My new favorite fictional character

is Dr. Stephen Maturin, the ship’s surgeon on Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World.

He’s the voice of justice, truth, reason and dissent. He criticizes power and condemns corruption, even to the Captain’s face. He calls it like he sees it. (“You’re the predator.”) He’s not afraid to contradict to the Captain, and he’s not afraid to be his friend. He rejects the “us/them” dichotomy (“What is it with this man? Did I kill a relative of his in battle, perhaps? His boy, God forbid?” “He fights like you, Jack”). His speech is seasoned with a healthy dose of anarchy and mutiny, and he plays a mean cello (and I mean really. Paul Bettany learned how to play it). He’s a dreamy idealist having a hard time reconciling his big ideas with the small minds he encounters on a military ship. He’s in love with the Galapagos Islands. He’s a naturalist living in the blessed era when to explore natural history and new theories with a sense of wonder and excitement didn’t make you a heretic. He’s quite passionate about living creatures of all kinds and the ways they adapt to protect themselves (“Does God make them change?” “Does God make them change? Yes, of course he does. But do they also change themselves? Now that is a question”). And when he’s shot, he performs his own surgery, removes his own effing bullet. Could there be a more perfect male human being? The correct answer is no. No, there could not.

“I’ve been told I have a very winning personality. The very best shoe clerk the store ever had.”

So we watched Touch of Evil last night, and we’ve come to the conclusion that poor Janet Leigh just had the rottenest of luck in family-owned motels.

Beach Blanket Bingo!

Yeah, so I was just introduced to the cinematic world of Frankie Avalon today! I mean of course I’d seen The Alamo, and I definitely know his music, but that hardly counts! Here’s what I saw:

The last 5 minutes of Beach Blanket Bingo:

Here’s the trailer.

PS, WATCH THE CREDITS!!!! It took me FOREVER to find them but it was worth it, lol.

And Ski Party, which features onscreen performances by Lesley Gore and Jackson Browne! + a yodeling polar bear on skis, a couple of scheming cross-dressers dancing the fish, and of course the requisite bikinis!

Trailer:

Lesley’s performance, which pretty much had us dancing all over the family room!

James’ performance, and let me apologize in advance for the first couple seconds, I have no idea what’s up with that:

And unfortunately I didn’t catch any of How to Stuff a Wild Bikini, but I did see the preview:

Anyway, I just felt that this was important, and I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night without making sure you knew about it!

If you want proof, you have to pursue it.

So tonight my family and some friends went out to Moe’s and then we went to the local discount movie theater to see The Dark Knight. [We don't usually see new movies until they've been out for several months. The economy, don't you know.] Except we didn’t see The Dark Knight, because we were half an hour late as a result of a mix-up in the newspaper showtimes ad. So we hung around the ticket counter for a while and drove the girl behind the counter nuts, and then we decided that we might as well see a movie anyway so we picked City of Ember, which none of us knew a thing about. There’s a lot of mixed reviews about it [lower ratings in America, higher ratings elsewhere]–low ratings for “not enough action/adventure” which I think says more about the reviewer than the movie. What, you need to be spoon-fed explosions and car chases or you can’t find entertainment value in something? I personally liked it. My sister liked it. My brothers and their friend liked the giant mole. And our parents didn’t get it. ;] As far as topics go, it has something to say about the environment, infrastructure, economy, world food supply, religion and political corruption. It’s possible that if you mix National Treasure, The Village, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Wall-E all together, you would end up with something like this.

Bonuses:
-A group of scientists is standing around at the beginning, and several of them are women. Which makes me far happier than movies with one “token woman” whatever.
-Harry Treadaway. Hahhahaha. If I found out he and Skandar Keynes were cousins or something, I wouldn’t be very surprised.

Here’s what else I liked:
-Change is necessary. Action is required. It is not enough to simply believe that “help is on the way”; we ARE the help we’re waiting for.
-Change is possible even when it seems like the least possible thing in the world. Sometimes what you need to do is find a new perspective first.
-Change begins with the young. Always always always always.
-If you notice what nobody else notices, you’ll know what nobody else knows.
-You don’t get to choose your circumstances, but what you do with what you’re given is up to you. I love the fact that Doon was dying to be assigned to work on the Generator to patch up Ember’s energy problem but ended up working on the Pipelines..and found an opportunity to save the entire city.