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Pat and Jeremy talk about United 93
Wednesday Apr 26, 2006 - Link to Entry
Coming to a theatre near you is Universal's film United 93. For many people this film represents Hollywood's undying and morally compromising quest for American dollars. I got a taste of that widly held belief as I watched previews before Thank You For Smoking (an amazing film if you haven't seen it yet). Never in my life have I heard such an uproar from an audience during a trailer. People were screaming things like, "Too soon," and, "Greedy Bastards." I didn't put too much thought into it, until today.
On my way into work this morning KROQ (106.7 FM Los Angeles) was taking phone calls regarding the film. For every proponent there were five callers waiting to trash the movie and Hollywood for making it. And though Hollywood has been known to make a controversial decision now and again, when push comes to shove there has typically been an entire process of testing and research and typically this industry would not intentionally set itself up for a fiscal loss. Also really from a leftist town this film is much more in support of 'Red State' Patriotic thought... There must be something else at play here.
These thoughts sparked a series of debates this morning at work as well as one over IM with my good friend Pat
who is based in DC and lived in post 9/11 New York from 2002 through 2005. Here's the slightly edited conversation:
Jeremy: so i have a theory on United 93 the movie
Pat: what's that
Pat: are you seeing it?
Jeremy: I plan to
Jeremy: my theory is that hollywood was forced to do it
Jeremy: by the government
Jeremy to try to rebirth the patriotism of 5 years ago
Jeremy: as well as to further cover up theories that the plane was actually shot down
Pat: whoa
Pat: conspiracist here
Jeremy: i mean people keep saying it shows how low hollywood is and how they'll try to make a buck off of anything and that its just too soon for the movie
Jeremy: and as silly as this industry can be, they wont spend a ton of money on a movie that they think will fail
Jeremy: but it is clear that a lot of people are against this film
Jeremy: and any amount of pre polling would have told them not to make it for fiscal reasons
Pat: i can't say i like the idea
Jeremy: i just have a really hard time believing that hollywood would press an issue when clearly its the left that disagrees with its release
Pat: i don't think it's the left
Pat: what about the passion of the christ?
Pat: was that one sponsored by the government too?
Jeremy: i mean i dont think its contraversial nature adheres strictly to political beliefs, but i do think liberal america is more against the movie than the red states
Jeremy: i think it will be empty in LA theatres
Pat: i would agree with that
Jeremy: besides passion of the christ was funded privately
Pat: i think the heartland folks will see it
Pat: yes but not distributed
Jeremy: so your point is?
Pat: my point is, this is an example of hollywood making money because they know people will see it
Jeremy: hollywood will distribute anything?
Pat: hollywood makes plenty of non-leftist crap movies
Pat: pearl harbor?
Pat: armageddon?
Pat: independence day?
Pat: this is just part of that same thing
Jeremy: making and advertising the film is expensive
Pat: yes but clearly it will make money
Pat: and there aren't big stars in it
Jeremy: it won't make money, well not tons, not enough to make enduring all of the criticism worthwhile
Pat: it mostly takes place on one set
Pat: it couldn't have been that expensive to make
Jeremy: im looking up its budget
Pat: people will want to see a heroic allegory for the present situation
Pat: thats' who will see it
Pat: what about oliver stone's movie?
Pat: how can you claim 9/11 movies are government-sponsored when mr. conspiracy leftist himself is making one
Jeremy: its R so it already has a very limited audience
Jeremy: 15 million on production
Jeremy: And probably three times that on advertisement/marketing
Pat: that's still only $60 million
Pat: with DVD
Pat: it could make well more thant hat
Jeremy: and they are donating 10% of box office to 9/11 memorial
Jeremy: you're right, it is too cheap to claim that the movie will tank
Jeremy: it will make its costs back
Jeremy: but i still think there is something fishy about it
Jeremy: and pointing the finger at hollywood for this one
Pat: i'm more intrigued by your belief that the plane was shot down
Jeremy: ive never seen a trailer booed before
Jeremy: until now
Jeremy: thats neither here nor there
Jeremy: the issue is that the US govt has a lot to gain by showing american heroism patriotism in light of fear and tragedy
Jeremy: and yet at the same time reinvigorating those feelings of helplessness and fear within the red states
Jeremy: am i off base here?
Pat: no i don't htink you are
Pat: i'm sure the government approves
Pat: but
Pat: there are plenty of people who agree with the government
Pat: that aren't a part of it
Pat: and if there's a market for this film, it will get made, and i believe there is one
Jeremy: im not saying hollywood didnt see potential, but i think they were heavily encouraged to move forward with this by the bush administration
Pat: it's possible
Pat: but i really doubt oliver stone is listenign to the bushies
Jeremy: oh i dont think oliver stone's project has anything to do with anyone except him
Pat: yeah
Jeremy: hollywood knows that his audience will be there
Jeremy: flight 93 is just fictional non fiction
Jeremy: virtually a real time documentary
Jeremy: no opinion in theory
Jeremy: and its really bothering people
Jeremy: i think with stone people know that its more an editorial
Jeremy: and it wont be as troubling
Pat: could be
Pat: i think you have to be intelligent to be troubled by flight 93 though
Jeremy: nah i disagree
Jeremy: i heard some pretty ignorant people on the radio this morning talking about how it will never be appropriate to make that movie... NEVER?
Jeremy: btw this convo is going to be my jeremyround.com update
Pat: sounds good to me
Pat: be sure to include that i don't like the idea of the movie either
Pat: but that plenty of people won't have a problem with it
So that in short was a discourse on our thoughts on the film. In parting I'd like to mention that the filmmakers claim that they went to great lengths to provide an accurate account of the events and that critics everywhere seem to really feel the film was well done. Though I am still troubled and will always be troubled by horrific acts of humanity, I would like to see this movie and learn a bit more about the events of September 11th, 2001.
To car or not to car
Monday Apr 17, 2006 - Link to Entry
Sari, oh poor Sari. For those of you unfamiliar with my main mode of transport for the last 6 years, Sari is my car, a 1998 Honda CRV. Not quite a month ago I crashed her for the second time.
Shortly after I moved to San Francisco Sari was involved in her first life altering collision. It was a two way stop. I started out into the intersection only to realize I shouldn't have done so and got plowed into by a speeding infinity which crushed my front left wheel and spun my car about 90 degrees.
Long story short she was almost entirely rebuilt and was just a few hundred dollars away from being totalled. This was three years ago. This new accident wasn't nearly as devestating, but it has called into question -- To car or not to car?
No I do not mean to suggest I'm planning on hooving it, biking it, or big blue busing it across this vast metropolis. I mean to say, is it time to buy a new car?
Gas prices are majorly on the rise and having an inefficient car that is clearly on the decline on mpg is hardly ideal. Also my DJing days are over and though its nice to have the car than can handle smaller large item transport, its not a reason to be spending thousands more a year on gas, repairs, insurance, etc.
But Sari is mine outright. No monthly costs, no debt, she's old but she's free and clear. Also I know her well. She's been with me through thick and thin and in the nation's highways and biways... what the heck is a biway anyway?
Well I think I need to find a car I really love and then perhaps I will move forward with this process. I know that fuel efficiency, V6, safety, moon roof, and a quality sound system are my priorities in ranked order. The rest will unfold with time.
In other news, Bulls clinch, and the White Sox are back where they belong in first!
They're Back!
Wednesday Apr 12, 2006 - Link to Entry
And just when you thought you couldn't care any less the 'Baby' Bulls have charged back onto the scene with a late season charge at the mystical but playoff worthy .500. With 4 games remaining on their schedule the Bulls now with with the 8th seed and within 2 games of the current 5th seed the Washington Wizards who defeated the Bulls last year four games to two in the first round.
Though the Bulls making the playoffs really just hurts their draft status, the thought of them being an annual nuisance in the East seems quite appealing after years of championship hangover. Besides with the NBA post season as ridiculous as it currently is, making the playoffs means almost two and a half weeks more basketball for a team and a chance to lose to the team that loses to the team... or a chance to be the team that loses in the final.
Here's the current situation:
5. Washington 39-39
6. Indiana 38-40
7. Miliwaukee 38-40
8. CHICAGO BULLS 37-41
9. Philadelphia 37-41
The Bulls hold the tie breaker over Philly as well as Washington and Indiana with a better conference record. So if they can win 3 of 4 they should be a lock and if they win all 4 games they are in without a doubt.
However if they just scrape in with the 8th seed not only is their entirely line up already decimated by freak injuries, but the remaining healthy players would most likely be further destoryed by the powerful Pistons sitting atop the conference.
Ideally they will win 4 of 4 and take the 5 seed and play a fun series with Cleveland before losing in 6 and coming back next year ready to actually win a post season series.
Its amazing how standards change over time. Go Bulls (and Clippers for that matter)!
Game on - Dating as Baseball
Monday Apr 10, 2006 - Link to Entry
With the fast approach of the 2006 baseball season coupled with my reading of Money Ball, I find myself in a Baseball state of mind. So it stands to reason that I have come to think about the dating process as though a GM might approach the amateur draft or a position player might approach an at-bat. While some might feel that these comparisons have no validity, I argue that they are more than apt and could probably be helpful to many of you out there who are playing the Dating Game (note - I am referring to dating as a game not as game playing. There is a subtle but very importance there).
There are several aspects to the dating game. The two I would like to focus on are: Recruitment and Connection. I will be discussing most of these issues from a male centric perspective as I am male and these ideas are mine. However, I honestly believe that the issues are not gender specific and can be used by men and women alike seeking anything under the sun (heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, monogamy, polygamy, you name it...),
A lot of what I have to say and believe comes from a lot of time spent thinking about, discussing, acting on, and reading about dating and recruitment. Nothing in this section is based on anything more than a hypothetical so please do not read into its content.
When looking into meeting a potential romantic interest there are a variety of characteristics people examine and value. Most people start with physical attraction and then move onto seeking a deeper personal connection. What I will be discussing here is keying in on certain attributes that can be used as predictors for emotional compatibility.
When Billy Beane took over the helm of the Oakland A's front office he had a very difficult equation to figure out. He had a major league team that struggled to draw and had a front office that failed to invest the big market dollars in their product. To stay competitive at the big league level he had to find a way to get better talent on the field than his competition for less money (quite a riddle).
How he went about solving this riddle is not dissimilar to how many people compete in competitive markets. He found attributes that he felt were strong indicators of success that his competition undervalued or ignored all together. Instead of keying on the five tools that the rest of the league looked at (arm, foot speed, hitting, defense, hitting for power), he valued on base percentage and character as the highest commodities. Instead of chasing after high school players who looked the part and that grown men could hang their dreams on, he focused instead on college players who could control the strike zone.
Billy keyed in on these attributes, not just at random. but rather because they demonstrated that they were proven indicators of big leauge success. Talent was wide spread but character, ambition, and patience were the rare tools that would contribute directly to the Oakland A's win column.
What I am to suggest now is that in the infallible world of human emotion there are in fact attributes that you can key on during dating that will help you to measure and predict compatibility. Perhaps you've noticed that you are typically get along with people who are the oldest sibling. As you look at all of your friends and relationships you notice that more than 70% of the people important to you are in fact the oldest sibling. Is this random, or is it a greater indicator of potential success and compatibility? I would argue that psychology has shown that the eldest child has a different experience growing up at that perhaps something about that experience ties in nicely with who you are and how you approach life.
What exactly am I suggesting? In a measurable game like baseball where every little statistic can be categorized and understood in the frame of the rules and goal to win this is a much easier task. When human emotion enters into the process, with the rules constantly changing, and no winning or losing being part of game, keying in on certain "stats" is much more difficult. However if you can find certain categories that prove to be good indicators of success it will make the process that much easier.
Some other examples of these characteristics would include: raising in a cold weather state, the person being a minority, class, where the person attended college, the person's fitness level, whether the person is musically inclined... and so on. You can key in on whatever you think has a reasonable connection to compatiability and has shown such over time.
Beyond connection, the most important part of the dating process, there exists the simple process of recruiting. As stated before this starts with the physical. Unfortunately for women if a man is not attracted to your look there is little that you can do about changing his mind. Women aren't as visual as men and their attraction can be triggered in many different ways, the most powerful being through personality.
How do you find these people? Well there are several routes as we all know. The traditional and most comfortable one is meeting through mutual friends/family. Having a topic to discuss from the get go, namely these commonalities, allows for things to feel a little more natural and a little less awkward.
How else do people meet? Bars, airports, train rides, libraries, and yes of course the Internet. Before the turn of the century, and I'm of course referring now to the 20th to 21st change over, people actually met each other in person. But in today's society with careers, education, and technology spreading people allover the globe away from their community and safety nets they grew up enjoying, there are fewer outlets with which individuals can seek out others to date.
Point being, once you get over the initial awkwardness of meeting people for dating purposes you will find that a lot of opportunities are out there. You will have to devise a system which you will utilize to evaluate and filter people you are considering spending time with. A lot of this already occurs naturally but often times you want to avoid certain situations that your natural filters do not block out. This is when you key in on attributes of success.
Now the article is dating as baseball so I must draw a further comparison. This was born of the natural flow of the courtship process. When you are meeting new people you don't bring them directly into your life right off the bat. You test and evaluate and make sure before you get into a commitment, that is you should be doing these things. Often times however people are looking from weakness instead of a place of strength and so they look with dependency in their heart.
Such a search is a fool's errand as you will not be creating the foundation of a strong relationship. Baseball has a system that can help. Its called the minor leagues. After a team makes their draft picks and signs them they ship these young men off to professional teams that are not at the major league level. There is a big difference between playing for the love of the game and playing for money just as there exists a giant rift between meeting someone new and being in a relationship with that individual.
Point being you need to take the time to get to know someone. You need to build a friendship and make sure that they are right for you. Envisioning you new connection climbing the ranks of the minor leagues to determine whether or not its ready for the big time may be a great way to pace yourself and understand where things are at.
Though I could talk for years on the subject this is neither the time nor the place. I will say this though, if you do not worry about getting someone to be with you but rather are present to the moment and see each moment as a chance to wake up to know yourself and the rest of the world you won't sweat the small stuff and you will have a successful journey.