Review: Match Point

Woody Allen has finally left New York. His newest picture takes place far away (physically, at least) in London. One wonders why even bother with the new location, but oh well.

The film is beautifully shot and cast (with Johansson, Rhys-Myers, and Ewen Bremner that many will recognize as "Spud" from Trainspotting). The plot is similar to many of Woody Allen's previous films (especially 1992's Husbands and Wives, but there's something different about this film. It's a good Woody Allen movie (i.e. slow-moving, dramatic, high society) until the tryst becomes a major part of the film (as it typically does in an Allen film). This feels different, however, and the tagline, "A marvelously sexy thriller" doesn't disappoint. There is some intrigue in this film that shouldn't be given away, so it's more difficult to discuss this movie in its entirety. However, it is important to note this: Woody Allen, for all of his moral shortcomings in life and in art, is a brilliant storyteller, quite possibly the greatest of our time.

The philosophical point of this movie (and be assured there is a point to this movie), is played out very clearly, purposefully. The film is bookended by two similar images; one of a tennis ball and one of a ring, on which side will they fall? One can almost hear Allen speaking Rhys-Myers last line, to the extent of, it all comes down to luck.

Be advised that though this is a brilliant film, it is a Woody Allen film, and should be viewed through that lens. (i.e. if you have trouble watching a film about extramarital involvement and other moral deficiencies, stay away from Allen's catalogue).

Rating: 4 out of 5
RIYL (recommended if you like): Anything directed by Woody Allen, The Talented Mr. Ripley.

Happy 4th Anniversary

Very pregnant

Check out the block work

Going to visit daddy at work

Kualoa Point State Recreation Area

Naptime in the dryer?

BALL PIT!

Check out the belly on prego!

Fun @ Chuck E. Cheese's

Brandon was back...now he's gone. We had fun.

Lucas with stick.

Chinaman's Hat

Ahhh, Hawaii

Kite Flying

Photo of our cool nephew Evan (Jennie and Brenden's son)

Baby Nathan at 32 weeks...3-D profile, his nose is in the middle of the frame, left eye up to the right.

Film Review

Good question. The first time I heard about this film (possibly from stevansheets.com), I thought to myself, “I bet this makes Christian music look really stupid.” And, secretly, I hoped it would. As I watched the film that Vickie Hunter and Heather Whinna (professing non-Christians) put together, I was surprised by my reaction.

Christian music is something that has been one of the striking points for my cynicism regarding the Christian religion and the church. I’ve come from a place where all I was ALLOWED to listen to was Christian music, and from there I began to make a CHOICE to listen to only Christian music as I was in college. Then some things began to change. First, the quality of the music began to bother me. I was exposed to really good “secular” music, which just blew the quality of the best Christian music out of the water. Second, the lyrics in Christian music, though usually well meaning, were trite at best, and heretical at worst. Several years have past in this process, and now I scroll through my iTunes collection of over 2000 songs and there are a few smatterings of music by artists who happen to be Christians (Pedro, Damien, Chamberlain, etc), but NO “Christian music.”

The balance has shifted.

I’ve begun to notice this lack of balance in many areas of my life, but music is the most obvious.

Oh yeah, the film.

I have been to Cornerstone (the festival where the majority of the shows and interviews take place), so there was some nostalgia related to seeing the sights, and hearing some old favorites (MxPx, OC Supertones, Zao). I think the filmmakers did an excellent job letting the interviewees talk and not spin or edit (what I like to call Mooring) what they had to say.

In a culture as big as Christian music there are bound to be differing points of view, but even through the differences, all of the interviewees seem to “get it.” They understand that many people don’t understand Christian music, they understand that people would be dubious of anyone trying to “get a message across” instead of just “perform.” Not one person comes across as ignorant or as a Bible-thumper. When “Christians” show up on TV or in film, they are usually exploited for some facet of their belief that is “whack-o” by the world’s standards. That doesn’t happen in this film, surprisingly.

There are those who dissent from within, who hedge whether they are in or out. David Bazan (Pedro the Lion) makes great points about bringing people together who love music, letting Christians and non-Christians enjoy music together, forming relationships. Bazan also a demonstrates a clear cynicism about the Christian music scene, though he continues to perform at Cornerstone festival (he didn’t perform last year, the first time in several years). Many of Pedro the Lion’s fans have seen this transition and rise in cynicism from David’s point of view, both in his lyrics and his between song banter/Q&A periods.

Overall, this film does a great job showing the reality of Christian music: that most people in the scene are sincere, most are asking the questions about why they do what they do, most strive for excellence in what they produce, and most importantly most of the people in the scene are likeable people. Sean Howe reviewed this film for Spin magazine and stated, “Even an atheist will be less fearful of the God-fearing.” Yes, and those of us who forgot how valuable, life-affecting, and meaningful Christian music can be…we will remember.

Simpsons Movie

Yes, it is true.
Check it out.

ALIEN CORPSE

The time has come for the ultimate rock critic to rise from the shadows and exert his dominion over all those who would oppose him.

See link in sidebar, or get there by this.

Strong Bad

Go to www.homestarrunner.com right now to experience the funny.

See Strong Bad and laugh.

Start with the Strong Bad emails section.

...

those aren't ocean waves, and we're not in Venice.

now that's vacation in Hawaii weather

tree-hugger

Swimming

Awwwww

Penguins in Hawaii?

Swimming lessons

Asleep in popop's arms

Humback Whale

yea! Whale watching.

What a view from Diamond Head.

HEY REF!

I just like this picture

6th Grade Boys Basketball.

Terrible picture of us, but look at the background...

He doesn't even realize that it's February.

OH NO! It's the terrible twos!

I'm crazy glasses face, I have glasses on my face...GIMMIE SOME CANDY!

What happened to this blog?

This blog used to be about Hawaii...and if you'll notice the recent trend in posts, they have become less about surfing, sun, and mountains, and more about things I like to hear, watch, and read.

I guess that's what happens when you WORK in Hawaii.

So, with that in mind, here's another review. I'll try and post some interesting pictures that I haven't posted before.

Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah

Do it.

Louder.

Feel Better? If you don't, then you didn't really clap your hands and say yeah.

I can guarantee that both clapping your hands and saying yeah! and listening to "Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah" (referred to as CYHASY in the future for brevity) will make you feel better. No matter how old or young you are, this album is delightfully different enough to make you do what they're called.

This was first recommended to me by the venerable Dan Szombathy in late 2005, and subsequently by amazon, iTunes, and various other music sources. I delayed and delayed until I just couldn't stand seeing this bizarre album cover without hearing the music. I love the haunting carnival barker sound shouting "Clap your hands!" on the 1st track...set the tone perfectly.

RATING: 4.5 out of 5
Recommended if you like (RIYL): Modest Mouse, The New Pornographers, or Broken Social Scene.

The Thumbsucker Proxy

What an interesting film. This kinda snuck up on me, I don't even recall where I heard about it. I think it popped up on "you may like..." thing from Netflix or Amazon, maybe it was an old Ebert and Roeper podcast.

Whatever it was, good choice.

The casting is excellent: Vince Vaughn, Vincent D'Onofrio, and (get this) a tolerable Keanu Reeves (as the orthodontist/philosophical guru).

The music is better: The Polyphonic Spree frontman Tim DeLaughter composed the original score which gives us brief background snippets of their orchestral work and some good songs mixed in. I am not a fan of "TPS," and can't really tolerate their work in most settings, but it really works in a movie setting. All of the other music comes from the late, great Eliott Smith.

The movie works a lot like many other movies of the past couple of years...it has shades of "I Heart Huckabees," "Garden State," and "The United States of Leland" (featuring the music of Jeremy Enigk of Sunny Day Real Estate and The Fire Theft). If you've seen any of these movies you'll know what I mean, maybe not Garden State as much but the rest are a little heavy on preaching a philosophy of some kind, even though each of the movies seems unsure as to what that philosophy is.

Anyway, Thumbsucker is a great existential movie (Being and Becoming).
Here's a link if you feel like reading one take on basic existential philosophy.

The film follows a teenager through a series of changes, developments, experiments, and lifestyles not too unfamiliar to anyone who has made mistakes in life; it shows how uncomfortable he is in his attempt to BE until he learns (from our whoa! philosopher) that one must BECOME.

It puts a finger so directly on that uncomfortable time in adolescence when we wanted to have the answers, when we needed to know the RIGHT course for our lives, when simply letting the journey happen was not an option. IDEALISM. That's it.

I'm now no longer writing from the top of my head, but writing to try and sound smart...and doing a poor job, so I'll spare you.

Watch this movie.

Random old story resolved

I played tennis for the first time since JoAnna and I got married this President's Day. I should have started with someone who didn't play #2 singles in college. Today is Wednesday and "the sore" is reaching its peak. Good news -- even though I lost 6-3, 6-4, he's as sore as me.
________________________________________________
Today was the court date. I don't think I posted the story but many have heard me tell it...I really like telling stories. I awoke at 5:00am to drive 20-ish miles in an hour and a half (curse you Hawaii and all your beauty, making everyone want to live here, and therefore making traffic ridiculous) for my court hearing regarding a New Year's Day traffic stop, where I "failed to have current proof of insurance" on federal property (a stone's throw from my house). So, I received a summons to appear in FEDERAL court, or have a warrant for my arrest. Even after (or maybe because?) I went home, retrieved the proof of insurance (which was dated 12-26, that right, five days later), and went to talk to the Military Police who pulled me over at the DUI checkpoint.

This was all because my tail lights and brake lights had shorted out on my way home (presumably) that night. "Why do you have two tail lights out?" the MP asked, surely thinking I knew the answer. So, the tail lights needed to be fixed...after trying a bunch of things I jammed some cardboard in there to solve the shorting problem. This worked like a charm until the safety check needed to be performed on the car. I removed the cardboard, because surely this wasn't going to pass, and hoped for the best. "Well, the lights worked for a second and then the whole back end went dark, but I'm going to pass it anyway." the mechanic says.

Uh, Ok...thanks?

So, back to the court date. I show up early 7:30 for 8:30 court and wait. There were about ten of us waiting...just us alone in the room, no baliff, no lawyers, no judge, nothing.

I've never been in a courtroom before...ominous.

Then the perky legal assistant comes in and says, come up and check in and if you have a minor offense we can discuss that. I show her my summons, ticket, license, and P of I (as I've just now decided to call it) and she looks at all these pieces of my information and then at me and says, simply, "dismissed." WHAT! Three double takes later, I get the impression that she is done with me and that I should leave, go away, be gone, get outta there. Didn't even get to "approach the bench."

Oh yeah, then I went to Saturn (eww) and tried to get the lights fixed. One hour and $0.00 later, everything is tip-top. Making the correction - Saturn (yea!)

And we thought Lucas was a surprise

On Friday after school, one of my fellow IPES employees calls and says, "Do you want a dog?" One month ago that would have been an easy answer..."No way, not right now." For some reason, JoAnna has been saying, "I want a new dog." and "Lucas needs a pet."

So upon receiving this call, I said, "let me talk with my wife." She replied, "The owners are taking to the pound tonight." "Bring him over," I say.

So, "Fargo" arrived a little while later. And though he was in desperate need of a bath and a trim, we decided that he should be our dog. He is a 3 1/2 year old Australian Silky Terrier...basically a big Yorkshire Terrier.

He didn't respond to Fargo for some reason, so we felt free to change his name. His registration papers say his name is "Cosway His Nibs" (what?), so we figured the appropriate name would be "Cosmo."

And he is the best kind of dog...a free one.

We took him to a groomer today. Nice, huh?

before...

After

Before...

Our latest addition.

Melinda and Melinda

After a shout out on John's blog and an extremely favorable review on Ebert and Roeper's Podcast, I decided it was time to stop passing up this latest Woody Allen pic and just see it already.

I've seen a great deal of Woody Allen's movies, and though his work has never been able to match the brilliance of Annie Hall (best picture 1977, gotta love Christopher Walken as the (surprise) creepy brother), most of his films have been good -- entertaining at least. Sleeper is another one of my favorites, and Crimes and Misdemeanors and Deconstructing Harry are very well written.

Allen's films all carry with them his worldview, something that makes them indisputably HIS. You will never mistake a Woody Allen pic for the work of another director.

I've always felt that I'm watching the work of a brilliant storyteller/filmmaker, even if his subject matter often leaves a bad taste. After each movie I feel a little disappointed that Allen did all that great writing and didn't actually say anything worthwhile. It's a little like reading Palahniuk.

Anyway, the premise of this movie is whether life at it's core is more fully a tragedy or a comedy. Melinda is the constant in both stories told by different storytellers -- one telling a comedic tale and the other a tragic tale. Remember Sliding Doors? Yeah, same premise...

It turns out that life is actually tragic, because neither story ends up being funny...But Will Ferrell is the male lead in the comedic, so that helps us keep the stories straight. It is a very amusing movie, even with the flawed premise -- Allen's writing is as strong as ever. The movie is worth the rental fee just to see Ferrell in a somewhat serious "comedic" role. Plus his Woody Allen impression is spot on.

I love this pic because you can see the great "footprints"

Photo Binge.

So we've driven past this stretch of beach about fifty times and wondered why there were always parked across the street. There doesn't seem to be anything special about this section of North Shore, actually it's a small section with more rocks than sand...nothing to look at.

But as we were following directions to "the beach where you can see the turtles" we slowly realized that this was where we were going..."Oh, that's why there's always people crowded around there." I say...everything falling into place.

I was relieved that there was one turtle there...wouldn't want to disappoint Lucas and hear him say, "Turtle, find 'em" for the next three days. We sat on the rocks and observed this quiet creature "basking" (as they say), and then we see a big rock in the water that looks like it's moving. It slowly creeps onto shore the waves sorta tossing it about and then uses the front flippers to edge up the beach (the way we've all seen on Discovery Channel, hazards of turtle egg hatching special). It was quite a treat.

Apparently, there is usually at least one turtle on this particular stretch of beach.

Turtles on North Shore

Just in case you were wondering