Man of Leisure

Magnificent Desolation

I went to a members' only event at the Evergreen Aviation Museum tonight: the premiere of their new IMAX theatre. The event was really well done. They feted us with wine and finger foods in the main museum, underneath the wings of the Spruce Goose. I would've been pleased just to sit and have another glass of wine in the museum, but the fun really began when we got to the theatre. We were welcomed with a brief speech and Q&A with Space Shuttle Commander Mark Polansky, then the movie began.

The film Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon 3D was glorious. The IMAX 3D experience is overwhelmingly real. Because the screen is so much larger than a normal movie screen, it envelops you completely. The visuals seem to come from behind you, and everything is crystal clear. The sound is crisp and bone-shaking. I found myself completely amazed multiple times throughout the movie.

One of the really fun things in this film was guessing who was speaking. The narrator, Tom Hanks, called on all of his Hollywood buddies to read quotations from the astronauts. And as producer and co-writer of this film, Hanks really milks the Apollo 13 experience for all it's worth. Make no mistake, this one is all about the guys who made it to the surface of the Moon. But both films are so incredibly moving that I can't get enough of it.

Good times.

"Rome" Ends. Sadness Begins.

One of my absolute favorite shows, the HBO/BBC co-production Rome, ended this week after 22 episodes spread over two seasons. It was a brilliant, engaging, raw show, with excellent characters and beautiful sets. I found myself yelling at my TV each week, demanding that certain characters be saved and others dispatched. Of course, it's ultimately a tragic story, and thus what I wanted to happen rarely did. But that's the sign of a good program: I cared what took place.

The final half-season of The Sopranos begins in two weeks. I guess HBO doesn't have any plans to keep subscribers after June 1. I certainly don't care about anything else they have to offer.

New Podcast

I'm wrapping up the inaugural episode of a new podcast, The Urban Achiever Hour. Dan Adams (a fellow UP staff member in the School of Education) is my co-host. We've recorded about half an hour of material, and it's looking pretty good. Check over at UrbanAchieverHour.com to give it a listen when I get it posted later today.

Last night, the Village staff gathered off campus for a night away to bond and relax. We watched a movie that Eva brought, called The Impostors, featuring Stanley Tucci and Oliver Platt. A delightful film, full of fun acting and awkwardly comical moments. It's not for everyone, because it loses focus occasionally, but it is an "actors' film", in the sense that the players are clearly enjoying themselves, getting fully into their characters and going with it even if the dialogue is silly. A real gem of a performance by Campbell Scott in particular. I recommend it.

Satan & Ebert

Do you like films, especially when they're short? Then you shouldn't miss this Columbia University guy's 1-minute encapsulations of the Best Picture Oscar winners of the past 75 years. Particularly disturbing is Amadeus. It sounds as if Wolfgang is descending to the ninth circle of Hell.

Dave and Oprah: A Remarkable Rehabilitation!

I've just finished watching The Late Show, where David Letterman welcomed Oprah Winfrey as his guest for the first time in 16 years. Now while I'm a huge Letterman fan, I always had the sneaking suspicion that the "feud" that kept Oprah from guesting on the Late Show had more to do with Dave and his caustic humour than anything on Oprah's side of the equation. It is pleasing to see the hatchet buried, and Dave couldn't have been more gentlemanly in the process.

Oprah Winfrey is doing great things with her popularity and her riches - one might say she is "magnanimous" - literally "great souled". I am especially appreciative of her Book Club, which has not only inspired millions to take up everyday reading of serious literature, but she has also brought some classics into American homes, especially Anna Karenina (link to discussion guide by the Great Books Foundation) by Leo Tolstoy, as well as works by John Steinbeck and Gabriel Maria Márquez. (Side note: Is it mere coincidence that the Oprah Empire shares the same home base as the Great Books Foundation, Chicago?)

Dave, as I mentioned, was quite a gentleman last night, asking Oprah to explain her childhood inspiration to charity, as well as her latest venture in South Africa to start a school for girls who would otherwise not have an opportunity for education. He got in a few good comedy bits before Oprah came on stage, including a great bit in the monologue: "Oprah thinks she's here to see Spamalot. And we had to give her a Pontiac." But most telling was Dave's pointing out that she had nothing to gain by appearing on his show - "It's not like things are going to really go her way after this!"

Oprah told Dave that she herself began to see him change and "soften" when his son Harry was born two years ago. I must say, I have seen the same, and it's charming to see him become less caustic and more reflective on occasion.

I predict that this warming relationship between Dave and Oprah will have a great impact on Dave's popularity. In my opinion, David Letterman is the funniest man on television, as well as a great comic inspiration to me, so I'm darn happy that he's beginning to make a comeback against that no-talent ass clown Jay Leno. Cheers to Oprah for rehabilitating my boy!

technorati tags: comedy, letterman, media, radio/tv/film, tv, oprah, great books program, culture

NFLH: Tax Day Edition

Here it is! This week's News From Lower Hallenia:

nflh041505.mp3

Topics in this week's podcast:
I. Opening Rite
II. Max Kalchthaler for Pontiff (no Friday Five this week)
III. Internet Filters: A rant against stupidity
IV. Kaiser Permanente's "Thrive" Campaign: A rant against stupidity
V. Shout-Outs
VI. Closing Rite (no Favorite Song anymore, to avoid the RIAA)

Many thanks to Stephen Koeth, CSC, who provided the voice talent for the "Max Kalchthaler as Servant of the Servants of God" adverts! While you're at it, treat yourself to Stephen's review of the brilliant film "Millions".

Inaugural NFLH Podcast

Podcasting is all the rage lately: folks recording themselves, like a radio show, and then posting the file for download on the web. Almost 4,000 different podcasts are available on iPodderX alone. Now just how is it that I do not have a podcast? I love microphones, so one might think that it's a natural thing for me to get on the bandwagon!

Of course, I've been podcasting for a while, by making available recorded versions of my various radio shows on KDUP. You'll likely enjoy my current show, "The Definite Article" with co-host Max Kalchthaler, or even last year's "Big Men On Campus Radio Hour" with Joe Fagan. Either way, your ears are in for a treat!

But occasionally, a Devoted Reader sends me an electric mail to request even more. More of my personal thoughts, in pithy little chunks. You know me: my life is gift, so here it is: my first solo podcast, entitled "The News From Lower Hallenia". The audio quality is pretty rough, since I was sitting at my kitchen countertop while I recorded this - you can actually hear my refrigerator and air conditioner running in the background! But give it a listen and see if it pleases you:

nflh040505.mp3 (12.1 megabytes, 18:07)

Topics for this inaugural podcast:
    How often? (once a week, aim for Fridays)
    Friday Five - Singing
    Pope John Paul II
    Meating Friday
    Shout-outs
    Favorite Song Of The Week (Gwen Stefani, "Bubble Pop Electric")
    Signoff

Please drop me a line if you like the show, or have any suggestions!

Letterman, Carson, and Repetition

There's not too much to write about in my own personal life lately, so I thought I'd take a moment to reflect on why Letterman is such a delight. I can't really denigrate Leno, because I never watch his show - I got stuck on Letterman in grade school (thanks, Dana!) and have never looked back.

Last week, there was an article about how Johnny Carson had been sending occasional jokes to Letterman, and Dave would include them in his monologue. This ran before Carson's death over the weekend, so it strikes me as fairly peculiar that within days of the AP reporting that Carson always considered Dave to be his successor, Carson was dead... but I digress.

The day after that story ran, Letterman joked about the news in his monologue, saying "that joke wasn't one of Johnny's", and Paul Shaffer's CBS Orchestra did a song during Stump the Band (an old Carson bit, BTW) that mentioned Johnny giving jokes to the show. Within three days, Mr. Carson was gone, but his memory and influence live on.

Letterman's schtick is the kind of comedy that a casual viewer wouldn't necessarily get - he's Exhibit A to my claim that repetition is the key to comedy. For example, my favorite bit is show announcer Alan Kalter saying that the prize for Will It Float is "A brand-new monkey!", always followed by the comic genius line, "Back to you, Dave." The script is always the same, but it's made perfect by being delivered as if it was fresh every time.

Fresh old material. Unlike Qoheleth, author of the book of Ecclesiastes, who claimed that:

What has been, that will be; what has been done, that will be done. Nothing is new under the sun.
Even the thing of which we say, "See, this is new!" has already existed in the ages that preceded us.
There is no remembrance of the men of old; nor of those to come will there be any remembrance among those who come after them. (Eccl. 1: 9-11)

I am actually optimistic about the prospect of using the old material to great comic effect - gosh, most of my one-liners come from my father. Or ask me some time for my extended original speech about Deuteronomy 25: 11-12 and the "secrets" of the Bible.

French-Fried Comedy

If you're like me and you love making fun of the French army, then don't miss the French Soldier's Survival Kit over at RightThinkingGirl.

And now on to local subjects... The semester is winding down, but the workload is ramping up. I have mid-year performance reviews to complete, as well as one to receive. Then there are the reports to write about how the year is going (swimmingly, thank you very much), and a paper to write for class. How am I supposed to finish all of this and still have enough time to take in "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer", you may well ask? Thank the Lord for TiVo!

The radio show is proving to be the highlight of the week. Max is uproariously funny, and the fans have been overwhelmingly good to us. Some real great moments have included the discussion about our intern on Mt. St. Helens, the day I got to say "gubernatorial" 8 times in one minute, and the ongoing series, "Triumph of the Underdog". If you're not listening, you're missing out!

I got myself a Fry Daddy yesterday, and tonight I'm gonna fire it up. Well, I guess I shouldn't say "fire it up", since I don't want to have another fire alarm... Anyhow, some fish sticks and fries ought to do the trick. Kirk of the Bon gave me a few pointers on how to properly batter things up when cooking in hot oil, and I'm looking forward to perfecting the art, probably to my own downfall. But at least I'll die with a smile on my face!

SNL Taps U2 to Regain Respect?

U2 continued their dominance of the TV airwaves by appearing on Saturday Night Live last night. They played the standard two sets, beginning with "Vertigo", the iPod/ITunes Music Store song - which I enjoy quite a bit. The second song was a guitar-heavy ballad, quite pleasant.

It was the end of the show where they broke free of the shackles. Host Luke Wilson, sitting on the edge of the stage with Bono, gave the typical "I had a great week..." line, and then looked over to Bono, who stood up and ran over to the music stage for a third song with the band. It was a rockin' number, and halfway through, he stepped off stage into the audience to ham it up for the crowd and the cameras. As the credits rolled, the song ended, and Bono could be heard repeatedly saying, "Saturday Night Live! LIVE! LIVE!"

For sure, U2 is promoting their new album, trying to stay on top of the world (check this article from the Christian Science Monitor, or this one at Time Magazine for proof of that); but given that SNL itself has taken some heat for the Ashlee Simpson lip-synch debacle, I wouldn't be surprised if Lorne Michaels et al. hadn't begged the band to crank it up for the cause. Certainly the third song was planned well in advance, because they had to make time for it in the show. Given the reaction of the cast, it looked like at least the folks at SNL were pleased. I haven't seen anything about it on the "murmurNet"(tm) yet, but perhaps folks are just waking up from their revels.

Just last Thursday, I asked one of my RAs whether or not U2 was still a relevant band. He told me that the kids still really enjoy "The Joshua Tree" - that warmed my heart, since I grew up with that album myself. But he also hinted at a kerfluffle about U2's deal with Apple to go commercial and endorse a product, with some bemoaning the "sell-out" factor.

So we have a plea for attention from Studio 8H, featuring a band whose star may have flared out already. Will it work? Time will tell.