Sunday, October 14, 2007

Lots of Things

I defy anyone to walk around this town and not find traffic. Ok, I walked up the hill during Iftar one night and there was no one on the roads, but on the way back they were packed. Even yesterday, Eid al-Fitr (end of Ramadan), there was no one walking on the streets but cars (and NAFTAL stations, seemingly the only petrol company in Algeria, though I’m pretty sure that’s not true) everywhere.



I walked around the hill on which I live a little bit today, and every tiny street, whether going up or down, was packed with cars. Cars, mind you. It seems that the United States and Algeria have at least one thing in common that separates them from the rest of the world: no one drives scooters in either one. Really, I haven’t been anywhere outside of Aberdeen, South Dakota, that has fewer scooters on the road. And even Aberdeen has its legions of kids on crotch-rockets. I have seen, if I recall correctly, three motorcycles since arriving, and one of them was disassembled at a mechanic.



Yesterday, lounging on the terrace, I saw the largest flock of birds I have ever seen. It was more of a school of birds, or a caravan. They were tiny and a ways off, but the spectacle was not unlike tracing a line of ants from a pile of spilled lunch to their hill, which might be 100 yards off. I mean, these things just kept coming. They moved sporadically and were small, so let’s call them finches. At the end of the train there was this ball, this swirling mass of birds; anyone who has seen the “deep ocean” segment of Blue Planet can think of this mass as similar to the mass ball of fish that gets devoured by dolphins and diving birds and tuna, it was that dense.



Speaking of many of the same thing (cars, birds), there were tons of dead people in the movie I regretfully watched last night, Smokin' Aces. I do not recommend that anyone spend time on this bouillabaisse of poorly-drawn characters and violence, but if you can track it down I do recommend the one scene featuring everyone’s favorite, Jason Bateman.



It is about a 3 minute monologue and easily the best three minutes of the film, if not of Bateman’s career (that’s not to disparage his high-quality work on Arrested Development; in fact, the scene in this unfortunate movie is probably only so good in light of his work on that show). Here is a teaser, although it does not cover the best part of the scene:
http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=1111414691&fr=yfp-t-471-s
I guess the lesson of the movie for you screen writers out there is that graphic violence, a handful of “colorful” characters, and a convoluted plot involving the FBI and the Mafia do not a good movie make. I can’t believe it took me this long to realize that. Ben Affleck’s “character” gets killed quite early, however, which must be a plus.

3 comments:

Jessica said...

oh my god, where did you find that picture of jason bateman, teen beat or tiger beat or something like that? it's amazing. really. as is the "jumper" cartoon.

Err Bloc Tuck said...

I carry that poster with me wherever I go.

Jessica said...

Um, I'd just like to ask where your next entry is. I mean, come on. Really.