RI Civil Unions

Fellow Pittsburgher, The Most Rev. Thomas J. Tobin, Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence has a pretty awesome statement on Civil Unions.

Favorite line,

Can there be any doubt that Almighty God will, in His own time and way, pass judgment upon our state, its leaders and citizens, for abandoning His commands and embracing public immorality?

2012 is just around the corner.

There's only one true Hollywood Star

Dissecting Hollywood stardom as only Bill Simmons can.

Quote of the Day

"I can’t decide if this movie [Transformers: Dark of the Moon] is so spectacularly, breathtakingly dumb as to induce stupidity in anyone who watches, or so brutally brilliant that it disarms all reason. What’s the difference?" —A. O. Scott, NYT film critic

No Pole Required

Split Screen Love

I think inspired by Kathleen and Clément, director just switched gender/nationalities

This video was shot on a Nokia mobile phone.

Splitscreen: A Love Story from JW Griffiths on Vimeo.

Improv Everywhere at it Again

Screenings -- Two disappointments and a recommendation

I finally saw Superbad – the movie that everyone said was so super-good. First off, while there were a few genuinely hilarious scenes, the laughs overall I thought were few and far between. (OK, McLovin was pretty funny.) But even more amiss were the three protagonists. Let’s face it, these three were pretty much colossal bores and, along with everyone else in the movie, complete infants. I couldn’t help but think of other high-school coming of age movies that make Superbad look like something the cat dragged in: American Graffiti, Breaking Away or more recently Juno (also starring Michael Cera). If nothing else, you note right away that the characters in these movies are about a thousand times more interesting than anyone in Superbad, who are essentially gross sad little dweebs. I didn’t give a hoot what happened to them and I didn’t get all the enthusiasm over the movie.

Another movie that left me slightly disappointed was Win Win. This was a much better movie than Superbad, of course, but it didn’t quite meet expectations. Tom McCarthy, who wrote and directed the film, also wrote and directed two of my all-time favorite movies: The Station Agent and The Visitor. He also worked on the story for Up. The main problem is that Win Win is simply doesn’t measure up to McCarthy’s other films. Paul Giamatti is good, but I thought the rest of the cast was -- well -- ok. Still, the movie revolves around a great idea fully in keeping with McCarthy’s vision that the universe sends unusual people into your life at unexpected times for the purpose of helping you to become a better person. My guess is that if you haven’t seen The Station Agent or The Visitor, you’ll enjoy Win Win. Then go on to see those two fabulous films and you’ll notice how Win Win more or less pales by comparison. One other plus for Win Win is that it takes place in New Providence, NJ.

In some ways, Woody Allen just keeps making the same movie over and over again. Even his characters stay the same. Midnight in Paris is no exception. Owen Wilson is a clear stand-in for Allen himself. And, you’ll also see efforts to channel Alan Alda, Diane Weist and Scarlet Johansson from other Woody Allen films. But, as films go, the one Allen film – wistful, hopelessly romantic, beautifully filmed – is a darn good one and worth seeing over and over again. This particular version, without giving anything away, is a total delight. And, if you’ve ever been in love with Paris, like Kathleen, you’ll fall in love all over again. I’m not altogether sure that it’s a must-see, but it’s an incredibly enjoyable two hours.

The Supremes

They are generally thought provoking. I won't even comment on this except to say you most likely will find it interesting for various reasons.

One (sic) of these things is not like the other

Huh? Only one has laces!
Oh wait. It's hard to tell, but it appears only one has velcro. Any other one not like the other?

And here's another little game. One of these things doesn't belong. One? Well, maybe there are different "methods of ordering and surveying human experience" (as Niels Bohr would say). For each of the following the second number is generated by the first number by a simple, consistent rule and the second number is unique to the first one, i.e. it is always the same given the same first number. Your job is to think of a rule which explains 3 of the 4 and then pick which one doesn't belong. Just like the song. Please explain your answer.

A. Twelve -> 6
B. Six -> 3
C. Ten -> 5
D. Three -> 5

The Theology of Whosoeverth Dwells in the Cloud

Myk posted a video referencing how our language has been enriched with religious imagery. Here is a clever post which uses that imagery to explain technology.

The Good Reuben James and Other Stories

This is a short short story so I have a chance to add some editorial comment. The Reuben James was a naval destroyer which was being used to guard the eastern coast. In March of 1941, along with four other destroyers, it was assigned to escort a convoy of ships carrying supplies for the United Kingdom. The tragedy is often considered to be the first casualties of WWII although we were not at war at the time.

If there is someone looking for a good Hollywood production, you may want to research the person for whom the boat was named.

To start, Reuben James himself was apparently one hellaciously forceful figure -- an boatswain's mate who distinguished himself in the very early USN in the two wars against the Barbary or Tripoli pirates (1803 and 1815) and in the War of 1812, serving in all three under Lieut., Capt., then Commodore Stephen Decatur. In the first pirate war, James was one of four sailors whom Decatur took under cover of darkness to burn a captured American warship in Tripoli harbor, an exploit praised as the most daring in naval warfare at the time by no less than Britain's legendary Admiral Lord Nelson. James also is credited with saving Decatur's life on at least two occasions, the first in the Battle of Tripoli when despite bleeding from wounds in both hands he threw his body over Decatur's prostrate form and took a scimitar slash for him -- then got up and killed the assailant and went on fighting. He served more than thirty years in the USN, retiring in 1836 at 57 due to ill health from his many combat wounds.

Finally, I've come to realize that, although we make fun of mother for her view of society when growing up ("No one drank in school."), she did travel in a very specialized circle. Dad's college roommates were all classmates from Columbia H.S. and all earned Phi Beta Kappa. It may the the only time in history that three roommates from the same high school accomplished this feat. Practically all of her friends went to the very best schools witness Craig and Gale Spowers.

One of Dad's friends in high school was Gale Spowers. He went to Williams. His brother, Craig Spowers, was on the Reuben James when it went down. I think he went to Annapolis. Do you remember the song? 'Did you have a friend on the good Reuben James?'

Pictures at an Exposition - 4

This week's picture is a bit different. It is fairly obvious what's going on. We need the best caption. Oh, and the prize this week is an extra ration of grog.

Screenings - Unemployment and War

Previously I mentioned some movies which were better than I expected. Here is one that was significantly worse than I was led to believe from critic (and viewer) reviews.

The Company Men (2010)
Writer: John Wells
Director: John Wells
Genre: Drama

Pretty much every critic liked this movie, and, to be honest, everything about the movie is well done except for the fact that everyone involved with this movie, including its audience, are so detached from reality as to be delusional psychotic. I don't like to reveal plot but I'm making an exception here. The point of the movie is to show how losing one's job can crush the individual spirit. There are three people who lose their jobs. The poor one makes $160,000 a year and the other two make significantly more—significantly more. In other words, these are the top 1% of the population that keep getting tax breaks. The culminating scene of devastation—corresponding to when in The Grapes of Wrath the mother feeds the sick man from her breast—is when the boy must give back his X-box. Everyone in the theater must have been in tears. I would say the poignancy is not to be found in the movie, but in the society that could think this is poignant.

The other 'movie' is as relevant as that one is not.
Generation Kill (2008)
Writer: Evan Wright (book and screen play credits), David Simon, Ed Burns
Director: Susanna White, Simon Cellan Jones
Genre: War Drama

Simon and Burns are the same team that did The Wire. Expect the same quality. Not only are the episodes outstanding, but each one of the commentary episodes may be even more thoughtful and entertaining. In other words, each episode should be watched twice.

Quote of the Day

First Quote of the Day:
"The notion of particles as objects in space, taken of from classical physics, is thereby eliminated…." —Aage Bohr, son of Niels Bohr and also a Nobel Prize winning physicist, and Ole Ulfbeck denying the existence of atomic scale particles, i.e. saying atoms don't exist.

Obviously, he is not saying that atoms don't exist as a mathematical construct or as a different notion, but that they don't exist as classical particles. He is saying that an alpha particle does not travel through space to register on a geiger counter the same way a ball travels through space to arrive in your mitt or the way a particle of dust travels to your coffee table.

Second Quote of the Day:
"A particle is simply a physical system that has no continuous degrees of freedom except for its total momentum." —Steven Weinberg, also a Nobel laureate in physics.

He goes on to explain, "For instance, we can give a complete description of an electron by specifying its momentum, as well as its spin around any given axis, a quantity that in quantum mechanics is discrete rather than continuous. On the other hand, a system consisting of a free electron and a free proton is not a particle, because to describe it one has to specify the momenta of both the electron and the proton— not just their sum. But a bound state of an electron and a proton, such as a hydrogen atom in its state of lowest energy, is a particle. Everyone would agree that a hydrogen atom is not an elementary particle, but it is not always so easy to make this distinction, or even to say what it means."

Obviously these two physicists disagree, but I think their disagreement is with the definition of a particle.

Women's Lib and Other Stories

One weekend John hitched-hiked to Russell Sage as a surprise. I guess when girls are in college together they don't get dressed up or put on make-up, because I was in old clothes with no make-up. I was mortified. Looking back though I'm sure he never noticed what I had on. John was crazy. He stayed at a hotel, but I had to pay for it. (He sent me the money later though.)

Quote for the Day

But God in heaven! Won’t you try to understand me! I’m trying hard enough to understand you! There had to be one man who said yes. Somebody had to agree to captain the ship. She had sprung a hundred leaks; she was loaded to the water line with crime, ignorance, poverty. The wheel was swinging with the wind. The crew refused to work and were looting the cargo. The officers were building a raft, ready to slip overboard and desert the ship. The mast was splitting, the wind was howling, the sails were beginning to rip. Every man jack on board was about to drown—and only because the only thing they thought of was their own skins and their cheap little day-to-day traffic. Was that a time, do you think, for playing with words like yes and no? Was that a time for a man to be weighing the pros and cons, wondering if he wasn’t going to pay too dearly later on; if he wasn’t going to lose his life, or his family, or his touch with other men? You grab the wheel, you right the ship in the face of a mountain of water. You shout an order, and if one man refuses to obey, you shoot straight into the mob. Into the mob, I say! The beast as nameless as the wave that crashes down upon your deck; as nameless as the whipping wind. The thing that drops when you shoot may be someone who poured you a drink the night before; but it has no name. And you, braced at the wheel, you have no name, either. Nothing has a name—except the ship, and the storm.

Pictures at an Exposition - 3

Again, here is the picture. We are looking for some exposition—a caption, a comment, or a confession.

Good Times and Other Stories

We sure had good times. I went up to see John on a Yale football weekend. Alma and Margaret and I were all there. Both of John's roommates, Charlie Young and Cameron Mosley, were also from Columbia High School as were all of us girls. We had to take a trolley to the game and it started raining. It was crowded so we where outside of the trolley holding on and getting wet.

We had fun at the game and we must have won since John ran down onto the field after the game to tear the goal posts down. He just left me in the stands. When we got back to their room we were all soaked so we took off our clothes to dry them. I went around in John's bath robe. They had a fire place in the room so we tried to dry our clothes by the fire.

Later we went to the movies in our damp clothes. Our shoes would make a squishy sound when we walked. Oh, we had such good times.

Part I

Inspired by Myk, I found the start of Clarence's acting career.

Part II