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A good time had by all!

It’s amazing what people will say when they’re trying to get elected.

Louis Cruise Lines’ Aquamarine Damaged, Forced to Dock

We were actually on the same line, but a different boat, the Cristal. Trip to Greece going well! I’ll probably post the pics on Flickr, I’ll blog again when I do. 5 days remaining in our trip. Whee!

I’m sure a lot of people have been traveling this season, so I just want to reiterate how stupid TSA is. It’s such a waste of time and money to be checking for things that have less chance of happening and causing harm than nearly anything else. I’ve accidentally brought on board so much contraband, it’s silly. It’s even more silly that the nail clipper or extra-large tube of toothpaste I manage to bring in my carry-on luggage is even considered dangerous. I just think about the billions of dollars in productivity we’re probably losing, not to mention plain old frustration and generated ill-will, from standing in line and being humiliated one-by-one, and ask is it really worth it? How many attacks has TSA actually stopped? Every now and then I find articles stating that most airports, when tested by undercover agents, have a very very poor chance of catching a determined fake terrorist. What good is all this then?

Anyway, here’s a great editorial on the subject: The Airport Security Follies

How we got to this point is an interesting study in reactionary politics, fear-mongering and a disconcerting willingness of the American public to accept almost anything in the name of “security.” Conned and frightened, our nation demands not actual security, but security spectacle. And although a reasonable percentage of passengers, along with most security experts, would concur such theater serves no useful purpose, there has been surprisingly little outrage. In that regard, maybe we’ve gotten exactly the system we deserve.

I found this link on Boing Boing, but it’s so interesting I have to post it here:

I lie on the beach with Hillary-Ann, a chatty, scatty 35-year-old Californian designer. As she explains the perils of Republican dating, my mind drifts, watching the gentle tide. When I hear her say, ” Of course, we need to execute some of these people,” I wake up. Who do we need to execute? She runs her fingers through the sand lazily. “A few of these prominent liberals who are trying to demoralise the country,” she says. “Just take a couple of these anti-war people off to the gas chamber for treason to show, if you try to bring down America at a time of war, that’s what you’ll get.” She squints at the sun and smiles. ” Then things’ll change.”

Neocons on a Cruise: What Conservatives Say When They Think We Aren’t Listening

Reviews are starting to come in, from the sneak previews on the 17th and from various other sources. Also a lot of interviews! I’ll try to keep some of the more interesting ones listed here.

There’s always the Ratatouille page on rottentomatoes.com!

This Upcoming Pixar blog has more time to find stuff and update than I do!

2007/07/09

I’ve not been keeping up with this. But here is a blog entry from a chef about the film, plus a quote from Anthony Bourdain, my sister’s once imaginary boyfriend.

Last weekend Chef Pardus called me to say if I didn’t take my kids that very weekend to Ratatouille, I was a loser. This from the same guy who called me a wuss because I didn’t want to drive 30 miles through a blizzard to make a bechamel sauce. I tend to listen to him. He said, “Ratatouille gets it, it totally gets chef culture.”

“I think it’s quite simply the best food movie ever made,” Tony wrote today in an email. “The best restaurant movie ever made–the best chef movie. The tiny details are astonishing: The faded burns on the cooks’ wrists. The “personal histories” of the cooks…the attention paid to the food…And the Anton Ego ratatouille epiphany hit me like a punch in the chest–literally breathtaking. I saw it in a theater entirely full with adults–and the reaction to that moment was what movie making was once–a long time ago–all about: Audible surprise, delight, awe and even a measure of enlightenment. I am hugely and disproportionately proud that my miniscule contribution (if any) early early in the project’s development led to a “thank you” in the credits. Amazing how much they got “right.”

2007/06/27

It’s Wednesday and the reviews are starting to pour into Rotten Tomatoes. You are a movie critic in the middle of nowhere. You sense that the word of mouth for a movie will be pretty strong, and it will become a critical success. You decide to buck the trend in a desperate plea for attention, knowing you will be the only one of 100s if you give that movie the one rotten review. Your review is vague and non-specific, except to say you didn’t find it amazing, but offers no reasons why. But like a child, you do not realize there is a difference between good attention and bad attention. People leave all sorts of comments on your web page, calling you out as a dishonest hack, zeroing in on your non-review and calling you out for the attention whore you are. Your stunt has failed. No one will ever take your word for anything again. Nice try! Here’s his review and the blog entry. Make sure to read the comments.

2007/06/21

Cultural Learnings’ review and an unfinished list of 10 reasons to see Ratatouille, apparently this is a TV blog. Nice detailed and balanced review.

This reviewer named Owen Gleiberman from Entertainment Weekly really misses the point and does it just to make a lame food pun, ouch:

The lack of celebrity voices is a major drawback, since Remy ends up with very little personality. Contrast him with, say, the bad-boy Owen Wilson speedster in Cars, and you’re seeing the difference between a hero with spice and a bland one who happens to know where the spice rack is.

In counterpoint, an interview with Patton Oswalt covering his appearance on Emeril and about his role as Remy in the movie in general:

He shakes his head over another interviewer, who recently declared Ratatouille to be “almost perfect.” Why? Instead of savoring the original score by Michael Giacchino (Lost, Alias), the reporter wished there were a Blink 182 or a Gwen Stefani ditty to hum along to, the way other cartoon movies rely too much on popular pop tunes. Says Oswalt, “He’s the guy who comes to Manhattan and eats at the Olive Garden.”

2007/06/19

I like this review’s title, “Rat is the New Penguin.”

More of an interview with Thomas Keller, who consulted on the film, in the New York Times’ food and wine section.

A nice review with some commentary on Hollywood’s movie making approach and how storytelling needs to create worlds in order to really involve the viewer. Also this blogger’s wife is a foodie who has her own short blurb.

Some Ain’t It Cool stuff here, an interview with Patton Oswalt (Remy), Quint’s take on Ratatouille and some viewer reviews from the sneak.

Demon Hunter Supplicants now drop the proper loot.

So last week a man running for the Republican presidential ticket made an almost unheard of statement in the debates on Fox. The congressman from Texas, named Ron Paul, made the assertion that it was because of US interventionist policy in the Middle East over the years before 9/11 were what drove the terrorist attacks on the US in 2001. Of course everyone seemed taken aback at this, the very idea that we might have done something to make someone hate us, especially Rudy Giuliani who shot back the childish retort that the terrorists just hate our freedoms. Anyway, I think Gina’s found her Republican candidate for this presidential cycle. And apparently a lot of minds were blown by Ron Paul’s appearance… on Thursday on The View there was an extended discussion on US foreign policy which you might never have expected to see on daytime broadcast network television:

I’m eating lunch at work with a fork made from sugarcane and a cup that looks exactly like plastic but is made from corn, both are totally biodegradable. That’s kinda cool. Does it fit under any of the three R’s? I suppose Reduce once it all biodegrades. It’s not Recycle since these items are not made from other used materials, and not Reuse no one else has used them before either. There’s always the argument that using metal/ceramic utensils and cups that you just keep and rewash uses less materials, but how do you compare the cost of water to clean them versus the cost of producing the biodegradable materials?