plot (in the story sense, not the scheme sense) that is connected through all the stories, but it is not yet clear what that is.
Oh yea… and with the free month of Netflix we just got, we’ve been plugging through “Community”. Halfway through Season 2 right now.
i wholeheartedly recommend going clear by lawrence wright. i find some of the objections i’d heard to it – namely that he wasn’t “hard enough” on scientology – to be mind-bogglingly silly. good read.