Sadly, it seems that while I might get to actually writing a post, it'll just sit in the "drafts" section for awhile.
It's a rare thing indeed when it snows in Tucson, as it did a week ago today. I've seen it happen a couple of times; I was in middle school (I think) last time it happened, but I don't ever recall it being quite this spectacular. We got a good inch of it, plus ice. They closed down bridges in town because Tucsonans have no experience driving on frozen surfaces.They also closed down public schools, presumably for the same reason but really it's because any day where it snows in Tucson is worth celebrating. I'm personally glad I got to see snow two years in a row, not that Tucson's snow was on par with the stuff in Sweden, but seeing it on a saguaro is pretty impressive. And what kind of amateur photographer would I be if I didn't take pictures of this rare event?

The Illusionist with Edward Norton and Paul Giamatti. This is one of those movies where I got mixed reviews from reliable sources and so had to see for myself. I kind of liked it, though I got the sense that it probably would have made a better play than a movie, aside from the magic acts. But think about how cool it would be if they did them on stage! The movie did drag on for a bit, to be honest. They really could have cut out a few scenes and made the movie a good half hour shorter without losing much. Aside from that, I thought it was enjoyable. Oh and Jessica Biel is totally hot.

Idiocracy with Luke Wilson and Maya Randolph. A short little social commentary, not really much for entertainment purposes as for reflection. I have to say I can definitely see the seeds of this in our world today. The alleged root of the dumbing down of America is that stupid people breed more than intelligent people and the stupid come to power through sheer numbers. The solution, in my mind, is simple: all the smart people need to start having a lot more sex. The only problem I had with it was the idea that the change in language would necessarily be to something stupid and unsophisticated. I’m sure Chaucer would think English has gotten dumber since his day, but that’s not really the case. That might be the linguistics classes talking now, I’m not sure.
As I thought about it for another day, while I see where they got the notion of this from, I don't really worry about the survival of the species in terms of us getting dumber. The average human is smarter than we have ever been and it's not like populations have historically been a majority of geniuses, yet we've come this far. Hell, we look fondly back at the sophistication of the Romans when they drank from lead cups and watched people actually kill each other for fun. Also, the average person today knows better than to put leeches on themselves when they get sick. The only reason why it looks like we're getting dumber is because we're living now, and the only things we read from the past are from prodigies and geniuses; people who could actually write. A century from now, no one will know about our stupid TV shows except period scholars. It may seem dumb to us, but the majority of my readers are a bit more classy than the run of the mill folk. And the upper levels of society have always thought themselves more sophisticated than the peasants. After all, (since I can't think of a more effective American example) while upper class Swedes in the 18th century were going to gasques and singing in Latin, the peasants were wiping their children's noses with their own mouths and singing "Små Grodorna". You just try and tell me our lower classes are worse than back then.

Snakes on a Plane with Samuel L. Jackson and Nathan Phillips. Not much to say, the title says it all. It definitely delivered on its promise of snakes, a plane and a combination thereof. I found some things about the movie that I couldn’t excuse with willing suspension of disbelief. First on that list is the fact that I have been on many planes in my day and never have I seen stewardesses that were that attractive. And I thought the anaconda was also a little hard to buy from the standpoint of sneaking it onto the plane. I was also rather surprised by the body count, though I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s because unlike getting killed by a gun or a bomb, you need to show every person getting bitten in new and horrible ways.

I got a fortune cookie from Panda Express in Asheville which read, "Better is the enemy of good." My normal reaction to any fortune cookie is to make fun of them, particularly if they aren't really fortunes at all. But this one seemed more difficult to do, the best I could come up with was to fold the paper so it read, "Beer is the enemy of god." Afterwards, like I traditionally do with other fortunes, I saved in my wallet to ponder it. I'm actually surprised that it's insightful words of wisdom instead of some trite little phrase. If you really think about it, the message is spot on, the idea of "better" does make "good" less valuable. It actually reminds me of the Swedish word "lagom", one of the explanations of the term was essentially "good enough is perfect." The idea that any more is unnecessary and potentially detrimental. I don't think that's quite the angle this fortune is going for though, I think it's suggesting to take things as they are and not place comparative values on them. What you think is good suits you fine until you find someone has something better, then you don't value the good thing you have.
As I thought about it, you can't even make fun of the fortune by adding "in bed" to the end of it. Hell, that's a whole new valuable lesson right there. Originally thinking facetiously, I remembered that traditionally evil is the enemy of good. And since good is part of a duality, there can be only one opposite. Therefore, evil=better. But better cannot exist in a vacuum, evil is then better than good, while the very notion of "better than" is criticized in the fortune. Hence, the idea that evil=better is validated by simply stating it. One could also interpret it literally, that evil is better than good. Certainly in some regards it has its advantages and it is occasionally embraced, as evidenced by society's fascination with anti-heroes and "bad" or "dangerous" characters. Evil is seen as more fun, but because it seeks out fun selfishly, it will always want the best, never satisfied with what might otherwise be enjoyable. The quest for better will then inevitably lead evil to be perpetually unsatisfied, making better the enemy of evil as well as good.
All that from a dessert.

Imagine if an alien probe did the same thing if it looked for life on Earth.

We should all mourn the passing of one of the world's greatest inventors.

Movies:
Borat with Sacha Baron Cohen. I laughed a couple of times in this movie but came out of it really unhappy with it. Its critique on American subcultures is laudable, but even that doesn’t save this film. It’s terribly and uncomfortably racist, Baron Cohen himself is Jewish but that doesn’t magically not make it racist (one might draw a parallel to Bamboozled). Not to mention the insulting depiction of Kazakhstan. If they had executed this with a shred of decency the deception of the documentary might be excused as investigative journalism, shedding light on bigotry and racism, as his defenders claim. Instead, it’s just vulgar and mean.

Lady in the Water with Paul Giamatti and Bryce Dallas Howard. Self-indulgent tripe is a phrase that comes to mind when talking about this movie. Shyamalan doesn’t appear to have ever been quite all right in the head, but his latest movies are just getting weirder and weirder. First off, a movie inspired by a bedtime story you tell your kids isn’t a good movie plot, no matter what you think. Second, casting yourself as a visionary in your own story is really tacky. And third, if you’re going to use themes, archetypes and symbolism in your films (and who doesn’t?) don’t be so damn blatant about it. You’d think he forgot the movie isn’t just going to be watched by his kids.

The Producers with Nathan lane, Matthew Broderick and Uma Thurman. I liked this, actually. I had heard nothing but good things about it, but you know how that can sometimes go with movies. It’s lighthearted, in that wonderful Mel Brooks kind of way. I’m still not enough of a fan to be singing along to it, but maybe that takes a second viewing. One thing I had wondered though: is Ulla, with her attitudes towards sex, perhaps a play on the Swedish word “knulla” (to fuck)? Is that giving the writers too much credit? But then again, there are a lot of other stereotypical Swedish names to choose from.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest with Johnny Depp and Keira Knightley. Instead of reviewing this in my own words, I think this guy has pretty much nailed it.

Old School with Luke Wilson, Will Ferrell and Vince Vaughn. For a movie I’ve heard so much about, I was kind of let down. It’s entertaining but not exceptional in its genre. Maybe the expectations were too high, I dunno. I’d bet there would be quite a few people who would love the idea of an age-free fraternity that’s not necessarily affiliated with students. If you strip away the humor of it, I thought the characters were kind of sad. They’re completely immature and selfish and too preoccupied with reliving their past. In that vein, given the recurring themes in Vince Vaughn’s movies, I wonder if he isn’t type cast.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind with Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet. This is one of those rare movies whose reputation is justified in my eyes. Though weird, it’s definitely good to see the analysis of how experience and memories, even (especially?) unpleasant ones shape our lives. I’m also in favor of the ambiguity of the ending, anything less would have only hurt the story. I’m more curious about the notion that people are prone to repeating their mistakes over and over again if they lose their memories of those mistakes. I think that in the case of the staff members that would be more likely, but the chance meeting of Joel and Clementine seems a much more difficult thing to repeat. Plus, since the erasure also affects memory triggers as well as the memories themselves, I wonder if one erased memories of someone they met in high school if they would also forget most of their high school experiences. Would they forget everything they learned as well, or would they inexplicably know Spanish or something? Come to think of it, the movie kind of reminds me of Knights of the Old Republic, for those who have played it.

North Carolina is a great place with wonderful scenery (even though everything is dead in the winter, as I was often reminded). It’s funny, I had frequently told people in Uppsala that the US is huge and it’s no more fair to judge the US by one region than it is to judge Europe by one country, but I had never actually experienced the diversity in the US for myself. I now see there is more truth in my words than I had ever thought. Europeans had real difficulty understanding that although Arizona is technically in the southern part of the US, it is not in the South. The difference between the South (and North Carolina isn’t even the Deep South) and the Southwest is staggering. There are more churches than I have ever seen in one area in NC. It’s unreal. Also, the food is distinctively different, although thankfully there are enough national chains that you don’t have to go to the South to sample it. I tried grits for the first time and was really not impressed. I also tried Southern sweet tea (thanks to Keith) and was very much impressed. I learned they really like fried chicken there and one can go to nearly any restaurant and order some. Chick-fil-a has twice as many options on their menu in the South than they do at the U of A food court. I learned that even though I'm still in the same country and the cultural differences aren't international, I can still be struck by completely unexpected things. My most memorable instance of culture shock was when I ordered barbeque pork and got a plate of shredded meat resembling nothing of what the rest of the civilized world calls barbeque.
Asheville is everything I was promised it would be. Imagine if 4th Avenue became its own city and you pretty much have Asheville. As if to drive that point home, I saw a New Age store called "Street Fair". The Great Smoky Mountains are really a sight to behold. We had complained that it was overcast the entire time we were there, but if it hadn’t been, the mountains wouldn’t have looked nearly as beautiful.
Driving around in NC is quite interesting as well. It’s a big trucking state, so there’s always an inordinate amount of trucks on the road, often making for terrifying moments when it doesn’t look like their load of lumber is properly tied down. The speed limits are frequently strange numbers, like 19MPH. Also, there must be some strange force afflicting vehicles in NC because you will always see cars on the side of the road, not visibly damaged, but abandoned nonetheless. We saw between 20 and 30 cars on the side of the road between Smithfield and Asheville and saw about as many cars with their emergency blinkers on or some that stalled at a stoplight.

Tangentially, I’ve gained a renewed appreciation of Kim’s dogs Mattie and Tia (not that I didn’t appreciate them originally). After seeing how completely unexpressive and lifeless certain hound dogs can be, I’m glad some dogs are more animated and lively than that.

And finally, I have to say I’m surprised with how I can know someone since kindergarten and not know anything about them, be best friends with someone in high school and never see them now, but meet someone for 11 days that changes your life and becomes one of your closest friends even though you haven’t seen them in 3 years. How does that work?

Plus, many new pics and a new, surprisingly accurate, map function.