Recommendations

Sipping tea is a great way to write a blog I think. While I'm drinking tea I don't like to do very much and it gives me a chance to sit and quitely contemplate without feeling idle.

I went last night to see 300, and last weekend I saw The Queen. I liked them both a lot. I would recommend The Queen to just about anyone, I can't remember anything content-wise that would prohibit anyone but small children from seeing it, but I don't really think it is a movie that would be appreciated by anyone younger than their teens. What was remarkable about it was that it did not really try to make a villian of any person. The movie felt matter-of-fact, showing decent people trying to make their best personal and political decisions. This is not to say that the story lacked conflicts, there were many, but it was presented in such a way as to display the various difficult positions people were put in in the fact of those conflicts. I do highly recommend this movie, it is the sort of movie you could see if you were in just about any mood - except maybe if you were in the mood for an action or sci-fi thriller.

300 cannot be as broadly recommended. There are three "scenes" which could be easily fast forwarded at home to allow for any teenager to see it, but the violence would prohibit most younger children from seeing this movie - it is, after all, rated R. All that aside, this was an amazing movie. It was done in a graphic novel/comic book style, so the colors and the cinematography had a different feel than your typical movie. The other thing that made this movie so enjoyable was that, unlike a modern day war movie, it did not leave you feeling depressed. Rather, the movie created this welling sense of western civilization rising up and lifting high all things great and noble. I suppose this would be an exaggeration of the reality, but it definitely reminded me of the first day of philosophy class with Dr. Mitchell in which he described this battle and the rise of western civilization I really do think that day was one of the best days in my educational career. I don't know if you could love the movie as much if you are not particularly fond of western civilization. It is unashamedly biased that direction. However there are different ways to appreciate things and so I am sure the welling in my soul for western civilization is not the only way to appreciate this movie.