Filed under: Uncategorized
Reasons why it’s so good:
The movie is actually better than the preview. Rarity these days.
It features two of the best comedians out there, who can also play great dramatic roles.
The plot is simple; the script is great.
Great soundtrack. Kristen Wiig must like Blondie. Bill Hader and her give one of the greatest lip-synching scenes in movie history (covering Starship’s “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now”). One of those most of us have always wanted to copycat but never really found the right timing or song.
It was about 10 am on Sunday morning. I decided to go to the movies in the afternoon after sleeping in for the first time in quite a few weeks. I then pick up my phone and start checking listings at my favourite place, Fifth Avenue Theatres. Seven days earlier I went there to watch Pride, another very good movie. Like the previous Sunday, I had no plans, the weather was equally nice, dry and unusually warm for this time of the year. In addition to Pride, the options were Boyhood, My Old Lady and The Hundred-Foot Journey, and The Skeleton Twins. For a millisecond I was about to say goodbye to the Twins movie. The title didn’t quite resonate with me, and to be honest the poster was not exactly eye-catching. I clicked on the “More Info” section anyway and was glad that the bad habit of not reading things sometimes didn’t ruin my day.
It only took me four words to choose The Skeleton Twins: Bill, Hader, Kristen, Wiig. Seriously, I made up my mind even before reading the (usually poor and inaccurate) synopsis. In my humble opinion Hader and Wiig are part of a very unique set of contemporary comedians. Their humour is almost British, leaning towards the cynical/sarcastic and swaying between silly, dark, and almost politically incorrect sometimes. Both actors complement each other really well. Hader is more aggressive and loose; Wiig stays on the classy and more subtle side of it.
I haven’t been able to decide if the movie is a drama, comedy or tragicomedy. It deals with very mature subject matters, like suicidal tendencies, adult frustrations, marriage disappointments, homosexuality, child molestation, parent relationships and lots of traumatic childhood events. It’s a big, constant showdown of the bipolars. When you’re about to stop drying your tears off, another dramatic blow just hits the screen.
Here’s my recommendation: someone please nominate Hader as Best Actor and Wiig and Best Supporting Actress. It doesn’t matter if it’s the Oscars, the Golden Globes or whatever. They deserve it.
Why hello there 2012! What are we going to be doing this year? I’ve got absolutely no expectations, just ready to see where the wind takes me.
I’ve mentioned before my complete lack of discipline when it comes to new year resolutions. To be quite frank, I don’t see the use in engaging in them. However, what I do love about the new year is the optimism that seems to envelope me. It’s not to say that today in the new year is any different from yesterday in the previous year. On the contrary, things are quite normal and ordinary.
But still, the idea of not knowing what the year will hold, of not having the baggage of the preceding twelve months makes me feel weightless, like I’m floating in space. I’ll enjoy it while it lasts, before the year begins to take on a definite form; clean slate and all that.
Happy New Year.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: articles, business management, cloud, docs, e-book, google, knowledge, LIbrary, marketing, online, papers, shared, statistics
Just a few days ago I was looking at my cloud library of articles and immediately clicked: “why not sharing with other people who might be looking for the same”? The articles cover mostly business management and statistics, but you will find a little bit of everything, including an excellent paper from Google (Predicting the Present with Google Trends), customer satisfaction analysis, measuring marketing and business performance (the latter is an e-book).
So here it is:
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B0CYnXQSVvJjNTdlMWYwMmQtZjRjNi00Yjk1LWJhNmQtNWUyODM1MzNjM2Vl
This is a Google Documents folder. Anybody with the link can have access to it, but I obviously added restrictions to editing the content (this might change in the future). Thank you, Google Scholar, for making some of the articles available for free. Writers and publishers should spend more time thinking about regular users and not only those who can afford to pay for their research.
The library should be updated as I add more files. If you’re planning to visit it often, I suggest saving the link to your Favourites. These are mostly content I use at work, but some are leisure reading. If you’d like to help spreading the number and scope of the articles, please contact me.
“Computation may someday be organised as a public utility.”
John McCarthy
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Allen Funt, Brazil, Canada, Candid Camera, China, diplomacy, Germany, India, Israel, Italy, Palestinians, Reuters, Russia, Security Council, State Department, Susan Rice, UN, UNESCO, United States, Victoria Nuland
What really appalled me were the commentaries from US diplomats immediately after the announcement they were cutting 22% of UNESCO’s budget.
Fair enough that the American system has its laws and the Palestinian move created certain conflicts of interests that will block funds for UNESCO. But all the rest is pure diplomatic baloney. “The United States … remains strongly committed to robust, multilateral engagement across the U.N. system” , said Victoria Nuland, a spokeswoman with the State Department. “Smile, you’re on Candid Camera!”.
How long will the international community pretend that kind of speech corresponds to reality? As far as everybody knows, the US and other permanent Security Council members blocked new member sign ups. Among the contenders, India and Brazil, emerging countries. Mrs. Nuland continued her series of unfortunate and unrealistic remarks by adding that the vote was “regrettable, premature and undermines our shared goal of a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East” (my bold and underline).
What is the true American perspective on ” lasting peace”? Has it ever been one in the past 2,000 years? Is it even just to punish a people that is looking for nothing but the right to have a voice? Diplomacy has now been officially rewritten to mean lobby, corporatism and other bad things we all know. And I won’t even start talking about Jewish groups in the background. I’m a big admirer of Israel and her people, traditions and survival history, but this personal feud went too far.
An American “ambassador” to the UN said the situation is “no substitute for negotiations, but it is deeply damaging to UNESCO.” And all I do is to regret another great opportunity the US had to make good. Shame on the administration. It sends out a message that it doesn’t matter how democrat or republican someone is, the repugnant feeling of a government to a few lingers. Go Occupy the UN. Or better, just put yourself aside from these matters. There will be no hope anyhow. Allen Funt would have been a great American diplomat. At least his jokes made sense.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: communist Party, iPhone, reasons, sustainable, tablet
1 – You already have an iPhone. That’s nothing but a miniature version. Don’t have an iPhone? Buy one instead. At least you can carry it on your pocket.
2 – Ever heard about saving energy and making this world better? Don’t care about that? I’m sure you care about your hardworking money going down the sink.
3 – It hasn’t been “officially” proved, but more electronics on your face, lap and other body parts can increase risk of cancer.
4 – Instead of watching on-demand TV or reading news that are the same every day, go for a run, swim, meet up people you know and make the most out of your life. You’ll feel better and more relaxed.
5 – You don’t really need it. People who want to make money told you so.
6 – What difference will it really make on your life?
7 – A recession is coming again. Save your money for harsh times.
8 – 1 tablet = 3 high maintenance dates. I still think the cost benefit of a date is more attractive although less lingering.
9 – Focus on sustainability. By buying a tablet you’re likely sponsoring the Chinese Communist Party or corrupt governments in Brazil or other cheap labour places.
10 – The fact that I politely asked you please not to buy one.
That Afro-American beggar standing on a San Francisco traffic light in a cold and beautiful morning in January 2008 seemed ordinary. He was everything but ordinary. Every time the traffic light turned red, he showed a paper card that read: “Please, give me anything, even if it is a smile”. Those simple words had the instant, almost magic power of melting the indifference of the people comfortably sitting in their cozy cars, making them smile. Without losing any time, the beggar began walking among the cars proudly, like a king, collecting his grand prize: dozens of warm smiles. His eyes shone, his soul smiled and he felt warm for a fraction of time…
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 6 x 5, Bosman rule, England, Europe, feudalism, FIFA, Football, foreigners, Italy, Joseph Blatter, national federations, Spain
Mr. Joseph Blatter, president of Fifa, led the highest football organization to approve the infamous rule that forbids more than 5 foreigners in the lineup of any club in the world starting in 2011. What’s behind this? Except for Europe, I imagine any other continent will have problems with the rule. However, European participation in worldwide football is just gigantic. It’s the main market, the most powerful lobby federation, where the stars play. Now, how appropriate that is?
I’ve heard since I was a kid that national associations in some countries like England, Spain and Italy whine a lot about the excess of foreigners in their clubs’ lineups. After the “Bosman rule” in 1995, when European citizens had free pass to play without restrictions in any country, things got worse according to some. Many players from outside Europe can get European citizenship by a number of means: residence, marriage, ancestry etc. Given the last 4 centuries and globalization, the possibility of matching one of those possibilities is really high.
6 x 5 will block most of those options. I’ll give Chelsea as an example. Last year they played one of their games with 11 foreigners in their starting lineup. That means zero English players on the 11-strong roster. Not all of them were Europeans, but most of them had European passport. After the 6 x 5 rule, at least 6 of them would have to be English-born players. The European Union, the political entity, has already started a continental battle against Fifa. The EU alleges to be unconstitutional to limit the freedom of movement and work conditions to European citizens and such rule will definitely limit that.
I just wonder what will come next. Return of feudalism? Not by chance football has barely changed in the last 100 years. Manager of the game have the ability to move backwards instead of forward. Boo, Fifa.
Angel and Tiggs 