Ask, and Ye Shall Recieve

Hmm. This "Top Five Heists" thing is harder than one might think.

First of all, I'm not sure I remember all the movies during which I've said: "That's one hell of a movie heist!" Second of all, there are a lot of really shitty movies with cool heists in them. Sometimes it's hard to distinguish. Also, it's hard to distinguish bona fide heists from murders, cons, other assorted noir themes.

I'll give it a shot. Here are the contenders:

Heist #1 from Heat; Heist #2 from Heat; Ocean's 11; Rififi; Le Cercle Rouge; The Killing; Heist; Theif; Bob le Flambeur; The Thomas Crown Affair; Sneakers; Topkapi; The Score; The Ladykillers

Here are my picks. Please submit yours. I might have to revise after people remind me of other great heists.

5. Heist #1 from Heat

Short, brutal, sweet.

4. Ocean's 11

Not the greatest movie, but a well-orchestrated heist. Very compelling.

3. Le Cercle Rouge

It's hard not to rate this one higher, but I think the next two are even better.

2. Rififi

An absolute classic. Glommed by #3, which is great in its own right.

1. The Killing

Leave it to Kubrick to best all others working their entire careers in the noir genre. The most absorbing heist ever captured on film.

Coming soon: the top five cons, the top five murders/murder schemes.

Stray Dog and Toshiro Mifune

Watched Stray Dog last night. Really good movie. I wonder, after watching High and Low what kind of a think Akira Kurosawa had for police procedural dramas. This one was much more compelling, I think. The reason I really liked it, however, is because of Toshiro Mifune's incredibly compelling performance. Very restrained, until the climactic moment. After watching a lot of his work, I'm beginning to realize why people admire his acting work so much. His character from Rashomon was so hyperactive, but he almost underacts in Stray Dog. Very well done.



Handsome sumbitch, too, I have to say. It's interesting that his characters always have this undercurrent of sadness; even in the beginning of High and Low, before the kidnapping, he was reserved, almost mournful. A similar sort of thing happens here, though it's obvious about what he is tormented.

Awww, crappity-crap.

I screwed up the example two entries ago. Here's a modified version of it, just to get things straight. You can thank Matt's copout answer for the revision.

There are two people in poverty and we can only help one. Person A was a rich aristocrat who pissed all his money away on the ponies. Person B was also rich, but through no fault of his own lost his money and is now in poverty. A, however, has undergone a character transformation and has reformed his pissing-money-away disposition. Assume that A and B are the same age with the same future life prospects, and if they were to be given assistance, they both would achieve the same level of anti-poverty (in other words, no danger of backsliding--which is the significance of A's reform). No other facts are relevant. Do you think we should: 1) help A; 2) help B; 3) flip a coin?

There. That oughtta do it. Please comment on this example.

Weird Al as Prince

This is a good one.

Testing moral intuitions.

I fucking hate doing this style of moral philosophy, but I'm about to try to squeeze something past my dissertation committee, and I'm trying to make sure it doesn't sound absolutely insane. Consider the following case:

There are two people in poverty and we can only help one. Person A was a rich aristocrat who pissed all his money away on the ponies. Person B started off poor and has been poor all his life. A, however, has undergone a character transformation and has reformed his pissing-money-away disposition. Assume that A and B are the same age with the same future life prospects, and if they were to be given assistance, they both would achieve the same level of anti-poverty (in other words, no danger of backsliding--which is the significance of A's reform). No other facts are relevant. Do you think we should: 1) help A; 2) help B; 3) flip a coin?

Consider honestly and lemme know. I'll tell you what I think and why in a few days.

Uh oh. SKYNET.

This can't be good.

Props to the Baron

The Baron Klaus von Mayerling makes a nice point here. Just as Frank Cross says in Scrooged:

Frank Cross: I WANT to see her nipples.
Censor Lady: But this is a christmas show.
Frank Cross: Well, maybe Charles Dickens wants to see her nipples then.
Guy who works on set: Well, actually you can barely see them nipples.
Frank Cross: You see? And these guys are REALLY looking.

Whoops, that's the wrong one. Anyway, it was something about being nice and giving all the time not just at Christmas. And in this case, not just when tsunamis happen. Anyway, I'm for it.

Pictures

I know I promised that this wasn't going to be a political blog, but here are some incredibly sobering pictures of the murder of Iraqi civilians by U.S. troops. One is instantly reminded of the My Lai expose in Life Magazine.

The Symphony, Assholes

Went to the San Diego Symphony last night. It was sort of an interesting night. I show up to get my tickets, and I'm informed that for whatever reason, I'm the winner of a free San Diego Symphony fleece blanket. WOOHOO! Sort of a strange thing to be having a giveaway at a symphonic orchestral concert, but oh well.

The lineup for that night was as follows:

Zhou Long
Two Poems from Tang
- Hearing the Monk Xun Play the Qin
- The Song of Eight Unruly Tipsy Poets

W. A. Mozart
Piano Concerto #16 in D Major, K. 451
- Allegro assai
- Andante
- Allegro di molto

Dmitri Shostakovich
Symphony No. 5 in D Minor, Opus 47
- Moderato
- Allegretto
- Largo
- Allegro non troppo

Beautiful work the entire night. The orchestra was in rare form. The first piece is a contemporary work, last night was its San Diego debut. Really striking. There were four string soloists that were morphing their instruments into producing pseudo-Chinese tones, though the piece didn't fall in love with its eastern-ness, which was cool. The Mozart was well done; the piano soloist was quite a showman. And the Shostakovich was very very moving, the Largo movement in particular.

Though this was one of the best orchestral performances I'd ever seen, it was one of the worst audiences I've ever been a part of. I shit you not, at one point someone BLEW THEIR NOSE during the Moderato movement of the Shostakovich. What the fuck? It sounded like a hospital ward all night. Next time, I'm going to LA, although it might be the case that rather than blowing their nose, the people just leave early as the Symphony's climax approaches.

The Cure by, coincidentally, The Cure

Just purchased The Cure's new album. I have a few thoughts on it. The first is that, though a lot of people have been comparing this album to Disintegration, it really sounds a lot more, to me, like Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me. The first is a much more lush-sounding record, with really fat synth-pads laying the foundation for nearly every track, while the latter is really guitar-driven, with the keyboards being used mainly as another voice or another melody instrument. I think the tone of the album is also very similar. "Lost", the first track on The Cure, is one of those great angry-Cure album intros, very reminiscent, I think, of "The Kiss" (which, by the way, has my all-time favorite guitar solo as its introduction).

The rest of the album plays out in about the way you would expect. But I have to say, this album is very satisfying. Definitely their most satisfying record since Wish. My only complaint is more about Robert Smith's approach to vocals--he seems to be using the lower register much more these days, which has a tendency to cut the power his vocals always seemed to have. There's no more of the faux-operatic tone he used a lot on Kiss Me, which is a shame. But overall, a nice Cure record, I think.

OXFAM and Tsunami Relief

Here's an update I recently received from the OXFAM people concerning their efforts in the South Asia region:

What Oxfam is Doing

When the tsunami struck, Oxfam partners were on the ground and able to respond within hours. Today, we are focusing our relief efforts in three of the hardest-hit countries.


Indonesia—Oxfam is taking the lead on distributing drinking water in the Sumatran city of Banda Aceh. Despite transportation challenges, Oxfam expects to quickly supply water to more than 60,000 people in the city.

India—In cooperation with the government, Oxfam is providing both immediate and long-term assistance in four regions. Initial help includes food and temporary shelter, as well as a cash-for-work program to clean villages and beachfronts and rebuild water resources. Oxfam plans to help 300,000 people in the next 90 days.

Sri Lanka—When the tsunami hit, Oxfam field staff responded immediately, providing medical and rescue assistance, shelter materials, food, and water tanks. Since then, Oxfam has been appointed as a lead organization to provide water and sanitation facilities. Oxfam is now distributing hygiene kits, cleaning water pipes, and digging latrines. In the weeks ahead, the agency expects to help 250,000 people.

Please note the Indian strategy of providing a "cash-for-work" program. Some might find this somewhat heartless, i.e., why don't they just give them the cash? I assure you, cash-for-work is absolutely essential in the following respect:

Cash for work maintains income levels at an adequate level sufficient for food-purchasing power. The problem is as follows: people don't have incomes, the price of food drops, leaving those with food without incomes and the inability to buy the calories they need to sustain them (most food-sellers sell luxury foodstuffs like fish as opposed to the rice they must buy, cheaper calories to sustain them). If people have sufficient income, the price of food stablizes, leaving those with food to sell the power to sell them at an adequate level such that they can purchase cheaper food to sustain them.

Good for you, OXFAM. Please continue to donate to this organization. Links are to the right.

Yes. YOU.

Who, me?

Hot dog, we have a winner.

Looks like the favorite, as picked by Dale's friends and miscellaneous total strangers, movie on the list is:

Lost in Translation.

Oh, the suspense. The suspense.

Rain, Rain, Fuck You.

Crashed my car last night. It was raining, and my driver's side window was unclear. Some guy with extremely dim lights was coming, didn't see him, he sideswiped me. I'm actually reasonably lucky to be alive. All things considered, it didn't turn out so bad. The car itself isn't damaged, besides the driver's side door body. It's just incredibly humiliating.

In other news, the rain is putting me in an extremely foul mood. I didn't have the greatest day last yesterday anyway, for a bunch of reasons. One of them is that I'm quite sure our department is going to screw up the hiring process once again. Why do I put up with this?

Dougie Stale

What the fuck?

Brian Wilson on The Tonight Show

This might be a long and somewhat wordy post, but please read to the end. We should all be saddened, not only for the missing, but also for the implications for one of the world's great composers and musicians.

So last night, I was not feeling particularly well, so I went off to bed pretty early and just flipped channels on my little TV when I saw that Brian Wilson was going to be performing on the Tonight Show. (That sentence was too long. Stick it.) So I thought, though I was tired I should probably stay up and watch, I mean, WOW! It's BRIAN WILSON! I love Smile or, as convention is given to spelling it, SMiLE, so I'd love to hear something from it performed live.

So I did. And man, waiting was awful.

I had to sit through:

1. A particularly stupid monologue. (-log?) (-lawg?)
2. A racist bit where some stupid comedian made fun of a Chinese family for being Chinese.
3. A dumb interview with Patricia Arquette
4. An interview with, of all morons, Jeff Gordon; followed by an idiotic bit where he and Jay tried to peel out and burn the tires of two cars they brought in.
5. The increasingly stupid glut of late-night commercials.

But, I thinks to meself, it will be all worth it. Right?

Right?

Right?

RIGHT?

Wrong.

I knew something was off kilter when Wilson had trouble hitting the first note of the song they chose: Good Vibrations. The "I - I - I, love the colorful CLOTHES! she wea - a - ars" starts at a Bb and just goes up from there. So if he can't hit that Bb, it's going to sound rough. And it did. His voice was particularly troubling. He completely biffed the "Oh My-hy-my what an elation!" line in the second third of the song.

But his vocal troubles were just the beginning.

When the curtain went up he looked as though everyone in the audience had just cocked a loaded Smith and Wesson and pointed it in his direction. Wilson looked completely shell-shocked. He was sitting behind a keyboard that looked like he might play it, if only he could find the guts to push the buttons. But he never did. He placed his hands on it a couple a' times, but always seemed to chicken out. He forgot the "I - I - I, I bet I know WHAT! she's li - i - ike" line, and looked relieved when he was able to remember "and I can feel how right she'd be for me - e - e".

So I was thinking today about just posting a: "Wow, poor guy; too bad he wasn't able to pull himself together for probably the highest profile performance he's had in years" type of post today. But I was lazy. So I waited, and did a little searching around for other people's impressions. Most people who post about Wilson are complete sycophants who won't really say what they think, so I never really got an honest impression. So I delayed. But it's a good thing, because eventually I found this:

---

“SMiLE” Cellist Missing from Phuket. Brian Wilson Asks for Help.
Los Angeles, CA January 4, 2005 -- Markus Sandlund, one of the talented cellists from the Stockholm Strings and Horns who performed on Brian Wilson’s album SMiLE, has been reported missing from Phuket, Thailand.

Markus Sandlund (born April 29, 1975) and his girlfriend, Sophia, traveled to Thailand after completing the SMiLE tour in Australia and New Zealand. They were vacationing at the Orchid Beach Resort at Khao Lak (room 112) when the Tsunami hit.

At the time of the tsunami they were at the pool. Sophia was swept away by the flood and was later rescued. She is now back home in Sweden where she is still hospitalized, recovering from injuries. She has not seen Markus since the wave hit.

"I have been devastated since I heard the news that Markus is missing in Thailand,” said Wilson. “ We have sent an agent to see what we can find out, but as of today we have been unable to locate Marcus in the area. If there is anyone out there who might know Markus' whereabouts please contact info@brianwilson.com. My prayers go out to all of the victims and their families and I would ask you to say a prayer for Markus’ safe return."

---

This is truly horrible, and explains Wilson's look, and might also explain his inability to put his heart and soul into the performance, reaching for that high Bb. We should all be quite saddened--hopefully this shan't bring Wilson down too much such that he is unable to perform up to par. Let's hope for the best.

Ripping off Matt Barr

So, I figured out over break I watched 12 movies. 12. Here's a breakdown:

1. Pump Up the Volume
2. Elephant
3. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
4. Lost in Translation
5. Sideways
6. Sideways
7. Christmas Vacation
8. Ocean's Twelve
9. The Hustler
10. Ghostbusters
11. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
12. Spartan

Vote for your favorite! The winner wins the prestigious "Best Movie Dale Watched Over His Break as Voted by His Friends and Miscellaneous Total Strangers" award.

High and Low

Watched this Kurosawa movie the other night. Ummmm....very disappointing. It started out as this great kidnapping movie--great beginning plot twist; it reminded me of a play that had been made into a movie. Think Sorry, Wrong Number or Wait Until Dark. But about halfway through it develops into a very slow-moving police procedural, and eventually into some sort of class-based morality lesson. I would have liked all three ideas, had they been fully-fleshed out. It seems to me that if Kurosawa would have made three movies instead of one, they each would have been better than the mishmash of High and Low. One thing about it is very nice, though. Toshiro Mifune's performance is the best I've ever seen him give--nicely understated compared to his crack-addict-on-speed act he does in The Seven Samurai and Rashomon, for example.

Rats. I've never been disappointed by a Kurosawa movie. I guess they can't all be winners.

Jiggedy-Jig

Why does anyone live anywhere besides San Diego?

That's a question I ask myself often. Here are the top candidates for answers:

1. There are places with better arts/cultural scenes.

True. But those places have major disadvantages. Like awful weather. Could be that those disadvantages are outweighed by the advantage of the cultural scenes, but that would have to be one hell of an advantage.

2. Racist against Latinos.

Clearly not a good reason.

3. Upset at 1. lack of public transportation, 2. traffic, 3. smog.

I can see 1 and 2, maybe; but the point I raised in 1 remains. The transportation advantages would have to be weighed against San Diego's advantages. But, of course, if you are dependent upon public transportation, those advantages are unlikely to come to fruition, so perhaps 1 is a good reason. As for 3, what smog? All the smog from our cars gets sucked up in the air current to LA! HAH! SUCKERS!

4. Murdered someone in San Diego, on lam.

Yeah, I can see that.

Thoughts? Suggestions?