Kazhes pierakstu burtnīca

Beidzot noskatījos līdz galam otro `Extras` sezonu. Šķiet, ka seriāla veidotāji pareizi izlēmuši to neturpināt - otrais gads acīmredzami padevies blāvāks par pirmo. Patiesībā pirmās sērijas bija pat ļoti labas, bet pēdējās - izteikti viduvējas.

Jāatzīst, ka Bernards Verbērs ir gandrīz vai apsēsts skudru fanātiķis. Vismaz kā savādāk lai izskaidro, ka šis autors ne tikai ir uzrakstījis romānu triloģiju par šiem kukaiņiem, bet arī citos savos darbos tiem atvēlējis ļoti lielu lomu?

First, let me state it clear. The subject of concern is a B-movie. Therefore one shouldn`t await good acting, a normal script or any form of special effects. What the film has is an interesting idea - some aliens make documentary about the most complicated mating dance in the Universe - the one performed by humans. As a part of the mating dance many things are treated - from the first kiss on to safe sex, more safe sex and until the situation where unsafe sex turns into a child. That`s about it - most things people say and do are totally cliched. At some parts the guy acts like a total loser, but still one thing is what makes this film worth seing (and it`s not Carmen Electra`s boobs) - it`s the silly things the alien narrator says interpreting many things in the silliest way. So, it`s nothing that one can remember for a long time but just a funny flick.

As somebody said before the film - a subject of high importance for me. It`s not true, of course, nevertheless the film was better than I expected. Yes, I know that every romantic comedy from the other side of the huge pond does have one massive problem - the ending is more than just predictable. But I do enjoy films which are designed to make the viewer feel bad about the hero and his stupid behaviour and to think what he himself would feel like under such circumstances. It is no high art by any means and some of the jokes seem forced but that`s ok. Not to be watched many times but it is not the worst possible way to spend your time.

A thrilling record. It`s almost impossible to believe that Cale is already more than 60. His music is still fresh and no aging problems seem to be visible. A very listenable record, certainly among the best 2003 could offer.

Do you sometimes wonder, what would happen if something didn`t happen? For example, if the Red Socks hadn`t won the world series back in 1985 or Michael Jackson had changed his sex and not his skin. And this is a play about what could happen if Romeo and Julia hadn`t died at the end of Shakespeare`s play. Can you imagine both of them at the age of fifty having occasional nervous breakdowns, cheating on one another and cursing the day they met? Ephraim Kishon could do just that, and he even wrote a play about it. This is supposed to be a farce, and that it is, but it isn`t particulary funny. There`s the ghost of good ol` William floating around and cussing because they never died, unlike he told them to. There`s Romeo making love to his favourite hot-water bottle, and driveling after Julias 90-year-old nanny. There`s Julia who`s lover is hunder years old monk. And even Shakespear`s ghost seduces Romeo and Julias fourteen year old daughter. I guess, the idea of showing what is and what should never be was a good one, bet the way Kishon brings it to life isn`t very close to perfection.

Once Vladimir Voinovich was a very important writer in this part of the world - he was one of the so-called dissidents, he wrote about the private Chonkin - a legend in terms of underground literature, he was even extradicted from his native country. But nowadays he`s basically an old fart. Ok, that is a tough thing to say about an old man who has suffered quite much in his life, but it`s still true. This book, for example, it`s basically autobiographical and it`s bound to show how much he has gone through in his life. Well, and how much is that? Not that much actually. Ok, he had some hard time when nobody published his works in the USSR, he had no telephone, a small apartment- but he didn`t starve for he had money from books published in the West, he had a loving wife, he wasn`t physically hurt - although he claims that he was poisoned once and even writes about it for something like 150 pages, but I guess there were millions of people in the USSR who had it tougher than he did, only most of them weren`t as talented as he was, therefore their sufferings weren`t worth that much. Ok, he doesn`t claim to be the only one who had his problems with the regime but he surely seems to be quite a brave character who went through snow and rain (I meant to say that instead of fire and ice) in order to achieve something. Overblown, too much elderly sexuality like only a really old pervert could write, and not particulary much to say - that`s all this book can offer, by the way - I have no idea what good this book is already now - it`s been 15 years since the Union collapsed and Soviet bureaucracy doesn`t seem to be a problem to me nowadays.

There`s something about this rabbit. I started writing my impressions of it yesterday but I somehow couldn`t get past the first sentence. Probably it was because I couldn`t concentrate for 100% since I was at my sisters place and everybody was talking all the time. Still it didn`t disturb me to do a bit of programming - which without a doubt is a much more demanding task than writing my own factoid. So it was maybe because of me being cursed by a were-rabbit, just like Wallace was. Then the press first learned to know that this cartoon was soon coming out I thought - hey, how come I not know anything about Wallace in Gromit if everyone considers this film such a huge event? Later on I learned to know that these characters also appeared in "Chicken Run", quite a famous cartoon about poultry but it was certainly too pale for my taste. This one was much better - the whole situation with a competition for gigantic vegetables may be a bit odd, and so would I describe the hunter fellow competing with Wallace for being the best rabbit catcher, but who gives a damn? At least there was no patriotic American cock in this film. Or a penis as a matter of fact. What we have here is some nice British actors, some nice British humour and one of the lead actresses from "Corpse Bride". I don`t know whether you`ve noticed that but I watched cartoons for two days in a row. And you know what? I liked them more than most of the films I had seen recently. I can`t really remember when I saw anything as jolly good as "Corpse bride" and "Wallace and Gromit". Ok, there was "3-Iron" but that comes from a completely different culture, and it offers something different from what you would await from American or even European films.

Nekādi nevaru iesākt šo aprakstu. Jau kādas piecas reizes esmu pārrakstījis pirmo teikumu. Kaut kas negrib līmēties kopā. Labi, mēģināšu tomēr rakstīt.

Pirmo reizi par šo filmu uzzināju kinoteātrī, skatoties treilei pirms pēdējiem Karību jūras pirātiem.