November 05, 2008
Liam and Caroline
We knew there were going to be surprises in this journey, but last night with no warnings at all, Kristen began contractions (1:45am, naturally), we rushed to the hospital and Liam and Caroline introduced themselves to us. They are almost 31 weeks, they are good sized they're breathing ok, and we're going to start worrying about them every day for the next who-knows-how-long.
Liam Robert Campbell - 3lb 10oz - 3:52am, 5 November 2008
Caroline Lee Campbell - 3lb 2oz - 3:54, 5 November 2008
October 21, 2008
Spotlight on Crime
Joseph Wambaugh's Hollywood Station is a fun, semi-procedural crime novel. Though there are a couple of narrative threads, it all serves to thrust you into the seamy world of modern crime, LA style. A good fast read. (Also available from my Amazon store, visible on the left side of the page).
This Season's Man
Roundabout Theatre is putting on A Man For All Season's starring Frank Langella as the martyr Thomas More. This is a solid production, but essentially a one-man show. Someone said that the reason that this play hasn't been revived on Broadway was that the movie was so good - not a great reason, but true enough. Except for Langella's portrayal, all of the other characters (Henry VIII, Wolsey, Rich, Norfolk) are serviceable yet it's hard not to imagine Robert Shaw, Orson Welles, John Hurt, Nigel Davenport in their roles.
Of some interest - the original script (via Wikipedia's entry on the play) by Robert Bolt is quite modern, theatrically speaking. There is a "Common Man" narrating the play and taking on different subsidiary roles as required. This explains, to some extent, the care with which those roles were written.
This production (and the movie) do away with that Brechtian touch, which I imagine is for the better. For while the play is a marvelous scholarly quotation of More's writings, conscience, and tragic defense, there's not much to the endeavor except that the main character is saint while all the rest are sinners. But as long as the saint is played by actors of the caliber of Langella (or Scofield), that's more than good enough.
(The only flaw is that the Ambassador to Spain reminds one too much of a Monty Python character!)
September 02, 2008
A Maine Travesty
I've been going up to Maine to my Uncle's cabin on Lake Arrowhead for over 25 years; He's had the place since 1965. I was told that the lake was named for the wildflower/plant which was all over the shoreline. I'm here to report that it's all been cover-up. Below is a picture I took last week:
You can compare that to plant A here or here and plant B here or here .
I think you'll agree that the plant on the lake is the pickerelweed not the arrowead .
The clincher: My photo doesn't show the flower, but during summer, the plant has a bright purple/blue cluster of flowers. And there are lots of pickerel in the lake.
August 18, 2008
Double Danger
Saw The Roundabout Theatre's production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses . Pretty good stuff, with Laura Linney and Ben Daniels. And then, odd coincidence, we had just gotten digital cable hooked up in our lake house, and we saw that Dangerous Liasons was available for free. Interestingly, the movie played out the more romantic of the two; for whatever reason, this theatrical version makes the odd choice of playing the script for laughs. Daniels deserves a lot of credit for being on stage for just about the entire 3-hour running time, but his change from heartlessness to heart-brokenness is undermined by the whole casts' exaggerated slap-stick. Only Linney retains some semblance of propriety in the midst of the amorous cruelties. John Malkovich and Glenn Close are able to make the wrenching denouement work better simply by playing it straight.
August 05, 2008
Wall-E
Some day, I'll have to put together a spreadsheet calculating the average star rating for various studios. One of the reasons to procrastinate would be that the top studio can be guessed -- What is it about Pixar that they can't seem to make a bad movie? Wall-E is great fun, and manages to balance sweetness with goofy, message with mayhem, and anti-commericialism and technophilia with a level of perfection.
What is a simple robot-screwball-romance seems to morph and grow before our eyes: old-fashioned throw-back (complete with references to Hello, Dolly ), chase movie, man's inhumanity to himself, etc. And, as if to top it all off, mostly silent (except for the sound effects, music, and android beep-boops).
I'm only disappointed that, with all the references to the film-in-a-film, they didn't finish off the atmospheric production with the cast singing Hello, Wall-E.
July 23, 2008
Expectations
In other blockbuster news, Kristen and I are expecting. In fact, we're expecting twins. Due date should be late Dec/early Jan. Probably earlier than later, they tell us. So far, all looks good and we're trying to figure out how this is all going to happen in our little NYC apartment.
June 23, 2008
Iron Man
I got to the second highest global boxoffice film of 2008 whilst Kristen was at Sex And The City. Iron Man is certainly one of the best comic-book-to-movies adaptations out there (though I confess, I never even knew the source material existed before now). As with "Indiana Jones", the plot of course is meaningless. The key is to have a great, natural lead and effortlessly quick and imaginative storytelling. As the lead, Robert Downey Jr. is out-and-out fantastic, bringing hard-work, obsessiveness, and quirkyness to the role. For story-telling, Jon Favreau (and Industrial Light & Magic) have produced another great summer action ride. Added to the mix, Jeff Bridges - of all people - handles the role of evil corporate boss with larger-than-life bravado (and lots of basso yelling). Much fun.
Indy's Back
I haven't posted in a long time, but at least not as long as Indy's been away. Spielberg's latest smash ( 2008 global box office champ ) has the daunting task of
trying to live up to our memories of the past. There's no escaping that this new trek has a different tone and a couple of clunky scenes, yet it is a joyful ride nevertheless.
This time, we've got a few new characters with Sean Connery noticeably absent. I think that's a good thing; recall how Lethal Weapon became a bloated sit-com as it added second-bananas with every outing. Now, we add a new kid on the block, Shia LaBeouf, and resurrect Karen Allen as the long-suffering girlfriend. LeBeouf's fine - it's not like a Jones movie is strong on introspection anyway - but Allen doesn't do much more than smile at Indy or the camera the whole time. Thankfully, the one main scene where the two talk-it-out hits the mark.
The whole picture is more measured in its pacing than the early pics, an indication of everyone's age, perhaps. As we pick up the pieces of this episodes puzzles, we never quite reach manic levels of adventure, and the mix of Soviet spies, Incan (or whoever's) ruins, and aliens, never really makes any sense. And who cares? You'd think that after finding the Holy Grail, Indy would become a confirmed Roman Catholic - so it's easy to take the gang's gee-whiz response to aliens in stride.
At the end, it may be diminished expectations (one friend actually despises the movie), but the rest of my gang liked it just fine.
March 21, 2008
Nanotech
I would assume that we're all hip to the nanotech future? There's still a big gap between now and this, but even the intermediate future will be very, very cool. Talk about "change"!
March 20, 2008
Kings
Two Shakespearean tragedies, two damn fine performance, and two annoying productions. A few months back, we went overseas (over the East River, that is) to Brooklyn's BAM to see King Lear with Ian McKellan. It was a long, ponderous show -- starting out with the cast parading out on stage to the sound of a loud and portentious orchestral anthem. After then parading back off stage and re-entering to take their places for Act I, Scene I, we were able to settle in to the extraordinarily uncomfortable seats and watch four hours of royal backstabbing.
Whilst the overall effect was fine, the recent habit of British Shakespearean actors to overact, ham up each line, and add arbitrary snarkiness to every meter of prose, grows exhausting. There was a time when the tradition was to speak the lines plainly, letting the beauty of the words shine. (Not to mention way back in the day, when musicality of speech was rewarded). Now, lines are overwrought exaggerations, with shaking body parts, and all innuendo graphically displayed. Oddly enough, over a decade ago, McKellan's Richard III was a far more evenly modulated performance that brought novel insights into the play to the fore.
Still, by the time you get to Lear carrying in dead Cordelia, you're still transported by the ageless drama. And even an overbaked Ian McKellan is better than most anyone else.
After Lear, I thought that Macbeth would be a sure thing. It's the shortest play, and really quite straightforward. Patrick Stewart can manage this sort of thing with ease. But again, the production just wouldn't let the play be the thing. This time, we're set in a modern army of some sort -- nothing too wrong with that. Then we lather on Soviet imagery -- ok, I get it, Macbeth's assassination is akin to totalitarian regime change. But then again, every little character is encouraged to turn small parts and lines into bravura showstoppers. Never would you have guessed the sturm-und-drang brought to bear on the simple, quick comic sketch that should be the Porter's scene.
Oh well. Both evenings were put on by very talented people and there is much to recall with pleasure. But seriously, too too much effort put in to almost ruining the classics. Take it easy, next time.
February 26, 2008
Coen Brothers Redux
No Country For Old Men is a wonderful Tommy Lee Jones vehicle built on top of yet-another Coen brothers horror/noir film. Whilst the Academy handed it the top award, I can't go that far. I don't mind the film wandering off in the last half-hour, upsetting audience expectations. It's just that on reflection I don't find Javier Bardem's hit-man that interesting -- and I sure don't much care to spend as much time as the Coen's do on his self-surgical abilities. (Is there much point to these scenes except to demonstrate good practical special effects?).
Once you get past that characters' violence, he's just another lone-biker-of-the-apocalypse representing implacable fate. And the coin-tossing and stun-gun, while prominent in other reviews, are not particularly relevant to the plot.
The normative cast - Josh Brolin and Kelly MacDonald - are quite fine, but their fine acting only serves to further the story rather than illuminate much of anything.
Which leaves me with Tommy Lee Jone's monolgues and panoramas of the Texas wilderness. And I like that just fine.
February 25, 2008
Cat On A Hot Tin Roof
All-star theater casts are often as not a disaster. Cat On A Hot Tin Roof is not a disaster, but its punctuated successes are enough for a memorable evening. The audience seemed to care less about the sad drama and was overly restless in the warm house. Debbie Allen's direction and stage-craft leaned toward kitch (why a lone saxaphone wandered the stage to open each act is a mystery). And even the always reliable Phylicia Rashad veered toward caricature.
But once the leads were warmed up, and once James Earl Jones took command of the stage as Big Daddy, all was forgiven. Jone's, of course, was the most experienced actor of the evening, and besides his talent, it was clear that he was also the hardest working person on stage. His monologues were delivered with that unforgettable voice, but also with dazzling shades of emotion and a clear performance.
His co-star, Terence Howard, as Brick, spent the first act testing the audience's patience, never showing much character. (It must be said that Brick's first act has precious little to go on, a terribly hard job). With Jones to work with through out the second act, the team mesmerized. While the play itself is dated, the script's poetry still comes through; Jones and Howard's battles were fascinating.
So, this was an evening of trying to ignore the crowd's inopportune giggling at jokes that weren't in the script and instead just enjoying the part of the evening when two great actors delivered the goods.
February 11, 2008
Best Picture
Two reviews in one....
Likely AMPAS Best Picture winner, Atonement , is really wonderful from beginning to end. The tragic tale of love is told as a writer would tell it, a comment which has a lot to do with the original novel on which the film is based. But the film adds another layer of expressiveness which miraculously helps the novel's tale - most movies about writers aren't nearly as clever. The story jumps around a bit, but again, the story actually demands it rather than this just being a random creation of the screenplay. And the sound design is practically perfect, myriad details and typewriter clacking adding layers of substance and diagetic detail, about which, unfortunately, little can be said without spoiling the film. (And no, I've not used the word 'diagetic' since University days.) It's the kind of film that should repay a second viewing. It's also the kind of film, in an English Patient sort of way, that the Academy should love.
We also saw another Best Picture, but this is from the Soviet Union circa 1970. About four years ago, I was in Moscow and went on a business lunch to a theme restaurant: white-washed adobe, desert outpost style. Our host told us that it was based on the beloved film White Sun of the Desert. Apparently, this is the Star Wars of Russia, a western (their term is Ostern), with a wry, smart, quick draw hero of the civil war (reds v. white, recall) taking on local (asiatic) desperados in order to save the day, in this case a harem of nine women. And by "beloved" I mean that almost every line is now a Russian catch-phrase, a character's folk song was a hit, and the film was voted favorite movie in 1995.
For me, I can almost get it; the one-liners don't really translate well with sub-titles, and the old-fashioned '60s fight-scenes and shoot-em-ups are not well done. I imagine if I had seen it back in the day, on a late-night movie show, it would make more sense. But the great spaghetti westerns and real U.S. westerns are, for me of course, superior.
February 06, 2008
New Tech News
Some news: I've been trying to get some sort of media server set up to our living room interfaces (the big TV/home-theater thing) but having little luck in finding a reasonably priced general server. It's pretty easy getting music over to the receiver, but what about Picasa images? What about podcasts of various formats? What about youtube? Hulu video/movies? What about the web? Yes, the web - why can't I display my calendar or travel info without crowding people into the small office?
Of course, my Time-Warner cable box is Linux-based, but closed to hacks. My answer to all this was to get a Mac Mini. It's now setup, wirelessly connected to the office server, etc. While the user interface is confusing :-), the functionality is all there. I've even programmed the new remote control to manage the Mac iLife application.
In other news, I've upgraded to the Treo 755p with EV-DO access. I'm still impressed at the Palm interface (even more so than the Mac). I've had an ever expanding Palm contact list and calendar from about 1996, and every new Palm I've moved to has just sync'd and managed that data transfer and application re-installs seamlessly.
January 23, 2008
Juno
Juno is sort of a younger, hipper version of Waitress . We saw Juno at the multiplex; Waitress on DVD. Both are comical treatments of accidental pregnancy, veering from precocious to whimsical=. And both are almost entirely sustained by their leading actress - Ellen Page and Keri Russel, respectively. If you can get over the hyperbolic writing (and Juno is almost cloyingly sardonic), the films are pleasant enough. Where they differ is with the different take on the father - Juno's high-school senior mate is earnest but quiet, while Waitress's is a minor monster. But everyone ends up happily every after (except the bad guy).
January 15, 2008
The Little Sparrow
And speaking of voices, La Vie En Rose just won a Golden Globe for Marion Cotillard's performance as Edith Piaf. Whilst this is a standard musical bio-pic, the story is somewhat randomly chopped into pieces, taking quite an effort to make out the time period of certain scenes.
But whatever, the point is, Edith grew up in extreme hardship, poverty, and sickness; became an overnight smash success; partied too hard, loved too much, etc, etc. And practically invented the over-the-top, melodramatic French cabaret song. As usual in these affairs, the film ends with her breathtaking come-back concert and that quintessential performance of Non, je ne regrette rien.
(For more Cotillard, you could check out the goofy A Good Year ; it's mostly an odd Russell Crowe vehicle, which tries too hard to be fun, but Cotillard's brightness and spirit makes the romantic finale almost plausible.)
