That’s what technology is. It’s the world of things, some impossibly stupid, some smarter than we are, we have assembled around ourselves to cover over our fundamental weaknesses as a species. The strength we have, the advantage this gives us, is our ability to stand apart from the things we’ve made: to use them and set them aside; to make them prosthetic extensions of ourselves and to let them go.
Why James Cameron’s Aliens is the best movie about technology
I read John Williams’ book Stoner, and found it strangely mesmerizing. So direct and plain and sturdy and beautiful. A couple lines that liked, that also capture something of its directness. At dinner with friends:
They became a little drunk; they laughed vaguely and sentimentally; they saw each other anew.
While the hero rehabs his house and office, the importance of the spaces we create:
As he repaired his furniture and arranged it in the room, it was himself he was slowly shaping, it was himself that he was putting into a kind of order, it was himself he was making possible.
Other smart people agree that this book is great. It was Dean Peterson’s write-up that gave me the final nudge to buy it. Got on my radar when I heard about it from Austin Kleon, Ben Casnocha, Steve Almond, Tim Kreider, et al.
Out of Time. At the beginning, I thought this might tend towards something like China Moon’s Florida noir. It later changes to a cute cat-and-mouse flick – including an awesome race against a fax machine! Not nearly as good as, let’s say, Out of Sight, but a noble effort.
Night Moves. Movements of all sorts cultivate their own extremists. Part of being on that fringe is wrestling with futility. Even if you accept that you’re not able to do one huge world-changing act… you may not even be at peace with your own puny effort. Reichardt captures pretty standard thriller genre stuff with a spooky calm. The lead-up to and climax at the dam is brilliant. I love the scenes with jabs at how we’ve alienated ourselves. There are glimpses of homes with heavily landscaped backyards that imitate nature itself; leisure activities like golf in the same faux-natural environments; campgrounds where people sit in RVs and watch TV; gear stores that sell a squeaky-clean impression of interest in the outdoors; etc. Been a while since I’ve seen a character use a public library. Eisenberg is a master of sulking. He’s so good.
Live by the schedule as a gift to yourself. Deferring to it will take many high-stakes, high-guilt decisions out of your day on a daily basis.
Carolyn Hax. Previously in Carolyn Hax wisdom.
While most users think of Shazam as a handy tool for identifying unfamiliar songs, it offers music executives something far more valuable: an early-detection system for hits. By studying 20 million searches every day, Shazam can identify which songs are catching on, and where, before just about anybody else.
The Dark Knight. Re-watched to re-evaluate. Individual performances are great but as a whole it’s just… ¯(ツ)/¯
Jack Reacher. I liked it the first time, but I appreciate it so much more now. More subtlety than I remembered, like starting with a solid 8-10 minutes without dialogue. More great humor than I remembered, like Reacher sometimes acknowledging that he’s a bit ridiculous. And the mouthing off before the fight outside the bar. Love the dynamism in the car chase, great filming there. Also LOVE how he takes control of the hostage negotiation on the phone. There’s nothing else like it. This, then Oblivion then Edge of Tomorrow is a solid three-year run.
Finding Marlowe: Did this man inspire two of noir’s iconic fictional detectives? - Los Angeles Times.
Lost letters worth thousands. A family trying to uncover the truth about a man all mixed up in the glamour and the seediness of L.A. between the wars. And a Hollywood screenwriter who stood to gain a lot from any story I might write. This was L.A. noir.
jomc:
May 2012: Students in Quebec were asked to send protest march route to the cops & they replied with this: (via https://twitter.com/OccupyRMN/status/538956005422690304)
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1. It’s ~40 minutes of almost-revolution and ~80 minutes where we watch them shoot commercials. yawn I think there actually is an interesting movie to be made (already made?) about the internal/self-directed marketing for revolutionary movements, but it’s not this one. The first movie is the best. The second one has its moments. The trend is not good. Fingers crossed for a good finale.
Beyond the Lights. This is pretty much at the peak of the bell curve for average, solid rom-drama. One thing I thought particularly interesting: the sexualization of pop music is more apparent/disturbing when it’s a fictional celebrity. There’s no built-in aura of fame, so the constructedness is so much more calculated and weird. Another thing: that they needed to invent a whole new set of songs (that are pretty passable) is an odd peek behind the curtains.
Interstellar. First time I’d seen anything on IMAX. Lives up to the format. It’s one of the best Nolan films since The Dark Knight, probably. But it’s very Nolan: he can direct the crap out of some spectacular action/space sequences, but it rarely moves me. (The truck/rocket scene above in the above screencap is a glorious exception). And it could use some trimming. I have to give him credit for directing original material though, and working with smart ideas. No one is doing crazy stuff at that level like he is. Maybe my second favorite after Memento? I need to re-visit The Dark Knight and The Prestige to see where it fits in.
Birdman. Not for me. But like I said, If you like reading writers writing about how hard writing is, and also acting, you might like it. I appreciate the one-camera, no cuts constraint, but it feels claustrophobic after a while. Sweet soundtrack. Keaton is still the man.
I read Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist, and I’m still a bit dizzied by how great a writer this dude is. Earlier this year I stormed through How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia, which “I loooooooved”. This one is more melancholy, but have to give high recommendations to both.
I read Dashiel Hammett’s book The Thin Man, and quite enjoyed it. Awesome story of a lovable couple casually working their way through a murder case that’s too amusing to ignore. Has some good droll observations about how people work, like the social boilerplate around saying goodbye:
We shook hands and make polite speeches all around and they went away.
Nice turns of phrase, like this bit after an underling compliments his boss:
“And what a hunch!” Flint exclaimed, practically top-heavy with admiration.
And I’m pretty sure this is one of the greatest paragraphs in the English language:
When we stopped at Reuben’s for coffee on our way home at four the next morning, Nora opened a newspaper and found a line in one of the gossip columns: “Nick Charles, former TransAmerica Detective Agency ace, on from Coast to sift the Julia Wolf murder mystery”; and when I opened my eyes and sat up in bed some six hours later Nora was shaking me and a man with a gun in his hand was standing in the bedroom doorway.
How could you read that, and not go immediately to the next chapter? I watched the movie right away, too, like I did with Gone Girl (movie, book). Both recommended.
The Thin Man. I watched this after I read the book. It lives up to the source material, for sure. Delightful murder mystery + comedy. It’s nice to watch a charming couple (and pair of actors) just having a great time.
Nora Charles: You know, that sounds like an interesting case. Why don’t you take it? Nick Charles: I haven’t the time. I’m much too busy seeing that you don’t lose any of the money I married you for.
