« December 2009 | Main | February 2010 »

January 15, 2010

Oh George Clooney

When I first heard about "Up In The Air," I was pretty much sold on seeing it. In the movie, George Clooney is a fellow who works for a company that fires people for companies who are unwilling to do it themselves. I was interested because Clooney's character spends 300 nights in hotels, is constantly on airplanes, and rarely sees home.

Now, for the past year, I've had a somewhat similar lifestyle. I have spent nowhere close to 300 days in a hotel. More like 30 or 40, but I've racked up the frequent flyer miles. I even flew Southwest so much that I have a pass that lets me take a person of my choosing with me, wherever I go, for free.

So, as a fellow airport dweller, I have a few quibbles with the movie. First of all, I'm dying to know how Clooney keeps his suits so clean and wrinkle free, despite toting a suitcase that looks like it holds a day's worth of clothes. If there is one thing I constantly struggle with, it's being able to carry all my stuff that I need - client files, computer, etc. - in a bag, and not keep my suit from getting messed up. Either Clooney has a great folding system, or he spends buku bucks on dry cleaners. [One respondent on Facebook suggested that because he's Clooney, he does whatever he wants. I can't quibble with that.]

Then, there's the idea that he seems to have no work with him when he goes places. Does he just show up somewhere, wing it, and then off he goes? I don't get it. Doesn't he need to study? Doesn't he have notes? It bothers me.

Anyway, as for the movie, I enjoyed it. It had an interesting twist at the end, and didn't get saddled down with a traditional Hollywood ending. I don't think it was good as Jason Reitman's first escapade, Thank You For Smoking. He also directed Juno, which I enjoyed, but at the same time found grating. I mean, no teenage girl is that cool. Maybe I should watch it again.

Also, when I went to see the movie, I answered a trivia question correctly and got an official soundtrack album as a prize. It contains a great version of "This Land Is Your Land," by Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings. Woody Guthrie = awesome.

Posted at 11:35 AM | Comments (0)

January 13, 2010

Avatarded

Did you see Avatar? I myself have not yet, but plan to. Chances are, you did, because the movie is now the 3rd highest-grossing movie of all time. Would you still see it if you knew that every single interest group has something in the movie to ridicule?

Republicans hate it. Democrats hate it. The Catholic Church hates it. Word it, even Switzerland is not impressed. The truth it, they're all a bunch of nitwits.

Conservatives are aghast because the movie appears to be anti-military. (Yes, I know Ald. Balcer is a Democrat, but he'd never be mistaken for Barney Frank.) Meanwhile, some liberals say the movie glorifies imperialism and genocide. The Vatican claims it directs people to worship nature as a god.

My favorite has to be the anti-smoking lobby. Sigourney Weaver's character smokes, and some tobacco foes see this as billions in free advertising for Joe Camel:

Having caught up with James Cameron’s 3-D science fiction thriller, “Avatar,” over the holidays, Stanton A. Glantz, director of the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at the University of California, San Francisco, said his Smoke Free Movies initiative would soon come out swinging with an informational campaign aimed at what he saw as the movie’s pro-smoking message.

“This is like someone just put a bunch of plutonium in the water supply,” Mr. Glantz said in a telephone interview last week. He was referring to scenes in which an environmental scientist played by Sigourney Weaver drags lovingly on a cigarette as she works to save the moon Pandora sometime in the 22nd century.

Oh Jesus H. Christ. The idea that no movie character can smoke is patently absurd. I know movies are hugely influential, but I also know most people don't seriously take movie characters as role models, especially a villain. People in real life smoke, so should people in movies. If movies were happy little places without racism, killing, bad role models, smoking and drug use, I have a nagging suspicion nobody would watch!

Posted at 12:15 PM | Comments (0)

January 12, 2010

Into the wild blue yonder

Being at this job, I fly to a lot of out of the way places. As you'd see from my previous entry, today I was in Albany, Georgia. Albany, it seems, has an airport. I gleefully flew to it, considering the closest major airport was 182 miles away in Atlanta.

However, this airport was the very epitome of tiny. It had one small departure area. Waiting in security, I learned that area had no bathroom. After I make an emergency bathroom run and went through security, I had a good two-minute long conversation with the TSA man about my Buffalo Bills t-shirt, and how the Bills sucked. It was positively delightful.

When I walked out to the plane, I was greeted with the staircase, and not the modern jetway. Now, I am no prima donna. I don't mind walking out to the staircase. In fact, I found it sort of romantic. This is, after all, how people back in the 30's and 40's boarded airplanes - out on a windswept tarmac, as engines blew hot air around the passengers. I'd probably think differently if there was a driving rain.

The downside to this was the airplane was so small, I had nowhere to fit my roller bag, so I had to check it. If there is a way to feel useless, it's to be on an airplane without that bag. Even if I had no intention of using it, and it would only crowd my feet, there's a certain safety to it, like if we suddenly became stranded on an island (a highly unlikely scenario for a flight entirely over land), at least i'd have my laptop and some paper. I'm sure there'd be outlets.

Posted at 07:48 PM | Comments (0)

Georgia on my mind

Well hello my friends, it's 2010. Can you believe it? Two-thousand-and-f'ing-ten. My how times flies.

Anyway, the past week or so, I've had quite the travails through Georgia. Last week I was in Macon, home to the dearly-departed Macon Whoopee. Today, I was in Albany, a little city near the Florida border that is home to a Marine supply depot. It's also the birthplace of Ray Charles.

I have to say, if I hadn't wikipediaed Albany before I went there, I wouldn't have had an inkling Ray Charles was born here. Yes, there's a statue, but otherwise his name seems to be largely absent from the town. I didn't see a Ray Charles Street, or something else named after him. Most towns, when they have a famous native, go crazy and name everything after that person. For example, my hometown loves to drum up its ties to William Tecumseh Sherman, the Civil War general who famously vowed to "make Georgia howl."

I mean, New Orleans named its airport after Louis Armstrong, of all people. I don't know. Seems excessive.

Anyhow, Albany was a nice town. I had time to go for a quick 4-mile jaunt, and I was impressed with some of the old-fashioned houses and typical Southern charm. Everyone was extremely nice, even if I was clearly a Yankee, or as a judge in Florida called me, a carpetbagger.

Posted at 07:39 PM | Comments (0)