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| I notice a lot of movies about families and familial relations. In the 90s, the message was that any mix of adults and children was cool; the nuclear family dead. Now I wonder whether people are re-considering this.
Le Premier Jour du Reste de ta Vie (2008 in French, with subtitles)
Beautiful, sad, realistic, heart-breaking. Acting is superb. It's about a family (parents, 3 kids, grandfather) going through happy and tragic events that have lasting impact and are not resolved until even greater tragedies occur that draw out their love for each other. It's a present-day family, so I can identify with the father; the kids have some characteristics in common with my kids. But it is a completely non-religious family, so there is no spiritual dimension, making it even more pathetic (the real sense of the word, i.e. pathos-filled) for a Christian to watch.
Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
Weird, dysfunctional family; most members seem to intensely dislike each other. Satire of modern (American) values, many of which we as Christians also despise. Movie is at once hilarious, disgusting and depressing.
Bruce Almighty (2003)
Not what I thought. A very enjoyable movie. Theologically deep. But of course there's Carrey and he's amazingly funny.
Milo 55160 (Canadian short, 2004)
Cute, but theologically stupid. | | |
| People have asked me how I find stuff, since to the untrained eye, my workspaces look messy. I have a technique and it is very simple. If I have a hard time finding something, then when I finally do find it, I put it back NOT in the place I found it, but in the place I first looked for it. | | |
| I was fed up and sent the following feedback to www.greypower.com:
I commute 45 minutes each way each week day. I've done this for 30 years. I have NEVER, not once observed a woman driver behave even approximately as portrayed in your TV commercial. You would be well-advised to re-think your commercials. As they are, they detract from your credibility. | | |
| I don't watch a lot of movies, but when I fly I can't sleep. So here are the ones I saw on the recent trip.
"Swing Vote" (2008):or could have been called "Dances with stupidity": Kevin Costner stars as a drunkard whose single vote will determine the next president. The review here says most of what I want to say except for one other thing. Large parts are given to his 12-year-old daughter who tries to get him to understand the issues and the importance of the vote, but he does not seem to catch on. Costner plays the part of a guy whose IQ must be in the 50s. Generalizing, it is another one of these tiresome movies where the only smart people are women and children. All the men are either stupid or manipulatively malicious.
"Chocolat" (2000): Hands up, everyone who loved this sensuous film, so I can identify those who are not actually Christian, or perhaps are immature in their Christianity. In this film, all the non-Christians are good and compassionate, loving their neighbours and doing what they can to make their lives better. The less they have to do with the church, the more loving they are. Conversely, the pious people are harsh, unloving, and hypocritical. Everything that is fun or feels good is portrayed as being frowned on by the Church. The author of the novel on which this movie is based says (on her website): "in Chocolat it is love, and not faith, which ultimately holds the key to salvation". I run across enough people who believe this Big Lie in real life; watching a movie where it is the central theme made me want to puke. I watched about 1/3 of it and could not watch any more. I read the rest of the synopsis on review sites. For a review go here. Read all the readers' reviews too and you'll see a disturbing pattern: older than 50 and it is "offensive", younger and it is "excellent".
Happy-Go-Lucky (2008): A really good movie with very realistic characters. I found it enthralling. Here is a review that agrees with me entirely.
WALL·E (2008): I'm a Pixar fan since "A Bug's Life", and this one does not disappoint. The animation is just incredible. The story is funny. What more would you want? | | |
| Law of redundant toilet paper rolls:
If there is freedom to choose among many rolls, then the number needed to ensure there is sufficient supply, is infinite.
The toilet stall near my office used to have two side-by-side rolls. Often the janitor could not add a new one without throwing out a roll that is still 25% full. So a third dispenser was added. You can guess what happens; often there are 3 almost-empty rolls and sometimes even a fourth loose roll also almost empty.
Like milk cartons, one should always use the emptiest. Then there will always be some in reserve. | | |
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