Pun Salad

A German movie that wowed the critics. 88% on the Tomatometer, and it won "Best Picture" from the German Film Critics Association. So you might like it; I didn't care for it.

It's a dark movie, starting out in 1986 with Peer and Timo, two perverts, watching some 8mm child pornography; they then set out to (successfully) hunt down a victim, an 11-year-old girl named Pia, who Peer rapes and murders.

Jump to 2009, and it's apparent that Peer and Timo were not caught. Pia's mom is still wracked with despair. The cop assigned to the case is retiring, but he's filled with rage and resentment.

And then another young girl disappears, 23 years to the day after Pia's murder. What happened? Whodunnit? Another angst-ridden, half-crazy cop is assigned the case. The outcome will probably neither shock nor surprise you. (I thought they might have been setting up a clever plot twist, but no.)

The movie is arty, with cinematography that is occasionally stunning, but much more often showy and boring. There's way too many scenes with actors staring off into the void, or wandering around. I fell asleep a lot on first viewing, never a good sign, but I felt a duty to watch it. (Since I paid for it.) VLC Media Player on my laptop allowed me to go through it at 2x, and that helped a bit.

Awhile back, I got on the Obama campaign mailing list. It seemed like a good idea at the time: they were running a contest to meet the Man Himself, and wouldn't it be cool to give him a piece of my mind instead of the adulation he expected?

When the campaign organization was transformed into the group "Organizing for Action" (OFA) the mailing list went right along with it. And even though there's no campaign to fund, they're still begging for money. The latest gimmick arrived in my spam folder yesterday:

So I did:

[Too harsh? Nah. See, for example, Victor Davis Hanson.]

One is then whisked to a form where you can send in money. I declined.

And then I got followup mail:

So, there you go, friends. If you'd like to share your opinion.

I suppose OFA is used to this sort of evil (and probably, in their minds, racist) behavior. But it made me feel better.

Although it appears the SOTU will preempt one of my usual shows (The Goldbergs -- funny!), I have plenty of stuff on the TiVo, and there's a new episode of Justified on the Obama-free FX at 10pm. So I'm good.