tardis_stowaway: TARDIS under a starry sky and dark tree (seasonally appropriate laugh)
I saw Invictus today and enjoyed it quite a bit. It's about a truly inspiring time, the early days of Nelson Mandela's presidency of South Africa. They country had just left apartheid behind, but many blacks were still bitter about all those years of horrible oppression while many whites were extremely distrustful of the new government and angry about their own loss of power. The nation could so easily have fallen apart, but it didn't. There are a number of factors that kept South Africa from disintegrating, including the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions, but Invictus focuses on two: Nelson Mandela and rugby. I could care less about rugby, but it was a good microcosm to show all the racially charged issues that South Africa had to cope with. Also, all of you Doctor Who fans will be interested to know that this movie has Adjoa Andoh, who played Francine Jones, playing one of Mandela's aids.

I spent five months in South Africa in college, studying at the University of Cape Town. I really enjoyed all the reminders of life in that country I got from the movie, everything from drop-dead gorgeous aerial shots of Cape Town to a passing mention of a proposal to make retailers charge extra for plastic bags. (This was established law by the time I visited in 2004. Why doesn't every nation do this?) It was nice to go into the film knowing a little bit extra about the underlying politics and symbolism, but the film explains enough that you don't really need prior knowledge. f you're interested, however, I recommend Nelson Mandela's autobiography Long Walk to Freedom. It's a well-told personal story of a truly remarkable man, but it is also a good introduction to recent South African history. Better yet, go to South Africa. Take me with you!

As for the film, it was quite good, though not truly great. I felt like it told most of the story it had in the first two-thirds or so, leaving the last third weighted down with too much slow-motion footage of large men slamming into each other while grunting a lot. Some bits toed the line between inspirational and trite. Matt Damon, playing the captain of the rugby team, did a decent South African accent but not much else. If you see only one 2009 movie about South Africa, it should be District 9. However, Invictus is still very much worthwhile. Bonus points: read this blog post on what Nelson Mandela's leadership in Invictus teaches us about how to tackle global warming.

I'm currently reading Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynn Truss. I correctly anticipated its appeal to my inner punctuation snob, but I never predicted how often it would make me laugh out loud. Consider this sentence about the Italian printer who, among other achievements, invented italics and printed the first semicolon: "That man was Aldus Mantius the Elder (1450-1515) and I will happily admit I hadn't heard of him until about a year ago, but am now absolutely kicking myself that I never volunteered to have his babies." Ha!

Amelia

Nov. 12th, 2009 12:17 am
tardis_stowaway: TARDIS under a starry sky and dark tree (big ears)
I went to see Amelia despite some mediocre reviews.  After all, it features:  (1) Amelia Earhart, a fascinating and courageous woman who I admire; (2) the seriously attractive Ewan McGregor; and (3) Christopher Eccleston. You all know how I feel about him.  ;)  It was an enjoyable enough way to spend some time in a movie theater, and it did deliver the three things I went to see.  Still, I wish it had been a little better.  The review that follows isn't especially spoilery (it's a history; we know how it ends), but the extremely spoiler-phobic might want to turn away now.

The film put a lot of emphasis on the relationship between Earhart and her husband/publicist, played by Richard Gere, but it never really convinced me to root for their relationship.  Part of it was that I'm not a huge fan of Richard Gere (nothing against him, I just don't find him at all attractive and his acting isn't extraordinary enough to make me care about him anyway).  Part of it was that his character was occasionally a bit sleazy.  I'd have preferred to see less of that relationship, with more focus on Amelia's early life, her relationship with Ewan McGregor's character, and a bit of background for Christopher Eccleston's character that would let us know why he decided to go along on the extremely dangerous round the world flying attempt.  More Eccleston is always good, despite the fact that he was freaking me out by doing an American accent.  (Also, the film totally wasted an opportunity to have Eccleston make out with Hillary Swank, which would have been hot.  Hell, if I'd been writing it I'd have found some excuse to get Chris and Ewan kissing.  I blame the internet for the corruption of my brain.)   Also, I just wish the film had been a little braver, speculating  a little more, especially in giving us some additional window into what Earhart and Eccleston were feeling in the final moments. 

After that complaining, here's some additional things I liked about it:  lots of lovely shots of vintage planes over beautiful landscapes.  Ewan MacGregor looking very debonair.  Hillary Swank's performance.  The young son of Ewan McGregor's character telling Amelia that he wished she could be married to [Richard Gere's character] and his dad.  Aww, the poor kid would fit right in on the internet.  Learning a little bit more about Amelia Earhart, a woman ahead of her time in more than just her daring flights.  I would recommend that others see this movie, but wait for when when it's released on DVD rather than spending money for the theater.

Meanwhile, I was amused by this Onion article about an alternate universe's Sci-Fi channel show asking what would have happened if Germany lost WWII

Weirdness

Oct. 26th, 2009 12:26 am
tardis_stowaway: TARDIS under a starry sky and dark tree (9/Rose/Jack banana)
-While sitting in a public park in the ridiculously warm weather, I saw a man bicycling past with a LIVE IGUANA on his back. 

-I netflixed Terminator because I'd never seen it before.  I can't really offer much of an opinion on the movie as a whole because I kept getting distracted by the extreme eighties-ness of the hair and clothes and dissolving into giggles.  Also, in other states, if there is film available of the governor's naked butt it usually requires an apologetic press conference.  California is a special place.

-Netflix also recently delivered the first disc of Secret Diary of a Call Girl.  It was funny and quite enjoyable, if not my usual sort of thing.  I was glad that Hannah/Belle's speech and makeup were different enough from what Billie Piper had in Doctor Who that I wasn't constantly thinking "Rassilon's toenails, Rose!  What the hell are you doing?"  Sometimes, but not constantly.

-After a few weeks of being out of the writing mode, I finally made a tiny bit more progress on the post-CoE Jack/Doctor angst-fest that is currently the least stuck of my fic ideas.  However, a substantial part of today's wordcount was the lads digressing into a discussion of cowboys.  *facepalm*  Muse, you baffle me. 

-Let me say this again:  bicyclist with live iguana.

tardis_stowaway: TARDIS under a starry sky and dark tree (the sound of torchwood)
Things that were awesome about today:

1.  Mini singalong in the Goodwill store! I was looking at trousers (no success) when "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" came on the store radio.  At the part where it bursts out loudly "I! Love!  You!  BA-ABY!/ And if it's quite alright.." I realized that not only was I accidentally humming under my breath but two other people, apparently not in the same party, started singing along.  If a few more people had joined in I'm convinced that backup dancers would have spontaneously appeared.  It happens in movies ALL THE TIME.  

2.  I saw the movie Whip It and had a ton of fun! You could describe it as a coming of age, teen girl rebellion movie crossed with a sports flick, which sounds like a recipe for badness but turned out to be awesome.   That's the sort of thing that capable screenwriters and actors can do.  Plus, the sport in question was roller derby, which is delightfully bizarre.  Ellen Page (from Juno) played the lead with pizazz and heart, and the rest of the cast was excellent as well.  It was funny, full of action-packed contact skating, and a bit moving.  The plot was somewhat predictable, but the dialog and characters were fresh enough that I didn't much care.  It's a film about discovering your passion, families both natural and chosen, and growing up alternative in a small town.  (Bonus: this showing was a sneak preview, so they had local roller derby women skating around outside the theater trying to interest passers-by. Fun!)

3.  This photo of the Spanish Prime Minister's family posing with the Obamas is great.
Apparently Spanish law allows the Prime Minister to prevent the press from publishing photos of his teenage daughters, so nobody had seen them.  The US state department didn't get the memo or something, released the photos (oops!), and revealed the big secret: the daughters are kinda goth. 

I like this photo for several reasons:
a.  Barack and Michelle seem to think this is great.  Admittedly they must have practice smiling in weird situations, but I think Barack is probably thinking that teenage goths make a nice change from the power-hungry old men in suits that he has to spend much of his time with.

b.  The Zapatero parents are accepting enough of their daughters' phase (or lifestyle...who knows at this age) that they have not strongarmed them into wearing something more conventional.  Admittedly we don't know whether they tried.  I imagine there were intense negotiations before the photo session.  "Honey, if I let you wear the Doc Martens will you change into a simple dress with no latex or fishnets?"  "Mooooom!  *sigh*  Fine.  But I'm not taking off the black nail polish!"

c.  The girls appear to be in a dilemma about how happy they can look without losing Goth cred.  On the one hand, Goths don't smile, and they are having to pose with their totally embarrassing parents.  On the other hand, they are getting to meet with Barack Obama, who even a teenaged Spanish First Goth has to admit is kinda cool. They have settled on uncertain half-smiles.  The huge slumps indicate their disapproval for Obama's message of hope.

d.  The fact that the girls have such lousy posture indicates that they are not trained in media appearances, which is somewhat refreshing.

e.  Other people's awkwardness is hilarious!
 
I do feel sorry for the girls, given that there will undoubtedly be a lot of commentary that is not so nice.  At least it will provide fodder for some properly angsty teenage poetry. 

tardis_stowaway: TARDIS under a starry sky and dark tree (badass geek)
I'm going to Dragoncon next weekend!  Will any of y'all be there?  I'm looking forward to it, although the crowds might be even more crazy than usual due to some big name guests (Leonard Nimoy!  Patrick Stewart!  Adam Savage from Mythbusters!  William Shatner!   I'm glad I'm not in charge of crowd management.)  Gareth David-Lloyd will the rest of this sentence cut for CoE spoilers, just in case. )    I'm also thoroughly excited about the chance to see my family, who live in Atlanta and will also attend the con.  (Well, my dad and brother will attend the con full time.   My mom will probably come for a few hours one day to see Adam Savage and look at costumes.)   

I saw District 9 this week.  It was amazing!  (No spoilers in my discussion, no promises about comments.)  The premise is innovative. (Alien spaceship parks over Johannesburg, but the aliens inside are impoverished and disorganized.  They end up living in a shanty town in Jo'burg.  The movie hinges around an effort to evict them for relocation to a farther away camp.)  The treatment of social issues is complex.  The acting is superb.  The effects are great, integrating so well into the documentary-style film that you don't notice them.  This is what science fiction is for:  thought-provoking movies that can also feature a giant robot throwing a car.  Plus, I lived in South Africa for five months during a semester abroad in college, so parts of the movie were a trip down memory lane but with added aliens.  I highly recommend it, with the caveat that the severely squeamish might want to stay away.  There are some intensely gross scenes of illness and quite a bit of violence.

While I'm recommending things, I'd like to direct you to the book Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve.  It's young adult (but entirely suitable for adults) post-apocalyptic steampunk about moving cities that eat other cities.  There are also airships!  And cyborgs!  That premise alone may be enough to send you to your local book store, but it's not just a cool idea.  It's a thrilling adventure that I found hard to put down, but it's really more about the fascinating characters and their complex moral dilemmas.   The warning for this one is that I came about thisclose to crying on the Tube while reading it.  Tissues are your friends!

Star Trek!

May. 9th, 2009 06:12 pm
tardis_stowaway: TARDIS under a starry sky and dark tree (oh captain my captain)
STAR TREK ZOMG!  I really enjoyed that movie.  It wasn't flawless, but overall I thought it was pretty damn fantastic.  As a person who hasn't paid much attention to Trek for years but watched it A LOT when I was in middle school or so, I give this movie an emphatic live long and prosper sign.

random thoughts on the movie. WARNING: contains SPOILERS and squee! )

tardis_stowaway: TARDIS under a starry sky and dark tree (run)
I saw Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Iron Man in a double-feature at the drive-in.  I couldn't manage to rally any friends to go, but being alone in my car allowed me to talk back to the screen to my heart's content so all was well.  Here's some thoughts.




In conclusion, next time I go to the drive-in I'm cleaning the really stubborn bug spatters off my windsheild first.  Also, there ought to be fanfic crossing over the Doctor with Indiana Jones for a different "Smith and Jones."  Perhaps it could include Martha, in which case it would be entitled "Smith and Jones and Jones."  Throw in Ianto and you get "Smith and Jones and Jones and Jones." 

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