Fix You

Until yesterday I had only heard the song Fix You by Coldplay once.  Actually I had only heard the first verse even at that.  It was on an episode of Ricky Gervais' Extras in which Chris Martin (Gwyneth Paltrow's husband and lead singer of Coldplay guest starred.) This clip shows what I saw and heard then.



Having somehow never heard it before I assumed it was just a little bit they made up to do on the show and that was the end of that... until yesterday.

I don't think I've ever mentioned here that I really like the movie WALL-E and in particular there is one scene that is one of my favourite movie moments ever.  It's the scene where Eve is putting WALL-E back together again.  More on that later but for now I'll just say that I was reviewing some of my YouTube favourites yesterday and a clip of that scene was one that I rewatched.  Following that I just clicked on one of the "related clips" on the side just for fun and this is what I found.



I think this is the best amateur movie clip montage/music video that I have ever seen. It's pretty much perfect in fact.  It really captures the essence of the whole movie and the song fits so well.  As the clip began I first realized that this was the same song that Apple's daddy sang on Extras.  Having not been particularily impressed with the short version at that time I wasn't expecting much but decided to watch to the end anyway. About two and a half minutes into the song the guitar kicks in and I suddenly realized that there was going to be much more to this song than I had imagined.

The entrance and urgency of the guitar expresses so well Eve's sudden change when she discovers the plant and WALL-E's desperate chase as he tries to reach her before she is taken away by the space ship.  The drums join in to bring the music to full force as the ship blasts off with WALL-E barely hanging on.  The song is finally complete and epic when the now multivoice harmony vocals return to compliment WALL-E's sense of wonder as he does the old hand drag through planetary rings vortex trick. (Suddenly sticking your hand out of the car window on the highway seems extra mundane.)  Of course the song must return to it's humble beginnings at the end and this too fits with the end of the movie. 

Finally as promised, the reason that the scene where Eve fixes WALL-E is one of my favourites.  The urgency and speed with which Eve acts is what I love.  It surely wouldn't have made any difference to the outcome if Eve hadn't worked quite so quickly.  But she loved WALL-E and her desperation and unnecessary speed showed it.  The exact moment that still gets me even now when I recall it is when Eve, having finished rebuilding WALL-E whips up her arm and blows a hole in the ceiling to immediately bring in WALL-E's life giving sunlight.  Surely no one would have thought it strange if she had taken the extra half second to move WALL-E back outside herself but to her every millisecond counted.  It was if she was trying to save him from drowning.  That is what I love most about the movie WALL-E and this newly discovered YouTube clip brings it all back to me.

A great song and an inspired video, the two together are much greater than the sum of their parts.  Another in my growing list of YouTube favourites.

So, have you seen it yet?

No, not Harry Potter silly, Tangled of course!

Maybe I'm mistaken but I can't help feeling that this little gem is being passed over by a lot of people for whatever reason.  It kind of seems that everyone will rush out to see the Shreks, the Ice Ages, the Madagascars or any movie with penguins, especially talking ones.  Maybe Tangled just didn't get enough hype. Maybe it suffers from NOT having an "agenda."  Now that I've seen the movie and have gone back to watch the trailers for it I admit I am a little disappointed to see that Disney even tried to target the Shrek demographic with their quite misleading previews. Nearly all of the scenes which would appeal to those who enjoy trendy, sarcastic, parody humour are in the trailers.  In fact I'd say that about half of what is in the trailers isn't even in the actual movie.

As I said in my review, although Tangled is very funny and a lot of fun (not quite the same thing), it is completely sincere and it will make you feel as though you've received an antidote to so many of the animated movies that have come out over the last couple of decades.  You may come out feeling like the fog has lifted, that things had gotten worse so gradually you hadn't really noticed and then the sudden return to a bright ray of sun is almost shocking.  I couldn't remember the last time I'd felt as heart warmed and happy as I did at the end of Tangled. 

In case you're waiting to see it at the cheap theater or on DVD I would urge you not to wait.  This movie needs to been seen in 3D, shown by an expensive projector in a theater where a popcorn and pop will cost you $14 (not saying you have to buy it, just that it needs to cost that much if you do);  not at some sticky smelly theater/homeless shelter where the image is projected onto a (not even 100%) cotton sheet hanging unevenly in front of an unpainted and slightly moldy concrete brick wall.  The animation in Tangled is new and improved and it does look absolutely beautiful. The 3D does make a big difference in a very good way.

I know I've mostly been preaching to the choir here but I just wanted to make sure anyone who is on the fence about seeing this movie will do so.  It's my new favourite Disney film EVER! There, I said it and I meant it.  Maybe the songs aren't quite as good as The Lion King or The Little Mermaid but the story and in particular and couple of specific scenes in Tangled just made it the best to me.

The following YouTube contains the first song which plays as the credits begin to roll at the end of Tangled.  The people in it are many of the crew who made Tangled at Disney Animation Studios.  It's a fun little clip and it may even bring back the happy feeling and warmth you felt or will feel at the end of the movie. Enjoy!
(The first girl who appears in the clip is Grace Potter who is the actual singer of the song.)

Tangled - my review

The still photo in my last post had me a little wary about going to see Tangled.  I was worried that it was going a be a totally modern and PC version of the original story.  Still I had a hunch that this could be a great movie and after finding that it was getting good reviews I decided to go see it.

As I had feared the original story of Rapunzel has been significantly altered, partly due to necessity of turning a very short story into a feature length film and also to make what I consider to be improvements on the original version.  The essence of the story though, remains well intact and yes, this is a true fairy tale in every sense of the word.  It never winks at you nor does it nudge you in the ribs with its elbow.  It is not a parody of a fairy tale and does not stop along the way to try and convince you to believe in its magic.  If you let it, it will make you feel like a kid again.  The story feels fresh and new and although it does have a modern feel it retains enough of the more old school serious elements of the story to be a refreshing change from the sarcastic humour and preachy propaganda cartoons modern Hollywood churns out these days.

In the real story of Rapunzel the girl was a commoner and the boy was a prince.  In Tangled in 2010 the girl is by default a princess and not only is the boy not a prince but he's a ruffian and thief as well.  That in itself is a topic for another day and I won't get into it here but I will admit that it did workout in the end just fine.

Although Tangled does contain elements of the ordinary modern animated movie (the obligatory miniature sidekick doing comic relief, this one's called Pascal) and a couple of nods to other movies (The Sound of Music and Raiders of the Lost Ark) I only heard one single extraneous "like" and zero pop culture references so this film should stand the test of time quite well I think.

I will admit to one disappointment I had along the way in Tangled.  Although there were several instances where Rapunzel was truly sad and her eyes did seem to moisten she never shed a single tear.  I was just thinking that it was too bad that our modern culture is in such a state that a girl can't be shown actually sobbing over a boy anymore, part of that whole fish and bicycle thing I guess.  Finally though, she does shed a tear and I realized that it was much better that she hadn't until that moment and my previous disappointment was suddenly silly and then forgotten.  In fact, I believe that there are exactly two tears shed in the entire movie.  Their impact was made much greater by their rarity.

There are of course several songs in this Disney movie and I found some of them to be just adequate, a couple were good and one in particular was just perfect. The main song, the one that Rapunzel sings a few times throughout the film is quite simple but is by far the best. Not necessarily because it might sound good on the radio but because of the context it has in the movie.  The very same song one time may be funny, another time just kind of nice and finally it becomes the climax of the whole movie when the lyrics take on a whole new meaning and purpose than what they signified earlier in the story. That is what made it so wonderful to me.

At its core the story of Rapunzel is about love and real sacrifice. This is what makes it great and what raises it above the level of so many other pretenders. In the original story both Rapunzel and the Prince suffer greatly for their love of each other. Although the circumstances are somewhat different in Tangled the demonstrations of love and sacrifice are well demonstrated once again.

To sum up, Tangled is funny, original and a straight up sincere fairy tale.  It's magical and moving in the most pure and non manipulative way. It's gorgeous to look at and most importantly it's a great story which is very well told.

I thought that after How To Train Your Dragon and Toy Story 3 this year, there would be no other serious contender for best animated feature at the Oscars but it wouldn't surprise me at all if Tangled beat them both.  I do love both those movies but I must say that Tangled is not only the best animated film I've seen this year, it's the best movie I've seen this year period!

By the way, be sure to see the 3D version.  This is Disney's 50th animated feature film and it's obvious they put their full effort into it. The whole movie is just beautiful to look at and one scene in particular is just gorgeous and heart warming. The 3D is really well done!

Finally and for ONLY those of you who have already seen Tangled here is a little something that will take you back to the best moment of the the movie. It's just audio except for the still photo which will remain unchanged until the end.  Enjoy! (and seriously if you haven't seen it yet this will be a huge spoiler even without video so only push play after you've watched the movie or at least consider yourself warned.)

Rapunzel and Rumpelstiltskin all Tangled

Now that I've got the obligatory title photo attached I find myself trying to remember just exactly where the idea for this post started and in fact where it is heading. Not a good sign I admit but anyway, off we go.

Lately I've being seeing ads for an upcoming Disney movie called Tangled.  Now maybe I'm wrong but isn't the fairy tale about the pretty girl with the long long blonde hair called Rapunzel?  Why didn't they just call it that?  Anyway, I'm thinking that I'll probably go see this one when it comes out in about three weeks but before I do I wanted to refresh my memory with the original story.  I found a website which contains many (possibly all I'm not sure) of the Grimm brother's fairy tales and Rapunzel of course is among them.

There were once a man and a woman who had long in vain wished for a child. At length the woman hoped that God was about to grant her desire. These people had a little window at the back of their house from which a splendid garden could be seen, which was full of the most beautiful flowers and herbs. It was, however, surrounded by a high wall, and no one dared to go into it because it belonged to an enchantress, who had great power and was dreaded by all the world. One day the woman was standing by this window and looking down into the garden, when she saw a bed which was planted with the most beautiful rampion (rapunzel), and it looked so fresh and green that she longed for it, she quite pined away, and began to look pale and miserable. Then her husband was alarmed, and asked: ’What ails you, dear wife?’ ’Ah,’ she replied, ’if I can’t eat some of the rampion, which is in the garden behind our house, I shall die.’ The man, who loved her, thought: ’Sooner than let your wife die, bring her some of the rampion yourself, let it cost what it will.’ At twilight, he clambered down over the wall into the garden of the enchantress, hastily clutched a handful of rampion, and took it to his wife. She at once made herself a salad of it, and ate it greedily. It tasted so good to her–so very good, that the next day she longed for it three times as much as before. If he was to have any rest, her husband must once more descend into the garden. In the gloom of evening therefore, he let himself down again; but when he had clambered down the wall he was terribly afraid, for he saw the enchantress standing before him. ’How can you dare,’ said she with angry look, ’descend into my garden and steal my rampion like a thief? You shall suffer for it!’ ’Ah,’ answered he, ’let mercy take the place of justice, I only made up my mind to do it out of necessity. My wife saw your rampion from the window, and felt such a longing for it that she would have died if she had not got some to eat.’ Then the enchantress allowed her anger to be softened, and said to him: ’If the case be as you say, I will allow you to take away with you as much rampion as you will, only I make one condition, you must give me the child which your wife will bring into the world; it shall be well treated, and I will care for it like a mother.’ The man in his terror consented to everything, and when the woman was brought to bed, the enchantress appeared at once, gave the child the name of Rapunzel, and took it away with her.

Rapunzel grew into the most beautiful child under the sun. When she was twelve years old, the enchantress shut her into a tower, which lay in a forest, and had neither stairs nor door, but quite at the top was a little window. When the enchantress wanted to go in, she placed herself beneath it and cried:

’Rapunzel, Rapunzel,
Let down your hair to me.’

Rapunzel had magnificent long hair, fine as spun gold, and when she heard the voice of the enchantress she unfastened her braided tresses, wound them round one of the hooks of the window above, and then the hair fell twenty ells down, and the enchantress climbed up by it.

After a year or two, it came to pass that the king’s son rode through the forest and passed by the tower. Then he heard a song, which was so charming that he stood still and listened. This was Rapunzel, who in her solitude passed her time in letting her sweet voice resound. The king’s son wanted to climb up to her, and looked for the door of the tower, but none was to be found. He rode home, but the singing had so deeply touched his heart, that every day he went out into the forest and listened to it. Once when he was thus standing behind a tree, he saw that an enchantress came there, and he heard how she cried:

’Rapunzel, Rapunzel,
Let down your hair to me.’

Then Rapunzel let down the braids of her hair, and the enchantress climbed up to her. ’If that is the ladder by which one mounts, I too will try my fortune,’ said he, and the next day when it began to grow dark, he went to the tower and cried:

’Rapunzel, Rapunzel,
Let down your hair to me.’

Immediately the hair fell down and the king’s son climbed up.

At first Rapunzel was terribly frightened when a man, such as her eyes had never yet beheld, came to her; but the king’s son began to talk to her quite like a friend, and told her that his heart had been so stirred that it had let him have no rest, and he had been forced to see her. Then Rapunzel lost her fear, and when he asked her if she would take him for her husband, and she saw that he was young and handsome, she thought: ’He will love me more than old Dame Gothel does’; and she said yes, and laid her hand in his. She said: ’I will willingly go away with you, but I do not know how to get down. Bring with you a skein of silk every time that you come, and I will weave a ladder with it, and when that is ready I will descend, and you will take me on your horse.’ They agreed that until that time he should come to her every evening, for the old woman came by day. The enchantress remarked nothing of this, until once Rapunzel said to her: ’Tell me, Dame Gothel, how it happens that you are so much heavier for me to draw up than the young king’s son–he is with me in a moment.’ ’Ah! you wicked child,’ cried the enchantress. ’What do I hear you say! I thought I had separated you from all the world, and yet you have deceived me!’ In her anger she clutched Rapunzel’s beautiful tresses, wrapped them twice round her left hand, seized a pair of scissors with the right, and snip, snap, they were cut off, and the lovely braids lay on the ground. And she was so pitiless that she took poor Rapunzel into a desert where she had to live in great grief and misery.

On the same day that she cast out Rapunzel, however, the enchantress fastened the braids of hair, which she had cut off, to the hook of the window, and when the king’s son came and cried:

’Rapunzel, Rapunzel,
Let down your hair to me.’

she let the hair down. The king’s son ascended, but instead of finding his dearest Rapunzel, he found the enchantress, who gazed at him with wicked and venomous looks. ’Aha!’ she cried mockingly, ’you would fetch your dearest, but the beautiful bird sits no longer singing in the nest; the cat has got it, and will scratch out your eyes as well. Rapunzel is lost to you; you will never see her again.’ The king’s son was beside himself with pain, and in his despair he leapt down from the tower. He escaped with his life, but the thorns into which he fell pierced his eyes. Then he wandered quite blind about the forest, ate nothing but roots and berries, and did naught but lament and weep over the loss of his dearest wife. Thus he roamed about in misery for some years, and at length came to the desert where Rapunzel, with the twins to which she had given birth, a boy and a girl, lived in wretchedness. He heard a voice, and it seemed so familiar to him that he went towards it, and when he approached, Rapunzel knew him and fell on his neck and wept. Two of her tears wetted his eyes and they grew clear again, and he could see with them as before. He led her to his kingdom where he was joyfully received, and they lived for a long time afterwards, happy and contented.

OK but where was the part about the gold and stuff. Then I remembered that there was another story about a locked up pretty girl which is called Rumpelstiltskin.  I must have confused them because of the mention of Rapunzel having "magnificent long hair, fine as spun gold."  Seems like there were lots of girls locked up in towers in the olden days doesn't it?
 
I think that J.K. Rowling must be a fan of The Grimm brothers too.  I wonder if she got the idea of healing tears (the pheonix in Chamber of Secrets) and Hermione's cat's name Crookshanks (one of the names guessed in Rumpelstiltskin) from them?
 
In addition to Rapunzel and Rumpelstiltskin I also read The Fisherman and His Wife and plan to refamiliarize myself with many more of the Grimm's stories.  They are so refreshingly unpolitically correct its almost shocking.  It makes me glad that I was part of the last generation to have vague memories of actually growing up with these tales. I'm sure the only exposure to old fashioned fairy tales most kids might have these days is when they are assigned to google them for a school project on how intolerant, uninclusive, racist and sexist people were in the olden days. They really put into stark contrast the socially engineered PC brainwashing goo and ever present fake smiley faces that children have to endure these days. 
 
It will be interesting to see what Disney has done to the story of Rapunzel here in 2010. I wouldn't be surprised if the extra long hair is the only part that has suvived the modernization.  I'm looking forward to finding out though.  If Tangled is disappointing at least there will be part one of Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows coming out at around the same time.  Maybe I'll see you there.

Have You Ever Heard Wilhelm Scream?

No? I bet you have, many times in fact. You just don't realize it. I didn't either until a few months ago. Now that I know about it I can't believe I never clued in to the whole thing but now I do know and everything has changed, forever. (Well at least as far as movie screams are concerned.)

I had heard the name "Wilhelm Scream" now and then over the years. Sometimes a movie critic would mention it or I would see it written in a review. I always assumed it was just a type of scream that was popular and many actors learned how to do it or something like that. What I never realized was that it is not just a type of scream, but it is the same scream, screamed by the same person in all of these movies over the years. It is a sound bite, first recorded for a film called Distant Drums in 1951.



Since then it has been inserted into many other movies and in fact become somewhat of a running gag in the Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and other franchises. Sort of a sound editor's inside joke if you will.
Here is one of the better compilations I've found.



There was even one in Twilight (New Moon) although we never actually see the person who screams. Can you guess where it was?



So now, even though I'd heard it so many times without knowing it in the past, from now on I'm pretty sure I'll recognize it whenever I hear it.

Oh, and by the way, so will you! Sorry.

Geocache Just For You

Are you up for a treasure hunt?  I knew you were.

Unlike previous versions, this one is not virtual.  It is real and you'll need to be here to do it.  Hopefully it will survive for a few years at least so anyone who is interested will eventually have the chance to find it.  It will not be listed anywhere but here so it is basically just for those who read this.

It is a two part adventure (well maybe adventure is an extreme exaggeration) diversion.  The first part will take you to the temple grounds where you will find the answers to questions which will give you the complete coordinates of the treasure's hiding place which is out at the second location, Woolford Provincial Park.

Here are the coordinates of the hiding place with letters representing the single digit answers to the questions.  (You will need a GPS to find the treasure, you can borrow mine if you like.)

N 49°AB.CDE'
W 113°FG.HIJ'

Now for the questions.

A. How many spheres sit on the top of the temple?

B. How many "historic sites" plaques are there on the SOUTH visitor's center building?

C. How many long strips of dark stone are there just inside the entrance gates? (just count across where there are the most)

D. Walk around to the north side of the temple and count the layers of stone in the outer wall from top to bottom including the thinner layer on top.

E. On the northeast corner of the grounds there is a plaque telling about the Alberta Stake Tabernacle. On the plaque there is a logo. How many letters are in the first word inside that logo?

F. How many fire hydrants are on the east lawn near the baptistry sign?

G. How many benches are there on the southeast corner of the grounds?

H. Back at the main entrance again, in the sidewalk concrete around the temple there are many "tiles" which contain a pattern. Subtract 5 from the number of shapes inside each square tile. (They are all the same but check a few to make sure you have the correct total number as some of them are less clear than others.)

I. How many flagpoles stand just across the street from the main entrance?

J. The manhole cover in the sidewalk near the main entrance has the year 198_ on it.

After answering each of the questions you now have the complete coordinates for the treasure.  A fifteen minute drive will get you to Woolford park and then about a ten minute stroll will have you at the hiding place.  When you're there the nearby surroundings will look something like this.

The treasure chest is a clear plastic bottle (about 4L) with a 4 inch diameter lid.  Unfortunately my gold brick supply is running a little low right now so I filled it with dollar store junk treasure instead (sigh).  Please have each person choose an item of swag and replace it with something else for the next hunters to find.  In order to protect the treasure from animals, bugs and freezing temperatures please don't put any food, liquid or odorous things into the container. 

There is a log book inside the container as well so if you'd like to you can leave a short note  about when you found it, what you took and left, any animals you saw etc.

Also, I would welcome any comments here as well from anyone who finds it.
Happy hunting!

***************************************************

Starting this year Woolford Provincial Park has become "day use only". I guess that basically means they figured it wasn't worth keeping up anymore and instead of just letting people camp for free they decided that no one can camp at all.  The place is definitely looking even more abandoned and overgrown than it did before and THAT is saying something. There is such a ghost towny, Blair Witchy feel to the place now. You can almost hear the lonely playground equipment crying to be played on as the surrounding vegetation creeps in closer and closer.

I also made a stop at the nearby Woolford Cemetery.

I hadn't really noticed before and the location did seem quite random but once I actually stopped, got out and looked around the reason why that spot was chosen became clear.  It is subtly but definitely the highest spot around in all directions for miles and miles.  The section of Rocky mountains (length) which can be viewed from there may be unsurpassed.  It's just a bit farther away than Cardston is but it seems like you can see a much longer section of the mountains from there.  It is a wonderful place indeed.  Despite it's now ghost town origins I was not surprised to find a few fairly recent additions.  It is just a great spot and I can completely understand why people still choose to be buried there.

Of course most of the graves were made in the late 1800s and early 1900s.  It was sad to see that many of them were for babies and small children.  Anyway, I'm glad I stopped and got a new perspective.

P.S. When you head out to Woolford from Cardston there is no need to go all the way to the Woolford turnoff sign on Hwy 5.  Just take your first right after you cross the St. Mary river onto road 503 and it will take you straight there. It's a much shorter route.

The Town

It’s fairly easy to write a review about a movie that I liked, it’s even easier to write one about one that I didn’t. (Is that wrong?) I now find myself, possibly for the first time, trying to write a little blurb about a movie that I’m quite sure I will soon forget about completely. (Great Lorin, that’ll have them eager for more…) No wait! Don’t go yet. You’re probably the only one who is still reading this and we’ve got to get through this together, just you and me okay?

I guess the thing that made me decide to go see The Town was reading something to the effect of “after a summer filled with the usual kids movies about talking animals and princesses, fan boy fueled block busters, super hero sequels and awkward teen wins the hot girl fantasies, we finally have a movie made for grown ups.” I immediately went into denial about loving many movies in all of the aforementioned categories, averted my eyes from my How to Train Your Dragon poster and determined that I too was ready for a serious and grumpy grown up “Film”.

I love to see a movie knowing as little as possible about the story beforehand. All I knew about The Town was that it involved some thieves, possibly bank robbers. I’m not positive but I think I can still remember a time in the ancient days of my youth when shootouts and car chases were somewhat exciting to me but seriously, at this point they just make me look at my watch - which, by the way, compliments of its having a white face and classic design is perfectly readable, even in a dark theater, by the light of a death star, space ship, airplane, tank, Escalade or even a wee Prius exploding.

Despite the car chase genre being probably my very least favorite I still had faith in my hunch and the high ratings I’d seen so I made the special trip into town to see the show.

Being Tuesday the regular admission price also included a free popcorn and soda. That, plus the fact that I had obviously not been the only one to catch the positive buzz about the movie, resulted in a pretty much sold out show. Even those seats on the low side of the “oh no, everybody’s watching me cross to the other side” aisle were filled with the tardy crowd even before the pre commercial commercials had ended.

The Town, as it turns out, is very much a bank robbers, shoot outs and car chases movie. A close knit group of thugs who grew up together on the wrong side of the tracks feel justified in their life of crime. But hang on, these aren’t destitute Somali pirates we’re talking about here but I guess growing up in a blue collar Boston neighborhood justifies turning to the dark side. The crew consists of a few guys, the leader/mastermind (of course deep down he’s really a good guy who all the ladies will fall for) the number two guy who’s kind of a loose canon and even meaner than the main guy (this helps make the main guy look not so bad in comparison). There’s the jovial fat dude (oh no he’s dead for sure) and then a couple of other generic red shirt ensigns who will obviously not be beaming back up to the Enterprise, if you know what I mean.

It begins with a spectacular shock and awe type heist to show us just how cool and awesome this bunch really is. Lot’s of bullets, potty mouth and of course the ever so trendy shaky cam so you can’t really tell what’s happening but you’re pretty sure it’s extra awesome.

Next, in comes the unlikely and spectacularly inconvenient love interest who starts our lovable bad guy back towards the good side of the force. The hero begins to be torn between his buddies and continued life of crime and his desire to run away with the girl to a new life and fresh beginning. Meanwhile a few more jobs are pulled off to ensure that the echoes of machine gun fire and screeching tire rubber never completely leave the theater.

As you can probably guess, talk of the inevitable and completely unavoidable one last heist appears about the time you start getting nothing but air up your drinking straw and you wonder if you’ll ever see Bubba alive on the screen again after this. So much of this film is so familiar yet it is different enough to keep you interested. The ending may be or may not be what you’d expect and I do give it credit for that particular aspect. At times it reminded me of Point Break, Good Will Hunting and even The Shawshank Redemption. The cast is great and I though it was well acted. It probably is better than most of the movies that came out this summer.

After I got home I went to The Town’s IMDb page and rated it a nice lukewarm 7 out of 10.

Three Degrees of Palbasha

A few days ago I stumbled across this video on YouTube. It really needs no introduction or explanation and is just plain awesome. My favourite bit is between 1:33 and 1:51.



I really loved and you might even say I was a little haunted by the song that played during it and found myself listening to it over and over again. In the description of the video it says the song is called Praan by Garry Schyman. Thinking that it didn't really sound like Garry, I began my search for a video of the actual singer performing it. This led me to another great video. This one has already been viewed over 31 million times so there is a good chance you are familiar with it already and I'm just the last one to know about it but...



It turns out that "Praan" was actually created for this video and the name of the singer is in the end credits. Her name is Palbasha Siddique. Finally now I'll be able to watch her perform it I thought. I figured she was probably some famous veteran singer from somewhere that I couldn't quite guess for sure but it turns out she lives in Minnesota and was only a teenager when she was hired and payed just $1000 to record the song. Considering how many people have now heard and loved it it seems she deserves much more.

I did find a video of Palbasha performing Praan but it isn't at some big concert or on a TV show. It's just her singing in front of a camera in her home with the smoke detector chirping periodically in the background because the battery is low. The sound quality is of course not nearly as good as the professional recording and whoever was running the camera is way too trigger happy with the zoom button but despite all that is does feel like she is singing just for you, for anyone who took the time to search for and find her. And here she is.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

I usually read only at night, last thing before bed when it’s quiet and dark except of course for my reading lamp. I am easily distracted and whenever I see people reading in a noisy airport or crowded lunch room I always wonder how, and am admittedly a bit jealous that, they are able to concentrate on their book in such a place. Since I always have extra time to kill during my lunch breaks I thought I would try reading in my car this time. At first it was difficult but I soon got used to it and was able to become well enough engrossed into the story even in a busy parking lot. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society was recommended to me by Luci. A strange name indeed (the book’s name not Luci’s) but you have to admit the title does stand out and grab your attention.

This is another book with written in an unconventional format. (Do you remember These Is My Words?) This time the whole book is a compilation of letters. They are nearly all written by or to a Miss Juliet Ashton and travel mostly between London and an island in the English Channel called Guernsey. WWII has just ended and this story begins and ends in 1946 and deals with the occupation of Guernsey by Z Germans during the war as well as Juliet’s search for material for her next book.

I’m sure it’s normally a fairly quick read but due to my experimental and relatively brief reading sessions during my lunch breaks in my Civic where I was constantly checking my watch to make sure I wasn’t late back to work etc. progress was, well, slow. In hind sight this was probably the worst book to try to read in twenty minute bursts particularly because of the letter format and the fact that I found it difficult to keep track of who was who for about the first half of the book. Oh yeah, the book is actually divided into two parts. The first part introduces all the characters and provides much of the background information but nothing much really happens in the present. Things begin to pay off in the second half and especially in the last third of the book.

I have come to understand that a romantic story written by a woman will always contain more than one possible candidate for groom at the inevitable engagement/wedding finale. Since this book contains multiple references to Jane Austen and Pride and Prejudice in particular it was not surprising that characters named Markham and Dawsey soon appeared. (Markham/Wickham, Dawsey/Darcy) Coincidence? Yeah, okay sure. Anyway, that’s no big deal but I just wanted to let you know how clever I was to pick up on the similarity of the names, or not.

I saved the final 100 pages for a proper reading session without distraction or time restriction. As the second half was set on the island I decided to drive out to Waterton and park beside the lake to read the end of the story. The sounds of the little waves breaking on the shore along with the wind rushing through the trees made it easy to imagine I was on Guernsey myself. Well, kinda, not really but it was fun to pretend anyway.

(Yeah, so I'm there on the shore of Guernsey. As you can see it was a beautiful day. You can see St. Peter Port just over to the right there. Across the Channel to the left are the um Green Cliffs of Dover and that kind of pointy castle like shape way down there, I'm pretty sure that's Hogwarts. Yep, pretty sure.)

Overall I found the first half contained slightly more witty writing and the second half had the best of the story. The islander’s stories that Juliet collects for her book include recollections of terrible events that happened during the war and show how they were able to cope and endure all the hardships they faced. There are stories of great bravery and unexpected kindness found amongst all the evil as well. The ending is suddenly but not unexpectedly happy.

I think my favorite part was the letter Juliet wrote to Sophie on September 7, 1946.

Everyone has his/her dearest treasures. Sometimes they are kept in an old box tied up with string, sometimes they are hidden deep inside a heart. Those who are lucky enough to be shown the precious contents can know that they are loved.

Thanks Luci for the recommendation!

Inception

Well, I finally got around to seeing Inception last night. Even into its fourth weekend I was surprised to see how full the theater got. With a nearly full room there was bound to be a few disruptions during the show but thankfully most of the texting and talking crowd was in the next theater watching Step Up 3D.  Yeah, yet another teen dance off movie... in 3D. Now tell me again how 3D is not mostly a money grabbing gimmick.

Before I get to Inception...

Out of all the movie stars, singers or just plain celebrities on lists A through Z there have always been a few (usually in pairs) who I often get mixed up with each other.  Maybe you get confused sometimes too.  Usually they look very similar or at least have a similar character or personality,  or maybe not, but for some reason they often occupy the same space in your brain. I think the first pair I can remember mixing up were James Coburn and Lee Marvin. Do you even know who they are or are you just too young?  Okay then, some more recent interchangables.

How about Amy Adams and Isla Fisher (Amy)

or Zooey Deschanel and Katy Perry (Zooey)

or Yoda and Fozzie Bear

okay well, maybe they just sound the same but still...

So what do all these pairs have to do with Inception?  Well, one of the actors just happens to be half of another pair of actors I often misremember. His name is Cillian Murphy.

Actually he looks even more like another actor than the one I sometimes confuse him with. That makes a total of three I guess. I wonder if you can guess who the other two are, just for fun.

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SPOILERS AHEAD

Inception may be compared by some, myself included to Shutter Island.  Both movies star Leonardo DiCaprio who has major wife trouble in both and neither story is what it seems at first. Both leave you with the feeling that you need to watch them again but there is a big difference. More on that later.

I have mixed feeling about Inception. On one hand it is a very original story that has obviously had much work put into it. It requires your full attention and even then it is hard to keep up sometimes, at least it was for me.  On the other hand at times it seems to fall back into the typical North American action movie cliche with lots of gunfire, car chases and things getting blowed up real good. Of course some or maybe all of this is happening within a dream so it doesn't even have to make sense, how fortunate.

Inception is all about dreams, dream sharing and dreams within dreams. Leo DiCaprio plays Cobb, the ultimate corporate spy who enters other peoples dreams to steal their secrets. He works for super duper powerful folks who buy whole airlines instead of just a few extra seats just to make getting the job done slightly more convenient.  Cobb's quest is to enter the dream of a dying man's son and instead of stealing information, he is to plant an idea in his head, the idea that he must find the ring and bring it back to Mordor at any cost. Oh wait, sorry. That was something else.  In fact, the quest is to get the son to split up his father's company instead of continuing in his footsteps. Slightly less epic I agree but I suppose we're long past the age of swords, bows and arrows, catapults and prickly elephants so I guess we take what we can get right?

The story and process are so complicated that the actors spend half of the movie explaining how everything works and what will or at least should happen. One important safety tip seems to be to remember that if you die in the Matrix... sorry, getting confused again, if you die while dreaming you end up in dream limbo and have to spend eternity with Marion Cotillard. Hey, where do I sign up?

A main focus of the movie is on people not knowing what is a dream and what is reality.  The plot of the movie involves planting a certain idea into a persons mind and while doing this maybe the film plants into our mind a tiny doubt about our own boundary between dreams and reality.  Several of the main characters have small personal objects called totems they use to help them distinguish between dreamland and real life. Cobb's is a spinning top.

If it gradually slows down, falls over and stops when he spins it that means he is awake. If it keeps spinning like some freaky perpetual motion machine that means he is still dreaming.  Of course the very last shot in the movie is of the top spinning and Cobb has walked away distracted by something else. The movie then ends before we find out if the top stops or keeps on going.

I think this was meant to leave the ending up to us, or maybe to see if we've figured it all out for ourselves. Were we clever enough to know if he is still dreaming or not?

But at that moment I realized something a bit strange, that I didn't care one way or the other.  There had been just a bit too much silly action, a bit too much fighting weightlessly in hotel hallways, an infinite supply of baddies, too much reliance on explanation, too much confounding and cleverness or at least the appearance of such. 

At the end Cobb is finally reunited with his children who are being attended by a character played by Michael Caine. I remembered another Chris Nolan Film, The Prestige, in which Caine also is there at the end of the movie to witness the reunification of father and child.  That time it was so moving and perfect. This time I didn't really feel anything. I realized that I had spent the whole time trying to keep up with the complexity and absurdity of the plot that I hadn't noticed that it hadn't been able to move me.

After seeing Shutter Island you can go back and rewatch it and realize why Leo's character feels seasick even though the water is calm, why the guards are on edge when they land on the island, why he never has his own matches and all the other things. You realize that so many things were not what they seemed the first time. At first I thought I would need to watch Inception again as well but then knew that I wasn't sure I even wanted too.  It wouldn't be a completely different experience like Shutter Island was. You would just pick up a few more things you missed the first time.  The end result and experience would be mostly the same.

I'm glad I saw it. It was unique and sometimes cool. Marion Cotillard was so lovely. That Juno chick was just alright. Leo did well though I thought he did better in Shutter Island.  My favourite performance of his is in Catch Me if You Can. Do check it out. Now if you'll excuse me I need to find a spinning top and check something...

Surry Girls and Despicable Me

I had planned to go into town today to see a movie, either Despicable Me or Inception, but the thought of doing that daily drive again on my day off seemed like such a chore.  Then I remembered that the theater in Waterton just happened to be playing both those movies right now so I decided to head for the mountains instead. I could spend the afternoon in resort mode and then catch one or both of the films I wanted to see in the evening.

As I set out the sky was overcast but I hoped for the best and was happy to find a cloudy but completely windless Waterton.  I must say that if I had my choice I think I would choose a cloudy but calm Waterton over a sunny but mercilessly windy one almost every time.  I really love the way Waterton smells in the summer. Of course it varies depending on where you are but in town, the further from the lake (it smells like water for some reason) and closer to the mountains you are the better it smells. 

One of my favourite strolls in the village is from the falls down the road to the lake and then back to the falls via the back alley.  I find the alley, which is of course the very closest you can get to the mountains without actually entering any hiking trails, to be the most aromatic, cozy and quiet places to walk.

To finally get to my first topic of discussion today, I parked my car across from the theater, to which I would return later, and set out for my walk.  The tennis courts were all in use which was quite a rare sight, at least for me.  I passed Cameron Falls but don't remember if I even turned my head. Probably did just out of habit if nothing else. As always, once past the falls the noise of town and rushing water quickly faded and I entered the most enjoyable part of my route. When I was about midway between the falls and the lake everything was quite quiet then I started hearing voices behind me.  As they got closer I could tell it was two girls talking and at the rate they were gaining on me they must be on bikes I thought.  A few seconds later I recognized my favorite accent in the whole world, English from England. Yeah I know there is more than one kind of English accent and I couldn't tell you exactly which one it is that I like so much but they were speaking in it. You know, proper yet not pompous.  About the last ten seconds before they passed me all was quiet again and I assumed they were pausing their conversation until they were well clear of me for whatever reason.  I would pretend not to have noticed them at all as they passed so they would feel comfortable to resume there intimate discussion as soon as possible.  The moment they passed I saw that they were riding one of those those Surry bikes from Pat's and that they both had long hair. Just as I was thinking that they were probably both quite pretty and that it was a shame I would never find out, both girls turned their heads over their shoulders and in that killer accent of theirs said hello and smiled. Then they were gone... and I couldn't stop grinning until I reached the lake.  I know it's probably pathetic that something so small could have made my day in such a big way but it did and I won't try to deny it.  As I made my way back from the lake to the falls via the back alley the sweet smell of Waterton was especially fine.  I was so glad I didn't go to town today.

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The early show was going to be Despicable Me at 7:00 so I went in for that. I wasn't sure about the quality of the picture or audio in this old theater but was interested to see the inside as I don't recall ever being in there before.  It is nice to visit an old and unrenovated theater now and then.  Waterton's has definitely retained its original character.  It is a little bigger than you might think from looking at it from the outside.  The floors are wooden as are the seat armrests.  Not a cupholder in sight either.  One refreshing change from the ordinary was the lack of any pre movie commercials or even previews. The lights went down and the movie started, awesome!  The movie image had rounded corners for some reason and there was a slight flicker noticeable.  It kind of reminded me of watching old home movies on 8mm film. The sound was OK and the flicker was ignorable so I got down to the business of getting into the movie.

Despicable Me is about an aging super villain named Mr. Gru and three girls named Margo, Edith and Agnes. At one point the three girls conversation goes like this:

Edith: Mr. Gru is nice.

Margo: But scary.

Agnes: Yeah, like Santa.

I think that might be the line that got the most laughs in the whole movie.

I kind of felt like I was watching a mixture of The Incredibles, Toy Story and even a bit of Star Wars.  Although this movie doesn't come close to being as good as any of those.  It almost seemed like the script had been written several years ago as some of the references and phrases have already come and gone. Does anyone still say "that's how I roll" anymore? There were a couple of others I noticed but of course can't remember now. At one point some "minions" (think Pizza Planet Claw game Aliens from Toy Story) were giggling beside a copy machine and I said to myself "please don't let them be laughing because they are making copies of their butts but that is exactly what they were doing." So 1990s.  There were a few laughs here and there but mostly the whole thing felt a bit off.  Thankfully one saving grace was that unlike many movies. DM actually got a bit better as it neared the end.  Overall I'd give this one about a 6/10.  I know most people are rating it higher than that but that's all I can give it.  And believe me it's not because I was in a bad mood going in to it either, 'cause I SO wasn't.

Driving home I soon forgot the movie and remembered the pretty girls on the bike turning their heads to say hello to a stranger. I wonder if they were from Surry.

Cruisin' in Waterton

No I didn't go for a boat cruise if that's what you're thinking. I just rented a bicycle at Pat's and went for a little ride.

It has been many years since I pretty much gave up on bicycles. My last engine-less two wheeler was a Diamondback mountain bike that had 21 gear combinations and probably weighed less than a tricycle. It was a lovely machine yet I rode it very little. I think I always tried to tell myself it was awesome and that all bikes should have been made like this a long time ago but the reality was it sat unused most of the time. I just didn't like the posture I had to be in to ride it. Being all hunched over with much of my weight on my hands and having to bend my neck upward to see what was coming in front of me. All the hi-tech light weight materials and components of course made for efficient riding and better handling but somehow it all left me behind in the process.

When I lived in Banff there was nothing but expensive mountain bikes and anyone daring to ride anything else would likely have been banished at least to Canmore, if not all the way to Calgary (the horror). One day while walking I saw a friend of mine riding some kind of strange machine. He was sitting perfectly upright and was able to see all around without bending his neck at all. He wasn't carrying any of his body weight on his wrists. There were no brake levers on his easily reached handlebars, no multitude of cables and wires protruding from here and going to there and no big prickly mass of gears in the rear wheel. He wasn't going really fast nor did he seem to be trying that hard. He wasn't wearing any spandex, had no corporate logos on his shirt and wasn't even wearing a piece of painted styrofoam on his head. (I mean I know it's PC to at least look like you're protecting your head but making bicycle helmets out of stuff that would actually make a significant difference in the event of a real crash would mean you'd probably end up with something resembling a motorcycle helmet and I think we all know that's not gonna happen.) Anyway, I was intrigued and would later learn that what he was riding, what I thought of as just a plain old normal bicycle, is now called a cruiser.

It seems I am not alone in my nostalgia for a simpler bicycle. Apparently cruisers are all the rage these days and are indeed running the risk of becoming truly trendy.  Although maybe slightly different from a modern cruiser and more closely resembling a traditional European style bike here is a photo of my very first two wheeler just to prove that I had one before they were cool.

(I'm pretty sure the training wheels came off later that very day!)

Recently I found what I now feel is pretty much the pefect bike on the internet. Here it is.

Note the higher than the seat and swept back handlebars, the comfortable cushioned seat, the absense of brake levers, cables and mutiple gears, the nerdy but functional fenders allowing you to ride in wet without ruining your clothes. It's just a bike, peddle to go, peddle backward a bit to stop.

I heard that Pat's had cruisers for rent in Waterton so I decided to try one today.  At $6/hour they are the cheapest to rent of any of their bikes so that was a little bonus.  I was hoping to find something like the Trek Cruiser Classic pictured above but what they had were these.

When I saw it I was instantly a bit disappointed. It obviously had too many gears (7), cables going all over the place, brake levers for BOTH hands and not even any fenders. How was I supposed to look like a trendy hipster™ riding this thing. Even with the swept back handlebars people would shirley still assume I had Mountain Dew in my water bottle.  I had to remember this whole test wasn't about rejecting an old fad by riding a new one but about finding a comfortable ride.

The upright posture was instantly a huge change from any bicycling I have done since I rode sitting on a Banana seat in the 70s. Definitely a welcome return to old school riding in that regard. However, I made my first gear change about 90 seconds into the ride. It's funny how much more you recognize slight hills up or down when you ride a bike.  Very quickly the ugly and impure gear and brake cables were forgiven their mere presense and became invisible.  Working hard to climb hills made me glad for the little weight saved by the absense of fenders and coming down a short but steep unpaved trail made me glad to have brakes both front and back. In the end, I decided that what I was riding was really the best compromise of modern technology and comfortable riding for anyplace that isn't perfectly flat.

One extra note for all of you with mountain bikes. Unless much of your riding involves you wearing a number bib at events with the word extreme in the title I think many of you would benefit from changing to a smooth tire like the ones I rode on today.

The lack of perpetual minor vibration caused by excessively knobby tires is immediately noticed and of course very welcome. So the next time you need new tires...

At the end of the day I decided maybe the one speed, one brake, cableless bike maybe isn't the best option afterall.  The comfortable upright seating position and the easily reachable handlbars are what's most important to me. Other than that, extra gears and good brakes are probably still a good idea even if they ruin the whole retro look and vibe. Maybe next time I'll rent one of those hybrid bikes that looks like a mountain bike but has much higher handlebars for comfort. 

5 Centimeters Per Second - The Soundtrack

Leisel, Shauna and possibly others may recall my June 10th post about this short animated movie from Japan. I was lucky to find out about it by chance and am so glad I did, now even more than before. I have watched it two more times since and I must confess it is quickly becoming one of my all time favourite films. One of the things I love about it most is the score/soundtrack.

This is what I listen to during my very early morning drive to work these days. The total length of twelve tracks is just about perfect to get me there and is a nice quiet way to start the day. The current hot summer afternoons, in cooperation with the absence of A/C in my Honda, mandate that both windows be completely rolled down for my drive home. This of course renders enjoyment of any kind of soft music absolutely impossible at 100 kph. I suppose that's just as well though.

I will admit that part of the reason I'm posting it here is to have easy access to it for myself. Maybe sometime when you're in a quiet mood you could give it a listen. Once you push play it will automatically go through all twelve tracks unless you stop it or whatever. I think you might enjoy it too. Of course you will enjoy it even more once you have seen the movie.

eclipse - The Movie

Minor spoilers ahead!

The movie's story begins with a shot of a young man we never met in either of the first two films and we soon realize that we are not in Forks but in Seattle witnessing part of the creation of Victoria's army of new Vampires.  Soon we are relieved to be taken to a much more familiar location and see Edward and Bella in their meadow which has been much more generously stocked with prop flowers and therefore seems much more sunny, happy and well, meadowy.  You can almost hear fluffy bunnies hopping and chewing on daisy stems just out of frame.

I don't want this to turn into a movie report instead of a review so I guess I'll stop now with the play by play. (Can't promise 100% but I'll do my best.)

I enjoyed twilight.  I thought new moon was better and still do.  eclipse blows them both out of the water!

Yes it really truly does.  I'm not just saying that because it's the newest one and is freshest in my mind.  And if you'll be so kind as to continue reading I'd like to tell you why.

First, more than ever before, we can feel the closeness and dare I say it, the love between Edward and Bella. new moon got it much better than twilight did but in eclipse their relationship really starts to bring the feeling that the book did in that regard.  They really feel like a couple who know and love each other.

I hated Jcub in this book and was sincerely dreading the parts where I knew he would be messing with Ed's girl but I'm tempted to say that this is one particular area that the movie did even better than the book.  Sure we have to watch him force himself on her and watch him keep her warm through the night in the tent but in the end Bella leaves no doubt about who it is that she loves most and the movie lets her explain why.  Although we have to watch her bounce back and forth between them with a frequency and speed that would make a Wimbledon season ticket holder dizzy, the way she confesses her love for Edward in the end is completely believable and totally satisfying.  Edward and Jcub also have a good talk and although it is still obvious that Edward would give Bella up if he thought that would make her happy and that Jcub will forever try to steal her away, I ended up loathing Jcub slightly less than I did in the book.

There is a lot of back story included in this movie. We get to know why Rosalie treats Bella the way she does. We are shown the tragic history of Jasper and the closeness he and Alice share.  The history of the werewolves is expounded upon as well.  We are taken much deeper into the histories of the ones who merely dazzled as they walked by in the cafeteria and those who mostly just caused teen girls to scream whenever they took their shirts off.  All the familiar characters just become much more real and we can't help but care about them more.

We, as well as Bella are finally told why Edward is so adamant about getting married first. The moment when Bella finally understands this is one of the best in the movie. 

eclipse also has the best action so far. The big fight scene is cool but of course ends with the inevitable death of sweet little Bree.  In the book I think she was 15 but the little actress who plays her looks only about 11 or 12 which makes it even more sad. I beg you to read the short second life of bree tanner before you see eclipse. It will make an otherwise possibly forgettable moment one of the most heart rending in the whole movie.

Have I said enough? Have I said anything at all?  I thought twilight was good and new moon was better. eclipse is definitely best! (If this trend continues all that will be left for breaking dawn parts 1 and 2 is bestest ever and bestest ever extreme I guess.) The story is entertaining, exciting and romantic. The characters are more interesting and we care about them more than ever before. There is a believable and satisfying resolution to the sticky triangle between Edward, Bella and Jacob.

To sum up. when the credits rolled I heard several sighs from the females around me. They were partly the usual sighs of swooning but I felt they were mostly sighs of relief, resolution and satisfaction, above all satisfaction. Yes, eclipse is a very satisfying movie!