This Side of Lost

The 1959 quintessential film epic stars Charlton Heston as Judah Ben-Hur, a Jewish prince in the time of Christ, in a tale of revenge, redemption, and one huge chariot race. Stephen Boyd and Jack Hawkins co-star and William Wyler directs.

This movie is big. It's incredibly big. If this movie were a symphony, it'd be Mahler's 8th. MGM pulled out all the stops, and it certainly shows. The epic clocks in at 212 minutes (nearly four hours). It quite literally has a cast of thousands. It was fantastically expensive for the studio -- indeed, it was conceived as a gamble to stave off bankruptcy. Oh yeah, and the story too! Judah's fall from grace, galley enslavement, Roman adoption, triumphant revenge and Christian conversion runs the gamut of emotion and action.

The scale of the film alone would make it impressive, and as it stands, I think it is Ben-Hur's one lasting claim to fame. They just don't make movies that way anymore -- the film is the last great biblical epic that was financially successful. So in that sense, it feels quite dated. The film's length is not helped by the somewhat ponderous pace -- if it were made today, I'm sure the director would have slashed a lot of the character development in deference to the action scenes.

No, wait. Another claim to fame has to be the famous chariot race scene. It holds up extremely well, especially considering it was filmed long before any major advances in special effects. However, in a way, this dovetails into the epic sweep of the film, since thousands of extras and an entire life-size coliseum were used for the scene.

The other usual stuff (screenplay, acting, cinematography, costumes, score) are all up to snuff for AFI fare, though none are particularly impressive. Heston is Heston -- very intense. The supporting cast is strong. It's all very nice to look at.

So it's big. That's cool. I definitely get the sense of grandeur. But somehow it wasn't enjoyable as Giant, one of the other really big movies we've seen. I dunno. Maybe I'm not into swords-and-sandals as much. Anyway, if you like your movies big, this one'll do it for ya.

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

I think we're out of the woods regarding our current cat crisis (CCC). Robert's congestion subsided and his appetite finally returned about two weeks after the last time we saw him eat voluntarily. He is looking quite normal again (read: a lap whore and always desperate for attention). We are incredibly relieved and do feel as if all our lost sleep and time spent on some pretty extensive therapy was worth it, as I'm not sure he would have survived two weeks of no nutrition otherwise.

So now we just have to figure out how best to socialize him with Oscar, the new guy. We've been keeping them quite separate during Robert's infirmity. Currently they are tending towards Oscar avoiding Robert with the occasional "approach and sniff," and the more-occasional "Robert attacks, Oscar flees under the couch." But they are both adorable and we're quite willing to give them time to get to know one another.

Here's a shot of the new guy (click to enlarge).

It's a good thing you're cute, bud, for all the work you (indirectly) put us through.

(By the way, this entry is a new stab in my attempt to update more frequently. More frequent and shorter posts on single topics. Isn't that how it's supposed to work?)

I guess I don't talk about politics much here. Conversation about the presidential campaign so pervades every venue I converse in (home, work and Facebook are the big three) that I feel like my opinion on the matter has been transmitted, by some sort of ubiquitous osmosis process. But perhaps not.

I'm for Barack Obama. This should probably come as no great shock to most of you. I could go into a lot more detail, but you've probably heard plenty about him. Suffice it to say: I think he's the coolest and I'm pretty excited for the opportunity to vote for "that one" in November.

Having said that, I sort of wish Election Day was tomorrow. I'm a little tired of it.

("Hello, Andrew.")

The update on the addiction: I've joined the Connecticut Choral Society. They met most of my requirements: not a big group, not a ton of rehearsal time, not terribly out of the way from my usual travels. It also came recommended as the best option among the two or three I had been looking at.

It's okay so far. They're not great, but they're not awful. It's very well run -- they've got a great fundraising and marketing machine going. The group is definitely older (as many community choirs tend to be), and I have yet to have an opportunity to meet the (very few) younger members. Doesn't exactly bode well for making new friends. The conductor is good -- I like his repertoire selection and his Midwest sensibilities. He has a tendency to fixate on and over-rehearse difficult passages (one of my pet peeves), but that's a common problem among choral conductors.

So we'll see how the year goes. We're doing some interesting repertoire for the Christmas show -- it's pretty challenging for a choir of this size and skill. I'm not sure this is a group I'll stick with, but it'll do for now.

I've also been hired as a section leader at St. Luke's Episcopal in Somers, NY, a very small, sort of patrician congregation in northern Westchester County. It's basically a walk in, sing and walk out sort of gig. This is nice in that there's no weekday rehearsal, but it feels a little impersonal so far. Not sold on this one long term either, but we'll see.

Yesterday Samantha and I celebrated our third anniversary. We patronized Crabtree's Kittle House for Sunday brunch and, in accordance with the traditional third year gift, bought each other baseball gloves. We had fun tossing around a softball with them and they'll be useful for bringing to any baseball games we attend in the future. I always feel naked going to a game without one, actually, thanks to my dad always having one along when I was a kid.

And, though it doesn't seem this long, it's been three years since I last saw autumn arrive. I mean a real autumn, not that weak sauce that California says is autumn. And I am loving it. They do it right here. Leaves changing, sweatshirt weather, harvest festivals, pumpkins everywhere... it even smells like fall. So great. It definitely makes my lengthy commute more interesting.

Life has handed us our fair share of ups and downs, but today, I'm pretty happy with where I am. This seems to want to lead to a "third time's a charm" joke but it's not working. Better comedy next time!

Another movie that needs no introduction, but I'll do it anyway -- Robert Zemeckis directs this 1994 film about a simple man (Tom Hanks) living in complex times, from his youth in the '50s south through the latter part of the century. Robin Wright Penn and Gary Sinise co-star.

You have probably seen this movie. If you haven't, you should. If you have, you will probably agree with me on a number of things (that are good reasons why this one's on the list) -- that Tom Hanks is brilliant, the special effects were groundbreaking for the times, and the film is basically a love letter to an entire generation of Americans.

Fine. But this movie was a little different to me than most of these films have been so far. I must admit that I wasn't really looking forward to watching it. I don't specifically recall the first time I saw it, but I suspect it wasn't long after it came out, probably when I was 15 or 16. I don't remember being terribly impressed. Anyway, I feel kind of sheepish now, because I really enjoyed watching it this time around. And I'm at a bit of a loss as to how to break this down.

I consider myself a pretty balanced person. I can be rather cynical, but I can also be pretty idealistic. I don't think I was much different the first time I watched the movie. But something did change between then and now. This time, having ten more years of knowledge about and travel around my country and ten more years of experience in life and love changed my perception of the film. Today, I am hard pressed to think of a movie that embodies America more than this film -- both America's greatness and its flaws -- and that affected me emotionally somehow. Also, the themes played out by Jenny's story, themes of family tragedy, imperfection, redemption and enduring love, spoke infinitely more powerfully to me.

Now, I don't consider myself a patriotic person, and I am perhaps more aware now of why the US sucks than I was ten years ago. Also, I have shed a bit of the wild romanticism of being young that would naturally resonate well with the story of Forrest and Jenny's relationship. So it's confusing to me why I should be so much more affected by these themes today than I was when I first saw the movie. I see the film more for what it is -- tugging at our heartstrings in a bit of a manipulative fashion. But I'm more happy to let my heartstrings be tugged. Strange.

Anyway. I enjoyed the movie and it made me think. I guess that's what I should hope for from movies on the list.

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

I've been out and about the past week or so. I had a library nerd event to attend late last week, so Thursday morning I embarked on a public transit adventure. Samantha dropped me off at the local Metro North station and I was whisked into New York City. Then I walked from Grand Central Terminal to Penn Station and boarded the Acela Express to Washington, DC. I must recommend the Acela if it's in your price range. It was very easy-on-easy-off and quite comfortable. I then took the Washington Metro to my destination. I always enjoy riding the rails in whatever form they take.

Friday, after my conference was over, I spent the evening and the next morning in the company of my good friends and DC residents Rob and Krysti. We had excellent pizza that evening, excellent breakfast (courtesy of the local farmer's market, bakery, and Rob's cooking talent) the next morning and excellent conversation throughout.

I reversed the trip on Saturday. On Sunday, we jumped in the car and headed to Gloucester, MA, to stay with my mom for a couple of days during her week-long vacation in the area. Vacations with family usually mean lots of laying around and reading. There was a fair bit of that, along with some delicious seafood and a couple of cribbage games (both of which I lost).

It's always good to get away, if only that it makes coming back home that much more sweet.