It's a movie. Go watch it, if it's playing anywhere near you! Very, very good...
Very interesting movie/documentary on Phillippe Petit and his high-wire act between the two World Trade Center towers... presented in the style of a bank-heist movie, a style that fits it very well. Saw this in the theater today after seeing the four-star review in the papers, and it is definitely good... that everything went off so well despite such great challenges is pretty amazing. And the sheer fearlessness you would need to go out there, so high off the ground... and not just that, but to spend six years before that planning and dreaming of that chance. And then to see it all fall into place, against all odds... amazing.
All of the people involved are in the movie too, talking about their parts in the act and their thoughts on it. This is combined with many photos, a few authentic (black & white) videos from the time, and re-enactment videos (in color) of many other scenes. The different forms merge together well, tied together by the narrative, amazing visuals of him in various high-wire showings (Notre Dame Cathedral, Sydney Harbor Bridge, the WTC) and a great soundtrack. Phillippe Petit's character really drives the movie... he has such strong personality and character and drive, even decades later, for this crossing. He really gets into telling the story, and he does it well. The others do a good job too, but he is the central force behind the film. And it's his dream and his story, so that is how it should be... many people never accomplish their dreams, but he was lucky enough to not just dream big, but achieve those dreams.
The movie never mentions 9/11, but it is always in the background, something the audience knows will happen later. I think that definitely affected the movie; I definitely think that the sad, sentimental music they play during the scenes showing the building of the tower would have been quite different if the buildings still stood. But avoiding a direct mention of 9/11 is for the best; that has nothing to do with this feat, it stands on its own.
The movie is definitely recommended.
... Hmm, should this go in the movie review forum?
I think that unless you have a good reason, the best thing to do is:
1) Ban the poster
2) Physically remove the thread
... instead of posting in it and simply deleting the contents. Even if the links are gone, having all those spam threads listed in the thread lists isn't great...
Particularly in some forums, there are a whole bunch of spam threads there, but because people then posted in the threads, I don't want to delete them... sure the links are gone, but most of the thread titles are still there!
Quote:An eight-year-old dog has touched the hearts of Argentines by saving the life of an abandoned baby, placing him safely alongside her own new puppies.
The country's media are calling him "the miracle baby".
He was born prematurely to a 14-year-old girl in a shanty town outside the capital, Buenos Aires.
She is said to have panicked and abandoned the boy in a field, surrounded by wooden boxes and rubbish.
Then along came La China, the dog which somehow picked up the baby and carried him 50m to place him alongside her own puppies.
The dog's owner heard the child crying and found him covered with a rag.
The baby, weighing 4kg (8lb 13oz), had some slight injuries, but no bite marks. The owner called the police and the child is now being looked after by the authorities, while a decision is taken about his future.
The frightened mother appeared shortly after her baby was found.
The Argentine media has descended on the shanty town, talking of "the Argentine Romulus and Remus", the founders of Rome, abandoned as babies and rescued by a wolf, nearly 3,000 years ago.
La China, worried about her own puppies, is reported to be petrified by her new found fame, and her owner says he is worried that she is not eating.
I am surprise that Argentinians are so aware of ancient Roman folklore, The wolf Lupae of legend was the goddess Artemis in disguise.
They should name the baby Romulus or Remus, This goes to show what kind society you have when there is a low age of consent and no access to abortion. Hopefully the baby will be adopted into a good home, Somebody call Angelina Jolie!!
However, overall it's an above-average performance for him.. the questions are good (better than the questions in most political interviews, for sure...), and sometimes his answers actually answer the questions.
Part of the interview:
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/keN12U2coK8&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/keN12U2coK8&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
It certainly is true that these issues are incredibly difficult... Russia invading Georgia, China's human rights record, China's support for the government of Sudan (eg. supporting the violence in Darfur), etc... the question is, on the one hand we can say "don't do that" or "that's bad" all we want, but when we're doing our own horrible things like Iraq, it gives them a slightly better excuse to ignore it than they would have otherwise.
But of course, with how they always do just ignore us when we talk about human rights, how much is the issue worth pushing? I think it is justified anyway, though it would particularly be so if we actually could hold up a higher standard on our side instead of one nearly as bad, and the Chinese government certainly doesn't like it given how they much prefer to avoid such "troubling" issues. But then the question of course becomes "well, should we follow that up with action, and if so what?"
Here Bush of course is opposed to doing anything. Either he still believes the delusion that capitalism will inevitably lead to democracy or he just doesn't care (about how China is an autocracy). I'd bet on the latter of course... but any serious actions we could take would hurt us very badly too, so there's good reason to not try them. So yes, certainly very difficult issues... it's good to see Bush actually have to answer such questions once in a while.
On the other side of course, it's notable that Costas doesn't say a word about Iraq. Asking about Darfur and Georgia while dodging our own disaster? He mostly did a good job, but it's too bad he didn't even mention it.
So get this, the upcoming Banjo game will be released along with the original Banjo game. (If you preorder, you get the original free.)
Further more, in an act of utter surprise and "we DO eventually do everything we say we'll do"-itude they have made the old game's stop and swop actually WORK. Things you do in the new game will unlock brand new content in the old game.
![[Image: 118410207350wu3rw8.jpg]](http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/637/118410207350wu3rw8.jpg)
![[Image: 702romulus.gif]](http://www.freewebs.com/romenrem/702romulus.gif)
