2022 Best Picture Nominees

I’m skipping ahead to 2022 because I haven’t seen all of the 2021 nominees yet. This is not a great crop. Some watchable movies, but only one I’d really recommend. Worst to first: 

West Side Story – I couldn’t make it through 30 minutes. Grade: Incomplete (or F) 

Drive My Car – I’m sure plenty gets lost in translation when trying to convey sparse emotional dialogue through subtitles, but that didn’t make this any less boring. And not only was it boring, but it clocked in at a lean three hours. Grade: C- 

Dune – Are we supposed to have some background knowledge going in? This wasn’t bad, probably had a big budget, but I wasn’t quite motivated to dive into this world and I’m sure I’ll have forgotten everything eight years from now when the sequel comes out. Grade: B- 

The Power of the Dog – Not exactly enjoyable, borderline uncomfortable, but memorable in a searing sort of way. Grade: B- 

Licorice Pizza – I struggled to believe the male lead was 15. The sideplots/characters/scenes were more interesting than the plot itself (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.) Grade: B 

Belfast – The opening shot of idyllic, dense, city life was right up my alley. Filming in black and white is a cop-out, but I appreciated the rare peek at relationships during The Troubles. Grade: B 

Nightmare Alley – A bit disturbing, but different. Grade: B 

Don’t Look Up – Speaking of disturbing, but at least this was funny. And a rare nominated film that takes place in the present day. Grade: B+ 

King Richard – If you only knew Richard Williams from Will Smith’s portrayal, you’d think this movie should have focused more on how he discovered a time machine and travelled forward from eighteenth century Louisiana territory to 1990’s California. But despite the overdone accent and other embellishments, the Williams’s sisters’ story is so inspirational that you could film me sitting in a chair for a half-hour explaining what I know about them and I think it would get a B-, so, Grade: B+ 

CODA – This is actually CODA’s second best picture nomination. Its first was in 1997 when it starred Matt Damon and was called Good Will Hunting. Ok, they’re different. Grade: A

rabbit hole

I saw a clip of someone playing the main riff from Alive by Pearl Jam, which made me want to hear the song again, so I watched a live version and ended up googling and reading other things about the song (the original meaning of the lyrics are pretty bad [imo] -- Vedder says they have changed for him over time based on how fans have interpreted the song) (which is one reason I rarely pay attention to lyrics -- save for Morrissey -- because I feel like their meanings are often disappointing.) Anyway, from the wikipedia entry re the origins of Mike McCready's guitar solo: "McCready was quick to disclaim creative credit for it, saying he basically "copied Ace Frehley's solo from 'She', which was copied from Robby Krieger's solo in The Doors' 'Five to One'."

So I listened to the Kiss song thinking McCready was being modest and was probably just influenced by it, but wow, he really copied the beginning of the solo note for note.

Here's Alive (go to 3:28)

Here's She, by Kiss (go to 2:47)

(In Five to One, the guitar solo on my computer speaker is drowned out by the organ, but I think it starts around 4:45. I'm on my couch with everyone in the apartment asleep, so I can't crank it up to make out the solo, and I'm too lazy to get up and grab my headphones, but it sounds like Ace Frehley's copying wasn't quite as explicit as McCready's.)

You can argue that that's Mike McCready's most famous guitar lick, from Pearl Jam's most popular song (it is according to Spotify), and it's just a lick he copied from Ace Frehley. 

(Did the producer of the album not know? Or did he not care?)

I can't do this daily but

it's still a good exercise, so,

This article about The Union Battle at Amazon compares the failed push for a union at an Amazon fulfillment center to the creation of a union at a Bethlehem Steel mill 80 years ago. (Arguing for its necessity by demonstrating the ridiculous wealth disparity between the company presidents and employees.) Bethlehem only stopped opposing unions out of fear of missing out on WWII military contracts from a union-friendly Roosevelt administration -- and the article ultimately hints that perhaps the Biden administration should do more to force Amazon to support unionization as well.

Years ago I did some grunt work on a case in which a Rust Belt manufacturer was trying to get out of promises it made to its labor union. The trajectory of the company was telling. Workers unionized in the 70's, drove wages and benefits up so high that the company could no longer compete with foreign manufacturers on price, so it closed its Rust Belt factories and opened them in southern states that were not as union friendly, and when one of the southern factories unionized, they closed it and opened one in Mexico.

It seems like lately the business/union relationship has become more confrontational than collaborative. 

I think Amazon sometimes gets a bit of a bad rap in the press about working conditions. I read an article last week in which the author claimed Amazon delivery drivers were under such intense time constraints that they didn't have time for bathroom breaks and had to pee in bottles stored in the truck. I'm sure this has happened to some drivers, but the article seemed to hint it was the norm. I see several Amazon delivery drivers on our block every day, and I have never seen one who appeared to be in the slightest hurry. They pull up, park in front of the hydrant, take out boxes, walk to my door, ring the bell, wait a reasonable amount of time for me to answer the door, politely hand me my package, walk back to the van, and move on. They're not loafing on the sidewalks texting or sleeping in their vans or anything, but they also don't seem like guys who are running around peeing in bottles and speeding through neighborhoods to make deliveries. Ok, this is getting off track and it's 11:18...

I meant to post yesterday but,

It took me two days to read this article about a psychologist who specializes in memory -- that's how little free time I have.

Elizabeth Loftus believes that memory is malleable and can be manipulated -- especially traumatic memories by authority figures. She has testified for the defense in many trials of prominent sexual abusers (including Harvey Weinstein and Jerry Sandusky) and argued that testimony of the victims is not reliable because traumatic memory is not reliable -- implying that the victims either convince themselves they were abused or have been convinced by others. This has made her quite unpopular in certain circles. (In her most famous experiment she has older family members convince subjects that they had once been lost in a shopping mall as a kid.)

Her professional story is weaved with the story of her own skewed memory of her mother's death. Long story short, her mother died when Loftus was 14 and she convinced herself it was an accidental drowning, when in fact it was probably suicide.

Overall it was an evenhanded snapshot of Loftus that got me thinking about the concept of memory and reminded me a little of this essay from Franzen's book on the same topic. (Kind of crazy that it was the September 10, 2001 issue of the New Yorker -- which I didn't read back then.)

I need to find some good humor to read.

experiment

Lately I've been feeling like handling three kids all day without a break is causing me to lose my ability to retain information, like I am a vessel that reacts to stimuli without the ability to look back or ahead. So to force myself to use my powers of recollection a little bit, I'm going to try summarizing an article I read during the day without looking back at it. (My breaks are typically only short enough to respond to texts, but I'm usually able to read an article or two through the day as well.)

Today it was this one about Sweden's pandemic response.

Sweden's response was unique in that their head epidemiologist didn't believe masks worked or that Covid was going to be much worse than a severe flu (and even if it was, it wasn't worth shutting down the country.) So they didn't shut down or wear masks and instead went for herd immunity, which is hoping enough healthy people get it and develop immunity so that it stops spreading to those more at risk.

The reporter speaks to a couple of Swedes who had severe--and potentially preventable--cases of Covid, but still supported the countries policies, citing the potential damage of a lockdown as an inferior alternative. 

Long story short, Sweden was probably wrong. Their infection and mortality rates were higher than other Scandinavian countries, and they ended up implementing some lockdown rules. (The counterargument to this is that they are the densest Scandinavian country and should be compared to other European countries like Italy and Germany rather than Norway and Finland,,, the counterargument to that being that the rest of Europe (especially Italy) had Covid spreading within their borders long before Sweden.) And Sweden's GDP also fell more than their neighbors (though less the European average.)

But it also touches on how the world seemed to be flying blind on this thing. (50% of deaths are from nursing home spread; and if we had any idea that was coming, we could have locked them down first.) (A lot of mask research has been done during this pandemic because previous studies seemed unreliable.) And there's an interesting article by Siddhartha Mukherjee about how some countries have been inexplicably been spared by covid -- using India and Nigeria as examples that didn't do a great job with lockdowns/masks/distancing, but didn't get devastated nearly as bad as anyone expected. (One explanation is that the coronavirus doesn't survive as well in warm weather, but still, the average Indian city is exponentially denser than the densest cities in America.)

Ok, it felt good to get that out.

2020 Oscar Nominees

No complete duds this year. 

Jojo Rabbit – Tricky to judge. It was laugh-out-loud funny at times, but holocaust-era comedies probably require some balancing that one this didn’t quite pull off. Grade: B-

1917 – Amazing filmmaking. Pretty good score too. But Birdman pulled some of the same tricks a few years ago (without the scale, but with a much better story and acting) which shouldn’t take away from this, but does. Grade: B 

Marriage Story – Solid if you’re in the mood for this sort of thing. Opened with some well thought out writing, but turned a lot of improvisational acting, which, for the most part, seemed to work. Adam Driver is fun to watch in anything. Grade: B+ 

Ford v Ferrari – My main gripe was that we were forced to endure a bit too much of the invented-Ford-boardroom-villain. An entertaining film, and Miles was an interesting character. Grade: B+ 

Joker – I wasn’t expecting to like this, but Joaquin Phoenix was great. Grade: B+ 

Parasite – Back-to-back wealth inequality films. Humor can get a tad diminished in subtitles, but still good. Grade: B+ 

The Irishman – We watched it in three sittings, could have done it in two. I’m curious what percentage watched it in one. And it never felt dull. There’s a reason these actors are famous, and it’s on display here. Grade: A- 

Uncut Gems – This should have been nominated. Unique story, and Adam Sandler was great. Grade: A- 

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – Great acting, plus that Tarantino way of being slow but gripping the entire way through. (I'll leave out my lone gripe.) Grade: A- 

Little Women – I haven’t read the book or seen any of the film versions, and wasn’t expecting to like this, but I thought it was great. Grade: A 

American Factory – As good a take as I’ve seen on globalism and trade. (It won best documentary.) Grade: A+

2020 Year in Books

I’ll just list the ones I recommend. 

Normal People – A short novel about the evolution of a relationship (from teens to twenties.) Took place in Ireland, which allowed me to read large chunks to myself with an Irish accent. 

We Were The Lucky Ones – Non-fiction story of the author’s Jewish family in Europe during WWII. If you think your life is stressful, read this. 

Fleishman in Trouble – Three-part urban, domestic novel narrated by one of the characters. First two parts are great, the third felt like the author needed to beat a deadline. But still really good overall. 

Alexander Hamilton – If you’re considering a big historical bio, this one lives up to the hype.

Bad Blood – non-fiction about the rise and fall of a Silicon Valley startup 

Little Fires Everywhere – Short, suburban, multi-family novel

Say Nothing – Readable non-fiction about The Troubles in Northern Ireland

2019 Oscar Nominees

-->

Weaker than average crop, but here goes, worst to first:

Black Panther – Interesting premise, but got silly—bloodshed seemed avoidable. They probably could have talked through their problems rather than engage in more black-on-black violence. Maybe I’m just too old for this. Grade: C+

Vice – Christian Bale was amazing as Cheney, and Steve Carrel was hilarious as Rumsfeld. It had some great scenes, but few revelations. Grade: B-

Bohemian Rhapsody – Entertaining, but full of inaccuracies. They took the formula for a rock star bio-pic, plugged in a few details from Mercury’s life, and overdramatized the rest. Grade: B-

Green Book – Great acting, good story, but I’ve seen a lot of ‘white hero in the face of racism tales’, and so have you. That shouldn’t take away from the story, but, Grade: B

Roma –This was borderline-boring at times, and I think filming in black and white is a cop out, but ultimately it was unique and memorable. Grade: B

The Favourite – I had no idea what to expect, and was pleasantly surprised by its humour. Grade: B+

Blackkklansman – I enjoyed it, and from what I read after, it is faithful to the real story. Grade: A-

A Star is Born – I didn’t realize this was the 8,000^th remake, but it’s the first I’ve seen. I suppose you can argue it follows the rockstar biopic formula too, but at least it didn’t pretend to be a true story, and was contemporary, and had good original songs, and great directing—I especially loved the opening scene. Grade: A

notable books I read last year

-->

Here are my favorites:

Asymmetry – This was probably my favorite of the year. Knowing that the author dated Phillip Roth in her 20’s (while he was in his 70’s) makes the fictional relationship so much more interesting. The structure is also unique and effective.

I Wrote This Book Because I Love You – I preferred Kreider’s previous collection, We Learn Nothing, but these are pretty good too.

The Sun Does Shine – Memoir by a man who spent a majority of his life on death row for a crime he clearly didn’t commit. Absolutely infuriating, but important read.

Such a Long Journey – Rohinton Mistry probably resonates more with me because he’s a Parsi from the same area of Bombay as my mom. I don’t often get to read Parsi Gujarati slang.

My Year of Rest and Relaxation – Definitely unique, funny, and well written. If this were a page longer, it would have been too long. 

Americanah – Novel about a Nigerian woman coming to America and going back. More of a vehicle for commentary and observations about race, relationships, status, and immigration through a collection of shorter pieces, but the writing is great and it all works together.

Not quite with the favorites:

There There – This was really hyped. And the urban Native-American perspective is unique. And the book is good, and it’s short, and it’s searing, so I’d recommend it just to get the perspective, but it didn’t quite live up to the hype for me. 

These were all very good: 

Everything I Never Told You – Novel about a mixed-race (Chinese/white) family in suburban Ohio.

The Nest – Novel about a white adult family in New York City.

The Storied Life of AJ Fikry – A nice little novel for book lovers.

Where the Crawdads Sing – Memorable. It’ll get you where you need to be.

If you're in the mood for something different:

The Windup Bird Chronicle – I just finished this, and it’s weird, but surprisingly readable for how weird it was. I need to think about it some more before recommending strongly. But it’s definitely very interesting.

On the fence about recommending:

Happy City – On one hand, I found myself talking about this more than anything I read last year; but like most non-fiction of this type, it is in desperate need of an editor. Maybe repetition is the point for some of this stuff, but man, it really needed a proper editor. Maybe just read a review of it. 

Killers of the FlowerMoon – David Grann wrote my favorite from last year, and this was good, but not sure I recommend it. 

Ok, I'm cutting it off here.

warning about Google accounts

I've used gmail and blogger for a while and they've been great, but:

When signing up for blogger years ago, I didn't have a gmail account, so I used my student email address instead. Last month I tried signing in, but after entering my password, google didn't recognize my computer and wanted to send a verification email to make sure it was me trying to log on. Reasonable, I suppose, except that I no longer have access to my student email account.

There is no solution to this problem. If I cannot enter the verification code, I cannot log-in to the account.

And google does not employ customer service reps who can fix it.

So I emailed the school, paid for an alumni email account for a year, had them forward emails from my student account to my alumni account, and got the verification code. And here I am.

This was a minor issue, but what if an unforeseen error happens with my primary gmail account? I guess it was a little unnerving to realize that I entrust so much information with an entity and have absolutely no chance of speaking to a human about fixing a seemingly minor error that could have locked me out of my account forever.

Anyway, make sure you set a backup/recovery email address. (Which at the moment, this google account is not allowing me to do.)

books from the past year

This year I didn't enjoy any book as much as my top three from last year -- maybe because I wasted too much time getting sucked into the endless supply of articles chronicling the idiocy of our current administration -- but I still read some good ones. Here are my favorites.

The White Darkness -- I'm listing this article first because it was amazing. It later came out as a book, which I haven't read, but definitely will.

Books

Kitchen Confidential – hilarious peek into the restaurant world. (Here's the original article.)

Chemistry – light, funny, unique perspective (a student pursuing a PhD in Chemistry.)

Spoils – nicely detailed Iraq war story.

All the Ugly and Wonderful Things – novel about an unlikely connection.

Honorable mentions:

Fortune Smiles – A short story collection that I considered putting down after the first two, but the rest turned out to be good. 

Dark Matter – for the beach.

Acclaimed books that were good, but may have been victims of high expectations:

Exit West – Good writing and potential to be an epic, but cut some corners and left me imagining the ways it could have been better. It’s short, so you won’t regret reading it, and again, it is good, and relevant, but it was a letdown after all of the glowing reviews.

The Return – Informative book centered around the true story of the author's father, and definitely worth reading--especially if you’re interested in the Middle East--but the writing felt loose and unfocused at times.

Warnings: 

Go, Went, Gone – A James Wood recommendation. Important subject matter (African refugees in Germany) but should have cut a quarter of it and revised the rest. It was informative, with plenty of flashes of good writing, and I’m glad finished, but it was a slog at times. 

Less – A Pulitzer Prize winning comic novel about a mid-life crisis—which should be right up my alley, but I found it to be a slog almost the entire way through. Lots of little witticisms, funny at times, and a worthy theme, but just never got going for me.

2018 Oscar Nominees

Worst to first:

Darkest Hour – So if Churchill hadn’t taken that subway ride, the British would have surrendered to the Nazis? Or perhaps a different passenger could have convinced him that surrender was the more prudent course of action?

Grade: C

Three Billboards – Tried to craft some multidimensional characters, but eh,

Grade: C+

The Shape of Water – Good writing, acting, score, and cinematography, but a truly ridiculous story.

Grade: B-

Dunkirk – Second movie of the year about the evacuation at Dunkirk. More of an edge-of-your-seat experience than Darkest Hour—which was more of a sleep inducing experience.

Grade: B

The Post – First half nearly put me to asleep, but the story was ultimately moving.

Grade: B

Call Me by Your Name – I’m torn. A touching father-to-son monologue on homosexuality, interesting characters, and a peek into the Italian countryside of the early 80’s, but also one of the most gratuitous scenes I’ve ever seen. The protagonist wasn’t surrounded by homophobes and didn’t suffer as much as his brethren in Brokeback Mountain and Moonlight, which, I suppose, adds a new dynamic to the critically acclaimed homosexual canon, so if you enjoyed those, this might be a logical next step.

Grade: B

Ladybird – Funny at times, good acting, touches on a lot topics, and for a guy like me it was an informative peek into white culture.

Grade: B+

*The Big Sick – Not nominated, but better than a lot of these. Obviously I’m a sucker for south Asian immigrant stories.

Grade: A-

Phantom Thread – I expected this to be the most boring of all, but ended up liking it a lot. Maybe Daniel Day Lewis really is the world's best actor.

Grade: A

Get Out – Highly original, can’t put this one in a genre.

Grade: A+

-->