2007 Disc Golf Trip--Day 2: Columbus, Tiffin

Day two began with a change of plans. We decided rather than drive to Tiffin and spend a day in Columbus on Friday, we would meet the Truffins in Columbus and get back in time for Todd's doubles at the Tiffin course.

In addition to my chimerical goal to play disc golf in all fifty states, I have a slightly less obsessive one to track down all the Artemisia Gentileschi on public display. So we met the Truffins at noon at the Columbus Museum of Art, which holds Artemisia's David and Bathsheba (1651).

The painting was a good one, but it was a bit harder to warm up to than some of her others. Perhaps it was the outdoor setting--certainly the museum had it in a room that was a bit too small, making it hard to take in the painting whole without a bad glare on one part. (The reproduction linked above is a poor one, but what can you do?)

I wrote a poem that got me paid a dollar for being reprinted in an art journal after seeing my first Artemisia, so my tradition is to write a poem for each new painting of hers I see. (I don't normally write poetry, but this is a nice exercise.) Here's my poem about this one:

"On Viewing Artemisia Gentileschi's David and Bathsheba at the Columbus Museum of Art (July 12, 2007)"

When did you know something was wrong?
Did others go before you to prepare the way that was not so clear?
Or did you forge ahead,
Oblivious to the flaccid foundations of your fragile refuge?

Did your women's intuition--that Biblical Spidey Sense--tingle,
Telling you it wasn't alright,
When all the powers of earth and heaven said that it was?

Did your fear recede when you knew it was him?
A friend of the family.
Trusted.
Or did you sense even then the shadow of lust he hid even from himself?

Did you grow to love him as love grew inside you?
What shadow passed between you and your father,
As you were punished for his sin?

You will never be alone again.
History will absolve but never clothe you.
Blessed be the man who need never face
The torturous peril
Of a solitary woman
Taking a bath.
*****************************************************


After a nice lunch (and a pile of nachos higher than my head), we made our way to Tiffin and did manage to venture out for the Thursday night doubles. It's always weird being the new guy at club doubles as people don't know whether to be happy or sad they drew you. I exonerated myself nicely, shooting -4 with my partner (winning number was -8), dropping in several long chip shots and putts to keep us in the running with the other group up to the very last hole.

The course was a bit long and open--in other words, it didn't play to my strengths, but I had fun with it, throwing a thumber approach on one hole and a roller on another drive to net a 300 foot plus deuce.

Tomorrow it appears that we will stick around Tiffin, so maybe I'll play the course again.

2007 Disc Golf Trip--Day 1: Winston-Salem

Cindy again decided to join me on this year's summer disc golf excursion, mostly because I was going by North Dakota, the only continental state she has not yet visited. My goal is to play disc golf in all fifty states, and this trip should add six to my current total of thirty.

I'm still a bit sore from The Great 8, so we are easing into the disc golf part of the trip. Today's drive went from Fuquay-Varina to Charleston, WV, with a stop in Winston-Salem to play Horizon's Park.

I've played the course twice before, and the first time I did I shot a 49. Cindy and I play doubles and we shoot a 49; it's hard not to look at that as signifying that I haven't improved. I know I have, though. It's a very windy day, so conditions aren't great. There has to be some other indication of improvement besides continually raising the bar on your best ever. While I'm putting well, I'm approaching poorly and I make two mental errors. So perhaps one mark of improvement is that I tied a previous "hot" round even though I'm struggling. I make two long putts, but I'm beginning to notice that some of my approaches in the 100-150 foot range are not as precise as they should be. I also still pick the wrong disc on occasion. We take three fours (inexcusable), and one is on a hole where I remind myself that the only way to get a four is to go in the bush to the left of the hole--which I promptly do.

To focus on the positives: I am increasingly my distance a little, especially throwing uphill. I get a birdie into the wind on a right turning uphill hole that I probably wouldn't have reached before.

Overall, it was a good way to break up the drive, and a fun course to play to get into the flow.

Horizon's Park: Winston-Salem, NC.
2-2-4 2-3-4 2-2-3 (24) Out
2-2-3 3-4-3 2-3-3 (25) In 49

The Great 8

On Saturday, I played in the Great 8--a marathon disc golf tournament in which players begin at Zebulon Community Park and attempt to play eight courses in one day.

Despite playing some great golf and literally running the last course and a half, my partner (Cliff Patton) and I took a DNF by six holes. We were on hole 13 of Cedar Rock when time was called. This ending was incredibly frustrating for an otherwise great experience. It was not any one thing that caused the delay, rather an accumulation of little things. I'm pretty sure I'd be able to finish (barring an accident) if I play next year, and I've ironed some of the issues that caused delays already.

This year's scores:

Zebulon Community Park (Starting Hole 16)

4-2-4 2-3-3 3-4-4 (29) Out
3-3-3 3-3-3 3-3-3 (26) In 55

Cedar Hills (Starting Hole 1)
2-3-2 2-3-2 3-2-3 (22) Out
3-2-3 3-3-3 3-3-3 (26) In 48

Kentwood
2-3-2 2-3-2 3-2-3 (22) Out
2-3-2 3-3-3 3-3-3 (25) In 47

Buckhorn
3-2-3 4-2-2 3-2-3 (24) Out
2-2-3 2-3-3 2-3-3 (23) In 47

UNC-Chapel Hill (Beginning Hole 8)
3-3-3 3-4-3 2-2-3 (26) Out
3-3-2 3-3-4 3-2-3 (26) In 52

Valley Springs (Durham)
2-2-3 2-3-2 3-2-3 (22) Out
3-3-2 3-2-3 3-3-3 (25) In 47

Wellspring (Running!)
3-3-2 3-3-3 3-3-2 (25) Out
3-3-2 3-3-3 3-4-3 (27) In 52

Cedar Rock (Skipping Holes 8&9/7to10)
3-3-3 3-3-3 3-3-3 (27) Out
3-3-3 DNF

This blog is rated...

Damn! I can't believe my blog is rated "G."

Hey, maybe it's PG now, since I said "damn."

Not bad odds, when you think about it...

34%

Competitive Eating

Why, every fourth of July (and sometimes at other times) are we subjected to coverage of this nonsense? Why with famine in the world, obesity prevalent in America, and a general ignorance about the most mundane matters of health, do we get front page coverage on guys trying to eat 60 hot dogs in twelve minutes without throwing up.

Shame on Sports Illustrated, especially for featuring this prominently on their web site.

Double shame on ESPN for broadcasting it.

Hey guys, why not show clips from a DISC GOLF tournament instead?

2007 Cha-Ching & Zing

I had pretty much decided not to play the 2007 Cha-Ching & Zing.

Zebulon has always been a long course that pretty much kicks my butt, I had had faded badly at a tourny in Kinston earlier this summer (and resolved to not play any more two day tournies), I was getting ready to play the Great 8 and go on vacation....

But the PDGA ratings came out and I went down 4 points (877 to 873), I got an unexpected cash flow problem worked out, and I didn't want to leave for vacation with that bad taste in my mouth. Plus, I had one of my better rounds at Zebulon during the Dogwood Crosstown Challenge last year, making me wonder if maybe I wasn't better off on a long course.

Well, I took a 6 on the very first hole, and I thought I was in for a long weekend. It was a long weekend, but I somehow managed to hold it together. I played three mediocre/poor rounds (70, 68, 70 on 19 holes) and one great for me round (58 on 18 holes).

To give an idea about the last round:
1) It was the highest rated tournament round I've thrown, ever.
2) It was the highest rated round for my division (Advanced Masters) that weekend.
3) It tied or beat 6 open players and 6 Open Master players. (Not that my overall score was anything close to them...just saying on a given round if I play over my head and they have a terrible round...)

Now this is strange. It goes against several "conventional wisdom" points I've developed...specifically a) I do better on short courses than long (because I can putt and can't drive over 260 feet consistently; b) I have to start hot and hold on because I wilt over time as I get tired; c) I do better if those around me are playing better.

Granted it may just have been a strange biorhythm day or something, but I felt strong and despite having some ups and downs and not getting a good score in the morning, I was still able to finally break through and shoot a good round on Sunday afternoon. The last round should erase the other three as far as my rating (all four average 870) tourney should help my rating a little, I think, and I'm glad I went. Next stop, the Great 8:

Saturday
RD 1 (Starting on Hole 17)(Alternate hole=2B)(837 rating)
4-2/2-5 4-4-3 6-3-4 (37) 6-3-3 3-3-3 4-3-5 (33) (70)

RD 2 (Starting on Hole 17)(Alternate hole=2B)(866 rating)
3-3/3-4 2-5-3 3-3-6 (35) 3-3-3 3-4-4 4-5-4 (33) (68)

Sunday

RD 3 (Starting on Hole 17)(Alternate hole=2b) (841)
4-3/3-6 3-4-3 4-3-6 (39) 3-4-3 3-4-3 4-3-4 (31) (70)

RD 4 (Starting on Hole 14)(18 holes) (936)
3-2-4 3-3-3 4-3-4 (29) 4-3-3 3-3-3 4-3-3 (29) (58)

A couple of things I learned, too:

If I'm having mechanical problems, I need to fix them with the mechanics, not by changing discs.
A stroke counts the same no matter where you get it. We tend to think that the blow up holes are the ones that get us, but I felt like I was doing well in Round 3 but flubbed a few approaches and had two penalties for OB making 4s out of 3s and a 6 out of a sure 5 and maybe a 4. Every hole counts.

"R.I.P. Tony Soprano"

My thoughts on the series finale of "The Sopranos" are now available at "The Matthews House Project." Follow this link to read the article.

2007 State Games of North Carolina

Ugggh.

I had hopes for a better showing here, especially since my highest rated tournament rounds were at a short course. (Though I did have comparably rated rounds at Zebulon.) It was a one day tournament, so I thought fatigue would be less of a factor and it was a short course. I just couldn't make a 10 foot putt all day (for birdie, anyways, I made a few 15-20 footers for par). I think that's just a concentration issue as well as being tired. There's no reason to miss putts of that length. (Instead of putting the disc you just open your hand and gravity almost immediately makes the disc drop.)

Plus it always seems like someone is having a bad round and hence in a foul mood.

Still, I did get the ace in my warm up round Friday, and any round below par is a good round, even if it's an 850 rated round.

One being the number of my strokes and the number of my strokes being one...

Career Ace #4

June 22, 2007
Johnson Street Disc Golf Course; High Point, NC.

Hole #16--White Tees--179 feet.
Disc: Champion Roadrunner
Witnesses: Cindy

Was I upset that I got the ace while playing a practice round for tournament tomorrow? I was not. The rest of the weekend is gravy.

Best...round...ever.

So I was fortunate enough to get paired up with Wes at tonight's blind-draw, best shot doubles at OT Sloan, and found myself on the winning team for the second time this season.

We shot a 40, which is, I'm pretty sure, my lowest round of disc golf, ever. (If it isn't, it's tied; Chris Temple and I might have shot a 40 at Higher Ground two years ago.)

What made this one especially gratifying is that I actually contributed to the team effort, making a few medium range putts, a solid approach on 11, and a handful of drives that led to birdies. I usually joke with Wes that my strategy is for him to shoot a -11 and I'll promise to get one of the seven holes he misses. There's more than a grain of truth in that, but I'm finally getting to the point in my game where I feel like I can be an asset to a pairing and not just along for the ride. I'm still not going to carry anyone to victory, but (I hope) I can let some of the better players be a little loose, knowing they don't have to make every shot.

Im a...what's that other thing, you know, the opposite of a loser?

Probably less than twenty showed up for this month's monthly at OT Sloan (all up in Winston-Salem, I guess). Well, I heard the ace pull was over $200, so I figured I'd go play even though there wouldn't be enough players for an Advanced-Masters division.

Because it was a monthly (I guess) we did have a division of two Masters...but it was played as Pro Masters because that's what the other guy played. I figured, okay, only real difference between that an playing open was who I gave my money to. Well, I won. (Last tourny victory of any kind...not weekly doubles...2002 Shenandoah Shag Intermediate division.)

I did manage to place in the prizes at Advanced once in a monthly...but little did I know, I have now won a pro division. (My take...$8 [paid in $12 got back $20]).

Unfortunately nobody hit the ace pool, so back for doubles on Monday.

Missed Opportunities

The disc golf theme this month is missed opportunities. Earlier this month I shot a 63 to tie for first (after one round) at the King's Cup only to follow it up with a 67, 69, and 73 (to finish 5th, I think).

Today I shot 8 birdies from the short tees at Buckhorn, and was putting to go to -7 at 16. Unfortunately, I three putted and then put an approach in the water on 17. Still a good round (51), but I had an opportunity to break my personal best.

I guess the King's Cup wasn't really a missed opportunity so much as a bad idea. By half way through the second round, various aches and pains were beating me up, and I just wanted to get off the course. I slept poorly and woke up not feeling great for day two. I really need to not play in two day tournaments, especially on long courses. I'm not sure what possessed me to sign up for four rounds from the pro tees...I pretty much did what I always do on those sorts of tournies--started out well and then lost gas and eventually interest as something I normally do for fun (play DG) turned into a grind. I think I would have been better off just playing the doubles and the first day of the tourny. (Since I don't need points because I don't want/need to qualify for anything and am not playing in the money anyway, I'm not sure why I didn't just play day one).

Buckhorn was irritating. I definitely left some strokes on the course that made the difference between a great round and my personal best. Ah well, that's golf.

Rescue Dawn

Christian Spotlight on Entertainment has published my review of Werner Herzog's RescueDawn.

To read the review, click here.

Sanford Spring Sling III

Observations:

1) I got miscalibrated on this course. I know it had been over a year since I had thrown it, but I had recollections of -3 being "about average." Now, I suppose tournament conditions might add a stroke or two, and it was windy. But I had a tough time shooting par (only 1 in 4 rounds). More to the point, the scores across the board were not reflective of the degree of difficulty I remembered. For example, I remembered the course as being maybe a "tad" tougher than Kentwood, especially on the back nine, but while a 49 on the former was rated as a 905 round, a 53 at OT Sloan was rated 922.

2) That 922 was my highest rated tournament round of golf, I think. First time I shot over the 915 threshold, which is supposed to be the window for the advanced division.

3) I hit the red number on the top of the basket on 15, narrowly missing my fourth career ace. It's been almost two years since my last ace, and I've hit chains and basket several times on my tee shots in the intervals (on holes 1, 5, 9, and 15 at OT Sloan; holes 1, 7, 8, 14 at Buckhorn, 1, 6, 9 at Kentwood...you get the drill). This effort did get my a CTP--a cordless phone and t-shirt from Windsteam Communications (love them sponsors).

4) I struggled for most of two rounds (the early rounds both days) and really worked to not just explode. Not giving away loose shots when things aren't going well really is a discipline.

5) If you're only going to do one thing marginally well, it might as well be putt. Putting not only helps your score by getting birdies, it increases your margin for error on approaches. The extra strokes you don't add to your score are just as important as the birides you make.

6) I really need to learn to throw a thumber. I don't even need to throw it well, just enough to have it in a place where that is the only throw called for.

7) There are jerks (I was going to use a word that started with "A" and ends in "holes") and nice guys at pretty much every tournament and at most levels of competition.

8) The worse a good player is going, the bigger jerk he is. The better a novice/intermediate player is playing, the bigger jerk he is.

9) There are a lot of foot faults in disc golf, even in tournaments.

10) Over four rounds I took 14 strokes on hole 5--the easiest on the course. Go figure.

11) I lost a second CTP by the length of Gary's toe. Grrrr.

12) I'll never understand why people don't want you to clear the basket after a made putt.

13) I'll never understand why people ask you to clear the basket after a made putt and then don't wait for you to walk clear of the basket before they putt.

14) Applied learning is a wonderful thing. I remembered the lesson from Roselane last week about a heavy tail wind on a short approach. I putt a bit more on a short approach and sure enough when the tail wind knocked it down still had enough to get it close.

15) I hit four trees less than fifty feet away from me (three on intermediate approaches)...man that is annoying.

16) I'm getting to the point where playing 72 holes in two days is bordering on work rather than fun--and where I feel it in my back and muscles for a day or two afterwards.

17) Ticks bite...and they suck.

Round 1 (Starting Hole 12)
3-4-2 3-4-3 3-3-2 (27) Out
3-4-2 4-3-3 5-4-2 (30) In 57 (Rating 857)

Round 2 (Staring Hole 13)
3-3-2 2-3-3 4-3-3 (26) Out
3-4-3 3-3-3 3-3-3 (28) in 54 (Rating 889)

Round 3 (Starting Hole 13)

3-3-2 4-4-3 3-2-3 (27) Out
4-5-2 3-3-3 5-3-3 (31) In 58 (Rating 858)

Round 4 (Starting Hole 12)
3-3-2 3-3-3 2-3-2 (24) Out
4-4-3 3-3-2 4-3-3 (29) In 53 (Rating 922)

Postscript--I believe this makes my average rating for all four rounds an 881, which means I shot a whopping 4 points above my PDGA rating (877); Looked at differently, the PDGA rating correctly predicted my score after 4 rounds to within 1/2 a stroke. Sheesh. I guess Bill Parcells was right...you are what your record says you are. (But at least I'm still getting better.)

Lucky You (2007)

Link to my review of Lucky You at Christian Spotlight on Entertainment.

Stephens County Pro Am #6 (2007)

Some things I learned:

1) You are what your record says you are. There is a reason I feel like I'm in this no man's land between Advanced and Intermediate. I shot a 73-77 (24 holes each), which the PDGA website said were rounds of 899 and 889 rating. Advanced rating according to PDGA is 915 and up. (At least that appears to be when you are required to play in that division.) At roughly 9 points per stroke (b/c the course playing marginally more difficult than the average course which is 10 points per stroke), that means I played 2-3 strokes (over 24 holes, roughly 1-2 strokes over 18) higher than a typical advanced player.

2) Size may not matter but length does. I just can't drive as far as players 40-50 points higher than me. My short game is okay, but not above average.

3) Every stroke counts the same. The most important putt I made was the first hole; it helped me recover from a shaky drive and shakier approach. Starting +1 just gets me off on the wrong foot.

4) I'm mentally stronger than I have been but still not totally there yet. At one point in round 1 I was -2 and putting for birdie. I had one of those putts where the disc hit the basket, fell to the ground, flukishly landed on its edge and rolled fifty feet away, turning a possible two into a four. Earlier I might have let that derail my whole round or day. For the first time in a tournament setting I was able to shake off a bad break and still play some good golf. In my second round I was very tired, but I managed to finish birdie, par on holes 10 and 11. In another age I might have figured (rightly) that I was out of it and just picked up a few loose strokes, but I'm trying to play from first hole to last.

5) A tail wind doesn't just knock the disc down on putts. My most difficult lesson was a 70 foot approach that only went maybe 40 feet because the tail wind just knocked it straight down into the ground. Cost me a stroke on what should have been an easy three, but that is a lesson I will remember.

Round 1 (Starting on hole 14)(Short pins, short tees)

3-3-2 3-3-3 3-5-3 3-3-3 3-3-2 2-4-4 4-2-3 2-3-4 (73)

Round 2 (Starting on hole 12)(Long pins, short tees)

4-2-4 3-5-3 4-5-3 2-3-3 2-3-2 3-3-4 3-3-3 3-4-3 (77)

Forgiving Dr. Mengele

I noted today that this film is now widely available on DVD; I saw it available at Blockbuster and is now available at Netflix. My review is here.

Tournament Preparation

I'm playing in the Stephens County Pro Am this weekend, and I decided to try to prepare for a tournament in a slightly different way--I've been playing rounds leading up to the tournament designed to take me out of the comfort zone.

I went on a Sunday to Buckhorn because I knew it would be crowded and got in with a group. Sometimes the pace of play in a tournament can throw you off. Yesterday, I threw from the pro tees to get different looks at holes and practice throwing holes I hadn't seen in a while. This tactic also made me work on my approach game--really trying to be 100% up and down in 2 from within 150 feet.

I shot a 60 from the pro tees at Buckhorn (with a 3 putt on hole 5...grrr), so I hope I'm not leaving it all on the practice greens.

"Like the Decalogue,...

...but funny," is how director Mark Wain is quoted as describing The Ten in the new issue of Entertainment Weekly.

You know, I'm trying to think of a single sentence that would make me less inclined to go see a movie, and I'm having a rough time of it.

Possible candidates would probably include the phrases: "snuff film," "Mary-Kate and Ashley," "Deuce Bigalow" and, "Jar Jar Binks."

What I Can't Find at Blockbuster

Ever since I got Total Access, I'm catching up on some TV on DVD that I never watched (those free trade ins...)

Anyways, I started watching 24, Season 2, which is like 6 years old...and when I got to Disc 3...my Blockbuster store in Fuquay had it checked out. For like a week now. So, on my way to work, I stopped at the Blockbuster in Spring Lake, and...it was also checked out. Back to Fuquay yeterday. Disc 1 and 2 are in. Disc 4 and 5 and 6-7 are in. Still no disc two.

Today I went to Cary to see Persona at the Galaxy theater. I stopped in Holly Springs on the way home, which also has a Blockbuster. It had 24 season 2 on DVD. It had discs 4, 5, and 6-7, but disc 3 was...checked out.

Bizarre. Guess I should find some other 6 year old television show to watch.

The Sopranos

I guess my prediction is that Phil Leotardo is going to whack Christopher, but everyone (most especially Carmella) will think that Tony did it.

Then again, in six plus seasons I have never correctly predicted a Sopranos turn.

More likely to get killed: Tony or Harry Potter?

Easter Golf

Bit of a cold spell running through North Carolina this weekend, but it wasn't so cold that I couldn't get in a round of Easter Golf.

Consecutive two putts on 9 and 10 left me three over and then, wow, birdies on 11, 13, 15, and 16 to finish -1.

Must...resist...cheesy Easter cliche about come backs. Really was a phenomenal finish. I have to remember to keep fighting no matter how bad a round gets.

Lolita

So...I was doing an electronic search through the Wake County Public Library for a recorded book version of Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita.

I found it, but what caught my eye was the subject heading: erotic fiction.

Umm. Sort of. Lolita is probably the least erotic book I can think of, but whatever.

Persistence

Last week Cindy and I went out to Zebulon to play the disc golf course there. It is a long and particularly challenging course, so I was frustrated when we took a 4 on the second hole--one of the easiest on the course. We played through it, though, and eventually shot a 58.

Today I went to Buckhorn. I had a birdie on the first hole but took a disastrous 6 on hole 3. I fought back and even got under par before taking a bogey on 17 to finish the round at a respectable 54.

I'm doing better at fighting through an early set back and finding that I even have some successful rounds when doing so. I always used to feel like to have a great or even really good round I had to get off to a hot start, but really, you just have to play every hole.

Offside

My latest film column, about Jafar Panahi's Offside and other Iranian films is now available at The Matthews House Project.

Movie Prayers: Ragtime (1981)

“Lord…I’d hoped I’d have the courage to know what I should do. You must see how sick at heart I’ve been, and how I’ve performed this thing with little appetite….I’d hoped you’d reveal to me along the way why you put such a rage in my heart! [Pause] Tell me what to do now! [Pause, softer] Please. God, tell me what to do.”

Movie Prayers: A Man for All Seasons (1966)

"Dear Lord, give us rest tonight, or if we must be wakeful, cheerful, careful only for our soul's salvation, for Christ's sake. Amen. [Pause.] And bless our lord, the king."

Movie Prayers: The End of the Affair (1999)

“Dear God please…let him live. Please bring him back. Please don’t take him. I’ll give him up forever. Only, please, let him be alive. Let him live, and I promise…I’ll never see him again.”

Call For Papers: Faith and Spirituality in World Cinema

CFP--Faith and Spirituality in World Cinema (8/1/2007; collection)

Institutional grant funding has been secured to custom publish an anthology of new essays dealing with the depiction of religious faith or spirituality in world cinema. The editors seek proposals for critically informed, previously unpublished essays that explore the representation of faith and spirituality in canonical works of film. Although all proposals are welcome, essays dealing with one or more of the following directors are especially solicited:

--Michelangelo Antonioni

--Ingmar Bergman

--Robert Bresson

--Luis Buñuel

--Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne

--Carl Theodor Dreyer

--Krzysztof Kieslowski

--Akira Kurosawa

--Yasujiro Ozu

--Roberto Rossellini

--Andrei Tarkovsky.

Essays should demonstrate a familiarity with the reception history or critical dialogue surrounding the director(s) or film(s) being discussed, but they should avoid being openly derivative.

The deadline for proposals is August 1, 2007.

Electronic submissions are welcome.

Please direct proposals, submissions, or questions to:

Kenneth R. Morefield

Department of English

Campbell University

PO Box 507

Buies Creek, NC 27506

morefieldk@campbell.edu

Think You Know Me? Prove It!

Yes, I'm hopeless derivative. I saw a link to this site at Todd's blog, so I had to make one of my own.

You have 20 questions, and they are all about ME! Take the test

http://www.truefriendtest.com/friendtest/155602

Movie Prayers: Offret (The Sacrifice)

Our Father, who...
Our Father, who art in Heaven...
hallowed by thy name...
Thy Kingdom come..
Thy will be done...
Give us this day our daily bread...
And deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the Kingdom...
and the Power...
and the Glory.
Amen.
Lord!
Deliver us in this terrible time.
Don't let my children die,
nor my friends...
my wife...
Victor...
All those who love Thee and believe in Thee...
All those who do not believe in Thee, because they are blind...
those who haven't given Thee a thought...
simply because they haven't yet been truly miserable.
All those who in this hour have lost their hope, their future...
their lives...
and the opportunity to surrender to Thy will.
All those who are filled with dread
who feel the End coming closer...
who fear, not for themselves, but for their loved ones.
All those whom no one,
except Thou, can offer protection.
Because this war is the ultimate war
a horrible thing.
And after it, there will be no victors and no vanquished...
no cities or towns, grass or trees,
water in the wells,
or birds in the sky.
I will give Thee all I have.
I'll give up my family, whom I love.
I'll destroy my home,
and give up Little Man.
I'll be mute, and never speak another word to anyone.
I will relinquish everything that binds me to life...
if only Thou dost restore everything as it was before...
as it was this morning and yesterday
Just let me be rid of
this deadly...
sickening, animal fear!
Yes, everything!
Lord!
Help me...
I will do everything I have promised Thee.

Movie Prayers: Les Anges du Peche

"Let me talk to you directly. Your saints will understand why. Look at me...listen to me! Take my anguish away from me. Tell me the burden you loaded me with by letting me know a desperate soul's secret is a test which will breed my purest joy. Protect me with your Hand. Deliver us from evil..."

"You who never sleep...you watch over me. Thank you for receiving me every night. They have filled the gap with thorns. For them, I'm a prowler...stealing bits of eternal peace. For you, I remain your child. Every night I leave my barn to come to you and [???] a world-wide audience. You are not a S[???] yet you desired to stay with us as long as possible like a sample human being...a simple brother. That is why I dare offer you...my miserable complaint before my prayers. Help me, my grief is too deep! And Teresa, Teresa who you entrusted to me...let me recognize her voice in that hymn...which I have no longer the right to sing. "[Faints]

For The Record

For the record, yes, I have been banned from a certain website at which I used to post comments about spirituality and the arts. The moderator has denied several times that this is the case, and I'm mostly willing to say "whatever" and move on, but I mention it here because I recently received yet another "Private Message" from a user of that site to which I was unable to respond because he was using the site's internal messaging function which no longer works for my account.

Because several people have asked me whether or not this is just some cute semantic parsing or honest misunderstanding about terminology, by "banned" I mean:

1) I am administratively prohibited from posting comments at this site. (No, I have not asked to be banned from posting comments. Yes, I have tried to post comments. I receive a pop-up message saying, "Your posting privileges have been removed.")

2) I am unable to send messages using the site's messaging function nor to respond to messages sent to me. (No, I did not ask to have my messaging capabilities revoked. Yes, I have tried to reply to private messages. I receive a message that says I have exceeded your message limit and the message has not been sent, regardless of the fact that I do not have any messages in my inbox or sent folder.)

If you recently sent me a private message from this website and I have not responded, either:
a) I didn't get it.
b) I got it but could not respond to it because I don't have your e-mail address and you don't have it listed in your profile at the site in question.

Ken

MacGuffins of Men--Contrarian Blog-A-Thon

Earlier this month at Matthew's House Project, I posted a response to the question, "What makes a good contrarian review?"

This weekend, The Contrarian Blog-A-Thon officially gets underway, so I wanted to participate by writing a contrarian take on a current release. The general consensus in the preparatory comments at Jim Emerson's blog seemed to be that it is easier to be a nay-sayer than a white knight, though doing either well (as opposed to being contrarian for the sake of it) strikes me as equally difficult.

As the title here suggests, my contrary take is on Children of Men, Alfonso Cuaron's ninety-one percent "fresh" thriller that garnered an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay.

I know some critics, especially in Christian media, have been knocking the screenplay for losing what is perceived to be the latent (or implicit) Christian content of James's novel, but my reservations are of a different sort.

I thought the film was, essentially, one long set piece chase scene. It was a cross between Terminator and The Gauntlet, with a strong, cynical male hero protecting an innocent female whose survival is more important than his own.

A MacGuffin (alt. maguffin, McGuffin) is a plot element which advances the story and/or motivates the characters but which remains ambiguous as to its details. Whether it be the papers in Casablanca (are the Germans really going to let them leave just because they have papers?) or the trial in Snakes on a Plane (does it really matter why they are on the plane?), the particular details of the MacGuffin (maybe even the internal consistency of them) are immaterial.

There is a MacGuffin in Children of Men; it is the baby. Oh, but someone might object, the baby is the whole point of the film--the survival of humanity depends upon its survival. Maybe, maybe not. The details as to the whether or not this baby is unique [or only its mother] and whether it will have a better chance of survival with the shadowy "Human Project" are largely absent from the film.

I actually like the way Wikipedia puts it: "A true MacGuffin is essentially interchangeable. Its importance will generally be accepted completely by the story's characters, with minimal explanation." With minimal explanation it is accepted by the story's characters that it is necessary that Kee and her baby survive and be delivered to the Human Project. Because minimal explanation is required, Kee and her baby are "essentially interchangeable" with any other object that would need to be delivered from point "A" to point "B" in order to save the future of mankind: a plague vaccine, a secret formula for food, war plans, a portkey to another dimension. The important point is not how Kee and her baby will save mankind but only that someone in the story--Clive Owen--believes they will.

In my preparatory piece at The Matthew's House Project, I argued: "[M]any of the best—or most persuasive--contrarian reviews I’ve read are the ones that reveal weakness or problems within a film that have been hiding in plain sight rather than the reviews that attempt to argue for problems that only the contrarian critic was sharp enough to spot."

To illustrate this point, let me indicate how many of the positive reviews mention--but overlook--the film's deficiencies:

"The infertility theme isn't explored in any depth. What exactly will it accomplish to get Kee out of the country? Since the future of mankind rests on this pregnant girl, we want details. "Children of Men" leaves too many questions unanswered, yet it has a stunning visceral impact. You can forgive a lot in the face of filmmaking this dazzling."--David Ansen, Newsweek

"...[T]akes the classic movie formula of a cynical tough guy required to see an innocent party to safe harbor, and shoots it to pieces."--Ray Bennett, The Hollywood Reporter (who calls the film "gripping"). While insisting that the film revitalizes rather than merely regurgitates the formula, Bennett doesn't exactly say which parts are new or how it is innovative (except that its vision of the future is different from that presented in recent films by "Richard Curtis and Woody Allen"). At another point, Bennett goes from saying in one paragraph that "there's barely a pause for breath" to claiming in another that the film "take[s] sufficient time to register the deeper impact of things that are troubling the world." These are not exactly contradictory claims, but their juxtaposition is suggestive.

"It contains evocative passages and some interesting and powerful ideas, but it often reads too much like an erudite potboiler." -- James Berardinelli, Reelviews (who awards the film three stars out of four).

"[T]he future he presents is so poorly conceived and full of contradictions, and is such a non sequitur coming just 20 years down the road, that we never buy it long enough to suspend disbelief."-- William Arnold, Seattle Post-Intelligencer (who calls the film "a solid action movie").

My point here is not that Children of Men is the worst film of all time or that those who rated it highly are conscious hypocrites. My larger point isn't even about Children of Men at all but rather about contrarianism.

In this day of marketing hype and review saturation, the difference between a contrarian review and an assenting review is often little more than a matter of which the viewer trusts more--the consensus opinion or his or her own two eyes.

Munich, Contrarianism, and Effective Arguments

Later this month (February 16-18) Jim Emerson (Scanners Blog) will be sponsoring a Contrarianism Blog-A-Thon. Among the questions Emerson asked film writers to explore: what makes a good contrarian argument? I like this question for many reasons, not the least of which is that I’ve been thinking a lot recently about how reputation, marketing, and popularity affect our reception of commercial art and entertainment.

For the full column, click here to go to the Matthew's House Project.

2006 FFCC Awards

So the big award ceremony you are all waiting for with baited breath is coming out...well, today, I was told.

Yes, it's the 2006 Faith and Film Critics Circle (FFCC) awards. This marks either the third or the fourth year I've voted in it, and if past performance is any indicator, generally nothing I vote for makes the top three in any category and there will be at least one award that makes me doubt my colleagues' sanity. (Lord of the Rings for best adapted screenplay?)[Ah, a quick peak at the archives suggests there is the rare synchronicity of opinion; I think I did vote for Philip Seymour Hoffman last year.] But I'm a member, and as long as they are going to keep counting my votes and not just throw me out of the group for not liking what everyone else does, I think I'm supposed to promote group activities...so here we go.

Aaaaaanyhoooo...for the three people who actually care about this that aren't, you know, in the the FFCC, below is a copy of the ballot I submitted. Can I give a shout out to Dennis Quaid? He almost did for American Dreamz what Johnny Depp did for the original Pirates of the Caribbean. If you are wondering what he's doing on this list, go rent the American Dreamz dvd and watch just the scenes he is in.

Pretty much everything else is either safely esoteric (I mean, if we lined up all the people who saw Climates on one side and all the people who saw Forgiving Dr. Mengele on the other--would we have enough for a girl's basketball game in the state of Iowa?) or so patently right that if you disagree with me you are, well....wrong.

MOST SIGNIFICANT EXPLORATION OF SPIRITUAL ISSUES

• 1) L'Enfant
• 2) Requiem
• 3) Forgiving Dr. Mengele

BEST NARRATIVE FILM

• 1) L'Enfant
• 2) Climates
• 3) Requiem
• 4) The Queen
• 5) Pan's Labyrinth

BEST DOCUMENTARY

• 1) Shut Up and Sing
• 2) Forgiving Dr. Mengele
• 3) When the Levees Broke
• 4) The Pervert's Guide to Cinema
• 5) Lake of Fire

BEST ACTOR

1) Jérémie Renier - L'Enfant

• 2) Edward Norton - The Illusionist

BEST ACTRESS

• 1) Sandra Huller - Requiem
• 2) Victoria Hill-MacBeth
• 
  
• 
  

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

• 1) Dennis Quaid--American Dreamz
• 2) Rufus Sewell--The Illusionist
• 3) Paul Giammati--The Illusionist
• 4) Adrian Grenier--The Devil Wears Prada

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

• 1) Déborah François - L'Enfant

BEST DIRECTOR

• 1) Luc and Jean -Pierre Dardenne - L'Enfant
• 2) Barbara Kopple--Shut Up and Sing
• 3) Sophie Fiennes--The Pervert's Guide to Cinema
• 4) Tony Kaye--Lake of Fire

BEST ENSEMBLE CAST

• 1)The Devil Wears Prada
• 2) Pan's Labyrinth

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

• 1) Luc and Jean -Pierre Dardenne - L'Enfant
• 2) Pan's Labyrinth

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

• 1) The Illusionist
• 2) V for Vendetta
• 3) The Devil Wears Prada

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

• 1) Gorkhan Tiryaki--Climates

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

• No vote

BEST FILM FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY

• No Vote

Movie Prayers: The Merchant of Venice

"Some god direct my judgment!"--Act II, Scene 7

Paragraph 175 (2000)

A short (81 minutes) and somber documentary by the directors of The Celluloid Closet and The Times of Harvey Milk, Paragraph 175 details the internment and treatment of homosexuals during the rise and rule of the Nazi party in Germany.

Was it my imagination, the editing, or the participants that made me feel as though the participants had to break through emotional and psychological walls of reluctance and diffidence in order to relate their experiences? The film suggests that unlike other Holocaust survivors, gay men have not been an encouraged to tell their stories, have been met with rejection when they tried. Given the fact that Paragraph 175 was not rescinded in Germany until decades after the war, many of the homosexuals who were imprisoned were still looked at as criminals rather than victims.

The participants themselves range from the angry to the melancholy to the shell shocked, and it is surprising (at least to me) how many times we can hear stories of lives torn apart by war and yet not feel them to be rote or repetitive. There is always a cadence, a detail of memory, that personalizes the story and makes it seems very real, and a good part of the film's emotional impact comes from hearing the survivor's and experiencing their stories not as a unique part of history but as a part that was experienced emotionally as anyone would who lost a loved one.

One participants relates of spending a night with a lover only to have the Gestapo arrest his compatriot (but not him) the next morning. "It had a different value then," he says softly, "...a night of love."

Perhaps, though, a night of love always has the same value. It is we who feel (or fail to feel) that value differently depending upon our circumstances.

Where the Heart Roams (1987)

Showing signs of age but still interesting as a document of a cultural phenomenon in its infancy, Where the Heart Roams centers around the time when the Romance Novel began to come out of the shadows and become a cottage industry. It follows several authors and wannabes as they tour America on the (I'm not making this up) "Love Train," an Amtrak special moving cross country to bring its occupants to a Romance writer's conference.

The film is ultimately too respectful to be campy fun and too clinical to be anything else. Only really when E. Jean Carroll is on screen is there any hint of irony, and she is careful to diplomatically let those aspects of the industry or writers that she finds ludicrous or contradictory speak for themselves.

Janet Dailey offers the following:

A romance novel is..is an excitement. It deals with feelings. The feelings of a woman...how she feels when a man pays attention to her, how she feels when, when, he kisses her, when he makes love to her. The things that she feels and the things that are important to her, things that are very difficult to verbalize, but it's a writer's responsibility to write them.

It's about "things" and "feelings" are definitely one of the "things" it's about. Check.

There's some cursory examination of the business aspects of the industry that I would have liked to have heard more about--an editor tries to give one aspiring writer a set of guidelines about how the series she is seeking to contribute to is arranged, but these are writers who are clearly attached emotionally to their subject matter in ways that make editing painful.

Also of interest might have been conflicts between the first and second generations of writers. Both seem to agree that women want the Romance as a means of escapism, fueled in part by their entrance into the work force. There is also this insistence that the whole enterprise is vaguely feminist in its insistence on allowing women to chose and pursue what they want, but although we are told anecdotally about the corporate businesswoman who runs a conglomerate by day and fills her nights with bodice-rippers, the women we see mostly appear to be domestics who see the chance to write as more comforting than liberating--participating in the formula creates a sense of belonging and acceptance.

Trendsetter Barbara Cartland was not yet too old to participate, and her accomplishments earned her tribute from her followers even as they largely ignored her advice and she denigrated their work as soft porn. Not since Samuel Richardson wrote Pamela has there been an author so openly instructional about how to get your man:

Then I get an enormous amount [of letters] from married women saying I've helped their marriages enormously, because they've realized that they're not giving enough love to their husbands, they're not making things beautiful enough for him. And they're beginning to understand that if you want to keep a man--to keep him faithful--you have to work at it very hard and you have to make his prison, which is his home, really attractive for him. Otherwise he breaks out, and that's the trouble with the divorces today, it's because women are not doing their job.

According to Wikipedia's biography, Cartland was divorced at least once, amidst charges and counter charges of infidelity.

Gymkata (1985)

Today, while looking up some information on Gymkata to make a message board post about Children of Men, I happened to notice that the camp classic was...wait for it...banned in Finland?

There has to be a story behind this that is not nearly as interesting as all the ones my imagination is coming up with. I tried Google, but didn't find anything.

Anyone able to help me out with the skinny on this--or even an entertaining lie?

I Heart Facets Part II

The Pervert's Guide to Cinema (2006)

As a lovely parting gift for being banned from a certain message-board website, a friend of mine recently sent me Sophie Fiennes documentary in three parts on DVD.

I first saw the film at The Toronto International Film Festival in 2006, and while I wasn't blown away, I did enjoy every minute.

What captured my love in the first viewing was Zizek's infectious enthusiasm and obvious love for film. So much theory (be it film or literary) is dry and lifeless because the writer obviously looks at it as work.

What I noticed most upon a second viewing was the direction by Fiennes. Sure the placing of Zizek within sets carefully designed to look like the movies he is commenting upon is a conceit, but the cleverness/shock value actually wears out pretty quickly, and were he not saying anything of interest the fact that he was sitting in a bathroom that looks identical to the one Gene Hackman was investigating in The Conversation wouldn't be of much interested.

What's interesting are the cuts, the way Fiennes keeps the rapid flow of energy going so that the viewer is able to forgive the number of thoughts Zizek doesn't quite finish before moving on to the next one.

I think a less sure director would have tried take after take in an attempt to streamline, to make it more coherent even at the cost of making it more dull. Like the uncontrollable body parts that Zizek riffs upon, the film itself is full of life and energy, occasionally banging into walls but always rising unhurt to go barrelling at a 100 mph into the next wall.

Great, great fun. Do see it if you get a chance.

Movie Prayers: The Simpsons

"Are you there, God? It's me, Bart Simpson. I know I never paid too much attention in church, but I could really use some of that good stuff now. I'm afraid. I'm afraid some weirdo's got my soul, and I don't know what they're doing to it. I just want it back. Please? Well, I hope you can hear this...." (3F02: Bart Sells His Soul)

More Blockbuster Blunders

I like Blockbuster; I really do.
I keep trying to let them compete with Netflix, but they continually find ways to mess things up.

Case in point, I "broke a set" in my Blockbuster queue so that I could place items in between discs of Battlestar Galactica Season 2.5. Anything that takes a little longer to watch (because Cindy and I both watch it, means I don't want more than one disc at home at a time).

So, anyway, Blockbuster gets a return, sees item #1 on my queue is BG 2.5 Disc 1. It is classified as "Long Wait"; it quickly scans down my list and instead sends me the first item on my list that is available now...

Battlestar Galactica, Season 2.5--Disc 2.

Cindy's reply..."how come that never happens with Netflix?"

And people wonder why the Red and White continue to gain subscribers, even with Blockbuster rolling out Total Access package.

I Heart Facets

Those who hang out at various web forums where I post know that I recently discovered Facets while trying to track down a copy of Antonioni's The Red Desert to view. (It is out of print.)

Well, I got their freedom pass, a service similar to Netflix but which allows me access to their VHS library. Yummy.

Then, to top it off, they sent me this message today about a 99 cent sale on selected VHS titles:

After Sex
The American Soldier
The Bank
Before the Revolution
The Conductor
Enjo
Fireworks
Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle
In Praise of Love
In The White City
Interview
Knife in the Head
Ladies on the Rocks
Life and Debt
Life is to Whistle
Maborosi
Marius and Jeanette
Mon Oncle d'Amerique
The Mystery of Kaspar Hauser
Paragraph 175
Pickpocket
The Plot Against Harry
Provincial Actors
Rendezvous in Paris
Running Out of Time
Sand and Blood
Second Skin
The Silence
The Swindle
Taboo
Taxi Blues
Three Lives and Only One Death
To Be and to Have
Trembling Before G-d
Two Friends
Under the Sun
Unknown Pleasures
Unmade Beds
Voices of Sarafina
Voyage en Douce
When I Close My Eyes
Where the Heart Roams
The Wind Will Carry Us
Without Anesthesia

Movie Prayers: The Trial of Joan of Arc

"O gentle Lord, if you love me, tell me what to say to these churchmen." -- Joan

2007 Movie Journal

Attentive readers to this blog will notice that I've added a viewing journal for 2007.

This is a bit uncharacteristic for me, since I find the self-absorption of many bloggers or Internet posters to be somewhat ludicrous. Just about anyone who might care what I'm viewing is a Netflix friend or on a discussion group with me.

Still, it is an interesting exercise in one sense. Just as the first step in budgeting money is to chart your spending, so too the first step in focusing time and energy in writing and artistic engagement is to chart what you're spending time on.

It's actually been an interesting exercise thus far, and more affirming than I might have thought.

Coming Soon: Contrarianism Blog-A-Than

Jim Emerson over at Scanners Blog has announced a contrarian blog-a-than for February 16-18th.

What makes a good contrarian argument? When is going against conventional wisdom inspired and when is it just cranky ad-hominem nit picking? What film do you think is unjustly maligned or inexplicably praised?

Should make for some interesting reading.

The Painted Veil

My review of The Painted Veil is now up at Christian Spotlight on Entertainment; here is the link.

Growing Old in Christ

For the last year or two, I've been looking for a really good book about aging informed by a Christian perspective.

It's been hard. Many books are more about elder care or informed more by a Jungian archetypal overview of life.

I just started Growing Old in Christ edited by Stanley Hauerwas, et. al. and I think it may be just what I was looking for. The opening chapter, "The Christian Practice of Growing Old: The Witness of Scripture" by Richard B. Hays and Judith C. Hays goes beyond homilies about respect for the elders to help instruct how to ground our attitudes about aging (and the aged) in Biblical examples.

Especially poignant is their section reminding us that Jesus did not live into old age:

Jesus models for us a resolute trust in God that empowers us to act freely and bear witness to the truth, even if such witness-bearing leads to death. [...] Thus, Christians are taught by the example of Jesus that we do not have to live in a cautious mode of self-protection, clinging to our lives desperately at all costs, making an idol of our physical survival. (12)

I'm appreciative of this section that it emphasizes cultivating a Christ-like attitude towards our (aging) lives rather than merely listing a prescriptive set of actions. I'm also glad to be reminded (earlier in the chapter) that old age is often a time of unexpected abundance (what a resonant phrase!) and not merely gradual surrender.

Half Nelson

My review of Half Nelson is now up at Matthews House Project.

Requiem (2006)

The Cary News picked up my review of Hans-Christian Schmid's Requiem. It is available here.

Also, the review of Perfume is finally available at Christian Spotlight. It is available here.

Annual Snarky Sports Post

I had about as good a long weekend as a Washington Redskins fan staring at a 5-11 season could have.

What an excrutiatingly painful way for the Cowboys to exit. One can only hope that they will bring Terrell Owens back and that Parcells will have had enough.

Oh, and it looks like we finally settled that arguement about who is truly deserving of being called the second best college football team this year--that would be The Ohio State Buckeyes.

Plus, Campbell won its conference home opener in double overtime. Go fighting Camels.

Two Kinds of Movie Reviews I Despise

With the turnover of the year, I usually read more film reviews than usual in anticipation of finding some quality films on top ten lists to see. I've noticed the growth of two types of non-review/reviews that irritate the heck out of me.

1) The "This movie stunk/I wasn't much impressed and someone convince me otherwise" review. Lazy, lazy, lazy, lazy. Sets up reviewer as arbitrer with the final word and depends on people who like the film to actually do analysis which can then either be cherrypicked or rejected without counterargument. Lazy, lazy, lazy.

Did I mention this was lazy?

2) The "this movie is either great or horrible, but I won't say which because I don't want to influence people who will decide for themselves or get into an argument with people who are wrong...did I say wrong...well, you and I reader know which--great or horrible--it is, wink, wink, nudge, nudge, but we just won't go on the record until there is a consensus upon which we can rest" review. Gutless, gutless, gutless, gutless.

Other than that, I enjoy reading most reviews, even if I don't agree with the take or estimation. I've even "gasp" been known to change my mind in the face of a good analysis.

Any other types of review templates irritate you?

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006)

After not much activity for awhile, I feel like I've had a spate of reviews recently. Just filed my review of Tom Twyker's latest at Christian Spotlight on Entertainment.

The Queen (2006)

Finally saw this today, and I liked it quite a bit. Mirren is all that and the bag of proverbial chips, and I appreciated the way she showed nuanced and controlled emotion where a less accomplished actress might simply go for one note stoicism punctuated by a single, actorly break to signal (without conveying) hidden depths.

I did have a reservation, about which I'm struggling.

On the one hand, I felt like the film committed one of my pet peeves, which was too much underlining, underscoring, or repeating that seemed more for the benefit of the easily bored (or less perceptive) than I like. I'm thinking of the first scene with the buck, replete with tears and dialogue (along the lines of "oh you beautiful thing") that was superfluous; the sort of emotionally intrusive musical soundtrack to create the illusion of emotion that one associates with mainstream, commercial film; not one but three expository speeches from Tony Blair--the "when you get it wrong, you get it really wrong" speech to the aide, followed by the speech to the wife, followed by parts of the postscript scene with the queen; not one but three or four cards on the flowers followed by a reference to the cards on the flowers in the postscript exchange.

On the other hand, a part of me said, "This whole film is about making concessions to the hoi poloi, about having to do violence to oneself and one's ideals so that one's meaning can be received more easily (and lazily) by a mass who isn't sufficiently attuned to or appreciative of one's artistry or performance. For that reason, I thought, "well, maybe those scenes are supposed to grate and in doing so to help you forge an emotional connection with the queen from the inside rather than just as an observer.

My wife's response to that comment was, "Well, that's a nifty spin, hopefully if that wasn't the intent, one of the publicists could come up with it in defending the film." I'm slightly less cynical, and have enough reader-response in my blood that if the film works for me on that frequency, it doesn't exactly matter if that was Frear's motivation for crafting it that way. Sometimes there are fortuitous accidents or results, especially in art that is created through a longer process. It may, for example, have been for non-thematic reasons, that we never see the kids directly, but the effect of their omission coupled with all the rhetoric about protecting them and doing what is best for them informed my response to her character that rippled through the other relationships and parts of the film.

Even within that line of thinking, I really disliked the postscript, but I think fading to black after the archival film of Diana looking at the camera after the funeral session would have been construed as too cynical and left me with a sour taste in my mouth.

I thought Alex Jennings gave a nice performance as Charles, too. What a pill. Hard to do that role without making him come across as a blithering idiot and, hence, totally unsympathetic.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Have a tentative date with the spouse to see the midnight show of Rocky Horror Picture Show tomorrow.

I've never seen this "cult classic." Any suggestions about how to calibrate my expectations or what to do to enhance the experience? I'm sort of approaching it as a cultural anthopological experience, but I'm not above actually trying to enjoy the experience.

Any tips for a RHPS newbie?

Army of Shadows (1969)

In her informative and englightening commentary track, Ginette Vincendeau describes Army of Shadows as demythologizing the resistance. (And, no, I'm not saying that particular description is an example of great insight, just using it as a starting point.)

One of the things I admire about the film is how it accomplishes that feat without being cynical. The film eschews, for the most part, spectacle, and its power doesn't come from the action set pieces we are weaned on and come to expect in genre films, set pieces so increasingly frequent that they have become divorced from any real, consequential meaning and hence don't really thrill so much as distract...but I digress.

The film is somber and filled with loneliness, yet it never seems self-conscious. In a short interview clip accompanying the DVD, director Jean-Pierre Melville talks of himself in somewhat self-deprecating terms, insisting that he is not special for having fought in the war. His affect comes across as neither coy nor angry, and it is this perspective that really distinguishes Army of Shadows, I think, from the films that mythologize war or resistance with insistnence on triumphal justifications or laments of martyrdom. (I'm thinking, for instance, of the ways in which Munich covers similar thematic ground but leaves the grating impression that its protagonists are unique for having been bent by environments not of their choosing and are thus somehow not just pitiable but heroic in their suffering.)

The closest recent studio film that I can think of that reminds me of Army of Shadows is not Munich, in fact, but Unforgiven. The latter, with its tone of introspective weariness, eschews violence but doesn't Romanticize damnation or self-castigation the way too many premature reminisces do. In a Summer filled with a wave of 9/11 films that felt suspiciously self-aggrandizingly martyristic (is that a word?) in their totality, it was strange to see this reminder of other worlds shattered, other lives disrupted.

I haven't said anything about plot, and I find it hard to speak of the film on that level. It is not plotless, but a narrative summary gives away plot points and connections between them best made by the viewer himself. Army of Shadows begins with a painful image of the Germans marching down the Champs d' Elysee and a speaker saying he will not flee painful memories because they are reminders of his youth. The (relative) retrospective distance allows the film to follow several members of the French resistance and the psychological as well as physical damage that the war inflicts upon them.

Everything and everyone seemed so remote in this film, and that, too, is strange for a war film. So often there is a fraternity amongst those who have seen combat or other rough times together, and the way that the necessities of the resistance robs these fighters of even that is strangely touching. Despite the omnipresent threat of death and one up-close-and-personal assault on a German soldier, the war itself, the rest of the world, seems remote, not a maguffin, surely, but not exactly an antagonist upon which all the moral and spiritual problems of the people in the world can be blamed, either. Normalcy--life without war--is even more remote, and these seem to hold a fear within them, especially in an early, brutal scene, that the change in circumstances for which they hope will not restore the ties they had to the world and others in it.

All of which makes Army of Shadows sound nihilistic and despairing. My central conundrum in thinking about the film is that I did not find it so, and yet I struggle to see a source of hope from within the film. There are things I bring to the film that make it possible for me to see the lives that are depicted as something other than wasted; I must think so, for I believe in one who knows the number of hairs on their heads. But that's my sensibility, not Phillipe Gerbier's.

Perhaps I see hope in the film's postscript, suggesting that we may not be able to escape our fate, but we can find dignity in how we accept it. Perhaps there is meaning simply in telling the truth, however painful, and a nobility in refusing to mythologize one's pain to make it more spritually palatable. Perhaps there is meaning in the small connections, touches, fleeting moments that fill the fringes and transitions of our lives (if not the bulk of them). Perhaps the film gives us a model for not mythologizing our own lives, for accepting the truth of Ecclesiastes that says:

Sow your seed in the morning,
and at evening let not your hands be idle,
for you do not know which will succeed,
whether this or that,
or whether both will do equally well. (11:6)

[For more on this film, see also John's write up at Gladsome Morning. And look for a (hopefully) more coherent discussion of the film next month at The Matthew'sHouse Project.]

My 2007 Movie Resolution

Was browsing through Andrew Sarris's (editor) Interviews with Film Directors today and thinking that the interview with Antonioni would be more meaningful if I had recently seen Red Desert. That made me hit on an idea for my 2007 film project.

Sarris's compilation has 40 entries, from Antonioni to Orson Welles. I'll try to screen one film a week, whichever work is most prominently mentioned in the Interview and read that interview. Maybe even blog about it if appropriate.

I figure 40 is a nice number because if I miss a week from getting sick or something, it won't kill me, but it is enough to keep me going pretty regularly.

The first to entries are interviews with Michelangelo Antonioni and Ingmar Bergman. I couldn't find the Red Desert at either Netflix nor Amazon. There were some (pricey) tapes at Amazon, but I put a request in at cafedvd and am keeping an eye out on Ebay. The Bergman interview is from 1956, but it doesn't appear to focus on a particular film. Naked Night is mentioned, but that doesn't seem to be readily available either, so I moved Smiles of a Summer Night to the top of my Netflix queue, since it was the closest in proximity to the interview date that I could find.

The third entry is Robert Bresson and consists of an interview from Cannes about the Trial of Joan of Arc. Currently available through Amazon.com, but only for region zero. Will try to track down where and how I might be able to play that.

The fourth is Peter Brook, so I put Lord of the Flies on my Netflix and Blockbuster queues.

Well, I'm off to research region zero/PAL format.

Happy New Year to All.

Favorite Theatrical Film Releases from 2006

My friend Ron Reed over at A&F asked me for a year's best list, and I'm not sure I can come up with 10. I hated this year in film. I mean, really, really hated it. Of the 50 notable films listed in Entertainment Weekly's Year End "Critical Mass" column, I think I saw 12, and one (V for Vendetta) was actually a 2005 release, I think.

So yeah, 2006 is the year I officially went off the deep end, jumped the shark, whatever. Anyone who wants to dismiss my list out of hand because of my increasingly eclectic viewing habits is welcome to do so, though of all the films I haven't seen from the last year, I can only really, seriously imagine that three (The Queen, Pan's Labyrinth, The Death of Mr. Lazarezcu) would have a serious shot at making me like them enough to deem them worthy of some meaningless honorific such as my best of list. Without further ado, then, here's what I liked from the year that I hated, and here's hoping 2007 has some better mainstream, narrative films that are worthwhile:

1) Shut Up and Sing
2) The Pervert's Guide to Cinema
3) An Inconvenient Truth
4) When the Levees Broke
5) Climates
6) Forgiving Dr. Mengele
7) Manufactured Landscapes
8) Requiem
9) Lake of Fire
10) Miami Vice

Put 3-9 in a bag and shake it up and they could come out in a different order on any given day. They were all films I appreciated but which I'm not sure I could rouse myself to champion would anyone else care to take exception.

I can't make a case for Pervert's Guide being a great film, but it was over three hours (I think), and I enjoyed every minute of it, which ain't nothing.

Miami Vice is on there not because it's a great film but because it was a horrible year for studio releases, it's Michael Mann, and I suspect, like Heat it may grow on me in time. I certainly would rather see if again another three times rather than having to sit through the island sequence of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. I mean, really, you would have been happier if I had thrown in Who Killed the Electric Car?

Requiem fell a few notches the second time I saw it, but it is the sort of film that I'm still grappling with and could easily work its way back up in my estimation as easily as it could fall off such a list altogether.

The rerelease of Melville's Army of Shadows was also a favorite theatrical experience, but I always think of these sorts of lists as being reserved for new releases.

Note to Self: Practice More

One of these days I'm going to self publish one of those devotional books about the spiritual lessons learned through every day activities. You know, like "Everything I Needed to Know I Learned Playing Disc Golf."

Anyway, I know I should practice more. Sort of a protestant work ethic attached to all forms of recreation, but not just that. I enjoy just playing disc golf, but I enjoy being good at things, too. And being good requires an investment of time and energy into the disciplines that undergird the development of a skill.

That's a long way of saying, I threw a roller over 400 feet today. Yes, I threw four others, none of which went 85% of that distance, and it was on a field so open that my lack of accuracy wasn't an issue. I'm not consistent enough to throw a roller if I don't have to, and most often when I do, it goes off course.

But there's an untapped upside, clearly, that really should motivate me to work on making this a more viable part of my arsenal...

Assuming, you know, that getting better is a good thing.

A Good Day

Today I...

had a seasonable December day that allowed me to play Disc Golf doubles at Buckhorn with my wife (and we shot a 54).

was captured by a cat for a morning nap on my lap.

received a DVD of Tarkovsky's Stalker in the mail as an early Christmas present.

had a home cooked meal of past and sausage seeped in Cranberry juice inspired by Rachel Ray's Iron Chef America episode.

had a nice Cianti with dinner.

played Boggle, and was soundly defeated. (Isn't the English prof supposed to beat the art prof at such games? Must have been the Cianti.)

was caputured by another cat for an evening nap while watching the Sopranos.

did a little bit of academic writing for a deadline that's not until February.

wrote a recommendation to graduate school for a worthy student.

Not a bad day, that.

Why is this film on Nobody's "Best of" List?

Just saw the first act of Spike Lee's When the Levees Broke.

I'm not saying it's a slam dunk, head and shoulders above the rest, best film of the year, but I'm suprised I haven't seen it mentioned on ANY lists that I've seen to date...it didn't garner a single vote in the documentary category at Indiewire, for instance.

I thought it played in Toronto to make it Oscar eligible, but even if it is not, there are plenty of lists that don't follow the same guidelines. I wonder if it is just the four hour run time that's kept everyone from seeing it, whether it's an anti-Spike thing, or whether people just didn't think it was good.

Everyone I know who has seen it speaks highly of it, though, so who knows?

I'm #326...

...if I read the PDGA webpage correctly, I think I'm the 326 rated Disc Golfer in the state of North Carolina! (226 among amateurs and behind the 100 registered pros.)

Now if there were only a Disc Golf/Euchre biathalon...

Here's one way to help the environment...

...perhaps all the environmental PACs could stop sending me and my wife sheets of address labels when soliciting donations.

Just got back from a long weekend, and I found four different mailers soliciting donations, each with the requisite "gift" of address labels. One had a globe on them. Others had a leaf or something green.

I worked as a temp for a few months in 1988, and I had a long assignment at a PAC office. All it did was send out mailers (and petitions) and count the money that came in so that it could send out more mailers.

Total number of address labels received this weekend: 100+
Total donations made to each group making the "gifts": zero.

Riverfront Park: Augusta, GA

Well, I planned to play the new Championship caliber course at Wildwood today, but I decided to play Riverfront instead. It is a solid course, and a little closer to my skill level. I shot a 59 despite one out-of-bounds and the club score card actually has 56 as par (two holes are over 500 feet).

I played well enough, though there weren't too many birdie opportunities. I managed to practice my approach game, and I pretty much got up and down in two any time I was inside of 200 feet, excepting the one time I yanked my disc and went out of bounds. I met two locals who helped me find the tees and spot my disc, and they were very friendly. If this course had better signage (especially for the short tees I would like it better). I didn't mind playing the standard tees for this round, but if this were my home course, I'd want to mix it up a bit.

Hippodromed

So I just got back from 27 holes of disc golf on the course (but not the configuration) of last year's world championship. Needless to say, I'm one whupped pup.

The round started out well enough, I shot 29 on the first nine holes (10-18), but I got slaughtered on holes 19-27, taking a triple-circle eleven on the 600+ foot 27th. (A circle designates one or more strokes are penalties for going out of bounds or losing a disc).

I managed to recover a little on holes 1-9, even though the disc I lost was my primary driver (Sidewinder), and made a nice 20 footer for par to close out the round. I shot a 104, which isn't going to get any prizes even if they hadn't bumped me up to advanced since there were not enough Master (over 40) players, except at the pro level. That's about 3.8 strokes per hole, which I'm not ashamed of (especially given the 11, and at least 3 or 4 other Out of Bounds plays.

It was nice to play the course, even if I was in over my head.

Earlewood; Columbia, SC

The first time I played Earlewood, there was a steady rain, it was in the high 40s, I was playing a tournament, I had only retaken up the sport for about a year or so, and I was mostly driving with a beat up Leopard. I think I shot in the mid 60s, which seemed pretty good at the time, so I figured I must like the course.

I went back today on my way to tournament in Augusta, and I figure it is about 3/4 of the way there, so it is a good place to stop. Also, I haven't thrown a disc in over a week (finals, don'tcha know), and it might be a good idea to reacquaint my muscles' memory with what a drive feels like.

Earlewood always (okay, both times I've revisited it) ends up being harder than I remember. There are a lot of elevation changes and tough angles and trees. I get off to a bad start despite throwing a roller from an embankment to save a four on a 300+ foot hole, and a hammer to save bogey on another.

One thing that never works in golf is lowballing expectations, and I reflect that golf is a discipline in perpetual disatisfaction.

I probably should be happy that I shoot 31 on my last 10 holes, but all I can think about is going again. I decide not to, though. I've got 54 holes of World Championship course layout waiting for me tomorrow, and even on a disc golf vacation bender I know the difference between shaking the rust off and leaving it all on the practice field.

What is Hippodrome and Why Does it Scare Me?

I preregistered for the Hippodrome Winter Tournament, a PDGA sanctioned disc golf tournament taking place this weekend.

According to the invite/ad sent me, there will be 27 holes and the layout for one of the rounds will be the same as it was for the '06 World Championships. This year I moved to Advanced Masters division, and I'm usually near the bottom of the tournaments I play in, good enough to compete at the advanced level but not really at the same talent level...combine that with a championship course (read: looooooooong), the fact that the weather in Raleigh and final exams has kept me from regular practice, and I'm thinking I could get roughed up pretty bad this weekend.

But, hey, it's Christmas, and nothing says the semester is over and grading is done like a long road trip to play Disc Golf.