After hearing so many glowing accounts of it, my friends and I rented the Wedding Crasher last night. So lame. So incredibly lame. The first 20 minute montage was funny, and then the movie derails, and becomes tired Frat Pack schtick.
The movie makes one despise men and women alike -- more so because the men and women in the movie are such incredible stereotypes of men and women. Women are either glowing adorable angels, or psychotic. Men are either effete, pathological artists, or uber-competitive shallow pranksters. These stereotypes can be used to great effect when presented in a tongue in cheek or satirical manner. This movie doesn't have that kind of self-awareness. It just has its improbable scenarios and the supposed charisma of the actors to rely on, and that collapses as soon as the premise is introduced and illustrated.
Lastly -- every bride and groom I know pour over the guest lists for their wedding, agonizing about who they're inviting (and not inviting), who to seat where, and how to pay for it all. Two guys suddenly showing up claiming to be distant relatives would be zeroed out and caught so quickly that this movie's premise is incredible to begin with -- NOT CREDIBLE. Not credible in a sci-fi or fantasy movie is one thing. Not credible in a romantic comedy is another. Failure. Don't rent it!
Ugh.
So to redeem my wasted afternoon and convince my eyeballs to trust me enough to guide their use ever again, I put in Angels in America, the 6 part HBO fictional series based on a broadway play documenting the early years of the AIDS epidemic. And redemption it was. The series is so beautiful -- it handles terror and belief with a masterful hand -- its writing is superb -- its subject weighty without being too heavy handed -- and every single actor/actress is absolutely compelling and realer than real. I only watched 4 of the 6 chapters but I was awe-struck with the thoughtfulness and care committed to the topic. There are themes that are noticeable and yet still subtle -- like having one actor play several roles to draw a subtle similarity between the roles -- such as Emma Thompson, who plays a nurse, an angel, and a homeless psychotic (all of the emissaries with weighty messages); or Meryl Streep who plays a Mormon mother, a pedantic Rabbi, and the ghost of Ethyl Rosenberg (all of them strong moral compasses in the movie).
If you can get past some of the vivid physical decay and destruction portrayed by those who have AIDS, you will see such a beautiful series with a powerful message...personally, I have yet to finish it but I already feel 'spoken' to.
In non-indoor news, this weekend we went for a walk in Golden Gate Park -- meandered through the botanical gardens, which were fun and relaxing -- and saw what I believe was a Red-Shouldered Hawk. They're common to forests in Florida and California though uncommon elsewhere, and this one's pine-tree perch and distinctive set of white bands across its tail led me to identify it. I've had a surprising amount of raptor luck since I've moved out here -- could it be the pigeons? (~_i)
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
1 W-2
I received my W-2 for 2005 today. Why is that significant?
Because this marks the first year in 5 years where I only have one -- where I only worked for one organization all year.
In 2004, I worked for 3; in 2003, I worked for 3; in 2002, I worked for 2; in 2001 I worked for 2; in 2000 I worked for 2; 1999 is the last time I worked for 1...
...ahh, 1999. That was a landmark year in job history too. That was the first year where I left my summer job at the bakery when my junior year in college started, but came back to work there over Christmas break (the landmark part being that it was the first time in the history of my summer employment that I bothered to come back!). I loved that job. It was high stress, early mornings, and full of big egos -- egos that it seemed I was captain at soothing and amongst whom it seemed only I could negotiate, short of the owner's edict. It was mayhem and madness and anal retention and hilarity and endless inside jokes that come from being in a confined space together doing something tedious for too long. And I had a crush on two of the people who worked there. It was great.
So this year I'm going to do my taxes like it's 1999, but tonight I'm going to raise a toast to the bakery (terrible pun -- get it?) with a glass of hard-earned wine.
Hoorah!
Because this marks the first year in 5 years where I only have one -- where I only worked for one organization all year.
In 2004, I worked for 3; in 2003, I worked for 3; in 2002, I worked for 2; in 2001 I worked for 2; in 2000 I worked for 2; 1999 is the last time I worked for 1...
...ahh, 1999. That was a landmark year in job history too. That was the first year where I left my summer job at the bakery when my junior year in college started, but came back to work there over Christmas break (the landmark part being that it was the first time in the history of my summer employment that I bothered to come back!). I loved that job. It was high stress, early mornings, and full of big egos -- egos that it seemed I was captain at soothing and amongst whom it seemed only I could negotiate, short of the owner's edict. It was mayhem and madness and anal retention and hilarity and endless inside jokes that come from being in a confined space together doing something tedious for too long. And I had a crush on two of the people who worked there. It was great.
So this year I'm going to do my taxes like it's 1999, but tonight I'm going to raise a toast to the bakery (terrible pun -- get it?) with a glass of hard-earned wine.
Hoorah!
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