No dejected havior in this visage

Apparently a contemporary portrait of William Shakespeare, the first of its kind, has come to light, having sat in a private collection for 300 years. The few likenesses of Shakespeare we have were created after his death; this portrait is thought to have been the original from which the Folio picture is derived.



I'm still not sure how to react to it. There certainly is a resemblance between the two portraits. That it may have come from Southampton would in my mind strongly support its authenticity, given his patronage of Shakespeare. The outfit is quite fancy, but let us not forget Shakespeare was a very successful stakeholder in the Globe, and his family was able to afford a coat of arms in 1596. Dismissing its possible inaccuracy due to a tendency to idealize the subject of a painting during the Elizabethan era is silly; by that logic, what good are any portraits from that time period?

But this is hardly a game-changer if it is authentic. We don't know who commissioned it, and it is still, only a painting. Stratford would have us think it offers new insights into Shakespeare's purported bisexuality, but then again they would say that, wouldn't they? Their industry depends on continuous scholarly and popular interest in Shakespeare, regardless of whether or not there is any new information to have actually been unearthed. Bill Bryson has a refreshingly brief survey of how little we actually do know about the man, which made for a much-needed antidote the inflated (self-)importance and deification I saw in Stratford. Given how Shakespeare has been so Disneyfied by his town of birth, I lean towards caution rather than further bombast.

We have a better picture of who the man was, but it is a picture all the same.

EDIT: I will add, though, this is a considerably more dashing rendition than the Chandor portrait, and also turns his beard red.

And now I'm off to bed.

Good thing I don't have class until 3:20 PM.

Watchmen review *some spoilers*

My biggest concern going into Watchmen was that it wouldn't be able to stand on its own as a movie; that--especially due to the density of the source material--it would be too dependent on one being "in the know" to understand what's going on. Thankfully, that wasn't the case, though it'll be awhile before I myself can view it as a movie and not an adaptation. But indeed one of the film's greatest accomplishments is to have transferred Alan Moore's story intact. There were cuts, of course, but the heart of the story is there. One of the best parts for me was the opening credits, a montage of the various Minutemen and their history-changing deeds,deftly establishing in minutes the alternate 1985 the characters inhabit. It's a sequence which allowed Zack Snyder some license to play around with the material and not strictly follow the book.

This is, alas, one of the only parts of the film where such liberty is taken, and it is here that the film's achievement becomes its handicap: its fidelity, long thought impossible, becomes constrictive. For those who have read the book (I did two or three years ago, but I intentionally stayed away leading up to the film's release so I could have a relatively fresh view) there is, storywise, little surprising. Even the dialogue, much of it lifted from Moore's text, feels here stilted, as if the characters (and to only a certain extent the actors) would have been better served by being allowed to break free from their intricately sketched literary counterparts. There is a certain pre-ordained feel that overshadows even the best of the film.

Good thing there is so much done right; Patrick Wilson is the perfect everyman in Dan Dreiberg, and Jackie Hale Earley makes the gravelly voice that feels so weird with Christian Bale's Batman a natural fit for the wounded sociopath Rorschach, especially when the mask comes off. Billy Crudup as Dr. Manhattan was an inspired choice (one shudders to imagine Joel Silver's suggestion of Arnold Schwarzenneger having become reality). His stoic delivery and demeanor are perfectly suited for a character that views humanity with clinical, but not antisocial, detachment. I was concerned that the score would be one-dimensional, and while perhaps not particularly memorable, it was effective (here's hoping nothing was stolen). The additional use of popular music in the soundtrack, apparently lifted from the lyrics quoted in the chapter endings in the book, spans decades and genres and, together with the afforementioned credits sequence, gives the film a time-spanning feel, with my favorite such sequence, probably my favorite in the entire film PERIOD, probably being Dr. Manhattan's departure to Mars and flashbacks, underscored by a Phillip Glass piece from Koyaanisquatsi. There are certain parts that don't work (Malin Ackerman feels out of her league as Laurie, in the same way Katie Holmes did in Batman Begins), and the script feels somewhat clunky at times. But it's obvious everyone involved with the project gave it their all.

It's all so well done, but again, its conservative take on the material keeps it from greatness. The best adaptations--my friends mentioned Fight Club--take their source material and make something new with it. Because Watchmen is so beloved and so intricate, there is simply no way that it could have made any significant departures, however great, without getting ripped to shreds by the fans. Unfortunately, part of the magic of the original was its deconstruction of the comic book medium (done, for example, in the Curse of the Black Freighter scenes which are wisely jettisoned here; I'm curious as to how they'll be handled on the forthcoming DVD), which could only be done as a comic book. A more interesting direction for the movie to take would have been to examine the now-ubiquitous superhero films in the same manner. But it would have been too much, and maybe an impossible task.

Bringing Watchmen to the screen without sacrificing its story or (much of) its thematic integrity is a Herculean achievement; Alan Moore's works have been poorly served in previous adaptations, and we should all be glad that one has finally gotten the respectful treatment it deserves (V for Vendetta came close, but not close enough). At the same time, though, that very faithfulness blunts the enjoyment for one already familiar with the material. I thought it strange that so many of my friends wanted to read the graphic novel for the first time just before the film came out, and I think my concern was justified: the movie is probably much more enjoyable to the uninitiated, who then have the depths of the book to explore. As a movie, as its own work of art, I must reserve judgment: I've so focused on the adaptation aspect at this point that I can't without subsequent viewings see the movie objectively, and I have a feeling the film will appreciate for me, given enough time. For now, as an adaptation, it feels strangely safe. Yet considering the perils even making the film at all carried with it, this is about the best we could have hoped for.

Pakistan Get Worse

A terror attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Pakistan left 8 people dead. Worse yet, the team had gone to play there as a gesture to encourage other international teams it was safe to travel and play there. This is the end of international cricket and Pakistan, at least for now.

This is bad for the country's economy and social scene, and potentially disastrous security-wise. I don't want to read too much into it, but there are going to be a lot of idle, pissed off Pakistanis with one less pursuit to keep them busy. Hopefully they'll channel their anger properly and begin ridding their country of the barbarians responsible for this.

Party like it's 1997

The DOW has dropped to levels not seen since 1997.

The economy was great back then! So that must mean the economy is great now!

....Right?

Uh Oh

Official head of the GOP Michael Steele criticizes the unofficial head, Rush Limbaugh, and mere days later is forced to apologize.

Let's consider this for a moment. Rush Limbaugh is now the de facto leader of the opposition. This seems all fine and good for now; with the Republicans increasingly marginalized, Obama and his policies will gain that much more support. If those policies do not manage to get the economy on the right track by 2012 (2010??), people are going to turn to the batshit crazy Republicans (there's always the chance of a third party rising from the ashes of moderate conservatism, but it's not bloody likely to happen), and that's when scary things could start happening, on the order of Sarah Palin or some equally rabid culture warrior (Rush???) taking power.

My imagination has a way of getting carried away, but the point is this: in a worst-case scenario of the economy continuing to tank and the Democrats getting thrown out, what kind of Republican do you want in their place: one who disagrees with you, or one who HATES you?

On Editing

Yesterday I finished cutting together the first part of my first ever scene (the second part of it has yet to be filmed). The editing process was a revelation; I had never considered how important fluid continuity and the passage of time are when putting together a film. That sounds dweeby and naive and obvious, but it's true.

The scene is a chase through my school's performing arts building, with one fellow, Schwarz, pursued to varying extents by three others, Brian, Sketch, and Walter. The three pursuers all split up, requiring cuts between four characters. Since three of them are running as fast as they can, this also means the cuts have to be quick; if I were to linger on any character too long, I would have to either backtrack in time when switching to another character in order for it all to make geographical sense, or, conversely, when I switched to the next character they would be much farther along than they were when we last saw them, and prompting a "where the hell are they reaction?" It's a difficult balancing act.

There's a part where Walter comes out of an elevator, sees Schwarz running to some distant stairs, and then turns around and gets back in the elevator. If possible I may see about doing pickup shot of that because the next time we see Walter, he's dashing down the hall downstairs and sees Schwarz burst through the door outside. As it is, the mental connections I (and anyone else who watches, I am sure) am making say that based on how long it would take Walter to get back down the elevator, he could not be where he is.

The lesson I can easily apply to the other scenes I'll be shooting for my senior project is, you can never have too much coverage. I'm using an HD video camera that's easily moveable, so there's no reason for me to not get the action from as many angles as I can.

The Joys of Enlightened Nerdiness

Matt Yglesias ponders the true nature of Transformers (robots or vehicles or both?). My favorite comment:

Transformers are philosophically interesting because they complicate the classic Aristotelian distinction between form and matter, since their very nature is to change from one form into another. So we can’t say their form is either humanoid or as machine. As Aristotle would argue, their form consists in their activity, namely, tranformation. And their matter is organized around that principle. If Maximus Prime could no longer perform the act of transforming into a truck, or vice versa, he would no longer be a transformer. So, they’re neither one nor the other, intrinsically. They are, it goes without saying, more than meets the eye.

Wow.

Is it me, or do the Republicans have a knack for burning out their rising stars? Sarah Palin imploded within a couple weeks, and after all the talk of Bobby Jindal being a 2012 contender, we get Kenneth from 30 Rock, an association that in the age of Facebook is not likely to go away easily. Are they really that bad at selling their ideas (in which case, their animosity towards Hollywood liberals is simply a manifestation of professional jealousy)? Or is the Republican party simply vacuous? Occam's Razor is having trouble paring this one down.

I mean, seriously. SNL's been lousy for years; the only reason their political material is funny now is they hardly have to try.

What's worse is that this Republican incompetence, mixed with insanity ('leave it up to the frozen markets!'), precludes the very necessary debate that needs to happen over the details of issues like the stimulus. Democrats are going to need a different perspective in untying this economic Gordian knot, but the Alexandrian solution is not constructive. It became a campaign debate cliche, but: hatchets and scalpels. Hatchets and scalpels.

Now here's a real a rebuttal:

Hate to Say I Told You So...

...and I can't anyway, so I won't.

Penn's win surprised the hell out me, not the least because he's won so many times already. My friend Jordan (whom I owe a beer) probably had it right: "In the eyes of the Academy, the gays are now placated." Especially after that speech! It made a nice counterpoint to Dustin Lance Black's speech, which was so very moving.

And yet I thought that since they rained on Rourke's parade they might do the same to Slumdog. But no. I am happy, though. I haven't seen Milk and can't judge it, but Slumdog was a great film, and Danny Boyle a great director.

Besides those two upsets (and Penelope Cruz, which I figured a toss-up), though, I ended up nailing most of the secondary categories outside of the wild guesses (short films and foreign film). "Jai Ho" won (I thought "O Saya" was much more emblematic of the film), and the only real surprise was sound mixing, which Slumdog got.

But that's neither here nor there; with 15 out of 24 guessed correctly, I tied at the Oscar party I was at for most guesses, and took home the Wall-E DVD! I got runner-up last year in a contest and won a mini-Oscar statuette, a Sasquatch Gang T-Shirt (which I sold to a co-worker for $15), and some Semi-Pro socks, so this is setting a good trend.

The Oscars

The Academy Awards have always been about politics and creating a narrative; The Departed was far from being the best picture of '06, but hey, Scorsese needed an Oscar. So here are my attempts to (second-)guess this year's winners.

Best Picture - The momentum is on Slumdog Millionaire's side, but I'm betting the farm (and a beer) on Milk. The 2005 snubbing of Brokeback Mountain was a minor scandal, and Hollywood is going to want to make amends with the gay community, who are especially wounded now after the passage of Proposition 8 (which might not have happened if this movie had come out before the election). This would be the third Best Picture in a row where the main character dies in the end, and maybe the Academy has learned its lesson about fighting a wave of goodwill and publicity, but in the end these things come down to internecine politics, and Milk is the safe choice. How far has America come when we can say that about a film depicting the rise and assassination of a gay icon?

Lead Actor - Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler - Because no one thought Mickey Rourke would be great again. This will be the climax of his comeback, with which the movie itself is inextricably linked.

Supporting Actor - Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight - Because he will never be great again (leaving aside the unfinished shooting of The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus) Plus, he should have gotten it for Brokeback, and he really did do a damned terrifying Joker.

Lead Actress - Kate Winslet, The Reader - Because she's never won, despite multiple nominations, of which she will remind you, at length.

Supporting Actress - Not really sure what to make of this one, but Taraji P. Henson in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is one I've heard most about, so I'll chalk this up to quality, for once.

Animated Film - WALL-E. No animated movie has gotten this much love in a long time, and there's no reason for the Academy to differ.

From here it becomes more of a crapshoot, with biases towards films with a higher profile. I think Benjamin Button is going to take a lot of the technical categories for making Brad Pit old-young, and if they're going to upset the Slumdog momentum, they're going to probably do it by chipping some of the smaller awards away while still acknowledging its overall greatness. That way they can still make Milk look like a surprise upset at the end.

If Slumdog sweeps all of its early nominations, though, then like Return of the King it will have Best Picture in the bag (except ROTK was also political, since they waited until the Lord of the Rings trilogy was over before showering it with love).

Art Direction - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Cinematography - Slumdog Millionaire
Costume Design - The Duchess
Directing - Slumdog Millionaire
Documentary - Man on Wire (it pulls off the trick of making us feel good about the twin towers by telling the story of an equally marvelous feat)
Short Documentary - The Conscience of Nhem En
Editing - Slumdog Millionaire
Foreign Language - Waltz with Bashir (this had a pretty high profile in London, but like all the others on the list, I never heard about it here)
Makeup - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (a no-brainer, though it was nice to see Hellboy II included)
Original Score - Slumdog Millionaire (I hear Benjamin Button is most deserving, though)
Original Song -"O Saya" from Slumdog Millionaire
Animated Short - Lavatory - Lovestory
Live Action Short - New Boy"
Sound Editing - The Dark Knight (remember that frayed, one-note Joker theme?)
Sound Mixing - The Dark Knight
Visual Effects - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Adapted Screenplay - Slumdog Millionaire
Original screenplay - Milk

To those still paying attention....

It turns out I can link my Facebook photo albums so that non-users can view them. Behold!

Day 1 (Hotel Room)
Days 2 and 3 (Trafalgar Square)
Day 3 (St. Pauls, Fleet Street at night)
Day 5 (Imperial War Museum--brief, because my camera battery died)
Day 7, part 1 (Parliament, Westminster Abbey, etc.)
Day 7, part 2 (Buckingham Palace, etc.)
Day 8, part 1 (Oxford)

Those are all I have now. My computer has not cooperated with Facebook's photo uploading applet. I'm going to try to upload them from a fast computer in the near future. Check back soon!

There and Back Again

Well, I made it back, and have largely managed to avoid jet-lag, mostly on account of the return being so screwy and drawn out.



We left Heathrow around noon and arrived at Chicago O'Hare around 3:30. I managed to catch a couple naps in the meantime, along with some reading and schoolwork. Unlike the initial plane ride, I brought my camera on board, and so I was able to take some great photos over British Columbia.



While walking around O'Hare I suddenly found my left ring finger was bleeding; the run-in with the bike the previous day had failed to shed any of the stuff, and so I was at a bit a loss.

We were scheduled to depart for Boise at 7:30, but the torrential rain that was pouring in Chicago delayed our flight by three hours. Most of us--our group was now four students and the three professors; the others remained in Europe to continue enjoying themselves--had been planning on staying up until we were to get home, around midnight, but the delay took most of the wind out of that idea, and I think all of us slept on that late flight.

I awoke hearing a distorted celestial voice talking about Salt Lake City and 6 in the morning and hoped it was a dream, but alas. Weather concerns forced us to detour and land in Salt Lake, where we would remain until the ticketing offices opened up the next morning.



My paternal grandparents live in Salt Lake, and so I considered getting a different ticket back so I could spend a day or so with them. It was too late to call them, but I had to know what the plan was by the time we talked to the ticket offices. So I waited until around 5:20, when we were close in line, to call. My grandfather, Opa, was already up, and we planned on having him come get me.

Then I called Mum, and she looked up the airline's flights and saw the only way to Boise was through Denver, at 4 in the afternoon. I thought I would stay in SLC for a few days and try for Tuesday.

Then I found out they had already set us up with a flight to Boise. No problem, I could get it changed.

Then the ticket guy said I would have to pay to get it changed, and they don't even go to Boise normally. So that was that.



We took off without incident, dealt with some turbulence, and landed. Professor Maughan gave me a ride back to the dorms. The trip was over

I miss London already. I'll be back, someday.

Postscript

I thought it might be worth mentioning I got hit by a bicyclist last night. I was making an ad hoc cross of the streets to get to Monument, I saw him out of the corner of my eye, and he was either closer or going faster than I thought he was. There was a yell, and he hit me (presumably) on my left side.

I got off with a couple bruises. He seemed to be okay, as was his laptop. He was none too happy about his bike, which he had gotten just the day before, whose front brake grip I messed up.

I'm essentially fine, just a little uncomfortable.

And with that, adieu!

One Day More

A full itinerary: the Natural History Museum, the Saatchi Gallery exhibition on Middle Eastern Art, and the Tate Britain's Altermodern, which posits a movement away from postmodernism. Hopefully another play tonight, too.

This will probably be my last entry written in London proper; I hope you all have enjoyed what I've had to offer. I'll be adding reflective entries and photos in subsequent days, so keep checking back.

Give me a couple days to sleep off the jetlag, though.