DVD Diplomacy

Nothing has made me laugh out loud lately as much as Obama's gaffe in giving dvd's to England's Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The kicker of course to the whole story is that the dvd's won't play in England because they are the wrong format for their players. HAR HAR!

The coinage of the phrase "DVD Diplomacy" is spot on. Well done to the first to say it and I will echo as often as possible. It will be difficult to outdo this bit of incompetent bungling, but I am sure Obama and his sidekick Biden have something up their sleeves.

Michelle Obama does her part (from the same link):

Not to be out done in tastelessness by her husband, Michelle got into the act, too. Mrs. Brown came bearing two outfits for the Obama girls from Topshop, one of Britain’s trendiest and expensive women’s wear retail outlets.

In return, Michelle apparently had a staffer run down to the White House gift shop and grab two toy Marine One helicopter models for the Brown’s boys.

Class all the way, huh?

The Bailout

Spencer Tracey is the Congress. Sid Caesar, Jonathan Winters, Mickey Rooney, et al, are the auto industry, big banking, etc wanting the big cash. The big cash in the briefcase belongs to the American taxpayer of course, taken from them but that's a different analogy. The suitcase busting open and the cash being scattered into the wind is the accountability of the bureaucrats in this whole bailout mess. Finally, I liken the firetruck's attempt at the rescue to what's needed eventually get the economy back on sound footing - a few unpleasant things will have to happen and fail, but then the hospilization and curing begins. No pain, no gain.

PS How'd they get away with Rochester landing in Abe Lincoln's lap? And that's Sterling Holloway as the fireman who ascends the ladder. The briefcase full of cash is a great MacGuffin.

Movie Buzz

Dinner table talk provided the following questions last night. What movies:
A. Might you never watch again and be happy about it?
B. Watch any time it comes on? Not that they are great, but that you'd watch.

There are simply too many A's to list. Any of the Tolkien movies make the list, even tho we own them.

I would watch Raiders Of The Lost Ark and The Last Crusade, Jaws, Dr Strangelove, Planet Of The Apes (with Heston of course), and Yellow Submarine, without fail. Others on the edge - 7 Faces Of Dr Lao, Willy Wonka (Gene Wilder), Young Frankenstein, Sean Connery's movies as James Bond, and Rope (cool Hitchcock flick).

There is probably a lot more I couldn't turn away from.

Documentary recommendations

Bob Sturm over at The Ticket and Bob's Blog likes documentaries. He has embedded trailers for most of his recommendations.

Bad Radio's host tends to like a bit of quirkiness in documentaries. I am not a big fan of SuperSize Me or any of Michael Moore's work. I tend to favor those films that are well edited, and are good humored. I don't like films that are out to make fun of the people they portray.

I'm thinking King Of Kong is next on the radar screen. Thanks Bob.

Popcorn bargain

Going to the movies? Consider the medium sized popcorn in a bag. (from Portfolio.com)

Expelled

EXPELLED - This looks to be a good effort from Ben Stein. I heard him interviewed on the radio yesterday about this new documentary. Its about "Intelligent Design" vs "Darwinism" and how these ideas are taught in schools. Or not taught as teachers who mention Intelligent Design are summarily expelled from their jobs. The film debuts on 1100 screens this Friday the 18th, but not in Austin. I will have to wait.

http://www.expelledthemovie.com/home.php

Crossword Diety Gather

Its no secret we are crossword geeks in my family. Mom and Dad, all my brothers, myself and Sean, my paternal grandparents, all have a thing for crosswords. But as good as we might think we are either individually or collectively, we are still on the human level of solving - or in golf terms we might break 80 every once in a while, otherwise bogey golf.

Our routine here in Austin is pretty simple. I work the Friday Wall Street Journal puzzle, and then the Sunday NY Times, and if I get through those the Sunday LA Times, and maybe a few dailies from the NY Times. Speed is not of the essence. I choose to solve at my own pace. Piecing together themes, wordplay, and puns is its own reward.

The crossword deity are gathering this weekend, Feb 29- March 2, for their annual competition. Its all about speed and accuracy there. Check out the movie "Word Play" for the 2005 competition caught on film. Its time for Al Sanders to break thru and win this thing. He is the Susan Lucci of this event. C'mon Al - Get 'er done.

Another Night of Theater

Saturday the 23rd was the final night for Sam and her 7th grade classmates to perform their play. A correction to earlier post - the title of the play is actually "Final Dress Rehearsal." Another cheery performance by the cast.

Not being a regular live theater goer, I can imagine that it may be a bit difficult to watch the same play on consecutive nights, and some families there may have seen this four times as there were two classes performing the same play. This being light comedy some of the punchlines were not getting the crowd reaction comparable to the previous night, especially during the fourth performance. But the cast did not notice and put full energy into their act.

Afterwards another round of high fives for all, and then the cast and crew headed out to IHOP for a post play get together. Samantha says she asked their waiter for the wine list while ordering. That's a pretty short list at IHOP.

Sean pulled up sick Saturday right as the play was ending. On the way we had to pick up Tory who had been baby sitting for some friends we know from our church. After getting him we got Sean and Tory (ever hungry) a Panda Express bowl, and evidently Sean's had some chicken in it setting off major allergic reaction. We hustle back to the house and she downs a benadryl. We watch a movie, Aragon, I pick up Sam at IHOP near 11:30 and go home.

Sean looks as if she's recovered by the time I get back from church Sunday a.m., but it seems she gets an aftershock or two periodically over the day.

Chess on TV or In Movies

A recent casual conversation brought up how chess appears in movies or TV shows to portray a character's traits while playing the game. The one discussed the opening scenes of Casablanca in which Rick (Bogart) is playing chess with Peter Lorre. What does chess say about Rick? and why at the beginning of the movie. It turns out Bogart was a big fan of chess and was a fairly strong player.

What movies come to mind that I have seen in which chess featured? Searching For Bobby Fischer immediately pops up. Chess was used a device to illustrate a child's gift and the changes this gift brings to his family. Lots of chess action, and players are not necessarily made fun of. Next is 2001 A Space Odyssey in which the computer HAL plays chess with the astronauts. Nice use of chess here to convey the computer's precision in planning and strategies to defeat mere frail humans. The first Harry Potter movie uses chess as a protective obstacle for the Sorcerer's Stone, and here demonstrates one of the character's willingness to sacrifice himself for the good of the others (altho in the end he survives of course). Finally from my memory comes Stalag 17 where one of the chess pieces is used to inform Nazi prison camp guards of allied POW plans for escapes. I think a James Bond movie has chess but a can't find it in my memory.

I can only think of three TV shows that had chess anywhere in them. The first was Star Trek. For some reason Capt Kirk is able to defeat Spock on a fairly routine basis, probably to show that Kirk relies on a fusion of logic, emotion, and intellect to strategize while Spock is logic bound. However in one episode Spock is able to defeat the ship's computer in three straight games when he should only be able to draw - this clues Spock to conclude that the computer is malfunctioning and therefore some intruder is aboard. Genius. The TV mystery series Columbo had an excellent episode in which two chess grandmasters are competing in a match and one ends up murdering the other, or else Columbo wouldn't have anything to do. I recall an interesting restaurant scene in which the two players begin playing a game using items found on the tables for pieces (olives, salt shakers etc) and the gingham table cloth as the board, and I believe the outcome of that game provided the final straw for one GM to kill the other. Lastly is the Cosby Show but since I rarely watched it I don't remember why it was used. Probably so Cliff could talk a big game only to be defeated by Rudy.

That's all I can conjure up. I know there are others. Give me time to remember. Chess is usually a metaphor for stuffy, nerdy, or other diminutive characterizations, but the above shows used it quite effectively and in a good chess light.

The General

As I sat in my seat looking around the crowded little theater waiting for our feature to start, I wondered as I always do about the sound system, will it be too loud, too soft, all the "Three Bear" criteria. I suddenly remembered I am there to see a silent movie.

Last Thursday evening, Sean, Evan, and I went down to the UT campus and saw "The General" in the Harry Ransom Center. It is part of an ongoing display about the 1920's in America. There was a pianist and a drummer on a full drum kit accompanying the film.

The film was very enjoyable and I now have a lot of respect for Buster Keaton who directed and starred in this film, and performed all his own stunts. Basically a Civil War film of an unlikely hero and his accidental courage and heroics. The story revolves around trains, stealing trains, spying, and rescuing trains. After a short few minutes into the film I believe I forgot I was watching a silent film and was involved in the story.

The pianist and the drummer were excellent in characterizing the movement of the scenes and helped in creating many different moods. The movie was just over 70 minutes and those two guys kept playing the entire show, a remarkable feat.

There aren't many opportunities to see these films in this type of setting and I am glad we went. I don't think Evan was all that keen to go but looked to be pleasantly surprised and glad he went. It can be a hassle getting through busy places and times but this time it was worth it.

Another film is scheduled for July, The Big Parade from 1925, and I think we'll try to get out again.

PS Sean and I had a nice little dinner outside at the Central Market patio afterward. Evan had Popeye's chicken before we went. Ha.