Movie Report... More!

One of my favorite movies is Office Space, which was a spot-on examination of cubicle life. The maker of this movie surprised me, since he's also the maker of Beavis and Butthead, and King of the Hill - two animated ventures that I just didn't like very much. So I heard about this movie he did last year - Idiocracy. And it was well reviewed, but only opened in 7 cities and closed immediately. Word out there was that Fox tried to "kill it" somehow.

I rented it, eager to see what the fuss was about. And I was delighted.

It's a completely ridiculous movie about how mankind has gotten progressively dumber, so by 2550, a completely average slacker who was frozen in 2005 winds up being the smartest person on the planet. Luke Wilson brings his best "Aw Shucks" naivety to the role, and everyone else brings their aggressive insanity to it.

The special effects mostly consist of VERY obvious Matte paintings of the world of the future, which only adds to the charm. The only CGI is used for some unthinkably equipped monster trucks.

The only conundrum is that in many ways, it appeals to the base humor that was the target of Beavis and Butthead - and it's that ethos that is mocked in the movie (the top TV show of the future is called "Ow, My BALLS!", and consists of one blunt force injury after another. So he's mocking lowbrow, but many of his best gags ARE lowbrow. So I recommend it with the STRONG caveat that it is very crude and obvious and ridiculous... but the gags wound up creating a cascade effect of laughter, so that by the time the President is addressing the House of Representin', and is singing Gospel style about how the smart man will solve all of their problems, I was on the floor with tears.

On a different note - we tried to watch Prairie Home Companion, and were stymied. Perhaps it had been too long of a week, but we were unwilling or unable to be swept away - The characters never gelled for me - they were always Garrison and Meryl and Lily and Woody and Kevin, all having a lark. So we gave it up after 40 minutes, deeming it "too precious" for us. I know many did love it, and I begrudge them nothing. But it was not the movie for us. And no, it wasn't just before or after Idiocracy, so that didn't taint us. Really.

Finally, on a kid note (since they are so central to my life, how can I post without mentioning them?) Isaac has been experimenting with solid foods for a week now, and will take or leave oatmeal. But this afternoon, I was holding him and enjoying a meaty Wisconsin BEEF STICK (a gift from real life Wisconsin people), and he grabbed it out of my hand and popped one end into his mouth and started gnawing on it.

He did a pretty good job with it, but I had to stop him from actually biting off a piece on account of him not having any teeth and his likely choking from that. But we did switch to club crackers, and he was really enjoying holding them, bringing them to his mouth, and gumming them. I'm not sure how much was actually ingested, versus being "Cookie Monstered", but he seems to be pretty interested in "human food", so those bottles will be on the way out.

A plus to this is that with real food in his gullet, he's sleeping a little better - after a few 2-3 wake nights, we're back to one wake up, and it's closer to 1, which means that both of us can help out. I can start to see a time when I will not be entirely exhausted. It's still a ways away, but I can see it. With a telescope.