Author: Mike P. Lewis

Milk is Good

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Image via Wikipedia

As i was saying in a post i made a few months ago where i talked about how much i love milk, the drink, i saw the movie with the same name.   I think it’s really good – 8 out of 10.  I do have some thoughts about it

sean-penn-113008-2

  • Sean Penn is f’ing amazing.  He should definitely get a nod for this performance.  James Franco and Emile Hirsh are great too.
  • There is some serious guy-on-guy making out in this movie. More than i’ve seen in any other movie. I’ve heard from a few “old” people (over 60) that they don’t like it and really can’t sit through it. I don’t know if it’s a generational thing, or if older people just don’t know as many gay folks so it seems too odd and uncomfortable.  Personally, there is still shock value there for me when i see two guys really going at it out on the screen.  It’s just something i haven’t seen much in real life
  • I like how they portrayed Josh Brolin‘s character.  Nuanced and complex.  I’m starting to think i’m going to see Brolin in tons of movies. He came out of nowhere to be in last year’s No Country For Old Men and now he’s in W. and Milk.  I have a feeling i’ll be seeing lots of him over the next couple of years – similar to how we saw lots of John Travolta after he re-appeared in Pulp Fiction.
  • What did Harvey do before the age of 40?  Cutting out 40 years of someone’s life is pretty substantial.  The movie does mention that he was in the closet before he moved to San Francisco, but i could have used some more background about him and what was driving him.  Sean Penn created an amazing character but i never got a sense of why he felt he had to the the activist for the group.  He mentions that he wants to do something “he’s proud of” but why?

All in all, it’s a good movie and worth checking out.

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A GREAT Christmas Mix

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Jack Johnson performing at the Austin City Lim...
Image via Wikipedia

[note: took down download links and working on getting the tracks up to be streamed only]

The good people at Brushfire Records (Jack Johnson’s label) have put together a Christmas mix of originals Christmas tunes.  Let me tell you, it is FANTASTIC.  There are great tunes by Jack Johnson, Mason Jennings, Matt Costa, Money Mark, G. Love, Neil Halstead and others.  It’s not available for purchase or download right now – but when it is,  you need to get it.  I would post it but i’m trying not to piss off my Brushfire friends.

Songs on the album are:

  1. Someday At Christmas – Jack Johnson
  2. Santa Claus is Coming To Town – Mason Jennings
  3. All I Want For Christmas – Matt Costa
  4. No Christmas For Me – Zee Avi
  5. Stuck At The Airport – Money Mark
  6. Christmas Baby – G. Love
  7. Christmas Time – ALO
  8. The Man In The Santa Suit – Neil Halstead
  9. Christmas – Rogue Wave
  10. Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer – Jack Johnson
  11. Silent Night – Zach Gill
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Twitter thoughts

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I read this article by Tim O’Reilly called “Why I Love Twitter” and it has some good points. Specifically:

  1. “Following” instead of “Friending” – in my opinion, only true/proper social networks that are primarily about social interactions (like Facebook or MySpace) should use 2-way friending.  The rest should allow for 1-way following.
  2. “Ambient intimacy” is about deepening people relationships via short messages and thoughts.  Similar to how you get to know someone who’s desk is right next to yours because of offhand comments, you can do the same via twitter
  3. Cooperating with others – Twitter allows others, even competitors, to utiilze them.  And it seems to only strengthen twitter.
  4. A true mobile app – for me this is the first mobile application that works better on mobile than the web.  It has truly changed how i think about working on a mobile device

Twitter is an interesting beast because it’s still niche but gaining steam.  People also love to bitch about how it doesn’t have a business model.  This is true, it doesn’t but neither did email for a long time and now it’s one of the biggest driver of pageviews and engagement on the web.

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A life of Children's Books

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I thought this was an inspirational article about Anne Moore’s life in New York who, as The New Yorker states:

In the first half of the twentieth century, no one wielded more power in the field of children’s literature than Moore, a librarian in a city of publishers.

She devised many of the conventions that live on today.  It’s always interesting to read about people who had much a severe impact on our lives.

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Netflix's Napoleon Dynatime Problem

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The company Netflix has a very sophisticated and accurate recommendation system.  They also have $1 million prize for anyone who can make it better.  One interesting thing is that apparently the movie Napoleon Dynamite is screwing up the Netflix’s rating system.  There’s a good article in The NY Times called “If You Liked This, You’re Sure to Love That” that discusses this, saying:

The reason is that “Napoleon Dynamite” is very weird and very polarizing. It contains a lot of arch, ironic humor, including a famously kooky dance performed by the titular teenage character to help his hapless friend win a student-council election. It’s the type of quirky entertainment that tends to be either loved or despised. The movie has been rated more than two million times in the Netflix database, and the ratings are disproportionately one or five stars.

Worse, close friends who normally share similar film aesthetics often heatedly disagree about whether “Napoleon Dynamite” is a masterpiece or an annoying bit of hipster self-indulgence.

It’s funny that movie can be so widely loved or hated.  I think it’s probably a generational thing with the younger you get the more you’re apt to like it.  Clearly, you either “get it” or you don’t

Other movies mentioned in the article that are causing the Netflix system problems and are equally hard to classify and polarizing are:

It’s an interesting list and to think about other movies that i’ve found to be divisive.  I can think of Grindhouse and Serenity.  What else?

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Chinese Democracy exists and i'm happy about it

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Guns n Roses album Chinese Democracy is released
Guns n' Roses album Chinese Democracy is finally released

I had this conversation in the office today with a colleague (let call him M-Bone) that went like this:

  • M-Bone: The new Chinese Democracy album totally sucks
  • Me: Really?!
  • M-Bone: Yeah – it’s totally horrible
  • Me: hmm
  • Me: Hey – did you like Use Your Illusion?
  • M-Bone: No – i hated that album too

And there you have it.  I keep hearing from lots of people who didn’t like Guns ‘N Roses to begin with that the new album Chinese Democracy is garbage.  Of course it is – you don’t like the Guns N’ Roses‘ music.   Me, on the other hand, happen to really like GnR and think that the new ablum is really interesting.  Of course the music isn’t as good as Appetite for Destruction – nothing will ever be.  But it is good.  And even more than that – it is nice just to have it exist. It’s a moment, an event, something worth listening to.

The Phantom Menace

I would argue the same for Star Wars Episode I or Rocky II.  Are they good as the originals? No, definitely not.  Am i happy they exist? Absolutely.  Whether you love them or hate them – it just makes the world a better place.

I don’t think i’ll know how good the music is until all the hoopla dies down.  Probably sometime in mid 2009 i’ll have a sense for how good the songs are.  Right now i really like them and really enjoy just experience more GnR.

There is also a good review by Chuck Kloseterman about the new album.  As a fellow fan and probably the most qualified man in America to review the album, he also appreciates the album but brings up some good questions that it raises.  I’ll leave you to the article. It’s here in the AV Section of the Onion: Chuck Klosterman’s review of Guns N’ Roses album Chinese Democracy

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Michael Lewis and the financial crisis

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Michael Lewis who wrote Liar’s Poker revisits in an article his time on Wall Street and does some digging into what happened and interviews some people who actually predicted the crisis. In fact, reading this article you (a) wonder why more people didn’t see the financial collapse coming and (b) feel a sense of happiness that the firms got what they deserved.

It’s a good read – here it is

As a side note – on my path through Wikipedia: did you know that Michael Lewis is married to Tabatha Soren the old MTV veejay?  And did you know that Tabatha was in the music video “You’ve got to fight for your right to party” by The Beastie Boys? Interesting

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Sometimes Bond just doesn't make sense

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I saw the new James Bond, Quantum of Solace this weekend.  It’s pretty good but by no means great.  It’s a 6.5 out of 10.  It’s definitely entertaining but has some total absurdity in it that keeps it from being. A few thoughts:

First – The Aston Martin chase scene in the beginning.  This is a fine scene but i hate how they show you every time Bond shifts gears and you can hear the engine revving.  I hate it because everytime you look the non-Aston Martin is directly behind the car.  If the car is going so super fast, how come everyone is staying right with it?  Doesn’t make any sense.

The name Quantum of Solace is just a stupid name.  And, i quizzed 5 people after the movie and none of them knew what it meant.  It’s not good when nobody knows what the title of a movie means.  I haven’t seem such a bad title since Primal Fear – although Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was pretty bad too.

The airplane scene.  The two of them (Bond + Bond girl) rent out a big cargo plane (Note: I have no idea why they didn’t rent the smaller two person plane right next to it).  This cargo plane is met by a MiG-type fighter jet.   In order to combat the jet, James throws smoke out from the destroyed left engine, slows down and turns towards the upcoming mountains.  The action is cut like this:

  1. Shot 1: Bond’s cargo plane
  2. Shot 2: the ominous approaching MiG
  3. Shot 3: the altimeter at 900 in Bond’s cargo plane
  4. the MiG getting closer and dodging the smoke
  5. the looming mountain ahead
  6. the altimeter at 800 and dropping
  7. the mountain ahead even closer
  8. sweat on James’ brow
  9. the MiG still behind James’ plane
  10. the altimeter at 750
  11. the mountain ahead
  12. the MiG
  13. more sweat on James
  14. an EXPLOSION!!!!
  15. the cargo plane flying safely away

I’m supposed to be happy that Bond has again used his cunning and intellect to get out of a jam.  Too bad we (the audience) have NO idea what just happened.

There’s a huge water crisis. This is at the core of the movie.  Yet, at the end, how has he solved the water situation?  It’s still dammed up and owned by a private company.  All he’s done is killed the CEO.  I don’t think that fixes anything.  Am I wrong?

Finally, I have a big problem with the Bond Girl.  First off, James used to be super smooth with the ladies but this chick seems to hate him the entire movie.  Not only does Bond not hook up with her but she sleeps with the villain instead.   Basically the entire movie is way to Bourne Identity for me.  They should try to make Bond his own man rather than Jason Bourne.

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