I continue to be under the misguided notion that I am capable of pulling out decent pieces of work the morning they are due. If it were ever true, it certainly isn’t anymore.
So I’m going to sit here writing this blog, wondering how it is I always manage to overestimate my own ability and then I might fabricate my results… again, just so I can write about them in a way that is satisfying.
Have fun.
The other night, Apple released their brand new iMac computer — replacing the previous model which looked like a little dome with a screen sticking out of it.
This model is just one big screen, with the computer completely enclosed. At first, I was kind of non-committal, but by midday today I was head-over-heels in love with it. A slot-loading dvd-r/cd-rw drive on the side of your screen — how cool is that? For about $300 cheaper than the lowest model G5 Macintosh, I can get myself a brand new 20 inch LCD screen and an extra 80 gigabyte hard drive.
Alright, so I have to sacrifice one pesky processor. As if they’re any use. But I think I might have to get this baby. Er, when I’ve got money. My time will come.
When it does, I’ll have a large, tower-shaped gap in my computer desk, though. Please make suggestions as to what to fill it with now, so that I’m sure by the time my iMac arrives.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that the final season of a long running dramatic series cannot do a comedy episode for it’s third last episode. Apparently. Personally, I’ve always enjoyed Angel‘s ability to switch genres at the drop of a hat, and let’s face it — things hadn’t really been very funny recently. I needed something to cheer me up.
And so, we switch from the previous episode’s hints of Angel suddenly acting a bit callous and nasty, to a fun filled romp where Spike and Angel travel to Italy to save Buffy from … the Immortal. One of the vampiric pair’s most hated foes once upon a time, we had never seen the Immortal before in either series — and we still haven’t. Nor, in fact do we see Buffy. Your mileage on whether this is funny may vary. I like a bit of mixing between the fiction and reality[ftn], so I enjoyed it.
The danger of a story where two characters are trying to find someone and never do is that it makes them look like complete fools. Angel and Spike don’t quite come out of this unscathed — but there is the handy excuse that when it comes to Buffy, they don’t think straight, which is pretty well established. Still, even Angelus and … Spike aren’t quite acting at their most sharp in the flashbacks. Some people will have issues with dumbing down characters to do a comedy. I personally don’t, as long as the jokes are up to scratch. And for the most part, they are.
The interplay between Spike and Angel that has gently helped every episode this year now comes to the fore, and is always good. The fight in the bar, their discussions in the plane, and one moment in particular that must be one of the ten most funny Angel moments ever. As well as some great, silly flashbacks. There are a few misses too, however. The Italian demons are alright I suppose, but not particularly amusing. The head of Wolfram & Hart in Italy is amusing at first but then keeps on talking for ages without a sign of a joke. Her huge cleavage feels like setup to a gag — but nothing ever comes out of it, aside from vaguely flustered looks from the vampires.
This episode does contain a repeat visit from Andrew, one-time evil genius of Sunnydale. Though Andrew was one of the only bright spots for me in the unbearable pain that was Buffy‘s seventh season, it would have been nice to see a more integral character. Personally, I always wanted to see Angel and Xander meet up again. But since the plot really only needs someone who tells them that Buffy isn’t home and to come back later, it’s not particularly important. Though Andrew going out for dinner with two beautiful women while professing how important it is to change concerns me.[ftn]
Of course, the best part of this episode has nothing to do with the leads, and everything to do with Wesley and Illyria. Amy Acker stuns as she switches between good ol’ texas twang Fred and the deep-voiced former omnipotent goddess. Alexis Denisof is given even more to work with as the broken, pained ex-Watcher. These two are even better to watch than Wesley and Lilah were. Clearly, Wes is more suited to evil women.
And so we have an episode that is funny, but with some dodginess, that probably should have been transmitted one or two episodes back. But comedy has always been a big part of Angel and I’m glad we got one more in before the end.
It’s hardly a revelation that in the prioritising of tasks, homework is invariably on the bottom of the ladder. Faced with an essay, you find yourself strangely compelled to clean things, or perhaps catalog your book collection in Excel.[ftn]
The point has perhaps been overstated because everyone knows this. The reason I’m excited is because I’ve finally found a task that makes me want to do school work.
They are called Grapefruit articles. It’s amazing. I think “I really should write my Peter Pan review” and 10 minutes later I’m writing my practical report. It really is quite amazing.
In other news, I saw a 3 hour absurdist play on Friday called Rhinoceros – in which people turn into Rhinoceroses – because Sam told some girl he would see it. I had laughed a few times until we got up to the painfully long fourth scene where I started to feel like I was watching the end of RotK all over again.
Never mind.
Oooh! Oooh! A Farscape: Peacekeeper Wars trailer is up at apple.com!
And looking darned cool, as well.
Time to get out of here. Ah ha! Just what I need; a room full of Warthogs. Now which one shall I take? They all look the same. Eeney meeny miney mo … What, Cortana? Only 5 minutes to escape. Then I’d better take this one.
Full speed ahead. Oh my god I think I just hit someone! A brown someone. It’s alright; he’s getting up again. And shooting me. How dare you. I’ll run you over again. Right where was I? Oh yes this explosion escape thing.
BRRRMMM. Woah, who designed this room? There’s all kind of ramps and jumps going on. Left and right and left, Done. That wasn’t so hard. Oh wait, there’s another room just as tricky.
BRRRMMM. Wheee! What a jump … uh-oh I’m going to land on my head. ARRRGGGHHH!!!! Oh, I made it, phew. Better flip this Warthog over and jump back in and keep going.
OH NO MY WARTHOG IS BROKEN. IT WON’T MOVE. I’M GOING TO DIE. AAAAAARGGGHHHH! Ah wait, um, I’m in the passenger seat. Hope no one saw that embarrassing mistake.
Driver’s seat this time. BRRRMMM, this room looks like the first one. It’s empty though, everyone must have left. A couple of minutes have passed so I must be getting close. A dead end! No wait there’s a door to the right. Huh, another room full of Warthogs with the exact same number of burning Warthogs in it. CRAP! I’m back where I started. I must have got turned around when I crashed. Not to worry, I still have two and a half minutes left, not a moment to lose. Oooh, a medipack. I’ll just grab that. Now I’d better get going. No time to lose.
BRRRMMM, back through these rooms again. Twisty corridors; the suspension on this Warthog is going to be ruined.
20 seconds left: This had better be it. Sweet, it’s the pick-up point and with 10 seconds to spare. How’s that for timing. Now where’s Echo 419? Let’s get out of here.
This doesn’t look good. Echo 419 is being chased by two Banshees but I think it’s going to make it. Going, going, exploded. BUGGER! That’s it we’re boned.
Cortana reckons there’s a ship 1.4 km from here and with 5 seconds left, I hope this buggy can do 1000 km/h. Here we go. I’ll just press the warp speed button.
FOUR There’s no warp speed button. AARRRGGHH!
THREE Okay. Don’t panic. Any bright ideas Cortana?
TWO You know Cortana you’re hot. What’s a nice AI doing in a place like this? What are you doing this weekend?
ONE Oh, the countdown. Don’t worry about that baby. Most problems will go away if you ignore them. Look, the timer’s almost disappeared.
ZERO Told you nothing bad would happe ….
So, there I am, wandering back to work after trying out James’ favourite Subway sub, and oops! — there’s JB Hi-Fi’s DVD superstore. Better go in then. Better check out the TV DVDs, and make sure that the Babylon 5 box-sets aren’t disappearing any time soon. They’re $55 for an entire season currently, and I don’t want them to disappear. Ideally, I want them to go down in price again, though $55 is pretty cheap.
There’s a pile as tall as me of the damn things though, so I think I’m safe waiting for the moment. Besides, what did I spy but Joss Whedon’s 14-episode long sci-fi series, Firefly. The novelty of purchasing TV episodes that I hadn’t seen was too much to resist.
$60 later, I’ve got me a lovely little 4-disc box set, crammed full with commentaries and other goodies. I’ll have to review the buggers I guess.
Yes, I know, you’re all a bit bored of grapefruit redesigns, they happen every other week. But still, here’s another one for your enjoyment. I’ve stolen the previous ones, in the interest of being able to add new things to grapefruit and not have to theme them three times. Hopefully this design will stick around for a while and become more polished.
The weblogs will get the same sweetness soon.
In other news — there are 6 stale cinnamon buns in the kitchen which I don’t particularly want to eat; The Journal of Alexia has reached it’s thrilling yet melancholy conclusion; Self-esteem is for everybody; and for some reason the 17th episode in Alias‘ first season was a clip show. How do you get away with a clip show so early on, and why bother at number 17?
Enquiring minds want to know.
I’m putting this article in the books section rather than the film section of the website, although I’ll be mentioning both sorts of thing today. Why? Because the site just isn’t sophisticated enough to deal with dual categories. I’m sorry, but it’s true. And there are so many more film reviews than book reviews. And so, I shall discuss The Quiet American, both in book and film form, here.
Whenever you see a film based on a book you’ve read, it’s a disappointment. Whenever you make a sweeping statement about entertainment, it’s an unconvincing generalisation, but that’s not about to stop me now. Coming at it in reverse order is rarer in my experience, probably because so many dodgy adaptations are made that they don’t really sell the book. So I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that having seen the excellent film The Quiet American, I found not only that the book was good, but that the film had distilled it beautifully.
I’m all against spoilers, so I’ll just give you a brief idea. Back in the fifties, Vietnam is a world issue, but not yet for the Americans. Thomas Fowler, an aging British news correspondant in the troubled country, has himself a cushy job and a beautiful young mistress. Priding himself on not being politically “involved”, he’s supremely content until he meets a young American man — Alden Pyle. Their peculiar relationship runs through a tumultuous time in the vulnerable country’s history, and ultimately Fowler finds himself making a choice that he never thought he would.
The novel, written by Graham Green, deals mostly with the politics of Vietnam, trapped between old colonialism and the American dream — which might seem a worthy, but dry topic. And yet, through the strong anthropomorphism of these ideas in Fowler and Pyle, it makes the subject emotive and powerful. Green tells the story in two alternating timelines — a technique I always enjoy, but it’s especially effective here, given that the story centres around one important moment. As you read about the characters dealing with the lead-up and aftermath of one night’s events, the tension slowly builds.
Well, it probably does if you haven’t seen the film first. The real gem of the book for me was not the structure however, but the characters — especially Thomas Fowler. Reading this book made me realise what comfy books I normally read — ones where the lead character either says what he thinks, or if he must lie, the reader is told that he’s doing it. Green quite rightly makes no concession for people who take what someone says at face value, and the reader’s opinion of Fowler will inevitably change a few times during the novel as a result.
The final key element of the novel is Vietnam. The book is centred on the viewpoints of both Fowler and Pyle, so one doesn’t necessarily get a native or objective view of the country. With Fowler as narrator though, his immense love — or perhaps desire — for the land shines brightly. Of course, when it comes to adaptation, this is perhaps the easiest part of the book to bring across. The film shows a beautiful, yet earthy Vietnam — but doesn’t hold back when covering the less savoury elements of the story.
With poor casting, Fowler might have sunk the film — but luckily the part calls for an old man. As Michael Caine points out in the commentary, he would never have taken such a role as a young career-minded actor, because of the character’s ambiguity and culpability. As an older man however, an actor no longer cares about how well a film suits his “image”, and is free to embrace nastier elements of human nature. Caine plays the part with all the emotional intensity and stubborn selfishness that it requires. More surprising however is Brendan Fraser’s performance.
Seen only through Fowler’s often disapproving eyes in the book, it’s nonetheless made clear that Pyle’s major fault is his innocence. To present such a peculiar flaw is a difficult job, but with wide-eyed intensity and nervous charm, Fraser manages easily. Pyle like Fowler is a surprisingly real and complex character, and is raised above merely being a cipher for American interests in Vietnam in part by the writing, but also by Fraser’s incredible honesty as an actor. Reading the book alone might make it easier to judge Pyle as a complete fool — but Fraser manages to make clear his honest, earnest nature.
In both book and film, Fowler and Pyle are the keystones of the story. Well presented in both media, we have here a rare case of an adaptation translating a story almost perfectly. If you’ve not met either, you should. Due to the intense faithfulness, it’s probably not worth enjoying them both close together — but at some point, they’re both worth experiencing.
I love tax returns. Excitingly, I’m desperately close to not having any credit card debt any more. Just one more pay period… And then I can start gaining interest instead of paying monthly fees!
Some stupid schmo once said this:
“Sadly it’s week 3 and I’m beyond switching.”
Beyond switching perhaps, but not beyond dropping Cybercultures like a … heavy thing. Heh heh. No more stupid 5 hour breaks in my schedule now!
Life’s pretty sweet these days really. Although I haven’t gotten around to many reviews recently for which I apologise. As ever though, there is a new grapefruit design coming up. Don’t look at me like that. I happen to enjoy making designs. Ner.