Enchanting!

I think the new ads put out by United Airlines are just enchanting. An interesting article on their development and links to the videos can be found [here].

Snippets from Polish History

[I found this while reading Norman Davies' Rising '44 - it was a poem sent by Count (Hrabia) Edward Raczynski to Brendan Bracken, Minister of Information to Winston Churchill, on June 23, 1944. It came as a response to the Archbishop of York, "who preaching at York Minster had pronounced in ineffable style that the 'moral issues' of the war were only now becoming apparent."]

CASUS BELLI

A sense of moral duty

Drove Britain into war,

When Hitler grabbed for booty

The Polish Corridor.

No man of honour doubted

That we were int he right.

When guarantees are flouted,

The guarantor must fight.

...

[For] ours is not the quarrel

By fleeting passion stirred.

For us the issue moral

Is - that we keep our word."

Round One.

I'm reading "Prague" by Arthur Phillips - whose "The Egyptologist" I place in my magic circle of very favorite, best beloved books - and I just came across a passage that I find funny, reminiscent of me and reminiscent of more than one person from my undergraduate acquaintance:

'Well, let's see what's what then,' said the inventor and undisputed master of Sincerity. John Price watched Charles stretch his arms around the back of his chair, lace his fingers together, and lean back slightly to permit the lowering sun to touch his face. A symbolic opening of the game, John noted, as if Gabor were holding himself up to the light, an illustration of candor. And yet, it was an intentionally symbolic action. Indeed, John thought he could see that Charles liked the idea of his competitors/friends noticing the symbolism but then being smart enough to reject it as not only a mere symbol but also an inaccurate one, a silent trick, since he surely did not believe that turning his face to the sun demonstrated any actual candor. And, John thought further, perhaps this was a small compliment as well, since Charles trusted that you were clever enough not to take the gesture at face value but to know that the act of intentionally symbolically revealing himself was meant to show that he was not revealing himself.
Alternately, Charles might have been stretching.

Good thinking, Ninety-nine: A non-spoiler 'Get Smart' (P)review.

So I went to go see 'Get Smart' tonight with a comrade from my undergraduate days, prior to the movie's general release date this Friday. Here's the non-spoiler skinny:

Plus: This may be the first movie I've actually enjoyed seeing Steve Carell in. While I own that I haven't seen The Office, I am pretty underwhelmed with the 40-Year-Old-Virgin-Whatever-Almighty Steve Carell. Even Little Miss Sunshine Steve Carell (though I did like that movie well enough) was not, for me, what made that movie worth watching. Here, he at least looks like he's having a lot of fun.

Minus: Original series purists should beware. If you're looking for Don Adams reborn, then know ahead of time that Carell doesn't completely nail it. That said, he is the closest that anyone will get, both in tone and in physical appearance (the latter of which is sometimes just uncanny). While his Adams-ness is sometimes derailed by humor not-quite-canon (see below), it's still a real thrill to hear him rattle off original-series catchphrases and banter with 99.

Plus: The Rock. The Rock, The Rock, The Rock. Let me count the ways (that the Rock is awesom)e. As much as I love Arkin, Carell and Hathaway in this movie, I think the Rock may steal the whole show for me. He's just so much fun to watch on screen that it's silly. Now, I'm biased: I've always loved the Rock - I watched The Rundown twice in a row, back to back, on FX once when I had the flu - but I think the praise is merited here. He's self-effacing, he's goofy, he's handsome, he's cheery, he has that crazy eyebrow, and he makes the most of his part.

Minus: Bill Murray. Ugh. Or worse yet, 'meh.' You'll see what I mean.

Plus: On the whole, the movie has the same kind of humor as the first Austin Powers movie. Indeed, it had a veryfirst-Austin-Powers-movie-vibe, and generally in a good way: while there were moments here and there that didn't have me laughing as much as they did the rest of the theater, the movie was generally very self-consciously campy and fun. (I really liked one line in particular where the movie pokes fun at politics in Hollywood; though not everyone in our audience found that funny) On the whole, it's cute throughout, campy often, juvenile sometimes...and occasionally too juvenile. Which brings me to...

Minus: The moments of very-juvenile humor do distract from the rest of the movie. Bare butts and vomit humor feel out of place in a movie of otherwise gentle geekiness because they are out of place; not really at all the original show's style. That said, they're blips in the movie; for the most part, the movie is more "nyuk nyuk" than "toot/giggle."

Plus: 'Shipper goodness. (Ed: For those who don't know what a 'shipper is, a 'shipper is someone who wants to see the girl get the guy, the guy get the girl, etc. - 'shippers are people who like their 'happily ever after's.) True 'shippers will find something to 'ship no matter what they watch, and there's plenty here. As a card-carrying 'shipper for every pair from Mulder-Scully to Niles-Daphne to Snape-Lily, I cannot resist 'shipping. Oh, and also, can't resist Anne Hathaway doing her best Jennifer Garner or the two mains doing their best 'Moonraker.' Spying and 'shipping.

Minus: 'Shipper badness. 'Shippers are a lonely bunch for a reason - satisfying 'shippers can wound a franchise (vis. the end of the X-Files). And here, the age difference between Hathaway and Carell, while accounted for in the movie, makes 'shipping a little more difficult. And in any case, a lot of the fun of the original series came from the Avengers-esque tension between the two mains. It's a tossup, really; it's all about whether you like that kind of thing.

Plus: Unlikely heroes - Hiro (Masi Oka) from 'Heroes' and Alan Arkin. I won't give too much away, but seeing the former on the big screen is fun, and seeing the latter kick butt is pretty wild. Alan Arkin's at his best when quipping, though; vis. the 'My Fellow Americans' flying swordfish.

Minus: While the makers of the movie clearly want you to think that Mel Brooks was heavily involved, the truth is that his involvement was more like low to moderate owing to legal tangles of epic proportions. Suffice it to say, Pete Segal tries, though, to ape Mel Brooks: he gets what I'll call a B+ for his effort. My hope is that the movie earns enough to lure Mel into writing a sequel...or something.

Plus: I got tickets to this movie, for Jason and I, through the Smithsonian's Young Benefactors program, and it became clear why that was within five minutes of the movie spinning up. I won't spoil the particulars, but I can tell you that large and important chunks of the movie take place in D.C. - specifically, in the Smithsonian Castle, the Spy Museum, and other Smithsonian museums. Much of the rest of the movie is divided between LA and Moscow, which is a lot of fun; any Russophiles will see plenty of background bric-a-brac to goggle at.

That's about it; overall, it is a fun summer movie that I really enjoyed. True, it probably helped that I went in wanting to like it, so take that as you will. It's certainly a good sight better than 'The Incredible Hulk' (ugh), it's good for at least some and possibly many laughs, and as such, I recommend it as being very much worth the price of admission.

Profundity From the 20001. Or 20005.

Jason: "Do you have power over at your building?"
Caitlin: "We have power - for now! Is power out over there?"
Jason: "Regrettably, yes. When I saw all the power outages I got a little hopeful. It would figure that the half of the building I'm in has no power, but the half I'm not in does."
Caitlin: "Hoho!"(Links to map, see Fig. 1 - Pink outage area of doom, at right.)
Jason: "I'm pretty sure my building's in that purple/green section. Maybe we've got emergency back-up generators... that would be cool. I've got Die Hard With a Vengeance on the brain and I just expect Jeremy Irons to pop out of somewhere and start saying 'Holy toledo... somebody had fun!'"
Caitlin: "Haha. 'I've got Die Hard with a Vengeance on the brain.' If I had a penny for every time I heard THAT one..."
Jason: "As great as the first Die Hard was - because, let's face it, Alan Rickman is awesome - Die Hard 3 was pretty fantastic with the Samuel L. and Bruce Willis pairing, not to mention Jeremy Irons. Oh, and how every time Torgo is on screen I can't help but yell in my best (not so good anymore) Russian accent "TORGO SMASH!!!!""

The strain in Spain stays mainly on the plain.

I'm livewatching The Andromeda Strain with a friend. Given that Michael Crichton can do no wrong, I have reason to hope that it will be good*. More to come.

*Yes, yes, I know. I saw Sphere too. I saw it more than once. It was no Gone With the Wind. It wasn't even Rollerball. But if it's Sharon Stone versus a squid, I know whom I'm rooting for.

"I want these [redacted] snacks off my [redacted] plane."

Finally, at long last, after years of travelling, after pounds of mini pretzels and a million teeny tiny cans of ginger ale, after hours and hours of thinking really hard - I've decided on the title of my biopic.

"Snacks on a Plane."