Just forget the words and sing along

Wednesday, July 28, 2004

Hee hee!  I loved this article in this morning's Edmonton Journal.  It was a quick interview with Michael Moore.  Moore said that he always had trouble getting funding for his films, but now that Fahrenheit 9/11 has made $100 million, he's having no problem whatsoever getting funding for his next film. 

Moore's next documentary is called Sicko, and is going to take a look at the American health care system.  The inspiration for this film came from Moore's old TV show The Awful Truth.  In an Awful Truth segment, Moore was contacted by a man who's health insurance provider wouldn't pay for an organ transplant he needed to live.  So, Moore showed up at the front door of this insurance provider and held a funeral for this man.  The insurance provider was then shamed into paying for the transplant. 

And here's a little tidbit of movie news today.  Pierce Brosnan has announced that he's retiring from the role of James Bond.  The rumoured actors up to play Bond next are Hugh Grant, Jude Law, and Hugh Jackman. 

And I've got to talk about something I read yesterday.  I'm currently trying to finish reading a book called The Martians by Kim Stanley Robinson.  It's a collection of short stories about people who live on Mars in the future.  I hadn't picked it up in a few months.  That's the great thing about reading a short story collection:  it's really easy to get back into when you've neglected it for a while. 

Anyway, yesterday's story was called Sexual Dimorphism.  It was rather unusual.  It's about this scientist, and the love is slowly draining out of his marriage.  One night, when he finally discovers that his wife is having an affair, he and his wife get into a huge argument.  But, something in the scientist's brain misfires, and he winds up giving his wife a black eye.  So, the entire story is about him trying to resolve his guilt about what he did, and along the way, some philisophical observations are made about the differences between men and women, despite all the advances made towards equality some 200 years in the future.

I just have to mention this because it was rather different to find in a collection of sci-fi short stories.  It was utterly fascinating, but somewhat off-putting because of its subject matter.  And it's ending.  It felt rather new-agey and it was rather depressing.

OK, I'll spoil the ending.  Ultimatlely, the scientist can't resolve his guilt, so he kills himself.  How does he kill himself?  He goes swimming with the dolphins and he lets them drag him out to sea.  Yeah, the scientist's research has to do with dolphin DNA and his hobby is swimming, so there's lots of swimmer/sea life/water symbols going on. 

It was an amazing story, but off-putting.  Like Milhouse said on the Simpsons:  "I dare not watch, yet I dare not look away."

Next Issue...Dry Hands Man 

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