Unmet and exceeded expectations

One of the things that makes life interesting is the matter of our expectations and how they are rarely just "met." In my own case, it seems as though my expectations are either unmet or exceeded. A perfect example is a couple of movies I recently watched on DVD.

Unmet: "Half Nelson" / I had read so much about this movie that I was almost salivating when I pulled it out of the Netflix envelope and popped it in the player. I was very disappointed. I found Gosling's character particularly annoying and unsympathetic. But I could have lived with that because there are plenty of great flicks with unlikable protagonists. The script was totally unbelievable -- there is no way the "real world" would have cut this guy that much slack. The most telling scene in that regard was the one where he took on the basketball referee and eventually threw the ball at the ref, hitting him in the back. Having been involved in coaching various youth sports, and refereeing soccer at high levels, I can tell you there is no way that he wouldn't have been banned from coaching for at least a year for that kind of conduct. Instead, he's back coaching as if nothing happened! And, most importantly, I did not buy the chemistry between him and the girl. What the hell did she see in this guy? It really seemed contrived to me, as opposed to the wonderful chemistry between Fishburne and the girl in "Akeela and the Bee" for instance.

Exceeded: "Sherrybaby" / This movie just knocked my socks off and I fell in love with Maggie Gyllenhaal. She is on screen for every moment of the flick and is simply amazing. I knew she was a good actress when I saw her as the "free-spirit" baker in "Stranger Than Fiction" (she stole the movie), but I was not ready for just how great she is. Sherrybaby has some squirmy moments (e.g. the scene near the end with her father), but they are not gratuitous.

When our expectations are unmet, we feel let down, chastened, and a bit embarrassed. But it all evens out with those joyous moments when our expectations are exceeded.

~ tom

Guns and "pro life?"

I heard about Elayne Boosler's recent blog entry and checked it out. The title is perfect: "We Are Tired of Prying Your Guns Out of Your Cold Dead Hand." Aside from the obvious reference to the NRA screed, it provides a more subtle point: These killers always kill themselves last, leaving the gun clutched in their literal cold dead hand, but dozens and dozens of innocents perish before then. I also dig Elayne's comparison of "right to life" with the stance of the conservatives on any sort of sane gun control. You go girl.

~ Tom

I demand gun control!

Damn it! Another massacre today, perpetrated by a nut case with tons of guns and ammo. The tired litany of the NRA that if we outlaw guns only outlaws will have guns is just bullshit. It might be true a few times out of hundreds, but I'm willing to bet that a huge percentage of senseless gun slayings, from mass killings to a wife shooting her hubby in the bedroom, would be prevented if guns of all sorts were banned. As my friend Michael Lally said once, "Ever hear of a drive-by knifing?"

I'm horrified and disgusted.

~ Tom

So long, Kurt

Today, another of the diminishing number of human giants left us. This excerpt from today's New York Times pretty well sums it up for me:

To Vonnegut, the only possible redemption for the madness and apparent meaninglessness of existence was human kindness. The title character in his 1965 novel, "God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater," summed up his philosophy:

"Hello, babies. Welcome to Earth. It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It's round and wet and crowded. At the outside, babies, you've got about a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of, babies -- 'God damn it, you've got to be kind.' "

If you want to read a beautiful tribute that you won't find in the mainstream media, check out my friend Michael's post on his blog today. He actually knew Kurt.

~ Tom

A very different take on the "N" word

A wise and good friend of mine sent me this link.

http://www.youtube.com/v/wD-UpHlB9no

There is much more going on here than first meets the eye and ear.

~ Tom says a lotta stars.

A cool way to test your internet speed

I've tried many, many bandwidth meters and speed tests to see how fast my internet connection is running. Nothing comes even close to this one that I just discovered. Not only does it allow you to use a server near you, but it also gives you your upload speed as well as your download speed. Plus, it looks very sexy and is fun to watch. Use it to see if you're getting the performance that your ISP guarantees. It also saves all your previous tests and gives you neato graphs of past performance.

I'm lovin' my Comcast connection: 5,264 kb/s downstream and 355 kb/s upstream.

Tom says check it out.