Downsizing

Apr. 20th, 2020 08:04 am
glitch25: (Default)
This week, I took an opportunity to catch up with a movie I missed in the theaters that caught my eye back when it came out. Downsizing, staring Matt Damon, Kristen Wiig, and Christoph Waltz, is about a couple that decide to take advantage of the latest technological fad and shrink themselves down to a fraction of their former selves. The idea is that a technology has been found to shrink humans (and other flora and fauna) down in size, and in doing so, a smaller human uses less resources and produces less waste so they sell it as being good for the planet. And because resources suddenly become more abundant, the economics result in average humans being able to afford millionaire equivalent homes and lifestyles in the small world. This is one of the appeals of undergoing the process.

Things, as they do, take a turn for our hero, and suddenly life being small isn't everything it was sold to be.

One of the things I really appreciate about this movie is that the trailer only really gets you started. I can't really elaborate to what extent, but I will say that the movie in total is MUCH more than the trailer leads you to believe. Typical Alexander Payne fare. Middle-age guy wanders into existential crisis and comes out the other end a different person.

As with most things, the science is very hand-wavy, but if you let that be, the story is very sweet. I showed it to each of my partners and they each seemed to like it as well.

Having just finished Watchmen on HBO, I was slightly startled to see Hong Chau in this movie. The role is somewhat different, and yet oddly not all that different, but she was absolutely amazing. Matt Damon is definitely the fool, but he retains a smidge of dignity and a lot of heart, and the characters interact with him wonderfully. Christoph Waltz is once again brilliant. Christoph has a certain intensity and a bit of an over-the-top style without being too unbelievable.

Definitely on the recommend list, and you can find it today on Hulu with subscription, or to rent on Amazon Prime Video.
glitch25: (Default)
A few weeks ago, just as things were starting to get interesting, we saw what might be our last show for a while. Out at the Triple Door, we got the pleasure of seeing Hiromi Uehara perform in a solo concert.

Hiromi, often referred to by her first name only, is a jazz pianist and composer from Japan. Her skill as a jazz musician is astounding, and her performances are breath-taking! I had recently stumbled on her as connected to Chick Corea who is another jazz pianist and composer that I follow, and I was floored. Chick, for me, has always has a different take on jazz piano than other performers I've heard. His musical "voice" stands apart from some of the others for me, and I've been drawn to it from the introduction I had some decades ago. When I first heard Hiromi, I was struck by the thought that she "spoke" in a similar voice and I was also immediately drawn to her compositions and performance.

Hiromi has a deep mastery of her instrument. You can hear many classical jazz styles meshed into her performances along with her own unique style. Watching her, even just on YouTube, you get a sense that when she sits in front of a piano, it isn't a discreet structure, but a part of her body. You can almost watch the ideas flow from her head down her arms and through her fingers. It is no longer a musician performing an instrument, but an artist using magic to paint melodies and structure in a way that looks intense, inviting, and effortless.

Betsy Tinney talks about how she teaches improv and how you play a note and savor the sound of that note in comparison to what else is being played even if it's dissonant. Find the place where you hear that note and let it fill you with its existence before moving to something that sounds "easier". I think of that when I see one of Hiromi's toying characteristics come out where she worries over a 2 or 3 note phrase on the piano.. and holds it through chord progressions.. and holds it.. and holds it.. far past where it seems like it should fit in.. And she continues to hold it playfully as she builds suspense with her audience with whom she knows this causes tension and sometimes discomfort and then releasing us gasping back into the established progression.

We saw her manually mute piano strings with her hand as she emulated the sound of what became an upright bass solo in the middle of her solo piano performance. It may not be a unique technique, but she made it seem like a natural part of the composition, and as with the rest, made it seem effortless.

She is a very expressive and passionate performer. You can see the emotion of the music she's playing, and it is very clear that these performances are things she really enjoys in the moment. One of our party members commented that it seemed as though her perspective was that having an audience for her was probably optional. She seemed to be having her own party on stage and we were just observers that happened to be there. I would have agreed except that in addition to her emotional deep-dives, there were moments where she clearly was toying with our musical sensibilities and watching and listening to us react. She would play a phrase and watch us with an adorable and mischievous grin as it became apparent what she was trying to do. She very much knew we were there and she was happy to bring us in to her performance.

She traveled in the past with a trio called the Hiromi Trio Project made up of she, Anthony Jackson, and Simon Philips. The musicianship as you may imagine, was off the charts. There are YouTube videos of performances in the Trio. She also has some of her solo work as well.

It was an amazing delight to behold her, and I hope that she will be by Seattle again. I highly recommend digging around and finding her stuff.

Please go find her, and I hope you enjoy her as much as I have.
glitch25: (frederick the literate)
I recently finished a copy of The Flood by Stephen Baxter. It is a chronicle of four characters, and people surrounding them over the course of 42 years as the earth slowly is enveloped in the sea. Not your typical global warming/sea levels rise sort of book. Stephen took a unique approach backed in part by some interesting factual science.

Fictional science aside, you really get into the lives of the characters and the understanding of where things go when what is our current world is rather quickly snuffed, and the remaining survivors struggle to find a way to stay alive and persist. Everything from millionaires building their fortresses to survivalists doing their part to keep themselves and theirs alive. And of course the mass chaos and devastation that ensues for those that get caught in the middle.

Being a lover of apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, I did enjoy the story, though there are parts that seem slow. Parts of the book are written as journal entries to denote the passage of time, and there were definitely parts where I remember thinking, "Ok.. sea level rose another foot... what happens next? Can we get to the part where something major happens?" But really, I suppose if this is to have any basis in reality, this is how it could happen. It may not happen exceptionally quickly, and even the book nods to this idea by describing children born during the 42 years who grow up not understanding that there was once a planet with mountains and plains and trees and plants and animals. Not a blue marble where life is struggled out on rafts and boats and where deep beneath the sea lies a tomb where both riches and relics reside.

Unlike some books where the protagonist has "planned ahead" and gets by a little easier because of it, this book slams home the idea that almost no one has nor will plan that far ahead. And even those few that do will not have such an easy time of it.

It is a story of great suffering and loss, and also wonder at what would possibly come next.

Speaking of next, Stephen wrote a sequel called The Ark which I guess I'll have to read to see how this tale of Noah ends.

Overall, not bad. :-)
glitch25: (Default)
One of the things I'd like to continue to do, and this has less to do with the secular new year and more to do with the "finally at a point where I can start", is publicly post reviews and comments about stuffs. Movies, books, products, etc. Some of it is record for me, but some of it is also record for the ether. One of the things I've realized is that I really like taking advantage of other people's reviews of things, but I rarely contribute. Time to fix that.

Along those lines, I finally finished Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash. Liked it quite a bit. I really enjoyed the technological side of it, and I appreciated how a recent viewing of the Bruce Willis flick, Surrogates, tied in well with aspects of it. This book also reminded me that I continue to be sorely ignorant in matters of mythology, and that I would do well to spend some time researching and learning some of the greater historical mythos.

Overall, I liked the story, but the end crescendoed in a big busy flurry. I may have to re-read sections because I think I missed a few things. I really enjoyed the religious aspects and implications and the idea that while I think there are established ancient ways of tapping into deeper parts of ourselves, those ways aren't the only mechanism, or better stated, those ways are a more homogenized and overly foolproof way of triggering the mechanism, and while successful, are lacking the greater understanding of the mechanism itself.

But like anything else, some people just want things to work. They don't need to know how or why. They just want to push button, get treat. Nothing wrong with that. But others want to know how button arrives at treat and if there are other ways that involve different buttons or no button at all. :-)

Not that I've ever had a problem with pushing buttons. ;-)

Good book though. I look forward to reading others of his!

And for the moment, I'm off reading the latest Dexter book that came out in September. I really enjoy that series as well and appreciate that the TV series diverged enough that I can hold the two worlds separately.
glitch25: (snow)
So with the freeze/sleet/snow thing that happened last week, I finally got a chance to break out the new toys.

Back when we had the bigger snow, I finally caved and bought both C and I a set of Kahtoolah Microspikes. They are basically a set of chains and spikes for your shoes that you slip on, and they increase your traction significantly.



They are not the cheapest things in the world, but they are built to last, and I'm happy to say that testing them out on the black ice in the parking lot at home proved successful. My footing was rock solid even when I was deliberately trying to slip.

I've heard mixed reviews about the YakTrax and the biggest complaint is that they don't seem to last very long. These, on the other hand, get great reviews, should last a long time, and have thus far been worth every penny.

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