Movie Review: Argo

A highly fictionalized account of the Canadian Caper, pulled off to get six diplomats out of Tehran in early 1980, is a hoot to watch.  While deadly serious, there's ample subtle humor to keep things from getting leaden.  OK, they did play up the '70s greasy polyester look a bit, but past that... pretty damn good.  It's a nearly flawless script that puts out the emotional impact, the tension, the goofiness of the film industry, all without ever letting any of these topics take over.  

This movie really has no flaws.  While it never inspires or anything, it was throughly entertaining to watch and did (sort of) present a little slice of history.  I'll give it 3.5 stars.

Broken Right Clavicle: MTB Implicated

... and I was just thinking this morning "wow, in just a couple of weeks, it'll be 20 years since I bought my first mountain bike."  Guess it was only a matter of time.  At least I was flying fast when it happened.

Meh, it'll heal, and I've got a big stack of books in from Amazon.  Washed & waxed the car yesterday.  Could be a lot worse.  Did discover the downside of a stick shift on the way to the ER though.

Twenty Five Years Ago Today

The Berlin wall was opened up 25 years ago today.  Here, take a couple of minutes and read up on that concrete affront to humanity over at Wikipedia.  Pretty bad.  Then take a minute to read about the East German border guard, Harald Jäger, who in effect said "the Party's over" and opened the gates.  Pretty good!

FREEDOM!!!

Sure, the pic's from 1961, but it's still apt today.

What were you doing on this day in 1989?  I was busy winding down from a three-month experiment, and winding up for six months of data analysis.  What will you do with your freedom today?  What will you do today to preserve freedom's future?

Movie Review: Interstellar

This is a very good movie, and I have to give it to Christopher Nolan for thinking big.  I liked many of the underlying themes that added depth and dimension (heh) to this world approximately fifty years in the future.  Having said all of that, I prefer my sci-fi a bit harder, though in all fairness this was probably about as hard as a movie could be while retaining commercial viability.  (If you're not familiar with the terms "hard" and "soft" science fiction, here's a Wikipedia thumbnail description.)

It's hard to write much more about this movie without re-hashing what other reviewers have said, or inadvertently letting a spoiler fly.  Let me just give my rating: 3.25 out of 4 stars, and refer you to reviews by James Berardinelli and Flickfilospher.

Overall, this was not what I was expecting, but that's good when a story has some additional twists.  Not really a question of "exceeded" or "did not meet" expectation, more of it took some batshit turns that I just didn't see coming.  I'll have to see it again at least once.  Definitely a spectacle not to be missed.

----
ps: Here's a spoiler-riffic wade through this movie's missteps over at Up Ship.  Again, that review is all about the spoilers, and the technical problems therein.  Yep, too much 2001 and not enough reality.

I don't usually use Fandango...

...but when I do, it's for a chance to win a trip into space.

Details at http://www.space.com/27616-interstellar-movie-xcor-spaceflight-contest.html

It's a movie I'm definitely going to see anyway, so why not get a ticket – and a chance at a capital-T Ticket – through these guys?  Expect a review over the weekend.

Joe Strummer's London Calling Redux

Here's a follow-up to the original post on Joe Strummer's BBC World Service shortwave show.

Er, that was the original, here's a link to an interesting article on Joe's old show including links to much higher-quality sound files, now including all episodes!  Enjoy!

Return of the Fourth Ward Cleaver

Right here!

Welcome back, Ellis and crew.  We've missed you, glad you could make it back onto the web.