:: Omnia Mutantur ::

:: Thursday, September 27, 2001 ::

Oh talking cat, you talk too much...

Stanley Kubrick did some pretty suspicious things before he died. First, Warner Brothers states that he delivered the final cut of Eyes Wide Shut just two days before passing away. Then they state that of course he had agreed on digitally censoring the film so that it could get a kinder rating from the MPAA, when Kubrick had always been an enemy of censorship. And finally, he passed on a project that he "just couldn't get around to figure how to do" to his long-time friend Steven Spielberg.

Yesterday I saw this latest opus, Artificial Intelligence, which can only be described with the immortal words of Jay Sherman: it stinks!.

I won't go in the many ways that Spielberg's superbly photographed film manages to spoil a theme that deserved so much more, nor is there any need for me to praise the amazing performances of Hailey Joel Osment and (specially!) Jude Law. Neither will I deliver my laundry list of inconsistencies, goofs and just plain non-sequiturs. What I will do is warn you: if you flee the theater at about two hours into the movie, when the camera pulls away and the narrator starts speaking again, you will not only have spared half an hour of your life but you will feel that you just saw a great film.

Staying for the cowardly candy-coated cop-out of an ending will only irrevocably defile the other 120 minutes.

:: Ricardo J. Méndez 9:17 PM [+] ::
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Where did that six-year old comment about Bridges come from? Blame Stephen King. More on that later.

:: Ricardo J. Méndez 10:43 AM [+] ::
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From six years ago...

This old fan of Angel Heart, Fight Club and all things David Cronenberg-esque is, to the astonishment of most of his friends, quite in love with The Bridges of Madison County. Clint Eastwood's movie, that is; which displays his gift for narration in the simple fact that from the first five minutes on, you know how Francesca's affair with Robert Kincaid is going to end. You don't guess what's going to happen: the movie actually tells you. Nevertheless, that doesn't stop you from breaking down in tears when the climax of the movie finally catches up with you.

That's storytelling.

Book-devourer that I am, I almost ran out of the movie theater to buy the book (after covertly sobbing and leaving my then-date-but-now-wife Hellen at her home) expecting to wolf down its scant 200-some pages in no time at all.

That did not happen. The darned thing is as terse as a cement block but not half as entertaining.

Perhaps the most tell-tale fact is that Weller doesn't actually tell readers what's going to happen in advance, not trusting you to stick by his wooden prose and clunky descriptions unless you have to find out the ending. He doesn't deserve the courtesy, so I'll just go ahead and tell you: she doesn't elope with Robert. He leaves by himself, and Francesca lives with her family for the rest of her days.

Now go watch Eastwood's brilliant film and marvel that he doesn't need to hold the ending hostage to have sorrow slap you and make you feel just the way you did when the first girl you loved dumped you.

:: Ricardo J. Méndez 12:11 AM [+] ::
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Nobilis news

OK, good news and bad news.

The good news is that Hogshead has updated their page for the brilliant Nobilis roleplaying game, including a beautiful image for the cover (which I'm copying on the left). Do keep in mind that you can't judge a book by its cover: as georgeous as the image is, it can't do the game justice. I'm not sure what could.

(I sort of miss Mucha, but this cover is much more attractive. Nostalgia isn't what it used to be and all that.)

The bad news is that the official release date has been moved to November, as hinted some time ago by Kenneth Hite. Yeah, yet another month. That's what I get for saying that it would be worth any time we wait for it.

Meanwhile, stop by Chancel.org if you wish to read more about Nobilis or to join the currently catatonic mailing list. I'll let you know as soon as I get around to cleaning up some of my Nobilis material and uploading it to my RPG page.

:: Ricardo J. Méndez 11:57 AM [+] ::
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Denial, denial, denial

In light of the terrorist strike at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, film distributors and TV networks are altering their schedules and release dates so as not to show any terrorism- or bombing-related content too close to the events. That's absolutely understandable. Moving big events like the Emmy Awards? Perfectly reasonable. Removing any appearances of the World Trade Center from back episodes of Friends and Law and Order? Not quite so reasonable.

What do they expect to accomplish? Remove them off people's consciousness so that the pain of the event is lessened? That's plain, old fashioned denial, and, to tell you the truth, I don't think that if you lost someone in the attack it will do any difference if you see the towers on a Friends re-run or not. What's worse, whatever money they are using on their stupid "Towers? Here? Nope, can't say I ever saw them" editing-and-redistribution attempts could be used to help the efforts of the rescuers, provide economic help for the Red Cross or on so many other better-focused causes.

Hardly standing proud, but then again, the U.S. media seems to be big on denial.

:: Ricardo J. Méndez 11:15 AM [+] ::
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Bloody late books

All the bloody RPG books I'm waiting for - actually all two of them, Call of Cthulhu 20th Aniversay Edition and Nobilis - have been interminably delayed. If this goes on I'll get desperate and do something stupid like buying a Clive Barker novel or attempting to finish Ann Benson's incredibly dull The Plague Tales.

:: Ricardo J. Méndez 2:39 AM [+] ::
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A by-the-numbers monster movie

Going in to watch Jurassic Park III I had this preconceived notion that the best thing I would be able to say about it was that it didn't stink as badly as The Lost World. I was partly right - it doesn't stink as bad as its predecessor - but fortunately my preconceptions didn't interfere wiht my enjoyment of what turned out to be a rather decent monster flick. Yes, it's predictable and most characters walk around with a role tag on their foreheads (save-the-day dude, raptor-munch, flip-out lady, Mowgly). Yes, it lasts about an hour-thirty. But it has the courage of recognizing that it's a thriller, not a movie with a higher ecollogical purpose, and thus it avoids senseless boring filler to concentrate on the chases, close-calls and obligatory in-camera munching of secondary characters.

Enjoyable overall, and you don't even have to turn off your brain too often. BTW, my bet is that for Jurassic Park IV we'll have the velociraptors impersonating the paleontologists and actually stealing a helicopter to get off the island.

:: Ricardo J. Méndez 11:50 AM [+] ::
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ˇFelíz Día de la Independencia, Costa Rica!

:: Ricardo J. Méndez 11:36 AM [+] ::
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Terrible attacks

Brutal acts of terrorism, there's no other way to describe them. But for those of you worrying about World War III and Nostradamus nonsense, do keep in mind that the whole point of terrorism is that you can't afford direct confrontation.

Here's hoping that time doesn't prove me wrong.

:: Ricardo J. Méndez 4:42 PM [+] ::
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Second set of celebration photographs

I've scanned the second batch of pictures from the national celebration due to the Soccer World Cup 2002 classification. It includes some of my favorites such as this old puppetmaster, this anonymous celebrant or this young lady's bellybutton (hey, a zoom lens has to earn its keep!).

Click here for the whole set.

:: Ricardo J. Méndez 4:50 PM [+] ::
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And off we go to the Soccer World Cup 2002!!!

Well, we the country at least, because I'm certain I can't afford Japan and Korea.

Our Costa Rican soccer team has surprised everyone by playing like they never had before and managed to secure a place in the next Soccer World Cup by defeating (humilliating, I would say) the U.S. team in a game last night. Given that we're a soccer-addicted country, it was no surprise when people took to the streets today and partied like they never ... er... well, we do party a lot, but today was special.

Needless to say I was there, but with the specific purpose to take as many pictures as I could while trying to get drunk on the party atmosphere. The first batch of these is already online here, and I'll be uploading the second batch - which contains some of my favorites - before monday.

:: Ricardo J. Méndez 12:02 AM [+] ::
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Spectacular

How to describe Moulin Rougue! in anything less than a full-blown article? Just go see it. We'll chat about it when I manage to write something that does it justice.

:: Ricardo J. Méndez 12:38 PM [+] ::
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