"You could chalk it up to the virtuosic navel-gazing of the Facebook generation, whose self-regard for its own passing cultural experiences bests even that of the boomers."
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2009/08/why-is-third-eye-blind-so-popular-again.html
Monday, August 31, 2009
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Is "District 9" an All-Time Great?
In my opinion, "District 9" is not a great movie, but let me clarify what I mean by that. A movie with a premise that clever and innovative can go one of two ways when it is forced to introduce a plot into its universe: it can rise to the occasion and execute well enough to keep the momentum alive or it can be dragged down by the artificial introduction. Movies that are all-time great, execute with precision and don't feel forced. You allow yourself to forget you are watching a movie and get lost in the action, suspending your disbelief. You can allow yourself to feel emotionally attached to the characters and their destinies.
The ones that fail ride well-worn trails of cliches, Hollywood schlock, and contain cheesy, gimmicky plots that insult your intelligence. Style over substance. We've all seen Michael Bay's sorry excuse for character development and movies that never had a real concept in the first place. "District 9" is by no means a failure, it's a very good movie, but it sputters and ultimately fails to deliver on its promise. I felt there was no momentum left by the end.
WARNING SPOILERS BELOW: you may want to stop reading if you haven't seen the film
I loved the first 30 minutes. Loved them. The documentary style, the Office-like humor, the incredible detail and seamless special effects, visually stunning but understated. The set-up was perfect and the commentary was evident without overwhelming. Then the plot hit. In and of itself, Wikus turning into an alien wasn't necessarily a bad idea; however, the way it came to fruition was. Blomkamp himself said in an interview he tried to pander to a popcorn level to avoid being too serious. Instead of creating what could have been all-time great, he settled for well-worn action cliches.
There are directors who can get away with applying a formula without getting called on it. Spike Lee comes to mind. In Blomkamp's first picture, he shows promise but is not quite deft enough to completely pull it off. I think I've seen the oppressor-gets-alienated-by-his-kind-and-teams-up-with-one-of-the-oppressed plotline about 100 times. I'm sure this isn't true, yet I feel like I have heard the exact line Wikus utters when he stays to fight the bad guys, heroically knowing he will probably die. I thought the "Training Day" ending was OK, but we can hardly call it original. The metamorphosis is straight from "The Fly." It's hard not to draw comparisons to "Robocop", "Aliens", "Alien Nation", and basically every other science fiction film you've ever seen. When he's making the flower for his wife as a full-on Prawn, I felt sick to my stomach.
Furthermore, the commentary didn't quite work when it became an incoherent rant against multinational corporations (the preeminent generic sci-fi cliche, as Slate can tell you better than I: http://www.slate.com/id/2225285/). Where was the documentary aspect after about 30 minutes? If only both halves were of similar quality. Frankly, the 6 minute "Alive in Joburg" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlgtbEdqVsk) it's based on is better. With alien interviews where they're pleading for necessities and gritty news footage, it does more in 6 minutes to effectively illustrate the allegory to apartheid than the feature film did in 2 hours. It evokes more feeling too. If you want to see an amazing movie where monsters bring out the monsters in men, watch "The Host." Amazing movie.
Anyway, where does District 9 stand in the halls of science fiction? I'm going to make an informal list with Rotten Tomato Tomatometer %. Rotten Tomatoes tracks the % of critics that would recommend seeing the movie, thumbs up or down. Please note that I'm doing modern era, so I'm not putting "Metropolis", "The Day the Earth Stood Still", or anything like that. I'm also excluding comic book movies (not graphic novels) and comedies like "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" or "Ghostbusters." Straight sci-fi. I will also admit I haven't seen any other "Star Trek" movies, "Serenity", or "District B13". I am exempting animation because I know virtually nothing about it.
All-Time Greats:
2001 (96%)
Alien, Aliens (97%, 100%)
A Clockwork Orange (91%)
Terminator, T2 (100%, 97%)
Star Wars (93%,) <-- I'm only putting one, so deal with it.
The Matrix (86%)
Blade Runner (94%)
Brazil (98%)
ET (98%)
Still Great, But Clearly Tier II:
Solaris (98%)
Road Warrior (100%)
Minority Report (91%)
The Host (92%)
Children of Men (92%)
Gattaca (78%)
The Fly (91%)
WALL-E (96%)
Tier III:
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (95%)
Planet of the Apes (88%)
Twelve Monkeys (85%)
The Abyss (84%)
Donnie Darko (91%)
Sunshine (75%)
Scanner Darkly (67%)
The Thing (77%)
The Fountain (51%)--> I love this movie, I don't care if it got mixed responses. It's moving and beautiful, gets me every time. Total success, sometimes obscurity can be rewarding.
The Best of the Action Packed, Not Too Serious Flicks
Robocop (88%)
District 9 (89%)
Total Recall (79%)
Escape from New York (81%)
Predator (76%)
Fifth Element (70%)
Highly Flawed, but Strove for Greatness:
AI (73%)
Dark City (77%)
Matrix Reloaded (76%)
Pretty Good, but Don't Quite Deliver on Premise:
Star Trek (2009) (95%)
V for Vendetta (73%)
Cloverfield (77%)
I Am Legend (69%)
War of the Worlds (73%)
Dumber Action Films:
Starship Troopers (60%)
Independence Day (62%)
I, Robot (58%)
Event Horizon (21%)
Equilibrium (36%)
Total Failures:
Alien 3 (34%)
Stargate (43%)
Armageddon (41%)
Matrix Revolutions (37%)
The Island (40%)
Godzilla (2000) (26%)
Doom (20%)
Alien vs. Predator (22%)
The ones that fail ride well-worn trails of cliches, Hollywood schlock, and contain cheesy, gimmicky plots that insult your intelligence. Style over substance. We've all seen Michael Bay's sorry excuse for character development and movies that never had a real concept in the first place. "District 9" is by no means a failure, it's a very good movie, but it sputters and ultimately fails to deliver on its promise. I felt there was no momentum left by the end.
WARNING SPOILERS BELOW: you may want to stop reading if you haven't seen the film
I loved the first 30 minutes. Loved them. The documentary style, the Office-like humor, the incredible detail and seamless special effects, visually stunning but understated. The set-up was perfect and the commentary was evident without overwhelming. Then the plot hit. In and of itself, Wikus turning into an alien wasn't necessarily a bad idea; however, the way it came to fruition was. Blomkamp himself said in an interview he tried to pander to a popcorn level to avoid being too serious. Instead of creating what could have been all-time great, he settled for well-worn action cliches.
There are directors who can get away with applying a formula without getting called on it. Spike Lee comes to mind. In Blomkamp's first picture, he shows promise but is not quite deft enough to completely pull it off. I think I've seen the oppressor-gets-alienated-by-his-kind-and-teams-up-with-one-of-the-oppressed plotline about 100 times. I'm sure this isn't true, yet I feel like I have heard the exact line Wikus utters when he stays to fight the bad guys, heroically knowing he will probably die. I thought the "Training Day" ending was OK, but we can hardly call it original. The metamorphosis is straight from "The Fly." It's hard not to draw comparisons to "Robocop", "Aliens", "Alien Nation", and basically every other science fiction film you've ever seen. When he's making the flower for his wife as a full-on Prawn, I felt sick to my stomach.
Furthermore, the commentary didn't quite work when it became an incoherent rant against multinational corporations (the preeminent generic sci-fi cliche, as Slate can tell you better than I: http://www.slate.com/id/2225285/). Where was the documentary aspect after about 30 minutes? If only both halves were of similar quality. Frankly, the 6 minute "Alive in Joburg" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlgtbEdqVsk) it's based on is better. With alien interviews where they're pleading for necessities and gritty news footage, it does more in 6 minutes to effectively illustrate the allegory to apartheid than the feature film did in 2 hours. It evokes more feeling too. If you want to see an amazing movie where monsters bring out the monsters in men, watch "The Host." Amazing movie.
Anyway, where does District 9 stand in the halls of science fiction? I'm going to make an informal list with Rotten Tomato Tomatometer %. Rotten Tomatoes tracks the % of critics that would recommend seeing the movie, thumbs up or down. Please note that I'm doing modern era, so I'm not putting "Metropolis", "The Day the Earth Stood Still", or anything like that. I'm also excluding comic book movies (not graphic novels) and comedies like "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" or "Ghostbusters." Straight sci-fi. I will also admit I haven't seen any other "Star Trek" movies, "Serenity", or "District B13". I am exempting animation because I know virtually nothing about it.
All-Time Greats:
2001 (96%)
Alien, Aliens (97%, 100%)
A Clockwork Orange (91%)
Terminator, T2 (100%, 97%)
Star Wars (93%,) <-- I'm only putting one, so deal with it.
The Matrix (86%)
Blade Runner (94%)
Brazil (98%)
ET (98%)
Still Great, But Clearly Tier II:
Solaris (98%)
Road Warrior (100%)
Minority Report (91%)
The Host (92%)
Children of Men (92%)
Gattaca (78%)
The Fly (91%)
WALL-E (96%)
Tier III:
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (95%)
Planet of the Apes (88%)
Twelve Monkeys (85%)
The Abyss (84%)
Donnie Darko (91%)
Sunshine (75%)
Scanner Darkly (67%)
The Thing (77%)
The Fountain (51%)--> I love this movie, I don't care if it got mixed responses. It's moving and beautiful, gets me every time. Total success, sometimes obscurity can be rewarding.
The Best of the Action Packed, Not Too Serious Flicks
Robocop (88%)
District 9 (89%)
Total Recall (79%)
Escape from New York (81%)
Predator (76%)
Fifth Element (70%)
Highly Flawed, but Strove for Greatness:
AI (73%)
Dark City (77%)
Matrix Reloaded (76%)
Pretty Good, but Don't Quite Deliver on Premise:
Star Trek (2009) (95%)
V for Vendetta (73%)
Cloverfield (77%)
I Am Legend (69%)
War of the Worlds (73%)
Dumber Action Films:
Starship Troopers (60%)
Independence Day (62%)
I, Robot (58%)
Event Horizon (21%)
Equilibrium (36%)
Total Failures:
Alien 3 (34%)
Stargate (43%)
Armageddon (41%)
Matrix Revolutions (37%)
The Island (40%)
Godzilla (2000) (26%)
Doom (20%)
Alien vs. Predator (22%)
Friday, August 7, 2009
Today Was a Good Day Extended Version
Old news I know, but in case people haven't seen it, here's the extended version of the Nike SB commercial. The Kobester makes an appearance.
Aphorisms
-If you read one thing today, please let it be this article on health care from the Harvard Business Review. A few gems:
"Americans spend more on products, and receive less services. Americans realize amongst the poorest health outcomes of developed nations. Americans have the lowest life expectancy amongst developed nations — 78.1 years, compared to 81 in the UK, and 82 in Switzerland. Lower levels of service and more money spent on the same drugs, translate, as you might reasonably expect, into poorer outcomes."
"Healthcare in America is a textbook example of thin value. The healthcare industry maintains significantly supernormal profitability — yet, those profits are divorced from people being relatively better off. An American healthcare industry that "creates value" by limiting how much better off people are is simply transferring value from society to shareholders."
The disincentives within health care are unbelievable. These insurance providers are publicly traded entities that must constantly compete with one another for best in class payout metrics and push higher and higher margins at the expense of care. Finding technicalities to avoid payment and cleansing unprofitable accounts is different when it's human lives at stake. We won't fix health care until we make care the primary goal of insurers, not shareholder return. I've heard it before from a friend, but I believe non-profit insurance entities are the close thing to a "solution" that I've heard.
-I like to believe that my efforts sending Lamar Odom articles with reasons to join the Lakers on twitter and my blog post on this humble establishment helped lobby him to LA. That and the Lakers offered more money, home, and a chance to win another championship. I believe he had serious consideration for Miami and I have to say D-Wade was able to scare me, but I think Lamar Odom belongs in LA. I'm very very excited about the NBA season this year.
-The Lakers are the clear favorite to win the championship. If Artest buys in and steps up his defense, we're going to be very very scary. Assuming Bynum is able to regain some of the form he's shown in flashes and stays healthy, hoping that Farmar/Brown take the quantum leap (3rd year for Mr. Farmar I believe), and seeing Sasha Vujacic actually shoot the ball and we're talking about a potentially dominant team. Just like last year when I was so frustrated with this 65 win club (how is that even possible) because they only scratched the surface of their potential so often with their lackadaisical commitment to defense and inability to care as much as teams need to be great. But I have to give it to them: they flipped a switch during that Nuggets series and developed another gear against Orlando. No one in the NBA could have beaten us in that series.
Before the championship, you would say the Lakers had three mortal weaknesses on defense: fast point guards, three point shooting and spacing the floor, and pick and roll defense. Orlando exploited all three of these Achilles' heels in the regular season, crushing the Lakers. In the Finals, the Lakers had amazing weak-side help defense on Dwight but rotated fast enough to prevent open threes, shut down Alston and Nelson for much of the series, and defended the pick and roll like men possessed. They lived up to their potential. Phil Jackson outcoached Van Gundy-never underestimate the importance of this after he was outcoached by Brown and Thibodeau. Notice I didn't say Rivers. Lamar Odom played consistently. Kobe was Kobe. Role players stepped up. If this team carries that hunger, if Kobe is able to inspire them like Michael did the Bulls in '96, we could see something really special. The Lakers have a potentially all-time great offense this year, but if they really commit on D, they could be unstoppable.
-The disparity between the have's and have nots in the NBA is unbelievable, but I think the long-time rivalries like the Lakers and the Celtics in the 80's and eras with superpowers are better sometimes. The NFL has amazing parity and that does some great things, but I think the rise of the evil Patriots empire is one of the best things to ever happen to the league. The Giants toppling that Leviathan in such dramatic fashion is surely more unbelievable than a random team from the AFC like the Jaguars in their first Superbowl. When Eli Manning stopped a 18-0 Juggernaut on the verge of adding to its dynasty, it became unbelievable. When David topples Goliath, when Jordan beats the Showtime Lakers...
-I think I'm going to get NBA league pass and write a lot more during the season. These are real goals people.
-Do yourself a favor and watch this music video promoting the new Nike Hyperize sneakers. Durantula, AI, Rashard, and Mo Williams all exceed expectations and I actually like the song.
-For someone who expends so much energy dismissing metaphysics, I subconciously hold things to such incredible standards. Recognizing the imperfections in people and institutions and accepting them is critical to life.
-I'm a different person than I was at the end of 2008. I've matured a lot in my outlook. Growth happens in concentrated spurts and the last few months will be among my most memorable for a lot of reasons. I finally "got it" in a lot of ways.
-Part of that outlook is recognizing that it's time for a step-change in life. I feel it coming. Yes, it's jargon, but weirdly appropriate. I've spent too much time thinking about strategic frameworks. Too much time.
-I made an unbelievably cathartic playlist on iTunes today. Called it "Show Me the Good Life" after the Blu & Exile song. That Blu & Exile album is unbelievable, have been bumping it non-stop for a week.
-The playlist is almost entirely hip-hop but contains one indie rock song, Matt & Kim "Lessons Learned." For seem reason it seems oddly appropriate. The hip-hop is a has a bunch of contemplative songs like "Staring Through My Rear View", "Moment of Clarity", etc. It also has a number of songs about victory and celebration, like "Good Life", "Back in the Day", and "Encore." Ups an downs I suppose.
.
-There's a lot I want to accomplish in the next few months. I need to take the GMAT, apply to b-school, and establish a better routine. I've realized that you are what you do every day and must create the habits that make you the person that you want to become. This has a lot of implications. I need to read more booksI digest a lot of information, but less books than I want to. I want to establish a better gym routine, which get disrupted too often with so much travel.
-Watched "White Men Can't Jump" over 4-5 nights as I was falling asleep. Awesome movie. I mean obviously no Oscar contender, but pretty creative comedy with some decent basketball thrown in there. I laughed quite a bit. I like Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson and both are pretty funny and charismatic here. Woody Harrelson is more believably good at basketball than I expected too. Plus, those 90's outfits were straight nostalgia. Not to mention awesome. The beach volleyball hat!
"Americans spend more on products, and receive less services. Americans realize amongst the poorest health outcomes of developed nations. Americans have the lowest life expectancy amongst developed nations — 78.1 years, compared to 81 in the UK, and 82 in Switzerland. Lower levels of service and more money spent on the same drugs, translate, as you might reasonably expect, into poorer outcomes."
"Healthcare in America is a textbook example of thin value. The healthcare industry maintains significantly supernormal profitability — yet, those profits are divorced from people being relatively better off. An American healthcare industry that "creates value" by limiting how much better off people are is simply transferring value from society to shareholders."
The disincentives within health care are unbelievable. These insurance providers are publicly traded entities that must constantly compete with one another for best in class payout metrics and push higher and higher margins at the expense of care. Finding technicalities to avoid payment and cleansing unprofitable accounts is different when it's human lives at stake. We won't fix health care until we make care the primary goal of insurers, not shareholder return. I've heard it before from a friend, but I believe non-profit insurance entities are the close thing to a "solution" that I've heard.
-I like to believe that my efforts sending Lamar Odom articles with reasons to join the Lakers on twitter and my blog post on this humble establishment helped lobby him to LA. That and the Lakers offered more money, home, and a chance to win another championship. I believe he had serious consideration for Miami and I have to say D-Wade was able to scare me, but I think Lamar Odom belongs in LA. I'm very very excited about the NBA season this year.-The Lakers are the clear favorite to win the championship. If Artest buys in and steps up his defense, we're going to be very very scary. Assuming Bynum is able to regain some of the form he's shown in flashes and stays healthy, hoping that Farmar/Brown take the quantum leap (3rd year for Mr. Farmar I believe), and seeing Sasha Vujacic actually shoot the ball and we're talking about a potentially dominant team. Just like last year when I was so frustrated with this 65 win club (how is that even possible) because they only scratched the surface of their potential so often with their lackadaisical commitment to defense and inability to care as much as teams need to be great. But I have to give it to them: they flipped a switch during that Nuggets series and developed another gear against Orlando. No one in the NBA could have beaten us in that series.
Before the championship, you would say the Lakers had three mortal weaknesses on defense: fast point guards, three point shooting and spacing the floor, and pick and roll defense. Orlando exploited all three of these Achilles' heels in the regular season, crushing the Lakers. In the Finals, the Lakers had amazing weak-side help defense on Dwight but rotated fast enough to prevent open threes, shut down Alston and Nelson for much of the series, and defended the pick and roll like men possessed. They lived up to their potential. Phil Jackson outcoached Van Gundy-never underestimate the importance of this after he was outcoached by Brown and Thibodeau. Notice I didn't say Rivers. Lamar Odom played consistently. Kobe was Kobe. Role players stepped up. If this team carries that hunger, if Kobe is able to inspire them like Michael did the Bulls in '96, we could see something really special. The Lakers have a potentially all-time great offense this year, but if they really commit on D, they could be unstoppable.
-The disparity between the have's and have nots in the NBA is unbelievable, but I think the long-time rivalries like the Lakers and the Celtics in the 80's and eras with superpowers are better sometimes. The NFL has amazing parity and that does some great things, but I think the rise of the evil Patriots empire is one of the best things to ever happen to the league. The Giants toppling that Leviathan in such dramatic fashion is surely more unbelievable than a random team from the AFC like the Jaguars in their first Superbowl. When Eli Manning stopped a 18-0 Juggernaut on the verge of adding to its dynasty, it became unbelievable. When David topples Goliath, when Jordan beats the Showtime Lakers...-I think I'm going to get NBA league pass and write a lot more during the season. These are real goals people.
-Do yourself a favor and watch this music video promoting the new Nike Hyperize sneakers. Durantula, AI, Rashard, and Mo Williams all exceed expectations and I actually like the song.
-For someone who expends so much energy dismissing metaphysics, I subconciously hold things to such incredible standards. Recognizing the imperfections in people and institutions and accepting them is critical to life.
-I'm a different person than I was at the end of 2008. I've matured a lot in my outlook. Growth happens in concentrated spurts and the last few months will be among my most memorable for a lot of reasons. I finally "got it" in a lot of ways.
-Part of that outlook is recognizing that it's time for a step-change in life. I feel it coming. Yes, it's jargon, but weirdly appropriate. I've spent too much time thinking about strategic frameworks. Too much time.
-I made an unbelievably cathartic playlist on iTunes today. Called it "Show Me the Good Life" after the Blu & Exile song. That Blu & Exile album is unbelievable, have been bumping it non-stop for a week.
-The playlist is almost entirely hip-hop but contains one indie rock song, Matt & Kim "Lessons Learned." For seem reason it seems oddly appropriate. The hip-hop is a has a bunch of contemplative songs like "Staring Through My Rear View", "Moment of Clarity", etc. It also has a number of songs about victory and celebration, like "Good Life", "Back in the Day", and "Encore." Ups an downs I suppose.
.
-There's a lot I want to accomplish in the next few months. I need to take the GMAT, apply to b-school, and establish a better routine. I've realized that you are what you do every day and must create the habits that make you the person that you want to become. This has a lot of implications. I need to read more booksI digest a lot of information, but less books than I want to. I want to establish a better gym routine, which get disrupted too often with so much travel.
-Watched "White Men Can't Jump" over 4-5 nights as I was falling asleep. Awesome movie. I mean obviously no Oscar contender, but pretty creative comedy with some decent basketball thrown in there. I laughed quite a bit. I like Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson and both are pretty funny and charismatic here. Woody Harrelson is more believably good at basketball than I expected too. Plus, those 90's outfits were straight nostalgia. Not to mention awesome. The beach volleyball hat!
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