Oscar Reactions

·

The opening monologue was amazing. But will people give them grief for making light of the recession? I don’t care. Jackman was great.

· Reading the supporting actress nominees took ENTIRELY too long. Entirely. If the whole night goes like this…I’ll be up until 2am.

· Steve Martin and Tina Fey were hilarious as Screenwriting presenters. I also LOVE the idea of reading the script as we see the finished product. GO SLUMDOG.

· Half an hour in and my wife has already told me to see WALL-E three times.

· I did enjoy the musical montage, though it was clear that Beyonce was lipsyncing. I would have chosen different songs—though it was entertaining. I give it a B, overall.

· Really no surprises, except for supporting actress.

· In the middle of the awards, I realized that I absolutely admire each of the best director nominees, and I’ve seen multiple films from each. I wouldn’t have been upset with any of them winning (though I’m quite happy Boyle got it).

· I did say earlier that having five former best supporting actresses, but I have to admit that seeing the five former best actresses up there, it’s pretty damn impressive.

· I particularly enjoyed the best actor montage. Lots of good memories there.

· Ditto with the impressiveness of the former best actors. Magnificent Seven soundtrack??? I guess for Yul Brynner.

· Big surprise with Sean Penn. I wanted to hear what Mickey Rourke was going to say. I did like Penn’s speech, though.

· Loved the best picture montage. Glad Slumdog won.

This is What Happens When You Hire a Terrible Coach and No One Comes to Your Games.

Michigan lowers price of football tickets for 2009 season.

Wil Wheaton Says the Watchmen Movie is Good

In a nice spoiler-clean review, Wil Wheaton talks about his impressions on the Watchmen movie. His conclusion: we don't have anything to worry about.

Read the review.

Watchmen on DVD Will Come in Tall, Grande, and Venti

A friend passed on this link to me today, and I felt I needed to do the same. Zach Snyder, director of the anticipated Watchmen movie, is saying that he will release at least three different versions of the film on DVD--for the obsessed, the very obsessed, and the downright fanatical.

I've gotta say that at this point, I'm downright fanatical about Watchmen; whether that fanaticism carries over to the video medium...well, we'll find out on March 6th, won't we?

Check out the article: Watchmen will come in long, extra-long and really extra long.

The Hidden Door Company

I remember as a kid going to one of the Ford family mansions and being astounded by the grandeur of practically everything. Henry Ford built a playhouse for his kids--but instead of a normal kids' playhouse like you might expect, this was a stand-alone actual house--complete with bathroom, kitchen, the works. In the early 20th century.

What really got to me, though, were the secret passages. I was REALLY into anything secret: secret passages, secret agents, secret societies. Probably because I'm an only child and wanted to feel like I was a part of something that other people weren't.

Well anyway, I stumbled upon this website recently, and I was transported back to the above scene. It's a company that custom designs and installs hidden doors into your home. Hidden doors, people! The kind where you pull a light fixture and it swings out, revealing a SECRET lair where you can...well, I don't know what you do in secret lairs if you aren't a mad scientist or a kidnapper, but it's still very cool.

No word on pricing, but if you're in the market for a hidden door, do you really care about money? Check it out.

The Hidden Door Company

Do Not Buy the Kindle 2.

My friends, we stand on the brink of change. But not the kind of change that's being bandied about in Op-Ed pages or in the few pieces left jingling in people's pockets. No, alas, not that kind of change at all. Evil change. A change that will try to devour us without our even knowing it. A change for the worse.

I'm speaking, of course, about the Kindle 2, Amazon's second-generation e-book reader that has the tech pages aflutter with pictures of flat, eggshell-white blandness that promises to change the world. Even Oprah's on board. You download your e-books from the Kindle store, just like you download your music from the iTunes store, and off you go, reading Dorian Gray one minute and switching to the New York Times headlines the next.

I say no. I say NO. Leave our books alone, Amazon. Up until now I've respected you as a company, what with your free shipping on orders over $25 and your generous offer to let me buy both The Dark Knight and espresso beans at two in the morning. But enough is enough. You may not take my books from me.

I know what you're thinking. Hey, it's just a niche market. It's only for people who want the convenience of reading the newest novel or newspapers without having to carry around a bunch of different books or having to store all those books, useless once read, in dark, imposing bookshelves in the back room of your tastefully decorated home.

It may be that way now, Amazon, but with Sony's e-book reader gearing up to offer some stiff competition and other companies waiting in the wings, I see which way the tide is turning. But it's not too late to turn back now.

You must sell thousands and thousands of books every day. Don't you feel even a little loss when you're forced to send off one of those books, packing them lovingly in those smiling boxes? Wouldn't you rather just keep them, to show off to your friends and neighbors? I would, Amazon, and I think you would, too.

And I can guarantee you, Amazon, that no matter how bad things get--NO MATTER--I will NOT be showing my friends and neighbors my list of e-books that I've downloaded on my damn Kindle.

You know why, Amazon? Because I would rather the seething ghost of James Joyce come back from his rotting grave and tear off my flesh with his ethereal fingernails than succumb to the shame of having digital books. I would rather Jane Austen's zombified corpse slice open my head with a steak knife and feast upon my still-living brains. I would rather Mark Twain load a six shooter with the agonies of the entire world and shoot it directly into my heart...

Well, you get the idea.

Watchmen

A student of mine lent me his copy of Watchmen. Wow. I don't think I'd ever read anything that could be remotely described as a comic before in my life, but if comic books are like this, maybe I should read more.

But I have a sense that very few comic books are like this. I found this article regarding Watchmen, which is being made into a movie for an early March release. Here's a passage from the article:

Who's watching Watchmen? Everybody apparently. This book -- or comic book, or graphic novel, or whatever you want to call it -- has been picked apart endlessly in the 20 years since it was first published. Every frame has been microscopically studied, its plot, characters and symbols charted out no less elaborately than Ulysses'. Its fans, like fans of everything else, are intensely protective and argumentative. Reading a book like this now, for the first time, is likely to result less in actual criticism than in intellectual alignment. What can be said has likely been said; the issue now is with whom do you agree.

The New Yorker Respects My Writing! (And Then Rejects It)

So I'm in a grad class right now related to magazine writing, and on a whim late one night I decided to submit my most recent piece to the New Yorker. Well, today I got this in my inbox:

Dear Brian South,
We're sorry to say that your piece wasn't right for us, despite
its evident merit. Thank you for allowing us to consider your work.

Best regards,
The Talk Dept.

"Evident merit?" The New Yorker thinks my writing has "evident merit?!" Well, turns out that the New Yorker sends this response out to pieces that are a cut above the rest, but not good enough for the final dance.

If you're not a writer or artist of some sort, you probably don't get what all the fuss is about. I got rejected. That may seem to be a weird thing to get excited about. Hell, it is weird thing to get excited about. But I and most other writers receive SO many rejection letters that one that actually compliments your work does seem special. And the fact that it's coming from the New Yorker, well...talk about a dream rejection. (Actually, I've never heard the phrase "dream rejection," but it seemed to fit there so I'm going with it.)

I don't mean for this post to brag at all, I'm just trying to highlight that there is so much failure associated with this line of work that a momentary bright spot can light the whole room. In all its pathetic glory.

The Chief Justice's Flub

Doesn't that title sound dirty?

Watching the swearing in and inaugural speech was amazing. Watching it with 1,000 freshmen was less so. While the speech itself was inspired and moving, perhaps the most surprising bit of the afternoon was Obama's excited jumping ahead in the oath of office, followed by Chief Justice John Roberts' reordering of words in the oath, followed by confusion on the part of Obama, followed by confusion on the part of Roberts. Hilarity ensues.

Most media outlets, of course, are focusing on the grandeur of the day, as well they should, but I did track down this article from ABCnews.com:

Chief Justice Fumbles

January 20, 2009 12:45 PM

Chief Justice John Roberts is a man who has made very few public missteps in his life -- but he appears to have made one when swearing in Barack Obama. After Obama stepped on the first line of the oath, Roberts then slightly flubbed the next bit--which then tripped up Obama.

You'd think two brilliant Harvard Law grads who are both serious students of the Constitution (and obviously know the words of the oath by heart) would nail this one, but, then again, who among us has made history standing before two million people on a freezing January day?

The oath is contained in the Constitution:

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

But when Obama jumped in sooner than Roberts expected, Roberts flipped some of the words, saying: "I will execute the office of president to the United States faithfully."

Here's the transcript:

ROBERTS: Are you prepared to take the oath, Senator?
OBAMA: I am.
ROBERTS: I, Barack Hussein Obama...
OBAMA: I, Barack...
ROBERTS: ... do solemnly swear...
OBAMA: I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear...
ROBERTS: ... that I will execute the office of president to the United States faithfully...
OBAMA: ... that I will execute...
ROBERTS: ... faithfully the office of president of the United States...
OBAMA: ... the office of president of the United States faithfully...
ROBERTS: ... and will to the best of my ability...
OBAMA: ... and will to the best of my ability...
ROBERTS: ... preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
OBAMA: ... preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
ROBERTS: So help you God?
OBAMA: So help me God.
ROBERTS: Congratulations, Mr. President.

UPDATE: It's worth pointing out that Chief Justice William Howard Taft, who had been President himself, also flubbed the oath when he was swearing in Herbert Hoover in 1929. When Taft administered the oath, he said, "preserve, maintain and defend the Constitution," instead of "preserve, PROTECT, and defend." So where Roberts flipped a couple of words, Taft substituted an entirely new one.

What if Tim Tebow Were Muslim?

This is a great article over at CBS. I mean, great.

Tebow's Greatness Many Things, Including False Idol

Some Places Still Offer Customer Service

Two companies in particular that really cater to customers in the modern age are Zappos.com and L.L. Bean. I've read multiple stories from each of these companies that restore a shred of my faith in capitalism. I actually follow the Zappos CEO on Twitter.

What brought on this post was a remarkable story posted today on Consumerist, one of my all time favs. Check it out.

CES and Macworld Comes to an End

Those not inclined to follow tech news might not be aware that CES and Macworld 2009 has come to a close--or have even heard of them. For the uninitiated, these conventions bring together the top electronics producers around the world to show off their cutting-edge wares. What gets tech nerds excited about these events is the fact that the companies usually announce their new product lines--and bring in and show off prototypes.

There are any number of tech blogs that have already provided extensive coverage throughout the week, but I'm partial to Gizmodo, myself. Do a tag search for "ces" and you'll find more coverage than you can handle.

If you're the lazy type, and I'm betting you are, you can just follow this link to a summary of the major announcements, provided by Gizmodo's sister site, Lifehacker.

Seven Things

1. Seven things to do before I die
2. Seven things I cannot do
3. Seven things that attract me to my spouse/best friend
4. Seven things I say most often
5. Seven books (or series) I love
6. Seven movies I watch over and over again (or would watch over and over if I had the time)
7. Seven people I want to join in, too

--Seven things to do before I die:
1. Get a novel published
2. Raise a family
3. Live in Italy for a (significant) while
4. Read all of the books
5. Make a film to be proud of
6. Have the awesomest, sweetest den in North America
7. Finally be content

--Seven things I cannot do:
1. Slow down (at least right now)
2. Be angry with my students for more than a day (don't tell them!)
3. Blow a bubble
4. Grow hair
5. Say the alphabet backwards
6. Tolerate dogs
7. Get less than 7 hours sleep

--Seven things that attract me to me spouse/best friend:
1. Sense of humor
2. Intelligence
3. Cuteness quotient
4. Eyes
5. Ability to open up
6. Commitment readiness
7. Smokin' hot bod

--Seven things I say most often:
1. "Sit down and shut up!" (to my students; just kidding)
2. "Sweet Fancy Moses!"
3. "Come on!" (a la GOB Bluth)
4. "Why are PE teachers called 'teachers?'"
5. "Why won't these girls just leave me alone!"
6. "Why the FUCK was Arrested Development being canceled?!?"
7. "Life is too serious to be taken seriously."

--Seven books (or series) I love (this was actually a very challenging and rewarding task):
1. James Joyce's Ulysses
2. J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye
3. Robert Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
4. Michael Cunningham's The Hours
5. J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings trilogy
6. The Bond books
7. Star Wars books

--Seven movies I watch over and over (or would watch over and over if I had the time):
1. Wes Anderson's The Royal Tenenbaums
2. Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Amelie
3. Sophia Coppola's Lost in Translation
4. Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon
5. Charlie Chaplin's The Gold Rush
6. The Coen Bros.' No Country for Old Men
7. Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window

--Seven people I want to join in, too:
1. Dana (yeah, right, he doesn't even have a computer)
2. Tara
3. Gino
4. Paul
5. Steve
6. Sarah
7. YOU

What happens when I go to Ohio for Christmas

Trouble.

Winter Break Stats

Papers graded: 30
Movies watched: 6
Parties attended: 5
States visited: 3
Books read: 3
Xbox games played: 2
Grad classes attended: 1

In Defense of Buying Books

Check out this post from Get Rich Slowly:

In Defense of Buying Books

Everyone's Making Top 10 Lists. Here's Mine.

10. Salmon
9. When Harry Met Sally...
8. Roger Federer
7. Death Star
6. John Pierpont Morgan
5. Hypochondria
4. Ineluctable
3. All in the Family
2. Smith & Wesson
1. Thermal Underwear.

You decide.

The Uses for Year in Reviews

Look through any news site or blog today, and you will be presented with the same item: The Year in Review. The Washington Post has a visual twist on the theme (who doesn't like pictures?), ABCNews.com offers us a Year in Business, and my own Naperville Sun--presumably without anything else to write about--presents no fewer than three Year in Reviews.

What is this fascination with looking back, with quantifying our experiences, victories, failures? Yes, you can quote Santayana to death with your those-who-don't-remember-the-past nonsense, but what I'm particularly interested in is the essence of nostalgia. In my late childhood I spent hours looking through my old notebooks and journals, and in my adolescence and early adulthood I have meticulously kept track of significant events (and sometimes insignificant ones). Was it because I thought that if I wrote it all down I would be able to use that knowledge later on in life? Did I think I could synthesize the sum of my existence in order to be a better person in the future?

Perhaps a small part of me held this view, but I never truly thought that keeping a catalogue of the past would accumulate into a better future self. I did not, and do not, think that the mere existence and remembrance of one's past experiences cause one to be a better person (though I do, of course, recognize that these make up who we all are in the present). But to think that keeping the past in mind--being mindful of what one has been through--somehow causes one to be a better person is simply not true.

Why, then, do I keep records of the past? It's simple. Fear. Fear of losing what's already been lost. Fear that the future won't be quite as grand as the past. For if we remember, if we think back to the past, we are able to relive just for a moment our previous lives, our previous selves. We can say, I remember when that was me, I remember that a piece of that person resides in me now.

But there's the danger, isn't it? To think that the old self is somehow recoverable is fallacy, and this is the temptation practicers of nostalgia must resist. So when perusing all these Year in Reviews, sure, look at the pretty pictures and remember what used to be. But also remember that it won't ever be that way again.

And for many elements of 2008, that's not such a bad thing.