What I Like About Foreign Films

Posted on March 26, 2011 by Lyle Verbilion

Foreign Movie TreesSome people have problems with subtitles in movies. Not me. 5 minutes into the film, and I don’t even notice that I’m reading subtitles any more. They become invisible to me, and somehow I just know what they’re saying. It’s magic.

Some foreign movies you can see either with subtitles, or dubbed into English. I’m thinking The City of Lost Children. Ron Perlman even dubbed his part into English. And all the dubbing kind of works. But what you end up missing out on is the fantastic acting of the original children. The dubbers just can’t do them justice! And it’s not the dubbers’ fault. It’s just an inherent limitation of the medium of dubbing. So whatever you do, when you watch The City of Lost Children, definitely go with the subtitles if you don’t speak the French.

What I love so much about foreign films is exactly that they’re foreign to me. I didn’t see the trailers for them, or the TV commercials. I have no idea what they’re going to be about. And because they may not be following the Hollywood formula, I have no idea where they’re going. They might go anywhere! At the last second there might be this bizarre turn and suddenly everything falls off the chessboard but the kings and the rooks… I am almost never disappointed because I really have no expectations…

For instance, I was watching this one movie, El Bola. I came into the thing a little late, so I didn’t know what the title was. Everybody looked French, so at first I assumed that’s what they were speaking. Then I started recognizing Spanish words, and I realized it was Mexican. They go to the mountains in one scene. It looked just like Southern California. The granite had the same pink color. Then I realized that they didn’t have Mexican license plates on their cars. They looked more French. Finally it dawned on me that these people weren’t Mexican, but Spanish. No wonder I thought it was a French movie! And Spain looks a lot like California!

The movie it about these 2 kids getting to know each other and their families and hanging out at the train tracks with their buddies and stuff like that. Finally in the last 10 minutes, the whole movie changes course and comes into focus. There had been plenty of hints before this of where it was going, but with everything else going on, you just don’t notice. So, Whammo! And there it is, and it was over. What a great movie! It was all one long setup, and the climax was quick and paid it all off.

Had it been a Hollywood movie, I would have known where it was going within the first 7 minutes. As it was, I was lost till the very end. And then I found myself walking thru the Great Egress, and I was happy.

Sometimes a foreign films seems really familiar. Like The Thief, a joint Russian/French film. Maybe it’s because of the trains, but I kept thinking of Doctor Zhivago. With maybe a little Fanny and Alexander thrown in. It takes place after WWII, instead of around WWI, but if you’ve seen one WW haven’t you really seen them all? The child acting is once again amazing. It was fascinating to see what the Russians and French thought of Stalin and beyond. Someone on IMDB pointed out that it was allegorical too, and the top of my head exploded!

Posted in Vidi | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Does Moses Have a Tree Named After Him?

Posted on March 24, 2011 by Lyle Verbilion

Joshua Trees and RocksThe Joshua tree is a yucca plant that can play basketball. You can tell that it’s not just an unusually tall yucca plant because, unlike the yucca, it doesn’t have little white vegetal hairs growing on the leaves. Early Mormon settles named it because it reminded them of someone with upstretched arms, like Rocky Balboa or some other winning boxer. It’s also the name of an album by U2 that got a lot of airplay back in the day.

Joshua Tree National Park did not yet exist when the U2 album came out. Before that, it was a National Monument! I’m guessing that the Irish band affected the history of America. Or at least the Park Service.

This place is a study in elevation.

Just outside of park is the Salton Sea, which is just a big lake 200 feet below sea level. Inside the park, peaks reach 5000 feet. In the lower parts of the park, there doesn’t seem to be much life. A little higher up you find the Cholla (which I would’ve spelled Choya) cactus. Some folks call it Teddy Bear cactus, but I don’t find it that cuddly. Cholla never starts a fight, but always ends them. Give it a wide right of way.

Then, way up there, at about 4000 feet, the Joshua trees take their stand. Joshua trees are social creatures. On the U2 album cover there’s a solitary tree. It must have gone rogue, because they usually travel in herds. Also, through their feet they can hear elephants from several miles away.

There are nine official campgrounds. Jumbo Rocks campground is pretty cool. It reminds me of New Mexico’s City of Rocks State Park.

And if you need to see something a little more pop culturey, there’s always Slab City, just a short drive away.

Posted in Independent Research | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

What I Hate about the Grand Canyon

Posted on March 22, 2011 by Lyle Verbilion

Mules comin' 'round the bendDepending on how you look at it, visiting the Grand Canyon on March 1st is either just in time, or just too late.

From December thru the end of February, you get to drive along the roads to all the viewpoints in your very own vehicle. As of March 1, you have to take the bus. Your vehicle is not allowed on some of the roads.

Personally, I like it when other folks drive. And, since it was only the beginning of the tourist season, the drivers were still pretty talkative. And since there was still snow on the ground, it wasn’t too hot to go outside. And since it still a few weeks before the busy season, it’s not crowded at all.

The sunsets were beautiful. Hiking down into the canyon for 1.5 miles was awesome, and only required about a quart of drinking water. The mules were friendly and didn’t smell bad at all when they passed us.

I was a little bothered by the altitude. It’s like 7000 feet. That’s like a mile and a quarter high. And I thought Denver would give me nosebleeds. But I was OK, and didn’t even get my usual high altitude headaches.

So here comes the other shoe. After all that hiking and stuff, it was finally time for a shower. Before the busy season, the showers close about sundown. So you actually have to forfeit part of your Grand Canyony experience in order to get clean. (Later on, when it’s much busier, the showers stay open till like 11pm. But by then it’s standing room only.) And that would have been really irritating, but I was kinda tired of being all Canyony, so taking time out for hygiene was a nice diversion.

Then you get into the showers, and it’s like $2 for 7 minutes. That’s less than a minute per quarter! And I was dirty!!! But it turns out, it’s pretty difficult to take an entire 7 minute shower, even if you have longish hair that needs rinsing. I had to turn off the water before the timer ran out because I was getting prunish, and my skin was becoming raw from all the scrubbing. So that was definitely a false alarm.

Here’s the one thing that I actually got pretty ticked off with about visiting the Grand Canyon: in the showers it’s mandatory soap-on-a-rope because there’s no place safe to set down your bar of soap. That’s right: there’s no soap tray or recessed cubby hole. You either keep it in your hand or you put it on the floor next to all those germs and mouldy things.

And boy am I upset about it. In a few weeks, once I calm down, I’m going to write my Congresscritters about the whole fiasco. At $2 for 7 minutes, it’s highway robbery not to include a safe soap resting place. The horror! The Humanity!

Maybe I should ask for a concession to sell personal soap slings from vending machines?

Posted in Independent Research, Maybe I Worry Too Much | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

No Trilobites Allowed

Posted on March 17, 2011 by Lyle Verbilion

No Trilobites AllowedBy order of the fire marshall.

If you knew what trilobites do like I know what trilobites to, you’d say so too! But at least they’re not tribbles.

Head on over to my Zazzle page to buy this and more great stuff.

No really.

Posted in Buy My Stuff | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Tomorrow, El Morro

Posted on March 15, 2011 by Lyle Verbilion

pueblo ruinsLong ago I stumbled upon Lava Beds National Monument in the far north of California. It’s an outrageous place, with all sorts of volcanoes and lava flows reminiscent of fresh ones in Hawaii, and tunnels with year-round ice, and the story of the last Indian War in the United States. Wow. It was awesome.

I wondered for the longest time, why did they make it a National Monument and not a National Park? It was so great, surely it deserved to be a Park! After all, who ever hears of National Monuments?

Aha! You see where I’m going with this? One of the things that makes a National Monument special is that not everyone knows about them. Certainly not about all of them. You have fewer footprints to pass through on your way there. And while you’re there. Each year millions of people visit the Grand Canyon, but how many ever get to Lava Beds, or, for instance, el Morro?

El Morro is in north west New Mexico. It’s a smallish mesa. On top are the excavated remains of a pueblo. At the bottom is green pool of water. Next to the pool people carved on the mesa wall. Nearest the pool are carvings from the 1400s, by the natives. Next are carvings of the conquistadors from the 1600s. After that, from the 1800s are the petroglyphs of US citizens.

A trail leads around and on top of the mesa. Despite the altitude, it’s not too much of a hike. You’re gaining I think 260 feet. Bring some water; you always need water. Maybe a snack. You can stay up there for a long time.

Another great thing about National Monuments is that they tend to be smaller than National Parks. The Parks can be huge, too big for you to ever really grasp your mind about them. You could camp in Yellowstone for years and still not see everything in there. But a Monument is more bite sized. In only a couple of days, you’ve got a good feeling of it. You’re on a first name basis. Is this a friendly place or what?

The campground at el Morro can handle a couple RVs, but mainly it’s set up for tents. Oddly enough, camping seems to be free. The sign is a bit confusing though.

At the ranger’s office they’ve got books you can buy, and t-shirts. There’s a video you can watch. There’s even a hunk of rock you’re allowed to carve your own petroglyphs into for all posterity to see.

Little buffalo in a big park, or a big bison at a monument? You be the judge.  I’ll see you in el Morro. Bring your dipping cup for the water.

Posted in Independent Research, Travels | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Loosely Speaking, Strictly Ballroom

Posted on March 12, 2011 by Lyle Verbilion

too many legsI first heard of Baz Luhrmann from his 1998 CD Something For Everybody. There was 1 song on there that I’d heard somewhere and desperately wanted. It’s the “Wear Sunscreen” one, the words of which were once attributed to Kurt Vonnegut before being more correctly connected to Mary Schmich. Wise words.

I didn’t even know he did movies. Then one day my little sister introduced me to Moulin Rouge! At that time I assumed Baz was French or German or English. Who would have thought that an Australian would make a movie about Paris folks?

So I finally got around to seeing Strictly Ballroom, Baz’ first movie from 1992. It actually takes place in Australia. I never realized that Australians could be as goofy as the English. It’s funny the prejudices that you find nonchalantly hanging around your neck.

It reminds me of the US remake of Shall We Dance? starring Richard Gere that came out in 2005. I think it has something to do with making fun of the more outlandish costumes, but I’m not quite sure. Interestingly, the original Japanese Shall We Dance? didn’t come out till 1997, so perhaps it was influenced by Baz. I really don’t see any connection to Fred and Ginger’s Gershwinriffic Shall We Dance of 1937.

Before becoming a movie, it was a stage production. I am guessing that the whole thing really came together during the course of its run, but I have no knowledge of that.  But it does give a lot of people a lot of time to find and fit together all sorts of rich touches.

Which reminds me of Hedwig and the Angry Inch of 2000. Although it was about an East German, not an Australian, and there was more singing than dancing. But there was a similar lushness and quirkiness that cannot be attributed alone to they both starting out as stage productions.

So, anyway, about Strictly Ballroom…. It’s a lot of fun. It’s pretty. There’s music and dancing, and some farce. It’s got some quirkiness and creativity in there! You already know the story, so don’t worry about that. It’s the journey that counts.

The copy I saw also had a documentary of Australia’s circa 1987 national ballroom  competitions. This was nice to balance out the more outrageous parts of Strictly Ballroom with the very intense real people who hoof for fun and sometimes profit.

Enjoy! You know you will.

Posted in Vidi | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Where to go?

Posted on March 10, 2011 by Lyle Verbilion

canyon camping
Sometimes you just know. From somewhere deep beyond your uvula you hear the words: “This year we go to Indianapolis!”  Sometimes you’re not so sure, and from somewhere past your sinuses you hear: “Or maybe Albuquerque?”

Besides the Best in Tent Camping books,  a website that I’ve found extremely useful is The American Southwest. They’ve got suggestions for eight states. For each state, they list state and national parks, as you’d expect, but also other cool places to see.

Not every place is a campground. Some are just places to visit, not sleep at. Like the Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument of New Mexico. It’s an amazing place to see, that you’ve probably never heard about, and you can go and walk around for several hours before they start closing up and send you home. I discovered Tent Rocks all by myself, before I discovered The American Southwest website. When I saw Tent Rocks listed there, I knew I’d found a valuable resource for cool trips! They’ve got tons of other cool places that I’d never heard about too!!! Woo-hoo!

So please visit The American Southwest before you plan on taking any trips to The American Southwest. You’ll be glad you did. I promise. So there.

Posted in Webbish | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Truly Pro Auto and Service

Posted on March 8, 2011 by Lyle Verbilion

I'm wheeley tiredImagine that you’re driving your car somewhere in the Imperial Valley of Southern California. All of a sudden you realize: There’s something terribly wrong with my vehicle. Whatever shall I do? I don’t know how to fix it! Do you?!!!

No problema.

Head on into El Centro, and find your way to 247 West Main Street. It’s a little place that I like to call Pro Auto and Service. Their phone number is (760) 370-0944.

It’s an unassuming place, so don’t expect leather chairs and a Starbucks stand. But Guillermo and the gang will do you right. What they can’t fix, they replace. What they can’t replace, they make do with.

Soon you’ll be leaving. You’ll be happy. Your vehicle will be happy. Your wallet will be happy. Everybody’s happy.

I’m not being paid for this endorsement in any way. I’m just a happy customer. So go there at your earliest convenience.

 

P.S.

If you somehow manage to stupidly grind away the wheel bearing and spindle on your uncommon RV camper trailer, I bet they can get you back on the road before school’s out. Somehow I just know this.

Posted in Independent Research | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

A Little Parking Lot Movie

Posted on March 5, 2011 by Lyle Verbilion

Parked CarThe Parking Lot Movie is a documentary about this place in a college town where you pay to park your car. But the lot is not affiliated with the university. Sounds exciting, huh?

What makes it work is that the employees are highly educated and have far too much time on their hands. They decorate their work area. They come up with pithy sayings. They write songs. They philosophize about the meaning of car lots. That part is pretty interesting.

This movie reminded me of what college actually felt like. I was exhausted once it was over. I don’t want to have to open a book for a whole year!

One of the guys reminds me of that guy from High Fidelity. No, not Jack Black, the other guy.

Most of the folks are enjoyable. A few use some choice language, so it’d be best not to watch this while your mom is in the room.

I loved their contempt of folks who break the social contract. Unfortunately, that’d be just about all of us.

It’s not just a job.

Posted in Vidi | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Am I Right Or Am I Right Or Am I Right?

Posted on March 3, 2011 by Lyle Verbilion

winter on the bridgeSomething tells me you want to see Groundhog Day again. And again. And again and again and again and again!

You know you do. You miss Chris Elliot’s little dance. You miss the whole aura of Ned the insurance salesman. You want to hear variations on Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini by Bill Murray.

How long was he in there, do you think? I bet it was longer than that.

I don’t recall any similar conceit before this movie came out. Afterwards, there seemed lots of homages. I liked the Xena Warrior Princess one. But it played out a little dungeon and dragonny. There were lots of steps that had to be taken in precise order and whatnot. That’s what happens when you’re not working on character flaws. They have to give you a slew of impossible tasks. Like character flaws, but without them.

For the longest time on Netflix, every time I tried to watch Groundhog Day on instant view it was just a moving blob of compression artifacts. On their website I kept pointing out that all the other movies worked OK, but this one was messed up. The copy that they were using to stream to me was encoded wrong. I don’t think that they ever believed me. But eventually it got fixed. I’m relieved.

Go ahead. Again and again. You know you want to.

Posted in Vidi | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment