Pope-Leighey House

It was such a beautiful day it seemed like a shame to spend it inside a Starbucks reading the New York Times. So I was happy that my sweetie pie didn't mind taking me out for a drive.

Virginia is beautiful in the summer, so lush and green. The landscape has a gothic, chiseled feel to it, and when Lisa took me to visit the Pope-Leighey House, I felt as if I'd walked onto the set of The Evil Dead.

The house was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, and while it doesn't look much bigger than a trailer home, the interior of the house looks less spacious and cramped than what you would find in a trailer park.

I'd love to be able to afford a summer cabin in Virginia some day. On a related note, I should be getting the results from my LSAT in about a week!

Coffee's for closers only.

Casino Royale. Directed by Martin Campbell. Starring Daniel Craig, Eva Green, and Mads Mikkelsen.

Wow. Daniel Craig's pectoral muscles are so impressive. When I do the chest press machine at the gym tomorrow I'm going to bump the weight up to 200 lbs because I'd love to have pecs like that.

I didn't think much of Le Chiffre as a villain. He should have known that short selling stocks is usually regarded with suspicion. Someone should have told Le Chiffre that there is an easier way to break a British agent than hitting him in the balls. Just take away his iPod and tell him he looks like Mr. Bean.

LSAT: The Big Day!

It was easy to spot the other people who were writing the LSAT this morning. Like myself, they were carrying everything they needed for the test in a Ziploc bag. Four pencils, a sharpner, an eraser, photo ID, an analog watch, 20 oz drink, and a snack were all you could take into the test room with your admission ticket. The only thing you could carry it into the classroom with was a Ziploc bag.

There were the usual jokes about terrorism, but I didn't mind. I didn't really want to waste a lot of time settling in to my desk and digging around for stuff my portfolio. Writing the test seemed tough at first, but by the time I got around too the final two sections I was feeling pretty good about it. At the very least, I know I did as well as I did last time, and an even better score was within my reach this time. Most importantly, I couldn't have done it without the support of my loving wife, Lisa. Thank you sweetheart, I love you so much!

The Sopranos, Season 6, Episode 21, "Made In America"

Was the final episode of The Sopranos shocking? No, it wasn't. There were some minor surprises however, that added some bright moments to an otherwise subdued finale.

I thought that they were finished with Agent Harris last episode, but he made another appearance in this episode. I really enjoyed where they went with the Islamic terrorism angle. Tony tries to use information about the men Harris has under surveillance to gain knowledge about Phil's location. Until Tony dangles a job working for Carmine in front of him, AJ considers joining the army so he can fight in Afghanistan. I didn't see that twist coming.

In the end there were no really big changes in store for Tony. While talking to AJ's therapist, Tony goes off on a tangent about his mother. Tony visits his Uncle Junior in the state institution, and like his sister Janice, fails to achieve any break through in communicating with his uncle. Phil is killed near the end of the episode, but Silvio is still in the hospital and it looks like Carlo has flipped, so Tony is still going to have work related problems.

It wasn't a disappointment. The series ends where it began, and it seemed right. I wasn't happy with the "up" ending of the first half of the sixth season, but as an anti-climax to the bitter sweet ending of the second half of the sixth season, it does make sense.

I'm still not too sure what to make of the final scene in the diner. Tony, Carmela, and AJ had sat down for dinner, and Meadow was having trouble parking her car outside of the restaurant. She bursts into the restaurant, Tony looks up from the table, and the scene cuts to black as the music stops.

The last scene of The Sopranos echoed the final scene of the first season when the family had dinner at Artie's newly reopened restaurant. Some of the incidentals might change, but the fundamentals remain the same in the end.

Update: It looks like the theory that Tony got whacked is beginning to pick up steam. Thanks to Snarking for the tip.

Indigo Landing

Brunch at Indigo Landing this morning was simply amazing. My Sweetie Pie wanted to do something special for me before I write the LSAT tomorrow, and it was really memorable. Lisa chose waffles as her entree, and they were excellent. While I enjoyed my omelet with the creamed spinach and fried oysters, I could tell the creamed spinach had been under a heating lamp for awhile.

The buffet was amazing. The molasses cured smoked salmon was very tasty, and the artichokes, asparagus, portobello mushrooms, and zucchini were grilled to perfection. The red potato salad could have used a bit more salt, but other than that, the buffet had an impressive amount of regional specialties to choose from.

Eli Roth

Simon Crowe has a very pithy (and funny) summary of an interview with Eli Roth. Crowe's choice of money quote was interesting, but the comments that Roth made about the MPAA were fascinating:

Cinematical: I know you're a huge supporter of the MPAA, and it's interesting because these Hostel films are pretty controversial.

ER: They're doing a great job. Ya know, in other countries, they just take stuff out; there's a government censor board. In Germany, we're having a great deal of problems with the censors over Hostel: Part II. And the stuff they're asking me to take out isn't even the most graphic stuff in the movie; it's the idea that freaks people out. And we're having a big fight over it. Whereas the MPAA, any scene that became a problem, we had a discussion about it. I just called them, talked to them on the phone and we had a very reasonable conversation about it. In Japan, they wouldn't even put Hostel in theaters because of the blow torch scene; how we disfigured a Japanese girl's face. That's a cultural no no over there.They wouldn't allow it. My perspective on this is very different from everyone else. I'm the one that has to deal with countries saying sorry, your film's not going to play in theaters. Period. End of discussion. But the MPAA, they get it -- they say, 'It's Hostel, it's Hostel: Part II. We know what your fans want, but there's gotta be a common ground. We have a job to do; we have to be the voices of the parents of America.' But we come to a compromise; it's reasonable, and we have a discussion about it. And there's no other country where you have a voice.

Stop making snuff movies dude! If Roth can apply his intelligence to a different genre of film I just might pony up the cash for a ticket!

Bliss

When my wife told me that she was going to quit her second job for a month so she could spend more time with me I got one of those jolts of happiness that just overwhelm me and make me feel joy like when I said I love you for the first time I proposed I met my love at the airport after months apart I said I do.

The "B" Team

52, Volume 1. By Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, Mark Waid, and Keith Giffen.

Whoever came up with the idea for 52 over at DC should get a bonus this Christmas. Lately superhero comic books have been dominated by auteurs like Frank Miller and Alan Moore.

Written by a team of authors, 52 shows the short comings of the auteur approach. There is a narrative complexity to 52 that Miller's Sin City lacks. The writers of 52 seem more interested in writing a good story than proving that the comic book medium can tell superhero stories for grown ups - a hangup of Alan Moore's that dooms the Watchmen to failure.

Miller and Moore have had their works described as cinematic. 52 has more in common with recent television productions like Lost. There were "easter eggs" planted on the covers of the comic books and in the pages themselves. The trade paperback has bonus artwork and commentary from the writers and artists involved in the project making it no unlike a DVD.

The set up for 52 is simple. Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman have taken the year off after helping to save the universe from being destroyed yet again. Various "C"list heroes rush in to help fill the void. There are a number of different stories being told but the plot lines eventually intersect and merge with each other.

The series is a nice mix of science fiction, fantasy, detective fiction, and action. Focusing on "C" list heroes was an interesting move, and I think it works beautifully. Since the heroes involved in the story weren't "A" list it was possible to kill off or change characters without eliciting too many responses of, "What the hell???"

New readers are probably in for a pleasant surprise of they pick up this series, especially if they like the television series Lost, while older readers aren't likely to be put off by new wrinkles added to characters that have enjoyed for years.

The Sopranos, Season 6, Episode 20, "The Blue Comet"

The penultimate episode of The Sopranos aired last night and all the pieces of the puzzle are beginning to fall into place. There is a lot of chatter about whether or not Tony Soprano will be killed in the final episode. After watching "The Blue Comet", I don't think he'll die or go to prison, but I suspect narrative closure will have been achieved from the fallout of the final episodes.

While I know Phil isn't a neutral observer, the case that he makes for Tony's removal does make sense. It came off sounding like Phil was engaged in corporate downsizing, and all he wanted to do was remove a redundant layer of middle management. I think it was the first time Phil actually sounded like a boss, and not a flunky whose feet don't quite fit the shoes of his illustrious predecessor, Johnny Sack.

Agent Harris informs Tony of the move that Phil plans to make against him. I like how the writers wrote this particle thread of the plot. I suspect they used Harris as a means of getting this bit of information to Tony while using the specter of terrorism as a red herring to throw the audience of the scent. However, I'd like to hedge my bets and note how interesting it is that AJ has a very passionate interest in events that are taking place in the Middle East.

I'm ambivalent about the final scene between Tony and Melfi. There had been some build up to this - it wasn't like it had been pulled out of thin air like Tony's gambling problem. However, the studies mentioned by Elliot that precipitated Melfi's break with Tony has been around for quite some time and I was surprised it hadn't been raised in a previous episode.

If I had a to make a prediction for the final episode, I suspect the series will end with a whimper rather than a bang. AJ is useless, Meadow is going down the same path as her mother, and both Bobby and Silvio (the two most dependable members of his crew) are out of commission. Tony doesn't have to go to prison or die for what he has done. I suspect he'll be living in a hell of his own making when the curtains close on the last episode of The Sopranos.

Update: When Bobby dropped his gun after in the thirteenth episode of the sixth season I chalked it up to carelessness on his part. However, according to this article on Slate, Bobby (and other mafia assassins) aren't sloppy but instead have a very good understanding of probability.

God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything by Christopher Hitchens

The effort put into reading Christopher Hitchens for the first time does pay off. I can remember reading his extended essay The Trial of Henry Kissinger when it first appeared in Harper's Magazine.

It was hard to wrap my head around Hitchens' elaborate sentences and his encyclopedic grasp of current affairs, but I found my patience was amply rewarded when I tackled other books written by one of the most brilliant political commentators of our time. At the time I would have said that I disagreed with Hitchens' on most issues. However, the quality of his writing and analysis was simply to good not to read because of something so trifling as a matter of a difference in opinions.

Anyone unfamiliar with Hitchens' would do well to start with his latest book, God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. Sometimes when reading Hitchens I need a break, or a rest. He is always witty, but it really sparkles when he writes on the subject of religion. Consider for example, the following passage from the penultimate chapter:

One of my choice instances would be that of Benjamin Franklin, who, if he did not exactly discover electricity, was certainly one of those who helped uncover its principles and practical applications. Among the latter were the lightning rod, which was to decide forever the question of whether god intervened to punish us in sudden random flashes. There is no steeple or minaret now standing that does not boast one.

I like the juxtaposition of the two large monotheistic religions in this passage, and the fact that Hitchens' can skewer both with the same lance.

There are some reasons why I would recommend this book, apart from the quality of the writing itself. Even if you are an earnest adherent of any of the sects named in his book, Hitchens' will probably get around to blackening the name of your hated rivals. So one might say there is something for everyone, believer or non-believer in this book.

Of particular interest to myself as a non-believer was his chapter on "The Case Against Secularism". Stalin is frequently used as cudgel against non-believers but as Hitchens points out:

Communist absolutists did not so much negate religion, in societies that they well understood were saturated with faith and superstition, as seek to replace it.

The Communist Party Official proclaims, "A Dictatorship of the Proletariat" while the more enlightened skeptic hears, "A New False Idol".

As noted earlier, I think that the quality of Hitchens' prose and analysis trumps any consideration of whether or not I agree with his thoughts on a subject. I believe most readers, regardless of their particular religious beliefs (or lack thereof) will find the journey Hitchens takes them on in this book as interesting as the final destination, if not more so.