The Other Film I Saw Last Weekend
The Other Film That I Saw
The other film that I saw last weekend was HALF NELSON. I went to see this film based on Doug’s recommendation. The film was good but I would not want to include it my DVD collection; I would include RIDING ALONE FOR THOUSANDS OF MILES in the collection.
HALF NELSON does not have any of the redeeming human values of the other film. It is a film about a middle school teacher who has a bad substance abuse problem. He has been to rehabilitation and that failed. It appears that he spends all of his money on drugs since his apartment is more like a hovel.
Doug thought that Ryan Gosling did a great job of playing the drug addicted teacher. I don’t know whether I can agree with his assessment or not. I was not that engaged by the film.
This film did remind me of REQUIEM FOR A DREAM for its portrayal of the teacher’s drug use and DEAD POETS SOCIETY for the teacher’s attempt to introduce advanced philosophical discussions to an inner city middle school class. Fascinating combination that may not have succeeded for me.
I think that one could enjoy the film making and the character development. There are some interesting relationships in the film; for example, the teacher’s apparent inability to form a meaningful adult relationship with two women who were in his life at different times.
Still, on balance, it is a film to consider seeing if it is playing near you sometime soon.
Woman of the Moment
I hope you enjoy the current Woman of the Moment. I have ten more photos of her after today’s posting. I started to work on the next Woman of the Moment who will be an older actress for a change.
Belly Piercing
This is a great belly piercing in my opinion.
Komyo Ga Tsuji
I have been remiss in not posting about my Japanese historical drama that I have been watching. Last Saturday was Episode 30 and I thought it would be a logical time to end the series.
The samurai had finally been granted his castle by Lord Hideyoshi as a reward for all of his service. This was appropriate in my mind and long overdue, based on the number of high risk assignments he had completed on behalf of his lord. Many of them took on the characteristics of being part of the Forlorn Hope.
The Forlorn Hope is a military term that refers to the group that will lead the attack on a fortification. There is not much of chance that they will survive the battle. In the British Indian and Napoleonic armies, serving in the Forlorn Hope and surviving the battle was an automatic guarantee of a promotion for all so long as the British won the battle. It was similar to our modern day battlefield promotions.
Bernard Cornwall’s Richard Sharpe series has some excellent discussions of the Forlorn Hope and how Sharpe rose from illiterate private to an officer while serving under Sir Arthur Wellesley, later the Duke of Wellington, in India. Full and fair disclosure, I have read all of the books in the series.
The Saturday episode gave some glimpse of the future. There was anew character introduced and the commentary said that the new character’s family served the samurai and his family for 300 years. Since the episode was set around 1560, that would take the service forward to the era of the Meiji Restoration.
The samurai is a creditable general in the field. I would not say that he was a brilliant strategist but rather a plodding, dull fighter. Using a comparison from our Civil War, the samurai was more like Ulysses Grant and not a brilliant strategist and field commander like Thomas Jackson. Of course, with the remaining episodes, he may yet prove me wrong.
The samurai’s wife is one of the most interesting characters. She seems wiser than she appears to be and uses her ability to work in high places and behind the screens to advance her husband’s career without him knowing about her actions. She also seems to have a better grasp of the swirling political situation than her husband.
The episode ended with a hint of him rising higher in the country. His wife has a meeting with his lord’s primary wife; the two women are closer than it would seem based on the hierarchical nature of the society. The lord’s wife hints of things to come and apparently mentioned that the samurai was in line to become a province ruler. Naturally, his wife is overjoyed with her husband’ success. I think she likes to be close to the power and finds it intoxicating.
She told him that he was going to be a province ruler. He is completely surprised and confused. He has reached his life’s goal as a castle lord. He had no higher ambitions. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.
Then, there is the nagging side bar. They have been married for at least fifteen years and only have one child, a daughter. I know they did not fight year round, armies went into Winter camps and soldiers went home. So why only one child? They could not have been distracted by radio, television, books, newspapers, magazines, or Paris Hilton. I would think a samurai would want multiple sons to assure that the line survived and there were heirs to succeed him and his castle. This is one plot line that will not have a resolution by the end of the series.
Be well and stay happy.
The other film that I saw last weekend was HALF NELSON. I went to see this film based on Doug’s recommendation. The film was good but I would not want to include it my DVD collection; I would include RIDING ALONE FOR THOUSANDS OF MILES in the collection.
HALF NELSON does not have any of the redeeming human values of the other film. It is a film about a middle school teacher who has a bad substance abuse problem. He has been to rehabilitation and that failed. It appears that he spends all of his money on drugs since his apartment is more like a hovel.
Doug thought that Ryan Gosling did a great job of playing the drug addicted teacher. I don’t know whether I can agree with his assessment or not. I was not that engaged by the film.
This film did remind me of REQUIEM FOR A DREAM for its portrayal of the teacher’s drug use and DEAD POETS SOCIETY for the teacher’s attempt to introduce advanced philosophical discussions to an inner city middle school class. Fascinating combination that may not have succeeded for me.
I think that one could enjoy the film making and the character development. There are some interesting relationships in the film; for example, the teacher’s apparent inability to form a meaningful adult relationship with two women who were in his life at different times.
Still, on balance, it is a film to consider seeing if it is playing near you sometime soon.
Woman of the Moment
I hope you enjoy the current Woman of the Moment. I have ten more photos of her after today’s posting. I started to work on the next Woman of the Moment who will be an older actress for a change.
Belly Piercing
This is a great belly piercing in my opinion.
Komyo Ga Tsuji
I have been remiss in not posting about my Japanese historical drama that I have been watching. Last Saturday was Episode 30 and I thought it would be a logical time to end the series.
The samurai had finally been granted his castle by Lord Hideyoshi as a reward for all of his service. This was appropriate in my mind and long overdue, based on the number of high risk assignments he had completed on behalf of his lord. Many of them took on the characteristics of being part of the Forlorn Hope.
The Forlorn Hope is a military term that refers to the group that will lead the attack on a fortification. There is not much of chance that they will survive the battle. In the British Indian and Napoleonic armies, serving in the Forlorn Hope and surviving the battle was an automatic guarantee of a promotion for all so long as the British won the battle. It was similar to our modern day battlefield promotions.
Bernard Cornwall’s Richard Sharpe series has some excellent discussions of the Forlorn Hope and how Sharpe rose from illiterate private to an officer while serving under Sir Arthur Wellesley, later the Duke of Wellington, in India. Full and fair disclosure, I have read all of the books in the series.
The Saturday episode gave some glimpse of the future. There was anew character introduced and the commentary said that the new character’s family served the samurai and his family for 300 years. Since the episode was set around 1560, that would take the service forward to the era of the Meiji Restoration.
The samurai is a creditable general in the field. I would not say that he was a brilliant strategist but rather a plodding, dull fighter. Using a comparison from our Civil War, the samurai was more like Ulysses Grant and not a brilliant strategist and field commander like Thomas Jackson. Of course, with the remaining episodes, he may yet prove me wrong.
The samurai’s wife is one of the most interesting characters. She seems wiser than she appears to be and uses her ability to work in high places and behind the screens to advance her husband’s career without him knowing about her actions. She also seems to have a better grasp of the swirling political situation than her husband.
The episode ended with a hint of him rising higher in the country. His wife has a meeting with his lord’s primary wife; the two women are closer than it would seem based on the hierarchical nature of the society. The lord’s wife hints of things to come and apparently mentioned that the samurai was in line to become a province ruler. Naturally, his wife is overjoyed with her husband’ success. I think she likes to be close to the power and finds it intoxicating.
She told him that he was going to be a province ruler. He is completely surprised and confused. He has reached his life’s goal as a castle lord. He had no higher ambitions. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.
Then, there is the nagging side bar. They have been married for at least fifteen years and only have one child, a daughter. I know they did not fight year round, armies went into Winter camps and soldiers went home. So why only one child? They could not have been distracted by radio, television, books, newspapers, magazines, or Paris Hilton. I would think a samurai would want multiple sons to assure that the line survived and there were heirs to succeed him and his castle. This is one plot line that will not have a resolution by the end of the series.
Be well and stay happy.
posted by Chuck Reinhardt at 8:20 PM
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