More Catchup

December 2, 2002

I wish I could say the lack of updating is because of my incredibly busy and adventurous life, but that’s not really the case.

That said, random bits of my last few weeks:

I read Stefan Fatsis’ Word Freak, a non-fiction book about the world of competitive Scrabble. If it sounds a bit silly, it is. That said, I found it really fascinating. I’m always intrigued by people who are gifted at one specific thing, or those committed to something so much that they can throw 8 hours a day at it without the promise of compensation.

The book chronicles Fatsis’ own descent into Scrabble obsession. He starts off as a researcher and finds himself slowly being swallowed up by the tiles. He eventually begins competing in tournaments and seeking advice from the sage ScrabbleMasters that surround him (most of them being nerdy old White guys, naturally).

Personally, I’m not particularly good at anagramming, and have no desire to pour over pages and pages of word lists. Did you know there are seven words that use the letter Q but do not use a U?

Recommended reading for… word freaks, I guess. Amazon has the first twelve pages available for reading. An interview with the author is located here.

On the movie side of things, it’s been pretty light. I’ve been avoiding most everything, although I have seen the two blockbusters, Harry Potter II and James Bond 20. I wasn’t really super-enthused about either one, but they were both decent ways to spend an evening.

I thought Potter’s second try was considerably better than its first, with the caveat that I haven’t read any of the books. The second film in general has a lot more action and plot, and the setup section is shorter than the first film (which had something like an hour of film before Harry had actually settled in at school).

The movie’s still too long by quite a good half hour. I’m not sure if any of the subplots needed to be cut out completely, but Chris Columbus is a bit too enamored with the kids’ reaction shots, and his camera lingers about too often. In general, the movie spends a bit too much time on plot (yeah, I know I shouldn’t ever say that). By that I mean, there’s all these red herrings and side bits they use for the whodunnit section of the plot, and honestly, I’m not sure anyone really cares about that stuff.

Nobody except the bazillion kids in Gryffindor scarves that are holding knives up to Columbus’ tender bits, I guess.

As for James Bond: Die Another Day, I had a great time. This is surprising, because I pretty much hate the James Bond franchise. Maybe hate is too strong a word, but I think the majority of the movies are pretty dull. Out of 20 films, I probably enjoy about five or six.

I wasn’t planning on seeing this one in the theater at all, but it ended up being the best of my options on Friday afternoon, so I checked out a screening at the beautiful Cineramadome.

The movie has more action than any of the recent Bonds, possibly more than ANY of the Bonds. It starts off strong, with some good nasty villains, a neat hovercraft scene and then a smart little subplot which takes Bond away from the usual glitz and glamour. This slight adjustment makes the character tons more interesting, since the last few films have had Bond in control almost the entire time.

Halle Berry is god awful everytime she speaks or has to make her “action” face, but Rosamund Pike, Toby Stephens and Rick Yune fare better. Later action setpieces set in a giant ice hotel are great, and the Aston Martin/Jaguar car duel on the icelake is outrageous fun.

The movie sputters for another half hour doing next to nothing, but the core of the flick is solid, if slightly disposable, entertainment. If you like Bond, you’ll probably love it.

It’s been a rough couple of weeks as a UCLA sportsfan. Ugh. It’s best I not speak any more of that, as anyone who cares knows exactly what I’m talking about already.

Enough of all that. Sleepy time, the Grind awaits tomorrow.

Posted in Dogeared, Moving Pictures