The Italian Job/Callahan's Con
Aug. 3rd, 2003 02:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jcfialaHi all.
Had a pleasant surprise last night. Tammy and I were hanging out Saturday evening, and decided we didn't really feel like cooking. (Which means she didn't feel like cooking, as I almost never do the cooking. Sometimes I will, if it's fairly simple.) Tammy had been experimenting with a recipe we downloaded for homemade merangue cookies, and that was enough cooking for her.
So we hit the movie listings. Tammy wanted to see Seabiscuit, on the basis that it has horses in it, but I wasn't feeling like a 'feel-good triumph-against-the-odds' movie, so I kept looking, wishing that X2 was still out. We settled up on 'The Italian Job', and headed out for dinner. We tried to eat at Hops, but the line there was too long so we went across the street to Jillians. I'm not completely happy with the Shrimp Diavolo I had there - the shrimp were laughably puny, and the sauce was far too spicy.
In the period between eating and the late movie, Tammy went off to play her Derby racing game, and I wandered off to see what would happen. I had my Handspring with me, so I was considering sitting down and doing a little writing on a story I've been working on, but instead I just walked around the mall for some excersize, poking my head in here and there as curiosity grabbed me. Eventually I ended up at Borders, and while browsing I found a copy of Spider Robinson's latest book, 'Callahan's Con', which I hadn't known was out. I grabbed it, paid for it, and finished walking the rest of my way back to my wife with my nose in a book. ("If you haven't apologized to a parking meter for bumping into it, you're wasting valuable reading time," that's my motto. :)
I really like Spider's work. Even when it's not 100%, I enjoy the jokes and the humor and the point of view that everything would be better if we'd just hang loose and try to get along a lot more. It's a nice viewpoint. The last couple of books haven't connected completely with me, though - they rest on a foundation of fear and distrust for the government that really doesn't seem completely rational to me. I have had to deal, from time to time, with the government, and each time it's come out pretty well for me - so Jake Stonebender (the main character)'s viewpoint seems like a complete overreaction. It's a shame when you're reading a SF book and the bit that stretches your suspension of disbelief is the 'normal' part of the world.
Ah, well. For all that that bugs me, the rest of the book is interesting so far, and I'm not regretting the $25 I laid down for it.
The Italian Job, by the way, was a fun little movie. No real character development and no real characters either - you've got the Handsome Reckless Driver, the Hip Black Demolitionist, the Nerdy Computer Guy, the Cool Planner, and two varieties of Safecracker: 'Old and Experienced' as well as 'Rookie Proving Herself'.
But damnit, I don't want deep character development in a Caper Flick - I want to see competant people working hard and solving interesting problems. There's a certain joy in watching that, seeing people breaking down a problem, looking at it carefully and finding a solution. There's a bit of this joy in 'Apollo 13', only there it all actually happened. The characters in this movie, other than the bad guy, don't use weapons - they make their first steal without firing a gun, and pretty much get through the second without any weapons as well. No gunplay, no fist-fights, (although someone does get punched a few times), and the basic idea that thinking through a problem hard enough allows you to solve it with a minimum of force.
I like it. I'll probably pick it up again when it's out on DVD, and then it can go with my copies of The Thomas Crowne Affair.
Had a pleasant surprise last night. Tammy and I were hanging out Saturday evening, and decided we didn't really feel like cooking. (Which means she didn't feel like cooking, as I almost never do the cooking. Sometimes I will, if it's fairly simple.) Tammy had been experimenting with a recipe we downloaded for homemade merangue cookies, and that was enough cooking for her.
So we hit the movie listings. Tammy wanted to see Seabiscuit, on the basis that it has horses in it, but I wasn't feeling like a 'feel-good triumph-against-the-odds' movie, so I kept looking, wishing that X2 was still out. We settled up on 'The Italian Job', and headed out for dinner. We tried to eat at Hops, but the line there was too long so we went across the street to Jillians. I'm not completely happy with the Shrimp Diavolo I had there - the shrimp were laughably puny, and the sauce was far too spicy.
In the period between eating and the late movie, Tammy went off to play her Derby racing game, and I wandered off to see what would happen. I had my Handspring with me, so I was considering sitting down and doing a little writing on a story I've been working on, but instead I just walked around the mall for some excersize, poking my head in here and there as curiosity grabbed me. Eventually I ended up at Borders, and while browsing I found a copy of Spider Robinson's latest book, 'Callahan's Con', which I hadn't known was out. I grabbed it, paid for it, and finished walking the rest of my way back to my wife with my nose in a book. ("If you haven't apologized to a parking meter for bumping into it, you're wasting valuable reading time," that's my motto. :)
I really like Spider's work. Even when it's not 100%, I enjoy the jokes and the humor and the point of view that everything would be better if we'd just hang loose and try to get along a lot more. It's a nice viewpoint. The last couple of books haven't connected completely with me, though - they rest on a foundation of fear and distrust for the government that really doesn't seem completely rational to me. I have had to deal, from time to time, with the government, and each time it's come out pretty well for me - so Jake Stonebender (the main character)'s viewpoint seems like a complete overreaction. It's a shame when you're reading a SF book and the bit that stretches your suspension of disbelief is the 'normal' part of the world.
Ah, well. For all that that bugs me, the rest of the book is interesting so far, and I'm not regretting the $25 I laid down for it.
The Italian Job, by the way, was a fun little movie. No real character development and no real characters either - you've got the Handsome Reckless Driver, the Hip Black Demolitionist, the Nerdy Computer Guy, the Cool Planner, and two varieties of Safecracker: 'Old and Experienced' as well as 'Rookie Proving Herself'.
But damnit, I don't want deep character development in a Caper Flick - I want to see competant people working hard and solving interesting problems. There's a certain joy in watching that, seeing people breaking down a problem, looking at it carefully and finding a solution. There's a bit of this joy in 'Apollo 13', only there it all actually happened. The characters in this movie, other than the bad guy, don't use weapons - they make their first steal without firing a gun, and pretty much get through the second without any weapons as well. No gunplay, no fist-fights, (although someone does get punched a few times), and the basic idea that thinking through a problem hard enough allows you to solve it with a minimum of force.
I like it. I'll probably pick it up again when it's out on DVD, and then it can go with my copies of The Thomas Crowne Affair.
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no subject
Date: 2003-08-03 05:21 pm (UTC)It's a shame when you're reading a SF book and the bit that stretches your suspension of disbelief is the 'normal' part of the world.
See, this is what scares me about the state of the world today. Scares, and occasionally amuses. Scares, occasinally amuses, and fascinates.
no subject
Date: 2003-08-03 08:17 pm (UTC)Well, it's not *that*. It's just that they are easily categorized archetypes, and they're supposed to - by being characters we already understand, they can bypass lengthy introductions and get on with the story they want to tell.