Allegory

I hope that you have all seen the movie Avatar, preferably in 3D.  I've even thought about going back to see the IMAX version.

Most critics said, and I don't disagree, that with such emphasis on 3D visuals, you can't really expect the characters to be three dimensional as well. That aside, apparently the struggle of the Na'vi has been compared to a dizzying number of other causes and trends.

• Palestinian protesters in the town of Bilin dressed up as Na'avi recently to protest the Israeli occupation of the West Bank.

• Bolivia's leftist President Evo Morales has praised Avatar as a "profound show of resistance to capitalism and the struggle for the defense of nature."

• Chinese bloggers have compared the film's story to the exploitation of Chinese citizens by government-backed real estate developers -- a factor that may have contributed to the film being pulled from Chinese theaters.  

• Activists ran ads in the Hollywood newspaper Variety comparing the Na'avi to India's forest-dwelling indigenous tribe, the Dongria, whose territory is now threatened by a planned bauxite mine.

• Environmentalists Lori Pottinger compared the story of Avatar to the Brazilian government's plans to build dams in the Amazon Basin.

• Russian Communists described the film as an attempt to justify Barack Obama's Nobel Peace Prize. 

• New York Times columinist Ross Douthat called the movie "an apolologia for pantheism."

• David Boaz of the libertarian Cato Institute says the movie is about "defending property rights".

• Last but not least, Cameron himself says the movie is an allegory about the U.S. war on terror. 

Food as Movie Star

It's not getting great reviews, but there's no way I'm going to miss seeing Julie & Julia when it opens next week. Here's an interesting article on how the food gets portrayed...

Although movies have long relied on half-cooked turkeys colored with motor oil, fruit made of plastic, and ice cream carved from Crisco, food in film is increasingly edible and even delicious.

“Everybody thinks it’s all shellacked,” said Colin Flynn, a New York-based chef and stylist who worked with Ms. Spungen on the film. “In the ’70s and ’80s it was more like that. Food looked more like Plasticine. Nowadays it’s almost always real food.”

For food stylists, most of whom began as cooks, it’s a welcome change. It’s also good for audiences, who have become more sophisticated about food and expect more realistic images. And directors believe that well-prepared food can improve the actors’ performances and the look of the final scene.

“The challenge always is making it seem delicious and hyper-real,” said John Lyons, president of production for Focus Features. “If it doesn’t look hyper-real, it doesn’t work in the movie.”

That means a dish needs to be fresh-looking and well-prepared to begin with, and then enhanced with a bit of oil here and a little fake steam there.

What is time?

Check out this documentary called What is Time, My Love? It is set in post-tsunami Sri Lanka with a bossa nova sound track. I haven't watched the whole thing yet, but click on the Watch link and the whole thing is there. It's about an hour long.