The Best Pictures, Continued

Earlier this year I composed a list of all the movies I've seen that were nominated for AMPAS' Best Picture Academy Award. Since then I've added quite a few nominees to my list, and here they are:

The Racket (1927/28)
In Old Arizona (1928/29)
The Divorcee (1929/30)
The Love Parade (1929/30)
Cimarron (1930/31)
Five Star Final (1931/32)
42nd Street (1932/33)
Little Women (1932/33)
Top Hat (1935)
Great Expectations (1947)
Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
Three Coins in the Fountain (1954)
The Last Picture Show (1971)
The Deer Hunter (1978)
Tender Mercies (1983)
Babe (1995)
Good Will Hunting (1997)
The Cider House Rules (1999)
Chocolat (2000)
In the Bedroom (2001)
Gangs of New York (2002)
The Hours (2002)
Lost in Translation (2003)
Seabiscuit (2003)
Sideways (2004)
Capote (2005)
The Queen (2006)
Atonement (2007)

Of the 494 nominated films, I have now seen 252, or 51 percent of them. Over halfway home!

Oldest nominees I've seen: Wings (1927/28; first Best Picture winner) and The Racket (1927/28).
Newest nominee I've seen: Moneyball (2011)
Second-oldest: In Old Arizona (1928/29)

Years in which I've seen every nominated film: 1982, 1988, 1989, 1994, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2007, 2009, 2010

Years in which I've seen all but one nominated film: 1927/28, 1954, 1962, 1967, 1970, 1971, 1976, 1991, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008

Years in which I've seen none of the nominated films: 1958, 1968


Earl's favourites among this batch of nominees: Five Star Final, Great Expectations, The Last Picture Show, Babe, Good Will Hunting, In the Bedroom, Lost in Translation.

Earl's least favourite among this batch of nominees: Seabiscuit, The Deer Hunter, Three Coins in the Fountain, Cimarron

Sky Toilet

Yesterday, while attending a late lunch with friends from work, I hit upon the notion of a new extreme sport: toilet skydiving. The idea is simple: pack a parachute into the tank of an ordinary toilet, with its straps affixed to the inside of the tank. Mount explosive bolts to the toilet tank lid, triggered when the toilet is flushed. Affix a seat belt to the toilet seat to ensure that the skydiver remains securely attached to the toilet. 

Figure 1: Poop Chute Schematic

 During a typical flight, the Sky Toilet and passenger will be ejected from a suitable aeroplane at regulation skydiving altitude, either pushed through the cabin door, or, ideally, dropped through a set of bomb bay doors. Either way, the skydiver can free fall while seated, providing unprecedented comfort and serenity during the experience. At the appropriate altitude the diver flushes the toilet, firing the explosive bolts and releasing the parachute. Toilet and skydiver float gently to earth, landing softly while seated on this innovative porcelain chariot.

Figure 2: Sky Toilet just after Poop Chute deployment

My colleagues offered no objections, though to be honest they didn't seem to be listening that closely. But I see no reason why this shouldn't become a popular new extreme sport.

Podium Sign Redux

A couple of years ago I wrote about a podium sign I'd designed for the Official Opposition. That sign featured then-leader David Swann prominently, but after David stepped down we naturally needed a new graphic. The old sign featured way too much red, so this time around I opted for a white background, added a gradient border and substituted the Alberta Legislature dome in place of the leader.

In retrospect, the design might have worked better without the dome. It feels a little crowded off in its corner. Still, I think it represents a moderate improvement over the original.

There's Something About Film

I'm a huge fan of digital photography, but from time to time I enjoy shooting with Mom and Dad's old Cannon T70. None of these are prize-winning images, but their vibrancy and texture please me nonetheless. It's the grain, I think. As always, click to embiggen.

The Longest Road

For a time during last night's epic battle of Catan, Sean had the longest road, worth two victory points. Unfortunately his glut of rocks and my surplus of bricks and wood meant his possession of the coveted card was short-lived. Jeff and Susan captured the moment of Earlian triumph and Seanian rage.

Guests of Catan

Jeff and Susan are in town, so Sean came over tonight so we could all enjoy a round of Settlers of Catan. After some initial confusion setting up the board for five players, Jeff and Susan fought for first place while Sylvia and I battled it out for second. Sean, his skills a little rusty from disuse, placed last with an embarrassing two points. However, he emerged as the clear champion of building sculptures from the game pieces, creating an impressive Trojan horse and Lincoln Memorial.

"Outer Space" by Sander van den Berg

Sander van den Berg is a Dutch video editor. He created "Outer Space" from old NASA images of Saturn and Jupiter taken by the Cassini and Voyager space probes, stitching together still photographs to produce the illusion of motion. If old black and white photos from decades past can be used to create wondrous works of art like this, just imagine what future artists will do with higher-resolution, full colour photography from more sophisticated probes!

Berg's Vimeo page boasts only one other video, a short travelogue of his (her?) trip to Egypt. It's also worth a look, well-edited and insightful.

Wanderlust 2012

Despite last year's somewhat disastrous trip to Alaska, I'm already feeling the urge to drive somewhere new. Here are some places I may go:

Portland, Oregon, because it's the only west coast state I haven't visited, and because I don't remember Seattle all that well.

Mount Rushmore, South Dakota, because, well, it's Mount Rushmore and probably looks pretty cool.

And finally, Chicago, Illinois, because I've never been that far east in the USA and because I could attend the 70th World Science Fiction Convention. And see Lake Michigan. Alternatively, I could take a little more time and visit Mount Rushmore on my way to Chicago...

I'll have to see what Sylvia thinks. I have a feeling she might prefer to fly somewhere. Maybe I can convince her to go see the space shuttle Enterprise at its new home in New York City...

Roykirk's Legacy

5000 Pageviews!

Goodness knows this sort of inside baseball is kind of obnoxious, but I'm pretty excited that My Name is Earl (J. Woods) has finally surpassed the 5,000 page views per month threshold. I honestly never thought that more than one person (i.e., me) would be interested in the ramblings I offer here, but apparently some of  you kind folks out there find at least some of the content amusing. I appreciate all my readers and visitors very much!

And just so this post isn't completely annoying, here's another amusing (?) look at what Captain Kirk thinks about during quiet moments on the bridge.

The Loneliness of Command

Art is Where You Find It

I hope someone leaps through this for an even more artistic photo.

Kan't Stop the Kanger

Darshan Kang (centre) at his swearing-in ceremony in 2008. Also returning to Legislature are (from left) Kent Hehr, Bridget Pastoor and Laurie Blakeman - though Pastoor returns as a PC MLA. Hehr sometimes affectionately refers to Mr. Kang as "The Kanger."

 Last night I reported that it appeared as though Albertans had elected at least three, possibly four Alberta Liberal MLAs. I'm gratified to report that not only did Raj Sherman indeed emerge victorious in Edmonton-Meadowlark, Darshan Kang has also been reelected by the voters of Calgary-McCall. So by night's end, Albertans re-elected all five Alberta Liberal incumbents. Given a media narrative that pitted Wildrose against Tory while virtually ignoring the other parties, I think that's a pretty good result.

Strategic Terror

Well, yesterday's thoughts on strategic voting created the heaviest traffic flow this blog has ever seen, but it seems few of you agreed with my argument. It would seem that many progressive voters decided to forgive the PC government's many sins rather than take the chance of allowing a Wildrose government to form.

The Alberta Liberal vote has pretty clearly collapsed, reducing our caucus by half for the second election in a row. That's a tough pill for me to swallow, having served the Alberta Liberal Caucus for six years. But the will of the voters trumps my personal disappointment; progressives simply have to work harder and smarter if we want to earn the right to form government.

On a personal level, I'm very happy to see that Albertans have re-elected Laurie Blakeman, Kent Hehr, David Swann and - hopefully - Raj Sherman, who is currently 11 votes ahead with a few polls to go. While we may no longer be the Official Opposition, I have no doubt that these four MLAs will continue to serve our province with distinction. 

Strategic Error

I've been a strategic voter since the federal election in 1993, voting Liberal or NDP depending upon who had the best chance of defeating the Reform/Alliance/Conservative candidate. Since I started working for the province's Official Opposition, I have of course voted consistently for the Alberta Liberals - not merely out of loyalty to my employer, but because I admire and respect the three leaders I've served and their caucuses, and I support the policies they've developed over the years.

But as the Wildrose Alliance surged during the current provincial election, I had a brief moment of weakness: was it time to return to strategic voting to stop a party even worse than the provincial PCs from forming government?

Living as I do in Edmonton-Meadowlark, Dr. Raj Sherman's constituency, there was never any question that I'd be voting anything but Liberal. But in conversations with progressive friends earlier this month, I admitted that I understood the reasons why they're considering holding their noses and voting PC. Indeed, my friend Stephen has crafted a very reasonable argument to that effect.

It's an argument the panicking PCs are using themselves, pleading with progressives to vote PC in order to stave off the horrifying spectre of a Bible-beating, fiscally libertarian Wildrose administration.

I believe that a Wildrose majority would be a bad outcome for Alberta. But is it really the worst possible outcome? Should progressive Albertans sacrifice their votes for the sake of a PC government that's intimidated health care professionals and municipal officials, consistently underfunded public education, mismanaged public health care into a state of ongoing crisis, solicited and accepted illegal political contributions and exposed teachers to being sued for discussing topics some parents are uncomfortable with? Can a Wildrose government really be worse than this?

Perhaps they can. But consider the consequences if progressive voters flock to the PCs and help re-elect the Redford administration: 

1) Progressive Albertans will lose their already tiny representation in the Alberta Legislature. What a tragedy it would be to lose Laurie Blakeman, a powerful advocate for human rights and the environment. Or Raj Sherman, who risked his career and gave up the cushiest job in politics (PC backbencher) for the most thankless (Leader of the Official Opposition). Or David Swann, a man who has entered war zones to help the world's most vulnerable people. Or Rachel Notley, Kent Hehr, Brian Mason, among others who have spoken out consistently to expose PC corruption, defend vulnerable Albertans and uphold progressive values. Do we really want to sacrifice these people to keep the PCs in power?

2) We'll be sending a message to the PCs that they really can get away with anything, without consequences. Send threatening letters to municipal officials, bully doctors, pass regressive legislation, continue the slow privatization of health care - that's okay with us, because we're afraid that Danielle Smith might be even worse!

3) We'll demoralize ourselves, perhaps forever. If progressive voters give up now, how can we ever believe that one day we might elect a Liberal, NDP, or Alberta Party government - any government that's at least a little more in tune with our values? If we deny the many brave and excellent candidates running for progressive parties our support, how can we expect future progressives to step forward? Running for election is expensive and risky for progressives; I know this from personal experience, having run last time.

Maybe the Liberal or ND or Alberta Party candidate in your riding is a long shot, but doesn't he or she deserve your support if he or she truly reflects your values?

One day, a progressive party of one stripe or another will form government in Alberta. It probably won't be tomorrow, and perhaps not 2016 either. But that day will certainly never come if we vote against our own interests instead of supporting the policies and people we really believe in.

You Can Dance If You Want To, You Can Leave Your Friends Behind

While it appears as though my teenage self was caught boogieing, I was really just photographed in mid-stride after entering the Visual Communications lab at Leduc Composite High School.

Eldritch Blasts

By now regular readers will know that I get together with friends on a regular basis to play Dungeons and Dragons. Two of my friends, Scott and Mike, have characters who wield the fearsome "eldritch blast," a magic bolt of energy used to fell foes. In this panel from an issue of Marvel Two-in-One, a magical miscreant uses that very power to assault an innocent bystander.

According to the Oxford dictionary, eldritch means "weird and sinister or ghostly." The spell's name is therefore thematically appropriate for Dungeons and Dragons and comic books alike; on the other hand, I'd hate to have to tell an ER doctor that I was hit by "weird, sinister or ghostly energy." It wouldn't give her much to go on. D&D clerics, presumably, would know exactly what to do.

Dishing Out Advice

While preparing supper with Sylvia a moment ago, I idly wondered aloud about dish washing techniques.

"What would happen if you used the clothes washer to wash your dishes?" I asked.

Sylvia answered without hesitation, offhandedly:

"They'd break," she said, and with a tiny jolt of surprise I realized that she was right.

Laws 'n Things

Back in the 70s I was an avid collector of Marvel Two-in-One, the team-up book that paired the Fantastic Four's The Thing with other Marvel superheroes. In this issue Thing teams up with Matt Murdock, blind criminal defence lawyer (and also Daredevil). Jailed for causing tremendous property damage, Thing is at first resigned to his fate, prepared to wait in jail to stand trial despite his ability to break out at any moment...that is, until Matt lets some information slip suggesting Thing was framed. With that all bets are off and Thing uses his super-strength to bust out of prison.

I love Matt's rationalizations. "Technically, Ben is escaping. But he's also innocent - even if it hasn't been proven in a court of law." I imagine failing to alert the authorities about an escape in progress would probably get any lawyer disbarred, even one who represents superheroes.

Cabin in the (Earl J.) Woods

I can say little about first-time director Drew Goddard's The Cabin in the Woods without spoiling the experience for those who haven't seen it. But I will say that this film is one of the most imaginative and enjoyable works I've seen in years. It's brave, innovative and will linger in your thoughts long after the house lights brighten.

Goddard - best known for his work as a writer on Lost, Angel and Buffy the Vampire Slayer - takes all the most overused horror film tropes and inverts, subverts, turns them inside out and twists them into a Möbius strip. Cynical, nihilistic and unflinching, Goddard's work here will make audiences laugh out loud one moment, squirm in terror the next, and then make you question each of your emotional responses. Like no other, this film makes the audience understand our complicity in the horrors it serves up for our enjoyment. 

Like the best entertainment, The Cabin in the Woods holds up a mirror to society and asks us hard questions about the world we've made for ourselves. Is it just? Fair? Why is there suffering when it's within our power to put an end to it? Or do we have that power - is it possible we're just pawns in some cruel taskmaster's game? If there's a fate, should we embrace it or spit in its face? What is the true structure of the world?

Produced and co-written by geek auteur Joss Whedon, this film makes good use of a number of Whedon alumni - Amy Acker and Fran Kranz among them - along with rising stars like Chris Hemsworth (Thor, Star Trek, The Avengers) and veterans like Bradley Whitford (The West Wing). Whedon's scripts are sometimes less than subtle, but in this case his tendency to write dialogue that's just a bit too clever is wisely muted. While there are a few laughs, they're designed to build empathy with the characters and to underscore the film's message.

It's all well and good to create a film with some intelligence and meaning, but is it scary? Let me put it this way: for the first three quarters of the film, I thought this movie might be one of the rare horror films Sylvia could enjoy without freaking out. But once the climax began, I quickly realized that she must never see it, lest she spend the rest of her life in a straightjacket. It is that effective and horrifying in its monstrous implications. (I exaggerate slightly, of course - I don't think it would drive Sylvia mad, but I have no doubt this film would present her with an extremely unpleasant experience.)

Make a trip to The Cabin in the Woods. You may have nightmares, but they'll be worth it.

Somebody Voting Liberal

Just a couple of days ago I discovered to my delight a new song by Australian artist Gotye, "Somebody That I Used to Know." Now Dave Anderson, Alberta Liberal candidate for Sherwood Park, has come up with a very clever and funny parody as part of his campaign to serve Albertans in the legislature. "Now I'm Just Voting Liberal" is worth a watch. My favourite bit:

Now a word about the Wildrose Alliance Party
The wheels abreast that bus will leave us leaning further to the right
And I'm sitting thinking what the heck
Are they trying to make us more redneck
Privatizing health care and conscience rights are bull
But it helps me understand that my best choice is voting Liberal

For context, here's the original artist. The song's only $1.29 on iTunes - well worth the purchase.

Time Looms at All Hours

After graduating from the University of Alberta in 1991, I said goodbye to my friend Parvesh by accompanying her to Vancouver. While touring that fair city, I shot this image of a clock tower on (I believe) the UBC campus. I was particularly conscious of the passage of time and my theoretically pending adulthood, so this clock felt very imposing. I think this image captures my mood of that trip very well.

Loopy New Trailer

Thanks to Stephen for alerting me to the imminent release of a new time travel movie, Loopers. Time travel stories can be sublime when well-crafted, painful when not, but director Rian Johnson has already been acclaimed for his high school noir film Brick, so I'm hopeful that this film will achieve some level of greatness. And hey, I'll see practically anything with Bruce Willis in it, even the upcoming G.I. Joe sequel.

Map of the Dead: Edmonton and Leaf Rapids

What will you do when the dead rise from their graves? I've always feared that I would die within the first few minutes of a zombie apocalypse, but thanks to Map of the Dead I feel a little better prepared. Simply type in your home address to discover zombie danger zones and the locations of your community's supply depots.

The map is a little thin - Edmonton certainly has more malls than indicated, and my own dental clinic is missing - but it's certainly a fun idea. Here's a closer look at my vicinity:

West Edmonton Mall would be a great place for supplies, but it's also a danger zone, and for good reason; crammed with tourists by the thousands, the mall could be a death trap.

On the other hand, Leaf Rapids, Manitoba, is nearly bereft of supplies, but with a tiny population there wouldn't be that many zombies anyway.

Dice of Doom Redux

I've been remiss in pointing out that Jeff Pitts once again defied the odds during a Dungeons & Dragons session on March 31. A twenty is the best possible die roll in the game under most circumstances, meting out maximum damage to demons and demigods alike. Even Sauron himself would quake at Jeff's prowess.

Back in January I reported that Jeff had rolled double twenties to slay his foes with astounding finesse. Mike calculated that the odds of rolling two twenties on two twenty-sided dice is 1 in 400, or once every forty sessions or so. But as if to show that statistics can often clump together rather than average out nicely, Jeff's dice-throwing finesse brought up double twenties about four years earlier than one might expect. We're heading into the fearsome Proving Grounds this Saturday night - here's hoping Jeff's luck will continue to be "on a roll."