Movie: Avatar

It's hard not to compare this movie to Titanic, the previous massive James Cameron-movie. Like Titanic, this movie could also have been better if it was cut by about an hour. Like Titanic, this movie doesn't really have a human in the main role - in Titanic, the ship had the lead role, here, nature has it. But unlike Titanic, we luckily does not know the exact ending in advance.

The story is quite simple, the characters are partly one-dimensional and there are lots of other things one could complain about. The reason I still quite like it is that it takes me to a whole new world, and it's fascinating to see the animals, the birds and so on. I love how technology has made possible the realistic portrayal of whole new species.

The Vatican has made fool of themselves (again) for complaining that Avatar promotes pantheism. Of course, any movie receiving bad press in the Vatican must be interesting in some way...

Avatar (2009)

(See a register of all movies I've seen at Collectorz.com.)







By the way - have you seen how the Avatar plot was written?

(from Filmdrunk)

The Museum of Communism

The Museum of Communism gives a clear impression of being created to be a tourist trap. It’s located right in the centre of Prague, in between McDonald’s and Starbucks and so on, and it’s tickets are very expensive compared to older museums. Their range of postcards, t-shirts and buttons also suggest it is more a commercial enterprise than anything else.

However, as soon as you get inside, you see that you will actually learn a bit about everyday life during communism in this museum. This is not a museum for one-of-a-kind items – mostly it consists of everyday items that ordinary human beings saw and used during communism.

You may ask, of course, what is to be learned from such a museum visit that could not be learned by doing an internet search from the comfort of your own home. Well, particularly moving were the images from the 1989 demonstrations in Prague, including the events in the square near the museum. Seeing these videos and trying to imagine what it would be like, and then stepping out into the streets and seeing how things have changed, was thought-provoking.

So all in all, I would say that the museum of communism is a welcome retreat from all the shops and restaurants in the centre of Prague.

Funny Quotes of the Week 62

"I am desperately trying to figure out why Kamikaze pilots wore helmets." (Dave Edison)

"I am not a vegetarian because I love animals. I am a vegetarian because I hate plants." (A. Whitney Brown)

"What if nothing exists and we're all in somebody's dream? Or what's worse, what if only that fat guy in the third row exists?" (Woody Allen)

Movie: Meet The Fockers

This movie was nowhere near as bad as I had expected. It is a story of two families who will try to get along as the son of one is marrying the daughter of the other - just like about five thousand other comedies. What saves the movie from being just like all the others is the cast: Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro in particular. I wonder why they took on these roles, but it worked out fine.

The movie remains unimportant, but at least it's quite funny.

Meet the Fockers (2004)

(See a register of all movies I've seen at Collectorz.com.)

Movie: Ice Age 3: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs

Moderately funny and moderately charming. Never really boring, but as usual, I wish they could stay to the main story without the endless inserts with Scratch the squirrel.

Of course, the animation is still amazing, getting better all the time. There are spectacular scenes and there are funny spoofs of other movies, such as Godzilla. And it may still be a thrill for kids. For me, however, the ice age is getting to an end...

Ice Age 3: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs (2009)

(See a register of all movies I've seen at Collectorz.com.)

Book: The Comfort of Muddy Saturdays

I love the books by Alexander McCall Smith. Of course, my love started with the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series, but also the 44 Scotland Street series and the Sunday Philosophy Club series are great.

One of my other favorite authors is Milan Kundera, and while reading The Comfort of Muddy Saturdays I started to think about Kundera. Of course, Kundera's books often take place in the dramatic circumstances of a Communist Czechoslovakia, while McCall Smith's books describe peaceful and democratic Scotland or Botswana, but they have the same way of breaking into interesting discussions of philosophical problems almost unrelated to the story at hand.

McCall Smith is also terribly good at creating people who are interesting and that you want to follow. Isabel Dalhousie is such a person. I will certainly read the next book in the series as well...

(This book is, moreover, the first book I've bought in the epub format and read on my Sony digital reader instead of on dead trees. Worked fine.)

Cool naked ad

Hm... I wonder when this was made. (Thanks to Hjorten.)

Funny Quotes of the Week 61

"You can live to be a hundred if you give up all the things that make you want to live to be a hundred." (Woody Allen)

"It's so simple to be wise. Just think of something stupid to say and then don't say it." (Attributed to American humourist Sam Levenson.)

"It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious." (Oscar Wilde)

Movie: Okuribito

This movie was considered the best non-English language movie in 2008 by the US Oscar jury. That may seem surprising when the movie is mostly about caring for the dead. But beside being a good movie about important and serious issues, it is also funny at times.

When Daigo gets a job - to prepare the dead before the funeral - he is disgusted. But he finds that the job is important for the people who are left behind - and maybe even for himself.

It is a quiet movie without the big car chases or shootouts - but the drama is surely there anyway.

Okuribito (2008)

(See a register of all movies I've seen at Collectorz.com.)