The Adventures of Ibn Battuta

I felt like I needed a book review in here somewhere.

I had the privilege of starting this book in the Copenhagen airport on my way to the Middle East. The chapter concerning the Arabian Sea was brief but it felt good to have a small idea of what this amazing 14th century Muslim jurist/traveler may have seen. This is not the primary source, which is on the more difficult side to some by in a good English translation, but Dunn does a great job of giving more back story and historical context than Ibn Battuta would have thought to include in the original text. The pan-Islamic world was larger and far more complex than I could have ever imagined and it was a joy to discover the adventurous spirit of Ibn Battuta.

Le Samourai

So perfect in all it's minimalist/existentialist/60's French cinema greatness! The main character, Jef Costello (played to perfectly detached perfection by Alain Delon who, might I add, is an extremely handsome and alluring man), is a joy to watch as he methodically goes about all that is required of a Parisian/gangster hit man /samurai.

Battle in Seattle

It was great to watch a film where I knew most every locale, but this ultimately came off as a melodramatic made for TV Sunday afternoon movie. The Seattle WTO Riots are better left as documentary material unless someone like Paul Greengrass (Bloody Sunday, United 93) is at the helm.

Confessions of a Superhero

This documentary was enlightening to the ways that different people have come to grips with the harsh realities of life. From the less extreme homeless man turned Hulk to the Superman that knows no other reality but Superman. Each person/character shows that being a mere mortal is hard enough without the added weight of being a superhero.

Blindness

I loved City of God and The Constant Gardener was great on many levels, but director Fernando Meirelles just could not quite pull off Jose Saramago's vision (no pun intended, well, maybe a little) of what Blindness was supposed to be. Yet again, the book is far better than the movie but it was a nice try.

Synecdoche, New York

Charlie Kaufman's directorial debut is exactly what you would expect from him considering his writing work in the past (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind). Yet, this in no way pigeonholes him because he can present such a uniquely bizarre film like this and successfully pull it off too. Casting Philip Seymour Hoffman in the lead works perfectly. You can't help but love him as his life falls apart literally and figuratively. This film is pretty depressing but in the we-all-die-someday-realization sort of depressing, which is more honest I think.

Milk

I cried...a lot. Every actor in this film was great and I especially loved the ongoing chemistry between Sean Penn and James Franco. The Christian Right made me absolutely furious throughout though.

Dubai

Iran from a distance.

Gaza

The film Paradise Now has a line that always seems to put the Isarali/Palestinian War into perspective for me.
One of the would-be bombers is trying to convey the situation to a friend that favors diplomacy over violence...

"A life without dignity is worthless. Especially when it reminds you, day after day, of humiliation and weakness. And the world watches, cowardly, indifferently. If you're all alone, faced with this oppression, you have to find a way to stop the injustice. They (Israel) must understand that if there's no security for us, there'll be none for them, either. It's not about power. Their power doesn't help them. I tried to deliver this message to them, but I couldn't find another way.

Even worse, they've convinced the world, and themselves, that they are the victims. How can that be? How can the occupier be the victim? If they take on the role of oppressor and victim, then I have no other choice but to also be a victim, and a murderer as well."

Man On Wire

The French consistently remind me of beauty without question. There is no "why?", there is life being lived on the wire though. The walk between the towers altered everyone involved to an astounding degree, far beyond what I would have thought. This film is beautiful.