Moive Madness

I'm always confused by the way international movie releases work.  The first time I studied in England, there were of course a bunch of films that had been out in the US for awhile at that point, or had already left theaters.  But I did see two movies that hadn't been released yet in the States-and indeed didn't come out until a few months after I got back.  I found this to be pretty freaking awesome, as the movies were O Brother, Where Art Thou and Memento, two very cool movies that I got to see before pretty much everybody else (except Erik, of course, because he was there too).

I can report not much has changed in this respect.  Up, which I missed in the States, is still out in theaters here, mostly because it didn't get released until October 9th.  At the same time I've seen two movies I've seen here that haven't come out yet in the US yet, at least not in wide release.  I highly recommend both The Fantastic Mr. Fox and The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus.  Mr. Fox is very well done, with a funky stop-motion animation that fits the style of the film.  It's immediately recognizable as a Wes Anderson flick, and if you've enjoyed his previous films there's a good chance you'll like this one.  I can't remember the Roahl Dahl book all that much, so I didn't have to content with comparing the film to the book, which honestly was kind of nice.  All in all very much the sort of movie I was expecting after seen the trailers and Anderson's previous movies.  Mr. Fox didn't supplant The Royal Tenenbaums as my favorite Wes Anderson movie, but it's nonetheless quite good.

The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus is a little less straightforward of a film.  I quite liked it, but I can understand that others might not.  Like most Gilliam movies (who, I found out from IMDB, was born in Minneapolis, MN!) it's quirky and weird, but visually awesome and conceptually quite cool.  It's also Heath Ledger's last movie, which is initially distracting but it goes away faster than you'd think.  His character is replaced during the film by three other actors, Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell.  You might think this makes no sense, but honestly, it really does.  In fact, the changes was so seamless plot-wise it felt like the decision to change actors was made based on the script, rather than out of necessity.  

I don't want to give anything away, so I'll just say I really enjoyed The I of Dr. P.  It reminded me most of Mirrormask, albeit with a more tangled bunch of characters dealing with more mysterious (and adult) problems.  However, I suggest giving it a try if you get the chance...at Christmas when it actually goes into limited release in the US.  It's already out of the Oxford theaters.  Hmm, maybe I'll get the chance to see it again.

More Iranian News

There's a very good article in The Times about Arash, the Iranian guy who did my course last year, then got caught up in the post-election protests and now can't go home.  I was just talking to one of the Professors on my course, and they mentioned how much they're hoping he'll get a job soon.

You can check it out here.

Lion vs Deer

For some reason, a young deer decided to literally jump into the lion's den at the National Zoo in DC. Everyone on the video is rooting for the deer-is it wrong that I'm rooting for the lion? Also, much like the Packers Offensive line in the Metrodome, the lion seems distracted by all the cheering.

Who to call

Happy belated Halloween to everyone. I hope you all had fun-I certainly did. Just a quick post with a very nice cover of a classic song. More newsy-type posts soon, as I ramp up my procrastination in the face of my marketing test on Wednesday.

Publishing in Iran

Tonight my program had a seminar entitled Publishing in Iran. It was a presentation given by a former student (an Iranian), who had gone through the course last year. He had been one of three former students who had given a short speech on the first day of our induction on what to expect over the course of the year. He gave a very interesting talk on the Iranian publishing industry, the censorship the government imposes on the industry and how they implement it, and the state of copyright issues in Iran (officially there aren't any, because Iran hasn't signed any of the international copyright treaties). It was a very interesting talk.

He also mentioned that he had been in Iran during the protests after the presidential elections a few months ago. Drinks were served after the talk (which was odd-usually we have drinks before a talk), and I got the chance to ask him what it was like being in Tehran during the protests. It was then that I found out that he had been the doctor (before entering publishing he had studied medicine) who had been standing next to Neda when she was shot and the one who subsequently tried (unsuccessfully) to save her life. Needless to say, I was floored. I paid quite a bit of attention to the Iranian election and subsequent protests, and Neda's death was the most significant event of the demonstrations, other than the obviously fixed election results themselves. I asked him a few more questions about what he thought about the post-election state of Iran, and the feeling in the country during the protests, but the fact that he was involved in such a pivotal moment kind of threw me off my game. An extremely powerful revelation.

Youtube links are here, here and here to give this some context, in case you don't know what I'm talking about. In the first link, Arash is the guy on the right in the white shirt. Wow.

The Pitchforker's Pride is a Fallacy

At 1:30am on Sunday morning, while I was doing some homework (I know), I happened to discover that there was a new Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy book coming out. The next day. In London, at an event called Hitchcon '09. The book, since Douglas Adams had died in 2001 (one of the saddest days of my life), had been written by Eoin Colfer, with the approval of Adams' widow and publisher. H2G2 was a serious influence on my life, and I knew that I had to go to London the next morning to get the next book. Unfortunately, because I am a lazy bastard (well, technically just lazy), I missed the one panel discussion I really wanted to see, which was a discussion about Douglas by people who had known him. So my day wound up being me buying the new novel, wandering around looking at the various paraphernalia they had laid out, watching a bit of the BBC H2G2 tv show they had running on a loop, going out to get some lunch, and then coming back to have my book signed by Colfer before I returned to Oxford. Altogether an amazing day.

I finished reading the book (And Another Thing...) Monday afternoon, and I can tell you it's good. Unfortunately for all of us, Adams was fantastic. Superb. Amazing. Whatever term you want to use to describe him, he was a step (or several) above good. Colfer has done a fine job with the characters, with the universe, and with the plot (in true Adams' fashion, it makes little or no sense). What Colfer cannot sustain is Adams' brilliance of phrasing, of putting things in such a way that is both unexpected yet perfect. This is not Colfer's fault-he actually achieves this at least a couple of points in the book, but can't sustain it like Adams.

That said, this book is worth the read. Especially if, like me (and Adams, as quoted in The Salmon of Doubt), you've always felt that Mostly Harmless is an uncharacteristically and undeservedly bleak end to the H2G2 series. The characters all return (except Marvin, who's death makes the end of So Long, and Thanks... the best of all the H2G2 novels), and Colfer does an excellent job of name dropping that dedicated fans will enjoy. Things are decidedly more upbeat, and even certain death is faced with the knowledge that things will turn out ok.

I was thrilled to learn about the book, and very happy to meet the author and get it signed. It's just that (without offense to Eoin Colfer), I wish it had been Adams doing the signing.

Views of Oxford from South Park

Yes. That's it's name.