Okay, these are my top two picks, as well as some good, fun (sometimes near great) movies that just didn't make my top ten but are worth seeing anyway. This is the last part of the list, I promise.
To recap 10-3 are:
10 - The Bourne Ultimatum
9 - Sweeney Todd
8 - Michael Clayton
7 - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
6 - Atonement
5 - Once
4 - Into the Wild
3 - The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
2 - There Will be Blood - This may be the most powerful film of the year and Daniel Day Lewis gives the most powerful, transcendent performance by any actor (or actress) in any film of 2007, and to my mind one of the top performances of the decade. The director, Paul Thomas Anderson, has described it as a horror movie and much of the sick sick horror and feeling of queasiness comes from watching Day Lewis' decline from driven entrepreneur to soulless monster. The film is pitched as a struggle between two strong-willed men, one of whom is a preacher and the other of whom is a businessman. These two men are supposed to stand in for the competing forces of religion and commerce. And that is definitely a large part of the film. But the film is really about Day Lewis' relentless drive to succeed at all costs. In the process he discards all that is uneccessary to his success and all that makes him human, leading to a brutal and unforgettable final act. The soundtrack lends an air of dread to the whole endeavor making even routine actions seem ominous and portentous. I don't know if Stephanie and Ryan have seen this film, but there are two scenes in particular which stand out to me. I can't help but getting chills when I think about Daniel Day Lewis getting reluctantly baptized in a church where the preacher forces him to say, "I've abandoned my son." over and over again. Unbelievable. And then the scene at the end in the bowling alley where Daniel Day Lews and the preacher (Paul Dano) have their final confronation. Man, if I had just 1/10 of one percent of Day Lewis' talent.
Finally....
1 - No Country For Old Men - The film is set in motion by Josh Brolin stumbling upon a drug deal gone wrong and making off with $2 million dollars. The rest of the film deals with the consequences of that action. To me the film is an examination of fate. Josh Brolin unleashes a terrible killing machine in Javier Bardem while Tommy Lee Jones looks on largely helpless to resist. Bardem is the agent of fate, irrestible and implacable. He cannot be turned aside and will not waver. But like fate, he is arbitrary as well. Twice in the film he uses a coin to determine if someone will live or die. Josh Brolin is his ultimate target but he will not hesitate to stamp out anyone he sees along the way. Tommy Lee Jones acts as the overwhelmed observer of that fate. He grows increasingly incapable of comprehending his job and the world in which he finds himself, which is no country for old men in case you missed it. This film stood out in a crowded pack of top-notch films for several reasons, 1) The excellent excellent adapted screenplay. 2) The best ensemble acting in any film this year. No performance was off-key and several actors gave oscar-worthy performances, even those not nominated. In particular Josh Brolin, Tommy Lee Jones and Javier Bardem should get a shared Best Actor Award. 3). The Coen brothers visionary directing which filled every scene with meaning and grabbed the most out of the sun-drenched countryside. This was unmistakably a Coen brothers film with all of their humor and grim realism. They took what could have been a shoot-em-up revenge fantasy and transformed it into a masterpiece.
Okay, that's it. There were so many great movies this year I couldn't list them all. Here are my also rans.
Ratatouille - Again, the perfect animated movie. There is a site on the web called metacritic which takes movie critics ratings and gives an average score based on a 100 point scale. So for example this year's Meet The Spartans got a 9 while No Country for Old Men got a 91. Well, Ratatouille was the highest rated film of 2007 with an average of 96. So, with over 50 reviews it averaged a 96, which is basically an A+. I agree with this wholeheartedly. It was cute, well drawn, totally family friendly and absolutely hilarious. So it didn't make it into my top ten only because it was so slight. There is not much to it beyond a bland "Believe in your dreams" type of message. You know me, no bloody deaths, no top ten. But still a fun movie. Definitely worth seeing.
Knocked Up - Very funny, vey human movie about trying to deal with pregnancy. Maybe this came at the perfect time for Meghan and I since we'd just found out we were pregnant, but we both thought it was great.
Juno - Another pregnancy movie. Also very funny and poignant. It deals in a very touching and humorous way with growing up and accepting responsibility.
Gone Baby Gone - Who knew Ben Affleck could direct? Well, this film is first rate. It's a brilliantly plotted missing child mystery where the mother's child is such a horrible person, you start to hope she won't get the child back. Great performances again by Casey Affleck and also by Amy Ryan.
Breach - Good spy drama - It's about the case of the worst spy in US history (in terms of damage to the US) as played by Chris Cooper who is great as always. The thrill of the movie is watching him on the tail end of a downward spiral and watching Ryan Phillipe trying to dance around him.
The Good Shephard - Matt Damon again plays a spy except this time the type of spy which actually exists, or used to. So bland and unaffecting he blends into the scenery, but a mastermind who grows to help direct the CIA. It's a bit cold-blooded, but still worth watching.
Away From Her - A film about a couple who have been together for 44 years when the wife develops Alzheimer's. Once at a nursing home, she forgets her husband who can only watch as she develops an attachment to a man at the home. It's poignant, well-acted and maybe something we will all have to face at some point. But god is it depressing. I really like this movie, but the wife was crying from the first few minutes and it almost never lets up. It is short and I highly recommend it but this one is more like eating your vegetables.
The Host - Hilarious Korean monster movie that doubles as a commentary on the US military presence in South Korea. No seriously. When a US military surgeon orders his reluctant Korean employee to dump old bottles of medical chemicals down the drain, they wash right out into the Han river and cause a normal fish to mutate into a huge tadpole/fish/lizard hybrid. The movie is very funny and there are lots of little digs at how the US is perceived in Korea. For example, when the monster first makes a rampage across the city, many Koreans die while fighting or fleeing it, but the Korean news media only reports on the death of one US soldier who bravely died trying to fight off the monster. Anyway, it's pretty good. Okay, that's all I've got. Hope this wasn't too much.
Let me know what you think and please give me any movie recommendations you might have.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Hi again. Hope you all made it through part 1, because here I am, back again with part two.
So, to recap, it's been:
10 - The Bourne Ultimatum
9 - Sweeney Todd
8 - Michael Clayton
7 - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
And here are numbers 6-3. Read, or don't.
6 - Atonement - Apart from possessing admirable qualities including top-notch writing (adapted from a novel of the same name), cinematography (the amazing scene on the beach at Dunkirk which was shot in one take), acting and directing, this film is unique this year in that it has multiple strong female leads. This was a very manly, very dark, bleak year of film (now that's my kind of movies!), but this movie feels like it could have been made ten or twenty years ago. And that's a good thing. The story is about a love affair (again one of only a few in film this year) between an aristocratic lady and her family gardener (who was also Oxford-educated at her family's expense). Through a series of mishaps and black coincidences, the woman's younger sister sees an act she cannot understand and the man is accused of a horrible crime and locked away. The rest of the film deals with the young girl's realization that she has committed a horrible act that doomed a man and a love affair and her attempts to attone for it. Personally, I thought the coincidences were a bit shoe-horned in for the sake of the story and I also found some too-convenient occurences toward the end. I say this because otherwise this movie would have made it into my top three, hands down. Some people didn't mind these things. You should see this film.
5 - Once - What a beautiful film. The only other love story in the whole lot. It's just about a Dublin street musician who meets a young Czech woman who plays classical music on the piano. They realize they like each other and they can make beautiful music together (sorry, but it's true in this case). So they make a CD which the man intends to sell in London. That's it. That's the whole story. But the music is incredible. Meghan and I immediately downloaded the soundtrack and still listen to it. Falling Slowly is one of my favorite songs of the year. I like this film because it stays small. Look at all of the rest of the films on this list. They are big, they are about ideas, concepts, fate, justice. This movie is about a thing. It's about a love affair that both people know can't last beyond the completion of the album they're working on. It never intends to solve any problems or talk about mortality. I love the movie for just these reasons. Oh and did I mention it's a musical?
4 - Into the Wild - I was moved on a deep level by this film and by its protagonist's decision to turn his back on society and seek his true nature. We are all faced every day with the temptations and traps of society and we all know with each new purchase or activity we add another layer between ourselves and our essential nature. But we are all drawn in anyway. This film is the story of Chris McCandless as played by Emile Hirsch, who had a fierce determination to resist that temptation at all costs. But the film is not just about his Thoreau-like quest to reinvent himself, it also shows the human cost of his decision and how selfish and self-indulgent his actions can seem. At almost every stage along his journey Hirsch is met with kind-hearted people who seem more than willing to take him in and share their lives with him. He leaves them all behind, usually without a goodbye as he slips out in the night. The film is partially voiced by his sister with whom he seems to have had a very close and loving relationship and yet who never receives one word of his whereabouts. She is alternately hurt by his lack of contact and worried sick about his safety. Other people he meets along the way are a hippie couple who share many of his ideals and seem willing to take him in a surrogate son, and a young woman who sees in him a potential soulmate. Most heartbreaking of all is his relationship with an elderly man with whom he lives for a few months who offers to adopt him as a grandson. He turns his back on all of these people. Ultimately, what moves me about this film is this dual exploration of our humanity and how we are all individuals but how we are all connected as well.
3 - The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford - This film is a nuanced look at the culture of celebrity worship cleverly mascarading as a Western. The movie concerns the interaction between Pitt's Jesse James and his hero-worhsippingest fan Robert Ford who has been obsessed with James since he was a little kid. In real life, Brad Pitt is as famous for his movies as he is for his off-screen legend, and possibly as a consequence, this may be his best performance since Fight Club. I know you wouldn't think it, but Brad Pitt gives a terrifically menacing performance as a man who is feared much more than he is respected because his henchman and hangers-on know he will kill any and all of them at the drop of a hat. He seems to take pleasure in torturing their psyches like a cat playing with a mouse before he kills it. Meanwhile, Casey Affleck is surprsingly tremendous as Robert Ford the little boy lost who loves the legend more than the man. Eventually mocked and publicly ridiculed by James, Ford turns against him and assassinates him in his own house. Ford expects to be publicly praised for this action, but instead lives to hear himself mocked and called a coward. The film is excellently cast and assuredly directed by Andrew Dominik. The length turned off some people but the director uses this to convey the growing sense of menace and dread among the claustrophobic band of outlaws surrounding the most feared/worshipped outlaw/hero in the US.
So, to recap, it's been:
10 - The Bourne Ultimatum
9 - Sweeney Todd
8 - Michael Clayton
7 - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
And here are numbers 6-3. Read, or don't.
6 - Atonement - Apart from possessing admirable qualities including top-notch writing (adapted from a novel of the same name), cinematography (the amazing scene on the beach at Dunkirk which was shot in one take), acting and directing, this film is unique this year in that it has multiple strong female leads. This was a very manly, very dark, bleak year of film (now that's my kind of movies!), but this movie feels like it could have been made ten or twenty years ago. And that's a good thing. The story is about a love affair (again one of only a few in film this year) between an aristocratic lady and her family gardener (who was also Oxford-educated at her family's expense). Through a series of mishaps and black coincidences, the woman's younger sister sees an act she cannot understand and the man is accused of a horrible crime and locked away. The rest of the film deals with the young girl's realization that she has committed a horrible act that doomed a man and a love affair and her attempts to attone for it. Personally, I thought the coincidences were a bit shoe-horned in for the sake of the story and I also found some too-convenient occurences toward the end. I say this because otherwise this movie would have made it into my top three, hands down. Some people didn't mind these things. You should see this film.
5 - Once - What a beautiful film. The only other love story in the whole lot. It's just about a Dublin street musician who meets a young Czech woman who plays classical music on the piano. They realize they like each other and they can make beautiful music together (sorry, but it's true in this case). So they make a CD which the man intends to sell in London. That's it. That's the whole story. But the music is incredible. Meghan and I immediately downloaded the soundtrack and still listen to it. Falling Slowly is one of my favorite songs of the year. I like this film because it stays small. Look at all of the rest of the films on this list. They are big, they are about ideas, concepts, fate, justice. This movie is about a thing. It's about a love affair that both people know can't last beyond the completion of the album they're working on. It never intends to solve any problems or talk about mortality. I love the movie for just these reasons. Oh and did I mention it's a musical?
4 - Into the Wild - I was moved on a deep level by this film and by its protagonist's decision to turn his back on society and seek his true nature. We are all faced every day with the temptations and traps of society and we all know with each new purchase or activity we add another layer between ourselves and our essential nature. But we are all drawn in anyway. This film is the story of Chris McCandless as played by Emile Hirsch, who had a fierce determination to resist that temptation at all costs. But the film is not just about his Thoreau-like quest to reinvent himself, it also shows the human cost of his decision and how selfish and self-indulgent his actions can seem. At almost every stage along his journey Hirsch is met with kind-hearted people who seem more than willing to take him in and share their lives with him. He leaves them all behind, usually without a goodbye as he slips out in the night. The film is partially voiced by his sister with whom he seems to have had a very close and loving relationship and yet who never receives one word of his whereabouts. She is alternately hurt by his lack of contact and worried sick about his safety. Other people he meets along the way are a hippie couple who share many of his ideals and seem willing to take him in a surrogate son, and a young woman who sees in him a potential soulmate. Most heartbreaking of all is his relationship with an elderly man with whom he lives for a few months who offers to adopt him as a grandson. He turns his back on all of these people. Ultimately, what moves me about this film is this dual exploration of our humanity and how we are all individuals but how we are all connected as well.
3 - The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford - This film is a nuanced look at the culture of celebrity worship cleverly mascarading as a Western. The movie concerns the interaction between Pitt's Jesse James and his hero-worhsippingest fan Robert Ford who has been obsessed with James since he was a little kid. In real life, Brad Pitt is as famous for his movies as he is for his off-screen legend, and possibly as a consequence, this may be his best performance since Fight Club. I know you wouldn't think it, but Brad Pitt gives a terrifically menacing performance as a man who is feared much more than he is respected because his henchman and hangers-on know he will kill any and all of them at the drop of a hat. He seems to take pleasure in torturing their psyches like a cat playing with a mouse before he kills it. Meanwhile, Casey Affleck is surprsingly tremendous as Robert Ford the little boy lost who loves the legend more than the man. Eventually mocked and publicly ridiculed by James, Ford turns against him and assassinates him in his own house. Ford expects to be publicly praised for this action, but instead lives to hear himself mocked and called a coward. The film is excellently cast and assuredly directed by Andrew Dominik. The length turned off some people but the director uses this to convey the growing sense of menace and dread among the claustrophobic band of outlaws surrounding the most feared/worshipped outlaw/hero in the US.
God damn, it's been a long time since I posted. And as usual, this one will be late. It's a blog all about my favorite movies from the year that was, 2007. I've broken it up into three different posts because it's so frickin' long. Without further ado, here it is.
So, every year the wife and I try to watch as many movies that are nominated for Oscars as we can. This usually results in some pretty good movies, but not always (Crash, Dreamgirls). Anyway, this year seemed like it was a very good year for movies. Well actually, the second half of the year was a great 6 months for movies. So, since I've been obsessing over movies these past few months I thought I'd let you know which I thought were the best, which are in my top ten, which deserve a look and which are best to be avoided.
10 - The Bourne Ultimatum - The perfect action movie. I only sort of enjoyed the first two, but this last one topped them all. It's an action movie with a brain. It even had a message of sorts about responsibility and free will as Jason Bourne finally confronts the people who turned him into the unfeeling perfect killing machine he is. No cheesy James Bond one liners and coolness in the face of danger. No ridiculous technology to save the day, just relentless action. Relentless unstoppable action.
9 - Sweeney Todd - Ok, I know the reception to this one was decidedly mixed and I admit the opening sequence was badly handled, but I loved the combination of Sondheim, Tim Burton, Johnny Depp, and Helena Bonham Carter. How can you watch a movie where a man sings a song called "My Friends" to his knives and not love it? I loved the music and while I missed the rich baritone of Sweeney Todd's voice from stage versions, I thought Tim Burton's faux-gothic darkness and solid, solid performances all around more than made up for it. But I like discordant "melodies", don't mind the blood and welcome moral ambiguity. In many ways this musical is the opposite of most cornball musicals. Man goes to prison for a crime he didn't commit, but then comes out cold and deadly and instead of righting his wrongs, exacts murderous revenge on those who wronged him and on society in general. What's not to love?
8 - Michael Clayton - A tight legal thriller which never goes anywhere near the inside of a courtroom. George Clooney's title character is a guy who goes around and "fixes" problems for a large law firm, by calling in favors from the police and, it is hinted, by performing other less savory, less legal maneuvers. When a senior partner (Tom Wilkinson) discovers the firm is representing a corrupt company he goes off his medication and threatens to expose it all. Clayton's job is to track him down and set him back on the right path. Anyway, George Clooney is very strong but the movie is worth seeing for Tom Wilkinson's hilarious and chillingly demented performance and for Tilda Swinton's almost indescribable portrayal of a corporate lawyer who is all cool on the outside but falling apart on the inside. Her collapse into a horrible sweaty mess in a corporate restroom is something only she could have pulled off. If you haven't seen her in The Deep End, go rent it.
7 - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - On paper, this sounds like the movie equivalent of eating your spinach. Sure, it's good for you, but who wants to choke down all that bitterness. But in fact the movie is surprisingly light. And thankfully fairly short. It's about a high rolling and famous man (he's the editor of the French Elle magazine) in his early 40's who has a kind of stroke which leaves him paralyzed except for his left eye. That's right, he can only blink his left eye. That's it. But, he is able to pull himself out of despair and eventually dictates a memoir by blinking his eye! The title is taken from his description of his condition, his body feels like it's weighed down by a bulky diving suit (the diving bell) while his imagination can take him anywhere (the butterfly). What makes it worth seeing is the hilariously sarcastic French humor he retains and the director, Julian Schnabel's use of color and imagery. Seriously, this is a fantastic movie, that doesn't feel like a disease of the week brought to you by Hallmark.
Okay, that's it for pat 1. Hopefully it's not too long. I hope you enjoy. I'll send part II later. I've already written the rest. I sent the same list into a film website I visit to try to win a competition, but didn't win a damn thing. but you don't have to compete with friends and anonymous strangers on the internet right? Right? Anyway, you guys might not have seen all of these and I'm willing to bet I have seen more movies than most of you this year.
So, every year the wife and I try to watch as many movies that are nominated for Oscars as we can. This usually results in some pretty good movies, but not always (Crash, Dreamgirls). Anyway, this year seemed like it was a very good year for movies. Well actually, the second half of the year was a great 6 months for movies. So, since I've been obsessing over movies these past few months I thought I'd let you know which I thought were the best, which are in my top ten, which deserve a look and which are best to be avoided.
10 - The Bourne Ultimatum - The perfect action movie. I only sort of enjoyed the first two, but this last one topped them all. It's an action movie with a brain. It even had a message of sorts about responsibility and free will as Jason Bourne finally confronts the people who turned him into the unfeeling perfect killing machine he is. No cheesy James Bond one liners and coolness in the face of danger. No ridiculous technology to save the day, just relentless action. Relentless unstoppable action.
9 - Sweeney Todd - Ok, I know the reception to this one was decidedly mixed and I admit the opening sequence was badly handled, but I loved the combination of Sondheim, Tim Burton, Johnny Depp, and Helena Bonham Carter. How can you watch a movie where a man sings a song called "My Friends" to his knives and not love it? I loved the music and while I missed the rich baritone of Sweeney Todd's voice from stage versions, I thought Tim Burton's faux-gothic darkness and solid, solid performances all around more than made up for it. But I like discordant "melodies", don't mind the blood and welcome moral ambiguity. In many ways this musical is the opposite of most cornball musicals. Man goes to prison for a crime he didn't commit, but then comes out cold and deadly and instead of righting his wrongs, exacts murderous revenge on those who wronged him and on society in general. What's not to love?
8 - Michael Clayton - A tight legal thriller which never goes anywhere near the inside of a courtroom. George Clooney's title character is a guy who goes around and "fixes" problems for a large law firm, by calling in favors from the police and, it is hinted, by performing other less savory, less legal maneuvers. When a senior partner (Tom Wilkinson) discovers the firm is representing a corrupt company he goes off his medication and threatens to expose it all. Clayton's job is to track him down and set him back on the right path. Anyway, George Clooney is very strong but the movie is worth seeing for Tom Wilkinson's hilarious and chillingly demented performance and for Tilda Swinton's almost indescribable portrayal of a corporate lawyer who is all cool on the outside but falling apart on the inside. Her collapse into a horrible sweaty mess in a corporate restroom is something only she could have pulled off. If you haven't seen her in The Deep End, go rent it.
7 - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - On paper, this sounds like the movie equivalent of eating your spinach. Sure, it's good for you, but who wants to choke down all that bitterness. But in fact the movie is surprisingly light. And thankfully fairly short. It's about a high rolling and famous man (he's the editor of the French Elle magazine) in his early 40's who has a kind of stroke which leaves him paralyzed except for his left eye. That's right, he can only blink his left eye. That's it. But, he is able to pull himself out of despair and eventually dictates a memoir by blinking his eye! The title is taken from his description of his condition, his body feels like it's weighed down by a bulky diving suit (the diving bell) while his imagination can take him anywhere (the butterfly). What makes it worth seeing is the hilariously sarcastic French humor he retains and the director, Julian Schnabel's use of color and imagery. Seriously, this is a fantastic movie, that doesn't feel like a disease of the week brought to you by Hallmark.
Okay, that's it for pat 1. Hopefully it's not too long. I hope you enjoy. I'll send part II later. I've already written the rest. I sent the same list into a film website I visit to try to win a competition, but didn't win a damn thing. but you don't have to compete with friends and anonymous strangers on the internet right? Right? Anyway, you guys might not have seen all of these and I'm willing to bet I have seen more movies than most of you this year.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
It's no big secret I don't blog very often. Mainly, I'm just lazy. Also, whenever I write, I tend to wander off on tangents with no end in sight. But most embarassing of all, I always start to get all moody and depressive like a teenager writing in a diary. Mortified anyone? In spite of all of that, I thought I'd just take the plunge and put up some thoughts that have been rambling around my head the last few weeks.
I've been married now for one and a half years, and have been with my wife for over five. We started dating in October 2001. So I thought it might be appropriate to mention some of the small differences I've noticed in the way men and women approach planning. I thought this might be appropriate given the impending holidays and the stresses they generally bring.
My wife is so much more on the ball about planning social activities than I am. Seriously, it's ridiculous. For example, she'll set up lunch dates with people weeks in advance. Lunch dates! These lunches must be set up so far in advance because both women actually know their schedules and have conflicts that far out. Meanwhile, do you know what I'm going to be doing for lunch today? Going to the gym. And tomorrow? Going to the gym. And probably the day after that, too. But if I don't I'll think of something. I definitely don't have any plans. If you need to meet me for lunch today, that's fine. Tomorrow's good, too. It's just that, if it's two guys, let's not call it a date, ok?
She not just organized for lunch. She's organized about everything. We've literally set up dinners with friends two months into the future. It boggles my mind how someone can now where they will be in two months. And I don't think it's just my wife and I who exhibit this dynamic.
One Saturday about two years ago when I was still in school I was studying in a cafe, or more accurately, sort of studying but mostly people watching. This was a beautiful morning in early May. I had been there about half an hour when a man and a woman came in, obviously a couple. What struck me was that they had this huge calendar with them. Literally like the old-school kind you used to see at work that took up the entire desktop. Anyway, she then proceeded to go through the calendar week by week and plan out their entire summer. She was planning out who they were going to visit and what they were going to do for every weekend between May and September. Every vacation, every trip to see old friends, where they would be at each and every moment for the next four months. It was horrifying. I can still see the look of abject terror on the guys face. Even now I get the willies just thinking about it. Seriously, I'm pretty sure this is a scary story scout masters tell their cub scouts around the campfire. "...And he never got to have a free weekend again for the rest of his life! Hahahaha!"
Ok, ok that's a little extreme, but I do know that while it scared me to death, when I went home to tell my now-wife about it she thought for a second and said, "Well that's not a bad idea." I want to stress that nothing like this has ever happened in our own home, but I think it helps to show my point. Also, please understand, my wife is actually very mellow when it comes to planning... just not as mellow as me.
Of course, there are some men who are the planners and some women who are more sponatneous. Remember, this is about our marriage.
I also understand the benefits of planning. Really I do. It's just that I am constitutionally incapable of laying out my daily life like that. I can plan vacations and special occassions, but much prefer to have some wiggle room to do spur of the moment things if something strikes my fancy.
The benefits of planning are that the planner usually gets to set the agenda for the couple. I don't think this is done intentionally, it just happens that way. Also, contrary to my wishful thinking you actually can get much more done if it's all planned out.
However, in closing I have noticed my wife tends to get more stressed out for example when it comes to big holiday weekends with many events packed into an extremely short time-span. It usually plays out that she is feeling quite a bit of anxiety while I am cheerfully telling her, "Don't worry honey, it will all work out. We have plenty of time." In these cases although she is usually right, all I can say in my own defense is that this is a situation where ignorance is bliss.
There are other topics to cover here; checkbook balancing, cold weather, what is "sweet" and what is "too sweet", and many others. Hopefully, I'll get around to publishing them, but considering how disorganized and spur of the moment my time is, I tend to doubt it.
I've been married now for one and a half years, and have been with my wife for over five. We started dating in October 2001. So I thought it might be appropriate to mention some of the small differences I've noticed in the way men and women approach planning. I thought this might be appropriate given the impending holidays and the stresses they generally bring.
My wife is so much more on the ball about planning social activities than I am. Seriously, it's ridiculous. For example, she'll set up lunch dates with people weeks in advance. Lunch dates! These lunches must be set up so far in advance because both women actually know their schedules and have conflicts that far out. Meanwhile, do you know what I'm going to be doing for lunch today? Going to the gym. And tomorrow? Going to the gym. And probably the day after that, too. But if I don't I'll think of something. I definitely don't have any plans. If you need to meet me for lunch today, that's fine. Tomorrow's good, too. It's just that, if it's two guys, let's not call it a date, ok?
She not just organized for lunch. She's organized about everything. We've literally set up dinners with friends two months into the future. It boggles my mind how someone can now where they will be in two months. And I don't think it's just my wife and I who exhibit this dynamic.
One Saturday about two years ago when I was still in school I was studying in a cafe, or more accurately, sort of studying but mostly people watching. This was a beautiful morning in early May. I had been there about half an hour when a man and a woman came in, obviously a couple. What struck me was that they had this huge calendar with them. Literally like the old-school kind you used to see at work that took up the entire desktop. Anyway, she then proceeded to go through the calendar week by week and plan out their entire summer. She was planning out who they were going to visit and what they were going to do for every weekend between May and September. Every vacation, every trip to see old friends, where they would be at each and every moment for the next four months. It was horrifying. I can still see the look of abject terror on the guys face. Even now I get the willies just thinking about it. Seriously, I'm pretty sure this is a scary story scout masters tell their cub scouts around the campfire. "...And he never got to have a free weekend again for the rest of his life! Hahahaha!"
Ok, ok that's a little extreme, but I do know that while it scared me to death, when I went home to tell my now-wife about it she thought for a second and said, "Well that's not a bad idea." I want to stress that nothing like this has ever happened in our own home, but I think it helps to show my point. Also, please understand, my wife is actually very mellow when it comes to planning... just not as mellow as me.
Of course, there are some men who are the planners and some women who are more sponatneous. Remember, this is about our marriage.
I also understand the benefits of planning. Really I do. It's just that I am constitutionally incapable of laying out my daily life like that. I can plan vacations and special occassions, but much prefer to have some wiggle room to do spur of the moment things if something strikes my fancy.
The benefits of planning are that the planner usually gets to set the agenda for the couple. I don't think this is done intentionally, it just happens that way. Also, contrary to my wishful thinking you actually can get much more done if it's all planned out.
However, in closing I have noticed my wife tends to get more stressed out for example when it comes to big holiday weekends with many events packed into an extremely short time-span. It usually plays out that she is feeling quite a bit of anxiety while I am cheerfully telling her, "Don't worry honey, it will all work out. We have plenty of time." In these cases although she is usually right, all I can say in my own defense is that this is a situation where ignorance is bliss.
There are other topics to cover here; checkbook balancing, cold weather, what is "sweet" and what is "too sweet", and many others. Hopefully, I'll get around to publishing them, but considering how disorganized and spur of the moment my time is, I tend to doubt it.
Thursday, November 03, 2005
The one about math
Warning: This post mentions math. Don't worry, I don't do math in it and you don't need to know anything about math to read it. But, if you're the kind of person who runs screaming from the room when you hear the word fraction, you might want to skip this one. It's all about my thoughts on a job and this tough class I'm taking and it's kind of blah, blah, blah to be honest with you. Also, it's perty long, so it might be better to just give it a miss altogether. But, maybe there's something worthwhile in it for you, plus there's a funny story later on (I promise). So, like mathematics itself, it might be a little bit of work but there is some payoff at the end.
I'm a math major, and you know what that means, right? It means my job prospects are about as good as your average Liberal Arts major (which I also am, since I'm double majoring in English Lit, convenient right?).
In other words, I'm afraid the phrase, "Do you want fries with that?" may be important in my future career field. I mean what the hell, I pick the only major from all the sciences that has no use whatsoever by itself. It's pure abstract thought at its finest!
I mean, most people ask, "Oh do you want to be a teacher?" And when they hear that I also have a major in English they think it's for certain. What else are you going to do with it, right? The problem is, I took too much math. I just can't see using anything above Calculus in a high school setting. And in middle school it's even less math required. Let me put it to you this way: In order to teach math to middle school and high school children you really don't need to know that much math. And that is sad on so many levels.
For instance, the class I'm taking right now is called Introduction to Compex Analysis. It deals with imaginary numbers. Yeah, they're imaginary! And there's a whole class on 'em! Anyway, the entire subject is ridiculously complicated. I mean the word complex is right there in the title. It took some of the smartest people in the world over 2000 years to come up with this shit. It's calculus taken to an entirely different level. So, isn't there a use for any of this stuff? Actually there is, ironically. As it turns out, imaginary numbers and complex analysis are some of the most useful fields to modern science. You could not have the microchip without them. And they have thousands of uses in high tech science (satellite imagery, signal analysis, etc.). But only if you have a Master's Degree in math. Nothing for undergraduate degrees. Guess they don't trust us.
On that note, I have a funny story regarding complex numbers. No seriously! So, a rabbi a priest and a mathematician walk into a bar and... Oh hold on, that one isn't funny. This one, maybe... The other day I got on BART and it was fairly crowded and as usual I was running late. Just as I got on I saw a guy out of the corner of my eye holding what looked like the world's rinky-dinkiest little electronic guitar. I mean this looked like those playskool "My First Guitar" things but worse. It looked like he'd either put it together himself or fished it out of a trashcan. Either way bad news, because he had on shabby clothes about a weeks worth of beard growth and my first thought was, "Homeless guy is gonna play his Fisher-Price / vagrant guitar and ask for money and I'm standing right next to him. Great!"
Well, I pull out my complex homework and start working on it standing right next to the guy because I'm cool like that. At a certain point, he and I are sort of the only two people on the train and I'm wondering if he'll start off with a stirring rendition of "Wind Beneath my Wings" or "The horrible love song from The Titanic movie". But, all of a sudden he's like, "Hey what are you working on there?" So, I start stammering through an explanation. I start out pretty basic because who knows anything about complex numbers. I'm like, "uh, complex numbers. They have an imaginary component and a real component. And this is like analysis of them and it's..." Only that's as far as I get because I don't really know how to explain it even to myself. But after each pause he just nods his head and is like, "Yeah I'm familiar with that." So finally I stop talking because I have nothing else to say and because I'm still waiting for him to start in with "To All the Girls I've loved before" when he starts talking and telling me how he studied complex analysis years ago and then he starts lecturing me on all the uses of complex analysis including crap so esoteric I've never even heard of it before. Then I actually look at him for the first time and he's like 24-25 years old. Just a kid and he's already mastered this stuff years ago! Meanwhile I took the course over the summer at Berkeley and got a D and had to retake it at SFSU!
Then the train stops at Civic Center and he's like, "Well good luck with that." And then he strolls out, Mattell "My Li'l Banjo" in hand. Yeah, let me tell you, I felt pretty smart that day.
Ok, you made it! That's the end of the post. Thank you for sticking around. Sorry it was so long and rambling. It's just that I'm incredibly tired and that's what you do when you're tired. You ramble. Like that speech Bill Bradley gave a few years ago when he was running for president. He'd been up for like 72 hours and at a campaign stop decided that now would be a good time to depart from his prepared remarks and then embarked on a two minuted ramble about his pillow at the hotel room the night before. Seriously! it was a good moment for him. Well, that's what I feel like about now. Okay, that's really really it. For real.
Warning: This post mentions math. Don't worry, I don't do math in it and you don't need to know anything about math to read it. But, if you're the kind of person who runs screaming from the room when you hear the word fraction, you might want to skip this one. It's all about my thoughts on a job and this tough class I'm taking and it's kind of blah, blah, blah to be honest with you. Also, it's perty long, so it might be better to just give it a miss altogether. But, maybe there's something worthwhile in it for you, plus there's a funny story later on (I promise). So, like mathematics itself, it might be a little bit of work but there is some payoff at the end.
I'm a math major, and you know what that means, right? It means my job prospects are about as good as your average Liberal Arts major (which I also am, since I'm double majoring in English Lit, convenient right?).
In other words, I'm afraid the phrase, "Do you want fries with that?" may be important in my future career field. I mean what the hell, I pick the only major from all the sciences that has no use whatsoever by itself. It's pure abstract thought at its finest!
I mean, most people ask, "Oh do you want to be a teacher?" And when they hear that I also have a major in English they think it's for certain. What else are you going to do with it, right? The problem is, I took too much math. I just can't see using anything above Calculus in a high school setting. And in middle school it's even less math required. Let me put it to you this way: In order to teach math to middle school and high school children you really don't need to know that much math. And that is sad on so many levels.
For instance, the class I'm taking right now is called Introduction to Compex Analysis. It deals with imaginary numbers. Yeah, they're imaginary! And there's a whole class on 'em! Anyway, the entire subject is ridiculously complicated. I mean the word complex is right there in the title. It took some of the smartest people in the world over 2000 years to come up with this shit. It's calculus taken to an entirely different level. So, isn't there a use for any of this stuff? Actually there is, ironically. As it turns out, imaginary numbers and complex analysis are some of the most useful fields to modern science. You could not have the microchip without them. And they have thousands of uses in high tech science (satellite imagery, signal analysis, etc.). But only if you have a Master's Degree in math. Nothing for undergraduate degrees. Guess they don't trust us.
On that note, I have a funny story regarding complex numbers. No seriously! So, a rabbi a priest and a mathematician walk into a bar and... Oh hold on, that one isn't funny. This one, maybe... The other day I got on BART and it was fairly crowded and as usual I was running late. Just as I got on I saw a guy out of the corner of my eye holding what looked like the world's rinky-dinkiest little electronic guitar. I mean this looked like those playskool "My First Guitar" things but worse. It looked like he'd either put it together himself or fished it out of a trashcan. Either way bad news, because he had on shabby clothes about a weeks worth of beard growth and my first thought was, "Homeless guy is gonna play his Fisher-Price / vagrant guitar and ask for money and I'm standing right next to him. Great!"
Well, I pull out my complex homework and start working on it standing right next to the guy because I'm cool like that. At a certain point, he and I are sort of the only two people on the train and I'm wondering if he'll start off with a stirring rendition of "Wind Beneath my Wings" or "The horrible love song from The Titanic movie". But, all of a sudden he's like, "Hey what are you working on there?" So, I start stammering through an explanation. I start out pretty basic because who knows anything about complex numbers. I'm like, "uh, complex numbers. They have an imaginary component and a real component. And this is like analysis of them and it's..." Only that's as far as I get because I don't really know how to explain it even to myself. But after each pause he just nods his head and is like, "Yeah I'm familiar with that." So finally I stop talking because I have nothing else to say and because I'm still waiting for him to start in with "To All the Girls I've loved before" when he starts talking and telling me how he studied complex analysis years ago and then he starts lecturing me on all the uses of complex analysis including crap so esoteric I've never even heard of it before. Then I actually look at him for the first time and he's like 24-25 years old. Just a kid and he's already mastered this stuff years ago! Meanwhile I took the course over the summer at Berkeley and got a D and had to retake it at SFSU!
Then the train stops at Civic Center and he's like, "Well good luck with that." And then he strolls out, Mattell "My Li'l Banjo" in hand. Yeah, let me tell you, I felt pretty smart that day.
Ok, you made it! That's the end of the post. Thank you for sticking around. Sorry it was so long and rambling. It's just that I'm incredibly tired and that's what you do when you're tired. You ramble. Like that speech Bill Bradley gave a few years ago when he was running for president. He'd been up for like 72 hours and at a campaign stop decided that now would be a good time to depart from his prepared remarks and then embarked on a two minuted ramble about his pillow at the hotel room the night before. Seriously! it was a good moment for him. Well, that's what I feel like about now. Okay, that's really really it. For real.
Friday, October 28, 2005
So, I'm looking for a job. Am I unemployed? Well, do you count being a full-time student with two majors holding down two part-time jobs unemployed? Not exactly, but I am about to graduate and will soon be thrown onto the mercy of the real world. So what do you do? What am I doing?
I'm looking on Monster nearly every day. It's perfect for what I'm looking for and in general a great site if you have a MS/PhD in CS with 5+ years of experience. Uh, I don't. Frustrating when you type in the same search patterns every day and get the exact same old requirements staring you right back in the face. And why so many postings from the US Navy? Apparently they're the only branch of the service that has discovered the super-secret "monster" job site. But I put in some technical qualifications and get like ten postings from US Navy. Isn't there any way to tell them
a) I've already been in the military and had a hell of a time doing everything I could to get out ASAP
b) I'm 31 years old!!!
Seriously, isn't there any way to like switch off the US Navy button? I mean, does my dad who's 61 years old get US Navy when he searches? Maybe.
So, what's a guy to do who can't find work? Go back to school of course! And on that front I've been trying to shop around some of my work to see if any professors are interested in helping me get it published. The last one I showed it to said it brought to mind a hoax which came out a few years ago. Wonderful. Thanks for the encouragement.
I'm looking on Monster nearly every day. It's perfect for what I'm looking for and in general a great site if you have a MS/PhD in CS with 5+ years of experience. Uh, I don't. Frustrating when you type in the same search patterns every day and get the exact same old requirements staring you right back in the face. And why so many postings from the US Navy? Apparently they're the only branch of the service that has discovered the super-secret "monster" job site. But I put in some technical qualifications and get like ten postings from US Navy. Isn't there any way to tell them
a) I've already been in the military and had a hell of a time doing everything I could to get out ASAP
b) I'm 31 years old!!!
Seriously, isn't there any way to like switch off the US Navy button? I mean, does my dad who's 61 years old get US Navy when he searches? Maybe.
So, what's a guy to do who can't find work? Go back to school of course! And on that front I've been trying to shop around some of my work to see if any professors are interested in helping me get it published. The last one I showed it to said it brought to mind a hoax which came out a few years ago. Wonderful. Thanks for the encouragement.
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