Filed by Richard on Monday, July 21, 2008 at 4:42 pm

The Dark Knight is a good movie, with a few great performances, and some fairly perfect psycho-development of the varying lead characters. So why did it leave me cold?

I’m sure I’m not alone in being sick of hearing the Heath Ledger drumbeat; the Oscar talk, the brilliance of his performance, his ascension to the seat at the right-hand of God etc, all based on this performance. Can we STFU about it already? But the thing is, it turns out he is terrific. Incredible actually. He’s pulled off that rare accomplishment of delivering a clearly mannered performance, where it is evident that much work went into the mechanics and cadence of the performance, yet it didn’t seem mannered. At all.

Aaron Eckhart almost matches him in a much different role. As the idealistic, yet pragmatic District Attorney Harvey Dent, he’s thoroughly believable in an unbelievable universe.

Christian Bale is OK as the Bat-Man*; I still have never gotten used to how the various actors playing Bat-Man lower their voice to a growl when they put on the rubber ears. This version seemed especially bad. It seems clear that he’s not doing this to hide his identity because the few people he encounters as Bat-Man that also know Bruce Wayne already know he’s Bat-Man anyway. It comes across a bit as a weak man trying act like a tough man.

The Gotham of the Dark Knight is just a bit more grounded in reality than the Gotham of Batman Begins, with its myriad monorails floating  hundreds of feet in the air and plumbed through and between buildings. For the most part this makes for a better film experience.

The film does an extremely nuanced and effective job of developing the stories of Bruce Wayne/Bat-Man, Harvey Dent/Two-Face, Commissionar Gordon, and the Joker. For the Joker, there is no back story; and as snippets of the movie purport to tell the origins of his madness, we gradually learn they are all lies. The Joker is just a madman; there is no explanation. How refreshing.

Knowing that Harvey Dent was to become Two-Face, I spent much of the too-long movie wondering “when does he burn his face and become the villain that we know and love?”. It’s a good thing though that the transformation came so late in the movie, because for once the origin story IS the story; it took me to the end of the film to realize it. Most comic book movies seem to follow the same tired formula; the first third features highly compressed origin stories of the heroes and villains, the second third sets up the conflict, and the final third has the giant battle. But with the Dark Knight, the conflict is all about morality in an immoral world, and how sometimes there is no right choice to make.  When Dent makes the choice to become Two-Face it’s entirely understandable and his anger and villainy is almost defensible. He WAS the white knight and he played by the rules. And he was destroyed because of it.

Of course the complexity of this morality play is undercut by a presentation that seems at times to revel in fairly random and reckless killing of innocents and villains alike, yet at other times the entirety of the movie hinges on specific moral decisions by decent people and criminals alike to protect the lives of their fellow man, even at the expense of their own. When these moments arrived, it felt a bit like the final reel of a different movie had been spliced in accidentally; when did the lives of people suddenly start to matter?

Iron Man set the standard of comic book adaptations. You walked out of the theater jazzed, planning to see the movie again. With the Dark Knight you walk out impressed by many of the performances and the reach of the story line and character development, but ambivalent about the overall film because of it’s tonal inconsistencies.

*I’ve always preferred the original DC comic naming convention of “the Bat-Man” over the name “Batman.” It seems so retro, yet modern.

Filed by Richard on Sunday, July 20, 2008 at 10:32 am

I love Al Gore. I’m a HUGE supporter of him and a big believer in his efforts to highlight the effects of climate change.

I also cringed at the the successful efforts in the 2000 election to paint him as a serial credit-taker (“I invented the internet” etc.), when it was clear that he was not, in fact guilty, of taking the credit he had been accused of.

So it pained me to watch Meet the Press with Tom Brokaw this morning, with Al Gore as a guest. In the recorded introduction Brokaw said of Gore “he has since focused on his environmental crusade, winning an Oscar for his documentary, ‘An Inconvenient Truth,’ as well as the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.”

Umm… Newsflash to Brokaw at NBC news: Davis Guggenheim won the Documentary Feature Oscar for his documentary “An Inconvenient Truth,” which featured Gore. Gore didn’t win the award any more than Robert McNamara won the Oscar for “The Fog of War” (directed by Errol Morris and featuring McNamara).

So at this point in the show, I’m just disappointed in NBC and Brokaw for their poor fact-checking.

Then, Brokaw introduced Gore live. “Nobel laureate, Oscar winner. Crusader for conservation of energy…” While Brokaw was saying this, the camera was focused on Gore. He bowed his head down slightly like an elder statesmen to acknowledge the credits that Brokaw was extending his way… but he doesn’t bother to correct Brokaw when he described his “Oscar win.”

Ugh. This is very disappointing; This isn’t even nuanced. Gore did not win the Oscar. He could have quickly corrected Brokaw and moved on, but he didn’t bother.

I can see why NBC and Brokaw made the mistake: Do a quick Google search on “Al Gore” and “won the Oscar” or “Oscar winner” and you’ll get about 100,000 pages returned. do the same for Davis Guggenheim and you’ll get less than 10,000 pages.

But come on Al! Brokaw was speaking right to you on national TV. You had an obligation to correct the guy! Stop giving ammunition to your critics.

Full text and clip of Guggenheim’s acceptance speech at the Oscars (he invited Gore on stage to also say a few words).

Download the Meet the Press Podcast from iTunes (the offending parts are all in the first two minutes).

Filed by matt on Saturday, July 19, 2008 at 9:26 am

Joss Whedon is the man. Joss Whedon has created Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, Serenity and now Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, a supervillain musical.

Seems Joss got frustrated during the writers strike and decided to try and launch a project entirely on his own. Or as he puts it, with the help of everyone he’s ever worked with or is related to. The result is reachable through that image on the side. It’s free through midnight on July 20th, then goes to iTunes, then off to DVD release where hopefully the money rolls in.

This is what the future looks like. Creative people putting out content outside of the established production system. Of course the trick is that were it not for the established production system where he made Buffy and all that no one would know who Joss Whedon is. So really the future is how someone like Joss does it without needing the production system to exist at all. But this is an important step.

Also, it’s got Nathan Fillion with a hammer sticker on his chest. If I were at comic-con next week I would so have that shirt.

Filed by Richard on Thursday, July 17, 2008 at 7:58 pm

FIOS has come to the Huffman household. Three Verizon techs showed up today and installed the FIOS fiber optic network right into my house. No more Comcast!

Apparently there were three techs because the lead tech was training the other two techs; Verizon is clearly gearing up for a LOT of installations. Comcast should be checking their diapers right now.

I thought it was funny that one of the techs lived right near me, and therefore has received the same onslaught of material from Comcast in their efforts to badmouth Verizon. He pointed out to me something that I didn’t realize; when Comcast refers to their new “burst speed” of 12 mbs, apparently that means that they cannot maintain that speed consistently because of the limitation of their network. They don’t want to be sued for not consistently maintaining that speed, apparently, so they came up with a name (“burst”) that would allow them to claim the speed, without actually having to deliver it all the time. read more »

Filed by matt on Tuesday, July 15, 2008 at 8:33 pm

Here’s my iPhone story.

I preface this by saying I do not have the first iPhone. In advance of the iPhone 3G announcement I was convinced they would be for sale the same day it was announced and I was prepared to pick one up on the way home. Unfortunately there was almost a month to wait and it just made me want it more. I am not a profligate spender – I am a cheapass and I hate collecting stuff so this was not idle gimme gimme gimme. This was well-considered gimme gimme gimme.

The big unknown was how popular it was going to be on release day and how long each activation would take. When the first one came out you could walk right in that afternoon and pick one up feeling vaguely superiors o the people who waited in line just that morning. Activation was handled at home and there were some random delays but nothing too tragic. And then a whole mess of iPhones were either hacked or bought and whisked out of the country. So now it’s mandatory in-store activation.

I prepared for the big day by calling AT&T the week before and made sure I was upgrade eligible and that the corporate discount my wife put on our account wouldn’t be an issue. They said no problem on either front. According to their website, there were only 2 AT&T stores within 25 miles of my house selling the item. The closest Apple store is in a mall and not that convenient. I have a job and a life so that whole waiting in line overnight thing wasn’t going to happen.

read more »

Filed by Richard on Sunday, July 13, 2008 at 12:54 pm

Yet another edition of the Heisman Award-winning podcast featuring the soothing, dulcet tones of Matt and Richard.

 

 Mustard 81 [55:07m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Filed by Richard on Friday, July 11, 2008 at 5:36 pm

My ears are ringing right now; actually my right ear is ringing. I just saw Hellboy II at my favorite local theater, the Alderwood Mall 16plex, and the projectionist screwed up the sound to such a degree that it both ruined the movie and possibly caused damage to my ears (well not really, but it WAS pretty awful).

Essentially the theater turned up the right channel to earbleed levels. I knew something was up when the trailer for the Mummy III came up (which I’ve seen in theaters at least three times so far), and the funny line that Brendan Fraser says while in a plane about to crash — “why am I laughing?”) was completely drowned out by the effect sounds. I sat through the opening credits of Hellboy to see if it would change; and it didn’t. So I went out to talk to an attendant; he followed me back in and listened for a while while I went back to my seat. I was hopeful that something would change, but nothing did.

It’s odd watching a movie where the ambient channels of the soundtrack are louder than the prime dialogue; in scenes where Hellboy is walking through a crowded street, you distinctly hear the background dialogue of the extras over the voice of Hellboy. Certain music cues that are intended to blend into the background are out there front and center. And the dialogue all sounds like it’s coming from the next theater.

And to top it off, they hadn’t turned on the Air Conditioning; and the theater was just this side of too hot; probably about 78 to 80 degrees. Bleh.

The predecessor to this theater was the late, non-lamented Grand Cinemas Alderwood. During the long slide towards closure, the theater was incapable of screening any films without screwups. The last 13 times I attended a movie there, SOMETHING was wrong, from images spilling onto the curtain, to out of sync tracks, to continual problems with focus. (Which of course prompts any rational person to wonder why I kept going back; I simply have no answer to that).

The Grand Cinemas Alderwood was a great theater once. The Alderwood Mall 16Plex is currently a great theater. I just hope the experience today isn’t part of the same trend that ruined it’s older brother.

Oh, and Hellboy II? Great movie.

Filed by Richard on Tuesday, July 8, 2008 at 4:35 pm

Today was a grand day; not only did the folks from Verizon show up to run fiber optic from the street to my house (in anticipation of next week’s installation), but a Comcast rep just showed up at my door to pepper me with lies in order to get me to keep my service. It was a great moment indeed when I was able to tell him that I had just signed up for FIOS and how happy I was to say goodbye to Comcast.

But before all that came the lies: he started by telling me that “you’ve probably seen the trucks in your neighborhood installing the fiber optic wires.” This is a clear lie; Verizon has been in our neighborhood for the last two months (at various times) installing fiber, NOT comcast. This is the same tactic that Comcast used on the door hangers they left throughout my neighborhood; basically they take advantage of a vague understanding that there is a new fiber optic service available, couple it with the sight of work trucks in our neighborhood, and leave the distinct impression that the new fiber service and works trucks are theirs and not Verizon’s.

It’s to my infinite shame that I didn’t shut my mouth and let the guy spin his web of bullcrap. I was so excited to tell him that I am about to cancel Comcast that I cut off his opportunity to further lie.

That said, it did feel quite good to tell him how much I hate Comcast, how frustrated I was for them ripping my dad off for two years, and for lying about their own non-existant fiber service. And I especially loved telling him about how Comcast is just a whisker away from winning the steaming golden turd trophy from Consumerist as the worst company in America (that bit of news clearly took him aback).

He kept pressing me with the advantages of Comcast’s service. He pointed out that they have a 16 megabit “Blast” service with 2 meg upload. Of course I signed up for 20 meg dowload and 5 meg upload from Verizon for the same price. When he pressed the point, I felt like asking him if he knew basic math (“is 20 greater than or less than 15? How about 5 and 2?”)

He also mentioned that Comcast is “very competitive” I have to give him credit for that. You can’t see a movie in my area without seeing ads for Comcast alternately dissing Verizon’s fiber service while promoting their own. You can’t pass a billboard in my area that isn’t promoting Comcast’s “fiber service” at the expense of Verizon. You can’t open your mail box without getting misleading junk mail from Comcast. You can’t open your front door without bullcrap door hangers filled with lies about the “superior” Comcast product. And apparently you can’t sit at home having lunch without a Comcast rep personally interrupting you to lie to you.

The problem is that Comcast is competitive in marketing, not service. And the time to have been competitive in service would have been last year. Or the year before. Like every other monopoly, they basically sat on their lead, giving us subpar service at inflated prices. Just like when DirecTV began eating into their cable TV monopoly, Comcast only gets “competitive” when it’s too late.

I had already shut the door on him when I realized I should have pointed out that nowhere on the Comcast web site can you find out exactly how much there service costs. Yet it took all of 5 seconds to find out the prices on the Verizon site. Ah well, given Comcast’s history, I’ll probably have another rep out within the week, providing a further opportunity to continue the harangue.

Filed by Richard on Monday, July 7, 2008 at 3:33 pm

FIOS is about to arrive at the Huffman household. I just signed up for FIOS and am scheduled to have it installed on the 17th. After that I will be officially free from the evil empire that is Comcast; the company that ripped my dad off for two years, that peppered my neighborhood with lies about their own service, that is now playing smug, lying advertisements before movies at my local megaplex… THOSE guys.

It’s not the best start with Verizon, given that I probably submitted my contact info on their website at least 30 times to be informed of service availability, called Verizon three separate times, and even went out and gave the crew installing the fiber backbone donuts two months ago… yet I never received notice of service availability. I just discovered it by checking their web site. Hopefully this doesn’t portend to bad things.

Also, they don’t have approval for TV service yet; which doesn’t really matter to me right now; I’ll just be happy with my 20 meg download 5 meg upload.

Goodbye Comcast, you horrible, awful company.

Filed by Richard on Sunday, July 6, 2008 at 11:28 pm

Another edition of the Genie award-winning podcast featuring Matt and Richard.

 

 Mustard 80 [61:53m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Filed by Richard on Tuesday, July 1, 2008 at 11:25 pm

Still another edition of the Juno award-winning podcast featuring Matt and Richard, and recorded this week in spectacular crapto-sound.

 

 Mustard 79 [48:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download