A Perfect Cut

Rorshach's Journal, Oct 15, 1985.

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 16:22:41 GMT

Did the midnight showing of Watchmen last night.

(I'm not cutting for spoilers, because I don't plan to drop any save for those who have read the graphic novel and who therefore can't really be spoiled anyway.)

It is, in some ways, a more true adaptation of the graphic novel than I might ever have expected. Like its inspiration, the movie is funny, horrifying, thought-provoking, unsettling, disgusting, grim, challenging, and leaves you profoundly uncomfortable in its wake. It is also surprisingly bloody and gory in places - though some of the fight scenes are astonishingly beautiful, there were several places when Amy had to look away, and one point where I did as well. It is not, just as the graphic novel was not, a piece of kid's entertainment. Don't take anyone to this one if you're not quite comfortable with their maturity (and I don't think I'm just limiting that statement to children here).

There are noticeable differences as well, some of which might even make Moore purists howl. The gritty, intensely inked look of the graphic novel's visuals - part of Moore's vision of a story that would celebrate the uniquely comic elements of the storytelling form he used, I think, intended to reflect the gritty and "particulate" nature of the world he was describing - has been replaced by a uniquely smooth, slick, intensely cinematic visual style that is easily the largest visual break between the two forms of the story, even though director Zak Snyder once again, just as in 300, made several attempts to directly recreate panels from the graphic novel as shots on the screen. In some ways, the movie is even more a part of the historical period it depicts than the graphic novel was, inasmuch as the list of major historical figures from that era (and the ones leading up to it, throughout the flashbacks) who show up on screen is astonishing. The ending has changed - in particular, the graphic novel's "culprit" for the attack has been replaced by Dr. Manhattan himself, with a twist that seems to directly invoke Jeremy Bentham's idea of the Panopticon - but also in Nite Owl's reaction, which was the change that bugged me the most. It felt as though the change was made to salvage Nite Owl's moral standing as the "good" hero, but it was a standing that should not have been salvaged. Everyone compromises, remember? That's part of Moore's point.

All in all, though, I liked it. I'm very, very glad to have seen it, though it will likely be some time before I am up to another viewing (again, not unlike the experience of reading the graphic novel). There were specific elements that I truly, truly appreciated: Bubastis is amazing, and onscreen for far too little of the movie. Adrian Veidt has a pitch-perfect mix of foppishness and charisma, more in tune with how I've seen Ozymandias in some ways than what the graphic novel itself accomplished. The beginning title sequence is nothing short of genius, and if I could see a part of the movie again right away, that is what I would choose. There is far more of the characters' backstories and histories than I expected to make it into the movie; many of the "flashback" elements from the graphic novel appear here, in largely similar form. (I wonder, however, if they might prove to be a weight around the movie's neck - there were times when the movie seemed to go kinda slow, and I think the backstories contributed to that.) All of the acting is quite excellent, and Silk Spectre is (and I'm not ashamed to admit it) quite hot to boot. Plus, I got to watch Lee Iacocca get shot in the head, which is something I greatly appreciated.

Final verdict: go see it. Be ready to walk out of the movie theater shaking your head, biting your lip, and haunted. It deserves nothing less.

Hmm... Hot? Or not?

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 14:33:21 GMT

http://www.xkcd.com/507

Whoa.

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 06:59:02 GMT

Holy shit. We really could.

What to look for tomorrow night

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 18:35:07 GMT

Nate Silver over at fivethirtyeight has a really interesting post, wherein he describes the five most probable maps for a McCain victory (though he only had a 6.24% chance of such a victory when the simulation was run). The whole post is worth reading, but here's the part I thought was key:

Also, there are some states that truly do appear to be "must-wins" for McCain. In each and every one of the 624 victory scenarios that the simulation found for him this afternoon, McCain won Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Indiana and Montana. He also picked up Ohio in 621 out of the 624 simulations, and North Carolina in 622 out of 624. If McCain drops any of those states, it's pretty much over.

So there's the must-win list. Here's hoping he loses them all.

It can't be...

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 05:53:44 GMT

Amy and I keep getting robocalls from the RNC on behalf of McCain-Palin.

I can't help wondering - why are they bothering?

I mean, obviously they have our party affiliation screwed up. But even beyond that - why would they waste money on phone calls to the Kansas side of the line? Surely they realize that a 913 area code means a call they don't need to bother making, right?

Unless the polling is showing something that is worrying them...?

Don't Vote.

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 21:38:03 GMT

Not completely safe for work - but worth watching, and worth passing along.

Sat, 27 Sep 2008 15:26:43 GMT

Woohoo! Dar Williams gets some NPR love!

Buffy quote meme

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 02:45:30 GMT

When you see this, post another Buffy quote in your own Livejournal. Let's see how long we can make it.

"Note to self: religion, freaky."

Deep Thought

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 13:57:31 GMT

When your alarm pulls you out of a dream where you're eating fried chicken while watching Tenacious D perform in full Seminole war regalia on a pirate ship, you've pretty much set the tone for the whole day.

Eureka moment

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 21:50:05 GMT

Double posting for double thinking.

So it occurred to me today how to explain to Joss Whedon why he was wrong about how he handled Zoe in the wake of Wash's death.

So Joss has this problem. He doesn't let his characters grieve like they should. Zoe is the undisputed queen of this, but it's a theme that pretty much runs throughout Buffy and Angel as well. Pretty much any time they should be grieving, Joss hides behind a season jump, and we're left to assume that the ragged tears and sleepless nights and ache of loss happens somewhere in that vague mist between May and September. The only example I can think of to the contrary - DarkWillow becoming GoodWillow again at the end of Season Six, bawling her eyes out into Xander's shoulder - stands out so much precisely because it's the only time it happens. Contrast it with Xander's reaction - or rather, his almost complete lack thereof - to Anya's death at the end of Season Seven.

But Zoe really is the worst, because Zoe/Wash was one of the two emotional cores of the Serenity crew, and the more important one at that, because it was what balanced Zoe/Mal, and that was what opened up the relationship matrix to allow the rest of the crew to get involved. Without Wash, Zoe/Mal would have overshadowed everything else - but because Zoe's focus was divided, Mal's had to be as well, and that allowed room for Kaylee and Inara (in their own ways) to work in, and so on. So Zoe/Wash matters.

But then, we all knew this already. So where's the eureka?

It's in Dr. Horrible.

You see, Dr. Horrible handles Penny's death the exact same way that Zoe handles Wash's. He freaks out, he seems to suffer - and then he gets a grip on himself and moves on, and we are left with the inescapable sense that it is his inability to do anything else with his grief that is going to make him such a terrifying supervillain.

But that's the point. Dr. Horrible is a supervillain.

Zoe is one of the good guys.

So what the hell is she doing responding like Dr. Horrible?

Obama's Veep, part II

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 21:35:02 GMT

So, as predicted, my prediction was wrong. (Does that mean I got it right?) My buddy busychild424 was right, though I remain unconvinced about his reasoning. Obama went with Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, one of his most prominent supporters, and one particularly known for his experience and knowledge on foreign policy matters.

Personally, I've got mixed feelings about Biden, primarily because I don't really have any feelings about Biden. I don't really know the guy, his attempt to run for President himself last year notwithstanding. Most of the pundit commentary seems to be that Biden is a choice designed to shore up a perceived weakness in Obama on foreign policy, and I can't help but wonder - do we really want to be underscoring the idea that Obama's got a weakness on foreign policy? Never mind whether he actually has such a weakness, the narrative will continue to reinforce the concept regardless. On the other hand, Biden was apparently the originator of "noun, verb, 9/11" as a humiliating (and accurate) smackdown of Rudy Giuliani's stump speech, which I have to admit endears him to me quite a bit. Again, commentators have repeated several times the Biden's got a talent for making the other guy look like an idiot, and maybe having an attack dog will do the Obama campaign some good. I have to admit, I've been enjoying the "housing problem" storyline the last few days, and I wish the Obama camp would do a little bit more of that.

So, between McCain's housing gaffe, which I suspect isn't going away any time soon, the Biden pick, and the convention next week, this seems to be a pretty good time to be Barack Obama. I guess we'll see what the pollsters have to say about that soon enough.

Obama's Veep

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 02:03:53 GMT

For the record, and worth exactly as much as the electrons it's printed on, here's my prediction:

Clinton.

Yes, I actually think he's going there. And no, I have nothing to base this on other than intuition.

Stay tuned for the inevitable revelation of my folly.

The Wheel turns, and Ages come and go...

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 13:35:47 GMT

So. Universal has picked up film rights to the Wheel of Time series.

First reaction: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Second reaction, after a moment's consideration: Several years ago, I had pretty much resolved that only an anime series, which treated each book as its own 13 episode long season, could possibly do the series justice. But that was before Peter Jackson and the Lord of the Rings films, and now I must admit that's not necessarily true.

Third reaction: Maybe this will make Amy finish reading them before the movies come out?

I dunno. What do you guys think?

Oh, WoW.

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 15:24:14 GMT

No, I haven't joined the cult. But for those of you on my flist who have, I think you might enjoy this. (giggles)

(Don't just stop with the comic I linked to, either. It's the beginning of a long stretch of parody about WoW...)

So does this make Michelle the Whore of Babylon?

Sat, 02 Aug 2008 13:47:41 GMT

If you know anything about Hal Lindsey, you'll know where this is coming from:

America has never faced so many different crises at the same time in living memory. The war with al-Qaida and Islamic terror, the Iran crisis, Afghanistan, nuclear proliferation, the rising price of oil, the falling dollar, enemy acronyms like OPEC, NAM, OIC, U.N. ... Obama is correct in saying that the world is ready for someone like him – a messiah-like figure, charismatic and glib and seemingly holding all the answers to all the world's questions.

And the Bible says that such a leader will soon make his appearance on the scene. It won't be Barack Obama, but Obama's world tour provided a foretaste of the reception he can expect to receive.

He will probably also stand in some European capital, addressing the people of the world and telling them that he is the one that they have been waiting for. And he can expect as wildly enthusiastic a greeting as Obama got in Berlin.

The Bible calls that leader the Antichrist. And it seems apparent that the world is now ready to make his acquaintance.

Now that is some dirty pool right there.

Obama/Spock '08!

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 22:16:08 GMT

Well, not really - but then again...

Hmph.

Tue, 20 May 2008 02:50:57 GMT

So last week I was worried about my post-semester crash making it difficult or impossible to work on my various projects.

It looks like I was right to worry, though it waited until mid-week last week to actually hit.

In other news, a funny for all you Buffy fans.

Honestly, if incomprehesible insanity is what you're looking for...

Fri, 09 May 2008 19:49:32 GMT

...how about requiring reincarnating Tibetan lamas to receive approval from the Chinese government via an application process?

...I feel like I should have something wittily snide to add here, but the sheer idiocy has defeated me. My fu is not strong.

Go Speed Racer Go!

Fri, 09 May 2008 19:09:34 GMT

So both Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes are saying pretty much the same thing about Speed Racer: it sucks.

You know what? They suck.

Speed Racer is, in some sense, the absolute epitome of the summer movie extravaganza. Substanceless? Aboslutely. Plot nothing more than an excuse to get from one hyperkinetic action sequence to the next? No question. Ludicrously large budget, visible in every over-CGI'd frame? Oh, hell yes.

Speed Racer is the entire experience of being ten again, packed into two hours and 15 minutes of screen time. Speed Racer is one long game of "let's pretend," with all the rules thrown out the window and almost literally anything as fair game - the whole universe is the playground, and nothing stops your imagination except the edge of your own creativity. Speed Racer is the schizophrenic joy of watching anime cartoons from the pre-90s era: the ineffable knowledge that what you are seeing is really, really bad and yet, so sublimely good. Speed Racer is fandom, not just accepting the tropes of a genre but reveling in them, diving in with your scuba gear and not coming up for air until the Mountain Dew runs out.

Speed Racer, in short, is fun.

Go see it. Ignore the critics. I promise - you won't regret it.

Where is everybody?

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 17:33:19 GMT

I'm not normally one for "why is my flist so quiet?" posts, but damn! Why the hell is my flist so quiet?

Abstinence "education"

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 20:18:50 GMT

You know what happens when you don't tell kids how to not get pregnant, and/or avoid STDs?

They make it up:

Florida teens who believe drinking a cap of bleach will prevent HIV and a shot of Mountain Dew will stop pregnancy have prompted lawmakers to push for an overhaul of sex education in the state.

Another myth is that Florida teens also believe that smoking marijuana will prevent a person from getting pregnant.

Okay, this is depressing.

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 16:18:35 GMT

I haven't done much political posting recently, but this is just too good to pass up.

It's at moments like this that I have to start my mantra:

Not everyone is an idiot, not everyone is an idiot, not everyone is an idiot, not everyone is an idiot...

I can feel it, Dave...

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 01:56:13 GMT

Sadness. Arthur C. Clarke died today.

We are a lesser people and the planet a lesser place for the loss.

Reality and Timing

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 15:06:47 GMT

The two things that will always screw up a great joke. (sigh)

Just a quick note to say

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 15:46:34 GMT

Happy Birthday, oreibasia