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Sunday, July 24, 2005
I am back from El Salvador and Honduras mostly in one piece (I do have some problem with my ear that is inexplicable....so if you see me in the next few days, you'll have to speak from my right side or I won't hear you). For those of you who don't know, I spent the week in Central America visiting my good friend, Julie, and learning a little bit about her life as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the tiny town of San Pedro de Copan. It was a great experience, and I'm not really sure where to even begin to share about it all. I guess the easiest way is to put up some picture with a little explanation.
-Part of the week was spent in the beach town of Tela where we spent one afternoon walking through the Jardin Botanica Lancetilla
-Hiking up to the town of Cartagua for a meeting with a communal bank, we ran into a campesino that Julie knew. He offered to let me up on his mule (or is it a donkey? or maybe just a horse?), but I declined.
-Mt. Erepuca, in the background of this picture of Julie and a woman she knows, is among the tallest in this area of Honduras.
-This is the hotel we stayed in traveling from and to the airport in San Salvador. It is in the small artesan town of La Palma, El Salvador.
-Here is another picture of Julie and I in La Palma.
-Julie chillin' in a hammock outside the hotel room.
-Another view of Erepuca from the hike up to Cartagua.
-It rained just a little bit while we were in Tela.
-It should be noted that the sidewalk is raised about a foot up from the road. Luckily, the whole town didn't look like this, it was just the block at our hotel.
-Just for the heck of it.
If you want to hear more stories about the trip, please ask me. At this point, I'm too exhausted to include them all here. Julie sends her love to everyone, and she will be back in the states in early November after backpacking through Mexico in October.
-Part of the week was spent in the beach town of Tela where we spent one afternoon walking through the Jardin Botanica Lancetilla
-Hiking up to the town of Cartagua for a meeting with a communal bank, we ran into a campesino that Julie knew. He offered to let me up on his mule (or is it a donkey? or maybe just a horse?), but I declined.
-Mt. Erepuca, in the background of this picture of Julie and a woman she knows, is among the tallest in this area of Honduras.
-This is the hotel we stayed in traveling from and to the airport in San Salvador. It is in the small artesan town of La Palma, El Salvador.
-Here is another picture of Julie and I in La Palma.
-Julie chillin' in a hammock outside the hotel room.
-Another view of Erepuca from the hike up to Cartagua.
-It rained just a little bit while we were in Tela.
-It should be noted that the sidewalk is raised about a foot up from the road. Luckily, the whole town didn't look like this, it was just the block at our hotel.
-Just for the heck of it.
If you want to hear more stories about the trip, please ask me. At this point, I'm too exhausted to include them all here. Julie sends her love to everyone, and she will be back in the states in early November after backpacking through Mexico in October.
Thursday, July 14, 2005
Summer horoscope time!!!
Cancer (June 21 - July 22): You will wrestle with keeping Jewish tradition and embracing modernity as your three oldest daughters fall in love with the rabbi's son, a family friend and a communist. While it would be nice, you will never be rich.
Leo (July 23 - August 22): You will make a bet with an old friend that involves him taking a missionary to Cuba. In the meantime, you run an underground (literally) gambling ring. You will also marry your significant other of 14 years.
Libra (September 23 - October 22): You will move to a small town in Iowa where you will fall in love with the town librarian. You will also organize a youth band despite having zero musical talent.
Scorpio (October 23 - November 21): What seems like an ordinary audition will turn into the experience of a lifetime where you learn more about yourself as well, as the strangers around you, than ever before.
Sagittarius (November 22 - December 21): You will go to jail for murdering a furniture salesman, but get acquitted thanks to the help of your smooth-talking lawyer. You will then put on a jazz show.
Capricorn (December 22 - January 19): You will move in with all your Bohemian friends in New York's Lower East Side where you will learn about life and love while rehearsing for a show and trying to save your apartment building from being turned into a parking lot.
Aquarius (January 20 - February 18): You will board the S.S. American bound for England. However, your trip will be hindered by Public Enemy No. 13 who snuck onboard disquised as a priest.
Pisces (February 19 - March 20): You will make a bet with your associate in which you teach a poor, young girl how to speak properly.
Aries (March 21 - April 19): You will stumble on a goldmine by opening a barbershop where you will murder your customers, chop them up and sell them as meat pies.
Taurus (April 20 - May 20): You will breakdown in the middle of nowhere on a long road trip. In search of a telephone, you will end up in a sordid world of kinky transexuals.
Gemini (May 21 - June 20): The night before your wedding you will try to discover which of three men is your real father set to the music of Abba.
Cancer (June 21 - July 22): You will wrestle with keeping Jewish tradition and embracing modernity as your three oldest daughters fall in love with the rabbi's son, a family friend and a communist. While it would be nice, you will never be rich.
Leo (July 23 - August 22): You will make a bet with an old friend that involves him taking a missionary to Cuba. In the meantime, you run an underground (literally) gambling ring. You will also marry your significant other of 14 years.
Libra (September 23 - October 22): You will move to a small town in Iowa where you will fall in love with the town librarian. You will also organize a youth band despite having zero musical talent.
Scorpio (October 23 - November 21): What seems like an ordinary audition will turn into the experience of a lifetime where you learn more about yourself as well, as the strangers around you, than ever before.
Sagittarius (November 22 - December 21): You will go to jail for murdering a furniture salesman, but get acquitted thanks to the help of your smooth-talking lawyer. You will then put on a jazz show.
Capricorn (December 22 - January 19): You will move in with all your Bohemian friends in New York's Lower East Side where you will learn about life and love while rehearsing for a show and trying to save your apartment building from being turned into a parking lot.
Aquarius (January 20 - February 18): You will board the S.S. American bound for England. However, your trip will be hindered by Public Enemy No. 13 who snuck onboard disquised as a priest.
Pisces (February 19 - March 20): You will make a bet with your associate in which you teach a poor, young girl how to speak properly.
Aries (March 21 - April 19): You will stumble on a goldmine by opening a barbershop where you will murder your customers, chop them up and sell them as meat pies.
Taurus (April 20 - May 20): You will breakdown in the middle of nowhere on a long road trip. In search of a telephone, you will end up in a sordid world of kinky transexuals.
Gemini (May 21 - June 20): The night before your wedding you will try to discover which of three men is your real father set to the music of Abba.
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
Tom Cruise owes me $8.00.
Summer blockbusters typically do not do anything for me, and I avoid them at all costs. Last week, I was accused of being a movie snob, and I don't have a problem with that. However, for the second year in a row, generally glowing reviews have led me to believe that the latest Tom Cruise thriller might be different from all the rest. And so, against my better judgement, I shelled out the eight bucks it now requires to see a movie at Southpoint.
I don't like Tom Cruise. I hated The Last Samurai, was disappointed by Collateral, think Jerry Mcguire is overrated, and believe Top Gun to be more of a chick flick than Pretty Woman. So why, particularly taking into account the recent sophomoric antics of the Tom Cruise media circus, did I think that War of the Worlds would be any different?
The truth is I don't know.
This movie makes no sense, and after reading many positive reviews (even from the New Yorker!) I began to wonder if I was watching the same film. To me, this movie represents the pinnacle of 'don't ask questions, just sit back and enjoy the SFX.'
First of all, Tom Cruise's character Ray is a jerk. Ray's son is a jerk. Ray's daughter is obnoxious. It was impossible for me to feel anything for these characters short of an intense desire for all three of them to be vaporized by the Spaced Invaders 10 minutes into the film. The first half of this movie is like a painful family vacation when you were 8 and your brother or sister was 6 and the whole week is spent fighting. If I were director, my first change would be to replace Tom Cruise with Chevy Chase. It is worth noting that most reviewers consider this the stronger half of the movie.
Spielberg cuts right to the chase with a lightning storm that the aliens use to awaken the tripod ships that they buried under the ground before the dawn of time. If you read a little about Scientology, you'll actually find that this is the premise of their beliefs. I would estimate these vessels to be anywhere from 30 to 80 feet tall, depending on the scene. They do not blast their way out of the Earth, but rather crawl out from the ground as if they were climbing out from the subway. I'm not sure how no noticed them there.
After seeing all of their neighbors vaporized, Tom Cruise and family decide to go on foot (mostly) from Newark to Boston.
The emotional climax to War of the Worlds comes barely half way in which becomes problematic when the resolution comes in the final 45 seconds. This climax occurs under the feet of the alien tripods. With frantic people running away, father and son try to kill each other before the aliens get a chance to kill themselves. The result of this pissing contest is Tom Cruise's son running off to join the fight against the insurgency in Fallujah. Like Chuck Cunningham, never to be seen again.
Instead of following the son, whose adventure must be exponentially more interesting than Tom Cruise's, we enter the Tim Robbins chapter of the film. With hundreds of frantic people running across Connecticut with several giant alien tripods chasing them, Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning stumble across the only house left standing in the entire state. Tim Robbins picks these two out of the crowd to come chill with him in his basement. Earlier, Tom managed to find the only car in the world that was still operational, so this second stroke of luck would seem like winning Powerball twice in one day.
Tom and Dakota quickly realize that they may not be as fortunate as they thought as they listen to Robbin's insane ramblings while watching the country side completely liquified around them. Fed up with his nonsense, Cruise strangles his host in perhaps the most bizarre moment of the picture. This is where it starts to get redundant. Alien probe comes into the basement, Tom and Dakota hide. Aliens (that look exactly like the ones from Independence Day) come into the basement, Tom and Dakota hide. Alien probe comes into the basement, Tom and Dakota hide.
However, the third time does not prove to be the charm as they are capture and thrown into a cage under the belly of one of the tripods. Cruise is sucked up through the anus of the alien ship where he leaves a grenade and is pulled out by an army officer. The tripod crashes, and Tom and Dakota land safely in Boston which is seemingly untouched to reunite with the children's mother and brother who had run off instead of hanging out with Tim Robbins.
SPOILER:
Then all the alien ships die in about 30 seconds from natural causes.
So, to summarize the plot: Aliens invade Earth. Tom Cruise risks death to drop his kids off at their mother's. For a science fiction movie, there sure wasn't much science in it. We know absolutely nothing about the aliens at the end of the movie other than they are allergic to human dander and grenades to the rectum.
What's so funny, Tom Cruise? That's just him laughing all the way to the bank.
Summer blockbusters typically do not do anything for me, and I avoid them at all costs. Last week, I was accused of being a movie snob, and I don't have a problem with that. However, for the second year in a row, generally glowing reviews have led me to believe that the latest Tom Cruise thriller might be different from all the rest. And so, against my better judgement, I shelled out the eight bucks it now requires to see a movie at Southpoint.
I don't like Tom Cruise. I hated The Last Samurai, was disappointed by Collateral, think Jerry Mcguire is overrated, and believe Top Gun to be more of a chick flick than Pretty Woman. So why, particularly taking into account the recent sophomoric antics of the Tom Cruise media circus, did I think that War of the Worlds would be any different?
The truth is I don't know.
This movie makes no sense, and after reading many positive reviews (even from the New Yorker!) I began to wonder if I was watching the same film. To me, this movie represents the pinnacle of 'don't ask questions, just sit back and enjoy the SFX.'
First of all, Tom Cruise's character Ray is a jerk. Ray's son is a jerk. Ray's daughter is obnoxious. It was impossible for me to feel anything for these characters short of an intense desire for all three of them to be vaporized by the Spaced Invaders 10 minutes into the film. The first half of this movie is like a painful family vacation when you were 8 and your brother or sister was 6 and the whole week is spent fighting. If I were director, my first change would be to replace Tom Cruise with Chevy Chase. It is worth noting that most reviewers consider this the stronger half of the movie.
Spielberg cuts right to the chase with a lightning storm that the aliens use to awaken the tripod ships that they buried under the ground before the dawn of time. If you read a little about Scientology, you'll actually find that this is the premise of their beliefs. I would estimate these vessels to be anywhere from 30 to 80 feet tall, depending on the scene. They do not blast their way out of the Earth, but rather crawl out from the ground as if they were climbing out from the subway. I'm not sure how no noticed them there.
After seeing all of their neighbors vaporized, Tom Cruise and family decide to go on foot (mostly) from Newark to Boston.
The emotional climax to War of the Worlds comes barely half way in which becomes problematic when the resolution comes in the final 45 seconds. This climax occurs under the feet of the alien tripods. With frantic people running away, father and son try to kill each other before the aliens get a chance to kill themselves. The result of this pissing contest is Tom Cruise's son running off to join the fight against the insurgency in Fallujah. Like Chuck Cunningham, never to be seen again.
Instead of following the son, whose adventure must be exponentially more interesting than Tom Cruise's, we enter the Tim Robbins chapter of the film. With hundreds of frantic people running across Connecticut with several giant alien tripods chasing them, Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning stumble across the only house left standing in the entire state. Tim Robbins picks these two out of the crowd to come chill with him in his basement. Earlier, Tom managed to find the only car in the world that was still operational, so this second stroke of luck would seem like winning Powerball twice in one day.
Tom and Dakota quickly realize that they may not be as fortunate as they thought as they listen to Robbin's insane ramblings while watching the country side completely liquified around them. Fed up with his nonsense, Cruise strangles his host in perhaps the most bizarre moment of the picture. This is where it starts to get redundant. Alien probe comes into the basement, Tom and Dakota hide. Aliens (that look exactly like the ones from Independence Day) come into the basement, Tom and Dakota hide. Alien probe comes into the basement, Tom and Dakota hide.
However, the third time does not prove to be the charm as they are capture and thrown into a cage under the belly of one of the tripods. Cruise is sucked up through the anus of the alien ship where he leaves a grenade and is pulled out by an army officer. The tripod crashes, and Tom and Dakota land safely in Boston which is seemingly untouched to reunite with the children's mother and brother who had run off instead of hanging out with Tim Robbins.
SPOILER:
Then all the alien ships die in about 30 seconds from natural causes.
So, to summarize the plot: Aliens invade Earth. Tom Cruise risks death to drop his kids off at their mother's. For a science fiction movie, there sure wasn't much science in it. We know absolutely nothing about the aliens at the end of the movie other than they are allergic to human dander and grenades to the rectum.
What's so funny, Tom Cruise? That's just him laughing all the way to the bank.
