Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Mr. Optimistic: Death Wish
Death Wish (1974)
Starring Charles Bronson
It's hard to describe both the cinematic and cultural impact of a classic like Death Wish. It raised so many philosophical questions and made us, as a society, rethink how crime should be dealt with. In particular, it made us think that Charles Bronson should be allowed to shoot whoever the hell he wants.
I'm a little surprised that I hadn't seen Death Wish until now. Much like with Schindler's List, I kept putting off watching it because I knew the tremendous impact it would have on me. And I was right! I couldn't sleep a wink after watching Mr. Bronson walk the streets of New York City killing 1970's stereotypes.
In Death Wish, Charles Bronson plays Paul Kersey, an architect whose wife is murdered and his daughter raped by a bunch of no-good hoodlums. I should probably rephrase that, because Charles Bronson doesn't just play an architect, he becomes an architect. I honestly thought I was watching Frank Lloyd Wright weild a Magnum 45. Bronson displayed more skill than any actor since Ernest Borgnine in McHale's Navy.
Death Wish is set in New York City, which is completely overrun by criminals. Where is Rudy Giuliani when you need him? The cops can't control the criminals and the citizens are all afraid. Hell, I was afraid myself and thought about moving to the Connecticut suburbs to avoid the violence in the movie. I decided to stay, and I'm glad I did! I got to see a life-affirming movie where Charles Bronson single-handedly cleans up the city. (Actually, he literally cleans up the city in the not-well-received sequel, Death Wash, but I'll have to review that one later.) Bronson becomes a vigilante, killing the bad guys and making the streets safe.
This is what kept me up all night. Here's Bronson, killing the bad guys. He's making the city safe, but he's killing people. Should he go to jail or become mayor? This type of ethical dilemma could only be portrayed onscreen by a heavyweight like Brando, DeNiro, or Bronson. In fact, Death Wish is basically Mean Streets, but without someone trying to push all that character development down our throats. When will you learn, Scorsese?
This movie has everything. It has Mexicans with knives. Blacks with knives. Whites with knives. Hippies with knives. Neo-nazis with knives. Nobody with guns, but this was 1974. Criminals don't have guns. Only architects do. And this architect used it to shoot all those stereotypes. I think the only 70's stereotypes he didn't shoot were a guy on rollerskates and Huggy Bear.
As if having Bronson star in Death Wish weren't enough, we're blessed with memorable scenes stolen by famous actors? Jeff Goldblum admirably played Freak #1 and killed Bronson's wife. Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs (Welcome Back Kotter's Freddy "Boom Boom" Washington) plays an uncredited mugger shot by Bronson towards the end of the film. (By the way, how do you not credit Freddy "Boom Boom" Washington? I don't care if Kotter didn't come along until after Death Wish. If you're the producer or director, you go back and change the credits to give him a starring role.) Christopher Guest as Patrolman Jackson Reilly practically stole the movie away from Bronson, if such a thing is possible, with his 2 second performance at the end of Death Wish.
I give Death Wish 5 stars because I can't think of anything that could have possibly made it better. It even had Herbie Hancock doing the soundtrack! The producers really did think of everything! I can only hope that they make a sequel to this riveting story because I have to know what happens to Bronson's Paul Kersey. I sure hope he doesn't stop shooting people!
Starring Charles Bronson
It's hard to describe both the cinematic and cultural impact of a classic like Death Wish. It raised so many philosophical questions and made us, as a society, rethink how crime should be dealt with. In particular, it made us think that Charles Bronson should be allowed to shoot whoever the hell he wants.
I'm a little surprised that I hadn't seen Death Wish until now. Much like with Schindler's List, I kept putting off watching it because I knew the tremendous impact it would have on me. And I was right! I couldn't sleep a wink after watching Mr. Bronson walk the streets of New York City killing 1970's stereotypes.
In Death Wish, Charles Bronson plays Paul Kersey, an architect whose wife is murdered and his daughter raped by a bunch of no-good hoodlums. I should probably rephrase that, because Charles Bronson doesn't just play an architect, he becomes an architect. I honestly thought I was watching Frank Lloyd Wright weild a Magnum 45. Bronson displayed more skill than any actor since Ernest Borgnine in McHale's Navy.
Death Wish is set in New York City, which is completely overrun by criminals. Where is Rudy Giuliani when you need him? The cops can't control the criminals and the citizens are all afraid. Hell, I was afraid myself and thought about moving to the Connecticut suburbs to avoid the violence in the movie. I decided to stay, and I'm glad I did! I got to see a life-affirming movie where Charles Bronson single-handedly cleans up the city. (Actually, he literally cleans up the city in the not-well-received sequel, Death Wash, but I'll have to review that one later.) Bronson becomes a vigilante, killing the bad guys and making the streets safe.
This is what kept me up all night. Here's Bronson, killing the bad guys. He's making the city safe, but he's killing people. Should he go to jail or become mayor? This type of ethical dilemma could only be portrayed onscreen by a heavyweight like Brando, DeNiro, or Bronson. In fact, Death Wish is basically Mean Streets, but without someone trying to push all that character development down our throats. When will you learn, Scorsese?
This movie has everything. It has Mexicans with knives. Blacks with knives. Whites with knives. Hippies with knives. Neo-nazis with knives. Nobody with guns, but this was 1974. Criminals don't have guns. Only architects do. And this architect used it to shoot all those stereotypes. I think the only 70's stereotypes he didn't shoot were a guy on rollerskates and Huggy Bear.
As if having Bronson star in Death Wish weren't enough, we're blessed with memorable scenes stolen by famous actors? Jeff Goldblum admirably played Freak #1 and killed Bronson's wife. Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs (Welcome Back Kotter's Freddy "Boom Boom" Washington) plays an uncredited mugger shot by Bronson towards the end of the film. (By the way, how do you not credit Freddy "Boom Boom" Washington? I don't care if Kotter didn't come along until after Death Wish. If you're the producer or director, you go back and change the credits to give him a starring role.) Christopher Guest as Patrolman Jackson Reilly practically stole the movie away from Bronson, if such a thing is possible, with his 2 second performance at the end of Death Wish.
I give Death Wish 5 stars because I can't think of anything that could have possibly made it better. It even had Herbie Hancock doing the soundtrack! The producers really did think of everything! I can only hope that they make a sequel to this riveting story because I have to know what happens to Bronson's Paul Kersey. I sure hope he doesn't stop shooting people!
I'm Such a Dork
My first week of class is over. I only need 2 classes to graduate. Unfortunately, my scholarship requires that I take at least 3 classes. I was not happy about this development. I was really looking forward to taking it easy this semester and devoting my time to finding a job (or playing video games).
I finally accepted having to take 3 classes. At registration, I tried to pick out 3, but I was interested in way too many. So I signed up for something like 6 classes. I figured I'd go to the first day of class for all of them and see which ones I liked most. As one of my professors described it, I was "shopping" for the right classes. The question was which classes do I drop so that I'm only taking 3 classes.
I whittled the list down to 4 classes, 2 on Monday and 2 on Tuesday. My plan was to take 1 class during the day (on either Monday or Tuesday) and two classes in the evening. Complicating this is Luke and daycare. I figured I'd have him in daycare for the one day I was in class and then one other day during the week so I could get homework done and search for a job. Well, it didn't quite work out that way. Instead, I'm taking all 4 classes. And I can't think of a single one I want to drop because they all seem so interesting. God, I'm such a dork.
Class 1 is a portfolio management class. We get to do simulated trading and put together an investment portfolio. We also get to make recommendations to actual portfolio managers, which will be good practice.
Class 2 is a split class. The first half deals with mortgage-backed securities. Sounds lame, but it's actually very similar to my work as a pension actuary. It'd be so nice if I could parlay my actuarial career into my new career, and this might be just the right opportunity. (Yeah, didn't I just say a couple weeks ago that I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up? Well, I might want to be something else now. Shocker.) The second half deals with the Chicago exchanges, like the Board of Trade and the Merc. It should be really interesting (and little work).
Class 3 is Investment Banking and is taught by the professor I TA for. This is a very interesting class and will be helpful for me no matter what I do in finance. And, of course, if I want to sell my sould and become an Investment Banker, then it's a GREAT class for me.
Class 4 is an accounting class that I have to take. I was really dreading it, but it looks like it won't be too difficult. So hooray for me.
I guess the best part about taking these 4 classes is that I'll be wicked busy Mondays and Tuesdays, but I'll be completely free every other day of the week. I know it'll be nice to see The Wife more than once a week. That is, until she starts complaining about the lack of cleaning I do around the house.
I finally accepted having to take 3 classes. At registration, I tried to pick out 3, but I was interested in way too many. So I signed up for something like 6 classes. I figured I'd go to the first day of class for all of them and see which ones I liked most. As one of my professors described it, I was "shopping" for the right classes. The question was which classes do I drop so that I'm only taking 3 classes.
I whittled the list down to 4 classes, 2 on Monday and 2 on Tuesday. My plan was to take 1 class during the day (on either Monday or Tuesday) and two classes in the evening. Complicating this is Luke and daycare. I figured I'd have him in daycare for the one day I was in class and then one other day during the week so I could get homework done and search for a job. Well, it didn't quite work out that way. Instead, I'm taking all 4 classes. And I can't think of a single one I want to drop because they all seem so interesting. God, I'm such a dork.
Class 1 is a portfolio management class. We get to do simulated trading and put together an investment portfolio. We also get to make recommendations to actual portfolio managers, which will be good practice.
Class 2 is a split class. The first half deals with mortgage-backed securities. Sounds lame, but it's actually very similar to my work as a pension actuary. It'd be so nice if I could parlay my actuarial career into my new career, and this might be just the right opportunity. (Yeah, didn't I just say a couple weeks ago that I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up? Well, I might want to be something else now. Shocker.) The second half deals with the Chicago exchanges, like the Board of Trade and the Merc. It should be really interesting (and little work).
Class 3 is Investment Banking and is taught by the professor I TA for. This is a very interesting class and will be helpful for me no matter what I do in finance. And, of course, if I want to sell my sould and become an Investment Banker, then it's a GREAT class for me.
Class 4 is an accounting class that I have to take. I was really dreading it, but it looks like it won't be too difficult. So hooray for me.
I guess the best part about taking these 4 classes is that I'll be wicked busy Mondays and Tuesdays, but I'll be completely free every other day of the week. I know it'll be nice to see The Wife more than once a week. That is, until she starts complaining about the lack of cleaning I do around the house.
Monday, January 09, 2006
Hey, It's THAT Guy!!!
There's a phenomenon that you're no doubt familiar with. You're watching a movie or TV show and you see some guy that makes you think, "Hey, it's THAT guy!" The Wife turned me onto a website devoted to this, and it consumes too much of my time.
What makes the website so appealing to me is that it's just a list of names. So you click on the name, hover your mouse over the picture and say (in my case, because I can't internalize my thoughts), "Hey, it's THAT guy!" (By the way, the people in this computer lab are getting tired of me saying that over and over.)
So, if you have some time at work (and who doesn't), check it out. Oh, and if you have time, check out the link for Celebrity vs. Thing. They conduct comparisons of actors and various other "things." For example, Matthew Broderick vs. French Toast. It's both insightful and amusing. And now I have something else to waste my time with.
What makes the website so appealing to me is that it's just a list of names. So you click on the name, hover your mouse over the picture and say (in my case, because I can't internalize my thoughts), "Hey, it's THAT guy!" (By the way, the people in this computer lab are getting tired of me saying that over and over.)
So, if you have some time at work (and who doesn't), check it out. Oh, and if you have time, check out the link for Celebrity vs. Thing. They conduct comparisons of actors and various other "things." For example, Matthew Broderick vs. French Toast. It's both insightful and amusing. And now I have something else to waste my time with.
First Day of Class
Today is my first day of class in what should be my very last semester in school. So far, so good. I've got a break now after my first class. It was quite an interesting class that focuses on investing. I won't bore you with any of the details on what I'm learning. But there are two interesting things about the class that you absolutely must know. (Yes, I'm starting to develop quite an ego after writing this blog for a month. You just have to know everything that's going on in my life. Anyway.)
One thing that makes the class interesting is that it's a mix of MBA and undergraduate students. What's even better is that the MBA students get to manage the undergrads on all sorts of investment things. I'm looking forward to that part. I haven't harangued anyone for absolutely no reason in quite sometime. "Smith, this report is in Arial font. You KNOW I'm allergic to Arial font. Change it to Times New Roman NOW!!!"
The other interesting thing is that one of the undergrads is actually a 40-something year-old student. And after just 2 hours, she's already proved that she's extremely annoying. In fact, it's quite possible that I'll be arrested for assaulting her at some point during the semester.
Apparently, she had a class with this professor last semester. And for some reason, she now feels as though she's best friends with the professor. Maybe she is. I don't know, nor do I care. What's annoying is that she seems to think that the rest of the class cares about her stupid comments. (And believe me, if there's ever an expert about people not caring about stupid comments, it's me with respect to my own comments.) Whenever the professor says something referring to the class, this woman has to make a "funny" comment that really isn't funny. It's one of those comments that people make under their breath. But she's doing it like it's a stage whisper, loud enough so that everyone can hear. I can only see this getting more annoying with every passing class.
(In fact, now that I think about it, she reminds me of David Brent, the manager of the BBC version of The Office. If you haven't seen it, he's a manager who tries to be funny but fails miserably every time. It just makes you squirm because you feel so bad for him. Henceforth, this lady will be referred to as Mrs. David Brent.)
Mrs. David Brent did another tremendously annoying thing today that almost caused a lynching. Next Monday is Martin Luther King Day. One of the joys of being back in school is that I get that day off. Within the first 5 minutes of class, Mrs. David Brent actually asked whether we could have a make-up class for the one we're missing on MLK Day. I just about fell out of my chair. I immediately raised my hand and asked that if instead of having another class, we could have a motion to have Mrs. David Brent permanently forbidden from speaking for the remainder of the semester. My motion was seconded very quickly and was enacted into law by the class before the professor could regain control and veto it. Jerk.
One thing that makes the class interesting is that it's a mix of MBA and undergraduate students. What's even better is that the MBA students get to manage the undergrads on all sorts of investment things. I'm looking forward to that part. I haven't harangued anyone for absolutely no reason in quite sometime. "Smith, this report is in Arial font. You KNOW I'm allergic to Arial font. Change it to Times New Roman NOW!!!"
The other interesting thing is that one of the undergrads is actually a 40-something year-old student. And after just 2 hours, she's already proved that she's extremely annoying. In fact, it's quite possible that I'll be arrested for assaulting her at some point during the semester.
Apparently, she had a class with this professor last semester. And for some reason, she now feels as though she's best friends with the professor. Maybe she is. I don't know, nor do I care. What's annoying is that she seems to think that the rest of the class cares about her stupid comments. (And believe me, if there's ever an expert about people not caring about stupid comments, it's me with respect to my own comments.) Whenever the professor says something referring to the class, this woman has to make a "funny" comment that really isn't funny. It's one of those comments that people make under their breath. But she's doing it like it's a stage whisper, loud enough so that everyone can hear. I can only see this getting more annoying with every passing class.
(In fact, now that I think about it, she reminds me of David Brent, the manager of the BBC version of The Office. If you haven't seen it, he's a manager who tries to be funny but fails miserably every time. It just makes you squirm because you feel so bad for him. Henceforth, this lady will be referred to as Mrs. David Brent.)
Mrs. David Brent did another tremendously annoying thing today that almost caused a lynching. Next Monday is Martin Luther King Day. One of the joys of being back in school is that I get that day off. Within the first 5 minutes of class, Mrs. David Brent actually asked whether we could have a make-up class for the one we're missing on MLK Day. I just about fell out of my chair. I immediately raised my hand and asked that if instead of having another class, we could have a motion to have Mrs. David Brent permanently forbidden from speaking for the remainder of the semester. My motion was seconded very quickly and was enacted into law by the class before the professor could regain control and veto it. Jerk.
