M. Night Shyamalan

I talked to a friend recently. Amit is his name. He is of Indian descent and is the sole reason I have "a thing" for Indian men. Indian men--and women, for that matter--when they are attractive, they are gorgeous. Which brings me to Shyamalan...

I've seen two M. Night Shyamalan movies recently. I'm not a big fan, except that he is incredibly attractive and plays parts in all of his movies. Last night I watched Lady in the Water. I also love Paul Giamatti but for completely different reasons so knowing that he was the star, I figured it couldn't be too bad. But it wasn't great. It all seemed to fit together far too neatly...everyone in the apartment complex was drawn to it because of this one fantastical event that would happen--i.e. the not-so-mythical sea woman being pursued by the equally unmythical beasty and needing to get back to the "blue world". At the beginning of the movie, the whole sea people thing is kind-of explained through shoddy narration and cave-drawing-type animation...it's really not worth going into. It doesn't really have a lot to do with the plot except as an explanation for the presence of some weird naked woman living in the swimming pool.

Everything is really heavy handed. For example, the main character uses a very snobby (professional) movie critic tenant to help him solve some riddles posed throughout the story...and he does so wrongly. After the plan is foiled and it is revealed that, "oops, the guy who told me you were The Guild was wrong" Shyamalan's character refers to the movie critic as pompous and ridiculous to assume that he knows the intentions of someone else. Right around then, the guy gets eaten by the big scary beasty.

Pretty lame.

But I liked The Village a little bit better and I would recommend that one. It's not great but it's a little more fun to watch. I'd tell you all about it but I'm tired of typing.

Man, I really didn't like that first one.

"Torchwood"

Netflix is my favorite thing on the planet right now. "Torchwood" isn't so much.

"Torchwood" is a BBC spin-off program of the new "Doctor Who". I was very excited about the prospect of Capt. Jack Harkness having his own show.

I have seen 9 episodes of this new series. I have really liked maybe 2 of those. There are two reasons that I will continue to watch this show (I have three more discs to get through):

1.) John Barrowman is very nice to look at and is, on occasion, very cheeky and
2.) the possibility of a "Doctor Who" crossover or some "Doctor Who" references.

Otherwise the characters aren't all that great. Even Jack isn't as provocative as he was on "Doctor Who" (which is odd since Torchwood's target audience is older and it was shown on a later time-slot).

I will persevere in hopes of something much better and much more fun.

"There Will Be Blood"

Finally, after months of waiting, I got to watch "There Will Be Blood". Not only did I get to see it but I got to share it with a friend who insisted that whenever Hollywood gets it's hands on themes like oil or religion, on can only expect it to be heavy-handed and part of a larger leftist agenda.
I insisted that P.T. Anderson was not the type of director to do such a thing.
My friend remained skeptical.

It turns out I was right. Instead of the movie being about the evils of capitalism, it was a character portrayal of a man who happened to be in the oil business, who happened to cross paths with a young charismatic religious leader, and who happened to be played by one of the greatest actors in contemporary film.

Despite my ever-growing contempt for the movie-going experience --I inevitably end up sitting next to the people in the audience who guess out-loud what may be lying ahead in the plot...that person is usually sitting with another person who never stops munching on popcorn--despite all of this, I loved the movie and recommend it to anyone.

Daniel Day-Lewis steals the movie...no one can touch him.

An oil prospector. His son. A small (oil rich) town in California. A local who has the trust and faith of his fellow townsfolk. A very dark internal life.

That's really all I can say. The story doesn't involve a lot of action, there are no gun-fights, no superheros, no villains. It's just the story of a man.

BAM January 08

The Book a Month Challenge for this month is TIME.

I've decided to merge my responsibilities to read a possible Young Reader's Choice book with this challenge. I've read the Children's Fiction title "How to Speak Dragonese" by Cressida Cowell. It is part of a series of books that documents the misadventures of a young viking pirate-to-be, his comrades, and their dragons.

In this story, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III (our young hero) and his friends get separated from the rest of their "Boarding and Enemy Ship" classmates to discover a legion Roman soldiers lingering off shore. Now, the Romans must have underestimated the young crew because, after capturing them the Fat Consul and the Thin Prefect reveal to Hiccup their Fiendishly Clever Plan steal all of the Hooligan's (that's the tribe that Hiccup belongs to) dragons.

At this point the story returns to Hiccup's education. Even though he and his friends escape the Roman ship and they return to shore, their teachers, who value the more barbaric aspects of the viking-pirate life (one illustration shows Hiccups report card and the curriculum consists of burping, frightening foreigners, sword-fighting, advanced rudery, hammerthrowing...) are thoroughly disappointed. The ultimate theme: brain vs brawn.

With the will of his superiors against him, can Hiccup stop the Roman's Fiendishly Clever Plan?

I always enjoy a good twisted history.