This Side of Lost

George Lucas directs this slice of nostalgia, made in 1973 but set at the end of summer in 1962. Four friends (Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Paul Le Mat, Charles Martin Smith) spend their last night together in small town California before two of them head off to college.

Samantha had me looking forward to this one, but my overall reaction was that it was good, not great. I think that one's reaction to this movie has more to do with one's personality and behavior than other movies, and I'll explain why.

The movie does a marvelous job of painting a picture of youthful naivete and innocence, both in terms of the characters themselves, and of American culture in general before the '60s really took off. At the same time, the characters in the film are far from innocent in the conventional sense. They're troublemaking, they're pranksters, they're horny, they're hot rodders -- all in all, they're not people I would have identified with at all in high school. So while many people watched their antics and thought "Oh, to be young again," I was just thinking, "Yeah, high schoolers are high schoolers -- getting away with things I would never have dreamed of when I was that age."

But enough about me. The film is fun to watch. Lucas and his cast have set the scene to a tee -- everyone is utterly believable in their roles cruising the neon-lit streets. It's particularly fun watching then-nobodies like Dreyfuss and Harrison Ford (in a small role). Candy Clark is particularly great in an Oscar-nominated role as the slightly-ditzy beautiful blonde hanging out with the dork on a date that careens from ill-advised to outright disaster. The film does a good job of weaving together four different storylines and four different character development into a coherent whole. The music is outstanding -- dozens of number 1 hit tracks coming through the car radios that very effectively evoke the period. I can recognize all of this as being outstanding. It just didn't strike me as being personally affecting.

I would recommend the film. I enjoyed it, and you'll probably enjoy it more than I did.

(See this post if you're confused why I'm reviewing movies.)

2002 was the year the Minnesota Twins started winning again, after nearly a decade of futility. It was also the year my baseball fandom came alive again.

The title never lies: here is your bit of True Internet Weirdness™ for the day.

Don't ask me anything else about it, because now you know just as much as I do. It is tremendously and inexplicably entertaining to me -- I've probably watched all or part of it ten times since Mari posted it. I'm either pretty easy to please or have a soft spot for dance scenes. Actually, both are probably true. In related news, this video and subsequent conversations have resulted in putting a few Bollywood films on my Netflix cue -- something I've been meaning to do for a while but never got around to doing. Until now.

In non Indian cinema news, Samantha is coming to visit. Tomorrow! She'll be here through the weekend. We don't have many specific plans, other than having lunch with friends on Friday and visiting some old favorites. I'm very excited for this. I'm sure I don't need to tell you that being apart has been difficult. We've still got a ways to go, but visits like this make it easier.

I'm also helping my mom plan a visit out here. That one is still months away, but it's nice to at least feel like I have regular visitors from out of town. Especially considering how nice the weather is here. And how much there is to do and see. Are you picking up on this, Everyone Else I Know? Hint hint!

Now follows the somewhat standard bullet point list of other various and sundry:

• I have been made bass section leader in the Occidental Chorale. Yet another thing I figured I needed a music degree for. Which is silly in hindsight, since it's apparently just taking attendance.
• Baseball is almost here! Three days until Twins catchers and pitchers report. Thank goodness, because if I hear another thing about Roger F-ing Clemens I'm going to hurl.
• The job search is going very well. No details -- the All Seeing Eye is always watching -- ALWAYS WATCHING.
• Netflixed recently: Reality Bites (good acting, iffy story, I think I'm five years too young for this one, Winona Ryder is hot), UHF (fantastic, right up my alley, thanks for the recommendation, Gillian, sorry it took five years to get to it), Once (very, very good, a modern day musical in the least cheesy sense possible, a simple, touching film), and Guys and Dolls (also very good -- better than the version we saw in Door County, Mom).