Movie Review: Whale Rider

Whale Rider (2002) http://imdb.com/title/tt0298228/

Not a movie that I would have normally picked up since I had a completely wrong idea as to what it was about. One of my co-workers pretty much forced it on me even though I told him I had several movies lined up to watch ahead of it and I wouldn't be able to return it for a month.
I thought it would be the usual ultra sappy coming of age story with some PC multi-cultural trappings. Granted the central idea that girls are as good as boys fits the PC crowd's expectations but it really doesn't come across that way at all.

The plot is simple but the personal interactions between the characters are complex.. Koro, the local chief, was expecting that his oldest son's first born child would be the one to lead them. His oldest son, Porourangi is an artist with no interest in leading anybody. His second son, Rawiri showed early promise but is a stoner. His hopes are dashed when Porourangi's wife dies giving birth to twins and the boy dies leaving him with a granddaughter instead of his hoped for heir. His son angers him by naming her Paikea after their first (male) ancestor. The movie deals with him trying to force things to fit his view of the world and salvage his hopes.

The situation reminds me of the central theme in Things Fall Apart but without the nihilism. Instead, despite the fact that the movie doesn't sugar coat things like the drug use in the community and the way that absent fathers are more the norm than the exception it is very life affirming. Things change and if you try to hold on to the old ways too hard things fall apart for you but the new generation will always be there to put them back together again with new ideas.
My favorite character is Koro's wife who is just called Nanny. She is the real power in charge of the household no matter what she lets Koro think and she is the one who really helps Pai come into her own.

More Evidence for My Theory

I have a theory that the people who work at lower end hair cutting establishments only know about 3 basic hair cuts for women. If they show more ability then they quickly move on to higher priced places so if you manage to get a good one you won't ever see him or her again. Lower end being under $50 for a hair cut.

I base this theory on the fact that I can bring in pictures of the hair cut I want, on models with different textures of hair even, and leave with a hair cut that looks almost exactly unlike the picture but does bear a strong resemblance to the hair cut I got the last time I had my hair cut before I grew it out to try again. Even if it's been years and the cut was done in a different town by a different stylist.

There is ONE short cut, ONE Medium cut, and One way of trimming long hair that must get taught in the first month of beauty school and ingrained into the trainees. Then when they are faced with a hair cut they don't know how to do instead of admitting it they automatically revert to the default cut.

I showed the woman a hair cut that was very short on the sides and back with the top being in long layers that came down to the top of the ear in length. I have very short everywhere with very short badly done layers up top that want to go kinda squarish.

The woman in the photo had the long layers softly lifted a little to fall in gentle feminine waves to mingle with the bangs which were nearly to the eyes. I barely have any bangs left and I look fairly butch. Plus when the styling part came and she blow dried it she tried to arrange what's left into a style that would be appropriate for a 60 year old church lady of 2 decades ago, not the professional modern woman in the pic. She brushed everything back from the bangs in that little poofed up way that women who used to wear a bouffant hairdo do when they decide to compromise and get their hair cut short because they finally admit that the previous hairdo is out of style and not coming back. I fixed this before I left and she looked a little put out with me interfering with her masterpiece.

I first noticed this phenomenon when my mother would take me to her hair stylist and the woman would ask me what I wanted. Every time I would say that I didn't really care as long as I didn't have those stupid feathering side whatsits that were popular in then ('77) and every single time I would leave with those stupid feathering side whatsists. I finally just had the whole mess cut as short as it would go and then didn't get another hair cut for 4 years and that was a trim of the split ends.

I'm starting to remember why I ended up with waist length hair at one point. My hair is not of a texture that really looks good waist length but I could braid it and save a lot of hassle.

I also had the color redone and the shade I got was NOT the shade I asked for at all and she used permanent dye instead of semi-permanent without consulting me so I'm not sure how redoing it will go. It's an okay color and I can live with it for a couple of months but it's not what I wanted dang it!

The Love that Dare Not Speak Its Name

Movie Review: Ran

Ran (1985) Akira Kurosawa
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089881/

I really had to talk myself into watching this movie because it's always hyped to be an adaptation of King Lear. I hate King Lear. I'd rather watch Titus Andronicus than Lear. At least Titus has a nice slasher movie feel to it and can be fun. Lear is just mind numbing nastiness for two hours. More if they don't cut it down for modern attention spans.

It's a good thing this isn't really an adaptation of Lear then isn't it? According to an article at Wikipedia Kurosawa had completed an early draft of the script before he got the idea to incorporate elements of Lear into it. It was originally inspired by legends about a warlord of the Sengoku Jedai named Motonari who was famous for his loyal sons. What if the boys had turned on him? How would it have played out?

The most obvious element inserted from Lear is the Fool but we also have the blinded courtier and Lady Kaede, the wife of the eldest son, is very strongly reminiscent of Lear's daughter Goneril.

Ran works far better than Lear because of the differences between the characters nd their Shakespearean counterparts. Lear is a fool but he doesn't deserve what happens. Hidetora, Lear's counterpart is old and has mellowed but when younger committed countless atrocities on his way to power. His crimes are mentioned several times so that you know he has earned every bit of the pain he is experiencing.

Goneril is a selfish bitch who is solely motivated by a desire for power. Kaede has a reason for what she does, one that is hinted at but only comes out in the last 10 minutes or so of the film. She's still a bitch but you have to admire her. Revenge is a dish best served cold.

The film is visually stunning. I would love to see the battle scenes on a big screen or really any scene in which they are riding through the beautiful countryside on those gorgeous horses with the mountains in the background.

The first battle sequence is almost a silent movie with the sound track coming up loud and the actions being deliberately big and stagy. There are other scenes where the actors play things in a formal stage acting style that pulls the viewer out of the emotions of the scenes and spot lights the power game that is really going on.

The ending is a bit of a puzzle to me. The movie kinda just stops with an arty bit with the blind character and a cliff.

Overall well worth watching at least once. I wish that somebody would do an edition with a cultural commentary track so I can get some of the references though.

The Japanese didn't invent it?

http://www.cyrune.com/(Authentic1952Oct.JPG

Notice the tip of the tentacle. Heh.

The rest are at http://www.cyrune.com/pulp.html

Book Review: ADD In Adults

Attention Deficit Disorder in Adults: A Different Way of Thinking, Revised 4th edition by Lynn Weiss, PhD.

If you or someone you associate with has ADD don't even bother trying to read this book. If the empty headed cheerleader style of most of the book doesn't destroy your mind then the overuse of academic speak in the sections written by John Rubel, one of Dr. Weiss' colleges, will put what's left out of its misery. I have a degree in psychology and I had to reread a couple of bits to be sure of what he was trying to say.

An example of Dr. Rubel's deathless prose:

Try as they might, researchers and clinicians who investigate ADD (the authors included) aren't perfectly objective. In attempting to synthesize a body of data, we arrive at some synthetic judgement that has been contaminated by our theory driven confirmatory biases, motivated distortions, and other sources of error (Kuhn, 1962).

Yet our clinical judgement, albeit flawed, is essential for identifying potentially relevant variables and patterns, framing hypotheses, and building theories about ADD (Western & Weinberger 2004)

The evolving optics of Dr. Weiss's and my struggle to synthesize our experiences of the tension between the current state of ADD science and clinical practice is called "brainstyle theory".

Okay IOW for those who only speak English: When evaluating research data the interpretation is often affected by personal bias but we still have to use our own judgement to identify patterns and form theories about ADD. Our way of looking at the issues is through our "brainstyle theory".

Thank god he only wrote the better part of one chapter and a forward or this 240 page or so book with medium size print might have been twice as long.

Dr. Weiss on the other hand repeats endlessly that there is nothing inherently bad in being ADD and you can learn to manage it without really giving any tools to do. Lots of self esteem movement jargon is thrown around as well as some new agey sounding stuff about "the wounded self" and "the true self".

She pads out the book by including the full text of a letter she coauthored to the APA about changing the wording in their pamphlet on ADD, lots of over simplified case study examples of how people just like you overcame ADD, and samples from the work book she uses with groups she conducts. The work book seems to be good for identifying problem areas but not a lot is mentioned about how to deal with them other than getting in touch with your true self and being okay with being different.

There are some really useful bits here, almost all of which are in the appendixes and all of which are available elsewhere, mostly on the 'net. These include the official APA DSM standard for what constitutes ADD, a list of drugs currently being used with information about each one, and self diagnostic check list. Not enough to justify paying $17 for this book in paperback. I'm glad I got it from the library

XT's Movie Meme

Here are IMDB's top 100 and bottom 100 films. Bold those you've seen. Italics if you've watched parts of it, but (for whatever reason) have never seen the whole thing.

Top:
1. 9.1 The Godfather (1972) 161,303
2. 9.0 The Shawshank Redemption (1994) 194,742
3. 8.9 The Godfather: Part II (1974) 92,096
4. 8.8 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) 146,054
5. 8.8 Shichinin no samurai (Seven Samurai)(1954) 42,708
6. 8.8 Schindler's List (1993) 120,247
7. 8.7 Casablanca (1942) 80,901
8. 8.7 Pulp Fiction (1994) 169,730
9. 8.7 Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) 129,861
10. 8.7 Star Wars (1977) 165,229
11. 8.7 Buono, il brutto, il cattivo, Il (The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly)(1966) 42,951
12. 8.7 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) 86,392
13. 8.7 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) 192,188
14. 8.7 Rear Window (1954) 50,804
15. 8.6 The Usual Suspects (1995) 126,513
16. 8.6 Cidade de Deus (City of God) (2002) 43,625
17. 8.6 12 Angry Men (1957) 37,526
18. 8.6 Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) 112,475
19. 8.6 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) 148,402
20. 8.6 Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) 77,743
21. 8.6 Citizen Kane (1941) 73,240
22. 8.6 Psycho (1960) 65,271
23. 8.6 Memento (2000) 114,524
24. 8.6 Goodfellas (1990) 86,654
25. 8.6 C'era una volta il West (Once Upon a Time in the West) (1968) 24,140
26. 8.5 North by Northwest (1959) 43,408
27. 8.5 The Silence of the Lambs (1991) 111,123
28. 8.5 Lawrence of Arabia (1962) 38,045
29. 8.5 Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain, Le (2001) 76,947
30. 8.5 It's a Wonderful Life (1946) 49,525
31. 8.5 Sunset Blvd. (1950) 20,832
32. 8.5 Fight Club (1999) 145,425
33. 8.5 American Beauty (1999) 133,687
34. 8.4 The Matrix (1999) 175,356
35. 8.4 Vertigo (1958) 41,410
36. 8.4 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) 74,060
37. 8.4 Taxi Driver (1976) 60,140
38. 8.4 Apocalypse Now (1979) 79,718
39. 8.4 Paths of Glory (1957) 18,364
40. 8.4 To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) 37,391
41. 8.4 Se7en (1995) 111,732
42. 8.4 Untergang, Der (2004) 22,071
43. 8.4 The Pianist (2002) 43,478
44. 8.4 Léon (1994) 69,772
45. 8.4 Chinatown (1974) 32,207
46. 8.4 Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (Spirited Away)(2001) 35,369
47. 8.4 American History X (1998) 78,644
48. 8.4 The Third Man (1949) 22,885
49. 8.3 Hotel Rwanda (2004) 23,874
50. 8.3 Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) 75,306
51. 8.3 Boot, Das (1981) 35,256
52. 8.3 Requiem for a Dream (2000) 65,164
53. 8.3 L.A. Confidential (1997) 82,939
54. 8.3 The Maltese Falcon (1941) 23,810
55. 8.3 The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) 27,383
56. 8.3 The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) 13,110
57. 8.3 Alien (1979) 77,702
58. 8.3 Sin City (2005) 78,319
59. 8.3 A Clockwork Orange (1971) 81,428
60. 8.3 M (1931) 15,470
61. 8.3 Rashômon (1950) 15,182
62. 8.3 Million Dollar Baby (2004) 44,084
63. 8.3 Modern Times (1936) 13,337
64. 8.3 Singin' in the Rain (1952) 25,248
65. 8.3 Saving Private Ryan (1998) 122,233
66. 8.3 Reservoir Dogs (1992) 87,180
67. 8.3 Metropolis (1927) 15,369
68. 8.3 The Shining (1980) 64,884
69. 8.3 Raging Bull (1980) 34,590
70. 8.3 The Manchurian Candidate (1962) 17,411
71. 8.3 All About Eve (1950) 16,067
72. 8.3 Some Like It Hot (1959) 31,157
73. 8.3 Double Indemnity (1944) 14,554
74. 8.2 Vita è bella, La (1997) 46,736
75. 8.2 Aliens (1986) 77,207
76. 8.2 The Great Escape (1963) 25,445
77. 8.2 Rebecca (1940) 14,455
78. 8.2 Amadeus (1984) 45,015
79. 8.2 Touch of Evil (1958) 14,475
80. 8.2 The Incredibles (2004) 49,876
81. 8.2 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) 77,815
82. 8.2 The Sting (1973) 29,031
83. 8.2 On the Waterfront (1954) 16,391
84. 8.2 Crash (2004) 53,801
85. 8.2 Strangers on a Train (1951) 13,538
86. 8.2 Jaws (1975) 58,745
87. 8.2 City Lights (1931) 9,975
88. 8.2 Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) 88,329
89. 8.2 Batman Begins (2005) 80,121
90. 8.2 Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) 14,347
91. 8.2 The Apartment (1960) 14,150
92. 8.2 The Wizard of Oz (1939) 47,000
93. 8.2 Braveheart (1995) 111,969
94. 8.2 Forrest Gump (1994) 113,806
95. 8.2 Ran (1985) 15,401
96. 8.2 Donnie Darko (2001) 75,133
97. 8.2 Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) 94,768
98. 8.2 Blade Runner (1982) 88,657
99. 8.2 Nuovo cinema Paradiso (1989) 17,759
100. 8.2 Finding Nemo (2003) 57,185

Bottom:
1. 1.4 Phat Girlz (2006) 663
2. 1.9 Going Overboard (1989) 2,210
3. 1.9 From Justin to Kelly (2003) 9,353
4. 1.9 3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain (1998) 1,523
5. 1.9 Santa with Muscles (1996) 3,469
6. 1.9 Troll 2 (1990) 2,980
7. 1.9 Anus Magillicutty (2003) 2,266
8. 1.9 SuperBabies: Baby Geniuses 2 (2004) 4,099
9. 2.0 In the Mix (2005) 2,498
10. 2.0 Backyard Dogs (2000) 1,603
11. 2.0 Car 54, Where Are You? (1994) 1,023
12. 2.0 Glitter (2001) 6,937
13. 2.0 Love in Paris (1997) 845
14. 2.1 The Honeymooners (2005) 2,261
15. 2.1 House of the Dead (2003) 7,408
16. 2.1 Son of the Mask (2005) 4,245
17. 2.1 Leonard Part 6 (1987) 2,708
18. 2.1 Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector (2006) 2,517
19. 2.1 You Got Served (2004) 8,972
20. 2.1 Chairman of the Board (1998) 1,099
21. 2.1 Kazaam (1996) 4,788
22. 2.2 Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace (1996) 2,818
23. 2.2 Alone in the Dark (2005) 7,910
24. 2.2 BloodRayne (2005) 3,912
25. 2.2 'Manos': The Hands of Fate (1966) 11,707
26. 2.2 Baby Geniuses (1999) 4,143
27. 2.2 Simon Sez (1999) 1,160
28. 2.3 American Ninja 3: Blood Hunt (1989) 746
29. 2.3 Yûgiô: Gekijô-ban (2004) 1,074
30. 2.3 Gigli (2003) 14,439
31. 2.3 Cool as Ice (1991) 1,734
32. 2.3 Meatballs III: Summer Job (1986) 780
33. 2.3 Howling II: Stirba - Werewolf Bitch (1985) 968
34. 2.3 It's Pat (1994) 3,348
35. 2.4 Battlefield Earth: A Saga of the Year 3000 (2000) 18,493
36. 2.4 Ed (1996) 946
37. 2.4 The Garbage Pail Kids Movie (1987) 935
38. 2.4 Bolero (1984) 1,664
39. 2.4 Hercules in New York (1970) 3,669
40. 2.5 Marci X (2003) 1,437
41. 2.5 Police Academy: Mission to Moscow (1994) 6,663
42. 2.5 The Smokers (2000) 1,058
43. 2.5 Shanghai Surprise (1986) 1,156
44. 2.5 The NeverEnding Story III (1994) 1,244
45. 2.5 Hobgoblins (1988) 2,618
46. 2.5 Jaws: The Revenge (1987) 7,017
47. 2.6 The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1994) 3,517
48. 2.6 ATL (2006) 998
49. 2.6 Underclassman (2005) 889
50. 2.6 The Horror of Party Beach (1964) 685
51. 2.6 Captain America (1991) 1,920
52. 2.6 Teen Wolf Too (1987) 2,843
53. 2.6 Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964) 2,611
54. 2.6 Mannequin: On the Move (1991) 1,601
55. 2.6 Aquamarine (2006) 1,052
56. 2.6 Out for a Kill (2003) 1,447
57. 2.7 Date Movie (2006) 4,940
58. 2.7 Ringmaster (1998) 1,981
59. 2.7 Rollerball (2002) 6,944
60. 2.7 The Foreigner (2003) 1,486
61. 2.7 Alien Autopsy (2006) 696
62. 2.7 Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2005) 6,849
63. 2.8 Track of the Moon Beast (1976) 656
64. 2.8 The Shaggy Dog (2006) 1,263
65. 2.8 Dis - en historie om kjærlighet (1995) 946
66. 2.8 Can't Stop the Music (1980) 789
67. 2.8 Zaat (1975) 849
68. 2.8 Black Eagle (1988) 943
69. 2.8 Rhinestone (1984) 1,4087
0. 2.8 King Kong Lives (1986) 1,044
71. 2.8 Werewolf (1996) 1,461
72. 2.8 Tarzan, the Ape Man (1981) 1,692
73. 2.8 Mr. Nanny (1993) 2,376
74. 2.8 Children of the Corn III (1995) 1,102
75. 2.8 The Gospel (2005) 860
76. 2.8 Daniel - Der Zauberer (2004) 3,811
77. 2.8 Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders (1996) 1,462
78. 2.9 Eegah (1962) 1,782
79. 2.9 Spice World (1997) 10,174
80. 2.9 Mac and Me (1988) 2,012
81. 2.9 Night Train to Mundo Fine (1966) 1,524
82. 2.9 Monster a-Go Go (1965) 1,431
83. 2.9 Mitchell (1975) 1,670
84. 2.9 The Beast of Yucca Flats (1961) 1,204
85. 2.9 Alien from L.A. (1988) 917
86. 2.9 The Barbaric Beast of Boggy Creek, Part II (1985) 891
87. 2.9 Yusei oji (1959) 762
88. 2.9 The Wild World of Batwoman (1966) 1,623
89. 2.9 Crossroads (2002) 11,334
90. 2.9 Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997) 8,004
91. 2.9 The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!? (1964) 1,229
92. 3.0 Girl in Gold Boots (1969) 1,311
93. 3.0 The Killer Shrews (1959) 724
94. 3.0 3 Ninjas Kick Back (1994) 894
95. 3.0 The Mangler (1995) 1,82
196. 3.0 Final Justice (1985) 668
97. 3.0 The Bad News Bears Go to Japan (1978) 742
98. 3.0 Big Momma's House 2 (2006) 2,973
99. 3.0 Uomo puma, L' (1980) 1,185
100. 3.0 Annapolis (2006) 1,357

Not a bad balance I guess. I really didn't think the Bad News Bears Go to Japan was as bad as it's ranking here but I was a kid so what do I know.

Home Wrecker

That's what I am. Yesterday when I left work I noticed some straw sticking out of the front grill of my truck. I reached to pull it out and a little bird came flying out cussing me as she went. That little bit of straw turned out to be connected to a huge nest that the bird had probably spent all day long constructing.

She sat nearby with a bit of pine straw dangling from her beak as I pulled it all out and threw it on the ground. I felt so sorry for her but leaving my truck parked there for the rest of the Summer just wasn't an option.

I feel so evil.

Go Granny Go

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5378532

A 104 year old woman has married a 33 year old man.

*pause to marvel*

It's her 21st marriage.

So, maybe hope really does spring eternal?

IYFG & Reviews

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/iyfanguild/

After hearing about it for months I finally tracked down how to join the Inuyasha Fan Guild. They are a group dedicated to recognizing and encouraging writers of Inuyasha fanfic who really care and work hard to produce good stories.

For each quarter they give out awards in a number of categories. Any one of the more than 1500 members can nominate a story from the quarter currently under consideration. A story has to be seconded and thirded in order to make the voting ballot with a week for each. Each member can only nominate one story per category and either second or third one story in each category. Furthermore any one member can nominate the same story for no more than 3 categories. This leads to a great diversity of stories under consideration even at this point when we are well into the thirding period and a number of the stories that were originally nominated have dropped out of the running.

In addition to not getting seconded or thirded stories are dropped if a member requests a review by the Challenge committee as to whether or not the story meets minimum quality standards.

Unfortunately, if an author has three friends who are willing to work together it is possible to get a story onto the ballot that never should have been. Stories with bad grammar, spelling, and other obvious flaws have gotten as far as seconding before being disqualified. Some that are borderline have made it to the vote in the past.

This means that reading the nominations in preparation for voting is a chancy thing. Many of the stories will be a good read, some will be truly excellent but there are plenty of clunkers scattered throughout to provoke howls of laughter or pain. I've started posting some quotes at WASIF in the Bad Writing thread for others to marvel at.

Some of the stories just cry out for MSTing, or sporking as it's becoming known and I feel the urge to oblige them. So after giving it a lot of thought I've decided that I'm going to start posting reviews of stuff that I really like or really hate here and not just fanfic. If it moves me enough to want to share my feelings about it one way or the other I'll probably post something here.

I had to give it a lot of thought because while I know that if I rip apart something really awful that's a movie or a published book that it's a risk free endeavor. It's not like Stephen King will show up all hurt that I think the opening pages of his book about the creatures attacking the airport were so painful that I never got to chapter two but fanfic is a whole 'nuther game. There are people writing fanfic, some even over the age of 15, who don't even bother to run their masterpiece through spell check before posting it but scream about how they are being flamed by the haters if you gently suggest that doing so would be a good idea. No, really I'm not exaggerating, or at least not by much.

So if I post some negative reviews, or even go so far as to spork something so bad that Joel and the Robots would have wet dreams about it, then I run the risk of attracting some flames myself and some of these people are not sane. In fact there is a really wonderful site whose entire purpose is to report on the insane behavior of some of the people in fandom. There is a reason that at a site devoted to ripping bad stories to shreds in a humorous way not one of the team uses his or her real name or known handle.

But I'm going to risk it because I don't want to start a flame war at the two forums I visit where it would be marginally on topic and I can't keep it inside much longer. The badfic hurts and I need to strike back.

And maybe I can lure more of my friends into reading the good stuff or watching a movie they might not have watched otherwise.