At the Movies and Robin Williams

I'd driven past the marquee several times that indicated the movie house was showing The Butler, with Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, and others. Then we moved to the other end of town and the sign was no longer visible on the drive home. However, it stayed on our radar and last month we finally got around to watching it.

This was an outstanding movie, although a tiny bit predictable in places. It joins my personal list of films I have trouble watching, because they are so well done. Sideways, Crash, and Dead Poets Society all fit in this category.

I won't bore you with lengthy plot discussions, but the movie is centered around the life of Cecil Gaines (Whitaker), who serves eight presidents during his tenure as a butler at the White House. He works there during some very turbulent times, including Vietnam and the civil rights movement.

It was a history lesson unlike any I've ever seen. I like seeing who we are, as a people/nation, and where we've been. We first see Cecil as a boy working on a cotton farm in the deep south. We watch him grow into a man and see him get out of the cotton field, and see how these historical events affect his work, his wife, and his kids. It also gave us a small look into what it was like being a black man trying to raise his family in the shadow of these times.

The ensemble cast was impeccable, including Vanessa Redgrave, John Cusack, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Lenny Kravitz, and more. Great actors all got together to put a stellar product out there. I enjoy movies that are well written, tell me a story, and make me feel something. Director Lee Daniels told me a story from a different perspective, and I loved it.

Another cast member in The Butler, playing the role of Dwight Eisenhower (son of Kansas), was Robin Williams. Surely by now you've heard of his death by suicide at the age of 63. I will not judge the man for the choices he made. I am about as sad as I was when I heard of the deaths of James Gandolfini and Philip Seymour Hoffman. We are lesser for not having these men around, they are sorely missed, and we will no longer get to marvel at their creativity.

The First Lady and I commemorated Williams' passing by having a bit of a Robin Williams film festival. We watched The Fisher King, Good Morning Vietnam, and The Birdcage. For someone whose persona was a man with a scalding case of ADHD, he sure did seem to fully grasp the nuances of his characters in these films. I had never seen The Birdcage, and it was fantastic. I've also seen him in Dead Poets Society, as mentioned, and Good Will Hunting, and he was fabulous. He was in too many other films to mention here, but I look forward to seeing some of his other stuff, including a rewatching of What Dreams May Come. What an actor.

He also did one hell of a job of making us laugh and forget our troubles. If you haven't listened to A Night at the Met (1986) you owe it to yourself to give it a shot.

Black Friday

Editor's note: I just noticed this post I wrote in November 2013, and am posting it now. It's pretty sweet to post it now, since I've put in notice.

I work in the fitness department at a big box sporting goods store, and I really didn't look forward to spending any of my Thanksgiving away from my sweet wife. Working Black Thursday/Friday is more than just working the shift-- it's preparing to do so. It's cutting things off or not doing them at all. Changing plans so that others can go shop when they're tired of doing the family bit.

I went in at 7:30, and saw people lined up past the building. Great. We're gonna get snowed. So we had out little staff powwow and we manned our sections. As it turns out, my fitness coworker and I had it pretty easy. We sold two bicycles in the first half hour, then nothing. People came and looked, lifted/played with the weight sets, punched the heavy bags and left, just like they usually do. We just became support types, helping as needed. There was plenty to do, since apparel was strewn all over the place, and folks put items back on the shelf nearest to where they changed their minds.

Because customers came for .22 ammunition, shoes, and clothes. The outdoor section by itself ran three lines trying to help folks. The store was pretty full, and the checkout line ran all the way to the back to store where we work, but it wasn't a mob scene. It stayed that way until maybe midnight or 1 am. The nearby movie theater was open, and it seemed like people came in and looked because they didn't want to go home yet. 

I guess I'm wondering and maybe ranting a little, as to what this is all about. I understand there are fewer days between holidays this year, and that businesses don't make money by staying closed. Perhaps the competition is wanting their share of the pie and our company doesn't want to get left out. I don't get paid unless the meter's running. I get that too. But I worked an eight-hour shift that ended at 4:00, and went back in at 5:00 Friday evening. 

But for all the extended holiday hours (which folks haven't become aware of yet), how about opening at midnight or early the next morning? Because these were well-dressed people who came in-- people who were shopping because they could, and didn't seem to need a holiday sale to come out. And I'll speculate here, but I wonder how many people put ammunition under the tree for the hunter in the family. I'm a transplanted Midwesterner, so I'm not sure. 

Understand that I like the people I work for and with. But it didn't seem like we were thankful for very long. 

Pocket Soccer

Let's be realistic-- many apps on our phones are nothing more than time wasters. Got 15 minutes to kill? There's an app for that. I play a lot of Words and Scramble with Friends, check Facebook and Seesmic, plus other random games.

But the one that I keep coming back to is this one, something I found while looking through the top apps section of a magazine at the grocery store a few years back.

Pocket Soccer, by Rastergrid Entertainment. As you can see, it's a three-on-three indoor soccer game, with the three discs moving about the board much like the puck on an air hockey table. Your finger controls where the discs go, and the controls are very responsive. You're able to 'kick' the ball directly, bounce it off a side or end wall, or hit another disc into the ball. All that matters is that the ball goes into the net.

Lots of gameplay options are available in single-player or tournament mode. What kind of ball is used, playing surface, and whether you play to 5 (or 10) or in timed mode. I typically play tournaments with a one-minute clock, choosing a country and trying to win (or tie) four matches to win a title.

Tournament mode screencap. The player can choose any or all of the 16 teams, or let the computer select.

This app has long since reached addictive status for me. I play several times a day, working to get my tourney winning percentage up (currently at 51%). I'm a bit of a stats guy, so I look at wins on easy/medium/hard levels, plus my player rating vs. all who play.

For all the games and time killers on my phone, this is the one I keep coming back to. The only negative I can find is on the title screen, where the World Class option is perpetually 'coming soon.' I'd sure be eager to see the possibilities with that, though if the designers haven't done anything with it yet, it's possible they won't. Also helpful would be an in-progress scoreboard, since the score is only displayed when a goal is scored.

I still love playing the game, though. It has a good beat and I can dance to it. 4.5/5 stars.

The Big Bang Theory and Vanity Cards

The wife and I have become big fans of The Big Bang Theory. We watch it weeknights in between Jeopardy episodes, and are never disappointed. It's a terrific show that makes us laugh constantly. Sheldon, Leonard, Howard, Raj, and Penny all have their quirks, and Amy, Stuart the comic book guy, and others all add to the mosaic to what is 22 minutes of great TV programming.

Another thing I like is show co-creator Chuck Lorre's Vanity Cards at the end of each episode. Typically the card flashes up there long enough for me to see the number and maybe a thought or two. It's not possible (unless you pause the DVR) to see the entire message, so I look online to see what the man has to say, because I find myself looking forward to reading his stuff-- it makes me think a little, and it gives insight into a man that I wouldn't understand by seeing scripts interpreted by others.

As this post goes to press there are 431 vanity cards, and they include his other shows, such as Dharma & Greg, Two and a Half Men and Mike and Molly. I obviously won't share everything, but here are a few snippets that get my mind to working.

"It's safe to talk openly and honestly with people because they're not really listening." (#331)

I don't know how accurate the 'openly and honestly' part is, mainly because it frightens me. However, I am reasonably sure we don't really listen to each other. It seems as though any pause in a conversation is someone else's chance to jump in with what they have to say. That the first person isn't done talking is irrelevant. Do we really pay attention?

Many of his cards are parables. Others are good stories (#321).

Some are too long to share here, but are riotously funny. Google Chuck Lorre #329 and then try to tell me otherwise.

But the first one I remember seeing (I remember because I saved it to my favorites) is #196:

my soul's journey

To let go of the fear and anger which imprisons my heart,
To relinquish all childish expectations and live joyfully in the world as it is --
      not as I wish or imagine it to be,
To be free of the always craven and ever-craving ego,
To be released from the endless hungers of the body,
To see God in others,
To see God in everything,
To die without death and merge my consciousness into the
      cosmic sea of bliss from which I came,
To crank out two sitcoms a week that can compete
      with a deaf chick dancing her ass off...
This is my soul's journey.

I get a lot of insight from things like this. I can see a part of his soul and also a sense of humor and realism that has helped him crank out so many sitcoms over the years.

Movie Review, Enough Said

The First Lady and I went to the movies earlier today to see Enough Said, with James Gandolfini and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. It's a movie that did not disappoint.

The movie played at Cine, here in Athens, Georgia. They sell beer at this movie house, so I certainly hope we go back to see another picture.

The last show I saw at the theater was Man of Steel, the most recent entry in the Superman cash grab. I'm not a big 'special effects' guy, so that movie didn't impress me. Enough Said wowed the both of us because it was a movie about real people dealing genuinely with real-world problems. And if you tell me a story, you don't need special effects. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel also did this and succeeded.

Anyhow, Julia Louis-Dreyfus is Eva, a masseuse who is divorced and about to send her one child to college (side note: Seinfeld irony, since a famous episode is about Jerry dating a masseuse). Albert is also a divorced parent in a similar situation, and Eva meets Marianne, a poet, at the same event where she meets Albert. Eva soon gets Marianne as a client and friend, and she starts dating Albert, and the movie takes off from there.

We both loved this movie. Gandolfini (sadly, in the next-to-last role before his passing) was outstanding in his portrayal of Albert. Louis-Dreyfus proved to me that she's more than a comedy actress. The side plots all added to the mosaic of the film, in the sense that it helped us see how the characters were trying to resolve their issues, and in helping us to identify with them. The wife and I don't share anything in common with the two protagonists, but we sure could identify with their idiosyncrasies.

Seeing this movie does make me sad that I will have but one more chance to see James Gandolfini do anything. There's one more film coming out next year, but it won't have writer/director Nicole Holofcener's name on it, so we'll see. I may have to find more of Holofcener's work, as well as go back and see The Sopranos. I may also latch onto Veep, which is Dreyfus' latest comedy series. I was that impressed.

The movie did not get a wide distribution and has only grossed about 15 million dollars, which tells you what the average movie goer expects nowadays. It's their loss, because I thought Enough Said told me a story, the characters were genuine, and it held my attention.

Outstanding movie-- one I would strongly recommend.

Three Questions

Hindsight is typically 20/20. We can look at the actions of another and wonder what she/he was thinking. We're not in the cauldron with them, and we don't share any of their life's experiences that helped lead to the choice they made. 

I think I'd like to meet some makers of history, away from the bombast and TV cameras. I get that these people need to have a certain public persona in order to inspire. I think that can be done without sacrificing who you are. I'd sure like to speak to some people in a down-to-earth, relaxed format. We'll assume that they're still alive and that we'd get honest answers. In return, treat them kindly and fairly. 

So here are three questions I'd ask The King, Elvis Presley. From a list of millions, I'll narrow it down to three. Instead of speculating as to how he'd answer, I'll try to explain why I'm asking and maybe let you think about his reply. 

First, a few words. Elvis is still one of the most talked about people in America, even 35 years after his death. His music still resonates, and Graceland is a major tourist attraction. He is a musician who still had so much to contribute, which means we are lesser for his not being here. I am not a music savant, and I only have a basic knowledge about the man himself. I was six years old when he died and I remember seeing all the news coverage, not understanding why this was such a big thing. I get it now, though.

Question one: 

Thousands and thousands of fans loved your music and your act, but talk show hosts like Ed Sullivan didn't seem to appreciate them and took steps to sanitize your on-stage presentation. Those guys talked about the bad influence you had on society. But obviously there was a huge demand. Given where our culture has gone, do you think your music played a bad role in society? Was the sentiment already out there and just needed someone (not necessarily you) to express it? How much of a part do you think you played in this shift?

Question two:

Your twin brother was stillborn, you were picked on/bullied as a kid, and a lot of people said you had no talent. You didn't seem interested in color lines in the segregated South when it came to music. With those things in mind, what role did your experiences as a youth play in creating your musical identity?

Question three:

Though you made a lot of movies in the 1960s, there were some other more substantial and golden opportunities to stretch your horizons throughout your career. In addition, the music late in your career sounded different than the songs that made you what you are. But things did seem to go pretty well there for a long time. So-- Colonel Tom Parker: good choice or bad choice? 

Bonus question:

You spoke of loneliness/emptiness, your marriage to Priscilla didn't work out, and of course there's the way it all ended. Is there one thing or one decision you look back on that could have changed how those things played out?

Wow. The more I wrote and thought about this, the harder it became to narrow it down. What a fascinating person. 

And for the record, my favorite Elvis tune is Kentucky Rain. It's sung with such emotion and feeling, and it paints a vivid, colorful picture of a man who is looking for answers to a question he never thought he'd have to ask. You can almost hear his heart breaking.

The Newsroom

In 2004, I drove to Denver to watch UTEP play Maryland in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. The Miners lost, I spent too much money and drank too much beer, but it was a great time. One of the things I did between dates (they played Thursday, and winners moved on to play Saturday) was visit the Coors brewery in Golden, Colorado. I have always been interested in how things are made and how the machine works, although beer is on the short list of things that maybe I’m better off not knowing how it’s created. 

TV news is another one of those things that I’m not so much interested in the final product, but that I like knowing how the wheels turn. This is a big reason why the wife and I now both sit ourselves down and watch The Newsroom on HBO.

I’m a recovering local TV news guy (the therapy is helping), so I have a bit of a working knowledge of how things work, but I was a morning/noon guy, and the pace was a little slower. The characters are in a fast-paced national network newsroom, one in which I would disintegrate quickly.

I suppose another reason is that this is an Aaron Sorkin creation. We were (and are) still big fans of The West Wing, another Sorkin show, and it’s easy to see the similarities. Sharp writing, flawed yet believable characters, and fast-paced shows are all things we recognize.

What also helps is that it helps paint a picture of what newsgathering really is. I know we have national news channels that folks think lean one way or the other. The Newsroom even had a recent episode dealing with this, where a producer edited video to achieve the end he wanted. But I like knowing how the doughnuts are made, and that real people are trying to make real decisions, based on their own experiences and a really tight deadline.

I almost forgot to talk about what big Sam Waterston fans we both are. Really liked him on Law and Order, though you knew eventually he'd get bumped to district attorney. He seemed a little out of place in the big chair. But in The Newsroom, we enjoy seeing him be something very different.

So The Newsroom tells me a story.