2738 Movies

Friday, January 8, 2010

One of the saddest things to happen was the optioning of morality by religion.

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From http://www.shoeboxblog.com/?p=14066:
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Another blogger mentioned today having recently rewatched Stanley Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Clockwork_Orange), and I realized I had never watched it all the way through. At the time it was first released, 1971, I had serious emotional reactions to even the fictional depiction of mindless or unpredictable violence (much like Alex's reactions during his conditioning), and I didn't make it past the first 20 minutes before I had to leave the theater.

I found it online at http://www.megavideo.com/?v=9OJ93JTE and watched it this morning. (That site, although Firefox says it's safe, allows you to watch only 60 minutes before it wants registration and who knows what else, but I discovered that if you reload, it restarts the timer, and it's easy to move the marker up to where you left off.)

I was mildly amused that the story was supposed to take place in the future (2001, I believe), but the bad-taste decor, clothing, hairstyles, and the females' air of deference were all rather clearly 1970. (Loved the father's houndschecked polyester wide-lapeled suit.) Of course, back then, that was real hot stuff, best ever, and obviously the direction of the future.

In other movie news, my Meetup group saw "The Road" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road_%28film%29) Wednesday evening. One of the attendees (R.) was a fan of Cormac McCarthy, the author of the novel, had read the novel, and was able to explain some of the symbolism and meaning that otherwise might have escaped us. Interestingly, the Wikipedia entry on the movie skims over the meaning, too.

I did notice that even though the father keeps saying that they are "the good guys", he is descending into immorality himself, and that the son was of an age when he would not only learn from the actions of his father, but would strive to take those teachings to a greater level to impress the father - and yet the kid remains good and pulls the father back from depravity. I noticed that, but I didn't know why, and R. explained it.

I intend to read the book.

Last night I had dinner with the Southern Orange Mensa subgroup at a German restaurant. We had ten at the table. I don't usually care for German food, so I had the pork chops with applesauce, but the vegetables were served family style, and I was surprised at how good the potato salad, pickles, red cabbage, and creamed spinach were.

I don't know what's different about that particular bunch of people, but the conversation is always much better than the usual Mensa natter. Like, nobody is competing.
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