Where Are We?

After only two episodes, I have a new favorite show: Lost. So far, the promising new show has delivered an experience only comparable to JJ Abrams' other show, Alias. It's delivered a powerful new scripted drama in a reality-show heavy fall season and helped ABC to find a new hit. Based on the tremendous hype surrounding the show, one would expect a complete disappointment, but on the contrary, Lost has been quite successful.

Here's the basic premise, a plane crashes in the middle of nowhere and the survivors struggle to remain alive long enough to, hopefully, be rescued. The amazing thing is that this premise barely scratches the surface of what this show is all about. I can't possibly explain all the plot points and characters on my own, but it's safe to say that there is a great variety of interesting characters and such a chilling atmosphere surrounding their predicament that one cannot help but become wrapped up in the show.

Personally, I think Mr. Abrams has crafted an ingeniously modern version of Land of the Lost. Another popular theory is this contemporary drama is camouflage for science-fiction, the science of it being time travel. Whatever it is, I'm hooked. All it took for me were the last ten minutes of the second episode to reel me in.

Watch it or TiVo it during Smallville if you must. JJ Abrams is bound to be the new David E. Kelley for crafting several high quality shows for one network.

An Artist's Predicament

A month or so ago, I mentioned a stellar artist who's work I admire immensely, Stuart Immonen. His style has evolved over the last year or so, from a high-contrast mega-black shadow style, to a cleaner, open-lined style that reads very very well. Being a successful comic book artist, Mr. Immonen has had the pleasure, or at times, the displeasure, to create sketches for fans at comic book conventions. Being the incredibly particular bunch genre fans tend to be, sketches can simply not be enough to satiate their hunger. No doubt, this can lead to frustrations.

To illustrate this, (no pun intended), Mr. Immonen compiled a list of 50 Reasons to Stop Doing Convention Sketches. Although hard to deal with, fans can be demanding of an artist who's already taxed. I really love the fluidity of these strips first of all, but most of all, I love how you can see the persona of the strip tries so hard to please those who drive his popularity. At the same time I'm laughing, I can only imagine the stress he has to go through when traveling to promote his work.

Kudos to Mr. Immonen for being passionate and sincere with his artwork. Even more kudos for all the work he's accomplished lately as well. Check out his work wherever you can find it and support this guy.

Slow Hands

It's been a long week so far, and although I've been meaning to make some regular posts this week, it hasn't happened. For right now, I'd recommend you go out and grab yourself a copy of Interpol's new album "Antics". So far it's turning out to be more melodic than their last effort, and it's a welcome change. Check it out.

Overblown Anime

Continuing with the cinematic rampage, we took a recent trip to the local artsy-fartsy theater and watched the latest to be imported to our shores, Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence. If you've never seen the original, it's a must for every fan of Japanese animation. One of the first anime to be brought overseas, Ghost is based on the popular manga by one of the most influential artists on Eastern shores, Masamune Shirow. The manga, of the same name, follows a futuristic police force, heavily enhanced by electronics, and their efforts to capture a high-powered hacker. The second chapter essentially picks up a few years after the previous adventure, once again following the same force, but with a decidedly different agenda.

This movie can be summed up in one word: Dense. The scenery is dense, the dialogue is dense, and the content itself is just dense dense dense. It took enough just to read the subtitles when there's so much to read, but it took double time to actually let it sink in and comprehend it. Not only that, but there were so many different quotations to follow that it was almost absurd. If there was no context to follow these quotations, I would have been laughing. Fortunately, this never happened.

Visually, Production IG put together what has to be the first successful merging of traditional and computer-generated animation. If you've seen Kill Bill, and you remember the animated sequence in volume 1, you'll know their work. With that knowledge, however, you still may not be fully prepared to experience this film. Background details, mechanical details, and the action itself make for a stunning work. There's one sequence, that although initially convoluted, you may find yourself remembering it for the way such subtle change can effect a scene. If anything, this movie only cements the stellar reputation that IG has built for itself so far, and I look forward to seeing what more they can produce.

My final impression of the film is a little mixed. Although my eyes had definite stimulation, and my brain had stimulation, the entire experience left me a little numb. I'm not entirely sure if I've had enough time to really appreciate the film, and this may not be a fair review, but I'm left with the impression that with all the dialogue, all the symbolism, and all the good intentions, the movie may have left me a little cold. Not that I didn't enjoy the experience, I was just ultimately disappointed. Perhaps it's cultural, and although it could be seen as quite profound, I almost found it pretentious. Whatever the case may be, as with all movies, one can always see it and decide for themselves.

Overall Score: 2.5 out of 5 stars.

Oh Sizzle, Part the Second

While watching ABC's new show, Lost, I saw a preview for a new show called Laguna Beach. Leave it to MTV to create a reality show based on the enormous popularity of The OC and label it "original." Leave it to MTV to also create a show that will promote the stereotype that all people from Orange County are rich, Caucasian, and beautiful. I think I'm going to officially change my name to Seth Cohen and see if I can get some royalties.

By the by, Lost was pretty cool. I'm most likely going to TiVo next week's episode like I did this week's and fast forward through the commercials. Perhaps a more extensive review next week when I watch. Stay tuned...

Sept. 21

For better or worse, I have now entered my mid-lo-late twenties. 26 isn't old in the grand scheme of things, but once you get past that milestone, you start thinking about things differently. For starters, you move from that "18-25" bracket to the "26-32" demographic. You've already gotten past that, "I can rent cars without penalty." phase, and past that, "My insurance has gone down" phase into, "How's my 401k doing?" What better way to keep from doing that than celebrating with friends.


Saturday night. Santa Monica. Busby's. Many drinks for each and everybody (mostly myself), lots of pool, and plenty of karaoke. Hopefully I didn't embarras anyone too much, but I hope everyone enjoyed me embarrasing myself with stirring renditions of The Darkness, Violent Femmes, and Bon Jovi.


Much fun was had, I hope, by all. Busby's is definitely a good place to go with a group of friends and will be always memorable to me. Thanks everyone for coming out and making my birthday very special. I really appreciate that you could all make it, especially knowing the phenomenal drive many of you had to make to get there. Although it's rare that everyone can get together in such a large group, it's always fun, and this time wasn't any different. Here's to all of you!

On This Day in History

Today is just like any other day, except for some notable occasions. The following people were born:

• 1756 - John MacAdam, road builder (d. 1836)
• 1840 - Murad V, Ottoman sultan (d. 1904)
• 1842 - Abd-ul-Hamid II, Ottoman sultan (d. 1918)
• 1866 - H. G. Wells, science fiction author (d. 1946)
• 1873 - Papa Jack Laine, jazz musician (d. 1966)
• 1874 - Gustav Holst, composer (d. 1934)
• 1906 - Aristotle Onassis, shipping tycoon (d. 1975)
• 1912 - Chuck Jones, animator (d. 2002)
• 1919 - Fazlur Rahman, scholar (d. 1988)
• 1920 - Jay Ward, animator (d. 1988)
• 1931 - Larry Hagman, actor
• 1934 - Leonard Cohen, singer-songwriter
• 1935 - Henry Gibson, actor
• 1944 - Fannie Flagg, actress, novelist
• 1945 - Jerry Bruckheimer, film and television producer
• 1946 - Moritz Leuenberger, member of the Swiss Federal Council
• 1947 - Stephen King, author
• 1947 - Marsha Norman, playwright
• 1947 - Donald Felder, musician
• 1949 - Artis Gilmore, basketball star
• 1950 - Bill Murray, actor
• 1950 - Charles Clarke, British politician
• 1953 - Arie Luyendyk, Indianapolis 500 winner
• 1957 - Ethan Coen, film director
• 1959 - Dave Coulier, actor
• 1960 - David James Elliott, actor
• 1961 - Nancy Travis, actress
• 1962 - Rob Morrow, actor
• 1963 - Cecil Fielder, baseball player
• 1966 - Kiefer Sutherland, actor
• 1967 - Faith Hill, country singer
• 1968 - Ricki Lake, actress, talk show hostess
• 1971 - Luke Wilson, actor
• 1975 - Doug Davis, baseball player
• 1980 - Kareena Kapoor, Bollywood actress

And the following events occured:

• 19 BC: The Roman poet Virgil, best known for his national epic the Aeneid, died.
• 1435: In the French kingdom, the Treaty of Arras was signed, ending the long quarrel between Duke Philip of Burgundy and King Charles VII.
• 1792: French Revolution: The National Convention voted to abolish the monarchy and the First Republic was proclaimed.
• 1823: According to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Joseph Smith received plates of gold from an angel. On these plates were written history and teachings about ancient prophets and peoples; Smith recorded this knowledge in the Book of Mormon, which became accepted as a holy scripture by the Mormon church.
• 1840: While experimenting with gallic acid, a chemical he was informed would increase the sensitivity of his prepared paper, William Henry Fox Talbot discovered that the acid can be used to develop a latent image on paper, leading to a revolution in photography.
• 1897: In response to a child's letter, the New York Sun publishes an editorial that begins, "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus."
• 1898: The Hundred Days' Reform in China was abruptly terminated when Empress Dowager Cixi forced the reform-minded Guangxu Emperor into seclusion and took over the government as regent.
• 1904: Chief Joseph, the Nez Perce Native American chief who led his people on a 1,600 km (1,000 mi) journey to escape the U.S. Army, dies on the Colville Reservation in Washington at about the age of 64.
• 1931:The Bank of England dropped the gold standard, and the pound sterling promptly lost 28 percent of its value, undermining the solvency of countries in eastern Europe and South America.
• 1937: The Hobbit, Oxford University professor J. R. R. Tolkien's tale of Middle Earth, is published.
• 1976: In an assassination widely credited to the secret police of Chile, Chilean opposition leader Orlando Letelier and his American secretary are killed by a car bomb in Washington, D.C.
• 1989: The U.S. Senate confirms President George Bush's appointment of General Colin Powell as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
• 2003: After 14 years of flight time and 8 years of service in the Jovian system, Galileo spacecraft's mission was terminated by sending the probe into Jupiter's atmosphere.

Pretty neat stuff to happen on one's birthday, don't you think? Much credit to Wikipedia, Encarta, and Britannica.

Retro Sci-Fi Sepia Goodness

If you're not sure what the title means, then you haven't seen Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. Having just seen it recently, I'll fill you in.

The short of it: I liked it. The long of it: there are many reasons why I can see it is a difficult movie to sell. As most films go, this one is a technological marvel. Filmed entirely on bluescreen, save for a few random props, the entirety of the backgrounds and effects are computer-generated. An awesome spectacle, the film presents itself as a work of nostalgia, but it no doubt can be the future of filmmaking.

Plotwise, the movie itself is relatively simple. The world's capitals of industry are under attack by enormous robotic monstrosities and the only person who can save them the heroic Sky Captain and his "Army for Hire." Jude Law, the man of many movies, plays the title character in a subdued, but strong enough turn. Not quite striking, but enough to own the character, he has yet to find a movie in which his star quality shines through. His counterpart in the action, Gwyneth Paltrow, co-stars as the hard-nosed reporter, Polly Perkins. She brings the appropriate amount of moxy to a role no doubt cast in the Lois Lane mold. Good performances by those two all-around, and the supporting cast isn't so bad either. Not to mention the post-mortem performance by one Sir Laurence Olivier.

How did I feel about the film? I really enjoyed the tone, the look, the content, the whole idea of the movie was great. Well-executed, well-acted, and well-shot I loved the way it played out. There were minor problems, plot-wise, but there will always be areas where belief must be suspended and one must immerse themselves in unreality. For this reason, I find it hard to believe that it will be a huge success. Most people may cast it off in a cynical gesture of disbelief. Others may decry the seemingly cheesy lines and simplistic look of the technology. I consider this to be due to the source of inspiration. Pulp novels and '20's style comic books are outdated, the characters are quite 2-dimensional, and the overall idea is passe. Our culture has been so dumbfounded by visions of the future that we may have forgotten how to even imagine a new past. Really, it's a shame, because I think this film was meant to be enjoyed as pure popcorn fodder.

Most definitely, I would recommend this movie as a matinee for those who doubt. It's a great indicator of what is possible technologically, but also a great deal of fun. If you're willing to just sit down, and enjoy yourself at face value, do so, and you won't be disappointed.

Final Score: 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Your Turn

Let me tell you a story....

Knuckles bone-white underneath leather, my hands grip the steering wheel. My right hand stabs the shifter forward, anticipating the starting signal. A deep, carnal growl bubbles underneath the hood as the car approaches the white line.

Red.

Green.

Boom.

My right food hard to the floor, the car explodes forward as the tires scream for tar and leave a thick cloud behind. The needle reaches 10 and I yank the knob into second, crushing the gas pedal through the metal floor. Gears squeal into third knifing through the first turn, I ease up on the gas and twist the steering column right. As the rear pushes left, my nose slashes towards the apex and I plunge the accelerator.

Fourth gear.

The engine yelps for more gas, pleads. I oblige and smear the boot tread, already melting, into aluminum. Second turn coming up, the wheel strains to the left and peels back a glove layer, stitches snapping. The red dye bleeds onto the grip, autographing my movements. I almost lose the tail, gear down, and counter-steer tightly into the wall, drawing sparks from the rear fender. A strap bites my shoulder and burns a thick, red stripe from neck to waist.

Snarling down the straightaway, the needle spikes and jumps, but I push it further. Fumes rush from the vents and sulfuric debris crowds my helmet while burning my nostrils. An impending swerve beckons as the speedometer wretches towards 200, mocking me. I drop one more gear...

And the world drops out from under me. Chalkboard scrapes of twisted metal burst my eardrums, the tires freeze, and the wheel locks, snapping a wrist as I try to maintain the steer. The first impact into the wall obliterates the rear axle.

Roll 1.

My eyes view the world from below as gravity forces my stomach downwards into my throat.

Roll 2.

I hear cartilage snap like guitar strings as my left knee dislocates. The pain is enough to dull the shattering of my shin as the front end crumples against an asphalt sky.

Roll 3.

My spinal cord corkscrews when the steel gate bisects the car's interior.

Roll 4.

Glittering detritus litters the track. Flames lick the ground and kiss the sky. Each breath is a vaporous, brimstone lunch I'll taste for days. Half-blind, I look towards the sky, think of my wife and children...

I can't lose.

Oh Sizzle

For the love of God, I have been home and things are definitely more clear to me now than they were growing up. Orange County is indeed, doomed.

Those of you who know, and have been there, we do not call it, "The OC." Whoever gave that show's creator even the faintest idea that we do, has to be dragged out in the middle of the street and publicly humiliated. "OC" perhaps, but never by the now-hip moniker that people have been slinging about. Calling it by its new name is about as absurd as calling Malibu "The 'Bu".

Now, the reason for going home was The Taste of Newport food festival. Once a year, all the restaurants from Newport Beach gather themselves together in a little corner of Newport to let the public sample their best dishes. Of course, there's an entrance fee and all the samples cost a little bit of money, but the experience itself is highlighted by chef demonstrations, live performances, and obviously, delicious food. They have a good system worked out for keeping actual cash out of all of the booths, but there has to be a better system for crowd control. Towards the end of the night, the walkways were packed to the gills with people, and it being hot out, sweaty people.

The Taste of Newport is a great festival, but what really surprised me was the crowd. Having lived in Orange County all my life, and having lived elsewhere for a good 7 years now, it's disturbing that I never noticed the environment I had grown up in. This doesn't apply to all of OC, really, but mostly to the Newport, Laguna area. What I discovered, and probably should have known all along is that it has to be one of the least diverse, and most decadent areas of Southern California. There was so much silicone, that if Noah's Flood had happened all over again, at least half the population present would have been saved by their implants. There were so many upper middle class people, that I don't believe anyone there had any doubt who they were going to vote for in this upcoming election. It almost makes me ashamed to have grown up near there, but not quite, since my childhood was
quite different.

To tell the truth, there are many areas in Orange County that are quite the opposite. Travel closer to LA county, for example, and things change quite drastically. In Westminster, Anaheim, Orange, Garden Grove, all these cities are completely polarized to the South County ideal. You won't find the upscale Tapas restaurant you're looking for in Brea, you won't find the conservative viewpoints in Santa Ana either. What you will find, however, are local ethnic markets, hole-in-the-wall eateries, and a friendly face or two, as opposed to the plastic grin that might greet you in saaaaay, Mission Viejo?

It's not a horrible thing to have grown up there, really. I think there are some things I'm still completely blind to, and some I'm glad that I was able to move away and live someplace quite different for so long. One would almost say that it's appalling that so much money can be concentrated in one area while others continue to suffer elsewhere, but that's how the world is. With much brain-cleansing and traveling, maybe all the OC-ness will get out of my system completely within the next couple of years.

Work, Squared

Working in cubicles is no doubt, modern life as we know it. We've all been numbered, arranged, and compartmentalized for the organizational pleasure of whatever job we have. It can be depressing, but it can also be fun if you're willing to go nuts and decorate the cube with knick-knacks and pictures of whatever pleases you.

Amusing things always occur because, in fact, working in a cube makes people forget certain things. For example, we all tend to forget that although we are surrounded by walls, there is still space enough for people to know that you exist. One will always hear the sounds of bodily functions ripping through fabric or exploding from mouths. It's bad enough that the sound is embarrassing, but what of the smell?

People also like to sleep at their cubes. There are people with such elaborate set-ups for taking naps that it almost becomes a part-time job of theirs to arrange their body comfortably before drifting off for a midday snooze. Take for instance, the guy who takes off his shoes, sets them aside in a specific position, gathers an extra chair, leans his own chair against his desk, places his feet "just so" in the extra chair", leans his head back towards the ceiling, but away from the lights, and snores for a good 30 minutes. Of course, I'm making it more complicated than it really is, but what the heck, naps can be taken in your car, at your house, but in my opinion, not at your desk.

There's also those who will call over the cubicle walls to make sure their co-workers are still there. Discussions are held without ever seeing a face or shaking a hand. More people are willing to sit at their cubes, call up their neighbors, or send an e-mail, than walk around a corner or up a flight of stairs. Maybe they should start making office chairs less comfortable. Maybe air conditioning shouldn't make the office a perfect 70 degrees. Whatever it is, I think one should always take a few breaks just to get away from their desks.

What are cubicles to you? Are they modern cages? Is it a private, personal workspace? Are you a master of your cube, or slave?

Road Rage

Have you ever been physically threatened before? I don't speak of being surrounded by basketball players, I mean, has anyone ever threatened to harm you verbally or visually? This weekend, I had my first serious brush with a lunatic, and of course, this happens while I'm driving.

First of all, let me say that driving for a couple of hours on a lonely highway will make a person pretty eager to get home, eager enough to be somewhat self-righteous, but not so much that you have to forget the whole idea of courtesy in the first place. Normally, I try to maintain a certain set of rules while driving, rewarding the polite drivers and trying to win small victories for the little guy by punishing those who are needlessly competitive on the road. Unfortunately, doing so led to a small confrontation of sorts.

While taking an odd detour away from the I-5 through Valencia, a green Chevy Tahoe rolling on at least 24-inch rims tried bullying my poor, rented Trailblazer while merging. I'm talking no signal, accelerating way too quickly in a narrow space, no regard for the safety of my car and the passengers in it by someone obviously with someplace to be, and way too big of a chip on their shoulder. Now, being the responsive jerk I can be when someone is essentially an asshole, I resisted, and closed the gap between the car in front of me to prevent him from his destination. What followed was a little... unexpected.

Mr. Green Monster proceeded to step out of his car, cover his sweaty, obese man-breasts in his sports jersey, and gesture wildly at our vehicle. I'm sure he was saying something emphatically, but I couldn't hear a thing as the Trailblazer has some pretty nice noise canceling features. He continued to spew many a curse word, I imagine, while frantically pointing out each of us in the car. Seeing that at any moment he was going to have a cardiac arrest, I let him in. The whole time, myself and my passengers where cracking up at his sideways baseball cap and demeanor. I've never seen anyone so passionate about merging.

This wasn't the end of it either as "The Bro" then got out of his car again and started flashing what I think was an obscure gang sign, or maybe it was just him telling us what his IQ was, I couldn't quite get his message. He did this a few times, all the while letting other cars in front of him while the spittle foamed from his lips. I think he probably cost himself whatever time he was trying to make up, and I also like to think he feels so much better about his manhood after harassing someone easily one-third his size.

Only in Los Angeles....

Fire Up the BBQ

LA Blogs once again posts up a short poll for all the Angelinos 'blogging in the city. Perhaps not so much in context since I didn't spend the weekend doing any barbecuing personally, but hey, I did have barbecue twice this weekend!

1. When you do fire up the grill, what do you put on it?
Hamburgers or steak.

2. Where do you buy your goods (any secret meat markets)?
Usually I buy the meat at any old supermarket, but Bristol Farms and Trader Joe's usually have some good meats. If the 'cue is intended to be crowded, then Costco will usually do.

3. Besides your house, where do you/would you BBQ around your area?
Can't barbecue in the South Bay since there's no firepits to huddle around late into the night, but Huntington Sate Beach can be nice at night. Either that or we'll fire up the grill at a friend's place.

4. Gas or charcoal?
Nothing tastes better at a barbecue than a hamburger cooked over some flaming, hot coals.

5. What is your favorite drink to accompany the grill?
Beer. Preferably Newcastle. There's a small group of us that do tend to get a little foo foo and drink Alize with some bubbly.

6. When you bring a side dish, what is it?
Good old fashioned potato salad. Mac and cheese sounds good too, but I have yet to find the perfect recipe.

7. If the host burns the main dish, where do you go out to eat instead?
If we're still in the mood for barbecue, Lucille's will stuff you silly. Food's pretty good to boot.

8. Post BBQ games: dominoes, croquet, bocci or badminton?
Poker has been the game of late. Dominoes, however, can always be pretty fun too, but enough can't be said about cranium. Cloodle!

Laborious Day

Hello again, world, how are you holding up after the gratuitous holiday weekend? Myself, I'm thanking my lucky stars that I was able to make it through this holiday relatively unscathed after a harrowing vacationous outing to enjoy the giant redwoods of Sequoia National Park. Being skeptical that all things would rightly come together given the nature of every trip we take together as friends, things panned out in a handsome fashion. We took hikes, we took pictures, and we took our opportunity to soil the landscape with our human presence and scare the living daylights out of whatever natural creatures roamed the forest.

Not that we did this on purpose mind you, just the fact that we were a group of 14 young, loud people should be enough to scare anyone.

There are several things about camping that I really enjoy: the clean air, the beautiful aspect of untouched natural land, and the fact that you can escape from the city for at least a few days before you begin to miss it. Sequoia is a good place to go for all of these things, and if you've never been there, you have to go at least once in your life just to say you've stood next to one of the largest naturally occurring phenomena on the planet earth. Majestic some would say, just another tree others would say, but all I really have to say is, "wow." Profound, huh?



Hiking through the park was nice, and although there are several longer, tougher, and probably suicidal hikes one can take, we took some fairly modest treks. One, to the top of Moro Rock, overlooking the Valley, another to Eagle View, which is an astonishing 71 miles from Mt. Whitney, and another through the Crescent Meadow to Tharp's Log. The journey to the top of Moro Rock was not terribly difficult, but breathing the thin air could be described as such. A few steps up the side of the rock, and people were hyper-ventilating as if we'd just sprinted a good 100 meters. 442 steps the top is what the park ranger said, so like I mentioned, not difficult, but the view was awesome. We stopped for a while and took numerous photos, and as was the theme of the weekend, we took a group photo.



The hike through Crescent Meadow to both Eagle View and Tharp's Log was peaceful, to say the least. We didn't catch any wildlife unawares while we were about, but did get to see what kind of life Tharp made for himself in his literal log cabin. His hollowed out Sequoia home sat at the foot of the meadow and made for a good spot for both himself and his livestock as it sat next to a stream. From there some of us split off for another pre-dusk hike, while the rest of us opted to clean the grime and relax before dinner.



Our last day was spent climbing down the valley to get a look at the Crystal Caves. The 1/2 mile down wasn't any trouble, but hiking back up wearing layers of clothing surely had us lose 10 pounds in sweat. Peering at underground rock formations may not seem to be everyone's cup of tea, and the tour itself was pretty standard, but knowing these formations had been over 1 million years in the making, and the fact that their natural beauty was quite a thing to behold made the Crystal Cave hike worth it. Buy advanced tickets and make sure you dress light, but warmly.



In the end, it was a good trip. I enjoyed myself, and everyone else seemed to have a great time even if it was their first ever camping experience. Being the third largest state means that California has plenty of land, and it's quite amazing that between such great cities in the north and south can exist beautiful displays of untouched nature.

Summer Movie Mania Week 8

As an avid fan of the show Scrubs it was my desire, nay, my duty to see Zach Braff's magnum opus, Garden State. Having also heard so many good things about it, I was looking forward to seeing what made it so unique, especially after having seen the ephemeral goodness that is the trailer. After countless other activities took precedent and a slight mix-up in theater location, I finally was able to sit down in the good ol' Manhattan Village cinema and take in a viewing. In short, I was not disappointed.

For those who haven't seen the movie, Garden State follows Mr. Braff's character as he returns home for the first time after a long stint in Los Angeles away from friends and family. What follows his initial arrival is a good study of what it's like to confront yourself for the first time, or at least that's how I saw it. The film was shot very nicely, with some good imagery throughout. There was never anything that seemed self-indulgent or flashy, and most every shot served a purpose in moving the story along smoothly. You'd have to be a film student to break it down more cleanly, I imagine, but I'm not, so too bad.

The performances by all the actors rang true for me. Although one could be used to seeing Mr. Braff act like a goofball on Scrubs, there is no room for tomfoolery in this film. One would almost say that he was quite stoic, really, but I feel it's a very important contrast, which I will discuss later. Now the real revelation was the performance of Ms. Natalie Portman. One can always attest any movie with Ms. Portman in it is a must-see, given her ultra-good looks, but the naturalism that she portrays in the film is enough to make a person forget for a moment who she is in life, and believe in her character on screen. Her line delivery is so rhythmically real that I was wholly impressed. Many have said that this movie made them fall in love with her character, and although I think that's a stretch, I could understand.

What I drew from the film is very similar to what others have said before, it's a good exploration of that mid-20s feeling. There's the feelings of self-doubt, anger at those around you, and the final acceptance of who you've grown up to be. As stated before, Mr. Braff begins the film quite numb, no doubt due to the Lithium-soaked life he leads in Los Angeles, but could also be due to his refusal to confront family history. Coming home forces the confrontation, but it also forces him to quit taking his meds, and ultimately, he becomes more alive than he's ever been. Now the transition from beginning to end was very well-handled, and Mr. Braff's acting shows very subtly these changes. I think, in a way, that it's a sort of rebirth for his character. This is only fitting since the reason he came home is because of a death in the family. It's an effective story, and only
strengthened by smaller points which I'll ignore for the sake of brevity.

Garden State is highly recommended by yours truly. Out of most of the independent films I've seen this year, I'd rank it in the top 3. Check out Zach Braff's Garden State Blog for more random news concerning the film.

Final Score: 4 out of 5 stars.

Diss Miss

Lo and behold, the criminal case against Kobe Bryant has been dismissed. Pretty big news over here in Laker-land as this bodes well for the team's future. However, one has to ask, why would the prosecution and accuser let this case drag on for so long if they couldn't follow through with it in the first place? Why would the District Attorney's office of Colorado waste the taxpayer's money if they knew their case was so weak? One has to infer that either the accuser knew she would be getting big bucks out of it in the end, or it could be argued that the prosecution wasn't expecting much of a fight from the defense in the first place. The reigning opinion right now though, is that there is a huge settlement over the horizon.

Now although I'm sure Mr. Bryant is very, very happy about this, it remains to be seen how this will effect the upcoming season, the team, and Mr. Bryant's play in general. Myself, I'm relieved since the Lakers are basically a lottery team without Kobe, but the question will always remain: did he really do it? There was evidence pointing in both directions, of course, but is paying a large settlement in the end an admission of guilt? Is there a lot to be gleaned from the legalese-heavy statement from Mr. Bryant? The only people who will really know are the accuser and the accused, but for right now, one can only speculate.