Cameron's blue period has started.

Ah, James Cameron. Few directors have had such a long, successful string of hits as he has. Starting with The Terminator, then moving onto Aliens, The Abyss, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, True Lies and Titanic, Cameron has had one great film after another. Avatar, his latest release, appears likely to follow in the footsteps of his other films and bring him great box office success, in addition to the critical acclaim.

Cameron’s career has been an interesting one. He’s always seemed to be the sort of director that has a reach that should exceed his grasp, but never does. He’s able to take incredibly ambitious films like Terminator 2, and fully realize them on screen in a way that pleases critics and the box office (memo to Michael Bay: take notes here, please).

With his two most recent films, he’s been able to become a major player in the “epic film” sub-genre, taking a seat alongside such directors as Cecil B DeMille and David Lean. Consider Titanic, his most commercially successful film to date. It was huge (half the ship was built at 9/10 scale), expensive ($200 million), and had a cast of, it not thousands, at least hundreds. And he made it work and work well. I’ve not seen Avatar, but it looks like it’s going to be another good epic film. The reviews have been favorable and I’m looking forward to seeing it, provided I can get to a theatre where it’s being shown in 3-D (Mom? Rob? One of you two needs to take me, dagnabbit!).

I’d like to talk briefly about my four favorite films of Cameron’s. I’ll do it in chronological order, starting with Aliens.

In space, probably some people can hear you scream.

Aliens was one of those odd sequels where I’d seen it, and enjoyed it, and then for over 20 years not seen the original film. When I did finally see the original a couple years back, I was surprised, though not displeased, at the huge difference between the two.

I’m also surprised at how well the movie’s SFX and story have both held up. Yes, like much of Cameron’s work, it’s a bit too much “corporations are evil“, but it’s still a good story overall, and it’s quite impressive how much character development he managed to pull off with Ripley. She’s a much more interesting character here than she was in the first movie.

As for the effects, they are every bit as compelling as they were back in the day when I watched the movie on TV. Scenes like the lifter fight still hold up very well today.

Chock full of deep ocean excitement!

Now onto The Abyss, which is one of James Cameron’s most underrated films. This is largely due to studio meddling. The studio took what was supposed to be an intelligent, thought-provoking movie where the enemy was us, rather than the Great Evil, and instead turned into an action film. The movie suffered greatly because of this.

To this day it’s remembered best by many as a film that could’ve been more (as well as being something of a test project for SFX that would later lead to the T-1000). Thankfully the correct version of the film, with the studio-disliked scenes of plot and character development added back in, is available on DVD and worth your time to see.

See? He did come back!

Terminator 2 is probably Cameron’s most fundamentally popular film, and with good reason as it’s probably his best. There’s a great screenplay, very good acting, and wonderful, ground-breaking special effects.

The film paints a very bleak possible future for humanity at the begining, and then spends the rest of the film trying to avert that future. The film has some stunning visuals which, for the most part, still hold up well today (there’s some exceptions, like the the T-1000’s look when telling the helicopter pilot to get out).

It’s also notable for some good performances from Linda Hamilton, Edward Furlong, and Robert Patrick, none of whom really captured any major screen stardom after this movie. Heck, even Schwarzenegger managed to turn in a good performance as the machine Terminator, and that’s no small feat.

What a piece of ship!

Last we come to Titanic, and what a big movie this was! Huge sets, a big cast, gigantic box office (the first film to crack a billion in ticket sales), wonderful critical acclaim and something like fifty thousand Oscars. It made stars of Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio, and while both have had better roles before and after, this is certainly the movie that made their careers.

It’s also one of those movies that cost a fortune to make, but you get to see every penny up on the screen. Sometimes this is a bit silly, like them spending thousands of dollars to exactly duplicate a set of china that gets two seconds of screen time before it’s destroyed, but mostly it’s to the movie’s benefit to see all that cash up there.

Yes, the plot’s a bit cliche, being just a love story about two people separated by class (quite literally in some ways), but who cares? Like Roger Ebert said in his review, you don’t choose the most expensive movie of all time as your chance to remake the wheel.

In that sense it sounds like Avatar has a great deal in common with Titanic, right down to a rather cliched plot. I’m sure it’s not going to be the next Citizen Kane plot-wise, but I’m sure it will be the next Citizen Kane as far as long-term influence goes.

Either way, I hope to see it soon. Mom? Rob? What do you guys say?

Finally, AVATAR! Can’t believe that James Cameron finally has a new film out after a long wait from his last movie….that  little film called Titanic. The Director of True Lies and Aliens delivers again. The film follows an ex-marine, Jake Sully, who is wheelchair bound, to Pandora. His twin brother was recently killed and Jake has the same DNA, a necessity to take over his brothers Avatar. The Avatars are used by the marines to attempt to infiltrate the local natives, the Navi. The Navi are living directly above a large deposit of valuable minerals, and Jake’s job is to try to get the Navi to relocate in order to mine the region. Of course once Jake has infiltrated the Navi, he finds himself more a part of the Navi than he realizes.

As far as performances, to me there were no really outstanding performances. Everyone in the film was solid, but nothing that is going to stir up the Academy for an Oscar. Jake Sully is played by Sam Worthington who was in this past summers Terminator Salvation. Sigourney Weaver (Aliens, Death and the Maiden) is once again teamed up with Cameron as Dr. Grace Augustine, the local scientist and expert on the Navi culture. Giovanni Ribisi (Saving Private Ryan) plays company man Parker, and Stephen Lang (Gettysburg, Public Enemies) is the macho-over-the-top kill the natives colonel.

On to the special effects, and yes they were special! My opinion, Oscars all around for the special effects team. The entire film is visually stunning and well worth catching on the big screen. In fact it is a must to catch on the big screen, with such sweeping shots, and panoramic scenes, definitely a must! I might also mention the 3D, well worth seeing it in 3D as well. It never is distracting to the movie, it enhances the film and does not take away at all. It was nice to see this element used in this way, and not have the cheap 3D gags throughout, like a sword being pointed at you or items coming at you for no other reason than to remind you that you are watching a 3D movie.

To sum it all up, this is worth going to see for sure. It has already been nominated for Best Picture at the Golden Globes. Even though I think this is a must see on the big screen, by no means is it a fresh storyline, which I really wanted from Cameron. The movie really played out like Dances With Wolves or The Emerald Forest. And I was even reminded of other Cameron films, the Ribisi character Parker seemed like a company man right out of Aliens with the same agenda. The military ships even reminded me of the landing craft in Aliens. Ok, even the score done by James Horner was even a bit too much reminiscent of Titanic. So by no means is this film perfect in my eyes. It is jawdropping beautiful and it is something like you have never seen before. The only thing I can compare it to is seeing Star Wars for the first time as a boy in grade school. The imagination and creativity put into this film is something to see for sure!

Today Shane Sparks was arrested for 8 counts of child molestation.  In case you aren’t familiar with him, he was one of the male judges on Americas Best Dance Crew.  Not the smart one… the other one.

The victim in the child molestation case is 10 years younger than Sparks and the reports of these incidents go back to 1994.  This is where it gets interesting… the LA court documents claim that he was born in 1969 however Shane Sparks claims that he was born in 1974.  If Shane Sparks is telling the truth about his age, that puts him at the age of 20 back in 1994 and his young victim at the age of 10.  I hope the court’s documents are right.  Not that it’s any better, but geez… 10 years old?

In the event that time travel does one day become possible, Shane Sparks will probably be in line to correct his mistakes along with David Letterman and Tiger Woods.  In the rare event that Shane Sparks reads this awesome blog, I would like to suggest 5 women for him to nail in 1994 on his time travel adventure and to please, for the love of God, leave the 10 year old alone.

Chick #1

Cameron Diaz

Remember, Cameron Diaz wasn’t the goofy, spunky chick we all currently are familiar with.  Back in 1994, she was the sexy female damsel in distress in the box office hit, “The Mask.”  She got goofier after that.

Chick #2

Tia Carrere

Another maiden of a 1994 movie, “True Lies,” Tia Carrere.  I don’t think this movie boosted her career or anybody else’s for that matter.  However at the time, she was still riding on her fame as “Cassandra” from “Wayne’s World.”

Shane, she definitely has some down time after this movie so look her up.

Chick #3

Oprah Winfrey

Back in 1994, she was already rich.  C’mon Shane, do it for the money!

Chicks #4 & 5

Jenny & Linn Berggren from Ace of Base

Shane, you can be as hip hop as you want but you’d be bullshitting me if you said “The Sign” was not part of the soundtrack of your life in 1994.  It was a chart busting single that year and the two cherub-like voices carrying that tune were the sexy Swedes of Ace of Base, Jenny and Linn Berggren.

There you have it Shane.  If you DO go back in time, put down the candy and give these ladies a try.

SPOILER ALERT! Nothing major, but this does contain a few small spoilers…. Now on with the show.Jim Cameron’s Avatar is SO overwhelmingly spectacular in its visuals and pacing that it more than made up for its story flaws. I’ve never been disappointed with any of his movies (But I’ve never seen his horror comedy masterpiece about flying fish: Piranha 2… at least not all of it). All of his films since ‘The Terminator’, have been innovative whether it be the ideas or the new technology employed.

The director with Avatar's lead Sam Worthington.

If you’ve read anything about Avatar, I’m sure you’ve heard about the story being ‘dismissed’ as ‘Dances With Wolves’ in space. That’s fair to a degree; there are a lot of elements in Avatar that seem to be borrowed from other movies (even from Cameron’s previous films). It was predictable throughout (such as the ‘Braveheart’ speech to rally the Na’Vi troops), but sometimes the way that a movie is told gives a little more weight to a flimsy story.

The film takes place on the hostile yet beautiful (rain forest on phosphorescent steroids) environment of Pandora. There are lots of dangerous creatures running around (created by Cameron and his army of artists) that are ready to trample or eat the human invaders.

The very air is toxic,also, and oxygen masks have to be worn by anyone visiting from Earth. I assume that Earth’s atmosphere is also toxic, since it’s noted in the film that ‘we’ve destroyed earth’s environment’ and earth ‘has been abandoned’.

The main story of Avatar is very heavy handed in its characterizations and a bit cliched with the exception (maybe) of the male and female leads. The ‘villains’ of the movie are 2 Hollywood standbys: the Evil Big Corporation and the Military. I won’t comment too much on that, but I get a little aggravated when Hollywood makes statements about Corporate Greed when one ticket to watch Avatar, one small popcorn and one soda costs almost 25 bucks and that’s not even at an Imax theater, but I digress ($11.50 per ticket?!)….

Giovanni Ribisi as Parker Selfridge and Weaver as Dr. Grace Augustine

One of the earth visitors is Jake Sully, a paraplegic ex-Marine, played by Sam Worthington.

Sam Worthington

He is recruited to replace his brother in the expensive Avatar program because his twin brother has just died tragically and they share the same DNA (each avatar is a ‘custom fit’ to the DNA of their user.

Joel Moore, Worthington, and Dileep Rao

Avatars are bodies created out of a combination of  human DNA and the Na’Vi (Pandora’s native inhabitants: giant blue catlike humanoids). The Evil Corporation wants a a valuable natural resource native to Pandora hilariously named Unobtanium (spelling?).

Apparently,  most of it is located below the Na’Vi’s Sacred Tree of Souls that  is a tree that looks like it’s about 10000 feet tall. The Evil Corporation wants to either use these Avatar’s to convince the Na’Vi to relocate or use the accompanying Marines to take the Unobtanium by force.

Jake takes to the Avatar experience with an enthusiasm that the others can’t relate to, since it gives him the ability to walk again.

While learning how to act as a Na’Vi, Jake becomes kind of a double agent. As an Avatar, he works closely with researchers who are mostly interested in learning about Pandora and its tribal populace.

Worthington, Rodriguez, Weaver, and Moore

Sigourney Weaver who seems to be reprising her Diane Fossey role from Gorillas In The Mist, plays  Dr. Grace Augustine, who is the head of the research scientists. She literally has written the book on Pandora and the Na’Vi and is one of the ‘ambassadors’ to the Na’Vi. For some reason her Avatar’s appearance was a little funnier to me than the rest of them.

Sgourney Weaver as a Na'Vi 'Dreamwalker'

Meanwhile, Jake is (secretly) giving information about the Na’Vi and their ways to Marine Colonel Quaritch who is preparing for the inevitability (he feels) for conflict. He promises Jake that if he does as Quaritch asks, he will ensure that Jake gets a very expensive operation to restore his ability to walk, which Jake agrees to. Naturally, this causes lots of conflict later on.

Lang and Worthington

Basically, the researchers are all good guys and the rest of the human race are bad guys, with 2 exceptions. Jake and Trudy, a Marine Pilot, played by Michelle Rodriguez.

Rodriguez

She’s kind of in the ‘Vasquez’ role (from Cameron’s ‘Aliens’), but she’s not  a musclehead like the rest of the Marines in the movie.

Luckily, for plot convenience, she’s the lone Marine sympathetic to the plight of the Na’Vi AND she happens to be the pilot assigned to the researchers. If she wasn’t this movie would’ve been a whole lot shorter  and would have ended on a sour note.

The movie really steps into high gear when Jake gets separated from the other Avatars while acting as an escort for Dr. Augustine. There is a search and rescue attempt that is called off and Jake is forced to try to survive the night in Pandora’s harsh terrain where everything wants to make a meal of him.

The lovingly rendered Neytiri

Enter Neytiri, one of the Na’Vi, who saves Jake from becoming lunch for some of the forest creatures in a not so meet-cute sort of way. Neytiri is given life by Star Trek’s Zoe Saldana via motion capture performance.

Saldana with Worthington

She’s not human, but has one of the strongest female leads of the year, IMO.

Saldana probably won’t get any nominations for her role, but she should. The character was a great example of the love interest being more than just the love interest. She was probably the most emotional character in Avatar.

It kind of saddens me, though, when you can use that ‘most animated character in the movie’ joke, as in Lord of The Rings (Gollum) or the lesser nonfunny Star Wars trilogy (Yoda).

Of course Sam Worthington also did a great job in the lead, first as the wheelchair bound human, but mostly as the Na’Vi avatar. He seems to be one of those actors that can play every role with believability.

At first viewing, I really wasn’t impressed by Stephen Lang’s character so much as by what Jim Cameron and the screenplay had him do:his actions….

Stephen Lang

After watching this again, I have to admit that I was wrong about that. For the most part, his performance was workmanlike, and he was most interesting in action sequences (his last scene is his best scene and one of the more memorable sequences of the film)… BUT…. I think he played the character as he should have. He was playing a no-nonsense Marine Officer and that’s how he played him. Understated even in some of the most spectacular scenes in the movie.

I also have to take back my first take on Giovanni Ribisi’s character. He wasn’t quite as one note as I thought on the first viewing. It still wasn’t the most 3-dimensional character, but I think Selfridge (Ribisi’s character) sidesteps cliche…. but just barely. He added a couple of laughs, too.

I won’t give anything else away. As I said, it’s a bit predictable in a way, but still highly enjoyable. Besides the beautifully rendered terrain (including the ‘floating mountains’), there were some incredibly well done action and war scenes. George Lucas should take note of these.

There were times where there were scores of things happening onscreen, but still didn’t seem like clutter. The CGI artists also got the issue of weight right. The thing that separates this movie’s FX from CRAP movie FX like those in GI Joe or the Incredible Hulk, is that the creatures and objects in Avatar move as though they have some weight to them. On top of that Cameron knows to not speed the camera movement to that of a hummingbird, so that the audience can follow the action.

I have to take a moment to comment on the vegetation  and terrain of Pandora for a moment. Very early on in the movie, I had to remind myself  that I was looking at an entirely computer generated landscape.

The night scenes, not as much because of the many phosphorescent plants and animals, but I knew going in how they did this and was still somewhat fooled.

Cameron paid attention to the smaller details in the movie, also, such as shots of Jake Sully’s atrophied legs. There is much in Avatar that he doesn’t point out to the viewer, but it’s there if you’re paying attention. Another detail I recall was the idea of Dr. Augustine’s book Na’Vi. Instead of some future version of the Kendall, they’re still a paperbound indication by Cameron that, even after we’ve destroyed all of Earth’s forests, we still have the need to cut down trees and make paper products for our amusement.

The behaviors of the Na’Vi tribes borrowed heavily from various human cultures. There was a mishmash of  customs that were borrowed from Native Americans, African and Indian cultures that I recognized.

Most of the major Na’Vi characters were played by people of color (other than the human avatar characters) like Saldana and the great Wes Studi which either lends creedence or takes away from some of New York movie critic Armond White’s assertions of this film, depending how you look at it  (I won’t get into that, though).

This scene and others reminded me of old National Geographic photos.

I think the major drawback of the movie was that Cameron was so eager to preach his eco-message and his political slant that it distracted greatly from the film. I have no problem with having any particular point that the director is trying to make, but in this case it came off as Cameron preaching. Each obvious shot that he took at the Bush administration took you right out of the experience of the film and some of his terrorist theories in this film that he proposed as intelligent thought sounded ignorant and uninformed. A little subtlety would have been advisable. Despite this and the weakness in characterization/story, the movie can still be enjoyed to a GREAT degree.

I hope I haven’t sounded too sour about Avatar. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Truly, Avatar seems tailor made for me. I read that Roger Ebert commented that “I felt sort of the same as when I saw “Star Wars” in 1977″. I kind of share that sentiment.

I was personally trying to think of a movie that was as awe-inspiringly impressive (at the time) as this one…. But, Star Wars may be the right comparison. Not saying this one as good as Star Wars was (and will be the cultural phenomena that that was), but FX wise, it was an amazing movie to behold. 4.5 out of 5 whatevers. Now I have to go back and see it again.

And one last thing. I have to commend Jim Cameron for caring how his movies turn out. He does have that rare ability (it seems to be rare, anyway), of being able to make a quality artistic endeavor that is accessible and commercially viable. Very few directors outside of Stephen Spielberg have that particular talent.

But, I think that it comes down to caring about how his art turns out and not just about having fun on an expensive set or winning awards. Sam Raimi said once that he makes movies to ‘uplift’ the audience (and has failed in that endeavor on occasion… Sorry Sam, I had to say it). I think Cameron’s movies continue to do that. They’re always enjoyable.

http://static.reelmovienews.com/images/gallery/avatar-movie-poster.jpg

What makes a movie a good?  It’s a straightforward question with a surprisingly straightforward answer: whatever you think makes it good.

Over the last few years I’ve come to the full realization that my extensive film school background has amounted to little when it comes to deciphering what makes something “good” on the popular level. We like to think that the opinion of someone who has seen thousands of different kinds of movies somehow accounts for a more qualified opinion, but this is truly not the case. Sure, it may provide someone with the ability to articulate their opinions and provide a historical or cultural context for their statements…  but really it makes no difference, as the court of public opinion always wins in the end. Thus there is a kind of acceptance needed when making a statement that you believe to be true, but fully recognizing that it’s nothing more than like, your opinion man. So here’s an opinion:

I don’t think James Cameron makes good movies. So there.

Oh don’t get me wrong, he’s a hell of a technical filmmaker. I’m not just regurgitating the popular rhetoric you see everywhere. This is going off all that “trained opinion” nonsense mentioned above. The guy simply “gets” cinematography. He knows how to line up the camera subject with enough spacing for the eye to process the movement. And he’s THE great editor of big budget action films (1, this is a really good footnote). With those two abilities he stages some of the best action I’ve ever seen on screen. Not in WHAT necessarily happens, but instead HOW it happens. I also greatly admire his commitment to creating full, tangible worlds and staying true to his vision. He is never half assing it and you can always be assured that movie goers get their money’s worth. This is to be admired. But as I have just lauded him with superlatives, we must always consider the whole filmmaker if we are going to speak to his merits. These are just aspects of his proverbial “game” and can in no way assure a singular, fully-formed piece of goodness from anything he does.

For example, he cannot write a screenplay. This is fine. A lot of great directors can’t do it. Spielberg never could and the dude is considered the best. Tim Burton famously insists that he has no idea what makes a good script. The problem is that Cameron thinks that he can write a screenplay. And proceeds to do so stubbornly.

It really is a shame that Cameron seems to have the brain of 12 year old. Sure, he’s a really smart 12 year old who is super-duper into perfectionism and computers and stuff, but all his films operate on in extremely juvenile plane of interest. And if you’ve ever heard anything about him as a person he’s operating on a 12 year old social level too.

So let’s actually get into AVATAR in relation to this topic. Having just seen the movie earlier yesterday, the thing that sticks out most in my head is how all the characters often swear in the silliest, 5-th grader like mentality. Really. The swears are the absolutely point of each line when they are uttered. They’re the joke. For example say there’s a big reveal and a pause: “Oh SHIT” or during a fight scene our witty dialogue is “take this BITCH!” The words are capatilized cause ever actor is so emphasizing these swear words that’s it’s like they’re delighted by their guts to swear. That’s because that’s exactly what Cameron is doing. It’s a PG13 movie and he’s using these swears in such a juvenile and silly manner that the entire theater was eye rolling  and groaning. I also fully recognize that these moments are completely harmless, but it’s just so prevalent and on the nose that you can’t help but get the full window into Cameron’s mind… the guy has a 12 year old ‘s sensibility to swearing.
He also has a 12 year old sensibility when it comes to military ideology, politics, ecology, and socialization. Sure that super advanced 12 year old brain converts these things into logical setups complete with a fully realized set proper nouns for his movie, but that doesn’t change that this is the most obtuse kind of rhetoric and analysis. The entire construct of the plot is the most in-your-face allegory of American imperialism I have ever seen. The details are hilarious: a precious resource, “unobtainium.” A earth goddess who you can actually hear through trees. References to modern warfare tactics that are literally thrown in to hammer home the Imperialism comparison (but in hilarious fashion, are the complete wrong use of those words). And make no mistake about this “original” story, it’s just Dances with Wolves in space. I’m talking beat for beat the same movie with 3^rd act battle thrown in. Hell, throw in some Star Wars, Dune, and vast array of other films to be grossly aped and you have AVATAR. And let us not forget the short story he absolutely and totally ripped off :

Seriously, you got to see this cover:

http://www.chud.com/articles/articles/21297/1/WHAT039S-THE-LATEST-CLASSIC-SCIFI-CAMERON-RIPPED-OFF/Page1.html

Beyond that there is the fact that every single character in the film is the most broad and ridiculous stereotype possible. And no, not in a scenery-chewing, fun and self aware meta way that guys like Cronenberg and the Coens are absolute masters of. This is Cameron. And his characters will be willfully fucking obtuse. The general is absolutely insane, invasion-happy beefcake. The head scientist is stuck-up, military-hating, granola tree hugger. The guy in charge of it all is an aspergian dickhead who only wants his profits and to get at the precious resource beneath the Na’Vi’s home (not to mention work on his putting game… ugh). The girl Na’Vi who connects with the earth is nothing more than the infamous Noble Savage stereotype. And our main character, the jarhead marine, is nothing but the uneducated white man, who must learn the ways of the lesser people and connect back with the world. Now, all these stereotypes could be just fine for the movie. Actually, you use those five stereotypes and you’ve got all your angles, themes, and conflicts covered so that might not be a problem at all. You got your base. You just have to find away to make it organic.

Cameron don’t do organic. Nope. This is balls out broad. The idea of badassery. It’s all posing and posturing. Like 12 year old suburban kids starting “gangs” or that weird thing Japanese teens do where they literally pose to look cool. This is the cinematic equivalent of whatever the hell that is. And it’s laid on thick. This is cartoon villainy and college freshman idealism. And it kills the movie. (2)

So okay, we have some broad 12 year old dumbness. So what? Lots of films do that and are embraced by millions.

True. I’ll take Cameron’s logical filmmaking and epic scope any day over the parade of nonsensical trash and litany of directors who simply seem to have no interest in making good movies… but not by all that much.

The central problem is that Cameron makes these big action movies as if they’re actually prestige pictures. As if he’s making the singular profound statements for all man kind. Really, it’s just soaking in that kind of hubris. Once again, coupled with his real life obnoxious persona you start to get the idea of just what Cameron is all about. It’s all up there on screen, readily apparent. This is the stuff of the inane.

So obviously, I didn’t like AVATAR, right?

Actually, I kind of enjoyed it.

Devin Faraci over at CHUD, who evaluated the movie in far better terms than I have, made the excellent point that your ability to enjoy AVATAR fully depends on you ability to get into the designs. It sounds like a strange comment but it’s wholly accurate. The film takes a turn after the first act and essentially becomes a world viewing sequence where the viewer is brought along on a 40-60 minute tour of Pandora.  And unlike Devin, who was not able to get into the design of the creatures, I eventually went along with it. And when this all happens, the film soars.

I should note that this is largely due to the 3-D, which works amazingly well. It gives Pandora a real sense of depth and texture. You not really emoting FOR the actors or anything, but you’re emoting with them as they emote with Pandora too (you can surmise this works best because Cameron is in love with the world he created as well, and it shows). In particular, the first flying sequence with those pterodactyl thingies I found to be the most exhilarating part of the movie. This whole chunk of the film is enough of a cinematic experience for me to recommend it to anyone.  It just works.

But eventually this too must pass and the film heads into heartbreak mode/final battle sequence. Of course that’s when the wheels fall off. Not for any good reason either. This was always what was going to happen and you knew it was coming. Hell you can predict every single moment of this movie beat for beat, but that’s okay.  The real reason the wheels fall off is you realize you just spent the last hour on the cinematic equivalent of a nature walk and there was no actual story to begin with. Thus the climactic battle is taking place and I’m sitting there not caring if anyone lives or dies. This is not my usual modus operandi either. I’m an empathetic motherfucker when it comes to my movie protagonists. I actually found it a little distressing: “I was just enjoying these two and now I don’t care?”  Really, there was just nothing there to begin with.

Just hollowed out tropes and clichés desperately hanging onto the sublime skill of action filmmaking on display. It all looks fantastic. I just didn’t care.

To wit, if there was one word I would use to sum up this “game-changing” “action epic” called AVATAR, the word would be… pretty.

It is a very pretty movie. Which might be considered highly insulting to a movie that is trying desperately to be so much more. But it doesn’t have a single idea of how to transcend its base qualities or indulge in nuance.

And no, I’m NOT saying I need my big action movies to have Merchant Ivory level subtext or anything. I’m just saying they need something that transcends the basic archetypes into something resembling good movie entertainment. Like Ironman’s delightful sense of humor and organic characters. Like The Dark Knight’s moral complexity and stunning performances. Like The Lord of the Rings sense of balance and scope. Even Star Wars works because Harrison ford just kills it as Han Solo. These were all popular, epic-feeling movies that used certain strong qualities to move past the archetype and become a good movie for the popular consensus.

And with AVATAR, the prettiness, world-building, and actioneering almost get it there. But Cameron just relishes too much in the Archetype.

Almost.

Footnotes

(1) Let us speak for a moment about what editing truly is: there’s a popular notion that good editing is when you notice really good cuts and stylizations and juxtapositions. This notion fully feeds into that awards season it’s not “Best picture” or “Best acting” or “Best editing”, but instead “Most picture” “Most acting” and “MOST editing”. That’s why the Bourne films always win. Because it’s the only tangible thing an untrained eye can gravitate toward. And that’s totally understandable. The paradox is that great editing is truly invisible. Cuts in action that blend so seamlessly it feels like a perfect flow.  This is especially significant in action films. And Cameron and his rotating cast of editors are masters of the invisible cut (the rotating cast means that’s it’s really just Cameron doing most of this stuff).

(2) I should at least point out that I thought Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana did their fricken damndest to make it all work. In fact I thought they were both rather good in their roles (extensive mo-cap and animation to boot). But there’s just no saving the inanity of it all.

ADDENDUM

A) I always argue that the reason Titanic was so beloved was because (obviously) it was the perfect storm for girls and (not so obviously) because the music of that film is so amazingly beautiful that you simply had to swoon with it. The music was what transcended that movie from being a horribly forced allegory of class struggle and tragic romance into a movie that actually had some legs to stand on. There is a reason that soundtrack went on to become more iconic and referenced than that actual film, which was sort of just a moment in time.

B)Mr. Beaks over at AICN made an interesting note that even with all the problems with the movie, the cinematic world still needs Cameron.  And they need him to be successful. The need guys like him and Spielberg to go huge, push technical boundaries, and stretch budgets. And I think I agree, but it is an uneasy bargain for me.

C) Reader Kevin linked a positively great article in the comments section below about Cameron written by David Foster Wallace. Everything he says about T2 and the approaching Titanic, can completely be said for AVATAR. http://www.theknowe.net/dfwfiles/pdfs/Wallace-FX_Porn.pdf

Jamie Lee Curtis woke up the other morning and realized there are violent and voyeuristic images in the media.  She decided to write about it here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jamie-lee-curtis/warning-graphic-images_b_394144.html.  This after she finished her days of creating voyeuristic images of her own: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFj5MTp4lLo.   BTW, True Lies was an extremely violent movie.

OK, fair enough, Jamie Lee Curtis is an actor.  Despite seeming like an appealing and likable person, and reasonably intelligent in a loopy sort of way, she has made her living reading other people’s words.  The ten pages of comments that follow, though, are essentially incoherent.  This, folks, is the product of Arianna Huffington and her Post.  Folks, this is the greatest disappointment of my year.

The Huffington Post is supposed to be the breakthrough Internet journalism site.  HP is supposed to be legitimizing the concept that Internet journalism can stand on its own and doesn’t live a parasitic life on the vital forces of print and broadcast journalism.  Judging by the reporting and op-ed writing, maybe not that bad.  Reading the “letters to the editor”, what a bunch of unedited, goofy, nutballs.

Which only reinforces a lesson that everyone needs to be reminded of.  Believe your own eyes and ears, question every assertion, settle for nothing until you are satisfied you have the truth.  And everyone does foolish thing when they are young, that they later regret when they mature….

G’nite, all, and may God continue to bless America!

Writer/Producer/Director James Cameron’s career in sci-fi is like Rick Rossovich’s johnson in Top Gun, long and distinguished. The sci-fi nerd in me likes to say that his career began with Roger Corman’s Battle Beyond the Stars, an 80’s take on The Seven Samurai in space, on which Cameron was both Art Director and Miniature Designer (and Bill Paxton was a set carpenter!). Soon after, he was responsible for one of the most iconic characters in science fiction: the Terminator. By the mid-late 80’s, Cameron had brought us what is arguably the best Alien sequel in Aliens. (However, I remain equally and unapologetically devoted to all four Alien movies, as well as the first Alien vs. Predator. There, I said it.) He capped off the decade with the deep sea sci-fi film, The Abyss, in which he expanded upon the intriguing (though not original) idea that interesting aliens need not be from outer space. (Nerd aside: The Abyss remains the one and only movie for which I have watched every second of the abundant DVD extras, including 20 minutes of time-lapse footage of the 5 days it took to fill a 7-million gallon water tank. My geek-fu is strong.)

Cameron, displaying a minor conceit common in Hollywood auteurs, likes to claim that all of his films are about “people” rather than “monsters” or “gizmos.” Of course he’s wrong. The Terminator is about one thing and one thing only: Arnold Schwarzenegger’s bare behind. Oops, did I say that out loud? No, I meant, it exists purely as a vehicle for terrifying cyborg badassery and awful 80’s hair. And Aliens was about GUNS GUNS GUNS and technology and holy shit, GUNS! And then of course, there were the GUNS! And who can forget the GUNS! Also Bill Paxton whining like a little taint. (Where’s HIS Academy Award, I ask you? Daniel Day Lewis can piss and moan about his left foot or some such for two hours and get an Oscar, but Bill Paxton can’t get one for going from cocksure Marine to weeping like a 5-year-old in the space of one alien attack?) Cameron even cut a few GUNS(!) out of the original release of the film, only to put them back in the extended director’s cut, proving that you can never have too many GUNS(!) when a xenomorph may be involved. Without the guns, it’s game over, man. Game over! (To its credit, Aliens also showed us that it is, in fact, possible for Paul Reiser to not be completely lame.)

The Abyss was Cameron’s first story whose conflict was largely human vs. human, rather than human vs. other. Sure, the underwater beasties gave the story a reason for occurring, but its ultimate battle was between Ed Harris’ blue-collar, underwater trucker and Michael Biehn’s crazed, paranoid Navy SEAL rather than a murderous cyborg or an alien queen. There are valid complaints to be made about the movie’s whiplash-inducing left turn into deus ex machina fantasy in its final minutes, but on the whole it is clearly a human story surrounded by technology as opposed to the reverse. Having said that, Cameron actually had to invent new technologies in real life in order to make things work on film. New full-face diving helmets were developed so the audience could actually see and hear the actors emote under water. The famous CGI “water tentacle” was a precursor to the technology used to render the liquid-metal T-1000 in Terminator 2. This kind of technical, behind-the-scenes development has been a major part of Cameron’s films, including the nearly full-size replica set he built for Titanic.

I will say only two things about Titanic. For one, despite its faults (which are legion), Cameron must be credited with providing a human story to carry us through the world’s most famous maritime tragedy. If it had been a mere step-by-step journey through the night’s events it may been interesting from a technical standpoint, but it would not have enjoyed mainstream success, and it certainly wouldn’t have won any Oscars (except for maybe a few of those technical ones they usually announce during a commercial break, like Best Best Boy or something.) Second, back when Titanic was only available as a 2-tape set on VHS (V-whatnow?), I told my girlfriend that I would only buy a copy if I could throw tape 1 away, because the movie really only gets good after the ship hits the damn iceberg. There are only two things that make tape 1 worth keeping.

It behooves me to mention here that James Cameron was also responsible for two movies in the 90’s besides Titanic. He wrote and produced Strange Days, one of the decade’s most underrated movies, a story of love, addiction, police brutality and racial tension in an America on the cusp of Y2K (which, in 1995, was still “the near future”). Despite being brazenly dependent on its own hi-tech macguffin, in this case a technology that allows people to record their sensory output and play it back later to re-live the experience, Strange Days is a thoroughly enjoyable film with slick direction, a great soundtrack, and a top-tier cast in Ralph Fiennes, Angela Bassett, Juliette Lewis (playing the same character she always plays), Tom Sizemore, and Vincent D’Onofrio. Cameron’s other notable, non-Titanic movie in the 90’s was, of course, the Arnold-tastic True Lies, a movie which everyone has managed to convince themselves was “OMG teh awesome!” but was in fact merely “okay”. (Sorry, Tia Carrere’s lameosity cancels out MILFy Jaime Lee Curtis. Bonus points are given, however, for underage Eliza Dushku and yet another Oscar-worthy performance by Bill Paxton.)

Unless you’ve been on Mars for the last decade (in a cave, with your eyes shut and your fingers in your ears) you must have heard that James Cameron’s latest opus is a 3D, CGI-infested, sci-fi adventure called Avatar. The short version: the planet Pandora (spectacularly original name there, Jimbo) is a lush but hostile world inhabited by dangerous and beautiful life forms. Among these is a primitive, humanoid race called the Na’vi. Pandora is also an abundant source of a rare and powerful mineral (macguffinite?) sought by humans. Since humans are unable to breathe the Pandoran atmosphere, paraplegic Marine Jake Sully (geez Cameron, why not just call him Biff Studly?) agrees to be telepathically linked to a genetically engineered human/Na’vi hybrid body, the titular “avatar” (derived from the Hindu concept of “manifestation”). Sully’s avatar is sent into the Na’vi community to learn and possibly sabotage their efforts to hinder the humans’ mining of the aforementioned mineral. Unfortunately, Sully falls in love with a female Na’vi warrior and wacky hijinks ensue.

Twentieth Century Fox started rationing Avatar production stills and footage over a year ago. The first official trailer was unveiled at the San Diego Comic Con back in July to a collective “WTF?” from geeks nationwide. The footage and story details revealed in the trailer were underwhelming to say the least. Subsequent trailers have gotten a little better, but most folks remain cautious in praising what they’ve seen so far. Fox has marketed the ever-lovin’ crap out of the movie for weeks now. There was even a shameless tie-in recently with another Fox property, the nerdy, hi-tech crime procedural Bones, wherein some of the Bones boys have acquired Avatar tickets and must camp outside the theater to maintain their place in line.

Much has been made of the fact that Cameron has been working on this movie for over 10 years and it would have been made sooner if the technology required for his “vision” existed 5 years ago. Three-dimensional motion-capture was used extensively and the entire Pandoran ecosystem was fabricated in CGI from, literally, the ground up. Look on the web. Consult the Great Gazoogle. You will find hours of footage detailing the technology used in the making of this film. You will see actors Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana wearing unitards. There’s some eye candy, lemmetellya’ (and Zoe ain’t bad either!) There’s enough green-screen to make George Lucas (wait for it…) green with envy. You’ll hear Cameron and other production folks go on and on about how they CGIed the hell outta that leaf in the upper-right corner of this one scene, and about how some of Pandora’s fauna are based on automotive design. You’ll see how they created Cameron’s favorite sequence of the movie, wherein Worthington’s and Saldana’s characters bond as they ride winged beasts, by realizing the entire flight-path in 3-dimensional space so Cameron could place a virtual “camera” wherever he wanted.

Those kinds of technical details are sweet, geeky ambrosia.

What you won’t see…is much about the story, about the motivations of characters, about the conflicts. As a certain long-past-its-prime cartoon about vulgar 4th-graders has pointed out, the story is essentially a sci-fi Dances With Wolves. Here is Cameron’s opportunity to show the world that he can combine the human-centered storytelling of Titanic with the techno-explodination of Aliens or True Lies. Science fiction resonates best with geeks and non-geeks alike when it uses science and technology to explain, expose, or exonerate the fragility of the human body and to symbolize or celebrate the power of the human spirit. If it does none of these things, it’s just spaceships, laser-guns, and women in absurdly revealing costumes.

From what we’ve seen of Avatar, and what we know of the production and story, it seems like Cameron’s attempt at a transcendentalist “barbaric YAWP,” will end up a resounding “meh.”

Oh well, there’s always Fantastic Voyage…

I can’t stand what CGI has done to movies. What once took creativity, ingenuity, and engineering can now be modeled by a computer and digitally inserted into a scene. I understand that CGI is expensive and time-consuming, but I think it makes for lazy film-making. It feels like a lot of films these days rely too heavily on it. I understand that CGI is expensive and time-consuming, but I still feel like it makes for lazy-film-making. Though perhaps below the threshold of noticeable visual difference, seeing actors in front of a super-imposed image just doesn’t feel the same way as it does when they are in front of an actual set or location.

Having said all this, I do believe that CGI has its place in film-making. Take the Lord of the Rings trilogy, for instance. First of all, by far some of the most well made movies I have ever seen. But what really stands out about them is how real (most-of) the CGI looks and feels (except for the lava in Mordor at the end of the third movie… that looked like shit). But what Peter Jackson really did right was that he only used CGI when he needed it. So much of what he did through make-up and costumes would have been done through CGI by a lazy film-maker. Take the orks – they looked absolutely brilliant. I remember the close-ups on their detailed, realistic faces bringing me chills. They wouldn’t have had the same effect if they had been animated by a computer. Take Gollumn, however. Gollumn, and creatures like him in the films, can’t really be created by actors in the traditional sense the way the vision of LOTR entails. Not only did Gollumn look and feel real, but the performance given by Andy Serkis was real. The  computer-generated Gollumn exactly  matched Andy’s movements and mannerisms. This gives an actor an opportunity to play a character they wouldn’t be able to normally play. But now onto Avatar.

Avatar is a film which, like Lord of The Rings, isn’t based in a world we know. James Cameron’s vision for the Titanic-sized film couldn’t be fulfilled by what our physical world has to offer. Titanic, for instance, proves how Cameron, like Jackson, has a respect for filming on-set and on-location without relying on CGI. Titanic’s production included a 17-million gallon tank and a 775 foot recreation of the ship. However, to build Pandora, the fictional planet on which Avatar is set, would have been a project with an almost infinite cost. Furthermore, though Jim Henson’s work (think The Labyrinth, Where the Wild Things Are) has  proven to us that creatures, big and small, can be brought to life with puppets. Furthermore, the creatures living on Pandora in Avatar, the Na’vi, could conceivably have been brought to life with costumes and make-up. But like the monsters that inhabit Pandora, the things that the Na’vi have to do within the context of the film don’t allow for the limitations of heavy make-up, costumes, and puppetry. From the trailer, it seems clear that Avatar is a fast-paced action film with a lot of movement. Not only would five hour make-up sessions everyday balloon the shooting schedule, but it would shoot the film’s already astronomical budget even higher.

So here James Cameron has a problem: It is 1994 and he has an idea for an amazing space-epic like the world hasn’t seen since Star Wars. However, there is no way that the film can be realistically filmed entirely in live-action. There’s another problem: the CGI technology currently available doesn’t meet the needs of Cameron’s vision for the film. What does he do? He waits. He knows that sometime over the next decade (or so he likely thought) the technology would develop enough for him to make the film. I’m assuming Cameron’s thought process was something like this: I want to make this movie, but If I am going to make it, I want to make it good. I could make it now, but it would be too expensive and wouldn’t have the clean feel it needs to I’ll wait.

And so he has waited. And now Avatar will be the first film made with new technology, invented partially by the director for his film. Titanic was made with some groundbreaking new technology invented by Cameron’s brother, and now Avatar is doing the same. The new photo-realistic CGI for Avatar is, supposedly, going to be so impressive you won’t be able to tell the difference between the CGI and the live-action. In a movie like Avatar where CGI is absolutely necessary to make the movie what the auteur wants it to be, I think this is a crucial element. It needs to look and feel real. From the screen-shots and trailers I have seen so far, they’ve done a pretty great job:

Yeah... I don't know about you, but that looks pretty fucking real to me.

Furthermore, like Andy Serkis in LOTR, the actors in Avatar get to give actual performance. In fact, according to Wikipedia, the source for all things true, 95% of the actors’ performances will be transferred to their digital avatar, if you will. Their actions and movements were all captured via motion capture technology. Importantly, their facial expressions will also be captured with, again, new technology developed for the film. More than ever before, an actor’s facial expressions, down to the last detail, will be capture and translated by a computer to be reproduced on a virtual character. Most importantly, Avatar was filmed in a way no other film ever has been: Cameron was able to view the actors’ virtual counterparts in real time on a screen on set with their digital environments superimposed. For the first time, a director can direct a film like Avatar – which is 60% CGI and 40% live action, according to Cameron – like they were directing a purely live action film. Personally, I think that’s pretty awesome.

Pretty awesome.

And I haven’t even gotten to the 3D technology yet. How do we see? We have two eyes next to each other capturing information that melds into one visual field. Films have historically been limited to being captured by single-lens cameras that don’t imitate the way we see. This, aside from the fact that its film, is part of why films look differently than what we see with our eyes. Cameron, however, has changed that. This is the type of new stereoscopic camera that Cameron used to shoot Avatar:

Am I turned on by this? Yes.

To be honest, I don’t know if that’s the actual camera he used, but I think you can see the difference between that and your standard camera. Its meant to mimic human sight and no doubt will bring us realistic 3D like we have never seen before. Its not going to be the type of in-your-face spears-flying-at-the-screen 3D we’re used to. Its going to be more subtle, and its going to look real. Originally I thought that you wouldn’t have to wear 3D glasses to take advantage of the effect, but I was wrong – you do. But you know what, millions of people have to wear glasses to read, so I don’t think we can complain about having to wear glasses to be literally immersed into an other-worldly world like Pandora. Its going to be fucking amazing.

Men at work.

Now whether or not Avatar will be a critical and/or box office success is still a huge question. I just wrote a term paper on the success of Titanic, and everyone, especially the executives at Twentieth Century Fox, the studio also backing Avatar (and almost all of Cameroni’s flicks), thought Titanic would tank (please click that link). However, as my thesis contends, thanks to the media buzz surrounding the flick, as well as some marketing advantages and good test-audience reception, Titanic soared at the box office. Well, for one, Avatar is probably the most talked about movie this decade. At least for me, and for the Internet. Its everywhere. Like Titanic, people are intrigued by its industry-changing new technology, as well as the first application of 3D in a 300-million dollar film (the budget for Titanic also generated a lotta buzz). The other day I was talking with some friends at lunch and one of them said something like, “I don’t feel like a lot of people are really excited to see Avatar. I mean like, I am going to see it, because it’s intriguing, but I’m not excited to.” Its statements like that that make me almost certain Avatar will be a box-office success. This girl isn’t even enthusiastic about the film – in fact said she didn’t think it looked all that good – and yet she is still going to see it. I feel like that will be the sentiment of a lot of people, but we’ll have to wait and see. I would bet on it though. But that might just be because I hope it succeeds. Personally, I’ll be seeing it a few times.

As far as whether or not its actually a good movie, look at Cameron’s track record. The Terminator, Terminator 2, Aliens, True Lies (I haven’t actually seen the last two, but its on my cue), Titanic? Titanic was a different kind of movie for Cameron, who was more well known for his sci-fi action flicks, and now he’s back to what he’s best at. And I think its going to be amazing. This is a film he has put over a decade of thought into. I am certain that he wouldn’t be so dedicated to it if he didn’t believe he really had something to offer. Furthermore, my friend sent me this early review today, and prospects are good:

I can report that this is another rare example where the quality of the movie does indeed exceed the hype and “Avatar” will most certainly be among the 10 ‘Best Picture’ nominees for the Oscars; and James Cameron will also be a Best Director nominee. I think it is also possible that actress Zoe Saldana, who has the most challenging of roles in the film, may rack up an additional acting nomination as well. – Sam Rubin

I’m pretty excited. Whether or not the movie actually is good (hint: it will be), its technological advances are enough to secure it a spot in cinema history. For someone who typically doesn’t like movies which rely heavily on CGI, like me, to be so excited for this movie speaks a lot to how good I expect it to be – aesthetically and narratively.

Go see Avatar. It matters.

Ecco gli ascolti, basati sui dati forniti quotidianamente da Auditel, dei programmi di prima serata di ieri, e a seguire una guida completa dei programmi in onda sui canali in chiaro e a pagamento di questa sera, lunedì 9 novembre 2009. Per maggiori informazioni sulla programmazione televisiva visitate le sezioni Telefilm News, Cartoon News, Sat News e Dig News, per esprimere la vostra opinione utilizzate la sezione settimanale TelePagelle.

DOMENICA 8 NOVEMBRE 2009

IERI SERA… Oltre 6,2 milioni di spettatori per la prima puntata del nuovo varietà di RaiUno “Grazie a tutti” con Gianni Morandi, Alessandra Amoroso e gli intermezzi comici di Franco Neri; in 4 milioni invece hanno seguito i due episodi inediti della fiction poliziesca in prima visione su Canale 5 “Distretto di Polizia 9″ con Simone Corrente e Giulia Bevilacqua. Grande sprint per la serata poliziesca inedita di RaiDue con “NCIS – Unità anticrimine” e “Criminal Minds” (quest’ultima salita sopra i 3,6 milioni); in calo rispetto agli ascolti che otteneva il venerdì sera il varietà comico di Italia 1 “Colorado” con Nicola Savino e Rossella Brescia, con il primo di tre appuntamenti che raccolgono il meglio dell’ultima edizione; infine, il film commedia di Rete 4 “Una moglie per papà” con Whoopi Goldberg, il programma di RaiTre “Speciale Elisir” con Michele Mirabella ed Umberto Veronesi ed il film d’azione “True Lies” con Arnold Schwarzenegger replicato su La 7 (con 861.000 spettatori – 4,01%). Bene sui canali sportivi pay l’importante posticipo di Serie A di calcio che ha visto il pareggio per 1-1 tra Inter e Roma.

LA PRIMA SERATA (ore 20.30/22.30)
Da oggi, all’interno degli ascolti Mediaset, ai dati di Boing si sommano quelli dell’altro canale digitale terrestre gratuito del gruppo, Iris.

	PUBBLICO	SHARE %
	6.540.000	22,53
	2.879.000	9,92
	3.300.000	11,37
	199.000	0,68
	12.919.000	44,51
	4.805.000	16,56
	3.069.000	10,57
	1.981.000	6,82
	186.000	0,64
	10.040.000	34,59
	559.000	1,92
Altri canali terrestri	2.683.000	9,24
Canali satellitari	2.824.000	9,73
TOTALE	29.025.000	100,00

A seguire alcune segnalazioni sugli ascolti disponibili della prima serata di ieri, e per concludere una guida alla TV di questa sera sui principali canali in chiaro e a pagamento.

I CANALI RAI E MEDIASET

• Alle 20.44 il gioco “Affari tuoi” (6.043.000 spettatori – 20,51%).  Alle 21.32 la prima puntata del varietà  “Grazie a tutti” (6.287.000 spettatori – 24,23%).
• Alle 21.02 l’episodio 9 “L’ostaggio” della sesta stagione inedita della serie poliziesca NCIS – Unità anticrimine (2.783.000 spettatori – 9,28%). Alle 21.46 l’episodio 12 “Anime gemelle” della quarta stagione inedita della serie poliziesca Criminal Minds (3.615.000 spettatori – 12,56%).
• Alle 20.32 il varietà “Che tempo che fa” (4.638.000 spettatori – 15,95%, preceduto alle 20.12 da un’anteprima con 2.732.000 spettatori – 10,48%). Alle 21.37 il programma “Speciale Elisir” dedicato alla ricerca sul cancro (1.825.000 spettatori – 6,82%).
• Alle 20.47 la seconda puntata del varietà “Striscia la Domenica” (5.759.000 spettatori – 19,42%). Alle 21.38 gli episodi 19-20 “Al buio” e “Nuova vita” della serie italiana “Distretto di Polizia 9” (4.010.000 spettatori – 16,02%).
• Alle 19.43 il film comico “Mr. Bean’s Holiday” (2.841.000 spettatori – 10,80%). Alle 21.33 la prima puntata con il “meglio” del varietà “Colorado” (2.608.000 spettatori – 11,95%).
• Alle 19.40 l’episodio “L’illusionista” della serie poliziesca Colombo (1.932.000 spettatori – 7,18%). Alle 21.25 il film commedia “Una moglie per papà” (2.057.000 spettatori – 7,93%).

IL MOTO GP

G.P. di Valencia – cronaca della gara
Gara (Italia 1, ore 13.57): 4.708.000 spettatori (23,31%)
“Fuori giri” (Italia 1, ore 14.51): 1.750.000 spettatori (9,55%)

LUNEDI’ 9 NOVEMBRE 2009

Sono elencati principalmente i programmi di prima serata. Gli orari e i titoli indicati possono variare senza preavviso.

CANALI IN CHIARO

• Alle 21.10 la serie italiana “Un medico in famiglia 6” con Giulio Scarpati e Pietro Sermonti – episodi 17-18. Alle 23.25 il programma “Speciale Porta a Porta – Muro di Berlino” con Bruno Vespa.
• Alle 21.05 il programma divulgativo “Voyager – Ai confini della conoscenza” con Roberto Giacobbo – puntata 7.
• Alle 21.10 il programma “Chi l’ha visto?” con Federica Sciarelli – puntata 10.
• Alle 21.10 il reality show “Grande Fratello” con Alessia Marcuzzi – puntata 3. Alle 00.20 il varietà “Mai dire Grande Fratello” con la Gialappa’s Band – puntata 2.
• Alle 21.10 il film thriller “Deja Vu – Corsa contro il tempo” (2006), con Denzel Washington e Val Kilmer. Alle 23.40 il film drammatico “Domino” (2005), con Keira Knightley.
• Alle 21.10 la serie poliziesca francese Julie Lescaut con Veronique Genest – episodio “Difesa ad oltranza” (2008).
• Alle 21.10, in diretta dal Porto di Taranto, la prosa “Miserabili – Io e Margaret Thatcher” con Marco Paolini.
• Alle 21.00 il varietà “Nitro Circus” . Alle 21.30 il varietà “Pranked”.
• Alle 20.00 una rotazione di video musicali. Alle 22.00 la replica del varietà “Deejay chiama Italia” con Linus e Nicola Savino.
• Alle 21.00 il programma sportivo “Il processo di Biscardi” con Aldo Biscardi.
• Alle 21.15 il programma “Il club delle prime donne” con Ombretta Colli.

DIGITALE TERRESTRE:

• Alle 21.10 il film di fantascienza “Star Trek – La nemesi” (2002), con Patrick Stewart e Brent Spiner. Alle 23.05 la serie drammatica Roma con Kevin McKidd e Ray Stevenson – episodi 2×07-08. Alle 00.55 la serie drammatica Crash con Dennis Hopper – episodio 1×05.
• Alle 21.00 il film drammatico “Respiro” (2002), con Vincenzo Amato e Valeria Golino.
• Alle 21.00 la telenovela per ragazzi “Flor – Speciale come te” con Florencia Bertotti e Ángeles Balbiani – episodio 30. Alle 21.50 la serie animata “Il laboratorio di Dexter”.
• Alle 21.05 la serie animata “Atomic Betty” – episodio 13. Alle 21.25 la serie animata “Wolverine and the X-Men” – episodio 2.
• Alle 20.50 il varietà “Takeshi’s Castle” commentato da Lillo e Greg – tre puntate.
• Alle 21.00 il programma “La storia siamo noi”.
• Alle 21.00 il film commedia “Troppo forte” (1986), con Carlo Verdone e Alberto Sordi.
• Alle 21.00 lo sceneggiato “Il maresciallo Rocca 2” (1998), con Gigi Proietti e Stefania Sandrelli – episodio 1 “Un maledetto incastro”.
• Alle 21.00 la replica della puntata “Schiavi del lusso” del programma “Report” con Milena Gabanelli.

CANALI A PAGAMENTO

Sono compresi i principali canali delle offerte Mediaset Premium e Sky. Nell’elenco non considero i vari canali “+” disponibili, con programmazione differita nel tempo rispetto al canale principale.

(Digitale terrestre)

• Alle 21.00 il film biografico “I diari della motocicletta” (2004), con Gael Garcia Bernal e Mia Maestro.
• Alle 21.00 la serie American Dreams con Brittany Snow e Vanessa Lengies – episodi 2×11-12.
• Alle 21.00 la serie 4400 con Joel Gretsch e Jacqueline McKenzie – episodi conclusivi di stagione 3×11-12-13.
• Alle 21.00 il film drammatico “Il papà di Giovanna” (2008), con Silvio Orlando e Ezio Greggio.
• Alle 21.00 il film commedia “Il letto racconta” (1959), con Rock Hudson e Doris Day.
• Alle 21.00 il film d’animazione “Lupin III – Il ritorno del mago” (2002).
• Alle 21.00 la replica dell’incontro di calcio Lazio – Milan di Serie A.

(Digitale satellitare)

INTRATTENIMENTO:

• Alle 21.00 il varietà sportivo “Gnok Calcio Show” con Gene Gnocchi – puntata 10. Alle 22.00 la serie inglese Bonkers – Sesso in allegria con Liza Tarbuck e Mark Addy – episodio conclusivo 6.
• Alle 21.10, in contemporanea con gli USA, la serie thriller FlashForward con Joseph Fiennes e Sonya Walger – episodio 1×06. Alle 22.05 la serie True Blood con Anna Paquin e Stephen Moyer – episodio 2×01. Alle 23.00 la serie poliziesca Lie To Me con Tim Roth e Kelli Williams – episodio 1×01.
• Alle 21.00 il reality italiano “S.O.S. Tata” – puntata 5×06. Alle 21.55 la serie poliziesca Cold Case – Delitti irrisolti con Kathryn Morris – episodio 3×13.
• Alle 21.00 la serie The Guardian con Simon Baker e Dabney Coleman – episodi 1×11-12.
• Alle 21.00 il varietà “Comedy Club” con Max Novaresi – puntata 7.
• Alle 21.00 il programma “Cortesie per gli ospiti”. Alle 22.00 il programma “Ma come ti vesti?!” – puntata 3×03.
• Alle 21.00 la serie belga Matrioshki 2 con Peter Van den Begin e Luk Wijns – episodi 1-2.
• Alle 21.00 il film poliziesco “Il giustiziere della notte 4” (1987), con Charles Bronson e Kay Lenz.
• Alle 21.00 la serie Missione impossibile con Steven Hill – episodio 1×15. Alle 22.00 la serie poliziesca Starsky & Hutch con Paul Michael Glaser – episodio 1×15.
• Alle 21.00 la telenovela “Il segreto della nostra vita” con Adele Noriega e Eduardo Yanez – episodio 148. Alle 22.00 la telenovela in lingua originale “Mientras haya vida” con Margarita Rosa de Francisco – episodio 135.
• Alle 21.30 la serie italiana “Distretto di Polizia 9” con Simone Corrente e Giulia Bevilacqua – episodi 19-20.
• Alle 21.00 il docu-reality “Dr. 90210″ - puntata “Un bisturi tira l’altro”.
• Alle 21.00 il documentario “Mio marito è un travestito”. Alle 22.00 il documentario “Ipersessualità”.
• Alle 21.00 la serie gialla Miss Marple con Geraldine McEwan – episodio “Sento i pollici che prudono” (2006).
• Alle 21.00 il documentario “Berlino, il sesso e il Muro”.
• Alle 21.00 la serie Il Corvo con Mark Dacascos e Marc Gomes – episodio 10. Alle 22.00 il film horror “The Skulls III” (2004), con C. Kramer e B. Johnson.
• Alle 20.45 la serie inglese (in lingua originale) Sensitive Skin con Joanna Lumley – episodio 1×05. Alle 21.15 la serie inglese (in lingua originale) Supernova con Rob Brydon – episodio 1×05.
• Alle 21.00 la serie inglese Life on Mars con John Simm e Philip Glenister – episodi 2×05-06.
• Alle 20.50 il programma sportivo “New American Gladiators”. Alle 21.40 il varietà “Takeshi’s Castle”commentato dal Trio Medusa.
• Alle 21.00 la serie animata “Dai Guard”.  Alle 21.30 la serie animata “Nadesico”. Alle 22.00 la serie animata “Inuyasha”.

SPORT:

• Alle 20.45 la diretta dell’incontro di calcio Liverpool – Birmingham, posticipo della 12a giornata di Premier League inglese.

CINEMA:

• Alle 21.00 il film commedia “Il cosmo sul comò” (2008), con Aldo, Giovanni e Giacomo.
• Alle 21.00 il film d’animazione “Piccolo grande eroe” (2006).
• Alle 21.00 il film commedia “Qualcuno come te” (2001), con Hugh Jackman e Ashley Judd.
• Alle 21.15 il film thriller “Il bacio della morte” (1994), con Nicolas Cage e David Caruso.
• Alle 21.00 il film d’azione “Speed 2 – Senza limiti” (1997), con Sandra Bullock e Jason Patric.
• Alle 21.00 il film drammatico “Il cacciatore di aquiloni” (2007), con Khalid Abdalla e Atossa Leoni.
• Alle 21.00 il film commedia “Americano rosso” (1991), con Eros Pagni e Fabrizio Bentivoglio.
• Alle 21.00 il film d’avventura “La meravigliosa Angelica” (1965), con Michèle Mercier e Robert Hossein.
• Alle 21.00 il film drammatico “La schivata” (2003), con Osman Elkharraz e Sara Forestier.
• Alle 21.00 il film commedia “Uno, due, tre!” (1961), con James Cagney e Horst Buchholz.

DOCUMENTARI:

• Alle 21.00 il programma “Marchio di fabbrica” – puntate 6×09-10.
• Alle 21.00 il programma “Hai mai provato a…” – puntata 4. Alle 21.30 il programma “Fatti curiosi” – puntata 4.
• Alle 21.00 il documentario “L’arte della guerra” – puntata 5 “Davide, l’uomo che uccise il gigante”.
• Alle 21.00 il programma “Veterinari a Sydney”. Alle 21.30 il programma “E.V. – Veterinari d’emergenza”.
• Alle 21.05 il programma “Come è fatto” – due puntate .

RAGAZZI:

• Alle 21.05 la sit-com La famiglia Addams con John Astin. Alle 21.30 la serie animata “Carletto principe dei mostri”.
• Alle 20.45 la serie animata “Occhi di gatto”. Alle 21.15 la serie animata “SpongeBob” – due episodi.
• Alle 20.50 la serie animata “Le nuove avventure di Scooby Doo”. Alle 21.15 la serie animata “Shin Chan”. Alle 21.40 la serie animata “Gli amici immaginari di casa Foster”.
• Alle 21.00 la serie animata “Hello Kitty – Alla ricerca delle mele magiche”.  Alle 21.25 i cortometraggi animati della serie “Bugs Bunny”.
• Alle 21.05 la serie animata “Le nuove avventure di Winnie the Pooh”. Alle 21.30 la serie animata “I Numerotti”.
• Alle 20.25 la telenovela per ragazzi “Il mondo di Patty” con Laura Esquivel. Alle 21.20 il programma musicale “Dance Time”. Alle 21.30 la serie animata “Bruno the Great”.  Alle 21.35 la sit-com italiana “Quelli dell’intervallo”.
• Alle 20.45 il film d’animazione “Casper e Wendy” (1998).
• Alle 21.05 la serie animata “I Fantastici Quattro”. Alle 21.30 la serie animata “L’incredibile Hulk”.

I SIMBOLI USATI
L’indicazione tipo 1×02 segnala il 2° episodio della 1^ stagione.
= film o film TV.
= telefilm (serie/sit-com) straniero.
= telefilm o sceneggiato di produzione italiana, o miniserie straniera.
= soap opera o telenovela.
= cartone animato.
= programma sportivo.
= prima visione sui canali non a pagamento, o al primo passaggio sui canali pay.
= variazione rispetto al programma previsto.
comprende Rai 4, Rai Gulp, Rai Storia, Rai Sport Più, Rai News 24, Rai Edu1 ed i canali RaiSat.

I’m not wearing a tie.

OOOOOHHHH YEEAAHAHAHAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

That’s right, ladies! It’s “Aggressive Thursday” and I’ve got no motherfucking tie on! I’m rocking no tie! This dog’s got no leash! This car’s got no breaks! This prisoner’s got no shackles! This something that is usually loosely bound by some form of restraint is now not wearing that restraint which is a metaphor that in reality is just a piece of colorful matching silk that is worn around the neck…. FUCK YEAH!!!!!!!!

I’m actually a little sad that I’m not wearing tie. Here are the four following reasons why I don’t like that I’m not wearing a tie:

1. Mork

I’m going to write the next paragraph in a Masonic code I learned from Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol. I hope everyone will be able to follow it because it is very elaborate and complicated.

I write this blog and I don’t know if you have noticed, but I don’t get paid for it. That is where “mork” comes in. Like most of you, I have a real yob in the real world and my yob is what pays me so I can live. I write this blog at my yob everyone morning seemingly when I should be morking. Nevertheless, I’m good at my yob and still get my mork done, usually. Anyway, recently there has been a lot of turmoil going on at mork. I don’t completely want to tell you who I mork for because one of you may end up becoming vengeful for me stopping this blog and if I’m still morking for this yob then you’ll just call up the company and tell them to fire me because all I do is write about Lirsten Lewart and her twanting tit.

So, the company I mork for is under schnew schmanagement. They do not wear suits. My previous schmanagement made us wear suits everyday at mork. A lot of people are still wearing suits at mork today and I’ve already seen a couple wearing ties. I’m still wearing the rest of the suit, but I feel like I’ve sold out a little to the new kibosses and schmanagement with the no tie. Also I have no khaki pants and regular button up shirts to dress worporate wasual, so I have to wear a suit unless sweatpants become acceptable.

2. Pajamas

I don’t own/wear pajamas. By pajamas, I don’t mean sweatpants and a t-shirt or whatever. I mean the man pajamas or manajamas that pretty much look like you are just wearing a dress shirt and dress pants, but they’re made of the exact same material. I’ve never worn those and I couldn’t imagine wearing those. But when I don’t wear a tie with a suit, I feel like I’m wearing manajamas pretty much. So I feel real weird right now.

3. Sternal Head

I’m showing a lot of sternal head right now. I can’t find and I’m going to stop looking. because I have so mork for my yob I need to do, the term for the area of skin that covers the sternal head. Either way, it is completely out there and I’m not into it. I like to keep my sternal head covered and feels weird having it graphically nude at the moment. I wear wife beater undershirts which provide no cover for my sternal head. Is there a draft in here!?! My sternal head is freezing! My sternal head is so sensitive to the cold. I really need something to keep my sternal head warm. Some would say, “why don’t you just button the top button of your shirt?” And those people would be idiots. I can’t button the top button of my shirt with no tie! I would look like some crazy person! Nothing is more of a red flag for social awkwardness than a guy buttoning the top button of his shirt with no tie.

That is unless you only have the top button buttoned and the rest is unbuttoned. At this point everyone will know you are either a member of the Latin Kings or in another Hispanic gang that rivals the Latin Kings. Or at least you are throwing it out there that you are willing to join one of those gangs.

4. I own a ton of ties

Like 30 ties! What are they going to do? Just stay locked in my closet and appreciate with age!?! They’re not wine or a sex slave.

James Cameron + Kristen Stewart

So as I keep pulling up my shirt to shield my white, baby soft skin that covers my sternal head from those uncomfortably longing and sensual stares I keep receiving, I have been thinking a lot about James Cameron recently. They have recently started airing a lot of TV spots for his forthcoming action epic Avatar. I’m definitely seeing it and I’m definitely planning on seeing it opening day. But I’m not really sold on the movie. It looks cool, but it also looks so much like a whole bunch of other stuff. For the most part it looks like it will be the greatest videogame movie adaptation for a game that does not exist. They are actually making a videogame based on the movie, which will probably suck.

James Cameron is an amazing director. There is no way the movie will be bad considering it is going to be a lot of alien jungle fights versus machine gunning robots. That is phenomenal as is, but will it live up to the hype is the question. Regardless, what if the movie had a certain actress in it? What if Kristen Stewart was in Avatar? How would that change the outcome of the movie? Also, what if Kristen Stewart was in all of James Cameron’s movies? How would the presence of the sprightly teen Queen of wanting it affect the conclusions of James Cameron’s much heralded films?

Terminator

I’m assuming Kristen is a good guy in the movie. I feel like that is a safe assumption because she is so cute and likeable in real life and because God would never allow her to be portrayed to the world as a bad guy because she is God’s vessel of want. Also, the bad guy in the movie is a robot and I have already discussed how I do not believe it is possible for man to create a robot or clone of Kristen Stewart that would be able to emit the same want. As a good guy, I think Kristen could arguably replace Bess Motta as Linda Hamilton’s friend Ginger and/or she could be Michael Biehn’s tandem time traveling terminator tussling teammate.

We all remember that the Terminator shows up to Sarah and Ginger’s apartment looking for Sarah. Sarah is not there. Ginger is there with her big swinging ahem boyfriend Matt played by Rick Rossovich who everyone knows best as the Ice Man’s co-pilot, Slider, in Top Gun. I love Top Gun. The Terminator comes in and beats the piss out of Matt then kills him and kills Ginger. What if Kristen Stewart was Ginger? Well I would imagine Kristen would be wanting it on all cylinders with a half naked Slider running around her apartment. I think the Terminator would kick down the door and be first met Kristen. The amount of want pouring out of her would be way too much for a robot, even from the future, to process. He would be flooded with so much want that his circuits would become wildly over heated and burst into flames.

The Terminator now engulfed in an internal electrical fired caused by a slim 19 year old who wants it so bad, he would promptly throw himself out the window in an effort to kill himself before the flames eat him from the inside. The fall doesn’t kill him, so he lays in agony until the fire finally consumes him. Then Slider would come out of the shower from the noise and look at Kristen and ask what happened. She would shrug “nothing that hasn’t happened a 100 times before, dude.”

If she was Kyle Reese’s assistant, the two of them would actively search out the Terminator. I would imagine that in a future of endless war we would have trained Kristen to use her want like an ion cannon. When they found the Terminator, Reese would whisper the Kristen Stewart go code “pumpernickel” and then dive out of the way. She would fire off a want blast that would explode like a Hydrogen bomb on Arnold, thus ending the movie maybe 10 minutes in.

Aliens

Most of Aliens is crazy ass explosions anyway, so there is a chance that Kristen Stewart wouldn’t need to use her want it powers. Plus I don’t think it is safe to send Kristen Stewart in space. I’m just a doctor and just an amateur scientist, but there are a lot of weird things people in space cannot do. I feel like Kristen Stewart’s want would be a liability on a spaceship. This is just a theory, I think Kristen Stewart radiates so much want that it would cause too much strain on the fragile spaceship structure that there would be too high of a chance of mishap. So I don’t think Kristen should be up in space no matter if she is up there to fight aliens or not.

Kristen and the planet Earth would be much better served if she was paid to keep watch on sky for aggressive alien space craft trying to enter the Earth’s atmosphere. If she sees one then she has carte blanche to zap them out of the air like she’s a human death star of want.

The Abyss

I like The Abyss now. When I was a kid I was scared by it for some reason. What a pussy, right? I really don’t know why I was scared by it. I must’ve watched it a bunch of times when I was kid even though it did scared me. Anyway, this movie wouldn’t even exist if Kristen Stewart was in it. If there were aliens that lived at the bottom of the ocean floor and Kristen Stewart and her want were around, they would leave this planet. Aliens can sense her immense want even at the bottom depths of the ocean. Soon as Ed Harris gets to the bottom of the ocean and chills with the aliens for a minute they leave. I think the aliens either would sense Kristen Stewart’s want and be scared to death of it and jet. Or they would surface, meet the beacon of want, be terrified of her power, and leave. So, K-Stew saves the day again and no deep sea drilling scientists have to die.

True Lies

I guess Kristen could replace Eliza Dushku as Arnold and Jamie Lee’s daughter. Does everyone know that Eliza Dushku is going out with Rick Fox? Does everyone know who Rick Fox is? More like does anyone know who Rick Fox is? Right? Cause you’re ladies and ladies don’t know athletes. I’m not sure if they are going out or not, but I saw a picture of the two of them together and it is so random to imagine the two of them being in a picture together at all that I have to assume the wildest and that they are going out. How on Earth did the two of them meet?

We all know that True Lies is perfect. Simply perfect. So I would want Kristen to just follow whatever the terrorists asked her to do like a good little hostage. I don’t want to her get involved because if she did then we wouldn’t have not only the amazing action of Arnold killing fools, but we would miss out on utterly flawless scenarios like Arnold on horseback, Arnold scaring Bill Paxton, Arnold and Tom Arnold’s hilarious dialogue exchanges, Jamie Lee Curtis stripping, the interrogation scene which Arnold should have at least won a Golden Globe for, Arnold piloting a harrier jet, and so on. I guess the only thing that could be added is after the whole movie plays out and the three of them (Arnold, Jamie and now Kristen) are on the bridge celebrating, a terrorist could pop up out of nowhere with an AK-47 poised to fire. Kristen would turn and want it and he would explode into bits.

That’s thee ole’ classic K-Stew 3 point blow ‘em up:

Step 1: Turn

Step 2: Want it

Step 3: Continue to want it until the target blows up like a bomb sending blood and guts every where.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day

She’s a good guy in this one as well. The T-1000 was destroyed by molten hot liquid and the destruction of the remaining Terminator pieces. I’m starting to tear up saying this, but I don’t think there is anyway Arnold doesn’t die and give us the thumbs up in this scenario. WHY!?!?!?!?! OH JESUS!?!?! Why does he have to die so gracefully and beautifully? He’s just a robot, right? Why am I so emotionally attached? I think Kristen could easily handle the T-1000 with her want. She would keep him in a constant state of destruction. Kristen would let loose her heat beam want on the T-1000 melting him. I believe that he would try to form his liquid metal self to look like her thinking he could counteract her want, but fail. Meanwhile, Sarah, John and the Terminator would still have to get the original chip and Terminator hand from Dyson. Then as much as it pains me, Kristen would have melt Arnold, the chip and the hand with her want as well as the T-1000 to rid the world of the evils of Skynet. This one is sad.

Titanic

An iceberg? Are you kidding me? Kristen would want the shit out of that thing and melt it to an ice cube. She could stand at the bow of the boat just let the heat of her want go. She would be like a giant microwave warming the waters. Melting all the icebergs may cause severe flooding everywhere else in the world though. But who cares? Kristen is safe because she’s on a boat!

Avatar

Hmmm… well the aliens seem to turn out to be the good guys. But the “bad guys” are just misguided space marines. Kristen Stewart isn’t going to kill American soldiers. I think she could just enter the battle and shine her wanting it light until they are drawn to tears and humbled, both man and alien together.

But if those aliens turn out to be bad, Kristen Stewart will want it like an optic beam razor and decapitate those motherfuckers one by one.

Just think about James Cameron. The movie doesn’t come out for another 40 some odd days. You could do some re-shoots. Either way, you need to paint Kristen Stewart blue like the aliens just for the hell of it.

Also, if I had photoshop I would take a picture of Kristen and make her blue. I can’t do that in MS-Paint and make it look good. But I did this yesterday when I was bored at mork.

ในที่สุด Fox ก็ปล่อยตัวอย่างฉบับเต็มของหนังที่ผู้ชมรอคอยมากที่สุดเรื่องหนึ่งของปีนี้ AVATAR จากฝีมือการกำกับของผู้กำกับในตำนานอีกหนึ่งคนเลยก็ว่าได้ James Cameron ณ ตรงนี้ผมเชื่อว่าเกือบทุกคนรู้จักเขาคนนี้แน่นอน แต่สำหรับคนที่ไม่รู้จัก ผลงานกำกับของ James Camaron ที่เด่น ๆ ก็ได้แก่ Titanic (ครองอันดับ 1 Boxoffice ได้ถึง 15 สัปดาห์), True Lies, T2 (หนังที่สร้างปรากฏการณ์ CG แบบที่ไม่มีใครเคยพบพาน) และ Aliens

ถึงแม้ตัวอย่างแรกของหนัง Avatar จะไม่ได้สร้างความประทับใจให้กับแฟนหนังเท่าไหร่นัก แต่ว่าตัวอย่างแรกให้ทำสถิติตัวอย่างหนังที่มีผู้ชมมากที่สุดใน Apple และด้วยเหตุผลอะไรสักอย่าง ยังทำให้แฟนหนังเหล่านั้น ตั้งหน้าตั้งตารอตัวอย่างใหม่ เพื่อหวังว่าจะอยากดูหนังเรื่องนี้ต่อไป เหตุผลนั้นคือ James Cameron นั่นเอง… และแล้วตัวอย่างใหม่ของหนัง Avatar ก็เปิดเผยสู่ชาวโลกอีกครั้ง (ถึงแม้ว่าชาวไทยจะได้ดูก่อนก็เถอะ หึหึ)

ตัวอย่างหนังได้ฉายในโรงภาพยนตร์ก่อนเมื่อวันศุกร์ที่ 23 ตุลาคมที่ผ่านมา และได้ออนไลน์พร้อมกันทั่วโลกเมื่อวันพฤหัสที่ 29 ตุลาคมที่ผ่านมา และในวันนี้ (1 พฤศจิกายน) แฟนหนังก็จะได้ชมการเผยแพร่ตัวอย่างครั้งแรกในโทรทัศน์ที่สหรัฐอเมริกาช่วงรายการ Fox NFL Sunday ทางช่อง Fox และผู้ที่ร่วมชมการแข่งขันฟุตบอลที่ Cowboys Stadium (Dallas) คุณก็จะได้ชมตัวอย่างหนังบนจอ LED ที่ใช้ชื่ออย่างหรูว่า Mitsubishi Electric Diamond Vision screen (จอขนาด 160 x 72 ฟุตเอง…)

Quicktime 480p / 720p / 1080p

ถ้าจะย้อนความเป็นมาของโปรเจคหนัง Avatar ก็ต้องย้อนรำลึกชาติกลับไปเมื่อ 15 ปีก่อน ตอนปี 1994 ที่ James เขียนบทหนัง Avatar ความยาว 80 หน้ากระดาษ โดยได้แรงบันดาลใจจาก “หนังสือนิยายวิทยาศาสตร์ทุกเรื่องที่เคยได้อ่าน” จากนั้นในปี 1996 หลังจากที่ถ่ายทำ Titanic เสร็จ James ก็ประกาศว่าจะถ่ายทำ Avatar ด้วยงบประมาณ 100 ล้านดอลล่าร์เพื่อออกฉายได้ในปี 1999 แต่แน่นอนว่ามันไม่เป็นเช่นนั้น เพราะหนังต้องใช้งบประมาณถึง 400 ล้านเดอลล่าร์…

ในช่วงเดือนมิถุนายน ปี 2005 James ประกาศว่าจะสร้างภาพยนตร์เรื่อง Project 880 ไปพร้อมๆกับ Battle Angel โดยบอกว่า จะถ่ายทำ Battle Angel ล่วงหน้าไปก่อนเพื่อฉายในช่วงปี 2007 และตามด้วย Project 880 ในช่วงปี 2009 แต่จากนั้นในเดือนกุมภาพันธ์ 2006 James ก็สลับให้ Project 880 มาอยู่ในปี 2007 แทน จากนั้นไม่นานก็เลื่อน Project 880 มาอยู่ในช่วงกลางปี 2009 แทน

จากนั้นไม่นาน James การประกาศอย่างเป็นทางการ Project 880 ก็คือการดัดแปลงใหม่ของ Avatar และถ้าหากหนังประสบความสำเร็จ เขาก็หวังที่จะมีภาคต่อออกมาหลังจาก Battle Angel ทันที โดยแท้จริงแล้ว Avatar มีแผนจะลงโรงฉายในวันที่ 22 พฤษภาคม 2009 แต่ก็ต้องเลื่อนมาที่ 18 ธันวาคม 2009 ด้วยเหตุผล 2 ประการคือ เพื่อให้เวลากับช่วง Post-Production มากขึ้น และเพื่อให้โรงหนังทั่วโลก ติดตั้งเครื่องฉายภาพยนตร์แบบ 3D ให้พร้อม

เกร็ดเล็กน้อย : Avatar เป็นภาพยนตร์เรื่องแรกที่จะได้ใช้โลโก้ใหม่ของ 20th Century Fox หากคุณสังเกตดีๆ ในตัวอย่างใหม่คุณก็จะเห็นโลโก้ใหม่เช่นกัน…

FINALLY! This is the trailer we’ve been waiting for, the one that finally shows that there’s more to Avatar than just giant blue Na’vi aliens, that it’s a story about love and survival and the importance of life!.

Avatar is the story of an ex-Marine on the planet Pandora who, as an Avatar – a human mind in an alien body – finds himself in a desperate fight for his survival and that of the indigenous beings called Na’vi.

Avatar is both written and directed by Oscar winning visionary filmmaker James Cameron, of Piranha II, The Terminator, Aliens, The Abyss, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, True Lies, and Titanic previously. He has been developing the technology to make this movie for the last 10 years. 20th Century Fox is bringing James Cameron’s Avatar to both IMAX and regular theaters in 3D around the world on December 18th.

Fingers Cross for a premiere in Australia!

WATCH THE TRAILER HERE IN YAHOO MOVIES

It is extremely funny and sometimes incredible to think one can find truth online, or someone will post what they really think out there on the World Wide WEb.

Everything I have put here, including writings, Powerpoint files, and PDF files, is, in one way or another, inaccurate.

If I want to mince my words, I would say I speak what each kind of readers would like to hear, or occasionally what might shock them.

That is why I categorized them as “True Lies.” If someone really wants to dig a little bit of gold, they should go for “Little Women Snapshots,” which contain very limited posts.

It is naive to think I will put my real thoughts for everybody to see. I am not an exhibitionist or someone so desperate for attention.

What do I care about book-writing? A noted American scholar edited a book on contemporary American culture. Guess how much it is being sold? Five dollars.

A noted Chinese scholar from Taiwan wrote a book on Chinese culture. According to my professional opinion, it is a very solid book. That scholar writes very well in English. I mean his use of the English language. Everybody knows writing a book is a lot more difficult than editing one. As the old saying goes: it is always easier to criticize others than to criticize yourself. Some particularly excel at finding fault with others. That scholar has probably spent his entire life knowledge when writing that book. And it is much thicker. How much was it sold? Ten dollars. And it won’t sell that extensively because of its subject matter.

No scholar, American or otherwise, ever dreams of making big money out of their writings. Unless the writing taps into the popular culture or popular need at that particular moment, such as the Harry Potter series, no one makes that much money. The creator of Harry Potter series is now one of the richest women on planet earth.

Many scholars write books because their profession demands them to. People need books for gaining tenures and being promoted to full professors. After that, a full professor can rest comfortably on his or her three books.

Exceptions exist. You sometimes see professors or scholars writing one book every two or three years. Rey Chow, a Hong Kong scholar who teaches in an eminent American university, write one book every two or three years. She has a distinguished professional title. One of my professors invited her to come to the University for a speech. Writers and scholars like Rey Chow are internally driven to write so many books. They are the gifted ones who are obsessed with thinking and obsessed with writing. In one word, they can’t stop.

Rey Chow writes very well, too. Her book can be very dense theoretically, but it is not that difficult to understand.

In one word, if someone really wants to dig gold, they won’t find anything valuable on my websites. I keep my most precious ideas and commodities, and sometimes emotions, under password protection.

I won’t give my first-rate thoughts to everybody here on the World Wide Web.

What you can find is only my second-rate thoughts. Sometimes I only come here to vent certain feelings. Everybody needs an outlet to relax. For some sex makes them happy. For me, during this period, it is writing.

Sex leaves you nothing, except short term release. You seldom find genuine happiness during those transit encounters. Often it leaves you with diseases, if you are not very selective. Occasionally it leaves women with unwanted child. That is too big a problem.

Writing, however, leaves me with words. Sometimes they are beautiful. Sometimes they may not be beautiful. But who cares? They live online. At least they have gained a life of their own, however transit it maybe. At least it lasts longer than sex, which probably lasts around one hour, if that guy is competent at it.

As a result, there is no need to feel anxious.

But I occasionally do tell a little bit of truth. For me, I care more about my personal happiness than the futures of cultures, be them Chinese, American, or Japanese. There are lots of people out there. I do not see the need to carry those cultures on my back. I would like to if I were able. But I do not have that ability. For that task, my spirit is willing, but my flesh is weak. Leave that task to able-bodied men. I am just a woman. I have to be excused.

In fact, the one thing I dislike the most is to be burdened with unnecessary burdens. For one thing, I do not like somebody putting their arms around my neck. It constricts me too much. I do not particularly like to be burdened with a man who is beaten by life. Who can carry a man or, for that matter, a woman, throughout one’s entire life? No one can do that, no matter how able, smart, and rich he or she is. Unless that person is loaded with millions and billions of dollars and really does not care that much, no other ordinary folk will choose to carry another person through life. The journey is too tiring. Life is not easy.

The best case scenario, if a man and a woman stay together, is they help and complement each other. In this case, the relationship will have a chance to survive. But it will still have lots of things to work through.

For this I speak from experience. I loved one person more than I loved myself. Guess how long it lasted. Three years at most. It is an extreme case. That person would rather cut himself into two halves than making another choice because he viewed me as a burden. I am almost crushed under that burden, not him. Please do not get me wrong. I know I loved him, and I know he once did too. But I really do not like to live under the ground. I really like to live under the sun, but not burnt severely.

Fortunately I have never been a burden to anyone, not my parents, not the ex-man, nor the current either.

My disappointment is no viable solution has been presented to me yet. It seems the other party cannot find a viable solution, after all these long years. Everybody is looking for the lowest common denominator in life and expectations.

Therefore, I was put in a dilemma. If I stay here and now, I am hugely dissatisfied with what I get or what I could be given. If I go, someone becomes very unhappy and will try every strategy to stop me.

There must be a third way out.

Since they are reputed to be smart, how come a third solution has not been found yet?

Now, where is my book? I do not depend on the book to make me rich, but it is still my book. Where is my man? If a man wants to claim me as “his woman,” it is understandable that he should take himself as belonging to me. I do not share my book with any woman. I do not share a husband with any woman, either. I can share candies and cookies, but definitely not my book or my man. Consequently if a man shares himself with many women, he is not mine. That I am sure. I apply the no-sharing rule to myself. I am peculiar. For this, I am speaking the truth. But again you need to decide yourself.

If you say, “I so do not believe it.” That is your right. I am not sewing up your disbelieving lips. My guess is your lips are used to be so wanton.

There is a thread on Absolute Write about reading a second book by an author whose first book ain’t quite up to scratch, and it got me to thinking about how bad something has to be before a creator’s entire canon is ignored. In some ways I am able to see past the voice of a writer, or filmmaker, or musician, or any other art, to accept the output for what it is, but a small part of me knows that there is more to life than slogging through an annoying or ill-conceived concept for a few good moments. There are some big event releases coming up which I’ll be waiting a while for due to this very topic.

Avatar, James Cameron’s return to the big screen may be endlessly hyped by some, though after the dumb True Lies, an obnoxious Titanic remake, and his terrible Entourage cameo, I don’t see how he has any reason to expect my money. I’ll wait on the DVD, only if the film gets good reviews, or the television premiere if it sucks ass. The notion that he has anything new to say in the realm of SF is doubtful, especially when the idea behind Avatar is examined closely. It sounds like the plot of any number of novels by people who have something to say.

George Lucas, the man to blame thank for Star Wars: The Phantom Menace is another individual who has lost any respect from me. Did he fall on his head and forget how to direct? Jeez, it’s a good thing that the fanbase ignored the terrible aspects of his second trilogy long enough for him to turn a quick buck. I’ve been wary of Star Wars properties since those films, but there have been a few games (The Force Unleashed and the Lego tie-ins) which pulled back some of the wonder from those first Star Wars films. Better than Jedi Academy at any rate…

I’m more forgiving to people who strike me as people I could have a drink with and not be irritated by. Even after Land Of The Dead and Diary Of The Dead failed to impress me, I guess I would still check out any new film George A. Romero comes up with. Is that an asshole / box office equation that I’ve just come up with? There are other creators I forgive poor quality work from, and Clive Barker – once hailed as the future of horror by no less an authority than Stephen King – is one who goes straight to the top of that list.

Cabal, a book I love as much as I am infuriated by its missed opportunities, is still with me after fifteen years of re-readings. His Books Of Blood were brilliant, and I can forgive him pretty much anything for their existence alone. His film career may not have panned out quite so well, and I’ll comfortably ignore Rawhead Rex despite it sitting on my DVD shelf alongside his other cinematic outings. I bought it, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll ever watch the fucking thing – collector mentality only goes so far.

Those are familiar names. My opinion on their talent is irrelevant. Suckers will still shell out money for any old crap that is associated with Star Wars (and how else could stores shift Jar Jar Binks toys?), but that kind of loyalty has long since left me. I (thankfully) missed the One More Day storyline in Spider-Man as it was happening due to endless and awful Spidey crap from the late nineties. I hold my grudges well. Only… The Spirit (the DVD of which I finally managed to get running) is shit. I’m sure everyone is in agreement on this. Does that mean I should wait and see if Sin City 2 is okay for human viewing?

Frank Miller, whose work is divisive when discussed in polite company, is one of the very few comic book creators who have yet to create something completely unreadable. DK2 is a hard book to love, but it isn’t as terrible as some make it out to be. There is a rhythm and a specific cadence to his writing that instantly appeals, and his artwork on Sin City, while reminiscent of both Hugo Pratt and Jim Steranko in places, is a breath of fresh air. The Spirit is an anomaly, and I’m sure he will put it behind him.

I haven’t mentioned music yet, because that is trickier to separate the artist from their work. Many times I’ve heard a song which is catchy but at the same time doesn’t sound like it belongs to the performer. It isn’t necessarily that they are doing a cover of a famous track, it’s just that they aren’t the best singer for the song. Can you imagine anyone else but Roy Orbison singing In Dreams? No. That is a perfect match between singer and song, and it is a good benchmark for anyone to compare against.

Most people deserve at least two opportunities to prove themselves. If we implement the one strike rule, then James Cameron’s career would have amounted to a shit sequel to Piranha. No Terminator, no Aliens and no Titanic… It’s a good way of looking at most artistic endeavors.

One thing I can’t tell is whether I should ask a person to come with me, or shall I go with him?

As far as I understand, this place is not at all a paradise.

Had a strange dream. I was walking in a clear river flowing south, with my second sister. I have two sisters, but she is the one who stole or burnt things that belonged to me. It looks as if we are going to wash some clothes.

Also saw a playmate of my childhood. She is one year older than I am. This is the first time I see her after I left for college, almost in 20 years.

She is saying how different everybody’s fate is.

I am wearing the bright pink dress I had when I was small. That is perhaps the first dress I had. The pattern is bright pink to translucent white in diamond shape.

There is a huge boulder along the bank. We want to go there. A woman is by the boulder with her child. Can’t tell the baby is a girl or a boy.

Also see some small white birds on branches. Hear a woman comment they are more beautiful than the in the outside world. Asking where is this place. The answer is it is Taohuayuan, the Peach Blossom Spring. That is the Chinese version of paradise on earth. Sort of like Elderado, but not gold everywhere on the ground.

I am walking in the river with bare feet. It is not easy to walk on bare feet.

You go first. I will go get my shoes.

Whereupon I wake up from the imagination.

I think I will go ask that person the last time. if he is still unwilling, guess he has too many material things he can’t part with, I think I shall be going.

I do not know whether it is simply a recollection of my childhood experience, whether it is because I am unhappy here. I did often go to the river when I was small. My guess is the river now has completely dried up. We had a flood once when I was small. It rained continually for at least a week. After that, no more floods. Never.

Dawn blossoms plucked now, at dusk? I am not that old, am I? A little bit too early to claim that.

That person thinks he is living in paradise. So he might chose to isolate me, shut me up in a room, metaphorically speaking. But I am not happy. The human environment is too cold, as I have told my American lit professor. After he threw me over the wall, I disliked the environment even more.

Of course, I also say I do not like the actual climate that much,  either. Winter is long and cold; Summer is long and humid. Practically no spring, no fall.

But it is relatively safe. No great floods; no deadly tornadoes; no great earthquakes. Many people are kind of sleepy.

Whenever I say I want to go, I receive severe punishment. I was either grounded or locked up, not literally of course. But the effect is the same.

One never knows what life is without comparison. I did not exactly like my childhood experience because of the villagers’ attitude. But I was free to do whatever I wanted. No grounded, no locked up. And the place was safe. Villagers often left their door unlocked. In fact,  not after I was fairly grown up did the idea of locking your door occur.

If I think people were cold then, those around me right now are like ice from the moon, both distant and cold. Once you touch, you are going to die. Everyone lives terribly separated and scared to death with each other. And many keep stealing whatever I happen to have. Everything is gauged with money, even your heart, your soul, and all those unquantifiable things. Math is the king that controls everybody’s life. American-style math.

Quantity is everything. Quality means nothing.

The Chinese-style math is different. Or perhaps I should say my style. For me, quality takes precedence over quantity. Now that is the key to understanding lots of decisions made here.

I seem like an anomaly.

Here is a traditional Chinese cultural joke. It is so old that were it a man, he will no longer have any teeth left.

A little monk went downhill to fetch water with his old master. It was his first trip  downhill from the monastery at the top of the hill.

Monasteries in China are usually located in far away, remote mountains so that monks would devote themselves to chanting sutras.

The trip is very dangerous, the old master told the little monk.

Along the bank of the river, they saw a beautiful woman washing clothes, sort of like doing your laundry in today’s context.

What is that? The little monk asked his master. The little monk has never seen a woman before.

It is a tiger. Tigers eat humans. The old master answered.

After they came back from their water-fetching trip. The old master asked, “Well, what do you like best for our trip today?”

“I like the tiger the most. The tiger is most interesting!” The little monk answered.

Questions to consider:

Why did the old Master reply that women are tigers? What kind of experience had he possibly had that made him reply that way?

Why did the little monk reply that the tiger is most interesting?

In light of this story, how do you interpret a woman’s statement that a man is a tiger?

How do you understand male-female relationship?

Men always like women; women always like men, except certain groups of people who make deliberate choices otherwise. Kind of fatal attraction.

But personally I do not appreciate that story that much. When I use the tiger metaphorically, I want to use its status within the jungle. I do not want to rob any one of his status or humanity. I like to use metaphors a lot, though that linguistic habit has landed me in deep waters before. To say something bluntly does not taste that well.

Lu Xun, however, once wrote an argumentative prose. He told a story. The Chinese culture has lots of outlandish stories, which we call Chuanqi stories.

This story is called Story of the White Snake. A good-hearted scholar named Xu Xian once rescued two snakes, one white, one blue. The two snakes later changed into spirits. They resumed human form and returned to repay his rescuing them. The White Snake became Xu’s wife, and the blue snake is her maid.

When human beings interact with such spirits, they will experience changes. Some can see the differences in the man. Many others can’t.

There was an old Monk called Fahai. Remember monks practice celibacy in order to concentrate on their Buddhist concentration.

It happened Fahai is an old accomplished monk. He possessed uncanny power.

He devised a plan for Xu Xian to trap Lady White Snake. Xu Xian is good-hearted but kind of dumb. (I wonder whether all good-hearted people are kind of dumb. I hope not.) So he does not know what Fahai has up his sleeve.

By that time, Lady White Snake has already give birth to a son for Xu Xian.

But She is no match for Fahai in terms of power. In order to subdue Lady White Snake, Fahai used magic powers and flooded a wide region. But he trapped Lady White Snake and suppressed her under a monk’s alms bowl, and put the bowl under a huge mountain.

Later, the Jade Emperor in heaven heard of the story. He was very angry that Fahai flooded a wide area for the mere seek of displaying his power over Lady White Snake, who has bothered nobody and was simply repaying the debt she owed to a human who rescued her. Many humans died because of Fahai’s flood.

The Jade Emperor in turn ordered Fahai be captured and held responsible for countless human death. Fahai became so scared that he finally hid himself in shell of a crab. His spirit won’t be able to come out of the crab’s shell until all kinds of crabs die out on earth. Since that does not seem possible, so Fahai would always hide in the crabs.

Lu Xun comments that usually he likes to find fault with what the Jade Emperor does. But for this alone, he rather applauds the Jade Emperor’s decision to punishing Fahai. Xu Xian and Lady White Snake are living a happy life. They do not infringe on anybody’s happiness or rights. Why should Fahai jump in and meddle in other people’s affairs? He should stay in his remote study chanting his sutras. He must be very jealous, Lu Xun says.

Later on Lady White Snake’s son came out the first in Imperial Examination across the entire empire. He came back and rescued his mother.

Personally, nowadays I think Lu Xun is celebrating the freedom to live a happy life like Xu Xian and Lady White Snake had. He is rather against Fahai’s abuse of his power in the name of helping Xu Xian, for Xu Xian’s life was miserable after Fahai’s meddling. He lost his family, his wife, and his son. Lady White Snake was suppressed under a huge mountain.

Notice also how slippery the roles are. Fahai changed into a monster from a self-styled rescuer. Lady White Snake originally might be doing Xu Xian some harm. But as the story develops, she symbolizes what is oppressed and suppressed: freedom and happiness and love.

This story also spread to Japan. It has a similar story and had lived in the national psyche deeply. I believe a Chinese graduate student wrote about this for her Master’s thesis.

Snakes in this context do not carry the connotation of sin in Christian teachings, nor the human will to disobey.

Lu Xun is most against the twisted cultural mandate of suppressing women.

According to Lu Xun’s argument, who I choose to love does not concern anybody but me. It is nobody’s business except the one concerned.

By extension, if that person thinks others, not me, are better choices. Then it is only a business between him and other parties. It is none of my business.

At least one has the freedom to choose whom to love and whom not to.

***

My fingers ache for typing too much.

Cioux says when the big wolf no longer wants to eat the little red riding hood, that is when love, the impossible, happens.

Nobody knows for sure. So every writer keeps on talking. As long as human beings are still alive, we will keep talking about it.

He thinks Fahai totally deserves his punishment. Fahai should have thought that the tower he built to suppress Lady White Snake will surely one day collapse.

Fahai, however, can never come out of his shell. Serves him right! Lu Xun declares.

The Right Road Lays Wide Open

To borrow a caption under an online photo from a British Artist named Alex.

Let me write this as if it is a dreamscape.

It is absurd one man wants to control his divorced wife with party machinery. Here it is in America. The woman is free in choosing which man she likes, loves, and eventually which man she wants.

When you are young, you do not experience enough of life to know lots of things. You have nobody to watch over you, to sound an alarm when things do not look that right for your growth.

In fact, if possible, I want to propose that all young men and young women wait till after they have reached 30 before they make the choice whom to love, what career path to choose, and perhaps also where to live.

I know one couple who knew each other since their kindergarten days. Such cases are rare, though. How do you know this is the girl you are going to marry, and this is the boy you will be married to, when you both grow up? But miracles happen. So wish them happiness, as always.

But as a young woman, you chose the man you think will hold up. You had reservations, then, but somehow they were brushed aside. Situations change. Life changes, fast and rapid.

Another piece of advice for younger women: if the men they like have had a very smooth life, or have always been taken care of by others, it won’t be a bad idea to put their men through some adverse situations. I do not mean to deliberately make life difficult, but some situations will always present through which the men will show their true colors. If they come out well, good. If they cave in easily, perhaps the women need to think twice.

Similarly, men also do the same.

Everybody wants to make sure they are giving their heart to the right person.

So you make other choices.

Life is not that easy, for each and every person teaming on this crowded earth. Maybe for men, too, but especially for women.

You decide to love someone else. Actually this matter ultimately was not decided by you. You could not help it even if you wanted to.

Isn’t he another part of me? He resembles me in many ways.

Love always grows on similarities. Some say love always contains some self love. But that is not narcissism. A man or a woman who does not respect himself or herself can hardly love another with respect.

You want to give yourself some freedom; then you also remember to give another some freedom. If one says I have 100 precent freedom while you have zero because I as a man control you, my woman, or my wife, in my hands, this is hardly a recipe for happiness.

Not in this age. Not anymore.

One side has widely and deeply used today’s advanced information technology to keep me under the rein. A wide net of party and country machinery was mobilized. Some are not above using the crime of treason to incriminate me. Political frame-ups. A wide network of mean-spirited, or jealous functionaries. All kinds of personages, far and wide, spanning even across the boundaries of ethnic cultures. A tight net was woven around me.

Oh, well, lots of people are also actively plotting to swindle money out of me. In their wild imagination, I am already loaded with gold. The length they went to. Remarkable! Marvelous!

The other side also used technology, mostly to prevent me from telling the truth. The real reason, I am not sure, though.

But of course I know what it is. I just do not understand why thick clouds have to be conjured up over my head.

You are being mistreated. You are being tested. They can say anything. If one reason does not sound that well, switch to another.

I had a wide open road lay before me.

After three years, is the road still mine?

I was thought to be too constricting initially. I do not always seek to find fault with other people or their work. My only belief is do my best under the given circumstances. My principle is as long as I have done my best, no one can fault with me even though my achievement does not meet their sometimes impossible standards. In many life situations, however, I have also found so long as I do my best, the results come out pretty decent.

I am not someone who always likes to point out what others haven’t done well. If I go and talk with a student, I always start with what they have done well, then proceed to suggest what they might want to improve. Some students even find this a little bit hard to accept.

An old saying says: It is always easier to criticize others than do something yourself. And by extension, it is always easier said than done.

I have found many people have become experts in criticizing me, as if this is the only profession they have, and the only job they occupy themselves with.

Such single-mindedness is appalling!

To understand a culture, one always needs to respect it first. Without respect, no genuine understanding can be reached. No genuine understanding, no genuine communication.

The delicate question is: People from different cultures show respect differently.

Usually the young is asked to defer to the senior, the more experienced. But when the question of truth is concerned, truth must take precedence. Or to put it anther way, if one is able, one needs to tell the truth in a way acceptable to  the other. In many situations, many are told,  ”You cannot handle the truth.”

You are not me, how could you possibly know I could not handle the truth? I may suspect someone maybe unwilling in taking up a certain course of action. But  I have never attempted to tell anybody, “You cannot handle the truth!” or “You cannot do that!”

All my life, I have been doing nothing but proving people wrong when they asserted that I could not go to college; that I could not get into an English program for my Master’s study, or I could not finish a degree by myself; or I could not love a person I chose; or I could not find a job I want.

I am sick and tired of them all!

The fact that many of them can’t do something does not mean somebody else can’t do that. In fact, if 99 people out of 100 cannot do something, that does not mean the last person on the batch cannot do it either.

Why beat someone to death with a single strike?

Of course, life is very complex. It seldom is what meets the eyes only.

What I did not like about this originally is I did not like to be known too much.

A woman never tells a man directly from the very beginning that she loves him. It is almost an instinctual reaction. Unconsciously she wants to protect herself from being hurt.

I find a man does the same. A man does not want to get hurt, either.

Therefore, a woman shall never say yes unless the case has been proven. So is the man.

Society, of course, operates differently. Men often are more aggressive. If men occupy higher positions, they have power and other factors at their disposal.

Once in a while, however, a woman acts differently.

But all this is very unexpected. More originally, I had thought I was coming for the study, and I would leave after the study was over.

The other thing I did not like about this was I really do not like to be always alone. When I find a new husband, I will stipulate that first he does not willingly share himself with many other women, and second he has to stay by my side, not championing all the women all the time, and third he does not steal from me to enrich other women; and fourth he does not abuse. He will be kicked out upon violation of any one of the above. In return, I apply the same rules to myself. He can kick me out if he establishes the case that I have violated any of the rules above, and he has proven the violation is true, not some faked gimmicks of some famous lady-of-the-night.

Now this is fair and square.

The emotional and intellectual toll is too heavy.

But one never knows what life has to offer. I guess I will have to take it day by day.

I am still too tired. So many things need to be done, but I just cannot summon enough strength to finish them. I am willing and sometimes quite ambitious, but I suspect I do not have enough strength left to accomplish them all.

It is wise to take only the amount of task one can handle and still remain healthy. I am never a great fan of workaholics. I am very limited.

Only once in my life I bit off more task that I could possibly chew. That is my dissertation. After that, I will never be that foolish again. Even though the project is destined to fulfill my life duty, that is, to glorify God and to help other human beings, I must appeal to God this creation of His is very limited. Please do not put an impossible task on my back, if HE wants me to continue to Glorify HIM.

That is what is meant by the Chinese sentence: 心有余，而力不足. I think so.

On the sideline, let me say a few words on how to interpret different languages and how to navigate the complex situations when two (or three) languages seem to mean the same but actually mean vastly different, sometimes contradictory, meanings underneath.

As I have said, the Chinese sentence 心有余，而力不足 means you want to accomplish something, but you find you do not have enough strength, enough capabilities, or enough determination. It simply means you fall short of what is demanded of you.

In translation, that Chinese sentence is often rendered as “The heart is willing, but the flesh is weak” in English.

However, we find vast differences exist between this Chinese sentence and the English sentence.

The English sentence primarily refers to people’s weakness in resisting the temptation of the flesh, or to put it more clearly, weakness in resisting sexual temptations.

In the English sentence, “the heart is willing,” might refer to everybody’s ethical understanding that succumbing to sexual temptations is not right. The heart knows it is not a right thing to do. “But the flesh is weak” refers to the fact that the speaker is considering submitting to the temptation, has already fallen to the temptation, or has been falling to temptations repeatedly.

English is my second language. So far, I do not know whether the English sentence “The heart is willing, but the flesh is weak” have other meanings or not.

The huge mismatch between these two languages, and by extension, any other two languages, make me extremely careful when using them.

I have been doing Chinese-English and English-Chinese editing and translation solely for eight years. I have done an excellent job at it. Trust me when I say I know what I am talking about.

After that eight-year editing experience, I have been using English as if it were my first language for almost seven and half years in the United States. I have written a 450-page dissertation in the language, talking about literature, history, cultural legacy, philosophy, aesthetics, and intellectual changes in modern America and modern China. And I know it is a very good dissertation, too. I think in English and I live in English.

But there still exists an unspeakable barrier between me and the English language. In other words, no matter how well I use the language in the academic context, it will never ever be my first language.

There are so many puns, cultural connotations, everyday slangs, historical humors, curse words, and so much more that a user like me won’t be able to pick up.

There is one category that I know very little: sexual slangs or innuendoes. I know very little about that category  in Chinese; I know very little about that in English. When I know what one slang refers to, I often dislike the manner and context it was said.

I will give one example. One day a woman whose major is, as far as I know, not English, mentioned the word peanut. The way she said it told me it was meant to be a sexual slang.

But if someone only mentions peanut, I will never associate it with sex. The same is true with “peanut butter.” Not in a million years will I be able to associate “peanut butter” with sex, even when the speaker added an explicit explanation she is not having sex because she does not have peanut butter with her.

I do not even like the actual peanut butter. It does not appeal to me in color or taste.

I know there are many who are interested in language set their mind on learning all the sexual slangs and curse words whenever they embark on a new journey of language learning.

The Chinese writer Wang Xiaobo, a free thinker and a man who is brutally honest with himself and with others, said in one of his essays that he always learned all the curse words and phrases before he went to a new place because he did not want others to have the upper hand against him. He might mean the place is a new country (he had studied in America); he might also mean a new place in China because Chinese dialects differ from each each vastly. For instance, I mainly lived around Beijing and Shandong when back in China. I absolutely did not understand Shanghai dialect when the taxi driver spoke that on one of my trips to that city. I remembered he even asked me whether I could understand him (he was arguing with someone) after he switched to Putonghua, the standard Chinese used on TV.

The same is true with Cantonese. It sounds like a completely new language. The dialect even has new words that Putonghua does not use.

In one dialect, a shoe (xie2zi in pinyin) sounds like a child (hai2zi in pinyin). There is a joke one woman lost one of her shoes when running, so she cried, “wo3de xie2zi, wo3de xie2zi.” (my shoe, my shoe!). A man heard her and ran to help. But he was from another region. He mistook her to mean “wo3de hai2zi, wo3de hai2zi” (my child, my child!” He was trying to rescue a child. But it turned out he was only helping her finding her high-heel.

On account of all those above, I never take language as a mere garment that one can put on and take off at will. To know a language well, to me, is to know it deep down, learning about its profound history, the history of the culture the language is used, very often the philosophical and aesthetical spirit that give the language its spirit, its core and foundation.

By extension, when I meet people who like to boast how many languages they know–they know five languages–English, Chinese, Latin, Spanish, German, French, Portuguese, Japanese, Italian, Greek, and Hebrew, an endless list (pick five at will)–I often smile inwardly and let them off the hook easily. I would admire them really deeply if they can use three languages really well, knowing all the complex cultural, historical, and philosophical structures behind each and everyone of the languages. All others are just for showing off.

When two languages come from very different cultural and philosophical traditions, such as the English and the Chinese, one often treads very carefully. I think I have fully demonstrated the case with two short sentences.

By the way, the first Chinese premier Zhou Enlai, who was considered very smart and talented and determined, knew four languages. He studied in France. A consummate diplomat, Zhou served the leader Mao Zedong all his life. In the language department, Mao did not know one foreign language. Mao knew the Chinese language along its backbone. Most of Zhou’s and Mao’s contemporaries had studied outside of China. Mao was an exception. It was also a huge misconception to think Chinese leaders are narrow-minded.

However, Lu Xun has pointed out that the common Chinese people have one spiritual disease. That has resulted from their long tradition of not being treated as full and capable human beings by the emperor and his rulers. The crippled spirit is what Lu Xun has been trying to cure by instilling life and strength into the deficient spirit all his life.

Any ruler who wants to cripple all his subjects and lock them up in his grand garden, according to Lu Xun, have to be rebelled against. Lu Xun would argue the ruler is not protecting his subjects. Lu Xun says the ruler is killing them off slowly.

It turns out Lu Xun believes that God has made every human being in God’s image. There is absolutely no reason for one to feel lower than another human being. If the latter comes in and demands total subservience, Lu Xun would tell the latter to get lost.

Strange thing is: Wang Anyi is telling the same message.

Do these two writers knock your glasses off your noses, and send you staggering?

Are they being heard?

All rights reserved. Xianfeng Mou, October 12, 2009.

I integrate three realities, or more accurately three desires, into my initial decision.

First, I know what it is spiritually. Secondly, I also knew the actual reality in life situations, the everyday reality. Thirdly, my desire of not letting people know. My intention was to hide the truth.

All three elements were combined together and I gave the answer.

Besides that, I have no other desires or intentions whatsoever.

**************

There is one important clarification that I feel I have to make. My experience of one kind of love is not directly linked to my decision to file for that divorce. The former played a significant role, but not 100 percent. I was dissatisfied with that man even before the experience. By extension, I did not have the desire to force the second into marriage. I have never had the desire, nor have I acted to harm his career, or his reputation (whatever that is), or his family.

It is not that it is “absolutely impossible,” as some  women had claimed, which prompted them to rush forward to claim one shot, or a few shots at the man.

It is possible, only when he thinks it is possible. I did not think he is willing to give up what he already has for “the possibility.” My wildest guess is even if he wants, he may not have the gut.

Plus, there is always the possibility that I may disagree. No one shall consider I am the fish in their basket yet.

Plus I was told clearly that other women were favored because they are “well-connected.”

I continue to observe. Later developments have more than adequately confirmed my initial hunch. A good word: Never underestimate a woman’s hunch. But of course I rely on more than hunch.

Please do not get me wrong. I know what it is. But I must determine what it is and how much it occupies in his life. It would be more accurate to say I was liked, and maybe a lot. And I also need to know for what reason I was liked.

I am fairly good at detective work. I pay attention to things both large and small.

It has turned out that his reasons completely differ from my reasons, or standards.

One set of standards is the woman must be physically beautiful and 100 percent willing to have physical love whenever the male side feels it. Let’s call it 100 percent physical, and the female is 100 percent passive.

My set of standards is both sides must be 100 percent spiritual and physical; and one side cannot force the other if the other is not ready.  The male cannot force the female; neither can the female force the male.

One side cannot use power in every aspect to force the other side. And to use back-breaking workload, or pulling all kinds of strings, to achieve the purpose, reduces me to a much degraded position. Even if I am willing in the first place, those strategies have forced me to the unwilling position. As a result, I rebel.

When I give willingly, that is one thing. When something is extorted from me, that is completely different.

There is a time for things. To force it when it is not ready is to pry open an oyster with the tiny pearl. The oyster will die and the pearl won’t be valuable if the oyster was pried open prematurely.

That is an apt simile. Now when I look back at it. Sometimes love is to turn something painful into something beautiful.

To test is not to punish, much less to persecute.

Does it have to be this way? Nobody knows the answer.

**************

I had strange visions sometimes.

Last night, there was a TV program on lobster harvesting. At the end of the show, the hero was talking to a big lobster he and the crew had trapped in Maine. Lobsters from Maine are prized at 30.00 dollars a pound in Californian restaurants. That lobster is around 8 to 9 pounds, so it is about 270.00 dollars.

The hero, the host, was funny. A big stainless steel pot was boiling. The sun was setting. You can guess the lobster’s fate.

The host is talking to the lobster, something like “Well, big boy, I am bigger, I am stronger, and I am hungrier.” The implication? Hence I am going to eat you.

Then strangely I saw two lobsters in my dream. But they are still alive. They can still move their claws.

********

This connection with lobsters made me remember a woman’s words. She told me she likes to eat lobsters.

Who does not like lobsters? Unless you are allergic to them.

But then you have to give something in return for being treated to a lobster dinner. One lobster is worth 270.00 dollars, and in this downturn market and economy. If the economy is in its better days, the price for prized Maine lobsters are much higher.

Now everybody  can guess what that young woman has to give for that dinner, for she has nothing else. I saw a dead flower falling down in my dream.

Another woman likes lobsters so much she literally jumped into a lobster tank, metaphorically speaking of course. I saw her drying up like a mummy. Her spirit has been killed.

I become scared. I hope lobster deities would not come after me. I do not want to eat them.

I once participated in a lobster dinner. I was not solely responsible for the fate of that lobster.

It was at least ten years ago. We as a group translated a book on tourism for the Tourism Agency. We did not get any pay for our translation. It was regarded as a task from the country. The book would be used as free gifts when state leaders travel to other countries. If I remember correctly, the book was printed on imported, high-quality color paper, but it did not have its ISBN.

And it was a rush job. Everybody worked day and night, and the translation was high quality, too.

As a gesture of recognition, the officials from the Tourism Agency treated the entire group to a lobster dinner in an up-scale restaurant nearby. About 8-10 people participated in the dinner. I do not know whether I remember correctly. It was a formal dinner.

That lobster came from Australia, I think I was told. It was prepared in three ways: one way was to eat it raw, with horseradish, like it is sashimi; the second was to fry its tail; the third way might have something to do with its claws. And it was enough to go around for everyone.

That dinner was very expensive. It might be the most expensive dinner I have ever attended.

The dinner we had with the governor of Fujian was exceptional, too. I acted as the interpreter to the group of foreign experts on their business trip to Fujian province. I forgot how many courses there were. The foreign experts were regarded as guests of the government, so the dinners were superb.

Each one was served with his or her individual share. You did not even need to bother to open your own crab. The handsome waiter did that for you.

Hence I do not take a 15.00 dollar lobster, or a 200.oo dollar lobster dinner into my eyes. Please do not get me wrong. I guess I like lobsters, but I do not want to die for lobsters.

Between the life of a lobster and my life, I prefer both to live.

That might be the reason why devout Buddhists are vegetarian. Plants are also life forms, but at least they do not move.

Do plants have their spirits, too? Maybe.

***************

One of my professors during my Master’s days once told the class a story. It was about a Taiwan couple.

The couple was from Taiwan. They had lived in the United States for many years. Now they wanted to find a nice place to retire.

They searched and searched. America has been so sufficiently urbanized that everywhere you go, it is basically the same. And the culture is too materialistic for an old couple craving some quietude and warmth.

They went back to Taiwan and decided it was not their choice, either. America is at least big enough.

Maybe the Chinese Mainland still has some beautiful place left. And its economy is not that capitalistic. Maybe some human touch can still be found. So the old couple went searching in China.

Around 1993, I had the strange feeling that the entire culture had turned upside down–its entire value systems.

The result? The old couple discovered that those on the mainland were very eager to embrace what America and Taiwan have embraced. The desire appears more eager and urgent. A contemporary novel is titled Flag of Desire 欲望的旗帜. Very apt for the era.

They decided to continue to live in America for their retirement years.

I often compare today’s China with the 1920s America. The age of frenzied primitive accumulation. The Golden Age, followed by the Great Depression. History as an eternal return. We are reliving the cycle, right now.

In 1922, Willa Cather, the female writer, noted that the character of the entire American culture changed. It probably meant the entire value system of the American culture changed.

For China, it was 1993, one year after Deng Xiaoping’s southern visit to Shenzhen, the first special economic zone, and his policy is to get rich is glorious. It is also important to let a small number of people get rich first. Some people in China regard Shenzhen as China’s cultural desert.

Many interpret the cultural spirit to mean, to get rich, by any means, is glorious. Just do not get eaten, when you are in the pond.

****************

Wang Anyi also tells that in today’s world, there are many ironclad rules hidden beneath the surface.

She is never the one to fight against certain cultural phenomena.

Her task is to describe it. Many times she does not have answers, as in My Uncle’s Story, I Love Bill, Song of Everlasting Sorrow, and The Enlightenment Age.

I pretty much agree with her. There are facts and rules in life.  I never seek to change them. Very often I choose to live within them. I modify a little bit if I can.

Many people have mistakenly regarded me as an unstable element which tended to rock the boat. Some even regarded me as rebellious. These perceptions are wrong.

I did rock the boat, but that was when the boat was in danger of sinking. Were it not for my rescuing effort, who knows what the present situation would look like? It might be total mayhem.

Therefore, I conclude I should be richly rewarded for rescuing the ship. In comparison, those who dug holes on the hull of the ship, who formerly were mistakenly rewarded, should spit out their unjust rewards. Since that sounds impossible, a balance has to be achieved on my side.

If someone tells me, “I am the captain, not you. You do not have the right to decide whether the ship is in danger of sinking or not. Mind your own business.”

Then there is nothing more to be said. I hold my peace, and rest my case.

I must find a greener pasture, or a more luxuriant tree. I am often starved here.

From the  John Carpenter, the director of Halloween, and a lot of the same cast and crew, The Fog Is a decent ghost story worth watching. The town of Antonio Bay is celebrating it’s anniversary by honoring its original founders, but it seems that there is some controversy about how the town was founded when Father Malone discovers a diary of his grandfather, one of the founding fathers of the town. Strange things start happening in Antonio Bay as the anniversary nears.

The film has a good cast. Just as Donald Pleasance (Dracula) was the heavyweight anchor in Halloween, Hal Holbrook (Midway, Into the Wild) does a great job of adding instant credibility to the film and acts as a story teller as he reveals the diary that he has found. By  far the best performance in the movie. Also following their Halloween appearances is Jamie Lee Curtis (True Lies, A Fish Called Wanda) and Nancy Loomis (Assault on Precinct 13).  Adrienne Barbeau (Swamp Thing) has a similar role as Hal Holbrook, as he is revealing history, she reveals what is happening in the town with the fog from her vantage point of the local radio station that is run out of a converted lighthouse. Look for cameos from John Houseman, Janet Leigh (Psycho) and director John Carpenter himself.

To me, this film borrows a lot from Halloween, not only with some of the same actors, but in direction and music as well. It is maybe a touch more violent than Halloween, but like Halloween, far from a slasher film by any means. This film still works for me, and actually has a good ghost story behind everything. This is one of my favorites to watch during Halloween season, just a simple, good, creepy movie!

Qual o critério para afirmarmos que um filme envelheceu bem ou mal? O que fa zum filme envelhecer assim ou assado?

Pensei nisso ontem depois de rever o primeiro Duro de Matar e perceber que, meu, eu gosto mais desse filme hoje do que gostava há dez anos ou então há um ano quando revi pela última vez.

É um filme com uma sensibilidade muito marcada dos anos 80, com questões bem socio-culturais estadounidense que apareciam com frequência nos filmes policiais da época, como a rixa entre os federais e os policiais locais, o burocrata contra o trabalhador das ruas, os jornalistas loucos por uma história impactante (e apenas isso) e uma sociedade que começava a assistir a expansão do terrorismo.

Mas vi agora uma forte auto-ironia com o gênero, muitas tiradas que fazem graça da própria identidade dos filmes de macho, dos policiais durões. Todo mundo é meio babaca, menos o herói e o vilão, dá pra fazer graça de tudo que rodeia esse universo. Não é a paródia de True Lies, nem o absurdo kitsch de Mandando Bala, mas faria uma boa sessão com os dois.

Aí volta a questão: o filme tinha isso lá ou minha sensibilidade para com o filme – e o mundo – é que mudou?

Não cheguei a conclusões, mas é uma pergunta que todos deveriam fazer antes de dizer que um filme envelheceu bem ou mal, antes de julgar um filme antigo a partir da comparação entre as sensações que ele te causa em tempos – e às vezes lugares, situações – diferentes. Não sei se é isso que um filme tem que fazer para perdurar.

Sei que Duro de Matar é um baita filme. Toda vez que o vejo me divirto e ainda atento para novas coisas, penso em outras tantas – como agora.  E não é isso que um filme deveria fazer, independente de origem, cor, credo, faixa etária, extrato social ou partido político?

]]> http://watchcloudsrising2.wordpress.com/2009/09/28/is-a-purple-horse-noble-enough-good-enough/ Mon, 28 Sep 2009 00:15:14 +0000 watchcloudsrising http://watchcloudsrising2.wordpress.com/2009/09/28/is-a-purple-horse-noble-enough-good-enough/

I am having a headache, but I finished eight students’ papers, anyway.

When reading one student’s paper, I also read an article in the textbook titled “The Black Avenger.”

Titles of many articles, books, novels are often very deceptive. The authors like to play tricks on their readers’ expectations.

The Black Avenger does not give the dangerous message that blacks, who had been shorten changed in American history, should seek revenge by demanding special treatment, or more monetary or policy preferential treatment.

Instead, the author has gone one step deeper to expose that the “Myth of the Hobbled Black” plunges many blacks automatically into an inferior position, even to the point of accepting failures as a normal state of being.

The author rose from rags to respectable social success, by hosting his own talk show, if not exactly riches in the usual sense.

He made a penetrating point.

Suppose you as a minority indeed have suffered from having your feet cut off, but it is precisely because of that that you have to go forward, even if you had to crawl. Learn to grow new feet.

One has to be able to stand on one’s own feet.

I have had my feet cut off. Most probably someone has also clipped my wings. I can’t say that is completely due to racism. Many other factors are playing.

If I stop, I will die. That’s for sure.