I knew that I’d been on that particular trail (indeed, I’ve kayaked past it too), and that I took lots of pictures while I was there, so it makes sense that the NYT photo would trigger some memories. Then I realized– the tree! I have a picture of that very tree!

I like the NYT photo better, but I’m proud to say I have a picture of the same damn tree.

Huzzah!

Given that there is so much positive press surrounding Juno, it seems almost redundant to write a review that makes it out to be “the best film of the year” (even though it is the best I’ve seen from 2007) or a pitch-perfect, touching comedy. (It is). Indeed, anything I could say to praise the film has most likely been said before, and better, by the legions of movie critics who have become endeared to it. Hype has a tendency of ultimately hurting anything as sincere and, to be frank, sweet as Juno, which many have set on a high pedestal, perhaps alienating exactly the sort of hip, sarcastic individuals who would otherwise enjoy it.

Instead, I’d like to make the case that Juno doesn’t deserve to be driven into the ground by its own hype, and to address in particular some of the criticism that it is a bit self-consciously clever. Here is a film, small in scope, that doesn’t really mean to be some epic cinematic achievement, but rather something touching, wise, and funny. It succeeds in these areas stunningly well, and for that I think it does deserve the endless praise it has thus far garnered, if not the hyperbole and buzz that makes it out to be a life-altering experience. It is a movie that has a sad ending because of the fact that it has one– even now, I would watch it again just to inhabit the same fictional world, or to hear Ellen Page quip via the weird teenage dialect she so perfectly dons throughout the film the quotidian wisdom foisted upon her by society. Reveling in this film’s cleverness and hip, jaded dialog is endlessly amusing, but, by movie’s end, also surprisingly touching.

It is true that the movie is a bit self-conscious about its sarcasm and wit. But I think it means to be– it is a reflection of the eponymous Juno herself. She uses wit as a way of fending of hardship, seemingly believing that if she can laugh at it, perhaps it will be somehow less painful. In that sense, I don’t think Juno would succeed unless it put on a veneer of over-the-top intelligence, wit, and all-around weirdness. Penetrating that amusing facade is what makes Juno such an endearing film– as if the filmmakers tried their damnedest to ensure that funny overcame moving and ultimately failed. This “failure” is, of course, intentional, but as a device for increasing the impact of the movie, it succeeds brilliantly.

Some people dislike the almost painfully “indie” feel of the movie, but again, I’d make the case that it is precisely that which allows what could otherwise be a saccharine dramady transform itself into something new and lovable. The idea that even the most sarcastic people hope deeply to be proven wrong is an extraordinarily powerful idea, and Juno embodies it nearly perfectly. The cult of “originality” preaches that the happy, neat ending is cliche, but after decades of independent films that either end ambiguously or depressingly, perhaps one of the few “original” techniques left is to populate a film with indie stereotypes (including some heavily Wes Anderson-inspired moments) and then brazenly follow a stereotypical template in a celebration of self-effacing sang froid in the face of tremendous difficulty. Or maybe it just happens to be utterly likeable.

If I could make one case on behalf of Juno, it would be thus: it doesn’t try to be the best movie of the year, or to grasp at originality or wit so hard the audience is left with a bad taste in their mouths. It wants you to like it, to be sure, but with a chuckle, not a guffaw. It isn’t aiming at the Academy Awards or at film history. Like Juno herself, it feels like it is trying to make the most of where it is, to celebrate intelligence and originality while at once coming to the realization that both are often just a little out of reach. I won’t tell you that it’s amazing, groundbreaking, or funny as hell. I wouldn’t want you going into the theater expecting that. Here, however, is what I’d love to put into your head if you decide to see it: don’t expect, just enjoy. Maybe you won’t like it, maybe you will. I was very touched by it, and I think it has the power to be loveable and profound at the same time.

And that’s something not many movies even aspire to, let alone accomplish.

In the wake of Obama’s victory in South Carolina, he is set, according to the New York Times, to receive the endorsement of none other than, as the NYT puts it, “Senator Edward Kennedy”. A more “establishment” politician, there is none. Thus the question: is Obama really the anti-establishment candidate he makes himself out to be?

I’d have to say yes, but I’d have to ask the question as to whether or not that’s a good thing. Though modern thought, more specifically modern youth thought is very much set against the establishment, this unwavering, unquestioning acceptance of the notion that we must elect someone from outside of it or face DOOOOOMMMMM!!!! is rather amazingly stupid. Indeed, I see a significantly better platform from the “establishment” than I do from Senator Obama, whose most prominent foreign policy position right now is “let’s invade Pakistan”, if and when we find out they are sheltering Bin Laden of course. My response: “No war for oil!” (No, it doesn’t make sense, but it never has anyway, so if the progressive left gets to chuck that canard whenever they please, so do I). Indeed, Obama is the chief architect of the “change” disease that has infected, like a plague of shallow boils, the race thus far. People complain often that politics has no substance– usually these are the same individuals who blindly carry the signs of politicians like Barack Obama through the chilly streets of pre-primary Iowa and/or participate in long threads on fanboy message boards without actually doing anything to help their candidate. (Besides, of course, scaring off potential supporters with religious zealotry in service of “their candidate”).

This is, interestingly enough, where the legions of Obama supporters and the legions of Ron Paul supporters meet: on the internet. Indeed, as a frequent visitor to Digg.com, I’ve noted at least 5 stories in the past week to the tune of “Hillary stole New Hampshire”! [UPDATE: Digg has picked up on this story, and its users are, predictably, ignoring the fact that Kennedy is of the ilk they so love to decry, instead pretending that we might as well skip the whole "election" thing.] This is certainly an upgrade from “Ron Paul on Fox News!” (at least Obama is marginally sane, unlike Ron-”Martin Luther King was a pedophile”-Paul). Nonetheless, Obama and Paul share the same basic demographic, and thus far I haven’t been impressed with their ability to reason effectively.

All of this collides nicely with the news of a Kennedy endorsement– here is one of the most entrenched Washington insiders throwing the whole of his support behind the candidate who is trying to cast himself against partisanship and “typical Washington”. Apparently Obama is more friendly with the establishment than he would like his supporters to believe.

Luckily, however, I doubt many of his supporters are really going to care– they’ve already shown a remarkable ability (in general) to ignore other salient facts warning against allowing Barack Obama to become the most powerful politician in the world (starting with his apparent fascination with invading an erstwhile ally), and as such, I’m sure that the “anti-establishment” characterization will continue to be peddled as a reason to choose Obama over Hillary– even as the establishment quietly lines up behind him, doing him favors that, as President, he will have no choice but to repay.

A friend of my recently recommended the music of Joanna Newsom– not being one of the more ardent adherents to non-orchestral music, I’m pretty out of touch in these matters– so I hopped on iTunes and grabbed her album “Ys”. She’s got an interesting sound– sort of Bjork meets folk-music– that I find charming. She also has a significantly greater range of harmonic ideas, which makes her music less the sort of hideously overproduced carbon-copy stuff that issueth forth from the Big Labels. Did I mention she plays the harp? It works well, particularly in songs where there is a mouth harp in the accompaniment as well– get it? Mouth harp, real harp? I know.  Awesome.

Currently (as in, right this minute) working my way through this article on blogging at the New York Review of Books. Its fun to watch MSM (I know, I hate the acronym too, but I’m lazy) types try to comprehend that which is blogging. You’d think, as writers, the blog would come easy, but I guess not. Long-winded explanations aside, it has thus far proven to be an interesting article, even if the first bit is about defining something I already understand and participate in. Hell, watching the author try to wrap her journalistic tendencies around the ephemeral, non-traditional aspects of the blogosphere (why the hell doesn’t the Firefox spell check know that word?) is entertaining enough. But she does a good job, in the end. (Just finished it) Maybe she’ll start her own blog.

I do disagree with the notion that a salary would ruin any blogger who took it– if anyone wants to give me tons-o-cash to blog for them, I’ll gladly do it, so long as they let me use “teh” once in awhile, and participate in the online jihads against Scientology. I can put up more than 2k words per day, and I guarantee they’ll at least pretend to be entertaining. If I run out of things to say, there’s always trolling for Ron Paul zealots to keep me going during the dry spells. (Oh how I miss the massive traffic spikes I got during my “against ron paul” series!)

(beat)

I’ve placed this post in the “sunflowers” category. I dunno why– probably has something to do with the fact that I have no fucking clue why I have a “sunflowers” category at all. Perhaps WordPress has started fertilizing my category list via some weird PHP error. That, or I wrote one post early on that mentioned sunflowers (I am way too lazy to check) and thought it would be a good idea to categorize it as such. Remember, I did migrate from Blogger, where categories were non-existent. Such shall be the mythos, henceforward, for why I have a “sunflowers” category.

Non-believers will be executed.

(beat)

Colorado Springs has decided that making overpasses at the two busiest intersections in town is a good idea. I agree, but I question the wisdom in doing so at the same time. Over at Austin Bluffs and Union, its gradually turning into the very predictable mess that such large-scale construction projects inevitably evolve into, and the rumor is work is going to start on Academy and Woodmen in the coming months. Thus I will have to transverse either one or the other to get anywhere in town. Not fun. (And why can’t we have an east-west freeway again? Is that too much to ask?)

Thankfully, the widening of the I-25 corridor is done, else I might have to storm city hall wielding one of the now-ubiquitous traffic cones multiplying about town and beat someone important senseless. Which, given the flexibility and softness of all things plastic would probably take several hours.

(beat)

The writer’s strike continues, as I’m sure most of you are aware. People are saying this is going to be “the beginning” of a web video revolution, and I tend to agree. As network TV gradually devolves into a fetid, piss-stained swampland made of reality-TV, the only real storytelling left is going to be on the web. And I’m glad to be a part of it, to be sure. I got an email the other day from the head of Webserials announcing that DVDs are now available– I highly recommend both of the series, and would like to praise Webserials for their decidedly reasonable price points. (Yes, I do the music on some of Project X. But that doesn’t mean a $9.99 DVD isn’t a good value– especially for what amounts to a feature-length film). Go buy! Go buy!

Webserials is hard at work on new stuff– I’ll make sure to keep everyone updated– especially about the project I’m involved in.

(beat)

Tiny nations: their names, locations, and histories. Great article– precisely the sort of thing you wouldn’t find anywhere but the internet, and only then via a Digg link. I remember there was some bluster awhile back about these folks buying up Sealand in order to serve up all sorts of pirated content. (Presumably they’d be laying a big-ass fiber cable out to the platform). That is a great short story idea: imagine if the MPAA and the RIAA did something similar, declared war on Sealand, then tried to bomb the place to smithereens…

The hovercraft took off from their launchpads in the early morning. The U.K. government had allowed the International Confederation of Intellectual Property to place a few hoverbombers, costing $10 million each, at one of their airfields after secret negotiations. Ever since the U.N. negotiations had stalled, there were rumors that the ICIP were ready to take real action– not just the angry-letter-to-an-international-arbiter sort, but then smart-bomb-up-your-ass kind of action. The U.S., predictably, protested the move, but waning international opinion since President Obama’s invasion of Pakistan had made the diplomatic maneuver somewhat moot.

Streaking over the sea, the slick black lines of the hoverbombers were nearly invisible against the waves. Radar was another matter, but the ICIP intelligence indicated that the Aegis cruisers parked near the tiny platform were just for show– early reports indicated no EM or infrared activity other than heat blooms from ship engines and the massive server farm built on the platform.

The first of the missiles streaked across the water, trailing massive plumes of fire and smoke. The noise was almost unbearable, but shortly the deadly projectiles were miles away, homing in on preset coordinates. 

The hovercraft peeled away, heading home.

At 5:23am, the Vulcan cannons on the USS Lake Champlain began firing into the night. The Phalanx Point Defense System was old, but effective. In the distance, the orange blossoms of explosions lit up the predawn darkness, and hungry tracers began searching for the remaining missiles…

I know, I know. The likelihood of U.S. Navy ships defending The Pirate Bay from the MPAA is far-fetched, but I like the idea that today’s college students– who are currently the content industry’s prime targets– are tomorrow’s Senators, and the idea of the U.S. not being the bad guy– for once– is also appealing. That and the Phalanx System is one of the coolest things ever. Cory Doctorow’s already done this bit, by the way– check out his short stories in Overclocked for a more futuristic, and less far-fetched version of “the content industry versus pirates” schtick. Every one of the stories in that collection is worth the price of admission, in my opinion.

(beat)

Well, that’s all for today. One of these days, I’ll finally figure out how to deep-link these ramblings so that people can point to specific paragraphs rather than telling their readers to “scroll down” to get past other random crap I post. (“One of these days”, of course, meaning “when wordpress makes an easy way to do it”, which could be never. Ha! And you say its my fault I never deliver).

Until then, may the force be with you, the wind be always at your back, and the spike grenades firmly planted in your opposition’s left shoulder.

UPDATE: Neo-Neocon has more.

This is a nice, high-res screenshot of me sticking a very unfortunate member of the blue team during a Team Slayer match on Valhalla. I had just stuck his friend who rocketed over on the man-cannon at the lakeside base, and will soon take this guy’s shotgun and go on a killing spree.

Or something like that.

I’ve recently become fascinated with the writings of Dan Simmons, whose Hyperion was quite possibly one of the best Sci-Fi novels I’ve ever read. I’ve also been reading Coatzee’s Age of Iron– a bleak, but moving portrait of apartheid South Africa. It is at once engaging and vaguely depressing, nonetheless, I’m finding it– as Coatzee novels usually are– oddly compelling. Weighty, to be sure, and wiser than someone as young as I can fully understand, but clearly pregnant with that kind of seriousness that means something– the seriousness that can’t be faked, that means that I will probably be reading it again in a few years time like an explorer in a familiar cave, ready to find new treasures. I have a feeling that multiple readings are most likely required for something this complex and profound.

I never read the entirety of the Hyperion Cantos, as the 4-book series by Simmons is called. I stopped after The Fall of Hyperion. I’ve decided to read them all, starting with a re-reading of Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion. I’ll need to go out and buy Endymion and The Rise of Endymion, but I’ll be glad to own the full cantos once I’m finished. I’ve also purchased a digital copy of Simmon’s recent collection of novellas, Worlds Enough & Time, which I am roughly 3/5 of the way through. It is turning out to be quite the eclectic mix of styles (sci-fi, drama, space-opera, etc.) but of a singular, brilliant quality that I think will probably ensure that Simmons is remembered long after I’m dead. As he should be.

I’ve decided that the three pieces in my California cycle are probably all that there will be. From My Last Years rounds the triumvirate of songs nicely, managing at once to be of new character and to reference both A Promise to California and Facing West, from California’s Shores. Three is enough for a full cycle, especially given the extended length of the pieces. I’m going to be editing a final, complete version of the full cycle soon, and I plan to send a bound copy back to Biola in the hopes that there is a Tenor wanting to sing one or more of the pieces for his Senior Recital.

We’ll see.

Meanwhile, I’m filling out graduate school applications. The process is, somewhat predictably, a pain. Forms, forms and more forms, that’s the name of the game. Apparently having a Colorado driver’s license and being registered to vote (both of which require residency in Colorado) isn’t enough to prove that I indeed do meet the requirements for in-state tuition. I must also provide detailed travel records about every time I’ve left the state in the past six years.

I know, I know. It boggles.

Need to send pleading requests for letters of reference, and figure out that damned GRE. Apparently the University of Colorado School of Music website and the actual application disagree– the former suggests that I need not worry my head with a GRE score, the latter suggests that it is the most vital component of my application. Luckily both agree on one thing: I can wait and take the GRE in April or later. They just reserve the right to kick me to the curb if my score is dismal. Which I suppose is reasonable.

I just hope I don’t have to go out of state to take it.

[...sometime later....]

Finished Halo 3 over the weekend with help from a friend. I had reached one of those parts of the game where it becomes so ridiculously difficult it isn’t fun anymore. Its my fault for putting the difficulty level to Heroic, which is, as far as I can tell, one step above Hard and a step below totally frickin’ impossible. There is a Legendary difficulty level– I’m assuming, given how hard it was to work through most of the game on Heroic that this level requires the user to have biologically-implanted AI in order to speed up motor function and reaction time.

But I guess that’s why they let you bring a friend.

The last Halo did allow one to play the campaign along with someone else, but not over Xbox LIVE. Since the friend in question lives on the East Coast, I’m glad that Halo 3 has remedied this problem. It actually took 3 of us a fair amount of the weekend in order to finish the game– but the last level was quite possibly the most fun I’ve had playing a videogame. Ever. A nice nod to the original Halo as well.

So that’s over with. For what its worth, I’m glad Bungie has stated firmly this will be the last of the Halo series. Given how many sub-par scifi novels, crappy toys, and spinoff merchandise has already emerged, I’m quite sure Microsoft would love to milk this through at least Halo 175,433,889. But, no such luck, since Bungie has dissolved that marriage.

Nonetheless, Halo 3 certainly hasn’t lost any value to me– I recently ponied-up the $50 fee for a year on LIVE, and plan to make sure I exploit the multiplayer at every available opportunity.

The next game purchase, I think, is going to be The Orange Box. I was a huge fan of the original Half Life and even bought Half Life 2 the day it was released. Sadly, my crappy PC does not have the cajones to make it through the HDR in Half Life 2: Episode 1 (or for that matter, Episode 2), but my 360 has horsepower to spare. Since these two titles are included in The Orange Box (along with the enormously fun, or so I hear, Team Fortress 2), I can’t imagine a better way to spend $50. I’d also like to get Bioshock, since I found the demo extremely intriguing, if a shade darker than I like my videogames. Oh well, it can’t be as bad as American McGee’s Alice, can it?

Why yes, it can.

Having read Atlas Shrugged, the dystopian objectivist nightmare of Bioshock titillated my intellect. I was a mere halfway through the measely demo downloaded from the Xbox Live Marketplace when I had already stared a game of my own: count the Atlas references. For the record, I stopped counting around 16,788. Definitely not a game for the faint-hearted: if you aren’t comfortable bludgeoning bloodthirsty genetic mutants to death, you should probably stay far, far away from this one. If, like me, you find this an attractive, er, feature, then grab a copy. It didn’t win Game of the Year for nothing.

[...sometime later...]

The WebSerials.com folks are all finished– the last episode went up on Friday. I was happy to see both series finished, and it really is a remarkable achievement. Filming what amounts to a feature-length film over the summer while simultaneously resurrecting a project that had been several years in the making, editing both, getting the VFX in each polished, scoring… it was a real feat, and they deserve a lot of praise for what they’ve done.

It isn’t, however, the end. Catacylsmo and the Battle for Earth is in the hopper right now, and, er, something else is also planned. I’m involved in the latter project, so I’ll keep you updated as I learn more. Right now, I’m not sure what I’m allowed to say about dates, concepts, etc. Suffice it to say, more of my scores will be showing up on WebSerials.com in the near future. I’m very excited, as the new project is directed by a friend from Biola who is one of my favorite directors to work with. It also promises to stretch me a little, which I’m glad for.

[...sometime later...]

Still no word from Comcast, even after several phone calls. My “account executive” at the staffing agency has also be MIA since November. About twice a week, I venture out and seek employers who actually want a resume in person– something surprisingly rare. Meanwhile, its the usual Monster.com/Craigslist.com search. Emails, emails, emails. I phone occasionally, when there isn’t a warning to NOT CONTACT US VIA PHONE ONLY BY EMAIL at the bottom of the listing. So far, only what amounts to career spam. I had one place email me 3 times about “exciting opportunities” that were basically a lure to get me to purchase something like $3,000 worth of stuff and “have my dream job”. Exactly how I’m supposed to do that when I’m unemployed isn’t clear.

I’ve also come to the conclusion that 99% of job listings exist for no reason other than to collect resumes in case that position opens sometime in the next year. Seriously. Its like I’m sending all of my information, CV’s, and requests for information into a giant black hole– a giant black hole that isn’t hiring. Its becoming depressing– I did the math last night and figured that I’ve sent at least 500 CV’s/applications since July.

I’m too lazy to find it, but I read an article about working as a videogame tester in Washington earlier today. It basically made the case that it is like working in a sweatshop, with no benefits, and employers who give (I’m not kidding) 24-hour shifts to the lowly grunts. I would never want the job. I wouldn’t have wanted the job before I read the article– its a simple supply and demand equation. Way more people want to get paid to play videogames than people want to pay others to play videogames. Hence, the working conditions will suck. It isn’t hard to divine.

Besides, working at something you like– be it Xbox or McDonald’s– inevitably kills whatever love you have for it. Again, simple, common wisdom.

What if you spend too much time with something you hate? Is the reverse true? Will you start to love it?

My guess: no. Which means that the forthcoming biopic of George W. Bush will probably suck. Hard. Oliver Stone, who’s version of 9/11 (“World Trade Center”) cartoonized one of the worst moments in American history and featured, among other horrors, Nicholas Cage in a moustache, is slated to direct. He writes:

“Here, I’m the referee, and I want a fair, true portrait of the man,” Stone told Variety. How did Bush go from an alcoholic bum to the most powerful figure in the world? It’s like Frank Capra territory on one hand, but I’ll also cover the demons in his private life, his bouts with his dad and his conversion to Christianity, which explains a lot of where he is coming from. It includes his belief that God personally chose him to be president of the United States, and his coming into his own with the stunning, preemptive attack on Iraq. It will contain surprises for Bush supporters and his detractors.”

Mmhmm. That part about the “stunning, preemptive attack on Iraq” sounds great. Almost like we weren’t firing on Iraqi planes for 12 years prior. So too, is that bit about “God personally” choosing Bush as President. That’s totally in line with Christian belief about predestination.

Pardon me if I’m skeptical that Hollywood– the people that brought us Redacted– can really do an “objective” biopic of George W. Bush during an election year. Somehow, I think we might see more than a little political self-gratification in this one.

[...sometime later...]

Well, I think that’s enough to fill the front page. The problem with these personal blather posts is that they inevitably grow little tumors of ideas that then turn into their own, self-contained, thousand-word rants. This is, incidentally, why I’ve always liked the Hemingway WordPress theme– it allows for excerpts without cutting the post off in the RSS feed. The reader gets the choice to preview a post before looking at it, and still has the flexibility to choose RSS if they desire.

I’ll keep the current theme (The Journalist) around for probably quite some time– its simple, elegant, and most importantly, black and white. (I’m a minimalist, you know).

In any case, I’ve written more than enough blather for the time being.

See you ’round the blogosphere.

I haven’t read Goldberg’s book, so I’m not going to suggest that its accurate or unassailable. Interestingly enough, Goldberg himself has been remarkably open in addressing criticisms, and has thus far illustrated that he does indeed have a strong grasp on the subject matter, and doesn’t seek merely to be the “partisan hack” that CT would love to paint him as. Agree with him or not, I think you have to at least give Goldberg credit for being witty and remarkably intelligent– as decades of clever and entertaining writing suggest.

Besides, I don’t have to read Liberal Fascism in order to cry “bullshit” when Yglesias and CT pile onto it will substanceless name-calling. (My personal favorite section of the linked article is the bit of fervent ideological masturbation when CT praises Ygelsias for calling Goldberg “slow-witted”) Indeed, given that CT doesn mention a single actual fact about the book, it makes me wonder whether they’ve read it either. At least I had the decency to wade through the slough of idiocy in the CT post before responding.

Its not a sinister plot, nonetheless, I have to wonder what the motivation is behind playing to the party line so stringently. My guess is that it is, at least in part, an attempt to reinforce the notion that conservatives push a fascist agenda. By not explicitly addressing any of Goldberg’s actual points, CT makes the case that the progressive narrative achieves, at least for a moment, an unquestioned status. This is why he mocks Goldberg– not to convince anyone, but to assure his progressive readership of their own superiority.

It is, rather unquestionably, simple propaganda.

This week, Donny teaches us how to use the clone tool to destroy LIES… EVIL LIES!