Trivial Tuesday

The Oscar Nominations are out, and it looks a lot like everyone expected. The big surprise to me was the lack of Best Picture or Director nominations for Walk The Line, though both Reese Witherspoon and Joaquin Phoenix did get nominated. It's also the first time (that I could find) since 1982 that all the same films were nominated for both Best Picture and Best Director. Sticking with the Oscar theme, Terrence Howard was nominated for Best Actor for his work in Hustle and Flow. However, Howard also starred in a film nominated for Best Picture. Name it. (Hey, you've got a one in five chance if you just guess.)

Rules, rules, rules. You know how to play by now don't you? Then answer the question and impress us all.

Until later...

Update: Well, if that was a guess, it was a good one. Esther is absolutely correct. Howard can also be found in the film Crash, but then again so can just about everyone else in Hollywood.

Family Business

I was watching Jeopardy the other day, and Alex was chatting with the contestants after the first commercial break, as usual. He asked a female contestant about an interesting fact in her family history. It turns out that, though she is afraid of flying, she is a direct descendent of Orville and Wilbur Wright.

Now, my history may not be completely accurate, but I thought the reason Orville and Wilbur were referred to as the Wright Brothers was because they were actually brothers. If this is true, I'm a little confused as to how she managed to be a direct descendant of both Orville and Wilbur Wright. Human genetics may not be my field, but I'm going to go out on a limb (no pun intended) and say that it does at least help explain her flippers.

Until later...

Trivial Tuesday

In keeping with the theme of yesterday's Food Network post, Giada De Laurentis, the host of Everyday Italian, is actually the granddaughter of a famous movie producer. Who is her famous grandfather who produced such films as (the 1976 remake of) King Kong, Flash Gordon, and Hannibal?

Follow the rules, and post your answer to win bragging rights.

Until later...

Update: Yes, her grandfather is Dino De Laurentis. I admit it was probably fairly easy since they have the same last name. Congratulations to Invisible Lizard who answered first.

What Conversations Are Like at My House

The Set-up: The television is on, and we flip past Family Guy on the Cartoon Network. FG is parodying the Gene Wilder version of Willy Wonka. Peter Griffin has just found the last silver scroll entitling him to a tour of a brewery.

Man on TV: Run home, Peter. Run as fast as you can.

MK: Was that his name?

CK: What?

MK: In the movie, was that his name? Was he named Peter?

CK: In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?

MK: Yeah.

CK: You're asking me if that was the name of the main character in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?

MK: Ohhhhhhhh, riiiiiiight. Never mind.

Might as Well Face It, I'm Addicted to...

The Food Network?

It's true; I am. There are very few things that I really love to watch and will make an effort to watch on TV. Mostly, it's just a matter of what happens to be on at that moment. A large portion of the time, that means the TV just stays on the Food Network. This makes me very familiar with their shows, some of which I really like and some I really don't. For example:

Paula's Home Cooking with Paula Deen. She has all sorts of recipes that sound absolutely wonderful, but I often watch the show and wonder when my mother was given a TV show and why I wasn't told about it. (Sorry if you read this, Mom, but it's true.) This isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's just kind of odd.

Everyday Italian with Giada De Laurentis. I like some of the things she makes, but I am put off by the fact that she speaks to the camera as if it were a particularly dense three year old. Mostly, I watch this show because I am entranced by the size of her head. It's made worse by the fact that she's so skinny, but the head: Huge! This is the show most likely to make me quote So I Married an Axe Murderer.

30 Minute Meals or any other show with Rachael Ray. I go back and forth between enjoying these shows because she seems like a genuinely nice person and wondering if her family duct tapes her mouth shut at gatherings or if they are all like that. She walks the fine line between being happy and bubbly and being so over the top full of energy that you expect her to starting dancing and singing, "I'm so excited. I'm so excited. I'm so, I'm so...scared." (That's right, a reference to the Saved By The Bell episode where Jesse is hooked on speed. Don't try to act like you aren't impressed.)

Iron Chef. I've dedicated whole posts to the subject before and mentioned it in passing other times, but I love Iron Chef. There are a million things about it that are just great. (It's even helped me set one of my life goals: One day, while watching Kobe get introduced, I realized that I want at some point in my life to have a job where I rise up from the floor surrounded by an orchestra playing my theme music to announce my arrival. That's not too much to ask, is it?) However, my love does not extend to Iron Chef America. It just doesn't work for me. It's too aware of its own campiness, yet too serious all at the same time.

Food Network Challenge. The whole idea is strange, but I really enjoy this show. It amazing to see what ideas people come up with for different recipes (pies, chicken recipes, etc.), but it's even more impressive to see the works of art people make when decorating cakes or sculpting with sugar. You might think that watching a pie baking competition would get tedious, but otherwise how would I know that there is someone out there named Raine Gottess. Go ahead. Say it out loud. No, her parents weren't hippies, why do you ask?

Good Eats with Alton Brown. This is one of my favorite shows on television, and Alton is my hero. Laugh all you want, but it's true. He's a nerd who likes to cook and fills his show with interesting facts and amusing pop culture references. How many people out there when planning a show about sugar would decide to have a dentist character asking, "Is it safe?" Not many, but I loved it. In case he happens to be reading: Alton, surely you could use another person as a guest on the show, just one episode or so. Maybe another nerd, who appreciates your humor and useless facts. It's just a suggestion. Oh, and by the way, the singing thing. You know, the episode with the "cutting board blues". Umm...you might wanna rethink whether you want to do that in the future. Again, just a suggestion.

Sure, it's a little sad that I could think of enough things to say about all these shows right of the top of my head. It's even worse that I had so much to say that the pretension of the Barefoot Contessa and Emeril's eyebrows and audience didn't even make the cut for this post, but at least I know that I have a problem. And knowing's half the battle.

Yo Joe...

Trivial Tuesday

One of the new releases in theaters last week was Glory Road, a film that tells the story of the 1966 Texas Western basketball team. Since that time, Texas Western has changed its name. What is the name of this university today?

Play nice.

Until later...

Update: Congrats to April, who knew the Texas Western is now known as UTEP, the University of Texas-El Paso, one of the two biggest rivals of Fount of Useless Information Alma Mater #1 New Mexico State University. (Oh no, I've said too much.)

Still Useless After All These Years

Well, maybe it should be "after all this year", but that doesn't really flow as well, does it?

My very first post was one year ago today, meaning I've been blogging for a year now, and I'm still just as bad as when I first started. I challenge anyone to compete with my consistent record of mediocrity.

Here's to another year of wondering why you people keep coming back. Ya buncha masochists.

(Updated to note that it's also my 300th post. Good timing, eh?)

Munich

Ok, I'm completely emotionally drained right now. We just got back from seeing Munich, but I want to write about right now before any of it wears off. That alone should pretty much tell you what direction this review is headed.

For those unfamiliar with the film, it begins with the kidnapping and killing of 11 Israelis at the 1972 Munich Olympics. The remainder of the film focuses on the attempts by a group of Mossad agents to hunt down and kill 11 men behind the planning. This, however, is not your typical revenge flick.

More powerful and emotional than anything Spielberg has done in quite sometime, Munich shows the impact the mission has on the men and on society as a whole. As they eliminate the targets one by one, they struggle with the morality of the situation. The debate over whether they have betrayed everything they believe in continues to rage, as they see each success followed by even greater retaliation.

In the end, Spielberg shows us the humanity and the horror of both sides. Killing targets you are told are responsible for horrific acts may not be easy, but it becomes infinitely more difficult when you begin putting faces, personalities and families with them, when you realize that each name is a real person, not just a target. Spielberg has stated that he wants this film to be his "prayer for peace", and I believe he truly succeeds. He poses some very difficult questions, but like the rest of us, does not have the answers. There may not be any answers yet, but at least someone is asking the right questions, and that is a start.

The bottom line is that it was an absolutely phenomenal film, with excellent acting all around, wonderful direction and an enchanting score from John Williams.

Until later...

I Shot A Man in Reno...Just to Watch Him Die

We went to see Walk The Line last week. The film had some incredible roadblocks to get over before it even started. The largest of these was that it was released only a year after Jamie Foxx's Ray Charles biopic. Both films deal with a singer who loses a brother at a young age, enters into a happy marriage before becoming famous, becomes involved with drugs, loses wife and family, finds redemption and rehabilitation through the help of a second woman whom he eventually marries. While I reviewed Ray on this site, I didn't actually say much about it. It was an incredibly well done film, and to follow so closely after it would be no small task.
The story unfolds much as I described above. Even if this were not the life of a famous singer, it would be harder not to know what happens next than to guess what is coming in the next scene. Despite this, Walk The Line pulls through magnificently. The flow from time to time and year to year takes us on the rollercoaster that was the life of Johnny Cash. His flaws were shown in all their splendor (or lack thereof) and his life was portrayed not as that of a superior man of great celebrity, but as that of a real, imperfect man who lived in the public spotlight.

The strength of the film truly came from the acting. While it is not a surprise to see Joaquin Phoenix perform so well, most audiences will not be prepared for Reese Witherspoon's portrayal of June Carter Cash. Witherspoon has shown in the past that she is a talented actress, but with most of her characters chosen from the cute female lead in a romantic comedy textbook, she has not had as much to work with. While the cute factor is still occasionally turned up to 11, she manages to shine in every scene and deliver a range of emotions that are as believable as they are diverse. In a supporting role, Robert Patrick claims what would often be a cliche of the overbearing, uncaring father as his own and makes us unsure whether to despise him or respect him.

While the film, like almost all biopics, is damaged by attempts to compress a lifetime into less than three hours of entertainment, it succeeds on so many levels that this is easily forgiven. I definitely recommend checking this out, even if you don't have any interest in Johnny Cash.¹ Phoenix and Witherspoon alone make this worth the price of admission.

¹ Full disclosure: While I may not listen to Johnny Cash a lot, I do enjoy his music and others of similar style. While the all important question posed by Mrs. Mia Wallace is difficult for some, I have never had a problem deciding. Given those choices, I'd be an Elvis man.

Breaking News: Fount of Useless Information Makes Mistake, Admits It

I decided I'd share this story with you since I really needed to change subjects around here. I was beginning to run the risk of becoming a mommy blogger, only with dogs and a Y chromosome.

I was wrong about something yesterday. I know you may find this hard to believe, and you may find it even harder to believe that I'm admitting it, but it's true. I was wrong. Fortunately, I wasn't alone.

Let me set the scene for you. It wasn't time for Lost to start yet, so we were sitting around watching "I Love The 80's 3D" (but without 3D glasses so, it was really "I Love The 80's 2D", which differs from "I Love The 80's" and "I Love The 80's Strikes Back" in its use of stupid looking animations that would be 3D if I had the glasses, but instead just annoy me.), and the subject was Sally Field's Oscar acceptance speech for Place in The Heart. You know the one: "You like me. You really like me." While I was doing my thing and correcting the television and stating that she actually said "I can't deny that you like me...right now, you like me," up popped Dom DeLuise to give his take on the whole situation. (Dom DeLuise? Huh? Kinda random, isn't it?)

As almost the exact same words were coming out of my mouth, MK exclaimed, "Wait a minute. Isn't he dead?" "I certainly thought so," I replied. So, off to IMDB we went to find his biography. There we learned that no, he is decidely not dead. Which is fortunate, because I'm sure having a zombie offering commentary on pop culture would have caused problems once he started eating the brains of the other commentators. "Wow," MK said looking at the bio in bewilderment, "I would have bet money that he was dead if someone asked me to." I agreed and sat back to watch more, but struggled with the fact that I was wrong, actually wrong.

Anyway, it turns out it was all just a big misunderstanding. He's not actually dead. Just his career.

Until later...

Holiday Leftovers

Just three quick reviews from things I watched (1 theater, 2 rental) over the Holidays. Not sure why I haven't written these reviews yet, but oh well.


Memoirs of a Geisha

Based on the novel by Arthur Golden, Memoirs of a Geisha tells the story of Chiyo (later called Sayuri), a young girl sold to a geisha house, and her rise to become the most desired geisha of all. The film shows the life of a geisha from training to everyday life to becoming famous and acquiring a benefactor. Like almost all facets of life involving more than one person, there are power struggles, politics, manipulating and back-stabbing.

The role of adult Sayuri is played by Zhang Ziyi, who earned a Golden Globe nomination for the film. While all of the cast did an excellent job, the acting highlight in my opinion was Gong Li (Raise the Red Lantern) who played Sayuri's rival Hatsumomo. She owned every scene she was in, convincing the audience to hate her and fear her at the same time, and has won the award for Best Supporting Actress from the National Board of Review. However, no matter how good the acting was, the film truly belonged to those responsible for the look of the film. The cinematographer, the set designer, the costume department, the art department, I don't know. Whoever was responsible for that deserves an amazing amount of praise. The visuals of the film set the tone and shifted seamlessly as the film focused on a child being sold by her parents, the prestige of her rise to become geisha, the impact of World War II on Japanese culture and the characters, and the return to her life as a geisha. For that alone, I would recommend seeing the film, but with reservations. (Reservations: Good film but not great, some creepy relationships, etc.)

Born into Brothels

Focusing on the lives of children in the brothels of Calcutta, India, this documentary really shows the impact that our surroundings and our status in life have on us. The original intent of the filmmaker, Zana Briski, was to document the brothels through her photography. She first ran into problems because many people were apprehensive about having this outsider take pictures of them. As she spent time there, she began to get to know the children who lived at the brothel and began teaching a photography class to them. What she discovered was that these children are walking contradictions. At once they are aware of the horror of their situation saying things like, "I have to make money to get my sister and I out." and "Everyday I am afraid that I will become more like them", while still being able, in that resilient way that only kids can, to continue on despite their surroundings and still be children. The film documents the progress of the children learning photography, an exhibit of their work and Briski's attempts to get them out of the brothels and into schools in order to break the cycle. This documentary is not for everyone and can be horribly upsetting. It takes place almost entirely in a brothel and one of the first things we see is a young girl of 10 or 11 years old saying that when men come to visit her mother, they wonder how long it will be before she is working "on the line" and that they don't think it will be much longer. While I have definitely seen better made documentaries, it is remarkably powerful as it reminds us of what happens, not just in India but anywhere, to children who are forgotten and never given a chance to move beyond their origins.

Fantastic Four

Well, it's a good thing Chiklis was in this, because nothing else made it worth seeing. (Look at me I avoided the obligatory Jessica Alba joke.)


Until later...

Trivial Tuesday

The Golden Globe nominations for this year include a Best Actress in a Motion Picture-Drama nod for Felicity Huffman. While she is probably best known for her role in Desperate Housewives, in real life she plays the role of wife to a successful actor. Who is her indie film staple spouse?


Answers in the comments section, blah, blah, you know what to do.

Update: Congrats to Invisible Lizard, who very quickly provided us with the info that Felicity Huffman is married to William H. Macy.

And They Call It Puppy Love

A few thoughts from the not quite so adorable side of puppy ownership. I'll go ahead and warn you now; some of this is not going to be pretty.

I think I have finally figured out why puppies are so incredibly cute. They have to be cute for anyone to raise them. In reality, they are disgusting. Seriously, just completely vile. Let's examine, shall we?

The breath. Yeah, yeah. All puppies smell that way. I don't care if every dog on earth smells that way, it's just foul. Puppy breath smells like his mouth just went 12 rounds with the business end of a skunk. And lost. Now you want to try and lick my face? Umm...I don't think so. Not only is your breath putrid, but I know where that tongue has been and what's been in your mouth. We'll just make a rule that if you use your tongue to clean yourself and you regularly practice coprophagia, you should keep your tongue far, far away from me.

Waste products. How much waste can a tiny little thing produce? I understand that young dogs have to go often because they lack muscle control, but at this point I'd think he might be dehydrated. As if the frequency isn't bad enough, the lack of muscle control also causes "incidents" inside. Every dog training manual will tell you that you should not punish a puppy for having an accident. It cannot control these muscles yet, and punishing it will be counterproductive in the long run. So whatever you do, do not scream at the dog and rush it outside. I understand this perfectly, but it goes against every possible instinct. I assure you that if you were to drop trou in my house and begin using my floor as your own personal bathroom, my first reaction would be to yell at you, followed immediately by throwing you out of my house. This seems completely logical, but I have to fight this urge and work on training properly.

Most disgusting is the concept of deworming a dog. At regular intervals, a dose of medicine is given to the puppy to kill parasites and force them to be removed from the system. The idea of this is a little disturbing on its own. Disturbing takes on a whole new meaning, however, when you take the dog outside 45 minutes later. Since the small beast is still being house trained,you have to walk around praising it and feeling like an idiot. "Hurry up please. I'm freezing. Could you just get to it? I'm missing my favorite show." Finally. "Good dog. What a good boy. What a good--Huh. I don't remember feeding you pasta." See, I told you. Not pretty. (Though it probably did boost my ratings with the 12-15 year old male demographic.)

These issues (as well as a few others) lead to the constant struggle in our house as to whose dog he actually is.

Sleeping on the floor: My dog

Screaming the high-pitched screech of the abandoned because he wants out of his crate: Her dog

Playing nicely with Booker: My dog

Pestering Booker until he gets thrown across the room: Her dog

Playing with one of Booker's toys that are roughly the same size he is: My dog

Running around the room with the mail in his mouth: Her dog, but it's still pretty cute.

Sitting in someone's lap and resting peacefully: My dog

Sitting in someone's lap and nipping at them with his painful hypodermic needle like puppy teeth: Her dog

Taking enough time out of playing to crouch and pee on the floor before immediately returning to playtime: Her dog

Waiting nicely by the door for someone to take him out: Still her dog, I don't want to get up.

Until later...

And I Won't Tell 'Em Your Name

I was watching TV the other day and saw a commercial for WalMart that featured Queen Latifah. This was a follow up to the ads WalMart put out just before Christmas in which Queen Latifah shops for everyone on her list by buying them gift cards. In the new commercial, she sees a friend at the register paying for her purchases. The friend exclaims, "Hi Queen. I was just using the gift card you got me." Queen Latifah asks her if she has found everything she needs, then hints about purchasing a copy of her latest DVD, Beauty Shop.

Leaving aside the question of whether or not doing ads for WalMart means that an artist has sold out, I had a few issues with the whole thing.

First, her name is not actually Queen Latifah. Unless she has legally had her name changed, Queen Latifah is a stage name and she has a much more pedestrian moniker. (One that is remarkably similar to someone I went to high school with, actually. But that's beside the point.) I would like to think that someone to whom she would give gifts and apparently feels comfortable accosting in the checkout line at the store might be able to refer to her by her given name. Besides, it isn't as if Queen is supposed to be a first name is it? I would assume it's a title and if one were to call her by her stage name, Latifah would be the more logical choice. The situation actually reminded me very much of an incident when I was a teenager and a group of my friends met two Mormon elders. They introduced themselves as Elder Johnson and Elder Smith. One girl was just amazed that they both just happened to have the same uncommon first name. Yes, she was blonde.

Second, Are we really to believe that Queen Latifah actually shops at WalMart? For her Christmas gifts? Please. I have a very hard time picturing any Academy Award Nominated actress buying WalMart gift cards for her friends.

Finally, when did it become acceptable to go up to people and chastise them for what they purchase using a gift card you gave them? This is really quite rude to begin with, but in this case she guilts her friend into buying a movie starring her. It's nice to have support of your friends, but when you reach the point that you have to force them to support you, it may not count for much. Really, I suppose we should just consider her friend lucky that it was a copy of Beauty Shop and not Taxi.

Until later...

Trivial Tuesday

The first Trivial Tuesday of the new year! I'll do my best to come up with something that isn't a simple rehash of all earlier editions.

I watched The Treasure of The Sierra Madre (an often overlooked classic) recently and in the movie a young boy keeps trying to sell Humphrey Bogart lottery tickets. Theactor playing this boy eventually went on to gain fame in television and films then notoriety in his off-screen life. Who was this little rascal?

Prizes? We ain't got no prizes. We don't need no prizes. I don't have to give you any stinkin' prizes. On the other hand, bragging rights are at stake, so post your answer in the comments section. (Quickly, because I gave already gave you pretty significant hint.)

Update: Congratulations Bamamammy. The young fellow in that role was Robert Blake of "Our Gang" "Baretta" and "I didn't kill my wife" fame.

The Name of The Beast

So, how did we end up naming a dog Chewie, anyway? We talked about all sorts of things we could call him, some seriously, some jokingly. We bounced around a few science related names: Einstein, Galileo, Watson. Unfortunately none of these are easy to say while calling a dog and really say much more about you than the dog. A friend of mine went to school at Michigan Tech. Since the puppy is part Husky and the mascot of the Michigan Tech Huskies is named Blizzard, she suggested naming him Flurry. I responded that he wasn't white, so much as blonde, and said that we should call him Yellow Snow. This was considered too crude and the name Mark, which in this case could have a double meaning, was suggested instead. We looked through lists and lists of dog names, trying to find the perfect one. Sam? "Only if I can call him Samwise. Wait, no. I'd just call him 'stupid fat hobbits' all the time." All other sources of potential names were examined. Our DVD collection: Egon? His pudgy belly: Buddha? Books: Piscine Molitor? History: El Cid?

Eventually, the sleeping puppy looked up at me from where he was napping and said, "Aaaauuuuugghhhh!!!!" as if he were a Wookie straight from Kashyyyk. He might look more like Wicket and his friends, but the name was suggested and it stuck. Chewie was named. To convince us that we had picked an appropriate name, he then attempted to bite my knuckles, then my feet, then the metal legs of a table next to me. It wasn't long before I began wondering if this name just might be a self-fulfilling prophecy. Maybe we should have named him "Gets a modelling contract and makes me rich," but that seems a bit cumbersome.

Until later...