king kong

We watched King Kong yesterday, and I had mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, Peter Jackson is a visual genius and he's got a flair for excess; on the other hand Hollywood-typical-liberal bullshit kept pulling me out of the movie.

I didn't even really care about the creepy primitive savages on Skull Island (Mark asked, "Are those white people in blackface?"), but as soon as I saw Black Mentor Guy with Dumb White Disciple, I knew he would die. The white kid reading Heart of Darkness in the middle of a sea voyage was just overkill. And Hayes, the black guy, knowing how to exactly interpret it to match the scenery and plot, fell flat for me. This isn't Apocalypse Now, Peter Jackson.

As soon as the Chinese guy came on, Mark said, "Sorry, honey." *Sigh* The guy was a walking stereotype with a stupid accent, and he died, too! Has any minority ever lasted more than an hour? We'll see with Fast and the Furious 3: Toyko Drift.

For most of the Skull Island part, I seriously believe that Peter Jackson was thinking back to his first movie Bad Taste, and realizing that with this budget, he could totally make all his monsters look REAL and EAT people in disgustingly creative ways.

china

The U.S. accidentally introducing China's president as Taiwan's president was hilarious.

I may or may not have a long rant on China stored up. We'll see.

This was the conversation between me and Mark last night:

Mark: Note to self - do not get Kim started on Chinese politics.
Me: I could talk about Palestinian politics.
Mark: Please don't. I don't want to be depressed any further.