BOOK REVIEW: Jhumpa Lahiri's UNACCUSTOMED EARTH

MadProfessah's favorite writer, Jhumpa Lahiri, has had her most recent book Unaccustomed Earth listed in the New York Times list of the 10 Best Books of 2008. Lahiri won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her first book (a collection of short stories titled Interpreter of Maladies) in 2000.

Her second book, The Namesake, was her first novel and was made into a well-regarded film directed by Mira Nair and starring Kal Penn (see MadProfessah review).

I read this collection of stories last summer and am now finally getting around to writing up my review.
To do so, I re-read the first half of the collection again.

Although not packing as devastating an emotional wallop as her first collection of stories Interpreter of Maladies, this latest collection is still full of superb writing, intriguing characters and genuine insight into the human condition.

The collection begins with the story "Unaccustomed Earth" about a widowed father and adult daughter trying to connect as their lives follow increasingly elliptical orbits and both of them attempt (unsuccessfully) use an obligatory family visit to reveal a secret that they have been itching to share with the other.

After the stunning, heart-breaking first story comes "Hell-Heaven" which has very similar characters from her first novel, The Namesake: the father is a professor while the stay-at-home mother is slowly going stir-crazy and the first generation Bengali-American kids confound and disappoint their parents.

"A Choice of Accommodations" is the weakest story in the first half of the book, in my opinion. This is partly because I could not connect fully with the central character who is a married Bengali man attending a wedding of a former college crush with his wife on a rare weekend getaway together. Lahiri does excellent work of dissecting her character for the reader with clear, detailed prose--it's just that in this case the characters are a bit remotely drawn.

My favorite story of the collection is "Only Goodness" which would make an excellent Bengali remake of "Ordinary People." The story is told from the perspective of the older daughter of a Bengali couple who succeeds academically but not as well as her younger brother who goes to Princeton. But slowly we realize that all is not well with the younger brother and his "problem" becomes an unmentionable shame to the entire family with several agonizing scenes depicted with surgical precision and maximal emotional impact by Lahiri.

Part One of the collection ends with "Nobody's Business" which is a bit of a departure from Lahiri--slightly. Instead of focusing on the internal machinations and external challenges of the Bengali immigrant family assimilating in America, the general topic basically all of her writings tend to be about, this story is about a family of choice, of three housemates in Cambridge (only one of whom is Bengali) and the complications that can result when you get more information than you really want to know about the people you live with but are not related to. The central character is a Caucasian male graduate student with an unexpressed crush on the beautiful female Bengali character and Lahiri inserts the Bengali social custom of arranged marriages and the social pressure of "marrying well" as a running joke throughout the story.

The second part of the collection is three paired stories featuring Hema and Kaushik, two star-crossed lovers who also (surprise!) happen to Bengali. The first time I read the collection I felt that part of the problem with the second half is that neither Hema or Kaushik are incredibly likable characters--Lahiri is going for a nuanced portrayal which risks the emotional connection of the reader to her story. Additionally, the end of the story, which is surprisingly tragic is completely predictable. Instead of stomach-sinking dread at the inevitable conclusion one feels a sense of annoyance that Lahiri couldn't avoid the temptation of such a pat conclusion.

All in all, although Unaccustomed Earth is not as uniformly enthralling as her first novel, I do think it is, on balance, a stronger collection than Interpreter of Maladies (which is saying a lot, since that collection won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, mainly on one devastating short story) and indicates that Lahiri is growing and improving as a writer, one that I look forward to reading again and again for many years to come.

Published: April 1, 2008. Length: 352 pages (Hardcover).

PLOT: A.
IMAGERY: A.
IMPACT: A+.
WRITING: A+.

OVERALL GRADE: A/A+.

BOOK REVIEW: Connie Willis' DOOMSDAY BOOK

I typically spend my summers reading science fiction books that have won both the prestigious Hugo and Nebula awards.

By far, the most harrowing of the books that have won both awards that I have previously not read is Connie Willis' Doomsday Book.

It is almost impossible to put down. I started it on a Saturday afternoon last summer and I could not stop reading it until I finished it after 3 a.m. that night.

The story revolves around a time machine that allows historians to do "real time study" of important historical events.

In Christmas 2054, Oxford history professor James Dunworthy agrees to send his favorite graduate student Kivrin Engle to the Middle Ages, 1320 to be precise, to do field work for her thesis on this highly dangerous but fascinating era of human history.

Through an unfortunate incident Kivrin gets sent back to 1348 when the Black Plague was raging through the British countryside. Simultaneously, a suspiciously similar deadly epidemic is coursing through 2054 Oxford, complicating efforts for Dunworthy to rescue his trusted charge.

The parallel storytelling is incredibly gripping.

The writing is also hysterically funny.

Willis has a writing style that includes an impressive attention to detail combined with a subtle ear for dialogue.

I had never heard of her or her work before seeing her Doomsday Book on the list of Hugo-Nebula winners. Since then I have also read To Say Nothing Of The Dog which has a similar profile of a time-travel story combined with historical detail and impeccable comic timing, in this case bordering on farce.

Doomsday Book is an incredible read and a very enjoyable (but nerve-wracking) experience.

PLOT: A.
IMAGERY: A.
IMPACT: A.
WRITING: A+.

OVERALL GRADE: A.

FRENCH OPEN 2009: Kuznetsova Wins 2nd Major Title

Svetlana Kuznetsova defeated Dinara Safina 6-4 6-2 to win her second major title, the 2009 French Open, in Paris on Saturday. Safina is the World #1 and will remain there on Monday. She has appeared in 3 major finals, 2008 French Open, 2009 Australian Open and the 2009 French Open and lost all 3. She also lost the Gold Olympic medal match to Elena Dementieva in Beijing in August 2008.

Kuznetsova won the 2004 US Open and lost the 2006 French Open final and the 2007 US Open finals to Justine Henin. She is now at 2-2 in major finals, with a surprising 11 wins and 18 losses overall in WTA tour finals.

On to Wimbledon!

MOVIE REVIEW: Tell No One (Ne Le Dis A Personne)

The French film Tell No One (Ne Le Dis A Personne) has been getting some of the best reviews of the year.

It is a fascinating crime thriller, based on a novel of the same name by Harlan Coben. The plot is incredibly intricate, and the cast is superb. The main protagonist is played by Francois Cluzet (Dr. Alexandre Beck), who looks like a young Dustin Hoffman. His wife is played by Marie-Josée Croze and the British actress Kristin Scott Thomas (The English Patient) plays Beck's sister's lesbian lover (with impeccable French).

The film is the only summer release that I went back and saw a second time. It is simply that good.

The plot is intricate, but the direction is so expert that one is never lost or confused, just amazed and entertained as the story unspools. In addition, the use of music to deepen the emotional impact of pivotal scenes (U2's "With or Without You" and Jeff Buckley's "Lilac Wine" are especially poignant) is particularly noticeable during a second viewing.

Another interesting aspect of the film is its intimate look at how real French people live their lives right now (in Paris). The film depicts a French pediatrician, a gangster, a ghetto (banlieue), and several police officers going about their daily business. It is fascinating to see a contemporary European slice of life, so matter-of-factly portrayed. This is just one of the many significant features of the film that strengthen its connection to the viewer.

At the end of the film all of the seemingly disparate strands of the mystery are tied together in a very neat knot and the audience is left with a feeling of awe and appreciation at a well-executed film. (It will be released on DVD on October 15th, 2008.)

IMAGERY: A-.
PLOT: A+.
ACTING: A.
IMPACT: A+.
OVERALL GRADE: A.

The Dark Knight Breaks $500m Barrier (in 45 Days)

Nikki Finke is reporting that The Dark Knight has broken the $500 million barrier in a record 45 days this past weekend. It now owns 14 box-office records:

1. LARGEST NUMBER OF OPENING THEATRES WITH 4,366 (MORE THAN THE 4,362 DEBUT THEATRES OF PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD'S END IN 2007).

2. BIGGEST MIDNIGHT PREVIEW GROSS WITH $18.489 MILLION IN 3,040 THEATRES (THIS BEATS STAR WARS EPISODE III: REVENGE OF THE SITH AT $16.9 MILLION IN 2,915 THEATRES IN 2005).

3. BIGGEST IMAX MIDNIGHT PREVIEWS SET AN NEW RECORD WITH $640,000 (THIS AMOUNT WAS APPROPRIATELY INCLUDED IN THE $18.489 MILLION PREVIEW NUMBER).

4. BIGGEST SINGLE-DAY GROSS IN BOX-OFFICE HISTORY WITH $67,165,092 (THIS BEATS THE $59,841,919 SET BY SPIDER-MAN 3 IN 2007).

5. BIGGEST OPENING WEEKEND GROSS IN BOX-OFFICE HISTORY WITH $158,411,483 MILLION (THIS BEATS THE $151,116,516 SET BY SPIDER-MAN 3 IN 2007).

6. BIGGEST OPENING WEEKEND GROSS FOR AN IMAX RELEASE IN BOX-OFFICE HISTORY WITH $6,214,061 MILLION IN 94 THEATRES ($66,107 PER-THEATRE!) (THIS BEATS THE $4.7 MILLION SET BY SPIDER-MAN 3 IN 2007) - IMAX SHOWING AT FULL CAPACITY $1.9 MILLION ON SATURDAY ALONE.

7. BIGGEST SINGLE-DAY SUNDAY GROSS WITH $43,596,151 (THIS BEATS THE $39,937,865 SET BY SPIDER-MAN 3 ON ITS DEBUT WEEKEND).

8. FASTEST SPRINT TO $200 MILLION DOMESTICALLY IN JUST FIVE DAYS (BEATING PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN’S CHEST, SPIDER-MAN 2, AND STAR WARS EPISODE III: REVENGE OF THE SITH WHICH EACH TOOK 8 DAYS TO REACH $200 MILLION).

9. POSTS THE BEST SECOND WEEKEND GROSS EVER AT $75,166,446 (BEATING SHREK 2 AND ITS $72,170,363 SECOND WEEKEND GROSS).

10. CROSSES THE $300 MILLION MARK IN JUST 10 DAYS (BEATING 2006's PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST WHICH TOOK 16 DAYS).

11. THE FILM IN IMAX WORLDWIDE CROSSED THE $20 MILLION MARK IN JUST 11 DAYS (BEATING HARRY POTTER 5 WHICH TOOK 16 DAYS).

12. THE FILM CROSSED THE $400 MILLION MARK IN JUST 18 DAYS (BEATS SHREK 2 WHICH TOOK 43 DAYS TO DO IT)

13. BECAME THE SECOND-HIGHEST GROSSING FILM OF ALL-TIME DOMESTICALLY IN JUST 30 DAYS OF RELEASE SURPASSING THE ORIGINAL STAR WARS ON SATURDAY, AUGUST 16, 2008 (ON THAT DAY IT HIT $466,365,174 BEATING STAR WARS ($461 MILLION)

Of course many of these records are silly because Hollywood doesn't adjust box-office records for inflation. So, Titanic's $600 million domestic gross from 1997-1998 is significantly more than that amount in 2008 dollars. But, still, $500 million is still a LOT of money, even in Hollywood.

I wonder how long it takes before we start hearing about fights between Christopher Nolan (and/or his brother) who wrote, produced and directed the movie and Warner Brothers over a fair share of the profits? 1, 2, 3, 4, ....

VIDEO: Michelle and the Obama Girls

The Dark Knight Becomes 2nd Highest Grossing Film Of All Time

The Dark Knight has continued its record-breaking box-office performance by hitting $471 million, eclipsing Star Wars (1977) which has grossed $461 million for the #2 position on the all-time list, behind Titantic (1997) at $600.2 million.

It is unlikely that The Dark Knight will break Titantic's total, but it has a very good chance of breaking the $500 million barrier, according to most models. In fact, Warners Bros. is so happy about its 2008 box-office prospects it has moved one of its potential big hits, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (the sixth movie in the franchise) to July 2009 from its Thanksgiving 2008 release date. The final Harry Potter book will be split into two movies that will be released in late 2010 and 2011.

Caribbean Athletes (Nearly) Sweep 100m Medals

Caribbean-born athletes are beginning to sweep the most prestigious track and field events at the Beijing Olympics. Usain Bolt of Jamaica set an Olympic and World record of 9.69s in the 100m dash, ahead of Richard Thompson of Trinidad and Tobago (9.89s) and American Walter Dix was third in a person best of 9.93 seconds. Bolt, is a 6-foot-5-inch 21-year-old (lawd have mercy!) who just started running the 100 meter dash in 2008--his speciality is the 200 m dash. Former world record holder Jamaican Asafa Powell placed 5th with 9.95, behind Churandy Martina of the Netherland Antilles with 9.93. Another Jamaican, Michael Frater was 6th with 9.97, the first time 6 of the 8 competitors ran sub-10 second times in the Olympic gold medal100m final.

In the women's 100 meter final Jamaicans (Shelly-Ann Fraser, Sherone Simpson and Kerron Stewart) swept the top 3 positions.

Obama Raises $51m to Mcain's $27m in July

The July fundraising numbers are out and Barack Obama continues to kick John McCain's pale white butt!

From Politico.com:

McCain revealed Friday that he raised $27 million last month, his best month of the campaign.

The summer surge pushed Obama over the $400 million mark for what he's raised over the entire campaign, to $401 million. McCain has raised about $171 million, less than half as much.

Obama finished July with $68.5 million cash on hand, versus $21 million for McCain.

And there's more good news for Democrats, for the first time in years, the DNC outraised the RNC, $27.7 million to $26 million. However, the bad news is that the RNC has $75 million in cash on hand, while the DNC only has $28.5 million.

The real money race is between the DNC+Obama and RNC+McCain, which, in cash on hand numbers is $97 million for the Democrats to $96 million for the Republicans.

In the congressional races, the DCCC and DSCC are criushing their Republican House and Senate counterparts in fundraising. On to November!

Nadal and Dementieva win Singles Gold

Spain's Rafael Nadal won the gold medal match 6-3 7-6(2) 6-3 over Chile's Fernando Gonzalez with Serbia's Novak Djokovic won the bronze medal by defeating American James Blake.

Russia swept the women singles medals with Elena Dementieva (eight years after winning the silver medal in Sydney) by defeating Dinara Safina 3-6 7-5 6-3 (who double faulted 17 times). Vera Zvonareva won the bronze by defeating Li Na 6-0 7-5.

Williams Sisters Win Doubles Gold

African American sisters Venus and Serena Williams won their second Women's doubles gold medal at the Beijing Olympics, eight years after winning in Sydney by defeating the Spanish team of Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual 6-2 6-0 on Sunday.

Federer Will Win Olympic Medal (in Doubles)

Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka defeated the top doubles team in the world, American brothers Bob and Mike Bryan 7-6(4) 6-4 to reach the Beijing Olympics Men's Doubles final, assuring that 12-time Grand Slam champion Federer will win his first Olympic medal, something Pete Sampras was never able to do.

The Swiss team will face the unlikely Swedish team of Thomas Johansson and Simon Aspelin in the Gold Medal match on Saturday, who defeated the excellent French team of Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra in the longest tennis match in Olympic history, 7-6 (6), 4-6, 19-17 in 4 hours, 46 minutes.

Gonzalez Clips Blake, Djokovic Chokes Against Nadal

Fernando Gonzalez of Chile defeated American James Blake 4-6 7-5 11-9 in a controversial match and Spaniard Rafael Nadal defeated Serbian Novak Djokovic 6-4 1-6 6-4. Blake missed three match points but was most upset about the first point in the game where Gonzalez was serving 8-9 in the third set and a ball flew past the Chilean at the net and (in the television slow-motion replay) appears to clip his racquet before flying outof bounds. Blake lost the point, even after appealing to the umpire. In his post match press conference, Blake ripped into Gonzalez:

“Playing in the Olympics, in what’s supposed to be considered a gentleman’s sport, that’s a time to call it on yourself,” Blake said. “Fernando looked me square in the eye and didn’t call it.”

Gonzalez said he was uncertain whether the ball hit his racket.

“I didn’t feel anything,” Gonzalez said. “I mean, it’s just one point. There is an umpire. If I’m 100 percent sure about it, I mean, I will give it. But I’m not sure.”

Blake described Gonzalez as a great player who does everything in his power to win, “usually” within the rules.

Wowsa. I sort of am with Gonzalez on this one. There's lots of times when you're playing that you honestly can not tell if the ball has bounced twice, or even if the ball is in or out, which is why one needs external arbiters to make those calls. The umpire made the wrong call, but that happens. Even with that being said, I do think it is quite unusual for a player not to realize that a ball hit their racquet, though.

The Djokovic-Nadal match was excellent quality, with Nadal retreating to his circa 2006-2007 mega-spin style of play, which Djokovic handled easily and demolished him in the 6-1 middle set. In the third set, Djokovic started making more unforced errors, it was really a case of him losing the match, not Nadal winning it. Regardless, Nadal now is assured of winning his first Olympic medal, and for the second Olympics in a row, Fernando Gonzalez will win a medal in tennis. (He an partner Nicolas Massu won the doubles gold medal in Athens in 2004).

Venus, Serena, Safina, Dementieva, Jankovic All Reach Olympics Quarters

The following Women's Singles quarterfinal matches are all scheduled at the Beijing Olympics.

(7) WILLIAMS Venus (USA) vs LI Na (CHN)

(6) SAFINA Dinara (RUS) vs (2) JANKOVIC Jelena (SRB)

(4) WILLIAMS Serena (USA) vs (5) DEMENTIEVA Elena (RUS)

BAMMER Sybille (AUT) vs (9) ZVONAREVA Vera (RUS)

Chabon Wins Hugo Award For Best Novel

The 2008 Hugo Awards have been announced in Denver. MadProfessah had previously previewed the nominees and had hoped that John Scalzi's The Last Colony would win the Hugo for Best Novel (although this was before I had read the book. I have since read the third in Scalzi's Old Man's War series and will have a review up, hopefully this week.) Scalzi ended up winning a lesser Hugo award, for Best Fan Writer.

Well, Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policemen’s Union has followed up its recent win of the 2008 Nebula Award by winning the 2008 Hugo Award, becoming one of the rare books to win both major science fiction/fantasy awards, and the first since Lois McMaster Bujold's Paladin Of Souls. As loyal readers of this blog would know, I am currently making my way through the list of winners, which includes some of the all-time classics of the genre.

I suppose this win means I will try to read it, but I have previously found Chabon's work almost unreadable (including his Pullitzer prize-winning The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay) after loving his debut novel The Mysteries of Pittsburgh. A few years ago, his book Wonder Boys was made into a badly received film starring Michael Douglas and Tobey Maguire and on NPR yesterday there were reports that Oscar-winning fwriter-directors Joel and Ethan Coen are currently writing a film adaptation of The Yiddish Policeman's Union.

Here are the most important winners of this year's Hugo Awards. Stardust won for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form (I wanted Heroes, 1st Season) to win and Doctor Who won for the second year in a row, beating out my choice, the fan-created Star Trek New Voyages.

Best Novel: The Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Michael Chabon (HarperCollins; Fourth Estate)
Best Novella: “All Seated on the Ground” by Connie Willis (Asimov’s Dec. 2007; Subterranean Press)
Best Novelette: “The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate” by Ted Chiang (Subterranean Press; F&SF Sept. 2007)
Best Short Story: “Tideline” by Elizabeth Bear (Asimov’s June 2007)
Best Related Book: Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction by Jeff Prucher (Oxford University Press)
Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form: Stardust Written by Jane Goldman and Matthew Vaughn, Based on the novel by Neil Gaiman Illustrated by Charles Vess Directed by Matthew Vaughn (Paramount Pictures)
Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form: Doctor Who “Blink” Written by Steven Moffat Directed by Hettie Macdonald (BBC)

Interestingly, Ted Chiang's "The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate" won both the Hugo and Nebula Award for Best Novelette. It's available online (for free!) here.

U.S. House Apologizes For Slavery

Here is the text of the resolution (co-sponsored by a white Congressman named steve Cohen representing a majority Black district in Tennessee--Harold Ford, Jr.'s old district) that passed the U.S. House of Representatives by a voice vote on Wednesday.

"Apologizing for the enslavement and racial segregation of African-Americans.

Whereas millions of Africans and their descendants were enslaved in the United States and the 13 American colonies from 1619 through 1865;

Whereas slavery in America resembled no other form of involuntary servitude known in history, as Africans were captured and sold at auction like inanimate objects or animals;

Whereas Africans forced into slavery were brutalized, humiliated, dehumanized, and subjected to the indignity of being stripped of their names and heritage;

Whereas enslaved families were torn apart after having been sold separately from one another;

Whereas the system of slavery and the visceral racism against persons of African descent upon which it depended became entrenched in the Nation's social fabric;

Whereas slavery was not officially abolished until the passage of the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1865 after the end of the Civil War, which was fought over the slavery issue;

Whereas after emancipation from 246 years of slavery, African-Americans soon saw the fleeting political, social, and economic gains they made during Reconstruction eviscerated by virulent racism, lynchings, disenfranchisement, Black Codes, and racial segregation laws that imposed a rigid system of officially sanctioned racial segregation in virtually all areas of life;
» Continue reading House to take up apology for slavery and racial segregation

Whereas the system of de jure racial segregation known as `Jim Crow,' which arose in certain parts of the Nation following the Civil War to create separate and unequal societies for whites and African-Americans, was a direct result of the racism against persons of African descent engendered by slavery;

Whereas the system of Jim Crow laws officially existed into the 1960's--a century after the official end of slavery in America--until Congress took action to end it, but the vestiges of Jim Crow continue to this day;

Whereas African-Americans continue to suffer from the consequences of slavery and Jim Crow--long after both systems were formally abolished--through enormous damage and loss, both tangible and intangible, including the loss of human dignity and liberty, the frustration of careers and professional lives, and the long-term loss of income and opportunity;

Whereas the story of the enslavement and de jure segregation of African-Americans and the dehumanizing atrocities committed against them should not be purged from or minimized in the telling of American history;

Whereas on July 8, 2003, during a trip to Goree Island, Senegal, a former slave port, President George W. Bush acknowledged slavery's continuing legacy in American life and the need to confront that legacy when he stated that slavery `was . . . one of the greatest crimes of history . . . The racial bigotry fed by slavery did not end with slavery or with segregation. And many of the issues that still trouble America have roots in the bitter experience of other times. But however long the journey, our destiny is set: liberty and justice for all.';

Whereas President Bill Clinton also acknowledged the deep-seated problems caused by the continuing legacy of racism against African-Americans that began with slavery when he initiated a national dialogue about race;

Whereas a genuine apology is an important and necessary first step in the process of racial reconciliation;

Whereas an apology for centuries of brutal dehumanization and injustices cannot erase the past, but confession of the wrongs committed can speed racial healing and reconciliation and help Americans confront the ghosts of their past;

Whereas the legislature of the Commonwealth of Virginia has recently taken the lead in adopting a resolution officially expressing appropriate remorse for slavery and other State legislatures are considering similar resolutions; and

Whereas it is important for this country, which legally recognized slavery through its Constitution and its laws, to make a formal apology for slavery and for its successor, Jim Crow, so that it can move forward and seek reconciliation, justice, and harmony for all of its citizens: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the House of Representatives--

(1) acknowledges the fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality, and inhumanity of slavery and Jim Crow;

(2) apologizes to African-Americans on behalf of the people of the United States, for the wrongs committed against them and their ancestors who suffered under slavery and Jim Crow; and

(3) expresses its commitment to rectify the lingering consequences of the misdeeds committed against African-Americans under slavery and Jim Crow and to stop the occurrence of human rights violations in the future."

Thoughts? I'm curious to see what Barack Obama's reaction is.

REVIEW: Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D

Saw Journey to the Center of the Earth 3-D Friday as an opening act for The Dark Knight. I enjoyed watching Beowulf in 3-D last fall and I believe the technology has a great future for the movie industry.



This is the first live-action 3-D movie that I have seen and generally I would say that the 3-D effects were not really necessary for most of the film but they were extremely effective when incorporated with more standard visual effects like floating individual water droplets, flying luminescent birds and snapping fish.



Interestingly, the credits were surprisingly exciting because they moved towards the viewer rather rapidly. In fact, any sudden moves of objects towards the viewer are pretty fun. The 3-D effects applied to water in multiple different forms (spraying droplets, undulating waves and falling water) were definite standouts.



It's definitely a kid's movie but it is relatively engrossing for the 90 minute running time although it is somewhat marred by completely implausible physics which are offensive to any scientifically trained individual.(Stable equilibria for magnetic objects in magnetic fields do not exist!) Brendan Fraser, Josh Hutcherson and Anita Briem are all agreeable and have reasonable chemistry.



OVERALL GRADE: B-.

IMAGERY: B+.

ACTING: C+.

PLOT: C-.

IMPACT: B-.

MOVIE REVIEW: Hellboy 2

Saw Guillermo del Toro's Hellboy 2: The Golden Army this weekend while Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight was crushing box-office records.

The sequel to the 2004 Hellboy has been received relatively warmly by critics and the public in general (87% critics and 80% users at rottentomatoes.com).

As usual, the sequels to sucessful films that become summer blockbusters become bigger, louder and longer. Actually, Hellboy 2 is a few minutes shorter than the original's two-hour running time but seems much longer.


del Toro is clearly an extremely talented director and the images he includes in the film are truly breath-taking, even more imaginative than the amazing creations that appeared in his Oscar-winning Pan's Labyrinth (MadProfessah's review). This is one of the reason's he has been tapped to take on what is probably the #1 directing job in the world today, the adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit.


However, Hellboy 2 is a good example of the importance of a good script and being faithful to the internal consistencies of a fantastical world. In Hellboy 2, the entire plot revolves around the prevention of the activation of an indestructible, unstoppable Golden Army. When the question of whether the Golden Army will be stopped is resolved, one of the characters grabs the device which controls the activation of the Golden Army and completely destroys it in a few seconds. WTF? If the character ccould have demolished the key device at any point in time, what was the point of the last 90 minutes of the film? This is a fatal flaw and basically ruined the film for me. And my attention was already starting to flag because right before this point the action had become extremely frenetic and appeared to be unending. However, at no point does the film look bad, and overall, the action scenes were well-paced throughout the running time of the film.

OVERALL GRADE: B.

IMAGERY: A+.
ACTING: A-.
PLOT: D.
IMPACT: B-.

POLL: Obama Wins LGBT Vote 60-14

TowleRoad and Joe.My.God are both reporting on an online Harris Interactive poll of LGBT Americans which says that Barack Obama is ahead 60% to 14%.

I must agree with both bloggers that it is surprising that 14% would be voting for John McCain when:

This is a man who doesn't even know what the acronym LGBT stands for.

He also doesn't really believe in gay adoption, supports a ban on gays in the military, is worried if his clothing looks too gay, isn't sure if condoms stop the spread of HIV, thinks same-sex marriage ceremonies are okay as long as they're just pretend, and has promised right-wing religious groups that he'll start speaking out more vocally against LGBT causes.

Serena, Venus and Lindsay Withdraw From L.A. Tourney

Awful news for the East West Bank Classic in Carson, CA: American tennis stars Lindsay Davenport, Venus Williams and Serena Williams have withdrawn from the WTA Tier II tournament that starts tomorrow.

Venus and Lindsay withdrew on Friday with knee injuries. Serena retired from her semifinal match against Aleksandra Wozniak on Saturday at the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford with an aggravation of her left knee injury. She was not moving at all and was down 2-6, 1-3, 40-15 when she stopped playing.

All three Americans are scheduled to represent their country at the Olympics which start on Friday August 8.