Take 5 - Pakistani style

Completely unimportant movie update

Because I know how much you all care about what I am watching and have waited patiently for another one of my movie watching lists, here is another unimportant and irrelevant list of most of the movies I have watched since the last time I posted about this inane subject. Why do I keep track of this stuff? Get ready, this is going to be a pretty long post. Here goes - in no particular order other than roughly in the sequence I watched them.

• Ilsa - She Wolf of the SS: I might as well start with the craziest of the bunch. I don't recommend this movie for very many people. Personally I loved this over-the-top 1974 Nazi exploitation film. And it was filmed on the same set as Hogan's Heroes! I will say no more.
• Gone in 60 Seconds: This is the 1974 version, not the pile of crap 2000 Nicholas Cage version. I hate it when they ruin a great film with an insipid remake or sequel. I don't have the time to list all the reasons why this is such an awesome film. But one of the best reasons is a 34 minute car chase (longest in any movie) in which 93 cars are destroyed. The acting is pretty bad until you consider that most of the actors were the filmmaker's family and friends and that there was no actual script. Definitely worth watching more than once.
• Being There: I had this one for a while before I watched it. There were a couple of websites that had this 1979 film in their "top whatever" lists and I was intrigued. But I sat on it for a few months because I just wasn't sure it sounded all that great to me. More sad-sounding that anything else. I finally gave in to the fact that it has Peter Sellers in it. I loved watching his Pink Panther movies when I was little and he has had lots of other pretty memorable roles. So what the heck. I was surprised at how much I liked this one. The story itself (mistaken identity of sorts) is not anything special, but Sellers does a great job of making you believe and care, if just for that short time.Nicely done and recommended.
• Supervixens: Director Russ Meyers' obsession with large breasts is amply (haha!) showcased in this 1975 sexploitation film, whose female characters have names like SuperLorna, SuperCherry, and SuperSoul (of course she's black). While this film isn't nearly as offensive as Ilsa, it's not going to appeal to very many people. Even I found it hard to watch policeman Harry Sledge (Charles Napier) beat and murder SuperAngel. The story is ridiculous and is full of unbelievable characters and situations. I think the beautiful scantily-clad buxom women may have had something to do with it, but that's only part of the equation. Russ Meyers was an under-rated and under-appreciated filmmaker. Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! remains one of my all-time favorites.
• Gas Land: A very informative and somewhat depressing (The truth rarely makes people happy. It really does suck that it's like that) documentary about the practice of "fracking" to extract natural gas from the ground and how it might be contaminating local water supplies. A lot of people don't have the stomach to hear about stuff like this. You should watch films like this with a healthy dose of skepticism, but don't just ignore things because you don't want to be bothered. Or just don't care. At least do it for the sake of knowledge. Anyway, this 2010 (Fresh and new! Like a daisy!) film was basically done by an average guy who was just trying to figure out what the deal was with fracking and it became something much larger - this film. This documentary is well made, informative without being the least bit technical, and is easy to watch. Oil and energy companies will tell you this is just a bunch of liberal enviro-crap. Maybe you should listen to them. They're pretty smart. And honest. Right?
• Double Indemnity: I really enjoy a good film noir drama and this is a great example of that style of film. This 1944 Billy Wilder black and white classic is considered the model for most of that genre of films that came out after it. Personally, I had a hard time getting past Fred MacMurray. I have little kid memories of him in reruns of My Three Sons and his character in this movie is not quite the same. But once I did, wow! Who cares what this movie is about. Just watch it!!! 
• Laura: This movie, another 1944 film noir, really creeped me out. It's really good and all, but I don't know if I want to watch it again. The cop's obsession with a dead woman (Laura, from the title) and Vincent Price as the dead girl's fiance were both very unsettling. And the old guy was a weird duck too. A really well done murder mystery. If you like film noir, this one is worth watching.
• Step Into Liquid: I was temporarily infatuated with surf movies. There are some real stinkers (several of which I watched at least some of but didn't feel I had to bring attention to their mediocrity. Therefore, most of the surf movies I talk about are the best of the bunch that I've seen and will get glowing reviews from me. Just so you know.), but many of them are loads of fun to watch. The older ones are also fascinating to me as history. Of course, nature never seems to get old to me. This is probably one of the most viewer-friendly surfing movies made. It was made in 2003 by Dana Brown, the son of filmmaker Bruce Brown who made some of the best motorcycle and surfing movies ever. The kid did a pretty good job for his first try, although I'm sure he had some help from daddy. If you only watch one surf movie, and want it to be fairly recent, this is probably the one you should see.
•  Dogtown & Z-Boys: This is a super-interesting 2001 documentary about some of the pioneers of modern skateboarding. Contemporary interviews combined with actual footage from the 1970's. This was directed by skateboarding legend Stacy Peralta, who was one of the subjects of the film. Not to be confused with Lords of Dogtown, which I will mention a little later.
• 5 Summer Stories: This is a really nice 1972 documentary with a great soundtrack. It has a lot of the surfing legends from the 60's and early 70's. Ranks high on my list of surf movies.
• Endless Summer: I'd already seen this film from 1966 several times, but decided to watch it again. One of Bruce Brown's classics (on par with On Any Sunday). This is a fun and casual look at surfing in the 50's and 60's. Probably one of the best surf movies ever. I'll probably watch this one a few more times.
• The Sting: I hadn't seen this movie since I was a little kid. It's a good movie but it didn't live up to what I remembered. I hate that. It seems to happen a lot when I rewatch movies I haven't seen since I was much younger. I think Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is better.
• Cherry, Harry & Raquel: Another Russ Meyer film. This was a really weird 1970 softcore exploitation film that made little sense. Unless you really like Russ Meyer films this is hard to recommend to anyone.
• The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Bang, bang! Spaghetti westerns! Woot! Exaggerated violence from Sergio Leone. This 1966 film, and it predecessors A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More, are probably my favorite westerns. I've seen them all numerous times and they never get old. Clintwood's depiction of The Man With No Name has become iconic. I guess Italy looks a lot like the old west. Watch this film at least once!
• Bustin' Down The Door: This is a fascinating 2008 documentary that looks at the rise of pro surfing in the early 70's. There is plenty of animosity between the Hawaiians and the Austrailians / South Africans. A great story about the clash of huge egos, Hawaiian culture, and tasty waves. This is a great film that looks at a pretty specific time and place in surfing history and does an admirable job telling the story. 
• Lords of Dogtown: Jeez. I can't believe I watched all of these surf movies. I'm getting tired writing about them. This one from 2005 is not a documentary, but is not totally fictional. It's kind of the skateboarding version of Pearl Harbor or Titanic, but not crappy like those were. It's pretty fun to watch and I think it was actually way more interesting by watching it after the documentary (Dogtown & Z-Boys) on basically the exact same subject. Dead guy Keith Ledger does a pretty good job playing Skip Engblom, owner of Zephyr Skate Shop. 
• Riding Giants: I loved this film! It follows the sub-genre of big wave riding from its earliest days in Hawaii in the 1950's all the way through the 90's, when tow-in surfing (using small boats or jet skis to catch HUGE waves) started, and into its maturity in the early 2000's. I was floored watching the gigantic waves that these guys are catching. Although I doubt that there are any big waves in my future, this film, more that any of the others, makes me want to learn how to surf.
• Endless Summer II: This will probably be the last surf movie that I watch for a while. I didn't think I would like this movie the first time I started watching it. How could this one be at all like the first Endless Summer? Or even not be crap? Well, it's not quite the same as the first one, but pretty close. You can tell that Bruce Brown (who also narrates his own films) has aged a bit and he doesn't quite come across as the same free spirit like he did in 1966 (this one was made in 1994). I had seen this one before, but felt like watching it again. All in all its a good sequel and the trio of the first one, this one, and Step Into Liquid (by Bruce's son - see early comments) are a pretty decent overall representation of the evolution of surfing.
• Last of the Mohicans: The mention of movies and books that depicted Indians came up quite a few times during my Native American history class this term. I decided to watch some of these movies. I may have been wasting time watching so many movies during this term, but at least these had some kind of legitimacy. Many of the instructors comments were about how unrealistic many of the movies and television shows depicting Indians are. He tried to guide us to films that had at least some redeeming qualities. Last of the Mohicans (1992) is kind of a mixed bag and is basically a love story, there is a lot of historical accuracy and faithful representations of Indians during the French and Indian War in the mid 18th century. A pretty good film that is pleasant to look at.
• Little Big Man: This 1970 Dustin Hoffman comedic western satire is actually pretty accurate in it's portrayal of Indians and most of the events that it depicts. A couple of them took a few liberties, but for the most part it's accurate. Worth watching again.
• Black Robe: Apparently this is regarded as "one of the most meticulously researched representations of indigenous life put on film". OK. Whatever. I was really expecting much from the subject matter (its mostly about a Jesuit missionary in 1634 in Quebec who is supposed to convert Indians to Christianity) but was pleasantly surprised. This is really a great movie and just drips with authenticity. I wasn't really surprised to learn it was made by Canadians and Australians rather than Americans. This 1991 film was not widely released in the US. Absolutely worth watching. If you only watch one movie that has a lot of historical accuracy concerning Indians, this is probably the one. And the story is actually quite good.
• 300: I eagerly awaited the release of this Frank Miller adaptation. I loved, loved, loved the cinematography in Sin City, which was also adapted from his work, and had high hopes for this 2006 film. I was not disappointed. They used a technique called super-imposition chroma key to replicate the feel of Miller's comic series. And apparently, the film is about 90% historically accurate with an over the top visualization that makes it feel totally made up. Whatever. It works for me. I had been talking with one of my housemates about the Spartans and thought that it would be fun to watch this one again. I'll probably watch this one several more times just because of the cinematography and overall feel of the movie.
• Battle of Britain: I've always had a fascination with WWI and WWII aircraft and like to watch actual aerial dog-fighting footage. I think a lot of it comes from the fact that we had a small plane and I loved watching movies like The Great Waldo Pepper and reruns of Baa Baa Black Sheep when I was young. I'd never actually seen this 1969 film and was interested in seeing its extensive flying sequences. I wasn't much interested in the story and the lack of subtitles for the German parts helped me in fast forwarding a lot. I read some background about it before watching this movie and it was fun being able to identify things like the remote control models, historical inaccuracies, incorrect planes used to represent actual warbirds, and all the things they did to fit in actual battle footage. I have seen a little of the 7-part Frank Capra series of the same name and would like to see the rest, but I'm not planning on that any time soon. I suppose that this film is pretty good if you are into this kind of thing.
• The Red Baron: I had no idea that this 2008 German-made film was out there. Despite a lot of historical inaccuracies, I liked this movie and thoroughly enjoyed the large number of dog fighting sequences (a movie about the Red Baron with little flying would have been a big turnoff for me). This film was apparently one of the most expensive German films ever made and one of the biggest German film failures. Being made in English seems a little weird (they were hoping for success outside of Germany - mainly the US) and I guess Germans didn't like that and their strangeness after WWII about patriotism probably didn't help either. Definitely worth watching for the WWI aircraft alone.
• Birdemic: I have been looking at more modern movies the past month or so and for whatever reason this is one that caught my eye. I decided to watch it with Erik and Mary Kate, mostly because it was supposed to be a really bad movie and it had birds which Mary Kate is quite knowledgeable about. I kind of felt bad that I made them sit through this forgettable stinker. I knew it was supposed to be the worst movie made in 2010 and had gained fame as one of the worst ever, but I wasn't  ready for how bad it really was. It was rarely even that kind of bad where you can laugh at it, but thankfully there were at least a couple of those moment, mostly related to the unbelievably cheesy and low-budget special bird effects. Good lord, what a steaming pile this movie is. There is probably no need for anyone to ever see this movie.
• Jeremiah Johnson: This is another movie that was mentioned in class. More fairly accurate depictions of Indians and the life of a mountain man in the mid 19th century. Visually this 1972 film was pretty good. Robert Redford's wooden acting kind of ruined it for me.
• Secretary: Wikipedia describes 2002 film this as a "dominant/submissive-themed romantic comedy-drama". What a mouthful. I saw this movie once already, really liked it, and decided to give it another go, mainly because Maggie Gyllenhaal is such a hottie. Adult themes and situations abound but there is very little actual nudity. Still, this one isn't for everyone.
• A Crude Awakening: A surprisingly good 2006 documentary about peak oil. Clearly explains our dependence on oil and what could happen in our near future as the oil supplies run out. Worth a look if you are unclear about the subject.
• Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: Yet another comic book adaptation. I wasn't really very tempted by this 2010 movie. It sounded asinine and immature. That might be true, but the movie was probably the most fun I've had watching a movie for quite a while. Some friends brought it over one night and we sat down to watch it (on an actual TV!). Completely ridiculous story liberally peppered with video game references that actually worked quite well. This isn't anything like I expected it to be. I thought the best character by far was Knives Chow.  I'm probably on the edge of the age where a person would really enjoy this film. If you are much older than 40, you may not like this one as much as I did. The pacing and a lot of the reference will likely be lost to older generations. I didn't even get all of them, but it didn't matter much to me, so maybe it won't to you old fogies. There's no accounting for taste. Or bands named Sex Bob-omb.
• Kick Ass: I kept hearing that this movie from last year was a blast and that I should watch it. It sounded kind of dumb to me and I resisted it for a long time. After watching Scott Pilgrim I finally gave in and am glad that I did. It is yet another comic book adaptation, but nothing like the Frank Miller stuff. I especially liked the 11-year old (actual age of the actor) Hit Girl. Of course she was the most controversial character in the film. Well, that and all of the violence. I thought this movie was loads of fun, but not for the kiddies.
• The Hangover: This 2009 comedy was an alright combination of stupid and funny. Not bad for light entertainment, but I'll probably resist watching parts 2 and 3. Was this really good enough for two sequels, let alone one?
• Whip It: Who can resist cute girls on skates? Not me. Only semi-realistic (I've seen the real thing lots of times) but you still get a pretty good rough idea of what these ladies are like in real life. Cute Canadian girl Ellen Page does a nice job with this comedy-drama coming of age story. Because of this movie, I'll probably watch her in Juno pretty soon.
• The Other Guys: I kind of hate to stop on this one, but it's the last movie that I've seen. Another stupid yet somewhat funny buddy-cop movie. It has enough redeeming qualities that I give it a slight recommendation if you want to laugh a little without thinking too much. 

I can't believe that I took the time to write all of this down. Kind of ironic that I will spend hours on a stupid post like this but have a hard time making myself write a few 2-page essays.I just wrote the equivalent of 10 pages of double-spaced blather. And for what purpose?

Grade update

Amazingly, I got an "A" in my Native American History class. I hate it when I'm wrong. That brings my total to 2 A's and 1 B. GPA stands at 3.81.

This doesn't help me in my war against procrastination. Not one bit.

Feces on the airwaves

I saw nothing in the Republican presidential debate last night that fills me with hope for the future. Is this really the best that the GOP can do? Will the Democrats do any better? Could the moderator ask a few more stupid questions? Bring back Gwen Ifil and Jim Lehrer.

I can't say that I'm looking forward to the next 18 months in politics.

School's out for summer!

I am really glad to be done with school for a few months. I really need a break from it for a while. And no more commuting to Sylvania!

I was a little worried about my grades this term. I wasn't feeling motivated after the first couple of weeks and started to slack off. There was a ton of reading, which wasn't a problem, but I procrastinated heavily on all of my essays (a total of 10 this term) and wasn't really very into studying statistics as I should have been. Even with all of that, I still feel that I learned a lot. My final grade average for PCC will likely be a little under 3.80. I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to be more dedicated and committed to school if I want to keep an average like this in PSU. At least most of it will have to do with economics. And I'm hoping the summer break and a new school will help me to be excited about it again.

Statistics II  (MTH244) - This term was more about applications of statistics while the last term was learning the basics. I wish that there had been more time for this class. I could have used another 2 or 3 weeks. It felt kind of like a little too much was getting crammed into this one class, but there wasn't enough for a third term. Or maybe it was just me. My exam (3 of them) and worksheet (3 also) scores generally weren't as good as they were last term. Deciding which significance test to do is still a bit confusing to me. I was worried because I had to get at least 155 points on the final to get a "B" and after taking it I wasn't very confident. I haven't seen my final, but grades got posted and I did get a "B". I'm still not sure I did "B" work. The instructor was retiring after this class and I put a little "Have a great retirement!" thing on the last page (bonus question that I didn't have enough time to answer), so maybe she was feeling generous. I'm hoping that this is pretty much the last math class I have to take.

History of Middle Eastern Civilization (HST104) - Tons of reading. Only one essay, which I could have done a lot better on. Higher than average scores on both exams. 100% scores for all online discussions. I did learn a ton about the Middle East and why things are like they are. It was a confusing mess that I never had the patience to learn about before. It's still a little confusing, but things are a lot clearer now. And I definitely have a better understanding of the Crusades now. I learned way too many incorrect things from TV and movies. The lessons and readings were all pretty neutral and seemed fair and honest (very different than "Fair and Balanced"). I was a little suspicious of one of the students though. She was a Muslim who didn't seem to have much real world experience. She seemed sheltered and ignorant that there was anything besides her particular flavor of religion. I called her out on this once (she was saying disparaging things about Shia Muslims. She was a Sunni) and she feigned knowledge and intent, but it mostly stopped after that. Some of her responses seemed coached or written by someone other than her. I wondered if she was having one of her relatives post some of her stuff. Or the instructor was conducting some kind of social experiment. Whatever the case, I feel that I never went anywhere near inappropriate and tried to stop responding to her most of the time. I did ask her to clarify some of the things she said, but her replies were usually vague and frequently questioned by some of the other Muslims in the class. The instructor was mostly hands-off during the class. I really don't know why we pay more for online classes. You probably get less, the teacher does less, no classrooms are used, etc. Online classes should be cheaper if anything. Kind of a rip-off. Overall, this was a fairly easy "A" for me. The only one this term though, I'm sure.

Native American History (HST218) - Wow! This class was packed with new knowledge goodness! I've been wanting to take this class for a while and I'm glad that I was able to finally fit it in. There was a lot of reading for this class also. We went through the entire textbook (that usually never happens), had two other books to read (one of which had an essay assignment, the other had a lot of important info about the Indian Wars of the 18th century), and read a peer-reviewed article and write a paper on it. Our midterm and final exams were all take-home essays (7 of them for both). I procrastinated too long on most of the essay stuff and could have done a lot better on them. I keep telling myself that I won't do that any more, but it usually happens anyway. I took copious notes for this class. If I could have written faster I would have taken even more. The twice a week lectures were the main source for essays so I wanted to have plenty of material. We were limited to that, dot-edu and dot-gov web sites, JSTOR articles, and the three required books for sources so it was much easier to take good notes than to do tons of research and more reading. For my journal article review I choose one about Prophetstown (on the Wabash River in Indiana) because of the proximity to Fort Wayne and the association with Little Turtle, Anthony Wayne, and all the battles and stuff that I never bothered to learn about when I lived there. Indians meant next to nothing to me when I lived in Ft. Wayne. There were tons important events that happened in this area of the country. I had no idea. I even had numerous Indian friends in Elko but I never bothered to learn anything about their history or culture even then. This class made me realize just how complicated the Indian story is and made me appreciate and care even more about them. We've been bad to them. Really bad. Manifest destiny, racism, Eurocentrism, etc. And we still are not being particularly nice to them. There was so much to learn. We skimmed and skipped tons of stuff. And this is only Indians who were indigenous to the United States. Apparently next year this will be two classes instead of one. There were a lot of people in this class with very few dropouts. From what I understand this class is unusual in that way. My stats class only finished with 12 people, while there were nearly 30 in this one. I haven't got grades back for this one yet. I have no idea how I did on any of the 9 essays. A couple of them were OK, but most of them got done at the last minute and could have been greatly improved. I think I will be lucky to get a "B". Shame on me. I've always liked history and should have done better. If I thought there was a future in it, besides teaching, I would probably major in history instead of economics. I wish I had time to take more history classes.

My first day of summer vacation

8am: Woke up. Went to the bathroom. Went back to sleep.
10am: Woke up again. Drank coffee. Smoked cigarettes.
10:40am: Took a shower.
11am: Watered sunflowers and planted more seeds. Tried not to think about those stupid moles.
11:50am: Went for a ride on the Sportster to the Skyline area. Rode like it was old times.
2:30pm: Harvested 2nd small crop of radishes.
3:30pm: Cooked Italian turkey spaghetti and had fresh spinach on the side.
4:30pm: Watched an episode of "Ice Road Truckers".
7pm: Went for a ride on my bike.
8pm: Writing this.
9:30pm: Watched "reality" cooking shows. I hate that I love these.
Everything else: Mostly screwing off.