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Facebook users click here. Slumdog Millionaire - The perfectly crafted movie that I didn't really enjoy.
I know what you're thinking. How can you say that you didn't like Slumdog Millionaire? It was the best picture of the year! Actually, what you're probably saying is, "Nobody reads your blog anymore. Your opinions are irrelevant. And you've totally missed the boat in writing about Slumdog Millionaire." You are right about that I did miss the boat. Which points out an often overlooked flaw in the marketing of movies. What I call, "The Checklist." But first, let me quell the internet by elaborating on my opinion of Slumdog Millionaire.

I like trivia. I've always been a fan of Who Wants to be a Millionaire. I wouldn't necessarily say that I am a fan of Bollywood. But I'd attribute that to more of my accessibility to Bollywood movies growing up. I like foreign films, weird films, independent films, etc. Slumdog Millionaire it would seem, was specifically crafted for someone like me. Apparently, it was specifically crafted for everybody due to its almost universal acceptance. So why didn't enjoy it? The key word is "enjoy." Slumdog Millionaire was indeed a very good movie. Under normal circumstances, I would have extremely enjoyed watching it. I liked Slumdog Millionaire. I liked the storytelling, the writing, the color of the film, etc. The reason that I didn't enjoy it was because I missed the boat. I should have been the first person to see Slumdog Millionaire because it is the kind of movie for which you should have no knowledge, and no expectation of during your first viewing.

This brings me to what I call "The Checklist." If you are aware of the show "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" then Slumdog Millionaire is already a "checklist" movie. "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" follows a specific format. There are a set number of questions and lifelines. If a movie is going to be made based on this format, then the audience already has a expectation of the pace of the film. This could have completely sunk the movie. However, the fast pace of the storytelling, the velocity of the editing, and the exploration of the timeline of the story remedy this problem. At least, it would remedy it for the unspoiled first time viewer.

I have a problem that should be an advantage. I remember stuff that most people forget. I remember it with little or no repetition. Now, when its time to remember where I put my phone or my wallet, I've already forgotten. But I remember a meaningless conversation that you and I had 4 years ago during lunch almost verbatim. It was this ability of mine to remember the mundane that lessened my enjoyment of Slumdog Millionaire.

Before viewing Slumdog Millionaire this week, I had the following knowledge of the film. Keep in mind that I did not seek out information about Slumdog Millionaire before viewing it. I these are just things that I knew from second hand conversation:

1. A love story about a young Indian couple.
2. The protagonist gets on India's "Who Wants to be a Millionaire."
3. Story told through a series of flashbacks.
4. Each flashback explains an answer to one of Millionaire questions.
5. The host of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" was a "jerk."
6. The film features music by M.I.A.
7. The movie ends with a musical number.

Here is an additional list of presumptions that I had about Slumdog Millionaire:

1. Being an "Indian" film, or at least a "Bollywood" homage, the film would attempt to adhere to certain Indian film-making standards (modesty, rarely show characters actually kiss, etc.)
2. The protagonist would answer all of the Millionaire questions and use all of his lifelines.
3. The film would focus on the disparity of the Indian people.

Since my brain works the way that it does, I had all of these ideas in my head during the viewing of the film. Basically, I had a long checklist of things that I knew were going to occur over the course of the film. So where was the anticipation? Where was the surprise? Had I viewed this film with no preconceptions, I would likely have extremely enjoyed it. But as it was, I was just waiting to check off each moment that I knew was coming.

As I mentioned before, within the structure of the film, Slumdog Millionaire overcomes the problem of being a "Checklist" movie for the first time viewer. But as for my experience, it didn't offer the suspense and surprise that makes movies enjoyable for me. Typically, my favorite moments in a movie are the moments that were completely unexpected, or scenes that I had did not anticipate at all. For Slumdog Millionaire, there were very few moments that I did not expect. For instance, I did not know about the protagonist having a brother who became corrupted by money, but that idea alone wasn't enough to offset the volume of expectations that I already had for Slumdog Millionaire. After that, I'd have to say that the only other moment in Slumdog Millionaire that I found interesting and unexpected was the interesting and likely coincidental link that Slumdog Millionaire had to Finding Forrester.

In Slumdog Millionaire, Jamal works at somewhat stereotypical Indian call center that provides service for Scotland. During a call, Jamal tells the woman on the phone that he lives down the street near Sean Connery's flat. In finding Forrester, the main character who also happens to be named Jamal spends time with Sean Connery's reclusive character, in his apartment. I guess I'm the only person who would make that kind of connection.

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You can click on these to make them bigger. If you're ever standing there in front of my desk, wondering what it all means. Here's a useful guide:
1. President Dwayne Palmer from "24" painting. Mike (my bosses husband) forbid anyone from supporting Obama. However, he didn't say anything about supporting a fictional character as a metaphor for Obama.
2. Newspaper clipping from when I dressed as Darth Maul for Star Wars Episode I in 1999. 3. NEDM painting based on this popular YTMND. 4. YTMND painting based on the first YTMND. 5. Rush painting based on a Megaman charater for an art show based on videogames at a now defunct comic book store. 6. Boba Fett print on canvas based on a comic book pannel. 7. Obama inspired Khan print on canvas signed by Leonard Nimoy. 8. Dragon's Lair painting. 9. Bender painting. 10. Where's number 10? 11. Another painting based on a Boba Fett comic book pannel. 12. Newspaper clipping from when I dressed as Jango Fett for Star Wars Episode II in 2002. 13. Episode I poster. 14. Lamp. 15. Episode II poster. 16. Episode III poster. 17. Donkey Kong painting for an art show based on videogames at a now defunct comic book store. 18. Custom painted Boba Fett helmet. 19. Desk lamp. 20. Computer. 21. Mooby's cup from Kevin Smith movies. 22. Cell phone recharging. 23. Super Mario Bros pixel art. 24. Hooks for coats, keys, etc. 25. Old costume portfolio that was never really used. 26. Boba Fett M&M's sculpture. 27. Boba Fett Racer. 28. Renderman teapot. 29. Kevin Smith Silent Bob inaction figure signed by Kevin Smith. 30. Tron Sark action figure. 31. 45 cal bullet. 32. X-Men Blob figure. 33. "24" action figures. 34. Thermal Detonator. 35. Stormtrooper. 36. Pantone Kubrick figure. 37. Murray High School diploma. 38. Star Wars Style guide. 39. External hard drive. 40. Telephone. 41. Scanner. 42. Headphones. 43. Transformers inspired M&M's character plush. 44. University of Utah diploma. 45. Salt Lake Community College diploma. 46. Mouse. 47. Animal Crackers. 48. Twinkies. 49. Star Trek DVD Enterprise case. 50. Snacks. 51. Rice Krispie Treats. 52. Boot. 53. Beer stein. 54. Futurama painting. 55. Coffee pot. 56. Its supposed to be pointing at a small portrait of President Clinton on the back wall. 57. Wacom tablet. 58. Cashews. 59. Windex. 60. Talking Stormtrooper. 61. Tape. 62. Fiber Choice. 63. Books. 64. Rollerblades. 65. Boba Fett M&M's sculpture maquette. 66. Hooters frame. 67. Box of Disney Pins. 68. Bumblebee Nike box.

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Facebook users click here. We didn't have air conditioning at work today, so I had to step outside to get some fresh air and this happened.

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Disclaimer: I talked to Eugenio about this post. No offense is intended... My Review of the movie Surrogates (Sort of). First off, allow me to apologize for the lack of updates. Blogger has changed the formatting of their image posts and it requires a bunch of annoying HTML code to fix the glitch. So posting more than one image per post is a pain in the ass (for me anyway). So much so that I am considering moving this blog to a wordpress account because of the ease of their formatting. But don't worry. I'll let you know if I get around to doing that.

You may notice the picture of the stout man napping. That is Eugenio. He is an artist at my work. His drawing is impeccable. One could make the argument that Eugenio traded all senses of decency, tact, logic, and humanity for superior drawing skills. What do I mean by this? I'm basically saying that anytime Eugenio says anything about anything, it is absolutely flabbergasting to those in his presence.

A few things to know about Eugenio. Eugenio is from Cuba. Eugenio hates communism so much that he hates anything that is colored red. Although Eugenio will deny this when directly asked, he hates all races and creeds except for (to the best of my understanding) Catholic Spaniards and pretty girls with big butts. If I were to compare Eugenio's persona and appearance to a movie character, it would be Señor Esteban Vihaio from Kill Bill II.
The major difference would be that Eugenio talks twice as fast and is twice as loud.

Eugenio, having lived in Cuba, experienced Communism run amok. Because of this, Eugenio is suspicious of everything. Eugenio is always trying to read the subtext of any situation, any movie, any song, anything. One might say that Eugenio (as a result of his experiences) is a critical thinker. Critical thinking is the ability to make a conscious effort to delve beneath the surface of things. However, Eugenio's critical thinking is flawed.

According to the New Century Handbook (a reference guide for writing) "Critical thinking does not imply a negative attitude; rather, critical thinking involves the ability to contemplate, question, and explore ideas in depth without accepting easy answers." Eugenio has two major flaws in his approach to critical thinking. Eugenio's first flaw is that he almost always implies a negative or suspicious attitude to his thought. However, far more detrimental to his thinking is that he aggressively conjures up subtext that doesn't exist, he infers ideas that aren't there, or he erroneously synthesizes an implicit meaning that was not intended. And he stridently does all this at the expense of disregarding the literal meaning of whatever he is disseminating.

For instance, I recently saw the movie Surrogates. Being a modern man who uses technology, it is fairly easy to infer that the subtext of the movie is that technology is dehumanizing people and that the situations that occur in the movie are a metaphor for the modern audience's growing dependence on the anonymity of the internet to live vicariously through artificial means. However, Eugenio read into all kinds of ideas about race and gender that were hardly the thrust of the film. I'm not saying that the ideas that he inferred were not present (even though I believe that Eugenio's racial inferences were not present in Surrogates). But Eugenio was so busy conjuring up a deeper meaning that satisfied his personal agenda, that he forgot to watch the movie.

When I discussed Surrogates with Eugenio, it was apparent that he missed out on certain key information that was on the surface of the story. So much so that he did not remember certain scenes from the movie taking place. So what is critical thinking? It is thinking on three levels: 1. Understanding the literal or surface meaning. 2. Interpreting a deeper meaning based on the information of the surface meaning. 3. Evaluating the critical worth of the work.

Being a flawed human being, who's ideas are regularly challenged, dismissed, and/or scoffed at. Allow me to be the first to say that perhaps my grasp of critical thinking is flawed, perhaps I misinterpreted Surrogates. Perhaps Eugenio is right, and perhaps he is always right. Basically, it is possible that I am wrong, that I am stupid, and that I don't know what I'm talking about. Few people seem to be willing to admit fault or error in their thoughts or actions. The fact that I am pointing this out could be seen as a loophole for avoiding criticism. All that I am saying is that yes, I could be wrong. But how regularly am I? When I saw Surrogates, I felt that the ideas presented in the film were better suited for exploration in a long running television series. In my opinion, for someone like Eugenio, the deeper meaning of the story might have become more apparent over time, repeatedly reinforced over the course of multiple television episodes. I was somewhat unimpressed by Surrogates. However, it gave me the opportunity to write about critical thinking. Something that I am very thankful for being imparted to by my High School teachers and Star Trek the Next Generation. Something that I believe is severely lacking in Florida and the rest of the world.

On an unrelated topic. I liked, "Michael Jackson's This is it."

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