The Stanley Cup Playoffs are underway, minus the Sharks, Red Wings, Avalanche, Maple Leafs, and Blues. As I write this, the second round has started with the Stars and Mighty Ducks in triple overtime on the verge of a fourth one. The Ducks looked like they won Game 1 but their overtime goal was disallowed when a Ducks player slightly tipped the net upward as the puck entered the net. Geez, unless the net is knocked out of the way, that goal should have been counted. That rule is ridiculous. Remember that rule if you had your skate in any part of the crease, a goal would be disallowed even if you were away from the play? At least they fixed that. Hopefully, they'll fix this one.
I will say that the Ducks' goalie Giguere is a machine out there. He stops almost everything shot at him.
Even more amazing than the Ducks' run in the playoffs? The Orioles are one game above 500. Now that's shock and awe.
Speaking of the war, I guess it's pretty much over. What have we learned? Iraq gave up way too easily. None of the apocalyptic predictions of chemical weapons everywhere and oil wells burning. Instead, everything happened exactly how the Bush administration predicted, minus the discovery of weapons of mass destruction. Without that smoking gun, Americans will never figure out why we started this war except for the removal of Saddam Hussein, where evidence finally suggests he may have been killed. Now the President can focus on other problems, like the economy.
No wonder France and Germany were afraid of war. We've fought in Iraq twice. We may be going to Korea again. We're just going backwards in war history.
SARS is scaring the hell out of people. Masks are being worn. Obsessive hand-washing has temporarily become a sane activity. Just the mere talk of it scares people. We had a good discussion about it in Econ class (uh, it was about the economic effects) and right after, some student had a coughing attack. The looks on the other students' faces were just priceless. A bit of good news: one of CNN's anchors asked what countries were doing a good job in controlling the virus. First country out of the expert's mouth: Vietnam.
Berkeley mayor Tom Bates spent a night as a homeless guy, sleeping in the park down the street from where I live. Sure, the conditions were better than what a normal homeless guy would go through, but maybe it will be a wake-up call to provide more funding for the homeless, estimated at about 1,000 in the city.
My smart cousin has chosen Berkeley as her school of choice for the coming year. Okay, maybe not the smartest of moves but hey, whatever suits her. She'll be welcomed here and her parents will probably mention it every chance they get like my parents have, to great humiliation for the student.
Okay, that's it. Now, I'm off, $25 richer. My rent was actually lowered. I guess that's what I get for just getting a doormat from the landlord this year.
4/24/2003
4/19/2003
Bend It Like Beckham and Better Luck Tomorrow
Two movies released recently deal with teenagers and their new role in a changing society. One tries to break out of a strict regiment of culture and family values to pursue her dreams while the other takes advantage of the stereotypes forced upon him to wield power in order to identify who he is. Both are well-done.
In Bend It Like Beckham, Jesminder Bhamra is an Indian teenage girl who idolizes English soccer star David Beckham and dreams of playing in a soccer league one day. Holding her back are her parents, deep with Indian traditions while living in England, who opposes her soccer play and wishes she could focus more on home, family, and her future university studies. One day, while playing soccer with some of her friends, an English girl by the name of Jules likes her play and convinces Jess to join her team. She reluctantly agrees but is forced to keep it a secret from her parents, knowing how they'd react. But like all parents do, they find out and with Jess' sister getting married, they believe this is no time to be bothered by sports and forbids her to go with them. Even so, it doesn't stop Jess to continue on, eventually sneaking out to travel with the team to Germany and develop a crush on the Irish coach Joe. On the other side of the coin, the movie also follows Jules, whose mother is worried she won't grow up to be married and have a family because of her preoccupation with the game of soccer. While both excel on the field of play, the game of trying to convince their parents that soccer will better their lives leads to more arguments than appeasements.
First and foremost, it's a study of individualism and how far they can go until they are restrained. But the story is told with such lightheartedness and humor that it is an enjoyable film to watch. Director Gurinder Chadha gives her film a sense of authenticity by inserting the subtle nuances of the Indian culture and celebrates them instead of portraying them as a hindrance to Jess' dreams. It shows you too can have it both ways as long as both sides give up a little something in return. Sure, the formula for this kind of resolution seems to be a cliche in movies these days, but the execution in this film is nearly flawless and its humor makes it that more enjoyable to watch.
Better Luck Tomorrow has Asian teenagers also following their dreams, but no adult to keep them on the beaten path. It's expected of them to get into the Ivy League college of their choice and become a doctor or an electrical engineer and as long as they get the grades, they're free to do as they wish. And while that may involve playing tennis or joining the math club and devoting all other time to their studies, Ben Manibag and his group of friends decide to break the stereotype and use it to their advantage. What awaits them is a life full of freedom. After writing cheat sheets, dealing drugs, and collecting boxes full of cash, they're on a power high, among other highs. In Ben's case, his life has turned from a guy itching to get a perfect score on his SAT's, being Employee of the Month at the local hot dog shop, and trying to climb the ladder on his basketball team for the sake of his transcript to a life of cocaine, stealing, and sex. It also has brought all of them respect among their peers. Through it all, Ben has developed a crush on his lab partner, Stephanie, who is already in a relationship with Steve, a rich private school guy. Though Ben knows Steve's been cheating on Stephanie, he decides to keep quiet. With all of this stress, it soon catches up with Ben and he decides to get out of it. Instead, he was already in too deep as it was and all the power that he left behind catches up to him, with disastrous consequences for him and all closely connected to him.
With the pressures of schoolwork, it's hard to establish an identity in the world. Asians seem to conform with the expectation that all are educated and expected to be successful in the world. But without direction, young high schoolers like the ones in the movie suffer with not knowing why they are expected to do this. I'm supposed to be a doctor? So what? It's a great coming-of-age film showcasing the dangers of exploiting what they have to offer to the world without first examining the morality of what they're doing. Justin Lin exudes a sense of confidence in his direction, never breaking the pace while also teaching us a few vocabulary words along the way. The constant messages are pounded into us to convey that brutal honesty this movie gets across. But serious issues call for a serious movie, and though bits of humor, like the ones directed toward these Asian stereotypes, are funny to see, at other times, humor is used to break tension in a scene, getting some uneasy laughs from the audience. This humor also hides the troubling message of covering up misdeeds, which they are consistently successful at, including their final crime. A film that prides itself at painting a devastating honest picture on Asian may be stretching their luck a little.
The question trying to be answered is loud and clear throughout the movie: Who am I? The answer given? That's for you to find out.
P.S. If my high school had an academic decathalon club like the one depicted in the movie, I'd certainly sign up.
Bend It Like Beckham: 3.5 stars
Better Luck Tomorrow: 3 stars
Two movies released recently deal with teenagers and their new role in a changing society. One tries to break out of a strict regiment of culture and family values to pursue her dreams while the other takes advantage of the stereotypes forced upon him to wield power in order to identify who he is. Both are well-done.
In Bend It Like Beckham, Jesminder Bhamra is an Indian teenage girl who idolizes English soccer star David Beckham and dreams of playing in a soccer league one day. Holding her back are her parents, deep with Indian traditions while living in England, who opposes her soccer play and wishes she could focus more on home, family, and her future university studies. One day, while playing soccer with some of her friends, an English girl by the name of Jules likes her play and convinces Jess to join her team. She reluctantly agrees but is forced to keep it a secret from her parents, knowing how they'd react. But like all parents do, they find out and with Jess' sister getting married, they believe this is no time to be bothered by sports and forbids her to go with them. Even so, it doesn't stop Jess to continue on, eventually sneaking out to travel with the team to Germany and develop a crush on the Irish coach Joe. On the other side of the coin, the movie also follows Jules, whose mother is worried she won't grow up to be married and have a family because of her preoccupation with the game of soccer. While both excel on the field of play, the game of trying to convince their parents that soccer will better their lives leads to more arguments than appeasements.
First and foremost, it's a study of individualism and how far they can go until they are restrained. But the story is told with such lightheartedness and humor that it is an enjoyable film to watch. Director Gurinder Chadha gives her film a sense of authenticity by inserting the subtle nuances of the Indian culture and celebrates them instead of portraying them as a hindrance to Jess' dreams. It shows you too can have it both ways as long as both sides give up a little something in return. Sure, the formula for this kind of resolution seems to be a cliche in movies these days, but the execution in this film is nearly flawless and its humor makes it that more enjoyable to watch.
Better Luck Tomorrow has Asian teenagers also following their dreams, but no adult to keep them on the beaten path. It's expected of them to get into the Ivy League college of their choice and become a doctor or an electrical engineer and as long as they get the grades, they're free to do as they wish. And while that may involve playing tennis or joining the math club and devoting all other time to their studies, Ben Manibag and his group of friends decide to break the stereotype and use it to their advantage. What awaits them is a life full of freedom. After writing cheat sheets, dealing drugs, and collecting boxes full of cash, they're on a power high, among other highs. In Ben's case, his life has turned from a guy itching to get a perfect score on his SAT's, being Employee of the Month at the local hot dog shop, and trying to climb the ladder on his basketball team for the sake of his transcript to a life of cocaine, stealing, and sex. It also has brought all of them respect among their peers. Through it all, Ben has developed a crush on his lab partner, Stephanie, who is already in a relationship with Steve, a rich private school guy. Though Ben knows Steve's been cheating on Stephanie, he decides to keep quiet. With all of this stress, it soon catches up with Ben and he decides to get out of it. Instead, he was already in too deep as it was and all the power that he left behind catches up to him, with disastrous consequences for him and all closely connected to him.
With the pressures of schoolwork, it's hard to establish an identity in the world. Asians seem to conform with the expectation that all are educated and expected to be successful in the world. But without direction, young high schoolers like the ones in the movie suffer with not knowing why they are expected to do this. I'm supposed to be a doctor? So what? It's a great coming-of-age film showcasing the dangers of exploiting what they have to offer to the world without first examining the morality of what they're doing. Justin Lin exudes a sense of confidence in his direction, never breaking the pace while also teaching us a few vocabulary words along the way. The constant messages are pounded into us to convey that brutal honesty this movie gets across. But serious issues call for a serious movie, and though bits of humor, like the ones directed toward these Asian stereotypes, are funny to see, at other times, humor is used to break tension in a scene, getting some uneasy laughs from the audience. This humor also hides the troubling message of covering up misdeeds, which they are consistently successful at, including their final crime. A film that prides itself at painting a devastating honest picture on Asian may be stretching their luck a little.
The question trying to be answered is loud and clear throughout the movie: Who am I? The answer given? That's for you to find out.
P.S. If my high school had an academic decathalon club like the one depicted in the movie, I'd certainly sign up.
Bend It Like Beckham: 3.5 stars
Better Luck Tomorrow: 3 stars
Anger Management
Adam Sandler plays Dave Buznik, an executive assistant who has been content to keep his emotions bottled in for all his life. The person who cares about him most, his girlfriend played by Marisa Tomei, is obviously worried. A freak confrontation aboard an airplane and a court order to seek anger management force him to seek the services of Buddy Rydell, an anger management specialist played by Jack Nicholson. However, one session later, things go horribly awry that the judge sees it fit for Rydell to use intensive techniques. This involves bunking with Buznik and following his every movement while singing the words to "I Am Pretty." Eventually, he is forced to confront his boss, his childhood nemesis, and others to go through experiences he would have otherwise chickened out of. In the end, Buznik is better from it and everyone more or less ends up happy instead of angry.
As far as comedies go, this isn't a laugh-a-minute movie. It seems to try too hard in setting up and executing their jokes that it isn't as funny as it potentially could have been. Both Sandler and Nicholson seem to hold back on their comedic and psychotic potentials respectively. A more over-the-top performance by both instead of restrained ones probably would have made the film funnier. Tomei and most of the supporting cast are also vastly under-utilized. But they did get a lot of people to do cameos to make up for it including Woody Harrelson, John C. Reilly, and New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. In the end, it's a funny movie with some good ideas that are probably hilarious when read in a script but just okay when you see the actors on screen performing it. 2.5 stars
Adam Sandler plays Dave Buznik, an executive assistant who has been content to keep his emotions bottled in for all his life. The person who cares about him most, his girlfriend played by Marisa Tomei, is obviously worried. A freak confrontation aboard an airplane and a court order to seek anger management force him to seek the services of Buddy Rydell, an anger management specialist played by Jack Nicholson. However, one session later, things go horribly awry that the judge sees it fit for Rydell to use intensive techniques. This involves bunking with Buznik and following his every movement while singing the words to "I Am Pretty." Eventually, he is forced to confront his boss, his childhood nemesis, and others to go through experiences he would have otherwise chickened out of. In the end, Buznik is better from it and everyone more or less ends up happy instead of angry.
As far as comedies go, this isn't a laugh-a-minute movie. It seems to try too hard in setting up and executing their jokes that it isn't as funny as it potentially could have been. Both Sandler and Nicholson seem to hold back on their comedic and psychotic potentials respectively. A more over-the-top performance by both instead of restrained ones probably would have made the film funnier. Tomei and most of the supporting cast are also vastly under-utilized. But they did get a lot of people to do cameos to make up for it including Woody Harrelson, John C. Reilly, and New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. In the end, it's a funny movie with some good ideas that are probably hilarious when read in a script but just okay when you see the actors on screen performing it. 2.5 stars
4/18/2003
May's coming up really quick which will unofficially start the summer movie season. Here's a preview of the movies I'll probably be watching plus others that are making headlines this summer.
X2: X-Men United - It sure is a lame title, but the previews promise that this will be a more worthwhile adventure than its disappointing first outing. Professor Xavier's school finds itself under attack after a former military leader wants to get rid of all mutants. (May 2)
The Lizzie McGuire Movie - Hilary Duff has made it into the big leagues. Her whole career revolves around Lizzie McGuire from how she became famous to the start of her singing career. It's only natural that Disney wants to see how she does in the feature film market. She experienced mild success co-starring with Frankie Muniz in Agent Cody Banks and this starring role should perform even better, but please, someone tell her to stop singing. (May 2)
The Dancer Upstairs - John Malkovich's directorial debut starring Javier Bardem as a Latin American police officer with a mysterious ballet teacher by his side. (May 2)
Daddy Day Care - Eddie Murphy tries to forget a horrible 2002 (I Spy, The Adventures of Pluto Nash) by going back to family comedies, in this case, he starts a day care business. (May 9)
The Matrix Reloaded - The second part of what's going to be one of the best trilogies ever made. More humans are waking up from the Matrix and joining the resistance movement as Neo, Morpheus and Trinity lead the charge. (May 15)
Down with Love - Renee Zellweger chooses this as her follow-up to her Oscar-nominated performance in Chicago, starring with Moulin Rouge's Ewan McGregor in this romantic comedy. (May 16)
Pokemon Heroes - Remember when this used to be popular? Thought so. (May 16)
Bruce Almighty - Jim Carrey is God for a week. Hijinx follow. Jennifer Aniston co-stars. (May 23)
The In-Laws - Albert Brooks and Michael Douglas star in this comedy about a podiatrist and a daredevil CIA agent whose children are to be married. (May 23)
Finding Nemo - Pixar's latest animation creation about a fish finding its way home. (May 30)
The Italian Job - Edward Norton is in another heist movie, this time with Mark Wahlberg and Charlize Theron who steal a bunch of gold and drive away in a sea of green lights. (May 30)
2 Fast 2 Furious - The anticipated sequel to The Fast and the Furious finds the film without major draw Vin Diesel. However, the title itself should be enough to sell more than enough tickets. (June 6)
Prozac Nation - Christina Ricci's film of depression and drugs is finally released after languishing on the studio shelf. (June 6-Selected Cities)
Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd - Where the original was dumb and funny, this prequel is truly dumb. (June 13)
From Justin to Kelly - American Idol's first finalists hit the big screen. Cover your ears. (June 13)
Hollywood Homicide - Harrison Ford and Josh Hartnett team up to investigate the murder of a rap group on a concert stage. (June 13)
The Hulk - You remember him, big green guy. Always rips his shirts. Yeah, well, he gets a live action 21st century update by Crouching Dragon director Ang Lee. (June 20)
Alex & Emma - A Rob Reiner-directed romantic comedy starring Luke Wilson and Kate Hudson about Fyodor Dostoyevsky's love life. (June 20)
Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle - The trio of ladies is back, this time with Bernie Mac as Bosley. In this adventure, someone has stolen a witness protection list and summarily eliminating people on that list. (June 27)
28 Days Later - From the director of Trainspotting comes a post-apocalyptic view of the world after a deadly virus hits. Timely subject matter, is it not? (June 27)
Legally Blonde 2: Red, White and Blonde - Reese Witherspoon reprises her role to run for Congress and have her voice heard on animal rights. (July 2)
Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas - Out-of-work comedian on a worldwide tour who...oh wait, wrong Sinbad. This one is about the famous Arabian sailor who travels to the realm of Eris to prove his innocence, going through obstacles along the way. (July 2)
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines - Arnold Schwarzenegger is the Terminator again. You thought he died in the second one? Ha. Well, now he's back and out to stop a highly advanced female terminator. (July 2)
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl - Not just a Disney theme park ride anymore, Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom try to stop evil pirates. (July 9)
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen - A band of fictional literary characters set in the Victorian Era out to battle evil. Sean Connery stars. (July 11)
Bad Boys II - Will Smith and Martin Lawrence reprise their roles as Miami cops. Director Michael Bay is also back. The trailer makes this movie promising. (July 18)
Exorcist: The Beginning - The original, while excellent in its time, has gotten stale like the sequels it has spawned. This one will try to reverse the trend. (July 18)
Johnny English - Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean) plays a bumbling English diplomat mistaken as a top-level spy. If it's half as funny as Mr. Bean, this will be a comedic success. The early reviews from England shows that this will be true. (July 18)
How to Deal - If its awful trailer is any indication, young teenage girls will just have to flock to this Mandy Moore starrer. (July 18)
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life - Angelina Jolie goes hunting for Pandora's Box. The original was pretty horrendous, so this can't be any worse right? (July 25)
Seabiscuit - With the 2004 Oscars coming a month earlier, Oscar season starts early with this film about a race horse based on the book with the same name. It's considered one of the early favorites for awards. (July 25)
Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over - The first movie had a story, but its sequel didn't, meaning its hook was the many gizmos they made up. The same will probably be true for this one, so the hook will be the 3-D glasses needed to see part of the film. (July 25)
American Wedding - A seemingly high-class title to describe the antics of American Pie 3. The gang reunites as Jim (Jason Biggs) and Michelle (Alyson Hannigan) marry. (August 1)
Freaky Friday - A remake of the 1977 hit that starred Jodie Foster, now stars Lindsay Lohan (The Parent Trap) and mother Jamie Lee Curtis who switch bodies. (August 1)
Gigli - The first creation of Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez is this film. Word has it there's no chemistry between the two but we'll be the judge. (August 1)
Matchstick Men - Nicolas Cage and director Ridley Scott team up in this film about an obsessive-compulsive con man whose life is turned upside down with the arrival of a daughter he never knew he had. (August 8)
S.W.A.T. - A high-profile young cast led by Samuel L. Jackson and Colin Farrell sees L.A's S.W.A.T. team used to protect a high-profile criminal. (August 8)
The Fighting Temptations - Cuba Gooding Jr. and Beyonce Knowles star in a drama in which Gooding must lead a gospel choir to success to earn an inheritance. (August 8)
Le Divorce - Naomi Watts and Kate Hudson in France looking for love. (August 8)
Freddy vs. Jason - Really, haven't we had enough of this? (August 15)
The Medallion - Jackie Chan uses a medallion among other things to subdue his enemies. Hey, at least it's not a tuxedo. (August 15)
My Boss's Daughter - Comedy starring Ashton Kutcher and Tara Reid in which Kutcher tries to win the heart of Reid while he housesits the boss' house. (August 22)
Jeepers Creepers II - Mildly successful original leads to a sequel of the horror movie. (August 29)
Release dates subject to change.
4/15/2003
As the war winds down, it's hard to forget the moments of comic relief given by the Iraqi Information Minister. While the American media documented countless cases of coalition triumphs, the Information Minister flatly denied anything happened and insisted the Iraqis had fought them off and killed them in a last-ditch effort to inspire the Iraqis to rise up against the infidels who were invading the country. He hasn't been seen for a few days but his words will last for a long time.
Here a few choice quotes that to us here seem hilarious; a vast number more can be found at this link.
"Even those who live on another planet, if there are such people, would have condemned this action before it started."
"Bush, Blair and Rumsfeld. They are the funny trio."
Any apparent American gains, he said, were a cunning ploy by the Iraqis to lure the enemy into a trap. "Our armed forces, according to their tactics, are leaving the way open."
About Bush and Rumsfeld: "Those only deserve to be hit with shoes."
"Bush is a very stupid man. The American people are not stupid, they are very clever. I can't understand how such clever people came to elect such a stupid president."
"Those Iraqi fighters are slapping those gangsters on the face, and then when they flee, they will kick their backsides."
"We're going to drag the drunken junkie nose of Bush through Iraq's desert, him and his follower dog Blair...There are 26 million Saddams in Iraq."
"Iraqi fighters in Umm Qasr are giving the hordes of American and Brtish mercenaries the taste of definite death. We have drawn them into a quagmire and they will never get out of it."
"The United Nations....[is] a place for prostitution under the feet of Americans."
"It has been rumored that we have fired scud missiles into Kuwait. I am here now to tell you, we do not have any scud missiles and I don't know why they were fired into Kuwait."
"We will kill them all........most of them."
[On surrenders] "Those are not Iraqi soldiers at all. Where did they bring them from?"
"You can go and visit those places. Nothing there, nothing at all. There are Iraqi checkpoints. Everything is okay."
Here a few choice quotes that to us here seem hilarious; a vast number more can be found at this link.
"Even those who live on another planet, if there are such people, would have condemned this action before it started."
"Bush, Blair and Rumsfeld. They are the funny trio."
Any apparent American gains, he said, were a cunning ploy by the Iraqis to lure the enemy into a trap. "Our armed forces, according to their tactics, are leaving the way open."
About Bush and Rumsfeld: "Those only deserve to be hit with shoes."
"Bush is a very stupid man. The American people are not stupid, they are very clever. I can't understand how such clever people came to elect such a stupid president."
"Those Iraqi fighters are slapping those gangsters on the face, and then when they flee, they will kick their backsides."
"We're going to drag the drunken junkie nose of Bush through Iraq's desert, him and his follower dog Blair...There are 26 million Saddams in Iraq."
"Iraqi fighters in Umm Qasr are giving the hordes of American and Brtish mercenaries the taste of definite death. We have drawn them into a quagmire and they will never get out of it."
"The United Nations....[is] a place for prostitution under the feet of Americans."
"It has been rumored that we have fired scud missiles into Kuwait. I am here now to tell you, we do not have any scud missiles and I don't know why they were fired into Kuwait."
"We will kill them all........most of them."
[On surrenders] "Those are not Iraqi soldiers at all. Where did they bring them from?"
"You can go and visit those places. Nothing there, nothing at all. There are Iraqi checkpoints. Everything is okay."
4/12/2003
So there I was, in the middle of sleeping when all of a sudden, the phone rings. It's 8:00am, who would be calling at this hour? It's an old friend of mine from the hospital days. What the heck does he want? He's comin to Cal, and not surprisingly, comin to Cal Day and wants to hang out. Geez, he couldn't have called later, or earlier in the week? So even after I made fun of the poor souls who had to go to Cal Day, I myself made my way up the low incline to Ha-Haas to await for him to come out of the speech by the chancellor. Right when the huge crowd was starting to make their way out, a huge downpour started to fall. The crowd, predictably, was none too pleased. One girl who passed wondered when she could get to go to the Stanfurd day, or whatever they call it. The rest of the morning was just as dreary and all the booths I passed tried to stay cheerful as they tried to pass along their information or sell their stuff. One line empty was the bbq line where first of all, it's raining, and second, no one wants to pay $7 for a hamburger. Other than that, people were all too interested, even the math line, where people were fascinated in hearing about the math major. Along with the Cal spirit, no visit to Berkeley would be complete without a protest and there was a nice, loud one advocating the removal of the ROTC from the UC campus.
As the rain continued, places with roofs were very crowded. Library tours were packed. The cable cars were standing room only. The student store actually had people buying stuff. By noon, I left my friend, who was tired of the rain and saw all he needed to see. He saw the small dorms, bland Evans Hall, and all the construction going on. So it's either this or UCLA. Yes, the latter choice looks so much better.
As the rain continued, places with roofs were very crowded. Library tours were packed. The cable cars were standing room only. The student store actually had people buying stuff. By noon, I left my friend, who was tired of the rain and saw all he needed to see. He saw the small dorms, bland Evans Hall, and all the construction going on. So it's either this or UCLA. Yes, the latter choice looks so much better.
4/10/2003
And so ends another week and what a way to finish, two midterms! One was kinda OK and the other was better than last time, but still not very good. Hopefully, I'll luck out. I am way behind in every class so I'm staying here this weekend, but apparently I chose the wrong weekend to stay. This Saturday is CAL day, a time when all the little would-be freshmen get to come to campus and see what the best of Berkeley is, choosing to let them wait in suspense until the school year starts to see how bad things can get. From what I remember, Cal Day was a time to listen to the chancellor and walk around the campus. And that's about it. It's really for the kids. What does that mean for me? Crowded streets, crowded restaurants, lost people wondering where the heck Sproul Hall is. If you're rangled in to volunteer on this day, pray that you're stationed indoors and not on one of those walking tours.
Besides, I know all of you will be staying home to watch The Masters, right?
Or watching The Matrix: Reloaded trailer over and over and over and over and over...
One thing not going right are ASUC elections. As advanced as the Berkeley campus is, this is the first election where it's all computerized. As a result, there have been many glitches, so bad that they've extended elections until Monday. They don't even have enough computers to handle the demand. Come on, who would wait 30 minutes to vote in an election which elects people who have little or no power over anything?
Lizzie McGuire ads have been popping up all over the place. Is it humanly possible to stand on the top of your shoes with a bag in your hands?
Sean Penn's car was stolen in Berkeley in broad daylight. How weird is that?
Yasmine Bleeth was on Revealed the other night. Man, she's really let herself go.
"Holes: The book is now the movie." When was it a book?
There's something else I wanted to say but I've forgotten. Too much math stuff in my head. I'll try to remember it later.
Besides, I know all of you will be staying home to watch The Masters, right?
Or watching The Matrix: Reloaded trailer over and over and over and over and over...
One thing not going right are ASUC elections. As advanced as the Berkeley campus is, this is the first election where it's all computerized. As a result, there have been many glitches, so bad that they've extended elections until Monday. They don't even have enough computers to handle the demand. Come on, who would wait 30 minutes to vote in an election which elects people who have little or no power over anything?
Lizzie McGuire ads have been popping up all over the place. Is it humanly possible to stand on the top of your shoes with a bag in your hands?
Sean Penn's car was stolen in Berkeley in broad daylight. How weird is that?
Yasmine Bleeth was on Revealed the other night. Man, she's really let herself go.
"Holes: The book is now the movie." When was it a book?
There's something else I wanted to say but I've forgotten. Too much math stuff in my head. I'll try to remember it later.
4/08/2003
Time is short so here are some mini-reviews. For this weekend, go watch Anger Management and/or Better Luck Tomorrow. Both promise to be very good.
The Core
Aaron Eckhart, Hilary Swank, Stanley Tucci, Delroy Lindo, and others work to save the world from destruction after a secret experiment causes the earth's core to stop spinning. Plausibility aside, it's a well-intentioned idea that falls short. The special effects are hit and miss and the lines are a bit cheesy. Still, it acts as decent escapism for these trying times. 2 stars
Dreamcatcher
An alien gives powers to lifelong friends while the military led by Morgan Freeman aim to destroy them. How could many fine actors with a story written by Stephen King be involved with such a horrible movie? The ending just comes out of nowhere and you have no idea why various things have happened. 0.5 stars
Head of State
Chris Rock plays an alderman who's chosen to run for President. Good, funny jokes are found in this picture, but some of these jokes are distasteful and others are replayed over and over again throughout the movie. If you like Chris Rock's comedy, as I do, you'll enjoy the movie. 2.5 stars
The Core
Aaron Eckhart, Hilary Swank, Stanley Tucci, Delroy Lindo, and others work to save the world from destruction after a secret experiment causes the earth's core to stop spinning. Plausibility aside, it's a well-intentioned idea that falls short. The special effects are hit and miss and the lines are a bit cheesy. Still, it acts as decent escapism for these trying times. 2 stars
Dreamcatcher
An alien gives powers to lifelong friends while the military led by Morgan Freeman aim to destroy them. How could many fine actors with a story written by Stephen King be involved with such a horrible movie? The ending just comes out of nowhere and you have no idea why various things have happened. 0.5 stars
Head of State
Chris Rock plays an alderman who's chosen to run for President. Good, funny jokes are found in this picture, but some of these jokes are distasteful and others are replayed over and over again throughout the movie. If you like Chris Rock's comedy, as I do, you'll enjoy the movie. 2.5 stars
What does suspended license, no registration, and a drunk add up to? Accident. And the victim was my friend's car, innocently parked in front of his house. Jon's taking it pretty well, but people like these shouldn't be out on the streets to begin with. Luckily, the car wasn't totalled and it should be fixed.
Moving on, the Chronicle published an advertisment by a group calling for the impeachment of President Bush and his top advisers. This is just wrong. Sure, you have the right to voice your opinion, but now that we're in the thick of it, we need to be united on this country's cause or else we'll be divided and open to attack. Let's see how this plays out and if things turn out for the worse, the chances of which are diminishing rapidly, then you'd have a case for impeachment.
You know those Russian dolls that have like 6 figurines in one big figurine? Rumor has it that this will be the next bobblehead and be distributed by various sports teams in the coming months. When did going to sports events mean receiving children's toys?
The beginning of the end has arrived. ASUC elections are starting tomorrow. The weird campaigning will be over. ASUC articles such as the one about how parties aim to receive the most votes to win will be dropped in favor of other ones. But now, in the last hours of it, they've started making promises that they probably have no intention on carrying out. It seems to me that the ASUC exists solely to collect money and distribute it to groups. What does that have to do with stopping the war? I have no idea and I don't think one of the candidates would know either, even with his new position at the ASUC that he's running for. Fighting the fee increase? Every student hates to pay more, making this promise a no-brainer. A better promise to make is to try to lessen the cuts the UC must make that the fee increase is compensating for. Free or even discounted BART? Not in our lifetime. The 17% one-time discount per semester is already considered generous by the BART board. How will I vote? If I find time to, it'll be for the people who haven't bothered me during the campaigning.
Moving on, the Chronicle published an advertisment by a group calling for the impeachment of President Bush and his top advisers. This is just wrong. Sure, you have the right to voice your opinion, but now that we're in the thick of it, we need to be united on this country's cause or else we'll be divided and open to attack. Let's see how this plays out and if things turn out for the worse, the chances of which are diminishing rapidly, then you'd have a case for impeachment.
You know those Russian dolls that have like 6 figurines in one big figurine? Rumor has it that this will be the next bobblehead and be distributed by various sports teams in the coming months. When did going to sports events mean receiving children's toys?
The beginning of the end has arrived. ASUC elections are starting tomorrow. The weird campaigning will be over. ASUC articles such as the one about how parties aim to receive the most votes to win will be dropped in favor of other ones. But now, in the last hours of it, they've started making promises that they probably have no intention on carrying out. It seems to me that the ASUC exists solely to collect money and distribute it to groups. What does that have to do with stopping the war? I have no idea and I don't think one of the candidates would know either, even with his new position at the ASUC that he's running for. Fighting the fee increase? Every student hates to pay more, making this promise a no-brainer. A better promise to make is to try to lessen the cuts the UC must make that the fee increase is compensating for. Free or even discounted BART? Not in our lifetime. The 17% one-time discount per semester is already considered generous by the BART board. How will I vote? If I find time to, it'll be for the people who haven't bothered me during the campaigning.
4/03/2003
Phone Booth
"Who do you think you are?" asks the billboard behind the phone booth. Colin Farrell is forced to ask both a sniper and himself this question to try to get out of the nightmare he's put himself in.
Farrell plays Stuart Shepard, a hard-working publicist who lies and deceives his way into the big leagues. Now, he enjoys a nice life with many connections throughout the city and a loving wife at home. He's also seeing someone else, Pam, played by Katie Holmes in a very small role. This has made him a target of one particular sniper (Kiefer Sutherland) who preys upon people who have done bad things in their lives. After he enters this phone booth where he calls Pam to avoid his wife Kelly to see the calls on his cell phone, he receives a call from the sniper, and soon becomes the target. Things get more complicated when the sniper shoots an innocent bouncer in the street, something witnesses believe Stu did himself. What ensues is a dangerous game where Stu must negotiate his way out of the nightmare he's in with the sniper while the police surround him with guns in hand waiting for him to come out. All that the sniper wants is for Stu to fess up to all that can hear the sound of his voice, including Pam and Kelly who have now joined the scene and unknowingly have become targets themselves. How will Stu get out of this one? Only time will tell, and that's almost run out.
In terms of execution, the film is excellent. The action is non-stop and the tension is high. You can't take your eyes off it, eagerly awaiting what comes next. Credit director Joel Schumacher, who will get praise for this after duds like Bad Company, 8MM, and Batman & Robin. It's a simple story where every step leads to a more complicated situation. Will he step away? Will he use the gun and take matters into his own hands? One minor quibble is the motivation for the sniper to do this. Sure, having a mistress is bad to have, but is it really worth choosing life or death over it? There are far worse people he could be targeting. But still, it's all too riveting for someone to overlook this film. 3 stars
"Who do you think you are?" asks the billboard behind the phone booth. Colin Farrell is forced to ask both a sniper and himself this question to try to get out of the nightmare he's put himself in.
Farrell plays Stuart Shepard, a hard-working publicist who lies and deceives his way into the big leagues. Now, he enjoys a nice life with many connections throughout the city and a loving wife at home. He's also seeing someone else, Pam, played by Katie Holmes in a very small role. This has made him a target of one particular sniper (Kiefer Sutherland) who preys upon people who have done bad things in their lives. After he enters this phone booth where he calls Pam to avoid his wife Kelly to see the calls on his cell phone, he receives a call from the sniper, and soon becomes the target. Things get more complicated when the sniper shoots an innocent bouncer in the street, something witnesses believe Stu did himself. What ensues is a dangerous game where Stu must negotiate his way out of the nightmare he's in with the sniper while the police surround him with guns in hand waiting for him to come out. All that the sniper wants is for Stu to fess up to all that can hear the sound of his voice, including Pam and Kelly who have now joined the scene and unknowingly have become targets themselves. How will Stu get out of this one? Only time will tell, and that's almost run out.
In terms of execution, the film is excellent. The action is non-stop and the tension is high. You can't take your eyes off it, eagerly awaiting what comes next. Credit director Joel Schumacher, who will get praise for this after duds like Bad Company, 8MM, and Batman & Robin. It's a simple story where every step leads to a more complicated situation. Will he step away? Will he use the gun and take matters into his own hands? One minor quibble is the motivation for the sniper to do this. Sure, having a mistress is bad to have, but is it really worth choosing life or death over it? There are far worse people he could be targeting. But still, it's all too riveting for someone to overlook this film. 3 stars
The demolition of Stanley Hall in Berkeley has begun. It's not every day a building falls, but it's better in a controlled environment than in an earthquake. The building had been deemed very unsafe by earthquake experts. I only had one class in there but you could tell it was standing on toothpicks. In its place will be a brand new building devoted to scientific research, scheduled to be completed in 2006. The picture above links to a live cam of Stanley where you can track the progress of the bulldozers. They've actually started tearing it down on the other side of the building so it just looks like nothing is happening.
3/31/2003
Many days of bright sunshine has given way to the hounds of winter once again. Rain is expected on and off for the rest of the week. A hot day turned into a very cool evening tonight complete with fog. I knew it got dark for a reason. The ASUC campaign season is up and running. Nothing against the people promoting their own causes, but do they realize what they're getting themselves into? One only needs to look at this year's ASUC senate, constantly bickering with the administration and promoting the undergraduates instead of the entire campus (though even the undergraduates aren't getting too much help). Meetings are filled with sometimes pointless legislation and disagreement on how to close a massive budget deficit on top of the debt payment that was ignored by the previous senate. We pay $27.50 per student to fund this but the return is negligible, save for its funding of hundreds of student groups, which must make due with a reduced budget.
My friend was vice president of the ASUC a couple of years ago and even though he kept going with a smile on his face, I couldn't imagine what he was going through. Presiding over Senate meetings that would last all night. Having his decisions questioned by opposing senators and the press. Overall, an inaccurate portrayal of who he is. Maybe that's the whole point. Maybe the ASUC is an accurate portrayal of the electoral process today.
Which brings me back to the basis of the ASUC, campaigning to join this body of government. Sure, democracy at work is a good thing to witness. But I just ask if I can get to my class without people jamming flyers in my face or tailing me to convince me to vote for them. The worst part is when the candidate isn't doing it, just a party faithful doing his job. All this is doing is clogging up Sproul. And as we get closer to Election Day, they're just gonna spread like wildfire. Big signs will appear out of nowhere. Flyers will be stapled everywhere. Buttons distributed. Clothes with the candidate's name on it. Whatever happened to finding out what the candidates want in a public forum? And I don't mean the little blurb written in the Daily Cal the week before elections. Being able to write is just one part of being a successful politician, another is the meet and greet with the constituents and in a large gathering as well. President Bush isn't the smartest person out there, but his demeanor made him seem like a nice, honest guy, attracting people who were turned off by Clinton's antics, which eventually won him half the election. It's a good thing those who hold executive office don't run for re-election. If they were held accountable for their campaign promises, they'd sink faster than the Sharks are right now.
So mark your calendars, because by next Thursday, it should all be over.
My friend was vice president of the ASUC a couple of years ago and even though he kept going with a smile on his face, I couldn't imagine what he was going through. Presiding over Senate meetings that would last all night. Having his decisions questioned by opposing senators and the press. Overall, an inaccurate portrayal of who he is. Maybe that's the whole point. Maybe the ASUC is an accurate portrayal of the electoral process today.
Which brings me back to the basis of the ASUC, campaigning to join this body of government. Sure, democracy at work is a good thing to witness. But I just ask if I can get to my class without people jamming flyers in my face or tailing me to convince me to vote for them. The worst part is when the candidate isn't doing it, just a party faithful doing his job. All this is doing is clogging up Sproul. And as we get closer to Election Day, they're just gonna spread like wildfire. Big signs will appear out of nowhere. Flyers will be stapled everywhere. Buttons distributed. Clothes with the candidate's name on it. Whatever happened to finding out what the candidates want in a public forum? And I don't mean the little blurb written in the Daily Cal the week before elections. Being able to write is just one part of being a successful politician, another is the meet and greet with the constituents and in a large gathering as well. President Bush isn't the smartest person out there, but his demeanor made him seem like a nice, honest guy, attracting people who were turned off by Clinton's antics, which eventually won him half the election. It's a good thing those who hold executive office don't run for re-election. If they were held accountable for their campaign promises, they'd sink faster than the Sharks are right now.
So mark your calendars, because by next Thursday, it should all be over.
3/30/2003
And with the sound of a snap of the fingers, nine days of so-called Spring Break have gone poof and into the air. And while I did keep myself busy doing various odd tasks and spending time with friends and most of all, rest and relaxation, none involved school work. And while on some respects that's a good thing, it's not on this night, where I've suddenly realized that it's all piled up. So how did I waste my time? Writing this, so in turn, wasting your time as well.
First and foremost, there was Iraq. We're now in day 12 of the war and we're going nowhere. Every time I hear of the progress toward Baghdad, they keep saying they are 50 miles away. Today, they were making progress as they are now 49 miles away. Protests aren't as bad as I heard coming up to it, none of the threatened bridge closings and what not, just intersections. As for the war, the bombs seem to be devastating yet all it has done is allow a small percentage of Iraqis to rise up and fight for their "dying regime" spoiling the plans by the United States to keep this war quick. How quick? President Bush budgeted this war for less than a month. Now estimates are that it's going into the summer and maybe beyond. Hussein probably believes the longer this war is, the more protests there will be against the actions of President Bush, which would force some kind of cease-fire, something Secretary Rumsfeld and Pentagon officials vow will never happen. To my father, he doesn't believe in bringing in more troops. He knows how that could fail, seeing as how we're here instead of Vietnam. As he told me, as long as the North had rice to eat, they'd be unstoppable. Bombs wouldn't do any good if you're just dropping them blindly into the jungle. And in the end, the North won after the U.S. withdrew. My dad reasons then that unless they're able to starve out Baghdad now, they should just withdraw now. But instead they're in too deep and now there's no way out. I truly hope the U.S. can tough it out soon or else we're in it for the long haul.
There was the trip to the dentist office. Another new one, I think the seventh one. Nice old guy who went to Loyola Marymount and USC. Apparently, I've got perfect teeth but a little too much plaque. So they keep poking at my teeth with various metal objects causing my gums to bleed. The hygenist asks, "Do you know why your gums are bleeding?" If I was in my usual mood, I would've said it was from the sharp objects attacking my teeth. Instead, I looked away choosing to focus on the small amount of pain. She chose to promote the line of electronic toothbrushes out on the market today. She seemed to be putting down manual toothbrushes as if they were from the stone age or something. Sorry, I'll keep with my tried and true.
There was the Sharks game against the Stars, probably the best loss the Sharks have suffered. They gave up two early goals, but managed to battle back with some hard work and hustle to tie 2-2. But very quickly, they gave up a goal to go down 3-2. A good effort by Marco Sturm tied things right back at 3. A dumb penalty by Adam Graves allowed the Stars to take a one-goal lead with 2 minutes to play, forcing the Sharks to pull their goaltender for the extra skater. Teemu Selanne gets the puck with seconds remaining and backhands it in just as time expires. But the referee waves off the goal saying he heard the horn go off before the puck went into the net. They go to video review and after 5 minutes of talking to the video judge and league officials in Toronto, they determine the replay was inconclusive and thus the goal did not stand, leading to a 4-3 loss.
There was the night of drama at home. My friends have noticed that my sister takes too many liberties nowadays. My parents second that, saying she's a bit out of control. Whenever I'm at home, they seem to be fine and I don't notice anything out of the ordinary. That changed on one night when my sister planned on going to the movies. Granted, she mentioned it in passing a couple of days earlier, but my parents don't get the message unless you tell them a couple of more times. Too many times though they'll get sick of it and they'll definitely say no. When the time came, she was ready to go but it was late and my parents had a vague notion on who was going to be with her. So predictably they said no and wouldn't let her go. Oh, did she cry her eyes out. Usually, after a few minutes, they'd let her go. But they stood their ground, like nothing I'd ever seen before. She was even willing to give up her drivers' license. After fifteen minutes, my mother let her go but it was in that tone of voice where you'd regret it if you did. So she gave up and had to break the news to her friends. In the morning, seemingly all was forgiven since there wasn't any mention of it.
There was my cousin's college plans. As every high school senior knows, March is the college admissions season and among the colleges she's been accepted to is Berkeley, albeit a Spring admit. I never understood the wisdom of Spring admissions. If they're as good as a Fall admit, they should allow them to join in the so-called fun instead of having them suffer from not having the perks available to a Fall Freshman. (I know, what perks?) Then again, I know a relative number of Spring admits doing much better than I am, so it might not be a bad idea to ease your way into a successful Berkeley career. Or they could waste away at another college.
There was Jennifer Garner. All over the television this week. She was at the Oscars wearing a powder blue dress that was obviously too small for her. She was on the rerun of Saturday Night Live, not being too funny but humorous nonetheless. And she was on Alias tonite where a bunch of stuff happened. She rode a mechanical bull. She sneaked her way into Russia and into Spain to save Christian Slater playing a scientist. She was witness to the death of Dixon's wife by way of a car bomb by Sloane, who saw that Dixon killed his wife as both were trying to get away in the last episode.
There were other things but for now, there's homework to be done and due at noon tomorrow.
First and foremost, there was Iraq. We're now in day 12 of the war and we're going nowhere. Every time I hear of the progress toward Baghdad, they keep saying they are 50 miles away. Today, they were making progress as they are now 49 miles away. Protests aren't as bad as I heard coming up to it, none of the threatened bridge closings and what not, just intersections. As for the war, the bombs seem to be devastating yet all it has done is allow a small percentage of Iraqis to rise up and fight for their "dying regime" spoiling the plans by the United States to keep this war quick. How quick? President Bush budgeted this war for less than a month. Now estimates are that it's going into the summer and maybe beyond. Hussein probably believes the longer this war is, the more protests there will be against the actions of President Bush, which would force some kind of cease-fire, something Secretary Rumsfeld and Pentagon officials vow will never happen. To my father, he doesn't believe in bringing in more troops. He knows how that could fail, seeing as how we're here instead of Vietnam. As he told me, as long as the North had rice to eat, they'd be unstoppable. Bombs wouldn't do any good if you're just dropping them blindly into the jungle. And in the end, the North won after the U.S. withdrew. My dad reasons then that unless they're able to starve out Baghdad now, they should just withdraw now. But instead they're in too deep and now there's no way out. I truly hope the U.S. can tough it out soon or else we're in it for the long haul.
There was the trip to the dentist office. Another new one, I think the seventh one. Nice old guy who went to Loyola Marymount and USC. Apparently, I've got perfect teeth but a little too much plaque. So they keep poking at my teeth with various metal objects causing my gums to bleed. The hygenist asks, "Do you know why your gums are bleeding?" If I was in my usual mood, I would've said it was from the sharp objects attacking my teeth. Instead, I looked away choosing to focus on the small amount of pain. She chose to promote the line of electronic toothbrushes out on the market today. She seemed to be putting down manual toothbrushes as if they were from the stone age or something. Sorry, I'll keep with my tried and true.
There was the Sharks game against the Stars, probably the best loss the Sharks have suffered. They gave up two early goals, but managed to battle back with some hard work and hustle to tie 2-2. But very quickly, they gave up a goal to go down 3-2. A good effort by Marco Sturm tied things right back at 3. A dumb penalty by Adam Graves allowed the Stars to take a one-goal lead with 2 minutes to play, forcing the Sharks to pull their goaltender for the extra skater. Teemu Selanne gets the puck with seconds remaining and backhands it in just as time expires. But the referee waves off the goal saying he heard the horn go off before the puck went into the net. They go to video review and after 5 minutes of talking to the video judge and league officials in Toronto, they determine the replay was inconclusive and thus the goal did not stand, leading to a 4-3 loss.
There was the night of drama at home. My friends have noticed that my sister takes too many liberties nowadays. My parents second that, saying she's a bit out of control. Whenever I'm at home, they seem to be fine and I don't notice anything out of the ordinary. That changed on one night when my sister planned on going to the movies. Granted, she mentioned it in passing a couple of days earlier, but my parents don't get the message unless you tell them a couple of more times. Too many times though they'll get sick of it and they'll definitely say no. When the time came, she was ready to go but it was late and my parents had a vague notion on who was going to be with her. So predictably they said no and wouldn't let her go. Oh, did she cry her eyes out. Usually, after a few minutes, they'd let her go. But they stood their ground, like nothing I'd ever seen before. She was even willing to give up her drivers' license. After fifteen minutes, my mother let her go but it was in that tone of voice where you'd regret it if you did. So she gave up and had to break the news to her friends. In the morning, seemingly all was forgiven since there wasn't any mention of it.
There was my cousin's college plans. As every high school senior knows, March is the college admissions season and among the colleges she's been accepted to is Berkeley, albeit a Spring admit. I never understood the wisdom of Spring admissions. If they're as good as a Fall admit, they should allow them to join in the so-called fun instead of having them suffer from not having the perks available to a Fall Freshman. (I know, what perks?) Then again, I know a relative number of Spring admits doing much better than I am, so it might not be a bad idea to ease your way into a successful Berkeley career. Or they could waste away at another college.
There was Jennifer Garner. All over the television this week. She was at the Oscars wearing a powder blue dress that was obviously too small for her. She was on the rerun of Saturday Night Live, not being too funny but humorous nonetheless. And she was on Alias tonite where a bunch of stuff happened. She rode a mechanical bull. She sneaked her way into Russia and into Spain to save Christian Slater playing a scientist. She was witness to the death of Dixon's wife by way of a car bomb by Sloane, who saw that Dixon killed his wife as both were trying to get away in the last episode.
There were other things but for now, there's homework to be done and due at noon tomorrow.
3/23/2003
The 75th Oscars have come to a close without a hitch and with it come a few surprises.
While everyone knew Chicago would win the big one, the other categories were in the air and while it was tempting to give Chicago the win by default, the Academy did the right thing in giving their awards to people who deserved them. Adrien Brody and Roman Polanski deserved those awards. I thought a lack of exposure would hurt The Pianist, the best movie of the year in my opinion, but where there's good work, people will follow and congrats to them. Even more important was that the Academy actually recognized quality work instead of being blinded by popularity and its audience pleasing ways, but they did give Chicago undeserving awards in some technical categories.
Polanski was also thought to be hurt by his outstanding criminal charge of rape of a 13-year-old girl some 20 years ago, which is why he can't step into this country again. His accuser came forward with a new interview to Larry King just days before ballots were due.
Brody made headlines afterwards by kissing Halle Berry, making two dreams come true in one night.
Michael Moore shocked the audience by denouncing President Bush in his speech as he won for Bowling for Columbine. While his opening statement was greeted with cheers, he was booed off the stage for keeping on with the anti-Bush speech.
Another shocker was the win by Eminem for Lose Yourself. It was the best song of the five offered, but would old Academy members stop to recognize such a work? And yes they did. It's nice to see his partner, Luis Resto (above, far right), dress up for the occasion.
The big loser was Gangs of New York, which I thought would do well in at least the technical categories, but instead becomes another loss for Scorsese and his gang.
Steve Martin did a fantastic job in hosting. Yes, a few jokes fell flat, but most were funny and most important, the show ran over only 30 minutes instead of the usual 45-75.
As for my predictions, I missed on 9 of them. I'll run them down. Missing 9 isn't so bad according to the Yahoo prediction game. I'm ranked #160 out of 32,000 predictors.
Brody had an excellent performance in The Pianist, but up against two veterans in quality roles? I thought he didn't have a chance. But he did. Well-done.
Polanski, along with Scorsese, both deserved a win, but here, I thought the Chicago bandwagon would rumble through here, but instead it crashed into Polanski's grand piano. At least it picked itself up for a win in Best Picture.
The Pianist also picked up an Oscar for Best Screenplay. Here, the actions of Brody and the direction by Polanski are truly what make the film, not its writing. The Hours mastery of three storylines would have been a better choice.
The Charming Man won for Live Action Short Film instead of my choice, Inja. Really, I've never watched any of them and based it on other people's opinions and the descriptions of the movie.
Art Direction, Editing, and Sound all went to Chicago. Sound I could understand. But editing should have gone to The Hours, again trying to balance the actions of three storylines, and art direction should have gone to Gangs of New York with its sets of 19th century New York instead of a stage and prison in 1920's Chicago. Chicago was a great film, in its directing and its songs, but technically, it was merely average.
Original score should have gone to The Hours with its piano work, but I will admit Frida's had a nice rhythm to it. It should also be noted that Frida's Goldenthal beat out veterans John Williams, Elmer Bernstein, Thomas Newman, and Philip Glass.
So, in total, Chicago won 6 awards while The Pianist scored 3 of more importance. Frida and The Two Towers both won 2.
And that's it. What will I write about now? I've only watched three films in 2003. One good, two bad. It's gonna be a long year.
3/21/2003
It's a depressing time we live in, isn't it? Even though Iraq is half a world away, we're being bombarded with it all the time now. Turn on a television and what do you get? Bombs bursting in the air. Small mushroom clouds where a building used to be. Whew, here's a comedy, and then, SPECIAL REPORT. And it goes on and on. Turn on a radio and listen to a Coldplay or Foo Fighters song and right after, get a news update about Iraq. Walk the streets and watch as protesters scream and yell about something they have no power to affect. So, let's see, we've got Iraq, Iraq, Iraq, Iraq, and Iraq.
I had a similar experience looking through my bookmarks the other day. Friends of mine have caught into the blogging experience like wildfire. But what do I see? Xanga, xanga, xanga, xanga, xanga, darkjournal changed to xanga, blogspot turned into xanga, blogspot turned into xanga, blogspot (what? am i reading correctly?), xanga, and it keeps going until I got to mine, a blogspot. I see xanga and I don't see anything special about it. Maybe it's for the young, cool types while I stick with blogspot and its decidedly popular 1.1 million population.
The funny thing about protests is how remarkably small crowds can be yet disrupt so much of what's around them. Here in Berkeley, 120 people were arrested at Sproul Hall for blocking the entrances and whatnot. Among other things, officials say admission letters will be delayed in being sent, making worried applicants even more nervous. At night, thousands marched down University Avenue and back again. Good thing I don't drive. Yet if you're away from the little realm the protesters are living in, life seems shockingly normal. Little talk about the war in the classes I went to. Various events went on as planned, such as the VSU's date auction, an event to raise money for their culture show. I happened to stop by since a friend of mine wanted to bid on someone who sadly did not go up. Also sad was the massive amounts of money spent on these dates. Hundreds of dollars were being spent on these people who did not look to be worth it, but I guess it's for a cause.
Cal got eliminated from the NCAA tournament. On a happier note, Stanfurd was eliminated too. Also eliminated was Zora from Joe Millionaire's life. Luckily, they both split a million dollars for their troubles. So, as always, there will be a balance in the world, whether it's in the force or in the few dollars left in my bank account.
I had a similar experience looking through my bookmarks the other day. Friends of mine have caught into the blogging experience like wildfire. But what do I see? Xanga, xanga, xanga, xanga, xanga, darkjournal changed to xanga, blogspot turned into xanga, blogspot turned into xanga, blogspot (what? am i reading correctly?), xanga, and it keeps going until I got to mine, a blogspot. I see xanga and I don't see anything special about it. Maybe it's for the young, cool types while I stick with blogspot and its decidedly popular 1.1 million population.
The funny thing about protests is how remarkably small crowds can be yet disrupt so much of what's around them. Here in Berkeley, 120 people were arrested at Sproul Hall for blocking the entrances and whatnot. Among other things, officials say admission letters will be delayed in being sent, making worried applicants even more nervous. At night, thousands marched down University Avenue and back again. Good thing I don't drive. Yet if you're away from the little realm the protesters are living in, life seems shockingly normal. Little talk about the war in the classes I went to. Various events went on as planned, such as the VSU's date auction, an event to raise money for their culture show. I happened to stop by since a friend of mine wanted to bid on someone who sadly did not go up. Also sad was the massive amounts of money spent on these dates. Hundreds of dollars were being spent on these people who did not look to be worth it, but I guess it's for a cause.
Cal got eliminated from the NCAA tournament. On a happier note, Stanfurd was eliminated too. Also eliminated was Zora from Joe Millionaire's life. Luckily, they both split a million dollars for their troubles. So, as always, there will be a balance in the world, whether it's in the force or in the few dollars left in my bank account.
3/19/2003
President Bush, citing numerous violations of United Nations resolutions, has put together a coalition of allied forces, though mostly American, to come into the Middle East and take out the threat Saddam Hussein presents. I was in the third grade when this happened the first time and twelve years later, we are back where we started. In a perfect world, none of this would be happening. We'd all be living in harmony with one another and everyone would be living comfortably without the thought that this day will be their last. But dreams sadly are not reality. Instead, dangers threaten our world everyday. Saddam presents one of the more prominent dangers today but this military action promised by our president threatens to worsen the quality of life we're struggling to keep up today. Now that the deadline for Saddam to leave Iraq has passed, it's only a matter of time until Bush gives the order to attack. From that point forward, the world will be changed in a drastic way once again. As dangerous as the world is, it is also unpredictable. Sure, it may quell one danger, but two or three others may pop up. Bush's actions may open the Pandora's box of evil and nothing would be able to stop it. Then again, it may also send a message that the United States has no fear and wouldn't hesistate for a second to act upon any situation. Whatever happens, we must be worried first and foremost with the here and now. And the here and now asks us to wish the troops carrying out the mission of this country safety through whatever obstacles they will face and a safe journey home.
3/17/2003
Phone Booth
"Who do you think you are?" asks the billboard behind the phone booth. Colin Farrell is forced to ask both a sniper and himself this question to try to get out of the nightmare he's put himself in.
Farrell plays Stuart Shepard, a hard-working publicist who lies and deceives his way into the big leagues. Now, he enjoys a nice life with many connections throughout the city and a loving wife at home. He's also seeing someone else, Pam, played by Katie Holmes in a very small role. This has made him a target of one particular sniper (Kiefer Sutherland) who preys upon people who have done bad things in their lives. After he enters this phone booth where he calls Pam to avoid his wife Kelly to see the calls on his cell phone, he receives a call from the sniper, and soon becomes the target. Things get more complicated when the sniper shoots an innocent bouncer in the street, something witnesses believe Stu did himself. What ensues is a dangerous game where Stu must negotiate his way out of the nightmare he's in with the sniper while the police surround him with guns in hand waiting for him to come out. All that the sniper wants is for Stu to fess up to all that can hear the sound of his voice, including Pam and Kelly who have now joined the scene and unknowingly have become targets themselves. How will Stu get out of this one? Only time will tell, and that's almost run out.
In terms of execution, the film is excellent. The action is non-stop and the tension is high. You can't take your eyes off it, eagerly awaiting what comes next. Credit director Joel Schumacher, who will get praise for this after duds like Bad Company, 8MM, and Batman & Robin. It's a simple story where every step leads to a more complicated situation. Will he step away? Will he use the gun and take matters into his own hands? One minor quibble is the motivation for the sniper to do this. Sure, having a mistress is bad to have, but is it really worth choosing life or death over it? There are far worse people he could be targeting. But still, it's all too riveting for someone to overlook this film. 3 stars
"Who do you think you are?" asks the billboard behind the phone booth. Colin Farrell is forced to ask both a sniper and himself this question to try to get out of the nightmare he's put himself in.
Farrell plays Stuart Shepard, a hard-working publicist who lies and deceives his way into the big leagues. Now, he enjoys a nice life with many connections throughout the city and a loving wife at home. He's also seeing someone else, Pam, played by Katie Holmes in a very small role. This has made him a target of one particular sniper (Kiefer Sutherland) who preys upon people who have done bad things in their lives. After he enters this phone booth where he calls Pam to avoid his wife Kelly to see the calls on his cell phone, he receives a call from the sniper, and soon becomes the target. Things get more complicated when the sniper shoots an innocent bouncer in the street, something witnesses believe Stu did himself. What ensues is a dangerous game where Stu must negotiate his way out of the nightmare he's in with the sniper while the police surround him with guns in hand waiting for him to come out. All that the sniper wants is for Stu to fess up to all that can hear the sound of his voice, including Pam and Kelly who have now joined the scene and unknowingly have become targets themselves. How will Stu get out of this one? Only time will tell, and that's almost run out.
In terms of execution, the film is excellent. The action is non-stop and the tension is high. You can't take your eyes off it, eagerly awaiting what comes next. Credit director Joel Schumacher, who will get praise for this after duds like Bad Company, 8MM, and Batman & Robin. It's a simple story where every step leads to a more complicated situation. Will he step away? Will he use the gun and take matters into his own hands? One minor quibble is the motivation for the sniper to do this. Sure, having a mistress is bad to have, but is it really worth choosing life or death over it? There are far worse people he could be targeting. But still, it's all too riveting for someone to overlook this film. 3 stars
3/14/2003
Upon hearing that a group of war protesters blocked foot and auto traffic in San Francisco's Financial District this morning, a Berkeley homeless man wondered aloud, "What's so special about that? I do that every day here and nobody cares."
How's this for a vote of confidence: President Bush with a big thumbs up as he entered his helicopter on his way to Portugal for a last-minute emergency summit with allies.
Today's Yahoo-worthy front page headline is that little sleep may be as bad as no sleep at all. Many nights of 6 or less hours is equivalent to staying up for two days straight, the study says. Really. Then what's to explain my eight hours of sleep at night contributing to my little naps during lectures?
Watching college basketball the last couple of days, it's clear that this has gotten much more exciting than its NBA counterpart. You've got dominating teams, cinderella stories, scandals, and a big tournament to wrap things up. All the NBA has had for the past few years is a big guy and a scorer dominating the entire league. Nothin' special about that.
The good box office people at AC Nielsen have figured out that Kirsten Dunst and Christopher Lee were the top-grossing actress and actor in 2002. Dunst starred in the popular Spider-Man movie and the less-than-popular The Cat's Meow. Lee was prominently featured in Attack of the Clones and The Two Towers. And while Steven Spielberg was the director of the most films last year (3, including the ET re-release), their combined gross could not surpass Sam Raimi's Spider-Man. Likewise, Charlie Kaufman's 3 screenplays could not surpass the gross of David Koepp's Spider-Man plus Panic Room.
So let me get this straight. After 7 months, Elizabeth Smart has been found. Yet, it's been described that she was being paraded around Utah and Southern California during those months away from her family, albeit covered up. But really, nobody recognized her? Elizabeth never recognized the flyers with her picture on it while just walking with her captors through Salt Lake City? It seems as though this could have been resolved in less than 7 months, but good news nonetheless.
UCLink, the Berkeley email service, had been down all week due to a technical glitch. It has since been fixed. A spokesman was quoted as saying that many machines break down and that this one wasn't any different. It's comforting to know that email is guaranteed to stop working at some point in the near future. Luckily, I wasn't a person with a username that started with the letters j-o. All their email was erased.
Finally, there comes word that spell-check software may not be as useful as the old brain itself. Researchers at Pitt did a study to see if it was advantageous to use spell-check software or not. Without it, a person with a high verbal SAT score made on average 5 errors per page while a person with a low one made about 17 errors on average. With Microsoft Word's squiggly lines, both types of people made about 16-17 errors per page. So I guess it pays to take those grammar classes.
But as usual, this post has not been spell-checked.
How's this for a vote of confidence: President Bush with a big thumbs up as he entered his helicopter on his way to Portugal for a last-minute emergency summit with allies.
Today's Yahoo-worthy front page headline is that little sleep may be as bad as no sleep at all. Many nights of 6 or less hours is equivalent to staying up for two days straight, the study says. Really. Then what's to explain my eight hours of sleep at night contributing to my little naps during lectures?
Watching college basketball the last couple of days, it's clear that this has gotten much more exciting than its NBA counterpart. You've got dominating teams, cinderella stories, scandals, and a big tournament to wrap things up. All the NBA has had for the past few years is a big guy and a scorer dominating the entire league. Nothin' special about that.
The good box office people at AC Nielsen have figured out that Kirsten Dunst and Christopher Lee were the top-grossing actress and actor in 2002. Dunst starred in the popular Spider-Man movie and the less-than-popular The Cat's Meow. Lee was prominently featured in Attack of the Clones and The Two Towers. And while Steven Spielberg was the director of the most films last year (3, including the ET re-release), their combined gross could not surpass Sam Raimi's Spider-Man. Likewise, Charlie Kaufman's 3 screenplays could not surpass the gross of David Koepp's Spider-Man plus Panic Room.
So let me get this straight. After 7 months, Elizabeth Smart has been found. Yet, it's been described that she was being paraded around Utah and Southern California during those months away from her family, albeit covered up. But really, nobody recognized her? Elizabeth never recognized the flyers with her picture on it while just walking with her captors through Salt Lake City? It seems as though this could have been resolved in less than 7 months, but good news nonetheless.
UCLink, the Berkeley email service, had been down all week due to a technical glitch. It has since been fixed. A spokesman was quoted as saying that many machines break down and that this one wasn't any different. It's comforting to know that email is guaranteed to stop working at some point in the near future. Luckily, I wasn't a person with a username that started with the letters j-o. All their email was erased.
Finally, there comes word that spell-check software may not be as useful as the old brain itself. Researchers at Pitt did a study to see if it was advantageous to use spell-check software or not. Without it, a person with a high verbal SAT score made on average 5 errors per page while a person with a low one made about 17 errors on average. With Microsoft Word's squiggly lines, both types of people made about 16-17 errors per page. So I guess it pays to take those grammar classes.
But as usual, this post has not been spell-checked.
3/09/2003
Wednesday was the "books not bombs" national day of protest by students. Instead of dropping bombs, students protested the government's stance on Iraq by dropping their books and leaving class. At Cal, the protest was quiet for Berkeley standards. Ironically, it started at noon with the campus fire drill, every first Wednesday of the month. More than half the crowd was high school students and even so, the protest was so small that the Daily Cal had written that Stanfurd's protest was bigger. What's wrong? Is it devoted students who chose not to go to a protest and instead to class? Is the student population turning conservative? Do they want a war? It's not an easy question to answer. But suffice it to say, only outspoken critics of the war are making any noise. The others are either for the war or are against it and feel there's no way to stop the Bush administration.
Right now, I'm beginning to see things in a Bush light. U.N Resolution 1441 ordered Iraq to give up all its weapons and it was up to inspectors to confirm this. They weren't sent there to go on a treasure hunt for weapons, which is exactly what they're doing over there. Iraq's 10,000 page report basically stated they destroyed their weapons and don't have any. Instead, the inspectors have found empty chemical missile casings, and other missiles that can travel farther than the limit allows. Full cooperation was ordered but with this and the many conditions the Iraqi government has placed on scientist interviews, it's clear inspections in this light are not working. Yes, inspections are working in the form of containment but with intelligence indicating that Saddam is continuing to build the same missiles he's destroying in front of inspectors, we can't be assured that inspections alone will prevent Saddam's weapons buildup. Nobody wants a war but the military option must be open to both provide validity to the inspections for the time being and to fully execute that option once the time comes, which isn't long now. It's been 3 months since inspections began, 6 months since President Bush made his first speech to the U.N. about Iraq, and 12 years since the end of the Gulf War.
People say we should be worried about North Korea more than Iraq since they have nuclear material and the facilities to create nuclear weapons. But people must understand North Korea does this for the money and aid since they're very poor. Saddam's pretty rich from the oil he's sitting on so money's not the problem, it's power that he wants and he may choose to gain that power by using his weapons on the people around him. He's already tried that in Kuwait and luckily, the world managed to stop him there. He'll be smarter the next time out and that's why the U.S. and the world must not give him that chance. At some point, North Korea will be desperate to the point that they may consider using their nuclear weapons, but now is not the time. Iraq is in the spotlight now. Because the war drive seems unstoppable, it must happen sooner than later, both to calm fears of an Iraqi attack and to calm Americans, whose uncertainty about the future has driven down consumer confidence and the economy with it.
Right now, I'm beginning to see things in a Bush light. U.N Resolution 1441 ordered Iraq to give up all its weapons and it was up to inspectors to confirm this. They weren't sent there to go on a treasure hunt for weapons, which is exactly what they're doing over there. Iraq's 10,000 page report basically stated they destroyed their weapons and don't have any. Instead, the inspectors have found empty chemical missile casings, and other missiles that can travel farther than the limit allows. Full cooperation was ordered but with this and the many conditions the Iraqi government has placed on scientist interviews, it's clear inspections in this light are not working. Yes, inspections are working in the form of containment but with intelligence indicating that Saddam is continuing to build the same missiles he's destroying in front of inspectors, we can't be assured that inspections alone will prevent Saddam's weapons buildup. Nobody wants a war but the military option must be open to both provide validity to the inspections for the time being and to fully execute that option once the time comes, which isn't long now. It's been 3 months since inspections began, 6 months since President Bush made his first speech to the U.N. about Iraq, and 12 years since the end of the Gulf War.
People say we should be worried about North Korea more than Iraq since they have nuclear material and the facilities to create nuclear weapons. But people must understand North Korea does this for the money and aid since they're very poor. Saddam's pretty rich from the oil he's sitting on so money's not the problem, it's power that he wants and he may choose to gain that power by using his weapons on the people around him. He's already tried that in Kuwait and luckily, the world managed to stop him there. He'll be smarter the next time out and that's why the U.S. and the world must not give him that chance. At some point, North Korea will be desperate to the point that they may consider using their nuclear weapons, but now is not the time. Iraq is in the spotlight now. Because the war drive seems unstoppable, it must happen sooner than later, both to calm fears of an Iraqi attack and to calm Americans, whose uncertainty about the future has driven down consumer confidence and the economy with it.
3/08/2003
It was a long day running around Berkeley, but getting back early evening got me home in time for the two sports games on TV: the Sharks game and the Cal-Stanfurd basketball game, and to study for yet another midterm. Let's take a look at the lowlights.
The Sharks were rolling, building a 3-0 lead in the first. McCauley seemed like a solid character but will never be a Nolan. That was one of the strongest periods they've played this year. They were dominating and connecting. Then it all snowballed downhill from there. The next period was a disaster. Phoenix scored 4 unanswered goals. The third period was simply a game of keep away, with the teams trading goals for the eventual 6-4 final. Even with the great first period, this is easily their worst game this season.
Halfway through the Sharks game, Cal and Stanfurd tipped off at Maples. Cal won the first game at Haas 72-59. It was clear with the regular season finale that this would be different. Coming into the game, Stanfurd was riding high with only a loss to Arizona as a blemish in its record in the past few weeks. Cal was struggling, with losses to Arizona and UCLA and close wins with the Washington schools, USC, and Arizona State. As a result, it was no surprise how the game would start. Stanfurd jumped out to an 18-point lead. But collective foul trouble put Cal on the free-throw line and in the game. By the middle of the second half, they brought the lead back down to 4. The Cardinal's stifling defense, a precise man-to-man instead of a zone, contained the big three of Cal and kept the game out of reach for the Bears. Notably, Amit Tamir did awful, scoring 2 points, never finding a rhythm, and playing lackluster defense and ball control. The Cardinal won 72-60. Assuming they win their first round games next week in the Pac-10 tournament, they will meet again on Friday.
It was a very bad day for the Bears on this Cardinal day. The Bears lost every meeting against Stanfurd today. Women's basketball lost 60-35 in the second round of the Pac-10 tournament. Baseball lost the second of 3 games. Men's swimming earned second place at the Pac-10 championships. In first place was the Cardinal.
Why was it that the Cal band played on and on during the basketball game? Sure, they have a right, but it is on Stanfurd's home court. Shouldn't they get to go first? For example, the halftime buzzer sounded, and very quickly, the sounds of "Fight for California" played the Bears off the court. Hmm, that Stanfurd tree changes more times than Michael Jackson's face, am I right? Then there's this 6th Man the Cardinal posess on their home court. First of all, they clumsily did a Go...Bears! chant with Go...Stanfurd! Not only was it pretty slow, they did it for an awfully long time. Then, when they won, they rushed the court. Why? Yes, Cal's good but this isn't court-worthy. Besides people can get hurt and rushing the court, or even a football field, shouldn't occur whatsoever unless it is the culmination of dedication and/or frustration. A general example would be winning some kind of championship. A Cal example would be winning the Big Game after so many years of not doing so, though the actions of those people rushing the field that day were pretty bad too. Finally, there's the composition of this 6th Man group. I'm sorry to say, most of them were white, save for the stray Indian or African-American person. If it was a public school, the Cal affirmative action folks would be having a field day.
The Sharks were rolling, building a 3-0 lead in the first. McCauley seemed like a solid character but will never be a Nolan. That was one of the strongest periods they've played this year. They were dominating and connecting. Then it all snowballed downhill from there. The next period was a disaster. Phoenix scored 4 unanswered goals. The third period was simply a game of keep away, with the teams trading goals for the eventual 6-4 final. Even with the great first period, this is easily their worst game this season.
Halfway through the Sharks game, Cal and Stanfurd tipped off at Maples. Cal won the first game at Haas 72-59. It was clear with the regular season finale that this would be different. Coming into the game, Stanfurd was riding high with only a loss to Arizona as a blemish in its record in the past few weeks. Cal was struggling, with losses to Arizona and UCLA and close wins with the Washington schools, USC, and Arizona State. As a result, it was no surprise how the game would start. Stanfurd jumped out to an 18-point lead. But collective foul trouble put Cal on the free-throw line and in the game. By the middle of the second half, they brought the lead back down to 4. The Cardinal's stifling defense, a precise man-to-man instead of a zone, contained the big three of Cal and kept the game out of reach for the Bears. Notably, Amit Tamir did awful, scoring 2 points, never finding a rhythm, and playing lackluster defense and ball control. The Cardinal won 72-60. Assuming they win their first round games next week in the Pac-10 tournament, they will meet again on Friday.
It was a very bad day for the Bears on this Cardinal day. The Bears lost every meeting against Stanfurd today. Women's basketball lost 60-35 in the second round of the Pac-10 tournament. Baseball lost the second of 3 games. Men's swimming earned second place at the Pac-10 championships. In first place was the Cardinal.
Why was it that the Cal band played on and on during the basketball game? Sure, they have a right, but it is on Stanfurd's home court. Shouldn't they get to go first? For example, the halftime buzzer sounded, and very quickly, the sounds of "Fight for California" played the Bears off the court. Hmm, that Stanfurd tree changes more times than Michael Jackson's face, am I right? Then there's this 6th Man the Cardinal posess on their home court. First of all, they clumsily did a Go...Bears! chant with Go...Stanfurd! Not only was it pretty slow, they did it for an awfully long time. Then, when they won, they rushed the court. Why? Yes, Cal's good but this isn't court-worthy. Besides people can get hurt and rushing the court, or even a football field, shouldn't occur whatsoever unless it is the culmination of dedication and/or frustration. A general example would be winning some kind of championship. A Cal example would be winning the Big Game after so many years of not doing so, though the actions of those people rushing the field that day were pretty bad too. Finally, there's the composition of this 6th Man group. I'm sorry to say, most of them were white, save for the stray Indian or African-American person. If it was a public school, the Cal affirmative action folks would be having a field day.
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