Mark L. Van Name's Blog, page 144

The Monuments Men

is an old-fashioned, overblown, highly theatrical, sappy film that contains way too many speeches and that over-simplifies complex issues and events in the name of making a small band of men appear to be heroes.

I loved it.

I've already covered the film's major flaws.  If you want a politically correct movie, or an historically accurate one, Monuments Men is not for you.  If you hate a film the moment it indulges in schmaltz or tries overtly to tug at your heartstrings, give this one a wide pass.  There's actually quite a lot about this film that should have bugged the hell out of me. 

It just didn't.  Maybe I was in the right mood for it.  Maybe I responded to its look and feel, which helped with the sense that this movie could have been a 1949 piece with better cameras.  I'm not sure I can explain why, but director/writer/star Clooney managed to hit the right notes for me.  I never checked my watch, I responded to every pull on my heart, and at the end I was proud of those men and what they accomplished.

I have to recommend it, even though I expect a lot of folks who heed my recommendation may come away saying, "What were you smoking when you wrote that review?"  Nothing, of course, is my answer; I just loved it. 

My favorite spam yet

The other day I received what remains my favorite spam email message yet:  An offer from a funeral home to help me with my "special event."  These folks, the message made clear, were standing by to help me in my time of need.

Now, as good fortune would have it, no one in my family has died recently.  The message made me wonder, therefore, exactly what my special event was, and how a funeral home might help me. 

I then recalled that I'm heading out for a short trip next week, so that had to be my special event. 

Maybe the funeral home has branched out into related areas, such as travel planning.  They could specialize in the very most dangerous sorts of trips.  Sure, I could fly American Airlines to Portland as I always do, but wouldn't I rather be the first to attempt the same trip in a small prop plane with a blindfolded pilot whose lover recently dumped her and whose veins are pulsing with crystal meth? 

If not travel, perhaps they're offering packing services.  It's not that far a leap from filling coffins with well-dressed corpses to coming to my house, suggesting outfits for my trip, and folding them neatly for transport in my small suitcase.

Maybe make-overs is their new business, and this message is a clear statement that I am far from looking my best and in serious need of a waxy skin treatment.

So many possibilities.  I do hope they email me again with more information.

Fun show, no awards

In
Next year, we hope to enter even more pieces of even better work!

Wish us luck

Tomorrow night (Friday, 7 February), I'm heading with most of the members of PT's studio team to the local 2014 American Advertising Awards gathering, RE:MIX.  Last year, the team went to check out what other local video and design teams were doing and to serve notice that PT had gotten very serious indeed about its agency capabilities.  This year, we've taken another step and submitted these two videos for consideration in one awards category.

Our Labs.  Your Labs.



Our Studio.  Your Studio.



As I've said before, I'm very proud of the entire PT team, and I feel honored to be able to work with such a great group.  Regardless of whether these videos earn the studio team any awards, I know they make it clear that this is a very talented team indeed.

Wish us luck!

A new PT sabbatical video

In this one, John talks about the first PT sabbatical trip to take one of us to Africa, and what he and a group of others did to help some kids there.

I'm very proud of John and all the others at PT who have used some of their sabbatical time to help make the world a better place.



Enjoy.

On my mind for no particular reason

The cult classic Harold and Maude, and then this short Cat Stevens tune. 



I make no apologies for still loving much of Cat Stevens'/Yusuf Islam's music.  Never will.

The best thing I got from the Super Bowl

is an expression that everyone who's seen or heard about the game instantly understands:  Broncos Bad, or, in the full form, Denver Broncos Bad.

As in,

Me:  How's that project going?

Colleague:  Pretty bad right now.

Me:  Denver Broncos Bad?

Colleague (shaking his head):  Oh, no, nothing like that. 

I love it when sports helps language.

Well, damn: Philip Seymour Hoffman died today

Many news outlets have reported that Philip Seymour Hoffman died earlier today of a drug overdose.  From various reports and his own statements, he'd fought with drug abuse for a long time, and today he lost in a very final way.

He was, to my taste, one of the best actors of the last several decades, always becoming the characters he played.  I can't think of a film in which he turned in a bad performance. 



One of my favorite of his roles, of course, was as the Count in The Boat That Rocked.  I love that film, I love the character he and Richard Curtis created, and I will always love his final speech, as the boat is going down.

Damn.

Is the movie you're most likely to see this Valentine's Day weekend

A) Endless Love

B) Robocop

C) Winter's Tale

Now, which one would you most like to be seeing that weekend?

My choice?

That should be obvious.


Really, what says Valentine's Day more than Robocop?

On the road again: Austin, day 5

I'm home.  That makes me very happy, because I've been on the road for most of January.

The entire day went to travel and work during travel.

The biggest excitement of the day was sitting on the floor in DFW for 75 minutes while a maintenance crew worked to replace a major part of the plane's console.  Though many people all around me were complaining, I was quite happy for the plane's mechanics to take as long as they needed to install that new part absolutely correctly.

For no good reason, I feel the need for a little Steve Perry and Journey.  If you do, too, enjoy this.