The Stuff that Obsessions are Made Of

In this TED talk, Mythbusters‘ Adam Savage talks about two of his obsessions: dodo bird skeletons and the Maltese Falcon. Savage is a wonderful example of what happens when a genius creative mind is given the freedom to explore its passions (obsessions) to their end. The talk is about 15 minutes and very entertaining.

Genuine Class

Conan O’Brien signing off from The Tonight Show. He got a raw deal, I think, but Conan takes the high road. Cheers to you, sir.

Please do not be cynical. I hate cynicism…it doesn’t lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get, but if you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen.

More on Ads

Jason Boyett blogs about ads that should have upset NOW and other feminist groups more than the Tim Tebow ad. I agree with his picks completely. I probably also would have added the Dodge Charger “buy our car and save your manhood because marriage is just that terrible” ad to the list.

See also:
“Much Ado about Tebow,” by David Darlington
“Pro-Choice or Pro-Abortion?” by Eric Seymour

Green Police

While we’re talking Super Bowl ads, what’s one to make of this:

Before the Audi appears, you’d think this was a spot from the RNC or some Ayn Rand Appreciation Society. I don’t think I’ve seen a stronger satirical indictment of the environmentalist movement.

Much Ado About Tebow

Now that the Super Bowl is over (sorry Colts fans), can we talk about the Tim Tebow Super Bowl ad? Listening to the critics the past two weeks, you would have expected a super provocative anti-abortion spot. Instead, we get a cutesy spot that sold precisely two things: (1) motherhood and (2) Tim Tebow. Abortion isn’t even mentioned; Mom Tebow doesn’t even say something like “I had to make a choice, and I chose to keep Timmy.” She just talked about how difficult her pregnancy was. The old Arthur S. DeMoss Foundation “Life: What a Beautiful Choice” ads were edgier. Frankly, I think the most controversial part of the Tebow ad was the Focus on the Family tag at the end. The manufactured controversy over this ad, which probably was related to CBS’s rejection of a sitcom-y ad for a gay dating site (hands meet in bowl of chips, making out ensues), seems out of proportion to what actually appeared on television.

Also, GoDaddy just needs to Go. Enough teasing already.

See also: “Pro-Choice or Pro-Abortion,” by Eric Seymour

Jim Carrey’s A Christmas Carol: Too Much for Kids?

My family has a Thanksgiving tradition where in the evening, while everyone else is chowing down, we head to the movies. We’d do our turkey thing in the early afternoon, and once everyone was good and recovered, we’d head out for an early evening show. It’s a lot of fun–in contrast with the day following, the mall is empty and dark, and the only thing open is the movie theater. You can get into any movie you want without worrying about a sell out. It’s a tradition we’ve kept alive since at least Home Alone (1990).

This year’s film was the newest adaption of A Christmas Carol, featuring Jim Carrey as Ebenezer Scrooge as well as the ghosts of Christmas Past, Christmas Present, and Christmas Yet to Come. Other well regarded actors, including Gary Oldman, Bob Hoskins, Robin Wright Penn, and Cary Elwes played multiple roles in Robert Zemeckis’s computer-animated adventure. Now I’m a fan of the A Christmas Carol story, particularly of an earlier Disney adaptation, Mickey’s Christmas Carol, a half-hour cartoon adaptation featuring Scrooge McDuck as Ebenezer, Mickey Mouse as Bob Cratchit, and Goofy as the ghost of Jacob Marley. I don’t think the newest adaptation of Dickens’s classic stands as tall as some of the earlier interpretations, but it’s still an enjoyable film. Carrey does a fine job as Ebenezer Scrooge and the Ghost of Christmas Present (I found his Ghost of Christmas Past annoying). Oldman is great as Bob Cratchit. Though he looks kind of like a Lord of the Rings character, he brings the necessary warmth to Cratchit, who must take care of Tiny Tim, and still has the heart to say a prayer of thanks for Scrooge’s meager salary and what it has provided his family on Christmas day. I appreciated the inclusion of some of the classic dialogue, such as Scrooge, when he first sees Marley’s ghost: “You may be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of underdone potato…” The film takes full advantage of its Digital 3D origins to make several sweeping shots of London and the English countryside, though not always to the film’s benefit.

When watching this film, I couldn’t help but wonder if it would be simply too much for kids, say, 5 and under. Or even for older kids who weren’t familiar with the original story. The introduction of Jacob Marley’s ghost, for example, was genuinely scary. It’s a long sequence–Hitchcock would have loved it–that pays off with a creepy ghoul. And the bit with Marley’s jaw (I won’t spoil it) was supposed to have been played for laughs, I think, but felt too macabre or Tim Burtonesque to work. And then when Marley left by the window and we see hundreds of other tortured souls working off their lifetime sins, I was startled myself.

And this says nothing of the whole Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come sequence. From the disturbing death of the Ghost of Christmas Present (Santa Claus) on to Scrooge’s morning awakening, the film takes on a frenetic pace. Scrooge is involved in an overly long, “that only happens in CGI” chase scene with the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come (Death) and his black horses that simply overwhelms at points. Yes, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come is supposed to be scary–he’s even scary in the Mickey Mouse version–but his scariness is in his silence, like with Scrooge at the graveyard, not in how fast his horses can chase you down. There are emotional touch tones in this act, such as when Scrooge figures out why no one mourns him the way the Cratchits mourn Tiny Tim, but they’re nearly drowned out by moments like Scrooge surfing down a London rooftop on an icicle. Maybe today’s youth appreciate an old man getting thrown through several “only in CGI” scenarios more than they do, say, his horror at discovering his maid hated him so much she stole his bed curtains after his death, but I would have appreciated Zemeckis turning the freneticism in this act down a bit.

This newest A Christmas Carol gets 3 of 5 stars for being a beautifully rendered, faithful retelling of the classic Christmas tale, but one marred by darkness and CGI overload.

Whoa, a talented Lady Gaga?

Apparently Lady Gaga used to be talented.

Nota bene: If “Lady Gaga” means nothing to you, you are too old to understand this post. Just move along.

On Rep. Joe Wilson, Take 2

He ain’t nothin’ but a Congressman.

The Pryce of Freedom

I went to see G.I. Joe on Saturday. It’s about what you’d expect from a movie based on action figures. Attractive people blowing lots of stuff up. Great special effects, but not much in the way of plot or memorable lines (except of course for “knowing is half the battle” ). The only real surprise in the film is the actor behind the Doctor/Cobra Commander mask. He is fantastic and unrecognizable in character. Anyway, I went in with low expectations and had a good time. If you liked Transformers, you’d probably enjoy it.

At one point I got an unexpected chuckle though: in a cameo role Jonathan Pryce plays the president of the United States. Welch-born Jonathan Pryce from Ronin, Tomorrow Never Dies, and Pirates of the Caribbean. You couldn’t get a more obviously Euro president unless you voted for President Connery.

I wanna see his birth certificate.

Goodbye Holiday Road

We lost writer, director, and producer John Hughes to a heart attack yesterday. He was 59. Before disappearing from the public eye in the mid-1990s, he was responsible for some of the most appreciated comedies of the 1980s and 1990s, including National Lampoon’s Vacation, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink, Uncle Buck, and the first two Home Alone movies.

Here you can read his “Vacation ‘58″, the short story that launched his career and served as the basis for the first Vacation movie.