Jeremy, Tim, Gus, and I climbed and skied Mt. Adams this past Monday the 7th of July, 2008. The taste was sweet!

7/26/08: Today I changed the filetype of this video from a .wmv file to a .flv and installed the FLV Embed plugin on the blog. Hopefully, Mac users will be able to view this rock n roll summit now.

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Giora sent me this movie today. It amazed me with footage of Everest (spindrift!) and scared me nigh to death with a filmed ski descent of the South Col. Yikes.

the film quality is pretty stunning.

—Giora

Couldn’t agree more…

The Man Who Skied Down Everest is a documentary about Yuichiro Miura, a Japanese alpinist who skied down Mt. Everest in 1970. He skied 6,600 feet (2000 m) in 2 minutes and 40 seconds and fell 1320 feet down the steep Lhotse face from the Yellow Band just below the South Col. He used a large parachute to slow his descent.

—YouTube synopsis

Guess what I saw last night??

Yep, I lived through the era, but somehow missed seeing this one back in high school. The timing of this viewing is a bit serendipitous. Not only is TRON playing at the Cinerama this week, but this retro future look has come back into full fashion. Check out the colors on your fashionable young adults. Check Hipster Runoff or DiscoDust if you don’t believe me. Check MIA’s album covers. Check Girl Talk’s album covers.

At any rate, I really enjoyed this one and was glad to finally see it. Of course it’s dated, but the ideas persist today, perhaps especially so in our era of massive corporate power. And on this note, isn’t it an odd coincidence that MCP should stand, not only for the tyrannical computer program antagonist in the movie, but also for Microsoft Certified Professional.

Perhaps Daniel Day-Lewis‘ day has come again….I sure got my fill this past weekend watching “My Left Foot”(MLF) on Saturday with Jill and finally seeing the conclusion of “There Will Be Blood”(TWBB) Sunday night. Funny to note a signature Day-Lewis trait–THE EYE!

Like a human version of Sauron’s eye in Lord of the Rings, be careful if this is fixed on you cause it and he is dangerous! It’s been 15 years since I’ve seen MLF (1989) and I’d forgotten the incredible first scene which is drawn out slowly. You see the record sleeves, the foot teasing the record out–the viewer already agonizing over the difficulty, the struggle with this yet unknown impairment–the record goes on the phonograph, big toe carefully placing the needle and then backqueing to the start. And then the camera starts to pan up, tracing the leg and the body in moments of incredible suspense, and then Christy Brown turns suddenly toward the camera close up as the opera begins and THE EYE is fixed upon you, holding you down with its power….But just for a moment, just long enough for the memory to be seared into you. And Christy turns away.

What an amazing movie, MLF, and after seeing the first half of TWBB with Jill a couple weeks prior, I noticed the powerful eye and paralyzing gaze as being particular to Daniel Day-Lewis. Still there, brought out in TWBB with great effect.

Perhaps I should explain the double TWBB viewing too. Jill and I strolled down to the Guild to meet Jeremy and Cathy for a double date. On the way there, lo and behold, Jeremy is sitting by himself in a window seat of the Smash Wine Bar, a place Jill and I frequently ridiculed for its name and clientèle–what can I say it’s an easy target. Anyhow, there he was sipping the last of his red wine. Movie started in 5 minutes.

Jill and I closed in on the window, but he did not see. I looked in making a face and tapping my watch to say “you’re late, Jeremy!” He was oblivious and Jill and I were cracking up. Other people in the restaurant were looking at us now, from all the tables near him. And finally he looked up and saw us! Ha, ha! Alright we’ll see you up there!

So we settled into the movie together in good spirits. But this was to change quickly as the atmosphere was set, the harsh life, the rough man, the brooding music building the tension behind. And so Jill was primed by the time Daniel put young H.W. on the train. Now that we have our little boy, Jill is even more sensitive and at times like these her mood’s a hair trigger. Train starts with a shudder and squeal, Daniel gets off, abandoning H.W. without looking up, and the trigger was pulled.

I gave some meager explanation, whispering quickly in the dark to Jer and Cath, and Jilly and I went home. So last Sunday, I met Tim, Kevin, and Roger in the Guild after the movie had run an hour and I sat down in perfect stride during the scene with incredible percussion where the drill taps the crude and the well explodes into fire…

It is good to see Daniel Day in a real acting role again that brings out his amazing talents, showcases them, rather than watering them down with a bigger, less impactful Hollywood production like “Last of the Mohicans” or “Gangs of New York” where his talents are wasted down by the mediocrity of the film.

“In the Name of the Father” is in the que…

I should note, too, that this music had a great score by Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead including music by the amazing Arvo Pärt and Johannes Brahms.