It's Harold and Maude's Illusions, I Recall...

I used to like this film a lot more when I was younger. But you know, you grow. You mature...

Seriously, I did love this movie when I first saw it in my mid-20s. Yet when I saw it again when I was much older, I found it a bit cartoonish. It wasn't so much that the movie had changed; it was more that my perspective was different.

When I first saw this movie, I was flirting with the idea of suicide. When I saw it much later, I had long ago put paid to any notion that I would ever deliberately kill myself. I still wonder sometimes if I'll die an early death due to my many health issues. But I'm no longer flirting with the idea of killing myself the way I used to do back in my mid-20s.

I still like the movie nonetheless. And though I can't help feeling a bit sorry for Harold's various "dates" throughout the movie -- most of which end up being scared away by Harold's attempts to use special effects to duplicate suicide attempts -- I must admit that I have more respect for the movie's ultimately pro-life message than I do the positive messages of most mainstream movies. Even Ruth Gordon -- an actress I usually find annoying in other movies -- came across very well in this flick -- even though the role she played (that of an eccentric old woman) was the first of many similar roles that she would play during the rest of her acting career.

Just the same, I'm glad they never made a sequel to this movie. Or worse yet, a remake.

Pensamientos Acerca de Televisión

Doctor Who (The Second Series): “The Tsuranga Conundrum”

If “Kill the Moon” was supposed to be Doctor Who's idea of a pro-life story, this episode is their version of a -- what? -- pro-choice episode? The little alien who threatens to eat everything did seem like an apt metaphor for the way little babies sometimes are. But surely that's just a coincidence, right?

Pop Song of the Week: "Wonder"

Natalie Merchant's tribute to the special needs community -- and one of the closest things to a modern-day pro-life song that I know of. Then again, since I was born with a congenital heart condition, I tend to be a tad biased on that topic.

Pensamientos Acerca de Televisión

Doctor Who (The Second Series): “Kill the Moon”

Well, I always wanted to see a Doctor Who episode with Mexicans in it. However, after seeing this episode, it seemed quite obvious that I should have been more specific.

On the plus side, we got a surprisingly convincing picture of a post-NASA world in which a would-be astronaut finally got to fulfill her lifelong dream of travelling to the Moon, only to find out she had to blow it up.

The Doctor, fortunately, had a better idea but unfortunately, said idea was based on one of the most idiotic ideas about the Moon ever to be presented on TV. (Indeed, one would have to go back to the old Night Gallery episode "The Nature of the Enemy" to find a dumber idea.)

For that matter, this episode managed to come up with a surprisingly silly pro-life metaphor. I suppose my inner Catholic should be offended but that would mean taking the episode more seriously than it deserved to be. However, I would not be surprised to find out that the makers of this episode had to do some serious penance.

Pensamientos Acerca de Televisión

Masters of Horror: “Pro-Life”

Director John Carpenter dedicates an entire episode to the daringly controversial proposition that aborting a demon's child may not be the worst thing to do in this world.

Along the way, he also helps develop a key plot device for the recent horror movie The Purge.

Movie Quote of the Week

To God, there is no zero.
--Grant Williams, The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)

Movie Quote of the Week

Valuing life is not weakness.
--Elizabeth Peña, The Incredibles (2004)

Pensamientos Acerca de Televisión

Doctor Who (The Second Series): “The Rebel Flesh” and “The Almost People”

Seems to me that we've had not just one but two televison series in America (Battlestar: Galactica and Dollhouse) that have had fun with the concept of people who aren't really people. Now it's British producer Stephen Moffat's turn. Or rather Moffat's writer Matthew Graham's turn.

I must confess that I found Graham's term “ganger” a more original term than the usual “clone.” And the idea of two Doctors for the price of one? Amazing.

I was kinda surprised to see a little pro-life sentiment in these episodes instead of the usual “clones are evil” sentiments. Though come to think of it, we have “clones are evil” sentiments in these episodes as well. Trust a Doctor Who writer to find a way to keep every kind of science fiction fan happy.

And by the way, major props to whoever suggested Matt Smith end the episode with a verbal reference to the old Michael Mann movie The Last of the Mohicans. I certainly wasn't expecting that.

Movie Song of the Week: “To Life”

It's been over a year -- a whole four days, in fact -- since I wrote this post so I might as well post the song that inspired it. Not that my engagement was ultimately more successful than poor Lazar Wolf's, but at least it lasted longer.

Seriously, I've always considered this tune to be one of the more memorable songs in the 1971 movie Fiddler on the Roof. Of course, recent events in Georgia give the appearance of the Russians in this number a certain unintended irony. Because you know those Russkies can act like they're peaceful-looking, but once your back is turned...

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy it: