this ain't livin'

Harry Potter and the Over-Hyped Movie | 22Nov05

And now…my long awaited post on Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, now that I’ve had a chance to see it twice, re-read the book, and mull it over a bit.

It was excellent.

I will not stand for any quibbling. It was superb. The writer and the director did an outstanding job of dealing with 700 pages of material. I came into the moving fully preparing to be deeply disappointed–I read that they had gutted the plot. They did. The plot needed to be gutted in order to make a feature-length film. But the gutting was brilliantly done. The movie had a very English feel, which I feel was due to the director, and it felt more true to the books than the previous three films. The crew found a way to transcend the snarl of plots going on in GoF and pick out the themes, the threads of wisdom within the book, that captivate the readers. The movie was extremely fast paced–you had to focus and pay attention to follow the plot. My primary concern as a fan of the books was that people who hadn’t read them would find the film confusing–as happened with the previous movie. However, several friends of mine (I hesistate to call them friends, really) who have not read the books said they were able to follow the plot and didn’t feel short shrifted by any of the action.

I was a bit disappointed that the house elves got cut, because Rowling makes some excellent statements about racism through them. (And other non/part-human characters, such as Lupin.) I feel that examining the way we treat each other is an important theme in the books, and I was also saddened to see Dumbledore skipping over the “cooperation” part of the tournament and focusing on the glory. Hopefully the theme of kindness and respect for others can be revisited in future films, because I believe it to be valuable.

I was also somewhat concerned that Crouch’s fate was not revealed. For individuals who haven’t read the book, it needs to be made clear that the Demontor’s Kiss was delivered, and that he is therefore rather a non-entity now. Crouch is not going to rise up suddenly in the next film and endanger anyone. He has no soul, and is rotting in Azkaban. I rather hope they mention that in the quick expository bit at the beginning of Phoenix.

It’s always bothered me, as well, that when they fight the dragons, Harry doesn’t just summon the damn egg. “Accio egg!” End of story. Better yet, I would have loved to see someone use the Imperius Curse on their dragon. It would have been interesting.

I was also a bit irked to have Crouch added into the opening scene, but I understand that for viewers who haven’t read the book, Crouch needed to be introduced. They were a bit obvious with the Polyjuice though. Part of the excellence of the book lies in the fact that the reader has NO IDEA that Moody is not the real Moody. Whatsoever. Rowling really kept that cat firmly in the bag until the end, and I liked it better that way. However, given that the film needed to move quickly without being confusing, it’s a plot change that I am willing to concede was probably wise.

At any rate, this film gives me high hopes for Phoenix, although apparently the same writer will not be working on that script. I hope that Newell sticks with the films, though. I am bitter, however, that Phoenix is not projected to release until 2007. I want to see it next year, not the year after next, damnit! Besides we’re all waiting on tenterhooks for book seven, we need something to distract us.

I know that there have been some complaints about this film, from book fans and movie goers alike. However, it seems like the news has been, overall, positive. I cannot stress enough that it is not realistic for fans to expect the entire book to be compressed into a 2 1/2 hour movie. It takes much longer than that to read it, after all. Fans might also want to keep in mind that Rowling works closely with the film crews, and she doesn’t strike me as the kind of woman who would be afraid to speak out if she was bothered by anything in the films. She is nothing if not precise and organized, and her influence in the films shows.

Oh. And. Hermione=woah.

[Harry Potter]

A few thoughts on going to the pharmacy | 21Nov05

1. It is extremely awkward, when picking up a prescription for birth control, to be served by a hot pharmacist. Who has no sense of humour.

2. Were you aware that Wahl, the American clipper giant (”where the world goes to look good”) has trademarked the phrase “rugged stubble”? Because they have. When I went to the pharmacy to pick up my birth control from the hot pharmacist, it hadn’t been prepared yet. (An aside—why is it that it takes an hour to prepare a prescription which requires putting a label on a box? That’s it. I mean, ok, maybe you have to open a case of boxes. To label. But, I mean, there was no formulation involved. No delicate mixing of substances. Just. A label. On. A Box.) At any rate, I found myself ambling around the aisles waiting for the hot pharmacist to prepare my prescription. And I found myself in the personal care aisle, staring blankly at clippers. And, lo and behold, I found a clipper with a “rugged stubble” guide, for “maintaining the few days old look.” I had always wondered how hipsters maintained that look—now I know.

3. It really depresses me that there is not an independently owned pharmacy within 50 miles of me, and that I am therefore forced to give my business to chains. Which allow their pharmacists in more conservative parts of the country to DENY BIRTH CONTROL to ADULT WOMEN with prescriptions for it. Because they don’t want to KILL BABIES. But it’s totally ok to dispense antibiotics. Which KILL ORGANISMS.

[birth control]
[pharmacy]

VSAC | 17Nov05

Reason #5,682 I love VSAC:

They called to wish me happy birthday.

…unlike those assholes at the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan program.

[VSAC]

My addiction to iFilm. | 16Nov05

So, I recently got high-speed internet. Contrary to the expectations of my friends, this doesn’t actually mean that I now download porn all the time. Only about 70% of the time. When I’m not downloading porn, I’m often on iFilm.

I. Love. IFilm.

I just saw a clip from Murderball, which is a movie I wanted to see already.
I also saw previews for Wake Up Screaming, which looks totally awesome, and The Chumscrubber, which I thought was going to be about something else from the name. But it also looks amazing. So now that’s three movies that I’m excited about.

Murderball is about paraplegic rugby. Well, it might be just “wheelchair” rugby, but most of the participants are paras. It looks totally fucking great. I love people in wheelchairs who take life seriously, who are activists, who are out there kicking some ass. And these guys look seriously brutal. I don’t think I would want to run into any of them in a dark alley.

Wake Up Screaming is a documentary about a Peta activist on the Warped Tour. It covers some of my favourite topics–vegans, veganism, rock stars, hot weather, and general insanity. It looks like they’re not finished editing it yet, judging from the lack of release date, but I can’t wait.

The Chumscrubber also covers some favourite topics of mine–teenagers, drug abuse, epic struggles with morality, and so forth. It’s got drug dealing, suicide, theft, the works. It also looks totally amazing, in that Thirteen kind of way, where you will see it and walk out of the movie theatre a changed person. I think that the film makers have a rich plethora of social issues to pick apart in the movie–housing developments, the dangers of ignoring your children, drug abuse among the middle class, so forth. I’m excited.

I also really like the music video section on iFilm. There’s a song out by a major artist whom I have a lot of respect for that I am totally captivated by. Bonus points if you can figure out who it is.

At any rate, iFilm is awesome. There’s such a plethora of amazing stuff on there. Things I wouldn’t think of myself as being into I’ll watch, simply because they’re on my queue. And it turns me on to not artists, filmographers, etc, whom I also never would have explored on my own.

Yay iFilm!

[iFilm]

Nazi Bob | 15Nov05

“Well, I’d love to show you the property,” she says. “But I should warn you about the neighbor.”
“Ah. Uhm, what sort of neighbor.”
“Well, he calls himself ‘Nazi Bob.’ It’s a bit of a, uh, self taken moniker.”
“Oh.”
A pause.
“Well,” I say, “what else do you have in that range.”

It had never even occurred to me that neighbors might be an issue. But of course, they are. Neighbors, indeed, can make or break a house. And I’m glad the realtor spared me two hours of driving to look at a house I wouldn’t purchase, not for 10 dollars, if my neighbor’s name is Nazi Bob.

[surreal estate]

Poverty in a small town | 14Nov05

The setting:
Work. An amber glow from the overhead tiffany lampshade bathes a hand turned wooden counter. A fire crackles merrily and the scent of essential oils fills the air. Outside, a water pump can be heard turning on. The last light of the sunset faintly fills the air with its rich orange magic.

The cast:
In the rocker next to the fire sits M, the new massage therapist. I am skulking behind the counter doing the books.

The conversation:

Me: Yeah, I’ve been looking at this place out in Comptche. It’s a biodome on 44 acres, off the grid, really nice place. Looks wonderful. I’m going out to look at it later in the week with the realtor.
M: Oh, I think I heard about that place…how much are they asking?
Me: Around 5, I think.
M: Wow, that’s cheap.

A pregnant pause.

Me: Yeah, it is, it’s a total steal.
M: Isn’t that disgusting, that 5 is cheap?

She’s right. It is disgustingly. Welcome to sky high real estate in Northern California, one of the most beautiful places to live in the world. It’s also one of the most expensive. Perhaps the most galling thing about it is that these oceanfront mansions with eight baths and six bedrooms on a half lot, these expansive modern houses with miles of plate glass, these ritzy neighborhoods–where real estate cannot be had for love or money (or less than one million dollars)–the most galling thing is that these properties are occupied a few months out of the year. While locals struggle to survive, tourists and out of towners gobble up everything that enters the market. Because of the artificially created economy, most of us work in low paying jobs serving the tourist industry we loathe.

A conversation I had with a customer earlier this week went along these lines:

Him: So, the massage is fifty five dollars, right?
Me: Oh, are you local? You gave me a 510 number.
Him: Well, we have a house up here.
Me: Oh, well, you see, the local discount is for people who live here.
Him: But I do live here.
Me: No, you don’t. You own a vacation home. Which you only visit a few weekends out of the year, but which you probably paid a mint for. Because of people like you, hard working men and women just like me cannot realistically afford to ever own property. Fucker.

Sometimes I long for my own republic.

[Fort Bragg]
[poverty]
[yuppies suck]

Subjective Death | 10Nov05

“56 people died in the bombings, including at least one American.”

I find it dismaying that news services continue to pander to the idea that American lives are somehow worth more than others. Especially coming from a news source often considered “leftist,” it was peculiar that the journalist emphasized “at least one American” death. Surely it shouldn’t matter if the dead were Jordanian or Iraqi, Christian or Muslim–the tragedy is that deaths occurred in the first place. It would be refreshing to hear a news report stating that “at least 34 people died, including 17 men,” or “there were 27 deaths, at least four of which were Palestinian.”

The cult of death is a curious one.

[death]

A few thoughts on the props | 09Nov05

Sounds like Ahnold’s big failure day. After all that fuss over a special election, one of the most expensive in California history, all the props failed. I’m sad 79 didn’t pass and ambivalent about 80–I am stoked that everything else failed, although concerned that it was by a narrow margin. I think that the governer lost a lot of potential votes from moderates who were displeased by the waste of money and time on this election, and they voted against his props reflexively. In many senses, the election was a costly waste–but I help the guvernator learned his lesson.

It concerns me that 61% of the state voted against prop 79, and 58% against 78. It’s clear that a lot of voters don’t bother to educate themselves–anyone who read the material for those props would have believed that 79 was the better measure, I believe. 78 clearly had a great deal of weak points, and wouldn’t have covered as wide a range of Californians. It also concerns me that 61% of the state’s voters apparently doesn’t care that there are a lot of Californians without health insurance and/or access to affordable prescription drugs. Which, you know, keep them, like, alive. And stuff. And make them valuable contributors to the work force and society. But one of the pleasures of living in a profoundly capitalist world is knowing that you aren’t valued as an individual unless you make a lot of money and line the right pockets with it. It’s good to know that small children with leukemia, old people, middle aged veterinarians with cancer, and other such members of our society can continue to rot without treatment, ultimately costing the state (and society) more than if we had helped them buy the drugs they needed, when they needed them. It’s curious to me that this country has such a big fear of “socialized” medicine, to the point that voters have a knee-jerk reaction to any kind of reform of the health care industry.

It also troubles me that almost 50% (well, 47.4%) of our voters apparently think it’s vitally important to prevent minor girls from having anonymous, safe access to abortion services. The Chronicle’s article about prop 73 was very telling–the journalist mentioned that in states with notification laws, abortion rates decline. Well that’s a pretty obvious statistic. In state with notification laws, safe, legal abortions decline because women don’t have access to them (perhaps they are estranged from their parents, or wards of the state), because women are afraid (of confronting family members with different values than their own), and because those states tend to foster a “baby killer” attitude toward women who choose to terminate their pregnancies.

Abortion is a difficult political issue–perhaps one of the most difficult. The fundamental crux of the problem is a disagreement about when “life” begins, and at what point an organism which has a parasitic relationship with its host should be considered an independant entity. Yet, abortion is not an “agree to disagree” issue. I have a fundamental problem with someone else exerting control over my body, whether it be a politician, partner, or fetus. It’s curious that one of the strongholds of the anti-abortion movement can be found in a group of people whom, politically, tend to feel very strongly against state control over their lives. Curious that they apparently have no problem with enslaving women for nine months to satisfy their moral needs.

The thing is, I have several friends who are profoundly against abortion. I don’t have a problem with that. Truth be told, I am against abortion, as a general rule, as well. I think most people are–in general, people who choose to abort usually reflect very carefully before making the ultimate decision. However, I also believe in the right to choose. And luckily my pro-fetus friends also believe in the right to choose. All of us hold personal moral convictions about which we may feel very strongly–but that doesn’t mean that others should hold them as well, or that we should pass laws to enforce them. This is why we don’t have a “mandatory veganism act of 2005.” There are a lot of vegans out there, and there are a lot of meat eaters. The two communities manage to coexist well enough, and even to engage in thoughtful debate sometimes. Perhaps one of the reasons that both get along so well is that there is little legal investment in the murder animals/don’t murder animals, murder plants debate. The supreme court is not arguing about whether or not meat should be banned. And, alas, more people are not engaging in profound reflection before picking up a pound of chicken breasts at the supermarket. But maybe they should.

There are also consequences to unwanted children which the right seems to be unwilling to address. During pregnancy, a mother has a lot of influence over the developing person inside her–she can choose to drink, take drugs, eat harmful foods, and be exposed to teratogenic chemicals. Or she can choose to avoid these hazards. In addition, I am a big believer in the idea that external environment does affect foetal development. Is the mother happy she’s pregnant? Listening to good music? Eating good, healthy food? Looking forward with joy to the birth? Or is she miserable that she’s pregnant, working three jobs, and eating poorly as a consequence? Which of these zygotes is more likely to develop into a happy human being?

On the extrauterine front, unwanted children usually enter the foster care system, which is a travesty. The Humane Society of the United States makes more of an effort to care for abandoned animals than Social Services does for unwanted children. A large part of the failure has to do with funding–why does the right insist that all women should be forced to have children while cutting social programs which help children access schools, healthcare, and well balanced, happy families? Even Mother Theresa agrees–if you wish to pass a law forcing women to complete their pregnancies, you need to back that law up with a commitment to social programs for those unwanted children. ALL OF THEM. Not just the cute white ones. The black and latino babies, those born with birth defects and into poor situations–if you care about babies, why stop when they’re born?

Finally–a note about voter turnout–I haven’t been able to gather statistics yet, but what I do see looks dismayingly low. Hey Californians! Where the fuck were you?!

[vote]
[California props]

A few thoughts on voting | 08Nov05

The depressing thing about going to vote is that all the poll workers, and all the other voters, are ancient. There was a palpable silence when I walked into the polls and walked up to the folding tables to sign in. I felt, I imagine, like a lot of women felt shortly after they gained the right to vote–visibly unwanted. It’s curious that by not voting, the youth have contributed to a swell of resentment among older people which manifests when we do appear to take advantage of our civil rights. I can only hope that a larger youth contingent will show up at the polls later in the evening, when the hipsters come out to play.

I also really enjoy it when the poll workers make fun of my name. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside to know that old people have no problem with being as crass and rude as the youth can be. Hope for society still lives!

Assuming anyone actually reads this, and is from California or Ohio, why don’t you tell me about your day at the polls?

[vote]

VOTE! | 07Nov05

Everybody! Please vote! On Tuesday! Tomorrow! Nix the first six!

[vote]