Black Book

Black Book or Zwartboek is a film from the Netherlends set there near the end of World War II. Rachel Stein is in hiding from the nazi's in order to avoid the concentration camps. While fleeing with her family and a group of other refugee Jews they are all gunned down and she is saved by diving into the water.

She later joins a resistance group and goes undercover to infiltrate the Nazi command center in the city. From there the film's story begins to become a double crossing who done it, mixed with the morality questions of love, religion, trust, prejudice, sex, power, and terrorism.



The film certainly has it's drawbacks, but it's by far the most mature film of Paul Verhoeven's career. While I've seen most of his films, (Total Recall, Basic Instinct, Starship Troopers, yes even Showgirls.) They were never films that stayed with me and in the end just seemed campy. There were always interesting parts but there was something childish or overly indulgent in the way they were presented. The setting of this film forced him to downplay that instinct he has to play up the camp. (Although you could see his need to indulge it early on when the lead actress pretend sings into the most phallic carrot in the history of film)

This all led to a subtle story that misfires in some spots but is completely held together by the amazing performance of lead actress Carice van Houten.



Verhoeven completely builds the film around her performance and it's a smart move. She pulls off the subtleties that the role demands which leaves you guessing who Rachel is looking out for most. Herself? The resistance? Her Jewish roots? The man she was sent to seduce?

In the end it's a solid film that could never be made in America because it doesn't end with rainbows and kittens dancing in the streets. Like 28 Weeks later it also deals with the types of issues that America really doesn't really want to think about when it comes to the realities of war. We like to forget how ugly war really is. Ohhh and it also has nudity.

How dirty can something be?

Memorial day. I am house sitting at my step-dads and feeding his cat while he's up north visiting his brother. He lives on a private lake that doesn't allow any gas powered engines on the lake. Which means no speed boats and no jet skis, which means quiet. You buy property on this lake because you enjoy the peace and quiet of living on a lake and not the noise of gas powered boats.

New neighbors just moved into the house next door. A couple from Detroit who bought the house as a weekend getaway. Memorial day was the only nice day of the weekend. Pure sunshine drying up the weekends rain. 75 degrees in the sun and a soft wind to keep it cool. Perfect weather for a quiet Memorial day on the lake.

I was enjoying the sounds of summer from screened in porch. Drinking an Oberon and reading Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Poliemen's Union. It was the definition of relaxation, for about twenty minutes.

Then the powerwashing starts.


The new neighbors began spraying down his deck with the high speed water, driving his family who had been sitting there off it and into the house. He started around 4pm, which is prime time at this lake because it's when the sun is really in the perfect spot to warm up the houses on the side we were on. It's prime swimming and relaxing time.

Since I could no longer read due to the amazingly loud powerwasher running, I threw my book and a couple of Oberons on the boat and started it's quiet electric motor and drove it to the other side of the lake. Even on the other side of the lake you could still hear a faint roar of the engine.

He powerwashed for two hours. TWO HOURS!!!!! I should add that the deck was built at the end of last summer and was never used because the owner sold the house. How dirty was this deck? How clean must it be? His daughter was out there scrubbing it down BEFORE he powerwashed. TWO HOURS!!!!

Once I had enough sun and silence and I could no longer heard the noise of the washer I headed back home, parked the boat, and proceeded to grill a steak. I opened up all the windows in the house to get sounds of birds chirping and kids splashing into the lake as I ate.

I was home about 10 minutes before he started again. ROOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAARRRRR. Blasting that horribly dirty deck again.


Instead of a chirping birds, wind in the leaves, and kids splashing in the lake while I ate I got, ROOOOOAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. So, I closed up all the windows and listened to some music while I enjoyed my juicy steak. After dinner he seemed to be done, so I went down to our dock (which hasn't been washed in 15 years, much less power washed) to do some writing.

I was sitting there for about five minutes when he started again. At this point I felt sorry for the guy. I mean if the joy of your Memorial Day is running an amazingly loud and obnoxious machine your life is sad. And if it was some sort of pathological need to show dominance then it's really sad. I just put my headphones on and listened to Pearl Jam cover Neil Young while my neighbor attacked the microscopic dirt particles of his deck. When he was done, I took them off and enjoyed the last touches of sunlight before the day ended.

Total time powerwashing at this point 3 hours. The deck is about the size of a living room. Imagine vacuuming your living room for 3 hours.

I really never got angry at the guy. I mean common courtesy is dead as we know it anyway. I have become immune to the noise making people need to create around them. People talk in movie theaters as if they're in their own living room. I can't go to a coffee shop without someone flipping open their cell phone and yelling into it the details of their day.

I just can't understand why someone would want to spend a beautiful Memorial day with your wife and two grown children spraying water on wood. I started a great book, worked out the kinks in a story, had a wonderful meal, all while soaking up the sun.

28 Weeks Later

When I fall in love with a movie I tend to overstate it's effect on me. The mark of a great movie is one that the minute it's over I want to see again. Many times I actually just sit through the film again to make sure it was as good as I thought it was.

When 28 Weeks later ended I was amazed at what I saw. Another mark of a great film is that it hits you on different levels and I was knocked back on many fronts. The following is a brief list of themes this film addresses: Love, marriage, children, family, deceit, cowardice, rage, arrogance, war (from both a soldier's perspective and from the people who are being occupied.), human nature, man's place in the world.



The director wraps these themes around characters and stories with such an expert touch that I forgot that my original intent was to see a zombie movie. After the first twenty minutes I felt I was at Cannes watching the arrival of an amazing new director.

When I see something that strikes me I usually start to tone done my enthusiasm after a short days. A film like this is a film nerds dream come true, it allows me to go back and look at the directors previous work and to compare his future work to see his growth as an artist.

Helping Parents with computers.

I think the entire reason my step-dad has a computer is to poke around it and find something wrong and ask me to fix it. When I went to Mac last year it got worse because I have become so unfamiliar with PC that I can't remember the nightmare amount steps to fix anything.

He also does this fun thing where he doesn't believe anything I tell him, but he still expects me to fix it. It took me a year and a half to get him to stop having 3 firewalls and 4 different anti-virus programs running. His computer is more secure than the Bush's whitehouse.

Spiderman 3

I am a film nerd, which means I generally don't like the new modern Hollywood Blockbuster. I worked hard to keep an open mind as this summer movie season approaches us. I was going to avoid the glut of comic book sequel movies that will be dominating the theater this summer. But I figured if I am telling my film students that they need to keep an open mind about the movies I show in class, I need to keep an open mind about summer blockbusters.

I am not opposed to mindless popcorn fun. Plenty of my favorite movies were the mindless popcorn form of their year. But this new wave of Hollywood summer films are reminicant of the films of late 80s with all explosions and effects. However instead of having NO PLOT, these new hollywood films have too many plots. One for each potential demographic that will be slurping down giant sized drinks in the theaters this summer.

On a cold Monday night I headed to the local theater near my cottage with an open mind to see Spiderman 3. I wanted to like it. I forgave everything I could until we got to Sexy Emo Peter Parker and I started to laugh so hard I had to get up and walk out of the theater to stop myself from bothering the people around me.



Here is a photo of Emo Sexy Peter Parker right before the most ridiculous and incomprehensible plot point I have ever seen in a major hollywood release. It's right around this scene where Peter Parker suddenly because an expert at Jazz Piano, dancing, and being sexy all because of a dark suit.

Please Hollywood. Simple 2 hour mindless summer fun is all we want. Is that so hard to do?

Conneaut, Ohio

My family cottage is located in Conneaut Ohio and currently so am I. I am writing this from the Conneaut Public Library. Conneaut is the most northeastern city in Ohio. If you go north you're in Lake Erie and if you go East you're in Pennsylvania.

The cottage sits on a bank with a wonderful view of Lake Erie. My grandfather bought the cottage in the late 40s after the previous family cottage went over the bank. It has been in my family ever since and over the last 6-7 years I am the only member of my family to use it.



Over the years the cottage fell into a tragic state as a water damage and a disreputibable repairman caused tremendous damage. But it's slowly being improved on and made into a wonderful place to escape to.


(Why someone painted the front porch white and the rest green I have no idea, I was living in Los Angeles then.)

Dreams kind of come true

My sister lives in Chicago near Wrigley field. Those of you unfamilar with Wrigley Field, this is the home of the Chicago Cubs and an honored and beautiful part of baseball history.

For the last few years, as way to keep the people in the neighborhood pacified about the thousands of drunk people, traffic, and noise that come with living near a baseball stadium, they have held a drawing and the winners were allowed to walk ON the field for an hour each year.

My sister entered each year and finally won this year so her, I, and my brother-in-law all went down on Saturday to enjoy a day ON Wrigley Field.

So here I am, kind of making a dream come true, making a leaping grab at the ivy ON Wrigley Field.

Don't buy gas, stay inside and run your A.C. and watch TV

The various BOYCOTT GAS emails are floating around my inbox. These emails are a part of that plucky optimism that Americans have. In their hearts they truly believe that the way to lower gas prices is a one day boycott. As opposed to smart and sound energy policy that involves making sacrifices.

Oil company executives feel about these boycotts the same way that Jabba the Hutt felt about that fish thing he threw down his gullet right after he chained up Leia in the rockin bikini.


There are plenty of articles floating around online explaining how ridiculous these emails all are. There is a particularly good one here.