Ok, I realize this is long overdue. But, I did promise a review of Watchmen and, wanting this blog to retain some semblance of credibility, I now fulfill my obligation to the reader.
I love the source material that the movie came from. Anyone who loves the material the way I do and who will buy the special edition DVD in order to watch the movie with director commentary (as I surely will) will enjoy this movie. However, those unfamiliar with the source material are likely to find the movie dull and plodding. The problem is that it follows the graphic novel too closely - almost frame for frame. The result is a series of beautiful and gratifying scenes for those of us who know what's coming and a series of well crafed, highly digitalized but emotionally unengaging scenes for those who are trying to figure out what the point of the story is.
Nevertheless, I really liked this movie. I'm not sure if the PG-13 version that was to be more loosely based on the graphic novel would've been the better choice or not. On a scale of 1-10, I give this movie a solid score 'read-the-book.'
Just checking in to let any readers I have know that I am still alive. Although, I am on surgery right now, so just barely.
I just started watching the This American Life TV show. There is a fascinating season #1 episode about a guerilla theater group who "pranks" an obscure local band into thinking they have fans by going to one of their concerts.
Think about that for a minute. Charlie Todd, the organizer of this group, got 35 people together in order to make a showing at this new band's second concert. The 35 people in question are part of an urban theater network called Improv Everywhere. The 35 people downloaded the band's music, learned the lyrics and made t-shirts. Then they came to the concert and rocked out with the band. My question is, in what sense does this constitute a "prank?" This is just life. I can't figure out how this is any different from the "prank" I once pulled when I went to school for what will be going on 25 years now and worked hard and got good grades. Hah (slaps knee)! All my teachers thought I was a good and diligent student! Man, I really pulled one over on them. Or the one where I visited my girlfriend in the hospital when she was sick with appendicitis. I brought her flowers and balloons and everything. Man you should've seen the way her face lit up! She thought I really cared about her.
My point is that our entire lives are, in some sense, a "stunt." The mission statement of these 35 was to give this band "the best gig ever." Maybe some of them were also there to achieve some notoriety or maybe they enjoyed being a part of something bigger than themselves. Maybe some of them genuinely were fans of the group. But, when one of the band members found out that these so-called fans where there as part of an urban theater performance, he was devastated. He's being short-sighted. Here's why.
If you take the view that your performance is meaningless despite the crowd of people jumping and singing to your music, what meaning does anything in life have? What you see, hear, touch and perceive is as real as anything gets in this world. Don't think too hard about it - you'll drive yourself mad.
I've written more than once about my belief in not creating more problems for than they have already. To that end, one of the easiest way to avoid labeling patients with additional problems is to refrain from screening them for things that they don't need to be screened for. To review some basic principles, we screen patients for conditions that are:
a) asymptomatic
AND
b) conditions for which intervention at an earlier stage of the disease improves morbidity and/or mortality
Therefore, we should not be in the habit of screening for things like drug abuse because drug abuse is a condition that fails to meet our first criterion. Drug abuse is not asymptomatic. Calling up your dealer, paying him for drugs and then using those drugs to get high are all symptoms of drug abuse.
Even though to the common wisdom is that we should screen, in practice I don't think anyone really does. We may ask more in depth questions regarding drug and alcohol use of patients whom we have a reason to suspect of having a drug/alcohol problem or in patients who come in with a different problem which we suspect might be caused or exaccerbated by drug or alcohol use. And this is perfectly appropriate. But, sweet lord, there is no need to screen every patient.
On an unrelated note, I'm reading Watchmen in anticipation of the movie. This is my first graphic novel experience and so far Watchmen has not disappointed. I'll give a final review when I'm done.
In the new Batman movie, director Christopher Nolan made the creative decision to artificially lower Christian Bale's voice, making Batman's dialogue hammier than ever. Here is the hilarious result:
Remember that Simpsons Halloween special where Kang and Kodos try to take over the Earth by posing as Bob Dole and Bill Clinton during the 1996 election? In yet another demonstration of how The Simpsons was ahead of it's time, Kodos/Bob Dole has the following line, "I hope we achieve a fair result in the election, eliminating the need for a violent bloodbath."
The movie Recount, which premiered on HBO on May 25, portrays the events surrounding the contested results of Florida's vote in the 2000 election. Though it tends to give me atrial flutter whenever I revisit those events, I very much enjoyed the movie. Kevin Spacey stars as Ron Klain, Gore's former chief of staff, who was largely in charge of the legal effort to get the votes in Florida recounted. On May 9, Charlie Rose talked to Kevin Spacey about his role. Although Spacey went on record as disagreeing with this assertion, the film is clearly biased in favor of those who would have liked to see the Florida recount proceed. It would be pretty poor storytelling to portray it any other way. However, there is a speech by James Baker's character towards the end (played by Tom Wilkinson) that I liked very much. His point is that, whatever you can say about the 2000 election, we followed a proper, legal process. The tension that our country experienced could have easily escalated to the level of a national crisis, perhaps even civil war. But the legal process was followed, the various Florida courts as well as the Supreme Court made their respective rulings and those rulings were respected. There were no tanks in the streets, no riots, no armed insurgency.
So, for those of you - like me - for whom the past eight years have been a perpetual nightmare, I recommend this movie. If you compare ourselves to countries like Kenya or Zimbabwe, who couldn't make a peaceful transition of power if their lives depended on it, this movie may restore some of your faith in our democracy.
Charlie's interview with Kevin Spacey can be seen here:
I've written more than once about my belief in not creating more problems for than they have already. To that end, one of the easiest way to avoid labeling patients with additional problems is to refrain from screening them for things that they don't need to be screened for. To review some basic principles, we screen patients for conditions that are:
