Just a shout-out for the best pediatric dentist in Decatur, GA!
Just a shout-out for the best pediatric dentist in Decatur, GA!
For a while now I've been quietly fraught with internal turmoil about Barry Bonds. Yes, I think he's guilty of using illegal performance-enhancing substances. (Lord knows head growth is not common in a man his age.) At the same time, I've seen plenty of guys with big arms who probably couldn't hit 755+ home runs in the majors. There's undeniable skill at work that steroids played no part of.
Then last week everything crystallized. Team Robobank pulled their own competitor, who was leading and likely to win the Tour de France. He was not kicked off for testing positive for doping, but for "unexplained absences" and missing two drug tests. His suspicious behavior was enough that he was no longer eligible to win. This of course came shortly after another player, Alexandre Vinokourov, was kicked off the Tour for actually failing his blood test.
In the Tour de France, a team is willing to send its own lead player home for impropriety, sacrificing victory for honor. But in America we don't even regularly test our players for drug use. The need for the Tour to be won legitimately is paramount, above the desire to break records. Lance Armstrong, when repeatedly accused of doping to reach his record-setting 7 straight titles, once described himself as the world's most tested athlete.
We may not have hard proof that Barry Bonds cheated, but his inevitable record is already tainted beyond repair. Yankee-haters are united in the hope that A-Rod can get there soon and we can forget about this unfortunate moment in Baseball. But sadly, the tarnish here is not simply on Bonds or his record. It is on the failure of leadership throughout Baseball.
From the Commissioner to the owners and managers of each team, no leader has taken the steps to ensure that their players are beyond reproach. Fearful of speaking out against the sport's "look the other way" culture, worried that fewer home runs would lead to diminished attendance, none will take the stand to ensure that the sport itself maintains a clean reputation.
Baseball can learn a lesson from the Tour de France. While home run record races may have enthused audiences in recent years, the long-term damage to the reputation of the sport is a greater threat to ticket sales than a lack of long balls.
I for one will not be celebrating when Barry Bonds hits his 755th and 756th home runs. I will be waiting, not for A-Rod, but for a season of accountability, when honesty is as important as ratings. That's the American Pastime I can be proud of.
Whenever I watch a zombie movie, be it 28 Days Later or, today, Shaun of the Dead, I end up unable to stop planning scenarios for when the next zombie plague hits Boston.
I have decided that the safest thing to do is to ride out the crisis, barricading ourselves in the apartment until the zombies leave or help arrives (which it always does in the movies, be it a day or a month later). Sure, there's the urge to get out of the city, head somewhere safe, but that always leads to many of the supporting cast being killed or zombie-fied. Plus, my apartment is one of the easier places in Boston I know to secure.
Fortunately for this scenario (and unfortunately if there were a fire), we're on the 3rd floor with only one entrance to the apartment. So keeping the zombies out would be relatively simple. No need to worry about protecting the windows, as it's a pretty steep climb and I've yet to see any flying zombie movies.
The biggest challenge would be sustenance. It would require quickly stockpiling as much water as possible, to prepare for the inevitable shutting down of utilities. Fill the bathtub, sinks, and as many containers as possible with clean water and then ration it and food. (Note to self: stock up on canned goods.)
After that, it's just a matter of waiting it out. Stay away from the windows, no lights at night, do nothing to draw attention to ourselves and hope that the cavalry arrives soon.
This plan would also work for any mass hysteria event, biological (non-airborne) outbreak, or particularly rambunctious block party. Sadly, I don't think it's applicable in any other situations.
24 used to be a kick-ass show. The show that wasn't afraid to kill off central characters, have its lead disobey all protocol in the name of protecting the good 'ole US of A. It reintroduced bad-ass to America.
And now? Now they can't even come up with a plot line that lasts an entire season, the bad guys have to have "my heart is breaking" monologues, and Bauer has been proven time and again to be so much of a bad-ass that we're no longer surprised when he does something cool. In fact, we're just depressed that he can't always be a bad-ass. We're addicted to Bauer breaking the rules, but unfortunately that can't quite fill 18 hours of programming.
And that's why 24 now sucks.
I have always hated Fergie. Her songs are some of the worst on the planet. And rising above them all on the chart of suckiness, was "My Humps."
But no more! For you see, Alanis (Yes, Alastair?) Morrisette has redeemed us from Fergatory.
With the Oscars around the corner, I've been thinking.
How come politics doesn't have an awards show? Think about it... the Oscars, Obies, Tonys, Grammys, Emmys, Annies, Cable Ace, Kids' Choice, Peoples' Choice, SAG, etc. Yet nothing for best campaign commercial, nothing for best slogan, best stump speech, best GOTV effort, best bill, best filibuster, best budget amendment...
I think politicians need to get together and put together an awards ceremony. They could nominate themselves for the awards and then everyone would get a ballot with the "candidates" and "vote" on who wins. Then everyone could go home and wait for CNN to predict the results.
Just an idea.
I just found through the IRS that most people who made less than $52,000 last year (such as myself) can get their taxes processed and filed for free through a number of different third-party accounting firms. For example, when I went to this page and filled out the info, one of the companies I could choose from to process and file my returns for last year was H&R Block. As far as I can tell, I have access to the same state and federal online filing program as if I paid them $40 (and I don't have to pay the IRS e-filing charge either).
I haven't gone through the entire process yet, but since my taxes for last year should be a breeze (for the first full year since college, I wasn't a freelance employee), I have no problem saving $50 on the filing process.
I've been getting an inordinate amount of comment spam recently. I tried altering the cgi file but that didn't help. So I've installed a plug-in that turns comments off on entries that are over 3 weeks old. I honestly don't think this will be a huge inconvenience for anyone who reads this site. Most comment activity usually takes place within a few days of an entry being posted, anyway.
Now back to your regularly scheduled blog-reading...
I have to say that as frustrated as I am with what Verizon does to their phones, I'm' really impressed with Motorola's voice dialing. My last phone had to be trained if you wanted to just say "Call Matthew" and have it work. This phone requires no training and works really well. Bravo.
Today I am the proud owner of a Verizon RAZR V3m. So far it works perfectly with iSync (for contacts and calendar) and gets good reception in my apartment. I haven't been able to get a good file transfer going, but there are some tricks to work around it that I'm trying. I've only been successful with sending myself a ring tone in a text message, but those will cost me $0.25 each, so I'm trying to figure out how to just do a regular transfer.
I have 15 days to play around with the phone and the service, and if I don't feel like there's a marked improvement in reception, then I may well go try something else. But so far I'm pretty content (and enjoying playing with my new toy!)
My contract with Cingular has finally ended, and I am free to change carriers and get a new phone. However, I'm finding myself very torn.
First off, the problems with Cingular and my current phone are:
1. Poor, patchy reception throughout Boston, especially at home. Frequently dropped calls.
2. The screen on the phone isn't working properly and is difficult to read.
So my options are as follows:
1. Switch to Verizon
2. Switch to Sprint
3. Stay with Cingular, get new phone
Let's look at the pros and cons of each -
1. Switch to Verizon
Pros:
- Best reception in Boston
Cons:
- Poor phone selection
- They cripple much of the native technology in the phones. For example, if I get a RAZR (the one I'm leaning towards), then I can't transfer files, pictures, ringtones, etc between the phone and my computer. Verizon wants you to pay them to use their services. There are ways to hack the phone and get around some of these issues, but they're pretty complicated and I would run the risk of breaking the phone.
2. Switch to Sprint
Pros:
- Good reception, from what I've heard from friends.
- Nights automatically start at 7pm
Cons:
- Similar proprietary UI issues as Verizon, though slightly less so.
3. Stay with Cingular
Pros:
- Cheap upgrade to a new phone (actually less expensive than buying a new phone and service from one of the other providers by ~$75).
- Many phones to choose from.
- Full functionality of phones
- Nights starting at 7pm is available option
- Rollover minutes
Cons:
- Frustratingly bad reception.
- Frequently dropped calls
- Pretty poor customer service experiences in the past
As far as service plans go, they're all pretty much the same (with the exception of 7pm nights and rollover minutes), so that's not really a factor. My main requirement for the phone is that it works well as a phone. I don't care about the camera or games. I do want a phone that has bluetooth and syncs with iSync.
I'm also kind of entertaining the notion of getting a crackberry or some other smartphone. Verizon has a deal on the Motorola Q and if I stayed with Cingular I could get a Treo or similar phone for about $25 through Amazon if I get a new 2-year contract with them. But really, it's not something I need, especially when you consider the fact that the additional data plan will add about $40/month to my bill.
So what do people think? What should I do? Any experience or advice?
Gas prices here are nearing $3/gallon. Meanwhile the CEO of ExxonMobil gets a retirement package worth $400 million.
For what miniscule bit of good it's going to do, I'm boycotting Exxon and Mobil gas stations for a while.
April is here, so it's snowing.
At least it hasn't been sticking.
According to Microsoft, this video is an "internal-only video clip commissioned by our packaging [team] to humerously highlight the challenges we have faced RE: packaging."
It's awesome.
I recently watched the first episode of FX's new series, Black. White., in which a white family and a black family "trade races" to see what it's like to live in another person's skin.
I'm interested to see where the series goes. The premise, though thought-provoking, lends itself to over-simplification of a very complex issue. For example, the white father (Bruno) asserts that the black father (Brian) experiences racism on a daily basis because he's actively looking for it. Bruno says that when he's walking down the street and people move out of the way, he sees it as a courtesy whereas Brian sees it as an example of bias. Brian counters that Bruno, have not spent his entire life as a black man, doesn't know what to look for and isn't used to seeing the signs of very subtle racism.
My problem with the argument is that, for the most part, we don't live in a society of blatant, obvious racism. People in Los Angeles aren't going to yell out the N-word just because they see a black man walking down the street. Yes, people of color are going to be more sensitive to slights, both perceived and actual, and white people aren't going to see what's there if they don't want to.
Additionally, any question of race in this day and age needs to also be a discussion of class. After the debacle of hurricane Katrina, Kanye West famously said that George Bush doesn't care about black people. I honestly don't think that's accurate. I think that George Bush doesn't care about poor people. Our racism today isn't one of skin tone, it's one of education, income, and opportunity. It so happens that these divides also fall neatly along lines of race, and the question of why that is should be central to any of these discussions.
The show has an opportunity to address some of the underlying causes for today's form of racism, but I don't yet know if they'll do so. Instead, we may end up with an interesting, but ultimately superficial exercise that is only skin deep.
(I couldn't resist.)
Apparently Massachusetts has the highest prices for marijauna in the country. The article, written in a newspaper run by advocates of the Green-Rainbow party, begs, "Dealers, please, drop your prices, our communities should not have to choose between obtaining medicine and eating. We must make medicine affordable and available in our communities."
Yeah, because all the college kids in Boston have glaucoma...
Bravo to The Academy for choosing Crash for Best Picture.
Watching the Academy Awards this year was a bit bittersweet. I always liked being in LA around this time. Even though traffic around Hollywood & Highland was crap, it was just cool to be so close to where "the magic" was happening. Also, I'm a sucker for a good Oscar party and apparently, if you don't live in LA, Oscar parties are kind of "Brokeback Mountain."
But back to the awards, I never got around to seeing Capote, but I saw the other 4 Best Picture nominees and I was by far most impressed by Crash. And another bravo to Jon Stewart as host. I thought he did the whole "make fun of Hollywood without being too disrespectful" thing very well. And Ben Stiller in a green unitard was awesome.
One other nice thing about watching the Oscars in LA is that they're over before 9pm. You can have dinner after the awards are over and still get enough sleep that work the next day isn't painful. (Not that I have to worry about that tomorrow. My work day is going to be something like noon-9pm.)
The animation is okay, but what really makes it work is the music.
Cheney's Got a Gun
(Thanks to Danielle for the link.)
Literally 12 degrees right now. During the day. And it's sunny. This is so not cool.
UPDATE: Oh, and according to the wind chill, it feels like -5.
I'm considering a trip to Philadelphia next weekend to visit some friends and I was looking at the different prices for transportation options. Here's my question:
If the train takes 4 hours longer than a plane and costs nearly the exact same price, why on earth would I take the train?
Not for me, I'm afraid, but for Ben. He's still getting articles written about the legal aid movie he made.
The latest article can be found here. He even has a screening at his legal alma mater.
A few years ago I saw a documentary on The Discovery Channel (or some other similar network) showing all the evidence that the moon landings were a hoax. It was a very convincing piece, though I doubt it's actually true.
In that same vein, I today watched Loose Change, a documentary alleging that 9/11 was a US government plot. Again I find myself with a movie that asks a lot of interesting questions and presents quite a bit of alleged evidence, but I can't help but be skeptical. In truth, the most reassuring thought is that I don't honestly believe that our government is capable of a cover-up of this scale.
So I link with a caveat: This is going to be controversial and may very well be absolute crap. But a small part of me can't help but wonder...
There are few things as entertaining as a cat reacting to a static electric shock.
(And no, I'm not doing it on purpose... it just happens when it's cold out. Petting a cat is like a static electric generator.)
After having my VOIP service up and running for a little over a week now, here's what I have to report:
1. The quality is generally good. I've had a handful of lengthy long-distance conversations and haven't found there to be any noticeable distortion or drop-outs.
2. Sometimes it doesn't ring. That's not to say that incoming calls don't ring. Those work fine. It's the outgoing calls that are a bit off. I'll dial the number and then after a period of silence the person I'm calling will pick up or I'll go to voicemail like any other call. It works, but I miss having the outgoing ring.
3. I'm not sure if this is related, but my internet has been a little weird lately. I've had a few instances where my network is still up and running but the internet itself doesn't work. It fixes itself if I do a quick reboot of the cable modem and router. Right now I have it set up as follows: cable modem --> VOIP box --> wireless router. I think a better system would be to have the router come first. Unfortunately the Airport Express that I use doesn't have an option to plug the VOIP box directly into it.
4. For some reason that I can't determine, my cell phone won't forward to the VOIP line. It will call the line without any problems but it won't forward calls. This was the case a day or two after I first set it up and I haven't tried it since, so maybe it was just a hiccup. I'll give it another shot tomorrow.
In conclusion, I'm pretty happy so far. I'm going to call Verizon and see what options there are to keep my land line for minimal service (911 and maybe local calls). If it's cheap enough I'll keep it for a while longer until I trust the VIOP more. Otherwise I may just go ahead and transfer the number and be done with it.
I noticed a lot of guys walking around town with flowers yesterday, the day after Valentine's Day. Is this because they were on sale (after-V-Day extravaganza!) or because they all forgot Valentine's day the day before?
Maybe if "Lost" could go for more than two consecutive weeks without taking a month-long break for reruns then we'd remember what happened and not need such a detailed "previously on Lost..." intro.
I'm just sayin'.
I think this gets said every year, but are these really the top 24 singers in the country? I'm sorry, but watching tonight's "the judges select the final 12 men and 12 women" episode I just can't believe some of the mediocrity that's getting put through. And the worst part is that now "america" gets to vote, which means we have to sit through weeks of people who shouldn't keep getting through but do because some random demographic thinks they're cute or something.
I'm now officially jaded with American Idol. But I'll be over it by next week.
I'm all for the increased bandwidth that digital cable service allows. On-Demand, high-speed internet, more channels, etc. However, I'm getting really tired of the dropped audio and jumpy, artifacted picture. It's gotten a lot worse recently and it's actually starting to disrupt whatever show I'm watching at the time.
Anyone think it could be related to the VOIP line? It doesn't seem to be related to when I'm using the line, and the VOIP should only take a piece of the internet bandwidth anyways. My internet service doesn't seem much slower, so that makes me think it's just the TV signal.
I understand that today's snowstorm was a big deal. But I could look out my window and get the same amount of information that you spent one hour pre-empting Meet the Press to tell me. Next time I'll take a simple blizzard warning and an hour of Tim Russert.
Thanks,
Daniel
Friday night Fox is airing the last four episodes of Arrested Development. Well, the last four episodes on Fox. I'm still holding out hope that the show will get picked up by another network.
One of my favorite martial arts fight scenes ever is the stick and ladder sequence from Jackie Chan's First Strike (also known as Jing Cha Gu Shi IV, for those of you who prefer the undubbed version). I'm sure there are more authentic fight scenes out there, but when it comes to sheer slapstick mayhem at ridiculously fast speeds, I've yet to find a better scene than this.
(I just saw it on TV... that's why.)
1. The commercials were pretty disappointing. The funny ones almost universally involved people tackling each other. There was a severe lack of creativity (though I definitely enjoyed the "Lost" ad with Robert Palmer's "Addicted to Love.")
2. The football was pretty damn good. Some impressive plays and good hard tackles. I think my favorite was Pittsburgh's double hand-off then pass for a touchdown in the 3rd (4th?) quarter. The score could have been closer, but it was entertaining nonetheless.
3. What idiot on the Pepsi marketing team thought that "brown and bubbly" would be an appealing slogan? When I hear "brown and bubbly" I think of gastrointestinal problems. Nothing about the slogan is appealing. Not even the un-catchy hip-hop song produced by Diddy.
Remember when I mentioned that Jack Abramoff went to Brandeis? Well, it seems that he made a $50 donation to the university and the story's been picked up by Wonkette.
I can't set up my new VOIP phone until I get the equipment, which is presumably in transit. However, I was able to long onto my account through SunRocket's web site and I must say that I'm mighty impressed. It's well laid out, functional, and very easy to use (which is more than I can say for many corporate account pages). Also, I can get voicemail online or over email. I called my new number and left myself a message and within a few minutes it was available online. There are also different call forwarding options and other nifty features.
Now I just hope the phone service itself is worthwhile.
I just saw a commercial for a new cereal: Grape-Nuts Trail Mix Crunch. The commercial went out of its way to talk about how "unbelievable" the cereal is, even ending with the tag line, "New Grape-Nuts Trail Mix Crunch. So good you won't believe it's Grape-Nuts."
Now here's my question - if the public perception of regular Grape-Nuts cereal is so bad that this new variety has to distinguish itself so vehemently (so good you won't believe it's grape-nuts), then why on earth would they use the Grape-Nuts brand? Post owns many cereal brands and could just as easily have gone with a name that would be more marketable if they wanted. So why give themselves an immediate hurdle?
Or, if the public perception of Grape-Nuts isn't that bad, then why make the line sound so unappealing with this ad? It's basically saying "we know you hate regular Grape-Nuts, but this stuff is good!"
I just don't get it.
And yes, I have this little to do today.
Through correspondence with my long-lost cousin, I've learned a bit more about where one part of my ancestry came from. It would appear that my maternal grandmother's family line (the Gibians, for those of you keeping score at home) immigrated from a region of then-Austria (or the Austro-Hungarian empire, I guess) known as Boehmen Koenigreich, aka Bohemia. This region is now in the Czech Republic and is home to a little city called Prague.
I guess this makes me part Czech! I've been wanting to visit Prague...
While it's not a change quite as drastic as Jason's, I think my new haircut qualifies for my 101 in 1001 list.
I'd been toying around with the idea for a while and decided to finally just bite the bullet and go for it. At the very least, if I don't like it, it'll grow back (and I wanted to take advantage of that fact while I still can).
Can a distant relative be long-lost if you didn't know they were lost to begin with? I'm very excited to say that my genealogy search has put me in touch with a distant cousin that I never knew existed. It turns out my great-great-grandfather had a brother and I'm now in touch with his great-granddaughter (which makes us... distant cousins). She's done a bit of research into this branch of our family tree and actually had some correspondence with my grandmother in the past, so she should be able to provide me with a good bit of information that I don't yet have.
Regardless, it's kind of exciting to just discover and email with a newly-found relative.
Last night while I was out at dinner a tree fell right next to my apartment. (Yeah, first a plane, now this.) When I tried to return home I was impeded by cops and firemen who had blocked off a large chunk of the street because of downed power lines (not to mention a large tree). I was able to get into my apartment, but had no power. The cats were a bit spooked. I imagine the noise of the tree falling freaked them out a little.
Fortunately the road was cleared and power restored overnight, so no big deal. Also, aside from a fence, there was really very little property damage and no one was injured. So this could have definitely been worse.
Argh! The goddamn football game ran late last night and delayed the season premiere of "24" by 15 minutes! I wasn't home to fix it so TiVo didn't get the end. I'm so pissed!!
I've complained in the past about the issues I've had with Cingular since moving to Boston (see here and here). Their coverage is crappy and their service when I've tried to get anything changed or done has been abysmal.
Well today that changed! I stopped by the store because my phone has been on the fritz. One of the buttons (the one that gets me to my phone book) doesn't work very well. The guy at the store, after looking at my account and phone, informed me that even though I don't already have phone insurance, could purchase it now and use it after a 15-day waiting period. This way I pay a $50 deductible and get a new phone (either the same model I have or an equivalent one) without having to extend my contract.
Reading through the terms of the insurance policy was quite amusing. The following are certain scenarios under which my insurance policy will not cover my phone:
A. Nuclear Hazard, meaning any weapon employing atomic fission or fusion; or nuclear reaction or radiation or radioactive contamination from any other cause. But we will pay for direct physical "Loss" caused by resulting fire if the fire would be covered under this "Coverage Certificate."
B. War, including undeclared or civil war...
C. Governmental Action, meaning seizure or destruction of property by order of governmental authority...
I kid you not. The best part is that, if a nuclear bomb goes off, I now know that it's important to throw my phone into the resulting fire in order to have it replaced. If I just let the EMP and radiation get to it, I'm screwed.
Anyone have experience with Vonage or any other VoIP phone services? I can save a bit of money if I switch, so I'm wondering if there's anything I should beware of. Right now the one thing that concerns me is that I would have no service during a power failure (though I currently don't have a non-cordless phone, so I still have no service without power).
I wrote a few weeks ago about starting work on my family tree. Well, my mother mailed me a few existing family trees that have been put together by one of her aunts and I just finished entering them into the computer program I got for the project.
I currently have 382 people in the database. A few are just last (or first) names, and many are missing critical information like birth and death dates, locations, etc., but it's a solid start. I think my next step will be contacting other family members to fill in the blanks. I have a living great uncle who should be able to help out a lot and the great aunt who put these together about 17 years ago will also be a good resource. After that, I have to get down and dirty with online databases and mormons if I'm going to find more information on the distant family members.
NOTE: I know that some of my cousins occasionally read this page. If you happen to be related to me, go ahead and email me your info. The important stuff are birthdates, maiden names, dates of death for parents and grandparents, and any other info that you think is pertinent. Down the road I'm going to put out a call for any photos people have that would be good to include, especially older ones of earlier generations. So feel free to start scanning those and emailing them to me at glassertree AT gmail DOT com.
Anyone who's familiar with the Peanut Butter Jelly Time flash video, needs to see this Family Guy clip.
Why, oh god why, did the Black Eyed Peas - who were once an innovative hip-hop group - ever record the insipid pseudo-song "My Humps" ????
Last year I wrote about my trip to a holiday concert where I was surrounded by goyim. Well, it seems that this is becoming a holiday tradition.
Last night Aliza and I went to see the Boston Pops. The impetus for the trip was the appearance of the Von Trapp children. These are the actual great-grandchildren of Captain and Maria von Trapp, the family made famous in The Sound of Music. I bought the tickets because Aliza was a big fan growing up of the movie. Little did I know that the show would include a Christmas sing-a-long, complete with words projected onto the giant snowflakes on the side of the stage.
In all honesty, it was a very nice show. The music was great, the kids were cute, and it was quite festive and fun. But seriously, when everyone started clapping while singing "Jingle Bells" I felt like the only non-Christian in the room. In all fairness, they did include a medley of Hanukah tunes as one of the pieces, but the arrangement was some of the most goyish Jewish music ever. Dreidel, dreidel, dreidel, when performed orchestrally, should not include bells in the background. It's just too Christmas-y.
I was inspired to make an effort to go back sometime in the coming year to see the BSO do a full performance. I do enjoy classical music and Boston's Symphony Hall is pretty impressive.
I've posted before about fights breaking out in movie theaters. Well today it happened again.
My friend Dave and I went to see King Kong (much enjoyed, by the way) and right at the part [SPOILER] where Kong is back in NY and being introduced on Broadway a guy a few seats down from us turns and practically yells to the person behind him "That's it! Stop kicking my goddamn seat!" After this, the people he was yelling at got a bit defensive, there was more angry yelling and then a couple of he guys actually stood up to "take it outside."
Of course, they didn't actually go outside. They went into the little hallway between the door and the theater and continued to yell at each other. In full hearing range of the entire theater.
What is it about this city that people feel the need to threated and beat the crap after each other at the movies? I truly and honestly don't get it.
For some reason my TiVo has the idea that I'm a big fan of documentaries. It's been recording shows from The History Channel and The Military Channel (formerly Discovery Wings). Right now I'm enjoying a program about the top ten bombers of all time. Perhaps later I'll check out one of the three shows I have about Hitler (probably not, though). Did you know that a B-2 stealth bomber costs $2.1 billion to make? Fascinating stuff.
In other news, I have a bit of a head cold. I'm pretty congested, but otherwise I feel fine. Nothing lots of over-the-counter drugs can't take care of.
If you had told me at age 18 that Matthew of all people would be the first, I would have never believed it. But there you have it.
Congratulations to Matthew and Kacy! Words can't express how happy I am for you both.
Last night I had the unfortunate experience of seeing RENT, directed by Chris Columbus. Now, let me start by saying that I was a big fan of the musical when I first heard it in 1997. I saw a traveling production of it in Atlanta and then I saw the Broadway show in NY during my freshman year of college. Let me also say that I wasn't in the best frame of mind going into the film, having arrived just before it started (due to events outside my control) and ending up seated in the front row of the theater.
I wanted to like the movie. I wanted to see an adaptation that was true to the original musical while still creating something new and exciting on film. I was open to possible cuts and changes, because I understand how difficult it is to take a very stylized musical and make a realistic movie out of it. But as you've probably guessed by now, I was disappointed.
I'm not going to place the entire blame on the director. I think that part of the problem was that the material has become, at least for me, a little dated. When the musical first opened in 1996 addressing AIDS was still relatively new. The debate over where America, as a culture, was going was still topical. Nowadays, to argue against virtual reality and a computer center called "Cyber-arts" seems, well, 10 years ago.
That being said, there was still a good movie to be made here, and Chris Columbus just wasn't the man to do it. This is a man who made his name as a director with films like Adventures in Babysitting and Home Alone (everyone smack your hands to your cheeks and scream... you know you want to). He is the king of bland, cookie-cutter directing (see the first and second Harry Potter movies). He does a fine job with pretty much everything. He's faithful to the source material, but he makes all safe choices and lacks any sort of real creative vision. The adaptations that he has directed have added nothing to their respective source materials.
For the Harry Potter franchise this was unfortunate but not tragic. The HP books, though very enjoyable, are bubble-gum pop literature. They are entertainment, pure and simple. RENT, on the other hand, bears the weight of being an icon. Like it or not, it became to generation X what "Hair" was to the 70's (or so I've been told). Additionally, it gave itself the importance of bringing the AIDS epidemic to the front of the cultural radar. It dared our culture to speak out and fight instead of hiding behind ignorance and shame.
This is a movie that had a lot of potential. There are plenty of people in this country who haven't had a chance to see the musical and who aren't likely to go out and buy the original cast recording. There are people who aren't into musicals but who'd see the movie. And there's still room for discussion about AIDS and how we as a nation and a culture are going to respond. But this movie makes even AIDS seems anachronistic - like a relic of a decade ago - and that's beyond unfortunate; it's downright irresponsible.
I don't know exactly what could or should have been done differently to make this movie better. Less sweeping crane shots and more hand-held realism. A New York street that doesn't look like a soundstage in LA. This was the least dangerous image of 1990 NYC slums that I've seen. Law & Order looks more real. Finally, figure out a better way to integrate the musical with the film. Chicago did a remarkable job with this, largely because it was made by a very capable director who wasn't afraid to go out on a limb every once in a wh