5.3 days (or 127 hours)

Went to see a movie in the theater today! 

127 Hours (2010)

I quite enjoyed this one.  For a movie that is primarily a one-man show, it was captivating and affecting.  Going into it I knew that Aron Ralston (the real life person portrayed by James Franco) cuts off his arm.  I wouldn’t have thought to call it “surgery” per se but I imagine the theater was challenged to think of what to say exactly (this was the sign on the box office today):

So, where to start…the movie is based on a book written by Ralston about his actual experience being pinned by a huge boulder and having to free himself by amputating his own arm – Between a Rock and a Hard Place.  The director, Danny Boyle (director of Trainspotting, 28 Days Later, and – of course – Slumdog Millionaire), handled the translation from book to movie quite well.  Going in I thought it might have a Touching the Void feel but it didn’t at all.  The first quarter of the film was pre-rock fall and was obviously meant to show what a lively, vivacious life Ralston has and juxtapose that exuberance with a grave situation. I liked the way that bit was filmed – very energetic. 

The rest of the movie was basically Franco stuck with the rock in a canyon in Utah, which brings me to Franco’s performance.  From a Fresh Air interview (or it might have been the Colorado Matters interview), I learned that Ralston was a participant in the filming and he allowed Franco to see the video he took during the situation.  In the movie, Franco talks to the video camera and occasionally screams and yells but there was no voiceover/internal dialogue.  This was not a problem because from his expressions, even silently, Franco conveyed everything.

I covered my ears during the part that showed him cutting off his arm.  I had been tipped off by the Slate Culture Gabfest discussion of the movie (the “Farewell to Arms” edition) that the sounds were almost worse than seeing it.  I didn’t actually watch that much of it either.  The parts I did see were pretty gory.

Anyway, see it!

TV

The yuppie that I am, I have spent this weekend listening to podcasts, watching movies ("films"), knitting, reading books and magazine articles, and making bread (but *not* in a bread machine). I made blueberry bread but the loaves came out sort of less plump than in the past but still tasty:

Anyway, I noted a theme in a few of my mental consumables this weekend: TV.

The Slate Cultural Gabfest podcast, an old episode of This American Life, and my choice in viewing all involved this. I am not really a TV watcher but this topic comes up occasionally in conversation. It always sounds so uppity when I mention that I don't watch TV. What people usually don't hear is why I don't watch - because I'm a freaking addict. If I had cable I'd be about 300 lbs and have jelly for brains because I'd just sit there and channel surf endlessly.

This past week's Slate Culture Gabfest (The Mature Adaptation Edition) - two of the three Gabfest participants do not watch TV and one does. They had an interesting conversation about network TV versus...what, HBO TV? Where is TV going with things like the internet, Tivo, and Hulu around. They also talked about why two of them don't watch TV. Sadly there was no real answer other than time constraints. The show often discusses TV shows but doesn't usually ponder TV in general. Interesting.

An episode of This American Life (What I Learned From Television) from 2008 had TV as its theme. The most interesting act (the show is almost always performed 3 acts) was David Rakoff's bit. He hadn't watched TV for 20 (?) years and the show's producers wondered what someone who has been away for so long would think of TV today. At first he couldn't watch it, then he got into it too much, but in the end he rejected it. He admitted feeling a bit stupid about the things he found funny (e.g. America's funniest home videos) and not really getting other things (e.g. MTV's My Super Sweet 16).

Finally, we started watching a now ended show from HBO - The Wire. We watched the first three episodes of the first season. I was sort of luke warm on it but Sandy really liked it. It takes a while for me to get into things. It seems we're tentatively moving forward with our viewing of the show and trying not to get totally addicted. We've established a "No Blockbuster" rule, which means that we have to wait for the episodes to come in on Netflix and not cheat by running to Blockbuster (we spent a lot of money doing this watching Six Feet Under on DVD).

Ok, well I've gone on loooong enough. Stay tuned for more in the near future.