Arctor's World

Choke

2008-09-28T12:42:00.000-07:00

I managed to make time yesterday to see the movie "Choke," which I have been wanting to see for a while. I'm a big fan of Palahniuk, and wanted to see how the movie held up to the book, which is my favorite of his. The reviews were very mixed--the movie scores a 52% on rottentomatoes and a rating of 46 on metacritic. So I went in with very light expectations.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised. The movie sticks with the plot of the book almost exactly. For those who haven't read the book--it is a satire telling the story of Victor Mancini, a sex-addicted medical school dropout who has a habit of purposely choking on food in restaurants, in the hopes of being saved by a rich stranger who will send him money in the future. Sam Rockwell is good as Victor, although I think the story might have played better with someone younger and less skeevy-looking. The story is told well, and is funny at all of the right moments. The supporting cast is stellar, especially Angelica Huston as Victor's mother.

The movie isn't without its problems--it seems to run for a bit too long, the production value is less-than-great with many of the shots having an almost grainy feel, and the ending isn't done as well as it could have been. But these shortcomings are more than overcome by the good script and acting.

I would recommend this to anyone out there who likes sarcastic and dark comedies, and definitely to anyone who read and enjoyed Palahniuk's book.

The Palin Pick

2008-09-07T14:30:00.000-07:00

When I first watched McCain announce the pick last Friday I thought: gimmicky, sad, pathetic. I thought: does he really think that Hillary supporters will wantonly cast their vote for a Republican with virtually no experience simply because she is a woman? I thought: why not pick Lieberman, which could genuinely excite some moderates into voting for a joint ticket? I thought: won't many women find this insulting? I thought: they have no chance of winning.

What do I think of the pick now? I think it was politically ingenious, incredibly clever, and ultimately brilliant. In a way, she is the Obama of the ultraconservative right: she is wonderful in front of a teleprompter, and greets feigning crowds of ardent supporters everywhere she travels. She has a story that people love, even if it is a hollow shell filled with several empty intangible concepts tacked together (she is a "moose-hunting" "hockey mom" with "small town values"--how does any of this relate to running the country?). She is loved by conservatives because, in a sense, she is the anti-Obama: his "foreignness" contrasts with her seeming familiarity, his alleged "cosmopolitan elitism" with her "small town populism", his soaring rhetoric with her sarcastic jabs, his positivity with her negativity.

The question is: did the McCain campaign really know that this would happen? Did they know that the media would pounce all over Palin, and that this media reaction could be spun in their favor? Did they know that she would be such a good public speaker? Did they know how quickly the extreme right would embrace her? Did they know that her speech would be a hundred times more effective than his? Did they have any idea that she would gather Obama-like crowds and spurn millions of dollars in donations? If they did, then they are better campaign managers than the last few months would have suggested. If not, then they got lucky.

Either way, what I ultimately take from the Palin pick is this--I cannot think of a single way that McCain could have won this election if he hadn't picked this woman. If he had picked Pawlenty or Romney, the convention would have been a snooze-fest. If he had picked Lieberman, there would have been a conservative revolt against him. With this pick, at least he has a chance, albeit a not-so-great chance, of winning. But what about governing? I guess McCain will worry about that one later.

Blogging

2008-09-07T14:25:00.000-07:00

As I was sitting on my couch today, my mind was racing with random thoughts on all of the wild events of the past few weeks. I often have toyed with the idea of putting my thoughts down on paper, so I decided to start this site.