Category: Personal

You know The Recruit was on my list. Pacino, spies, even Colin Farrell. Took a few weeks to make time for it but finally got to a matinee this afternoon. Although the experience at the AMC Mercado 20 in Santa Clara was not good, as their idea of a bargain is $7.50 and they show ads before the movie (four of them, and very loudly) versus $6.00 with no ads at the Century 16 in Mountain View. Century just needs to improve their scheduling a bit, that’s all.

Anyway, the movie. Pacino is always great and he gives a good performance here. Not as over the top (Hoo Haa!) loopy as in Any Given Sunday or The Devil’s Advocate. Farrell is turning out to be quite the actor himself and I will be interested to see if, in 20 years, he is another Pacino or another Ford. Or the next Liam Neeson for that matter, since he’s Irish. Speaking of Irish, the hottie in this film is Bridget Moynahan and she’s competent but mostly just another attractive Hollywood space filler as best I can tell. She might be a terrific actress, don’t get me wrong, but the parts she’s taken until now won’t really let you know if that’s true.

What’s good about The Recruit is the twisty, surprising plot and the crisp action. Pacino, especially, keeps warning the other characters (and the audience) that nothing is as it seems, everything is a lie, and only believe the little voice inside your head. Perhaps a little too much of the 115 minutes is spent establishing Farrell’s character at school and in training at “The Farm” and I think this fault lays at the foot of Aussie directing vet Roger Donaldson (who did one of my long ago favorites, Smash Palace, before moving to Hollywood).

To a certain degree, the main action, the final 30-40% of the film, plays more like a really well made TV series episode, but really well made. If HBO did a dramatic spy series… that’s not a bad idea, actually, for someone in HBO’s original programming department to pursue, a series based around Farrell’s James Clayton. Anyway, overall I might compare the movie to Will Smith’s Enemy of the State for pacing and the idea of a man thrust into a powerful spy situation without much expertise.

Recommended

From 2001: Le Fabuleux destin d’Amelie Poulain, or as it was released in America, Amelie. I would write a review but Statto pretty much wrote exactly what I would have. So why bother?

Definitely recommended

In the run up to the Feb. 28 TV special, the Springsteen camp has released a new video of Waiting on a Sunny Day. Not really a video, more like a bunch of nice shots, none more than a few seconds long of Bruce and the band playing over the live version of the song. Which is a terrific song, but just judging the video as a video, I’m disappointed. Lots of shots of Bruce smiling, waving to the crowd, congratulating the band. Really does nothing for me. Too bad.

There’s a bus parked outside my house. A normal-sized, regular VTA bus. There are no buses with routes that pass my house yet this is not the first time I’ve seen one parked out here. It says “Not In Service” across the top (and as I write these words pulled away) but still, it’s weird. I live on a dinky little side street.

Aarrrggghhhhh!!!!! I know it’s too much to ask for a remodeling job to go perfectly. It must be a rule of the universe that there will be at least one problem before the work is done. And I ran into mine today. A day after the work was supposed to be complete, of course, so I suppose it’s actually the second bump, though I wasn’t even going to complain if a one day overrun was the only headache.

I was looking at the bathroom this morning when the workers arrived and realized that there was no shower door. Nor was there one sitting around in a box. I asked the contractor what was going on, since the work was (and I was told this just this morning) gong to be done today. He said I needed to speak with his boss, who would be coming by in a few minutes.

Sure enough, the manager showed up just now with the answer. The shower door is not going to be installed today. But “their” work is complete because they use a subcontractor that specializes in them to custom cut and install my shower door. Someone from that company was supposed to call by now, after the shower panels were in place, to make an appointment to measure the opening and a date to come back for the installation.

What? I asked the manager. Why didn’t he ever mention this subcontractor? He said that it was clear from the contract and pointed to the section titled Payment Schedule. Which showed a payment due today (the “last” day of work) except for the shower door. I mean the line actually says, at the side in parenthesis, except for shower door. And from this I am supposed to understand that the door installation will follow later. He claimed that the salesperson/designer with whom I worked was supposed to have explained this before I signed the contract. Of course, the manager said he always was very clear about this to his customers and would discuss the matter with the salesperson.

One of, if not the most, important reasons I chose this company to do the work is because they are both a general contractor and a supply house. No fingerpointing between companies with different objectives and schedules, just one place for me to go for any answers or with any problems. Too bad this wasn’t explained, too bad for me. Hell, the manager himself was here the very first morning and went over the schedule with me, day by day, and this bit was never mentioned. Never, and he didn’t claim to have done so when I asked. He did apologize.

And I am stuck with that apology. Just supposed to understand that this is standard practice, nothing else to be done about it, live with it, lump it. Of course. The contractor still expects the payment, the next to last due them, to be made today. Swell. No wonder contractors get into trouble even when there isn’t any need–too many assumptions, stuff that seems routine and simple to them but is unknown to an outsider, and you know what happens when an assumption is made. I repeat, Aarrrggghhhhh!!!!!

Fair is fair: I would point out that overall I’m quite satisfied with the job done to date. A big part of my upset stems from the surprise at finding this out right at the end and also because I scheduled the new carpet installation for Monday. When the contractors were supposed to be gone and no more dust, mess, or heavy stomping boots would be around.

The parts supplied all appear to be solid, good quality. The work is clean, neat, no loose edges or unsealed holes. The workers have been quick to ask my preference when there is any choice to be made. In the end, I will have waited a little longer than desired for this to be finished but I (from all that can be seen now) will be happy and have a great new bathroom.

Does it seem strange to anyone else that while the last chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Harvey Pitt, was widely derided as an appropriate choice because he’d spent his career as a lawyer for investment banks while the new (confirmed last night) chairman, William Donaldson, caused no such reactions even though he’s spent his career running investment firms? He is the Donaldson in Donaldson, Lufkin, Jenrette, has been the chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, and run one of the largest insurance firms.

“The concert video for “Waitin’ On A Sunny Day” will debut internationally on AOL Music on Friday, February 14 at 12:01 AM, EST. It will be available exclusively to AOL members worldwide for 24 hours at AOL Keyword: First View. Starting Saturday, February 15, the video will also be available to Web music fans at aolmusic.com.”

And don’t forget two Fridays from now, CBS will be broadcasting 60 minutes of Brcue and the E Street Band in concert.

Plus, The Rising is nominated for five Grammy Awards, the ceremony coming one week from Sunday.

Oh yeah! Bruce goodness!

For there is nothing lost

That may not be found

If it is but sought.

A gem of a movie, written by star Emma Thompson and directed by Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, The Hulk), based on the classic 1795 novel by Jane Austen. The quote above is just one of the many wonderful little poem fragments scattered about the dialog. Sense and Sensibility, from 1995, is part of the set of similar films made in the surrounding years including Remains of the Day, Howards End, and Much Ado About Nothing–all of which starred Thompson. Can you understand why I was so smitten with her? Even after she made Junior with Ah-nuld. Much Ado, honestly, is one of my all time favorites.

In this film, Lee’s English language debut, Thompson is the eldest of three sisters of a rich Englishman’s second wife; the man dies as we open and his estate passes (by law) to his first wife’s son and the son’s shrewish wife makes sure that little goes to the women despite the father’s wishes. Still the girls are resilient and find a way to remain, in modest comfort, in the upper yet not noble class society of the day. The film truly brings across the mores and behaviors of the era, very stilted, demure, and circumscribed. A proper marriage, with or without love, is exceedingly important–yet our heroines find they can have both, in the end.

Roger Ebert, as usual, has the key insight into why Sense and Sensibility is so enjoyable: “This maddening, intriguing inability to simply blurt out the truth is indispensable to 19th century fiction, and I find it enormously satisfying. Better the character who leaves us to guess at unspeakable depths than one who bores us with confessional psychobabble.”

The cast is veritably stuffed with great names. Besides Thompson, there is Kate Winslett as the middle sister, beautiful and most desired, Hugh Grant as Thompson’s true love, Alan Rickman as one of Winslett’s suitors and Greg Wise as the other, wilder one. Hugh Laurie is particularly good in a small role as the husband of the girls’ cousin, so convincing in showing the consequence of a loveless marriage.

Absolutely recommended

In which I am quoted to good effect: Not Groundhog Day, but seeing shadow sides online. A very interesting article which was written by Dawn Pennington, a fellow blogger, for Counseling Today, an official publication of the American Counseling Association–Dawn’s also the magazine’s Managing Editor after a recent promotion.

Yes, the Great Hunt is over after only four weeks and the 49ers have hired Dennis Erickson away from Oregon State to be their new head coach. Woohoo, no exclamation point. True, Erickson won two national titles at the University of Miami but those were over a decade ago and he left there under a cloud, with the team on probation. He was a head coach in the NFL before, four years in Seattle before Holmgren, but only had one good season there and went 31-33. Even at Oregon State he only had one really good season, going 11-1 in 2000 and finishing with a huge win over Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl, but only getting about a .500 mark the rest of his tenure.

But that Fiesta Bowl win was very significant. 49ers owner “representative” Dr. John York (i.e., he’s married to team owner Denise Dibartolo York) is a Notre Dame alumnus and his school and its teams are very dear to him. So such a big win carries big weight in his decision making. Oddly Erickson is known as an offensive specialist but not someone who uses the West Coast offense and will need to retain current offensive coordinator Greg Knapp, QB coach Ted Tollner (another ex-Pac 10 head coach), and O-line coach Pat Morris to handle the details.

But the team needs help more on the defense, especially some hard core leadership. Jim Mora Jr. isn’t the man to give it, clearly, and that’s probably why he didn’t get the promotion; even one of his key players said that was unthinkable. The public stance, by the way, is that Mora might be retained, though to me this is doubtful and the team will need a big name to come in. Most of the other candidates were known for their defense.

But bang, out of the blue, even though so many other candidates were announced and discussed publicly, not a word about this man? I think Erickson has a chance to improve on Steve Mariucci’s results but also serious doubts that he will actually do so. I think Ted Cottrell, currently Jets defensive coordinator and apparently the Niners’ second choice, would have been a more exciting selection. Not too mention a defensive expert.

Here’s a link to a complete chart of the big NFL changes: Coaching Chart.

“But I miss you Michael!”

“I know but don’t.”

ROFL.

Presented to me this morning, with love, by the Sweet One for Day 12 (or V-Day -2):

This movie is an excellent example of absurdity; possibly one of the best movie examples of the genre in many years. I greatly enjoyed Confessions of a Dangerous Mind though in order to be complete I should say that the buddy I went with was bored. Since I was laughing about every third minute I can’t explain his reaction.

Sam Rockwell, to me, is the key to this film. He does an amazing job of filling the skin of a real man, one familiar to most of us from when he hosted The Gong Show, bringing out a constant level of jittery energy. Chuck Barris, the man Rockwell plays, not only hosted that lunatic’s asylum, he also created many other fine examples of 1960s and ’70s game shows including The Dating Game and The Newlywed Game. But in his “unauthorized autobiography” and the interviews he gave that form the basis for this film, Barris also claims to have lead a double life as a contract killer for the CIA.

Besides Rockwell, the other really strong performance here is from Drew Barrymore as his longtime girlfriend and eventual wife. Talk about long suffering, Barrymore’s Penny goes frmo an early free love advocate to a love-sick puppy who can barely abide Barris’ inability to commit to a permanent, loving relationship. Though she does look fairly chunky throughout, a definite disappointment though perhaps(?) reflective of the real woman. George Clooney and Julia Roberts have the other two major roles but neither brings sufficent life to their parts; Clooney especially seems to think a cheesy mustache is enough to overcome a perpetual monotone. Roberts has a couple of scenes in which she could have done so much more: after her first encounter with Rockwell, when they make love in West Berlin, and when she meets Barrymore while chastising Rockwell for standing her up (so he can dine with Drew). As for her death scene, forget about it. Puh-lease is the correct response, I believe.

Perhaps, you might say, Clooney’s acting was not all it could be because he was so focused on directing for the first time. How does he do there? Not bad, but not great. The staging and pacing are just okay; I did like the way he put together both scenes Rockwell has with Rutger Hauer. The main credit, though, must go to scriptwriter Charlie Kauffman, who has come out of nowhere (TV shows like Ned & Stacey and Get a Life) to just rock Hollywood with the scripts for Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, and now this–watch out for his next effort, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I think even the studio execs are scared of what amazing weirdness would happen if they ever let Kauffman direct!

No one I know of believes that Barris was a hitman for the CIA. My buddy suggested that all the scenes involving that aspect of his life were Beautiful Mind-like hallucinations with Clooney playing the Ed Harris role. My own theory is not so dissimilar but caused more by Barris’ actual childhood troubles such as his mother dressing him as a girl until, after several years later, his sister was born and a feeling of guilt he carried for having caused the death of a stillborn twin from his umbilical cord wrapping around the other’s neck in the womb. Probably some chemical imbalances thrown in for good measure.

All these troubles just bubble along under the surface, hardly seen in his daily life by those near him, until his shows are cancelled at the end of the ’70s. Then he snaps, on air during the taping of the last Gong Show. After nearly drowning in this disease he finds relief (cure?) in writing this autobiography. Not quite cured, though he is able to finally marry Penny and live quietly. Good for him.

Trivia note: Did you know George Clooney is exactly two days younger than me? The only movie star that IMDB shows as sharing my birthday is Mary Beth McDonough, who played the middle daughter on the Waltons.

Definitely recommended

No matter what your political perspective, there are plenty of authentic issues to get lathered up about. And I’m sure there are very few Americans who couldn’t find problems with the machinery of how our federal government operates.

So when an email comes along, with very serious and seemingly factual wording about how our Senators and Representatives have voted themselves a bountiful pension program–no matter how long or how short a time you serve in either house, you get (for starters) annual pension payments equal to your salary of the last year in office, plus cost of living raises–you find the message very easy to believe. Especially if the message is sent to you from a very credible source. I know I bought into it, even went so far as to write my duly elected trio.

But I should have known to check out Snopes’ Urban Legends Reference Pages first. They always have the clue. And so they did on Congressional Pensions too. No such pension plan exists, just another wacky concoction of an idiot with email and less than half a brain. Remember to check out the fantastic stories you see before you too fall victim!

No, I’m not gonna get cranky just because the Sweet One made me watch the craptastic Joe Millionaire last night (we’re down to one TV while the bathroom remodeling is done). Though that was painful.

This crank is inspired by the geniuses at Paramount. They apparently are just about to sign Tim Allen to star in a big screen take on ’50s TV sitcom Father Knows Best. You remember, the one that starred Robert Young as the dad and Jane Wyatt as the MOM, who have three kids already (Betty, Bud, and Kathy). But the studio jizzbots are apparently working on a script in which Dad is single and has a son who enters him in a Father of the Year contest under false pretenses. The essay, of course, wins and Dad is going to spill the beans as a lesson to Junior. Until he meets the judge, who just happens to be his perfect potential wife. Hijinks ensue. Hilarity, well that’s another thing entirely.

Ben Stiller as Starsky or Lucy Liu as an Angel is one thing, but please, let’s at least find a story/structure that comes within the same lightyear as the original if you need to use an existing name as a cheap way to sell your movie. Pretty please.

Bill Gurley is a general partner of VC firm Benchmark Capital and a frequent contributor to C|Net’s Tech News. Today he’s posted a Perspective column suggesting that many companies which currently sell their software in a cardboard box consider providing it on a commodity rack-mounted server instead. (This is for server-based software sold to corporations only.) Gurley, who I met when he was an associate with Hummer-Winblad and I a plebe at NetDynamics, points out half a dozen issues where a simple closed box alleviates customer or vendor pain points.

I have to say, though, that I think he’s wrong for the vast majority of applications. Some applications are little standalone islands and for them this delivery model might be fine. Gurley points to firewall vendors NetScreen and Check Point Software as an example; NetScreen follows the closed box configuration and is ramping up sales, while Check Point delivers only software and has been badly hurt in the last couple of years. However, most of the important corporate server applications are decidedly not islands nor can they be used as is out of the box. Even something as simple as a webserver requires significant customization to meet needs and you can forget about complex beast like an ERP or accounting suite.

I have a good friend who spent the better part of a year recently as product manager for a startup company which attempted to use this model to deliver software which was mildly more complex than a webserver. It actually was a webserver (Apache) with very sophisticated load balancing built in. This company had very smart, experienced, previously successful people at the top and directing product development and by many measures should have a had a clear path to success in even in the nastiness that was the 2001 tech selling market. But having to factor in the hardware just confused many issues internally and allowed customers to not clearly understand the value proposition of the product. And the company failed. Badly.

Gurley’s column, as written, doesn’t even mention this limitation of the suggested delivery model. He sure writes purty though.

I wish I played my guitar more often. Because Gibson, makers of fine guitars for more than half a century, is bringing electrics into the digital age: Guitars tune into digital sounds. Instead of having a standard (analog) cable jack, their new models will have an Ethernet port that can plug directly into a computer. I expect that (a) other manufacturers will follow quickly and (b) Gibson and companies will make specialized boxes (in the way Tivo, for example, is a specialized computer) to take advantage of the new feature. I myself prefer Fenders, especially my treasured 1977 Fender Telecaster, but this is way cool. [via Steven’s Notebook]

Not that Gibson is the only company working in this space either. Line 6 released the GuitarPort early last year. GuitarPort is a small box version of the company’s very cool Pod technology that takes a standard analog guitar cord as input but has a USB output which plugs into a PC plus PC software that controls the effects. But Line6 has taken the concept to the next level by building a website with many additional features and functions, the most useful of which is a huge selection of lessons based on real songs. The online service includes tracks which the company has gone back to the original masters and removed, say, the lead guitar track so you as the student can learn more easily. The box itself is only $229 (less than the expected additional cost for Gibson’s feature) and the online service is $7.99 per month. Not just a very cool product but also a very smart business model, eh?

I am sitting here in a freezing house this morning suffering from coffee withdrawal. Where is the building inspector? I know the deal is he shows between 9 and 12 but come on, I want to go get coffee already! And the house is freezing because the contractors insist on having the front door open. I just had to go outside to move my SUV and it is actually colder in here than out there, what’s up with that?

But the work seems to be going well this morning. Most of the new vanity is in place and they are beginning to cut the cultured marble pieces for the shower. Outside, making a lot of dust, so I had to go out there and move the truck so it wouldn’t get covered. With the dust.

Damn, the cold is making it difficult to type!

Just to have them easily readable in the order intended and to make the connection between the poems explicit:

Lament For Kena

As you Burn

Kena’s Last Moment

Kevin Spacey: Alien or not, you decide. The people behind the movie (director Iain Softley, screenwriter Charles Leavitt, original novel by Gene Brewer) leave it ambiguous right up to the end. And by that I mean the closing credits, they never come out and say one way or the other. Hope you’re not dissapointed. However, after the success of the movie, Brewer was able to publish two sequels and I assume they bring some answer closer to hand. Interesting that Jeff Bridges plays the psychiatrist working with Prot (Spacey’s alien character name) since he played one of the seminal ‘modern’ aliens in Starman so many years ago.

Unfortunately, like so many other worthy attempts, K-PAX does not succeed as a film. The attempt to create a parallel subplot concerning the relationship of Bridges to his wife and children just doesn’t have enough substance, for example, and Softley pushes too hard with visual effects (such as repeated shots of faces merging and mirrored in window glass) to define what should be in the plot.

Not recommended

Making a harsh right turn, we watched the last 40 minutes of the Jet Li film The One immediately after this finished. The violence is such a contrast from K-PAX but the underlying theme of identity in a chaotic universe is quite similar.