A review of "Withnail and I - Criterion Collection"

Withnail and I - Criterion Collection

I’ve been watching some bad movies lately. But Withnail and I is different.

While I was watching it at first, I wasn’t laughing. I wondered for the first half-hour, how can this be on Channel 4’s 50 Greatest Comedy Films List? What I wasn’t counting on was that the movie was building an onion from the inside out. It piled on layer after layer of absurdity. It needed time to build.

And it did. I laughed at the poacher and Uncle Monty. Both Withnail and I were well acted, but Richard Griffiths stole the movie with Uncle Monty. I’m really coming to appreciate his acting more and more—Uncle Vernon in the Harry Potter movies is hardly all he can do.

I’ll be watching this again. Now, GET IN THE VAN!

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A story about "The Punisher"

The Punisher

by Jonathan Hensleigh

The whole time I was watching the movie, I kept thinking that the guy playing the Punisher, Thomas Jane, looked familiar. So I went to imdb.com and looked him up. Nope. Nothing familiar. Just my imagination playing tricks.

The movie was kind of a dog in some ways, but it did keep me entertained.

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Fluency

Fluency is a funny thing. I was talking to another 43er, Taj, about this goal when we met.

And it got me to thinking. Just what is fluency? For example, I can say whatever I want in English, but sometimes I can’t follow convoluted things that other folks say (like at a particularly abstract paper in an academic conference). And I’m a native speaker of English.

I speak and read Latin reasonably well, but I need a bit of help with some of the really fancy poetry. I can get a text message on my phone and show up at the right place. For that matter, I could write this entry in Latin, but then no one might be able to read it (vel quidquid velis scribere illo modo possum). So I consider myself fluent for most purposes, though if I were to appear in ancient Rome I might only be able to get a low-skill job.

But what about Spanish? Obviously I’m not fluent. I can speak a little, but understand even less—but I can read. I read a book on the history and development of the Spanish language from antiquity to modern times. In Spanish, with no English. So clearly for that purpose, I’m fluent. But I can’t go to the local supermercado and order a half-pound of ground beef or a steak with the fat trimmed of. I wouldn’t know what to ask for. In that case, I’m not fluent.

Or in the case of Russian, I can make the alphabet out. Well enough that I navigated a visa application for my boss (all of the hotel confirmations and supporting documents were in Russian). Certainly, I derived useful communication out of the documents, but that’s not fluency.

Or is it? So just what is fluency? Is it totally situational? Like with the Russian hotel reservations. Or is it a whole package? Like the way I deal with English or Latin. Is there a sliding scale in between knowing nothing and not thinking about what the other person is communicating? Like the way I read the book in Spanish but can’t order a lean steak.

Slippery thing human language. I’m glad I’ve got it as a tool to use.

See more progress on: learn to fluently speak three other languages

Nevada and California — 41 & 42

Nevada, the parts I saw anyway, was somewhat what I had expected. Like Phoenix, but without saguaros. On the plus side, I know a few people in the Las Vegas area, so it was fun.

Calfornia, or at least Death Valley, is otherworldly. Definitely not what you see in the movies.

I’d like a chance to get back and explore both of these huge states sometime.

See more progress on: visit all 50 states

A review of Old Las Vegas Mormon State Historic Park: A bit of history in Vegas

This is the original Las Vegas. And it is not on the tourist path, which is worn deep and hard to get off of without help in this town.

The Mormons came to what was called Las Vegas—a patch of green near a small creek—to build a fort. They lasted for two years. Over the years the army, ranchers, and the builders of Hoover Dam have used the fort for various uses.

Due to the many users and weather, there’s not much of the original structure left, but what’s left is cool. And what isn’t left has been rebuilt. This may not be for you if you don’t love history, but if you do, it’s worth seeking out. For a quick look, it won’t take less than 30 minutes, but shouldn’t take more than 3 hours for a thorough investigation.

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My first time up

I almost lost my cool on the elevator up. It was a little barf-inducing being so exposed, but I was ok when I got to the top.

The view of Vegas is great, and I promised my wife I would take her to the real Eiffel Tower while we were up there.

See more progress on: Eiffel Tower