Unpublished Opinion: June 14

This is Unpublished Opinion for June 14th, 2006. I'm Simba's mom.

On today's show, I went running and two movie reviews, An Inconvenient Truth and Prairie Home Companion.

So first up everyone, I did actually go running yesterday for an entire mile.

Actually, it was more running-walking, but it was good to get back out and running.

I tried out my new shoes that I had gotten for my birthday, and I really liked them.

They were just the newest version of my regular shoes.

These ones are pink, or white with pink. The other ones were white with purple.

And pretty much they're the same. I didn't notice too many differences between the earlier models, so I enjoyed that.

I'd like to thank everyone for their comments encouraging me to get back out and run.

I do appreciate all of the comments, and hopefully I will go running again tomorrow.

So next I'd like to do two movie reviews, as I had hoped over the weekend we were able to see two films.

The first film we saw at the 10.20am showing was An Inconvenient Truth.

I'm actually surprised more people haven't heard about this film.

It is a documentary by Al Gore, a former presidential candidate.

Basically what it's about is, as many of you know, he has had a basically lifetime desire to educate people about environmental issues.

And so this movie deals specifically with the problem of environmental issues.

And it's about the problem of global warming.

Since the time that Mr. Gore was told that he would not be the next president,

he's been traveling around doing slideshow presentations around the world,

educating people about the dangers of global warming,

and providing scientific data to support the likelihood of the problems occurring in the very near future,

with the melting ice caps as a result of the global warming and the devastating effects that the melting of the polar ice caps would have on the country and the world, of course.

The problem is that this movie, as I know, is not going to hit the target audience that needs to see it.

Like many good documentaries that are about sort of a...

hot issue, it immediately polarizes people.

And either they want to go see it immediately, like I did,

knowing that I'm going to support the ideas,

I'm going to learn things about the topic,

and, you know, want to learn more about what I can do.

Or on the opposite side, there are people who I have read that said,

this is just a liberal documentary, it's all a bunch of hogwash,

I don't want to do this.

I don't want to go see that.

Global warming is not real.

This is all just made up liberal bull to, you know, bring down the, you know, the government,

to criticize the president, to criticize big oil, to criticize the automotive industry.

And it's sad that an issue that affects the entire world on such a serious level would come down to politics.

This is a movie that everyone needs to see.

It's not as though he is just making crap up.

I mean, this is a real occurrence that's going to happen unless this country,

who is responsible for more than its share of the global warming problem,

until, you know, people wise up and start changing their habits.

I mean, one of the things that struck me was he showed a comparison of,

you know, the miles per gallon requirements for vehicles in various countries.

And many countries have very high standards, well, actually not even high, just reasonable standards,

whereas this country, it's very low.

I mean, the fact that people can drive Hummers that get, you know, 12 miles to the gallon,

and that's perfectly acceptable to some people, just baffles me.

But, yeah, so it's, you know, the movie's upsetting to me.

But, because I just know that the people aren't going to see it.

And people really need to see it.

I think the president needs to see it.

I think all of his little people need to see it.

Although I'm sure they know this stuff, they're just pretending they don't.

I mean, nobody is that naive to think that the way the people are treating the world

is not going to happen.

They're not going to have effects in the future,

that we can just continue to burn fossil fuels at the rate we are,

you know, to not recycle, and to not conserve electricity, and not conserve water,

and that everything is just going to be fine, because you know that's not true.

And it just makes me wonder how much things would have changed

if Al Gore had actually been awarded the presidency,

Um, there's actually a couple clips in the film showing, um, the television coverage

from the time of the 2000 election, and it actually, it made me a little sick to my stomach

because I haven't thought about that time period in a while and how, um, and how much

that just affected me, just to know that, you know, what, what could have been and what

should have been just didn't happen, and, um, as a country, I think we're suffering

because of it. Um, but, yeah, so obviously I'm recommending the Tylee for big cat paws

and a cat tail. Go see it. Uh, you owe it to yourself, um, to educate yourself about

this issue. Tell, tell other people to see it, um, especially people who may not be as

environmentally conscious, you know, or as environmentally friendly as they could be.

Um, I mean, sort of the message at the end of the movie is basically, like, if we all

do little things.

Um, you know, it'll add up in a big way. If we all try to be more, more fuel efficient

with our car choices, if we take more public transportation, if we recycle, if we turn

the lights off when we leave the house, don't leave the stereo on, if we're not using it,

all of this stuff, if everybody did it, it would add up and it would help, although I

don't know if that would solve the problem. Um, it would definitely help the situation,

and I think there just needs to be...

more, not just awareness, but more outrage over this before, before the, uh, powers that

be are gonna, are gonna do anything. I mean, that, that's all I have to say. Just see it.

Um, an inconvenient truth. Hopefully it'll be in your area soon. Uh, I know it's still

on somewhat limited release, but, um, as soon as it comes to your area, you should go see

it.

So, after digesting that movie and having lunch, which we also digested, it was, um,

back to the theater for a second film for our double, double feature. Uh, it was a little

lighter this time. The second film we saw was A Prairie Home Companion, um, which you

may be familiar with the, um, the radio show, A Prairie Home Companion, which airs on public

radio. Um, it's not really about that show, but it's about a show very similar to that

show.

Um, but it's sort of fictionalized. Um, the screenplay is by Garrison Keillor, who, you

know, stars sort of as himself, because he's the host of the, the A Prairie Home Companion

real radio show. Um, so the premise of the show is that, um, their radio show is ending.

Um, the studio, the radio station's been bought. Um, the show's gonna end, the building's gonna

be torn down, and so everyone's very sad because...

They've done this radio show for years and years, um, and this is their life. So, as

the show was being taped that night, um, they sort of, all the different characters sort

of reminisce and remember, um, their, um, experiences on the show and, um, and what

it's meant to them. Um, the cast in this is just great. There's, uh, a lot of really great,

uh, actors.

Uh, Meryl Streep is in this. Um, her sister in the show is played by Lily Tomlin. They're

sort of like, uh, sort of a Carter's family group. Um, and they say they're the two that's

left, um, from that group. And Meryl Streep's daughter is played by Lindsay Lohan, who,

um, I know a lot of people have opinions about her, uh, mostly not good, but, um, I actually

think she's a, she's a good actress, and she did very well in this part, I thought. And,

uh, she sings in it, and, uh, her songs were the funniest to me. Um, I don't know if you've

seen the, the trailer for it, but I, I think that she did a really good job, and I really

thought her songs were funny.

There's also a singing duo of, uh, cowboys played by Woody Harrelson and John C. Reilly,

um, and they're pretty funny. Um, they have some really good songs as well. Um, other

actors in this, uh, Maya, Maya Rudolph from Saturday Night Live.

Kevin Kline's in it, uh, Virginia Madsen's in it. So it's really sort of a very ensemble

film, and everyone does a really great job, I thought. Uh, I really enjoyed this movie.

It was a lot of laughs, um, a lot of cute jokes, a lot of clever jokes, and like I said,

the songs are pretty funny. Uh, and everyone sang really well, I thought. Even Meryl Streep,

who I didn't know that she could sing, so I thought she did a good job as well. Um,

the only problem with this film was that since it was the second movie that we saw that day,

240, um, so the theater was way too crowded for my liking. And of course, the loudest

laughing person in the entire theater was sitting directly behind me. She had more of

a cackle than a laugh. Um, and it's fine. You know, I want people to enjoy the film

and laugh, but it was almost as though she had never seen a movie before. Um, because

she laughed at things that weren't really that funny. It was like almost like she was

anticipating that it might be funny, so she had to get herself ready because her laugh

was so big. And then like she would start laughing, and then she would start laughing,

and realize it wasn't funny, and sort of retract the cackle. Um, but you know, the

damage is already done at that point. But I was able to drown her out with pretty good

success. Um, and I didn't let her ruin the film. Um, but in hindsight, I think we should

have seen that film in the morning and then saw the documentary later. Because when we

saw the documentary at 1020, there were only us and four other people at the theater. Um,

although that movie's been doing very well.

So, um, I'm not sure why it was so empty. Um, but I also really enjoyed A Prairie Home

Companion. I'm going to give it three and a half cat paws. I think you should go see

it. Um, I think you'll really enjoy it. Although it has some sort of dark tone to it at some

point, I think overall it's more of an entertaining movie. Um, despite having, you know, some

dark concepts about, you know, the end and death and loss and, um, you know, you know,

dreams being cut off, you know, because of the end of the show and all of that. Um, but

I thought it was an entertaining film. Um, and if you're depressed about the world after

you go and see An Inconvenient Truth, you should, uh, head over to A Prairie Home Companion.

So, thanks for listening. That'll do it for today. Of course, you can email me at simbashicago

at yahoo.com. I'm always happy to get comments, questions, and, um, encouragement.

And from all of my listeners, um, and you can visit the blog at simbasmom.com where

today you can read about my latest wedding anxiety dream. I'm sure there will only be

more to come as we get through the next 104 days or whatever it is until the big day.

So, thanks for listening. Have a great day.