Milo Behr's Blog

Saw it. Twice. I'll be seeing at least once more in the theater (to take my son, who couldn't see it until I vetted it, and also because I've not yet seen it in IMAX).

It's good. Yes, yes, it's good. Lawrence Kasdan wrote it—and it shows.

But it's not brilliant.

Some things are. The production certainly is. The performances are. The dialogue is. The throwbacks. The characters (some). The casting.

The lens flairs (thanks, JJ).

But not... the plot, the story integrity, attention to detail, cha...

If you're in to post-apocolypse stories, or dystopias generally, throw in with this lot on Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/967-apocalypse-whenever

They've just announced a giveaway of Beowulf: A Bloody Calculus that includes 2 signed paperbacks and 10 e-books. There's also a grand prize: a (post-)apocalpyse iTunes HD movie bundle including Oblivion, Interstellar, Dredd, and World War Z.

http://j.mp/beowulf-apocolypse-giveaway

Many thanks to W. Lawrence for making this happen....

https://reason.com/reasontv/2015/05/27/bernie-sanders-save-the-children-fund

Oi.

I have an egalitarian-conservationist emotional streak that occasionally rages against excess. I can sympathize with standing in front of an aisle filled with various and sundry underarm deodorants and saying: What the hell?

But any line drawn between that and child starvation is going to be very squiggly.

What's more, I always get a little angry when people trump-up child starvation in this country. With 46MM pe...

I ate at The Great American Health Bar in New York a few days ago, off of 57th St. and 5th Ave. I wasn't looking for it—just waiting for the express train to La Guardia and needed something close to the 57th St. station.

Funny little restaurant. I recommend the experience. (I may or may not be back, myself.) It's a unique fusion of Americana and Indian vegan. The decor is all American diner, but it's staffed (and owned, presumably) by Indians, and the food is largely vegan (though they serve y...

Saw Imitation Game last night. It's about Alan Turing cracking the Nazi Enigma encryption machine during WWII. Excellent, excellent movie; one of 2014's best.

It also would have been a highly effective propaganda film . . . if the filmmakers hadn't revealed it as such in its final 15 seconds. Subtlety is a lost art, it seems.

Note: I have a history in information security (my group once landed on Gartner's Top 10 Visionaries in Information Security). (If you think that means you can distinguish yourself by exploiting my blog: it doesn't. I've done no extraordinary vetting of this open-source platform.) I also founded and ran a film distributor, brokering deals with the likes of Warner Bros. and many others. I have some experience, then, with various aspects of this story.

Some thoughts:

I can say with high confidenc...

I saw Darren Aronofsky's Noah, and I'm confused.

I'm confused by the critical acclaim. I'm confused by the public outcry. An impressive level of effort, a middling result: not brilliant, but not odious.

Some thoughts:

It includes a stunning depiction of the Genesis creation, with text faithful to the Torah.

If it had ended 10 minutes earlier it would have been positively poisonous. It would have suggested that man exists beyond Noah because of Noah’s own weakness, that it was the Creator’s intent...

I'm an Avatar fan (by which I mean Avatar: The Last Airbender; not the James Cameron movie).

Loved the 3 original seasons.

Loved the 1st season of Legend of Korra.

Really like the 2nd season of Legend of Korra.

I enjoyed the 3rd season of Legend of Korra, but only with persistent and willful suspension of disbelief. (Yes, all fiction requires some suspension of disbelief, but really fine fiction makes it easy.)

The problems:

Ah-ha-ha! I'm holding the first printing of Beowulf: A Bloody Calculus IN MY HANDS. Beautiful printing. very excited. The trade paperback was released today (the e-book was out a few weeks ago for inclusion in StoryBundle.)

If you're in SLC, pick it up at the King's English Bookshop, in Sugarhouse. Otherwise, you can order it through B&N, or get it from Amazon or from the East India Press website (free shipping):

https://www.eastindiapress.com/products/beowulf-a-bloody-calculus

It's a near-futur...

From a friend at the Theater Historical Society: Tarantino is doing a new western, The Hateful Eight.

But that's not the point of my posting this link. The point is to read a bunch of film projectionists arguing tech, which is really charming.

http://www.film-tech.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic%3Bf%3D8%3Bt%3D007038%3Bp%3D1