Sweet Little Sixteen?

A brat never looked so good -- Picture courtesy of A.A. Productions Ltd

by blogSpotter
TCM showed Stanley Kubrick’s Lolita (1962) last night -- a very black, splendid comedy about 20 years ahead of its time. Based on Nabokov’s novel, the movie tells the tawdry tale of Professor Humbert Humbert, a 50-something college professor rooming with a ditzy widow woman and her flirtatious beautiful teen daughter, Dolores (aka Lolita). He falls in lust (and even later into love) with the gum-chewing, hula hooping teen temptress. I’m not going to replay the whole plot line -- by all means rent this fantastic movie and wrap yourself up in the weird sequence of events.

There is so much to love in this movie, where to begin. Some misguided souls may see it as a drama or tragedy but it's very much the opposite -- it’s a smoldering, black comedy. The wordplay and names have double entendres that would shock and amuse David Lynch:

Cherry pie -- (Charlotte Haze bakes prize pastries, or is this what Humbert refers to?)
Camp Climax -- Where the bratty Dolores must go -- and why a camp with such a name?
Clare Quilty -- His strange last name is only one letter removed from “Guilty”
Charlotte Haze -- The ditsy 40-something has a last name that sums up her state of mind
Humbert Humbert -- A first & last name which may reflect upon the duality of Quilty and Humbert

The movie evokes Alfred Hitchcock in places. The road trip in the ‘58 Ford station wagon might call to mind Janet Leigh's character in Psycho, running from her embezzling crime, conscience in tow. The stark black and white photography also brings Psycho’s type of sleazy grittiness to the fore. Another great director who deals heavily in symbolism, irony and dream sequences is David Lynch (of Blue Velvet fame). He might have even gotten his Twin Peaks “cherry pie” pun from Lolita.

Here are a couple of interesting side notes about the movie. Pedophilia was such a forbidden topic that the novel was first published by a pornographer in France. In America, Lolita had to be advanced 4 years in age, from 12 to 16, so that the public wouldn’t be appalled (too much) by what it saw on screen. Sue Lyon played Lolita well and might even come across more as an 18 or 20 year old. Even so, the movie barely squeaked by the Hollywood ratings board and the Catholic Morals Council adamantly rejected the movie.

BlogSpotter has his own bizarre take on the movie. The Clare Quilty character played by Peter Sellers is portrayed as both a romantic rival and tormentor of Humbert. His character is most improbable -- throughout the movie he dogs Humbert and impersonates a state policeman, a German Psychiatrist and an uncle of Dolores. He shows up at strange but convenient moments when Humbert is feeling especially stressed and guilty. I think an argument could be made that Quilty isn’t even a real person -- he is in fact the guilty alter-ego of Humbert. The movie ends in suicide, not homicide. Discuss! OK, even the Nabokov screenplay has Humbert serving time for a homicide in a final note -- even he puts a literal take on his weird character(s). Movies like Fight Club and Sixth Sense have used “imagined” characters in years since Lolita was made; it might work in a rendition of this movie.

All said, the movie is excellent. I’m in a quandary as to whether I should ever erase it from my DVR, it’s that good. Please rent a copy of Lolita and see how far Kubrick had already advanced the state of cinema by 1962.

© 2009 blogSpotter

Time to Get Tough?

Where's the change? -- Picture courtesy Wikipedia

by blogSpotter
In today's paper, Richard Cohen has an op-ed piece, "The President Seems Lost". The article talks about two gathering debacles in Obamas first term -- the health care overhaul and the Afghan war. Neither one of these were prominent issues under George W. Bush; of all the many things we want to hang on Dubya, these can’t be included. We were only shin, not neck deep in Afghanistan when Obama came to office.

In analyzing the problem, Cohen describes Obama’s style as a deliberate coolness, maybe “too cool for school”. Obama wants to be seen as some kind of ultimate, unifying force – always above the fray. The problem is, we have a barroom brawl on our hands (with health care) and a punch may need to be thrown.

If we travel back 8 years to 2001, Bush came in describing himself as a “uniter, not a divider”. Events quickly disabused us of this idea, and Bush himself pretty quickly disposed of it saying, “You’re either with me or against me”. From 2001 on, Bush had a partisan presidency – there was no mincing of words whatever else there might have been. Virtually every turn made was rightward lurch, with no dilly-dallying.

Pundits other than Cohen seem to reaching similar conclusions about Obama. Bill Mahr was a guest on Conan O’Brien last night and must have been reading Cohen’s notes. He said that because Obama seems to emphasize cool style over substantive actions, he risks being at the helm of a failed or disemboweled health initiative. Using words that sound very nearly insane (if taken out of context), Mahr suggested that Obama take a page from Bush and press his own agenda. Be as forceful as necessary.

The thing is, Republicans don’t want health care reform in any fashion. They are happy with the private insurance setup that we have. They would also like to hang a health care failure around Obama’s neck. Blue dog Democrats present a large enough problem, pressing for private co-ops as a half-hearted alternative to a public insurance option. There is no compromise with the GOP and barely a compromise with the blue dogs. What is a highly charismatic, young President to do?

Mr. Cohen says that Obama runs the risk of seeming hollow, stylistic, even light-weight if he lets the tail wag the dog in either health care or the war in Afghanistan. As we speak, the President’s family is enjoying a much-needed vacation in Martha’s Vineyard. When he comes back, Obama needs to reject the role of a glad-handing, Chambers of Commerce cheerleader. He might have to square off with somebody, he might have to be tough. He might even have to be brutally direct. He might just have to be President in every sense of the word.

© 2009 blogSpotter

Socially Relevant Sci-fi

Wikus bullies the "prawns" -- Picture courtesy of Key Creatives

by blogSpotter
District 9 has been done to death in a recent rash of movie magazine reviews. I can toss in my own layperson views, although I don't know that I can approach the insights of Time or Entertainment Weekly. I went to see D9 last weekend at the urging of various geek friends. Geek by the way has expanded in meaning -- it really includes anyone who likes high tech gadgets or sci-fi pop culture. Doesn’t have to be an unfashionable nerd by necessity anymore.

I digress from this interesting sci-fi, socio-commentary that was directed and written by 29 year-old newcomer Neill Blomkamp. D9 is set in contemporary Johannesburg, South Africa. In this story, it seems that an alien space ship has been stalled over the city for some 25 years. The crustacean-like aliens (derisively called “prawns” by humans) have become ill from space toxins and waylaid helplessly. They’re rounded up and held in a detention camp called District 9. Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley), is a human field operative charged with evicting the prawns to a more secure environment called District 10.

Wikus is a likable, blustery, over self-confident man unaware of the dangers involved -- he’s in way over his head. In one home raid, he handles a cylinder full of alien “fluid” and becomes infected. This begins a bizarre process whereby he starts to mutate from human to alien. When his fellow humans see what’s happened, they see him as no longer human -- they want to harvest his organs and use him for ghastly experiments.

At this point, the hunter becomes the hunted and Wikus forms a necessary bond with one of the more in-the-know prawns. It turns out that this prawn was the ship engineer and knows how to restore Wikus to human form -- if Wikus will help him recover the fluid cylinder and reconnect with the hovering mother ship. I will leave the synopsis here to avoid spoiling the ending. The movie is fascinating in the way it turns the mirror on ourselves. The prawns look surprisingly decent and moral; the humans look greedy, manipulative and blood-thirsty by comparison. In some ways, the treatment of the aliens calls to mind the Nazi experiments of Dr. Mengeles.

I hyperbolically told a friend it’s “the best sci-fi movie ever”. Upon reflection, there is probably a roster of movies that could contend for that title. But District 9 is certainly in the running. Note -- for a “low-budget” 30 million dollar movie, there are spectacular special effects. And this low-budget sleeper already surprised the honchos of the entertainment industry by bringing in $37,000,000 its first weekend. Not bad for a first foray by the extremely young director, Mr. Blomkamp.

© 2009 blogSpotter

The Disturbing Democracy Index

Where are we free to be? -- Picture courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter
I hear you asking, "What is the Democracy Index?" Well, probably not. But I'll tell you anyway -- the Democracy Index (DI) is an index of political freedom, assessed by country for every country in the world. The conservative British magazine, The Economist does this assessment once every year using 60 questions across 5 categories (pluralism, civil liberties, participation, culture and government functioning). Independent scholars employed by The Economist offer expert opinion but objective survey results are also used in answering the questions.

If you look at the map above, you’ll see there are 4 classifications indicated by color (this will also test you for color blindness :-)):

Light blue / Medium blue -- Full democracy
Canyon blue -- Flawed democracy
Royal blue -- Hybrid regime
Cobalt blue / Black -- Authoritarian regime

It’s a bit jarring to see that 50% of the world (by population %) toils under some type of regime. You might be surprised to see the USA languishing at #18 and United Kingdom (home to this survey) at #21. Russia and China, two great powers of the world show as a hybrid and an authoritarian regime respectively. The DI has been criticized for neglecting popular opinion of citizens; another factor that appears missing from the DI formula is standard of living. Thus it might be very possible that citizens of Saudi Arabia, China and Vietnam live under generous tyrannies that give them comfortable livings.

If you look at the map, there are ample (albeit politically incorrect) conclusions to draw. The authoritarian regimes are depicted with dark colors, which roughly correspond to the ethnicities of the people in those countries. As an advocate of Church-State separation, I can’t help but notice that the regimes are dominated by authoritarian, intolerant religions (like Islam) or indigenous religions that promote things like female circumcision. The countries with the greatest democracy attributes seem to be Scandinavia and the British Commonwealth (but not Britain itself). The USA has a history of racial strife (Jim Crow laws up until 1965) and anti-immigrant movements so our #18 is probably deserved.

Other things are note-worthy. Democracy apparently cannot be dispensed like aspirin at a vending machine. Liberia in Africa was founded as a nation for freed slaves, using much of our Bill of Rights and legal precedents. No matter -- it still is a hybrid regime at #98. Democracy is something that needs to be absorbed, sponge-like by an educated and appreciative populace. Other analogies spring to mind…Democracy is a delicate, beautiful instrument which must be tuned and maintained by a caring populace. It doesn’t maintain itself.

What is the future prospect for the authoritarian regimes shown above? Should we be cynical and say that some people don’t mind being told how to live, don’t wish to hassled with things like town council meetings and voter registration? More likely, the voice of freedom hasn’t reached everywhere it needs to be heard. We ourselves are marveling over our 1st black President and a Latina Supreme Court justice. Religious and sexual preconceptions generally come bundled with political packaging. When Afghanistan decides that women can go to school, when Saudi Arabia decides that Christians can worship openly in Mecca, things will move however glacially toward a free and freedom-loving world.

© 2009 blogSpotter

Waltham Adventure

Waltham on the Charles River -- Picture courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter
I don't usually do trip reports as blogs, but am running so far behind on things it'll have to suffice. This has been my summer of extreme events and unusual business. As all the dust settles, I should be back to my sedentary, sit-behind-a-computer lifestyle and catch up on things.

Ab Initio Training in Boston 8/4 thru 8/7 -- Mini-trip report

I attended the 4-day Basic Training for Ab initio (data warehouse ETL software) in Waltham, MA. Waltham is a suburb @ 13 miles NW of Boston. It has affluent homes, office parks, hotels to the north and a blue collar neighborhood to the South. The south part also has Waltham's downtown which has a very lively avenue called Moody Street. Moody Street has a lot of hustle and bustle -- ethnic restaurants, Indian grocers, used book stores and Tapas bars. It reminds me a bit of 6th Street in Austin.

Ab Initio HDQ

The facility looks like it was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright -- ultramodern, built into a wooded hillside. The grounds look like a botanical garden. The facility is fairly small -- looks like they only have parking for @ 300 employees. (SWA has 2000 at HDQ alone). My class only had 3 (!) students and I was the only external student. The other two were Kim from documentation and Nancy from testing. Felt a lot of pressure on me to pay close attention and ask intelligent questions, being essentially the "student guest of honor". I held up my end of that bargain, except after lunch when it's normal for me to have a sleepiness attack.

Ab Initio provides gourmet-quality snacks throughout the day, and gourmet lunches at lunch time. The dining room is about as big as one of our conference rooms -- no more than 30 people can be seated at once. The dining room overlooks the gorgeous outdoor hill view.

The class was pretty much a boot camp -- giddyap time. The instructor was a no-nonsense 40-something guy who vaguely (to me) resembled Phil Silvers. If you don't know who Phil Silvers is, it's a testament to your youthfulness. Anyhow he covered every damn chapter in the book, we did every damn exercise and he kept us a few minutes late most days. Whatever happened to the slow, gentle approach?

Hotel and Car

I rented a bright red Ford Fusion from Enterprise -- it rode very smooth and had a V6 engine which gave it lots of power. These cars are in high demand right now in the "Cash for Clunkers" program -- I can see why. Manchester NH Airport is only 45 minutes away from Boston. The airport is small and no-hassle; the ride is scenic and beautiful. I'm not sure but what Manchester isn't a better way to go even after SWA opens Logan next week.

I stayed at the Waltham Extended Stay. The room was like a small efficiency apartment with a kitchenette. It was nicely decorated and overlooked the pool. My only kvetch was with the girl at the front desk ignoring my phone calls -- maybe she had a needs-to-talk-to-a-friend emergency. (That's what she was doing when I came down in person, when the calls were ignored). After I got my coffee maker (missing at first) and settled into my room, all was forgiven and it was a really nice stay.

BOSTON

I'm very happy to say I had a good, touristy visit of Boston 5 years ago. This visit, I drove to downtown one night during the week. Parking and traffic are a nightmare even in non-rush hour. Also I was tired from a day of boot camp training anyway -- so the Boston tourism didn't really happen on this trip.

In general, it was a great trip -- I enjoyed seeing Waltham, Manchester and the surrounding area. The temperature topped out at 82 degrees, so I know I wasn't missing the Dallas weather. All things considered, it was a great experience and a little bit of an adventure for an old-timer like me.

POST SCRIPT

Forgot to mention -- I used the Nuvi extensively, it saved the day. (See previous blog, below). I fear that GPS navigators may have the same effect as pocket calculators. I quit doing even simple arithmetic in my head once I had a device that would do it for me. I noticed in Boston that I was ignoring landmarks, failing to remember street names and basically letting Nuvi take over. If I could've given it the steering wheel I probably would've. There were a few glitchy things due to the odd layout of some old Boston 'hoods but overall Nuvi worked like a champion.
© 2009 blogSpotter

Nuvi Newbie

Nuvi is groovy -- Picture courtesy of Garmin

by blogSpotter
OK, at one blog entry a week, I’m still running a little behind. I dealt with family issues last month; this month I’ve been wrestling with a job transition and a bathroom remodel. I guess that God thought my life was too boring so He gave me seven things to deal with at once. I hope to be catching up before too long.

NUVI

Gadget nut that I am, you might be amazed that I’ve gone this far without buying a GPS navigation device. I could drive a cab in Dallas, I know the streets so well. Usually when I’m in another city I’m with friends who’ve already mapped out the metro and planned the whole itinerary. Thus, why spend $300 for a trinket I’ll use only once? Well circumstances have changed…

I have to go to Lexington, MA this week for a class. It’s a suburb 13 miles west of Boston and I’ll be in a rental car. It’s a golden opportunity for me to get completely lost. Shopping at Sam’s this weekend, I saw where a NUVI 250 could be had for only $115 (plus tax). Okay, here is the chance for me to play with a new toy. I bought one -- had it mounted in my car and working within 30 minutes.

Now here is what I have to say about Mr. Nuvi. Overall, it’s really a great convenience and it will help in Boston. But I have a few quibbles and observations. I wouldn’t be a proper nitpick if I didn’t…

Red Sea Routes -- When you try to turn left onto a busy avenue in rush hour traffic, I call it a “Red Sea” turn. You need traffic to stop for you in both directions in order to pull out. Not likely without lots of Christian traffic charity. It’s like parting the Red Sea. Nuvi must think I’m Moses, because the test Dallas routes I entered had me turning left onto busy streets -- where there is no traffic light. Nuvi, I want controlled intersections, especially for left turns.

Crummy roads -- On my test Dallas route, Nuvi had me going on two-lane streets (Mockingbird) and other streets that for me are sub-optimal. I’m fairly picky about the quality of roads I take and Nuvi seems to be ignorant of things like pot holes, bad ‘hoods, one lane roads and such. You can build in “via” stops and that becomes pretty essential to avoid going where you don’t want to go.

Voice in the car -- A couple of times I completely forgot I was using Nuvi. On a long segment, it goes silent. Then the woman’s generic sounding voice suddenly says, “Turn right in 200 feet”. I nearly had a heart attack and wrecked my car the 1st couple of times this happened. Who the hell has stowed away in my car?? At some point, especially when you’ve opted to go a different way than Nuvi suggests, the woman’s voice will keep “recomputing…”. At that point you just want to say, “Beyotch, shut up!” They need to add that feature.

Another feature (I swear someone said it’s available) is to specify a voice (maybe Rodney Dangerfield or Jerry Seinfeld) to make humorous remarks, especially if you miss a turn. At the very least, Nuvi could call you a boob or a knucklehead. The nasty asides might wake you up and make you pay close attention…

CONCLUSION

This is a truly cool device -- think it could be a life saver in a strange city. Even if it gives you a bum suggestion on a particular street or turn, it puts you in the neighborhood and you can turn it all around if you know basically where you are. As a Nuvi newbie I can tell I have a lot to learn -- what are the extras, what maps are available? I may have more to report after next week, when I’ve received my Boston education.

© 2009 blogSpotter