I just heard the lost, uncut edition of the classic silent film Metropolis (1927) was discovered in the basement of a museum in Buenos Aires. Metropolis became a prototype for the science fiction film genre; there is a clear influence that can be seen, for example, in the ending of Wall-E.
This is mostly for locals who haven't seen the exchange between a blogger who didn't like the way his coffee was served, and the owner, who threatened to punch him in the [object withheld]. First read the blog and then the response, and then the Post article, if you want.
For more positive news, read about the best coffee shop in the world.
The question of the day is, if you could eat for free at one of the 50 best restaurants in the world, which would you choose? I would probably go with Chez Panisse, if only because it's one of the few on the list that I'm actually familiar with. Today's menu: garlic hors d'oeuvres; corn syrup with toasted garlic butter; live spot shrimp au pistou; lacquered squab with garlic purée, garlic-braised bacon, fried scallions and mustard greens; and bombe glâcée tricolore.
I finally saw Ratatouille the other day, which I enjoyed both for the satisfying adventure story and its sound moral values: Any propaganda instructing children not to eat junk food is helpful. As the rat scampers about accomplishing tasks and solving problems, the film plays out like an ideal video game. I haven't seen the interactive versions of Ratatouille, but I can't imagine they would have to change it very much from what's already on-screen. Many action movies are written like video games, but they also include character development and conversation. The hero must grow up, he must fight and then make up with his close friends, and so on, even if much of this is unoriginal filler, until we move on to the physical obstacles that provide the real excitement. In this movie, the interpersonal drama is mostly confined to the humans the rat observes from his hiding places, just as a video-game player can sit back and watch animated segments before continuing the game. There is still a subplot of the rat's rebellion against his dad, who doesn't think rats should mingle with humans. "You can't change nature," the father says. The reply: "But change is nature, dad! It's the part that we can influence!"
While I understand it's all in good fun, it could have turned into a more sophisticated adult film if there had been more talk about the food. What really makes a good ratatouille, anyway? More importantly, what's his favorite kind of cheese? There was just enough insider detail thrown in to give the kitchen scenes the illusion of authenticity, but it wasn't enough to make me feel like I was a chef, watching the movie; and I would like to be a chef, and a rat as well.
Via Frank Rich, a satirical Web site for Buy n Large, the villainous corporate entity in Wall-E. I don't know why everyone in Hollywood is prejudiced against silent movies; in some cases, movies really do look better without dialogue. Just because voice recording technology is there does not mean you always have to use it. Anyway, the visual attention to detail in this film is very advanced, especially in the opening scenes of an abandoned urban landscape. The first 45 minutes or so have no speaking parts, except for robot noises and television clips. It's lovely to behold. The second half, which takes place in space, has a visceral amusement park quality; we get to see contraptions zip through the stars and along the corridors of an artificial living environment. It's a fun movie all the way through, but it turns into a standard-issue science fiction plot, with way too heavy-handed allusions to 2001: A Space Odyssey. The ending does not make sense, but that's okay.
We went to a Nationals game yesterday (they lost, but it was a great day to be outside) and a teenage boy in front of us, who had come with his family, was ignoring the game and reading a book. I couldn't make out the title and only caught a couple sentences on the back cover, predicting that the end of the world is coming in 2012. An Amazon search reveals pages and pages of books on the subject. I must have ignored this until now, but it seems the year 2012 is the new end time of choice in our post-millennial world. December 23, 2012 is the end of the Mayan Long Count calendar, which they used to keep track of dates beginning in 3114 BCE. However, the idea that the end of this period would bring on the apocalypse is an invention of popular culture.
Our own electoral calendar provides a more plausible basis for this eschatology. No matter who wins the presidential election this year, the world is anxious to know what will happen between now and 2012.
I was wondering the other day if there would ever be another release by Hayao Miyazaki, whose last beautiful, strange, incomprehensible animated film was Howl's Moving Castle (2004). I was happy to learn that a new movie, Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, is due out in Japan this month. It is about a goldfish who wants to be a human. Unlike in some of his more recent films, only hand-drawn animation is used. No word on its American appearance.
Wikipedia tells us that Miyazaki has created numerous short films for the Ghibli Museum in suburban Tokyo. My favorite exhibit, from their Web site, is the Cat Bus. "It must be everyone's dream to touch and ride the Cat Bus. In order to make this wish come true, we made a room with an actual Cat Bus."
The Onion has a special environmental edition out, and I appreciate that. I liked this one.
This article in Smithsonian magazine will change the way you look at the world; or, at least, the ancient world. Archaeologist Vinzenz Brinkmann builds replicas of Greek and Roman statues the way they may have actually looked at the time: In color! Article and photo gallery is here.
These are from downtown Denver, Fall 2006. The area around the pedestrian mall is pleasant yet artificial, making it the perfect place for a Starbucks.
Every American city these days seems to have a tourist zone or convention zone: A lively area stocked with chain stores to bring in the money, where locals fear to tread. There is about a two-block radius around the Verizon Center in D.C. that is now as crowded as Times Square. People go there to see a hockey game, or view Lincoln's final resting place, or visit an Irish pub that spells its name out in Chinese characters because it is in Chinatown.
What I like more about Denver, though, is how within what is mostly an anodyne urban setting, you can see traces of an old-fashioned Western settlement.
