This is my rilfle
There are many like it
But this one is mine

Contrary to what you might have heard, Jarhead is not a war movie. Sure, it’s about a bunch of marines in the first Gulf War, but don’t let that fool you. If you are the sort of person that goes to a war movie and says “come on, bring on the action” you will be disappointed, though it is plenty tense and gruesome in its own way. If I had to compare Jarhead to a “war movie” I would say it is similar to Full Metal Jacket.

The term “Jarhead”, we are told, refers to the way the standard US Marine haircut looks like a jar, and “by extension, the Marine’s head is a jar – empty, waiting to be filled”. The movie is basically an exploration of the things that go into that “jar”.

A lot of movies explore what it is like to become a killer in the sense of “having killed someone (or many people)”. This movie is about becoming a killer in a different sense: the Marines depicted are killers by training, by conditioning, by experience in army life, not because they actually kill anyone. It also explores other aspects of the military experience that don’t usually get such detailed treatment (interacting with the news media, worrying about who is messing around with the girlfriend back home, the practical aspects of wearing a gas mask, etc). It turns out Marines are people too, and if you want to know what their lives are like, seeing this movie is about as close as you’re going to get, short of signing up.

I really liked it. It had the kind of feel and pacing that appeals to me. There are lots of amazing visuals and some great character portrayals. I suspect it won’t appeal to a lot of people, which is perhaps why it hasn’t been getting great reviews.

Some reviewers have complained that the movie avoids making a political statement. I disagree, there are politics here, but they only insofar as the soldiers themselves perceive them. The closest the movie comes to making an overt statement is at the end, when a Marine, excited with the news that the war has been won and he is going home, looks around at the desert and says “We never have to come back here again”.

Ooh Ra.

Saw The Beautiful Country today. It was one of those movies where you forget that the people on the screen are not actually real people. Very moving. Go see it if you possibly can.

In other news I saw a perfect rainbow today. Best I’d ever seen. Bright and clear from horizon to horizon, with a fainter but fully visible reversed-image rainbow beside it. Also, I saw a pretty nice meteor on the walk home. Two omens from the sky in one day, what could that mean?

First, the bad: Writers jailed in 2002 for political satire

Then, the marginally better: Senate Votes Again for Ban on Abusing Prisoners

McCain says he’ll attach that as an ammendment to every bill until it passes. I guess he isn’t afraid to restrict the president’s flexibility in the global war on terror.

Speaking of which: Flexibile treatment of newbie football players.

I’ve gone a bit spice-crazy in my cooking lately. Sunday night has become “curry night”, largely because Sunday is the one day a week where I usually make no plans and thus don’t mind sitting around while my dinner simmers for two or three hours.

My newest favorite spice is tumeric, in no small part because of its wonderful orange-yellow colour. It turns everything yellow, even the chef, if the chef is careless with his stirring spoon. Not that anything like that has ever happened to me…

While looking for something to link from this entry I also discovered that tumeric has all sorts of cool medicinal properties (lower rates of various cancers among frequent curry eaters, etc). Neato.

Toss some tumeric in with some cumin and coriander and maybe some cayenne pepper and you’ve got yourself the beginnings of a nice curry.

Here endeth the boring blog post about what I had for dinner. I promise some movie reviews and musings on creationism in the coming days. Really.

It seems Coke is pulling Vanilla Coke from the shelves of both the USA and UK. The article doesn’t mention Canada, but one can only assume they’ll pull it here too.

Between this, and the fact that I can’t seem to find Jones’ Vanilla Cola anywhere (they still make it, apparently, and it is vastly superior to Vanilla Coke), my world just got a whole lot darker.

What’s an addict to do? I could stock up, I guess…

With the success of the movie Spellbound a couple years ago, I guess it’s inevitable we’d see more documentaries about elementary school kids taking part in strange competitions. Ho Hum.

Or so I thought, before watching Mad Hot Balloom, which is quite a good little film. I think I liked it more than Spellbound. Ballroom follows several teams of 5th grade students from New York public schools as they compete in city-wide ballroom dancing competitions. They’re quite a motley bunch, from the driven diva-wannabe, to the Peurto Rican who doesn’t speak much English (but can really dance), to the fast-talking Bronx boy, to the kid whose religion forbids him to dance (“Being the DJ is actually pretty fun”), and you live and die with them as they progress through the semi-finals and onward.

The teachers that they follow are pretty interesting as well. I’m not 100% sure but I gather each school’s ballroom class is lead by a regular teacher and an actual dance instructor. It’s really neat watching the interactions between the kids and the teachers. At one point, to demonstrate the power of eye contact between partners, one of the more serious dance teachers does a dance with his regular school teacher partner, and has her blushing by the end of it.

It’s quite a fun movie, go see it if you get a chance.

I went with my friend Gomed to try the new Indian restaurant tonight. The selection is a bit limited (buffet or the special, which was Butter Chicken) and they didn’t serve the Mango Lassi I’d been getting psyched for, but in a town like Fredericton that is understandable.

We both had the buffet, which was a bit pricier ($17) and had a bit less variety than you might find in a similar restaurant in for example Montreal, but made up for it by being very tasty. Gomed especially liked the Tandoori Chicken (“like my mother would make”), and I enjoyed it as well. I think my favorite was the lamb curry. Also, you can’t go wrong with Nan.

Was it spicy?

Ian: “It was pretty spicy, but not more than I could handle”
Gomed: “Good thing it was pretty mild because I don’t like spicy things all that much”.

Overall, quite a nice experience. We both ate way to much. If you don’t hear from me tomorrow it means I exploded. At least you’ll know that I died happy.