There are definitely some strange people out there. The line the Strait Times had that I didn’t see in other stories was this one: Meiwes first sliced off Brandes’ penis, fried it, seasoned it with salt, pepper and garlic. Then he shared it with its former owner. Yikes!
December always brings dozens of the “Best of the Year” lists, and I’ve decided I would be no exception to the trend. Given the number of movies I’ve seen for the first time I thought I could put together my “Top 10 Movies Seen in 2003”. There were many contenders, including an additional 10 that just didn’t make the cut, and one or two whose names I couldn’t remember and thus didn’t include. Even though most of these were released in years prior, here goes with the list.
10. Talk to Her – A fascinating movie about two men watching over the women they love in a coma, with an ending that actually surprised me.
9. The Royal Tenenbaums – This quirky family, plus an offbeat cinematopgraphic style, made this a memorable picture.
8. Bowling for Columbine – Bowling for Columbine confirmed the central idea that there is something different about Americans, that the society as a whole suffers from some sort of anxiety issue.
7. Far From Heaven – A touching movie about a homemaker in a New England town during the civil rights era.
6. Cube – A low budget masterpiece, with a simple premise and yet loaded with suspense. I was sitting on the edge of my seat through the whole movie. This is what the Blair Witch Project should have been.
5. Bloody Sunday – On January 30, 1972, a civil rights march in Northern Ireland turned bloody, helping spark the conflict that lasted for the next several decades. The movie Bloody Sunday was a dramatic reenactment that stays true to form, providing a sense of watching the real thing unfold.
4. A Walk to Remember – This touching, sentimental teenage movie left a deep impression. I’ll be honest, I cried during this movie.
3. Kill Bill Volume 1 – The hyperviolence of this movie, paired with Quentin Tarantino’s offbeat style and oddly mismatched soundtrack, made this a memorable movie. This movie took me from being mildly sensitive to violence through being desensitized back to being extremely sensitive.
2. Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King – Ok, I haven’t really seen this movie yet. But unlike the Matrix sequels, I expect this to be a phenomenal movie. Even if they did cut the ending in the Shire from the movie.
1. The Dancer Upstairs – Despite some strong competition, this was my favorite movie of the year. The movie maintains a strong narrative pace with a budding tension that builds as the movie continues. The gritty texture of the movie heightened the senses while the acting was superb.
Southern Comfort and Bettter Than Chocolate, although they didn’t make this list, also deserve honorable mentions. Both were memorable movies and endearing but in different ways.
Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you’re always afraid
You step out of line, the man come and take you away
We better stop, hey, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down
–Written by Stephen Stills, Performed by Buffalo Springfield
I’m tired of the blanket generalizations applied to cultural, political or geographical groups by too many people around me (myself included, sometimes). What frustrated me on Thanksgiving was the overly generalized statement that all Middle Easterns hate America, and that’s the reason behind the failure to democratize Iraq. While it is without a doubt true that the States aren’t as popular in the region as they once were, I don’t see how such a statement contributes anything to the debate.
Truthfully, the region I despise a statement like the one about Arabs hating America is that it defines a billion people by the actions of a very vocal and active yet small minority. It strikes me as the same as someone outside the U.S. defining America in terms of the rightwing religious zealots or the KKK, not in terms of the actual diversity of the country and the diversity of thought that can sometimes exist here. Those vocal minorities are not representative here, and I have a hard time believing that groups such as Al Qaeda are truly representative there.
At the same time, there is within my mind little doubt that there is widespread frustration with the U.S. I would not be surprised to find that many people are unhappy with U.S. policy in the region, and much of that has to do with the support given to autocratic yet friendly regimes. While our support of these groups, such as the Saudi monarchy and the government of Egypt has allowed the world relatively inexpensive access to natural resources, the U.S. has become a convenient scapegoat when passions are inflamed. And attacking Iraq has only further inflamed those passions by creating the impression that the U.S. is indifferent to the humanitarian concerns of a long impoverished nation, seen as a result of the U.S.-led sanctions against the country. The blanket support of Israel, as well, only adds further fuel to the fire. U.S. policy is seen by many in the region, I would anticipate (though I don’t actually know), as not merely indifferent but hostile to the people in the Middle East.
This political situation, combined with the inability to consistently provide basic resources to the population in Iraq. Or the belligerent attitude shown to the populate. Just read the Iraqi blogger’s comments over the past year. He has been a very moderate voice, yet even he has his limits. Take this exchange from November 23rd.
grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr .. I am angry now .. I AM angry .. and “THEY” come and ask you “why don’t you like us?” … I will tell you why .. >>>> I was just stopped by an American check point .. they let me stand under the rain .. in the mud .. for more than 15 minutes .. a soldier pushed me in a very strong way that I nearly fell down, and the other was investigating me: Why do you have a camera in your car? haaa? !!!!!! What the hell !!! I mean !! duh ?? I have a camera? why not? then came the other americano with a smile asking me: do you film porn? !!! I heard that but I asked him: what sir? and he replied: PORN pee ooo are enn ,, ha ha ha .. (is that funny?) .. Soldiers stopping people in the EID (these are the Muslims’ festival days) asking them whether they film porn and pushing them in mud .. I DON’T LIKE “THEM”
Who would be happy to be in such a situation? And all that for merely moving about? The slow progress, the security situation (or lack thereof), and the constant military prescense all contribute to a situation of uneasiness. It’s not that anyone but a few extremists hate the US, but rather that, quite simply, most people want to live peacefully and securely, and that’s not currently possible there.
Happy Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. I love the fact that it is one of the most family-centric holidays, much like Christmas (only without the gift giving). The good food and the long weekend off from work don’t hurt much, either. Plus it is a wonderful introduction to the upcoming Christmas season.
Now, something I will be thankful for is when the town finally paves my street. Somehow in the past two weeks they’ve managed to pave every street with at least one coat of pavement, including the roads down by the sewer treatment plant, where no one lives, mind you, and yet they haven’t reached my street. I don’t get it. Why do every street except the street people actually use?
As seen on Cee Chun’s profile:
If calculus and algebra got into a fight, I think we all know that calculus would win. But it would be a bittersweet victory, since calculus would know in his heart of hearts that he had just shot himself in the foot.
The road past my house has been stripped down to rock and dirt in anticipation of the paving work. Now when cars drive by it reminds me of Monteverde this summer.
The past few weeks have been pretty busy, but with Thanksgiving around the corner, hopefully life will slow down again soon.
The Christian Science Monitor has a fairly balanced view of today’s Massachusetts ruling on Gay Marriage. With Christian in the name, one wouldn’t expect that. And I love the groups that swaddle themselves in the words “family values” yet strike me as supporting anything but. After all, how can you truly be pro-families, yet tell two loving, committed people that they’re not allowed to be family and be entitled to the rights that families receive? At a most basic sense, they strike me as extremely hypocritical.
A few weeks ago after we received some heavy rain, I did some searching on the web for perspective around Floyd in September of 1999 and came across a report from the National Weather Service. When I looked at the peak river levels at Blackwells Mills, for example, I’m floored, because the road running alongside floods at 9 feet. Reaching a river height of 20.97 feet is simply astounding.
What a long week. Every morning this week felt like Friday, and by Thursday I was rolling back over to sleep while asking myself why I was waking up so early on a Saturday morning. To say I’m pleased this week has ended is an understatement.
Reading this article, I’m happy I received my second Hepatitis A vaccination on Wednesday. Apparently the vaccine was found to be over 99% effective in preventing the disease, although no one yet knows exactly how long it maintains its efficacy, since it’s only been available for around 8 years.