Author: Gordon

Not a moment to lose!

I also saw Master and Commander on the weekend. I’m such a fan of the books that the relative lack of story didn’t bother me. I just lay back and sucked it all in. All the little quotes and in-jokes, from the two weevils to “not a moment to lose” to Killick and toasted cheese to Padeen to Awkward Davis to Joe Plaice’s brains. It was too short!

People who complain about the lack of action don’t realize that character and scene development are the defining features of the books, too. I remember giving up on the books as a teenager because there wasn’t enough action! But now the character development is most of the attraction.

He doesn’t know the territory!

Rented the Matthew Broderick (!) version of The Music Man last night. It was . . . insipid. Broderick’s anxious puppydog baby face somehow didn’t convince me he was a slickster anywhere near the leage of Professor Harold Hill. It didn’t help that his leading lady looked about ten years older than him and sang with a classical tone that, while perfectly fine, didn’t blend at all with Broderick’s more relaxed style. His singing was perfectly decent, but his dancing seemed forced and stilted.

I guess he’ll always be Philippe the Mouse.

I think I’ve had politics on my mind for far too long, since the only adjective I could think of to describe it was “PC”. Or maybe “Liberal”. It’s been a while since I saw the original movie version, but I remember it as having a lot more edge.

Deja vu all over again

“President Bush sketched an expansive vision last night of what he expects to accomplish by a war in Iraq. Instead of focusing on eliminating weapons of mass destruction, or reducing the threat of terror to the United States, Mr. Bush talked about establishing a ‘free and peaceful Iraq’ that would serve as a ‘dramatic and inspiring example’ to the entire Arab and Muslim world, provide a stabilizing influence in the Middle East and even help end the Arab-Israeli conflict.”–editorial, New York Times, Feb. 27

“The White House recently began shifting its case for the Iraq war from the embarrassing unconventional weapons issue to the lofty vision of creating an exemplary democracy in Iraq.”–editorial, New York Times, Nov. 13

(HT: Instapundit)