Is the truth the most valuable thing in a story, or is it what happens after it is told more important? Bloom played by Adrien Brody says, “The greatest con is the one where everyone gets what they want.” But isn’t a con merely a story that is used to manipulate people out of their money (or some other prized possession)? A story that webbed with lies that usually all the parties don’t get what they want, not really.
The Brothers Bloom tells the story of Bloom (Adrien Brody) and Stephen (Mark Ruffalo), two con men who want two totally different things. Bloom, who early in life found that being a con man is a pretty lonely life –despite gaining a rock star status in the underworld- wants nothing more than a girl whom he can love. All Stephen wants is to protect his brother, but when Bloom decides to shut his brother away because the life that they live is actually quite lonely.
So, our story begins with our two morally dubious protagonists and their silent Asian sidekick Bang Bang (Rinko Kikuchi), tracking their mark, Penelope (played by Rachel Weisz). Penelope, had a fairly lonely childhood, and has many skills, such as being able to play the accordion, the harp, and the guitar. She is able to juggle chainsaws and is a creative photographer, but she is still very rich and lonely. The Brothers are able to give her adventure and meaning.
All the characters are played quite well, none of them to unbelievable, or too stylistic. They all have flaws, wants, needs that money can’t buy- companionships mostly- but all in different levels and for different reaons. While there were no sub-par performances, Rachael Weisz does a great job playing the lonely, but optimist Penelope.
Near the end we see what each person really wants, and the price that they must pay to get it, is it worth it? It depends on what matters more to each character, living in a particularly elaborate fantasy land, or living in a world where they have what they want, but are vulnerable.
While there is nothing really wrong with the story, or the acting, or the directing, I felt like I have seen this movie before and unfortunately couldn’t share the same level of enthusiasm as the rest of the group that I went with to see it, but despite my own personal taste, I would say this is a movie worth watching.
Two and ¾ stars.
Pros. Everything.
Cons. Perhaps a bit to redundant of a story.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Friday, September 4, 2009
Thoughts On the Good Enough Revolution
The good enough revolution as written in the latest Wired magazine by Robert Capps is an interesting concept. The idea is that companies only need to make products good enough for a mass market user group to be successful. But what the masses want has shifted from the highest quality they can afford to getting what is good enough. Products need to be accessible, easy to use and shareable. For instance, the article talk about MP3’s as the perfect example of good enough tech. The sound quality isn’t nearly as good as CD’s or their earlier incarnation Vinyl, but the MP3 format has become the choice of most users to buy (or pirate) music. It doesn’t sound as good, but people can store hundreds of MP3’s on an I-pod Nano, and upload their own MP3 files onto the net easier.
The article made some interesting observations, the health and military industries are currently going through their own good enough revolutions. MQ-1 Predator Drones are being used by the military in many combat zones. They don’t go very high, or fast, and only hold 2 rockets. Not nearly as fast high as many of their fighter jets or bombers, but what he Predator can do is scan an area for almost 20 hours without a recharge, much longer than a pilot can fly without needing a break. Plus if they are shot down, they are cheaper to replace than a fully manned jet (and more humane, at least to the pilot.)
You get the idea, as long as a product is able to do it good enough for a specific job which people want then that product can do well in the market. We are seeing it everywhere, flip cameras, net books, even the future of legal advice is changing because of the good enough revolution. elawyering is emerging as a new way to give legal advice. Richard Granat designed and marketed applications that people who need legal advice can use on the net without seeing a lawyer. For example if a couple is going through an easy divorce where the two parties are more or less agreeable with each other, they can upload an application and answer certain questions, and the application can give them the paperwork they need to file the divorce. Of course this won’t replace lawyers as there will always be messy divorces and other lawsuits where people need to talk face to face with their legal representative, but for certain purposes elawyering is good enough.
This makes me wonder though, how long will the good enough revolution last? As long as a product does 80 percent of what we want, we seem to be happy-for now. Will quality diminish and die out? As almost every generation predicts as they see the world change in weird and interesting ways? Is there any genuine reason for concern or optimism because of the good enough revolution? I don’t know the answer to any of these questions; I know the world will continue to evolve as people evolve. New ideas are shaping the world all the time and it will be interesting to see how far and how long the good enough revolution will last.
The article made some interesting observations, the health and military industries are currently going through their own good enough revolutions. MQ-1 Predator Drones are being used by the military in many combat zones. They don’t go very high, or fast, and only hold 2 rockets. Not nearly as fast high as many of their fighter jets or bombers, but what he Predator can do is scan an area for almost 20 hours without a recharge, much longer than a pilot can fly without needing a break. Plus if they are shot down, they are cheaper to replace than a fully manned jet (and more humane, at least to the pilot.)
You get the idea, as long as a product is able to do it good enough for a specific job which people want then that product can do well in the market. We are seeing it everywhere, flip cameras, net books, even the future of legal advice is changing because of the good enough revolution. elawyering is emerging as a new way to give legal advice. Richard Granat designed and marketed applications that people who need legal advice can use on the net without seeing a lawyer. For example if a couple is going through an easy divorce where the two parties are more or less agreeable with each other, they can upload an application and answer certain questions, and the application can give them the paperwork they need to file the divorce. Of course this won’t replace lawyers as there will always be messy divorces and other lawsuits where people need to talk face to face with their legal representative, but for certain purposes elawyering is good enough.
This makes me wonder though, how long will the good enough revolution last? As long as a product does 80 percent of what we want, we seem to be happy-for now. Will quality diminish and die out? As almost every generation predicts as they see the world change in weird and interesting ways? Is there any genuine reason for concern or optimism because of the good enough revolution? I don’t know the answer to any of these questions; I know the world will continue to evolve as people evolve. New ideas are shaping the world all the time and it will be interesting to see how far and how long the good enough revolution will last.
Departures and The Ritual of Death.
When movies make us question our own mortality, usually we leave with an uneasy feeling and are quick to forget about it. Not so with “Okiribito” (Departures), a wonderful film from Japan that confronts the questions of mortality, happiness, life, death in the rawest, barest ways, after all this is a movie about people who ritualistically send the dead off to the great divine.
The story begins as most movies where the protagonist undergoes a major transformation, in the middle of that transformation. The audience learns that the protagonist has moved back to his hometown from Tokyo and that the last few months have been awkward. This is a great way to grab the audience’s attention, forcing them to start to ask questions. But another great strength about the opening scene is cinema photography, the winter snow a perfect white, the road still visible, going somewhere, but we do not know where, after all the character is in the middle of his journey, spiritually, mentally, physically and we must go back to the beginning.
We quickly learn that the protagonist, Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki) was a cello player for an orchestra that was recently dissolved. Figuring that he isn’t talented enough to get into another orchestra he suggest to his wife Mika, (Kazuko Yoshiyuki) that they move to his hometown. Unemployed, he looks for work, and finds an ad for departures, by a company called the NK Incorporated, figuring it might be a travel company he applies.
Soon we learn that the job deals with dead bodies, which he would be, expected to touch, clean, and beatify with makeup. But he soon learns, the beauty of the rituals that his employer Ikuei Sasaki (Tsutomu Yamazaki), perform to help send the dead off, beautiful and fresh. Eventually he is able to perform the rituals by himself.
The death becomes a metaphor for transformation. Not only are the bodies dead and cold, and then made warm and beautiful from the undertakers care, in front of the families, Diago and Mika undergo a transformation in life. Their marriage, strained from the move, and eventually from Diago’s work, isn’t a strain comfort; Diago makes more money than he did before, but a strain from the loss of prestige, and of the bigness of the city. We all want our lives to have space, and scope, we want to do great things, things that people will see, and say, ‘Hey that person is doing something great!” We want our lives to be full of adventure, and to ultimately mean something. But we often forget that our life intrinsically means something by the very act of living. That by our communication, our touching, our sharing with others that we give meaning to each other and validate life. Diago learns that while his job has no prestige, and that he lives in a small town with a fraction of the number of people as did Tokoyo, his life had more meaning because he was able to touch, and heal more people than he could ever have in Tokyo, that his job wasn’t a celebration of death, but a confirmation of life, that someone lived, that his audience, were people that were touched by this now passed on person.
“Okiribito” then becomes a movie that isn’t trying to make the viewer feel sad, or uncomfortable, but to help them confirm that their existence matters, just by doing what they do, breath, eat, love, work, play. Only then is the true beauty of the undertakers ritual of death fully bloomed.
The story begins as most movies where the protagonist undergoes a major transformation, in the middle of that transformation. The audience learns that the protagonist has moved back to his hometown from Tokyo and that the last few months have been awkward. This is a great way to grab the audience’s attention, forcing them to start to ask questions. But another great strength about the opening scene is cinema photography, the winter snow a perfect white, the road still visible, going somewhere, but we do not know where, after all the character is in the middle of his journey, spiritually, mentally, physically and we must go back to the beginning.
We quickly learn that the protagonist, Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki) was a cello player for an orchestra that was recently dissolved. Figuring that he isn’t talented enough to get into another orchestra he suggest to his wife Mika, (Kazuko Yoshiyuki) that they move to his hometown. Unemployed, he looks for work, and finds an ad for departures, by a company called the NK Incorporated, figuring it might be a travel company he applies.
Soon we learn that the job deals with dead bodies, which he would be, expected to touch, clean, and beatify with makeup. But he soon learns, the beauty of the rituals that his employer Ikuei Sasaki (Tsutomu Yamazaki), perform to help send the dead off, beautiful and fresh. Eventually he is able to perform the rituals by himself.
The death becomes a metaphor for transformation. Not only are the bodies dead and cold, and then made warm and beautiful from the undertakers care, in front of the families, Diago and Mika undergo a transformation in life. Their marriage, strained from the move, and eventually from Diago’s work, isn’t a strain comfort; Diago makes more money than he did before, but a strain from the loss of prestige, and of the bigness of the city. We all want our lives to have space, and scope, we want to do great things, things that people will see, and say, ‘Hey that person is doing something great!” We want our lives to be full of adventure, and to ultimately mean something. But we often forget that our life intrinsically means something by the very act of living. That by our communication, our touching, our sharing with others that we give meaning to each other and validate life. Diago learns that while his job has no prestige, and that he lives in a small town with a fraction of the number of people as did Tokoyo, his life had more meaning because he was able to touch, and heal more people than he could ever have in Tokyo, that his job wasn’t a celebration of death, but a confirmation of life, that someone lived, that his audience, were people that were touched by this now passed on person.
“Okiribito” then becomes a movie that isn’t trying to make the viewer feel sad, or uncomfortable, but to help them confirm that their existence matters, just by doing what they do, breath, eat, love, work, play. Only then is the true beauty of the undertakers ritual of death fully bloomed.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Yesterday was a day of mistakes.
For me at least. I am trying to take a systematic approach to learn from my mistakes, use a little science in the art of living.
I mean, I did some things right, but I made three big blunders.
1. I pissed off a friend of mine online. We have known each other for over 20 years, he is a nice guy, has a record for drunk driving and a few other things. Anyway, he is usually the nicest guy I know, so he was giving me pointers about finding jobs, be confident, be a guy the people at the company would want to hang out with. He said he would rather have someone with lots of confidence and no education over someone with lots of education but no confidence. I agreed and took it a step farther, saying I would hire someone with both an education and confidence. He immediately exploded, took it as a personal attack, and said how its sad that I would try to make fun of other people through my insecurities. I was like W T F? I just took his statement to the next logical step. Alas, my friend has no college degree and is a bit touchy about it, which I found the hard way. I said sorry, and tried to praise him about his accomplishments (he does a lot of different things). But in the end he was like, fuck you. So lesson one, think about how the other person might take what you say in a completely wrong way. I didn't wasn't trying to rub his lack of education into his nose, I wasn't trying to say that I was better at all, I'm not, I am unemployed and he has a job. But for whatever reasons he took my statement as a big insult.
2. My Stepfather is out of town, and so its just my mother and me at the house. I was asking some questions across the room and eventually she exploded, saying if I have questions I should come to her and not have her come to me. It's a bad habit that I picked up from my step-father who always expects me to come to him when he wants to tell me something or ask for my assistance, I could be in my room writing a paper and he would be like, "Bink, I need you". I hate it, and I have told him so. I shouldn't treat others how I don't want to be treated, esp my mother.
3. Last night a few friends of my mom brought a speaker to our house. He is a new age type guy, speaks about "star gates" and stuff like that. I don't do well in big tables where people talk about things I have no interest in. Anyway, one of my mom's friends brought her daughter to come meet me. She was 26, very pretty, and has a 3 year old son. She didn't bring her son, but I was an ungracious and didn't even speak to her. I realize she probably had to get a baby sitter to come. we sat diagonally across from each other in the table, I was reluctant to start a conversation from someone so far away on the table, plus cut through the conversation the star gate guy was having with the other ladies. I eventually left and went to my room to watch some hulu. She then left shortly afterward. I felt bad that I wasted her and her mom's time. I know I have no obligation to be friends with everybody, but I could have at least tried to make her feel welcome. Lesson: Make people feel welcome.
This has inspired me to write a little paragraph:
How do we learn from our mistakes? By not making them? People seem so bent on living the perfect life, so petrified to make mistakes that they are afraid to try new things, explore the world, and perfect themselves through self examination. Life is an art and a science. We make mistakes; we live and breathe in organic, unsystematic and asymmetrical lives. Our ambitions take new forms, our hopes, higher or lower planes, our growth widens and recedes like the seasons. But every time we make a mistake, we have an opportunity to systematically prune the bad branches so that the good ones can grow stronger, and bear fruit, or we continue to make the same mistakes, continue to let the unnecessary baggage of our lives hold us down, to the point that the tree of life is a jumbled mess, sunlight can’t get to the leaves, and the fruit of our dreams never grow and ripen.
I mean, I did some things right, but I made three big blunders.
1. I pissed off a friend of mine online. We have known each other for over 20 years, he is a nice guy, has a record for drunk driving and a few other things. Anyway, he is usually the nicest guy I know, so he was giving me pointers about finding jobs, be confident, be a guy the people at the company would want to hang out with. He said he would rather have someone with lots of confidence and no education over someone with lots of education but no confidence. I agreed and took it a step farther, saying I would hire someone with both an education and confidence. He immediately exploded, took it as a personal attack, and said how its sad that I would try to make fun of other people through my insecurities. I was like W T F? I just took his statement to the next logical step. Alas, my friend has no college degree and is a bit touchy about it, which I found the hard way. I said sorry, and tried to praise him about his accomplishments (he does a lot of different things). But in the end he was like, fuck you. So lesson one, think about how the other person might take what you say in a completely wrong way. I didn't wasn't trying to rub his lack of education into his nose, I wasn't trying to say that I was better at all, I'm not, I am unemployed and he has a job. But for whatever reasons he took my statement as a big insult.
2. My Stepfather is out of town, and so its just my mother and me at the house. I was asking some questions across the room and eventually she exploded, saying if I have questions I should come to her and not have her come to me. It's a bad habit that I picked up from my step-father who always expects me to come to him when he wants to tell me something or ask for my assistance, I could be in my room writing a paper and he would be like, "Bink, I need you". I hate it, and I have told him so. I shouldn't treat others how I don't want to be treated, esp my mother.
3. Last night a few friends of my mom brought a speaker to our house. He is a new age type guy, speaks about "star gates" and stuff like that. I don't do well in big tables where people talk about things I have no interest in. Anyway, one of my mom's friends brought her daughter to come meet me. She was 26, very pretty, and has a 3 year old son. She didn't bring her son, but I was an ungracious and didn't even speak to her. I realize she probably had to get a baby sitter to come. we sat diagonally across from each other in the table, I was reluctant to start a conversation from someone so far away on the table, plus cut through the conversation the star gate guy was having with the other ladies. I eventually left and went to my room to watch some hulu. She then left shortly afterward. I felt bad that I wasted her and her mom's time. I know I have no obligation to be friends with everybody, but I could have at least tried to make her feel welcome. Lesson: Make people feel welcome.
This has inspired me to write a little paragraph:
How do we learn from our mistakes? By not making them? People seem so bent on living the perfect life, so petrified to make mistakes that they are afraid to try new things, explore the world, and perfect themselves through self examination. Life is an art and a science. We make mistakes; we live and breathe in organic, unsystematic and asymmetrical lives. Our ambitions take new forms, our hopes, higher or lower planes, our growth widens and recedes like the seasons. But every time we make a mistake, we have an opportunity to systematically prune the bad branches so that the good ones can grow stronger, and bear fruit, or we continue to make the same mistakes, continue to let the unnecessary baggage of our lives hold us down, to the point that the tree of life is a jumbled mess, sunlight can’t get to the leaves, and the fruit of our dreams never grow and ripen.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Roaming in my eyes.
Oh where does my girl roam?
When we look into each others eyes?
Why do we feel at home?
When we light up like fireflies?
In the green pastures
Where the horses graze
I can feel the sunshine
Almost like her gaze.
My heart is a- flutter
When I feel her near.
I heart beats calmer
When her voice I can hear.
Oh where does my girl roam?
When we look into each others eyes?
Why do we feel at home?
When we light up like fireflies?
I feel the tingle on my skin,
When I can touch her
I know it’s not a sin
To feel that much better.
Oh where does my girl roam?
When we look into each others eyes?
Why do we feel at home?
When we light up like fireflies?
When we look into each others eyes?
Why do we feel at home?
When we light up like fireflies?
In the green pastures
Where the horses graze
I can feel the sunshine
Almost like her gaze.
My heart is a- flutter
When I feel her near.
I heart beats calmer
When her voice I can hear.
Oh where does my girl roam?
When we look into each others eyes?
Why do we feel at home?
When we light up like fireflies?
I feel the tingle on my skin,
When I can touch her
I know it’s not a sin
To feel that much better.
Oh where does my girl roam?
When we look into each others eyes?
Why do we feel at home?
When we light up like fireflies?
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009
Running
I ran through the forest and into the mystic. The green leave filtered sunlight in contrast with the dusted naked sunlight gave the earth a heavenly glow. The unknowable, was knowable, the unattainable, attainable. There was mystery still, but there was means to solving that mystery. It was almost as if God was walking through that forest, or was I walking through the mystic of divine? A simple pile of an animals poop became a sign that life was nearby, the call of birds were the real singing of angels.
I ran for joy, I ran for life, I ran for my life, for my joy. I ran because I want to catch up with myself, with the I AM. Though those hundreds of sleeping ents, and millions of billions of microbes, I could still see the illuminated path, the journey to whom I am and who I want to become. I can’t not fight anymore, I must charge through the barriers of my happiness, climb the walls of my self-deprecating ego, and fly again.
In the mystic I flew, slowly, steadily, and in a sense still grounded, but I still flew. I wasn’t high, but I wasn’t below the surface of my own grave. I could feel my heart pound, I could hear my breath, and I could see fleeting waves of light. But I am not strong, not yet, but I will be, I will be able to fly higher, and peer into the deepness of myself, and see the greatness of others. To connect and flow in the river of life, that we all are a part of.
I ran for joy, I ran for life, I ran for my life, for my joy. I ran because I want to catch up with myself, with the I AM. Though those hundreds of sleeping ents, and millions of billions of microbes, I could still see the illuminated path, the journey to whom I am and who I want to become. I can’t not fight anymore, I must charge through the barriers of my happiness, climb the walls of my self-deprecating ego, and fly again.
In the mystic I flew, slowly, steadily, and in a sense still grounded, but I still flew. I wasn’t high, but I wasn’t below the surface of my own grave. I could feel my heart pound, I could hear my breath, and I could see fleeting waves of light. But I am not strong, not yet, but I will be, I will be able to fly higher, and peer into the deepness of myself, and see the greatness of others. To connect and flow in the river of life, that we all are a part of.
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