CleverDonkey.com …Musings, Commentary, Opinions, and Drivel

First of all, be prepared to pay attention. If you’re not in the mood to stay focused and track details and make logical jumps and not be spoon-fed the typical, ham-handed, Hollywood hoopla, then skip this movie and go see King Kong. However, if you’re in a thoughtful mood and want to be challenged, educated, and entertained, then go see Syriana.

It also helps if you have an interest in geopolitics and a healthy skepticism that causes you to wonder what the differences are between what the government says, what the news reports, and what reality is. Syriana tells a complicated story by following several key characters and showing their points of view as they interact, intersect, or pass in the night.

The backdrop of the story is the oil bidness and how the trillions of dollars involved end up causing oil companies to act as nation-states, and also

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McCain’s Market

Heights Blvd at White Oak (6th)

Houston, Texas

http://www.mccainsmarket.com

I had been waiting. The fancy new stone shopping center put up in the Heights had been empty for almost two years, except for an antiques store that came and went. Then I was watching — coffee cups and cappucino machines appeared in the window. Finally! A good coffee place in the Heights! Maybe a Starbucks? Then a few days later, a Boar’s Head deli sign on the wall was visible… clearly this place was going to be more than just a little corner coffee shop.

Finally it opened! It took us about a week to get in there, but we finally stopped in today. Wow, what a place! Gourmet spaghetti sauces, Napa Valley buttermilk pancake mix with exotic syrups (boysenberry merlot!), a great cheese case, a few choice bits of produce (shallots!), fancy teas, chocolates (fabulous dark Parisian chocolate with orange peel!)

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The producers of the short film clip “Broken” were nice enough to send me a review copy on DVD. There’s an interesting story behind this short film, as it was produced by independent film makers on a shoestring to serve as a demonstration of their film making skills, a sort of artistic audition, if you will. The difficulty on judging this piece stems from trying to figure out if it should be judged in the realm of Hollywood films (to which it aspires) or in the realm of shoestring, independent films (which it is). My only choice is to rate it both ways, so here goes.

Shoestring Film Rating (***½, grading on a curve)

If I had been shown this short film without having previous knowledge I would have assumed that it was from some schlocky new UPN/WB television series about spies. It’s got sort of an Alias-meets-Consipiracy-Theory-meets-Xena-meets-Seven

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Nobody Goes to the Movies Anymore

There’s much ballyhoo and boo-hoo in the press these days about how movie theatre revenues are declining. Nobody “goes to the movies” anymore. DVDs are too prevalent and come out so quickly. Moviegoers just aren’t as excited about going to the movies.

One possibility is that the movie quality is declining. I know Engineerboy feels this way, at least in part. Make good, interesting movies that people want to see, and they’ll go to the theatres.

But that’s not entirely true. Sure, a theatre packed with Syrianas and When Harry Met Sallys and Full Metal Jackets would be great, and you might see more people — although some potential moviegoers may want more Dukes of Hazzards instead (which actually wasn’t a bad movie…). But the truth is, at least for people like Engineerboy and me, going to the movies is

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