First off, we just got a free piano. And what makes this great and different then say, getting a free piano in Utah, is that you never know out here what type of cast-off piano you might find. The East is just full of vintage objects that no one cares about any more, while the West is just so...new. Anywho, a c family in ourward was giving away their piano and Christina really wanted one so we decided to take it off their hands. They mentioned that they got the piano 25 years ago from some guy who hadn't used it in years. When they opened up the top of the piano, they discovered that it was full of acorns. Although they hadn't used it that much at least it wasn't a squirrel storage facility when we acquired it. After a Bulgarian, El Salvadorian, and a Mexican (sounds like a terrible joke) moved it in, we looked a little online to see what in the world we just got. Turns out, it's a Woodbury Piano from Boston manufactured sometime between 1875 and 1925. Not bad! It's legitimately vintage! We have a vintage piece of furniture to go with our IKEA Swedish 2006 look in the TV room. Whatever. I'll post some pictures later. It's somewhat scratched up and out of tune, but who cares? It's a vintage piano!
We've watched a series of movies over the last three days. A quick explanation. My parents got us a ClearPlay DVD player for Christmas that can edit things out of movies (like nudity, sex, flag burning, and all other potentially offensive things). We've tried it out a bit and then put it to the test on a couple and it performed really well. I've become more critical of movies as I've gotten older. Instead of just accepting idiotic plots and enjoying the "ride", I get grumpy and say, "How stupid." I'm getting tougher on action movies and on romantic movies. I tear them apart in my head. However, I'm a total sucker for a sci-fi movie and I don't mean a sci-fi movie considered sci-fi because it's in space. This is not sci-fi to me. Real sci-fi is the Matrix, Soylent Green, Solaris, 2001, A.I., and others that probes philosophical and social questions. With these movies, ludicrous plotting doesn't matter, bad acting doesn't matter, I'm with the characters the whole way, just enthralled at the idea that the movie is an allegory of a current social problem. This being said, it makes total sense that I loved the Island. We watched it last night. It gripped me. I couldn't stop watching. It was awesome. On one level my mind was saying, "Hate this movie! They're falling seventy stories holding onto a giant R and they'll live!" or "That scene was taken from Blade Runner!" But the critic was stifled. C'mon, just the fact that someone tried to make a sci-fi movie that dealt with cloning and the definition of human and tried to make that movie mainstream is awesome. The pinnacle of Sci-Fi coolness was Tom Lincoln meeting Lincoln Six Echo and the conversations and betrayal that ensued. I couldn't help thinking to myself (and then loudly expressing to Christina) that when Dave and Caleb watch this movie with me in 15-20 years, they'll laugh at how dated the movie is. I know when my Dad sat me down and showed me Soylent Green, I couldn't help but think "Why would the future feature afros and 70s porno music?" The same will be true of the Island. It won't age well, but it'll still be a great movie. There are so many things with this movie that are classic: The supposed vegatative clone that takes on the memories of his subject, the rationalizing of the evil scientist who thinks he has given people the chance to live forever, the selfishness of those who have paid to be cloned, the developing humanity of the clones as they age and gain experience, and finally the crazy ugly people running in weird white jumpsuits until they come pouring out into a desert landscape with dramatic music and awesome sweeping camera angles. That scene alone will stick in my brain for years. Great movie. Just great. It did what sci-fi is supposed to do, that is, make you question if scientic advancements are morally justified. And I thought. And now, I'm going to protest science forever. Someone has to. Stupid science. Oh, and will Sean Bean ever play a deent human being in a movie?
1 comment:
I loved The Island, also, Run. I went into it not knowing anything about it other than it had Ewan and Scarlett in it. But I was floored. I was rivited. I was hooked. I wanted a jump suit. Then I told everyone around me to watch it and I don't think one person did.
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