2 posts tagged “george clooney”

I've been pretty quiet here at Trifle for a couple of reasons. First off, work has been pretty hectic, as we try to get a version together for a BIG customer. While my company is very very good at resisting long, involved changes for the sake of one customer, when a multi-billion dollar company really really wants something that is on your upcoming feature list, you tend to do your best to deliver it early, right?

I've also become something of Twitter-holic, especially since I added unlimited text messaging to our cellphone plan. As I've mentioned before, I have even received some timely help via my twitter "neighborhood", which is a feedback loop that is hard to resist. I've stopped using TwitterFox though. For one thing, Firefox itself is slightly too unstable, as it tends to crash about twice a day, so I figure I need to cut back on my Addons. Secondly, typing gets very very very slow. Not sure what that is, besides a general Firefox slowdown, but it makes it impossible to use.

So I've been beta (maybe even alpha!) testing phpitter, a PHP(!) app. It took some work to get it installed, but the SVN version is reasonably solid at this point. I suppose I should look at twitux. Or maybe write my own, eh?

But anyway, a couple of short takes on my time wasting efforts, besides Twitter:

• I read Debatable Space by Philip Palmer. A pretty long science fiction novel, it tells the story of some space pirates who kidnap a VIP and then proceed to try and topple the current galactic overlords. A little too much internal dialog by the VIP, and not quite enough action, but the book postulates an interesting future of limitless resources and "travel" by avatar, as the light speed speed limit is still obeyed. If you like "hard" sci-fi, I think you'll like this book. Just skip over all the interminable Lena reflections and you won't miss a thing.
  

• I watched Michael Clayton onDemand and was decidedly underwhelmed. Originally, I had no interest in the movie. Who cares about battle lawyers? But the previews I saw on cable made it look pretty intense, so I used my free coupon to "rent" it. The beginning was cool, with a very startling event punctuating a quiet time, but then it rewound time (which I generally like in a movie) and got dull. I just never understood why George Clooney's Michael Clayton suddenly got attacked by a case of the guilts. Some whacko lawyer friend of his decides that defending big business is right and he somehow infects Clayton, whose conscience bothers him after years and years of protecting the big guy. I never got connected with him and so the last 2/3rds of the film just didn't resonate. Oh well.
  

• Fever Pitch became available online at Fancast (a Comcast site), so I watched that yet again while "working" yesterday. Man, the 2004 ALCS still brings a tear to me eye. I wonder if any but heartfelt Red Sox fans can really "get it". It's not as painful as Game Six, as it has a much better ending, but still...
  

Narrator: Ben became one of God's most pathetic creatures - a Red Sox fan.
Uncle Carl: Careful kid. They'll break your heart.

Michael Clayton (Widescreen Edition)

Debatable Space

Fever Pitch (Widescreen Edition)

My movie for the weekend was Good Night, and Good Luck, a very well received move from 2005 which told the story of Edward R. Murrow's battle to expose Joseph McCarthy's "Commie Witch hunt" as nothing but Constitutionally challenged paranoia. This black and white film was nominated for six Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Actor, although it did not win any.

David Strathairn as Edward R. Murrow and George Clooney as his producer Fred Friendly are excellent in showing their growing resolve to butt heads against the growing paranoia of Joe McCarthy (played quite ably by himself via newsclips). They get some flak from CBS President William Paley (Frank Langella) but are ultimately allowed to expose McCarthy's hypocrisy.

This very earnest movie tells a story well worth telling, especially in today's atmosphere of spineless "me-too" journalism, but it lacks drama. My father complained that Day of the Jackal lacked suspense, because everyone knew that DeGaulle wasn't going to be assassinated, and I felt the same way while watching Good Night. We all know that finally McCarthy will be knocked over. It does have some resonance today, because the spineless media coverage of current attacks on the US Constitution and habeas corpus have allowed too much to happen already.

But the movie itself, while well told and solidly acted, didn't really resonate. The sub-plot of the "hidden" romance between two CBS co-workers seemed to be merely filler. So I can't really recommend the movie, although the story is important.

Good Night and Good Luck [HD DVD]

  There's a monkey in the jungle,
  Watchin' a vapour trail.
  Caught up in the conflict
  Between his Brain and his Tail.
   - Gorillaz, "19-2000"

So as I was puttering about downstairs cleaning up, I noticed there was a Gorillazconcert available, so I put it on. I honestly knew nothing about Gorillaz, so unlike my friend, I didn't find it odd that this "virtual" band was shown in concert! But I really enjoyed the show. It was a multimedia extravaganza and so I was distracted more than I wanted while I was supposed to be cleaning up. But it was some great music, with some excellent guest spots by people like Neneh Cherry and a reading by Dennis Hopper. The show at the Apollo Theater is of the Demon Days album, so that goes to the top of my want list now. I really liked how the band was shown mostly in silhouette, against a changing background of solid colors, at least until frontman Damon Albarn came forward for the last song, Hong Kong, accompanied by a beautiful woman playing the Chinese zither. Great stuff! Here's Happy Mondays/Black Graper Shaun Ryder singing DARE along with Martina Topley-Bird (I think) in a highlight for me: