Mysteriana

Sunday 12/11/2005 10:57 PM

Saw Syriana this weekend. Man, did I want to love this movie. Couldn't, though. Just couldn't.

I can sum it up with one word: Unclear.

There are so many things to like about the movie, but in the end, there are too many things that just don't make sense. About 20 minutes before it ended, I was convinced I knew what was going to happen: The group of Muslim leaders that Prince Nasir Al-Subaai met with were going to have the suicide bomber kill the younger brother so the prince could take control, but actually be opening the door to Muslim fundamentalism to take root (or become more entrenched) in his country.

Well, now you know what didn't happen, and while that might be a tad of a spoiler, what actually happens is a lot harder to figure out.

For those that have seen it (or will see it), I have the following questions:

Why did Bob go where he did at the end of the movie?
Depending on your answer, to what extent do you think the voiceover at the end of the movie had to do with Bob? Oh, have you now changed your answer to the first question now?
To follow-up Whiting's statement early in the flick, is Bennett a wolf or a sheep? Or something else?
What do you think was trying to be accomplished by having the suicide bomber attack the target that he did? Sure, it makes sense if he had any say in the matter, but presumably, he did not. Do you really think his handlers would have the same grievances he did?
And what the heck went wrong in Lebanon that caused Bob's operation to get botched? Did he choose poorly? Surely, it wasn't doomed from the start (in Washington) because the end of the movie proves it was legitimate (even though it sure looked like a setup when it was first shaping up, i.e. before they brought the job to Bob).
What real world country do you think they were trying to discuss with the machinations regarding Emir Hamed Al-Subaai, his two sons and their kingdom?

There are probably more questions, but that's all I can come up with right now.

Argus still has an ear infection. Once Dr. Guhrt saw how much Argus doesn't like getting his ears washed out, he insisted that we change tactics for fear of a negative impact on our boy-dog relationship. We've dropped the ear washes and switched to yet another ear drop plus an oral antibiotic. Pills are no problem with The Black and Brown, so it's just been a matter of figuring out a better way to give him ear drops. Yesterday afternoon and evening, Candy and I spent a lot of time giving him treats and holding the capped bottle in his ear. He seemed to get used to it pretty quick, and now I'm able to squeeze the ten drops per application into his ear with not even half the struggle as before.

After reading through the manual of my new camera (no, I didn't get it yet, and, yes, I was reading the manual off Panasonic's product support web site before I even got the camera in my grubby mits), I was thrilled to discover that the camera does, in fact, have a tripod mount. I had read (or perhaps mistakenly inferred) from some web page that it didn't have a tripod mount, and when I couldn't find any product images that showed the bottom of the camera, I resigned myself to that fact. That was one of the biggest things keeping me from purchasing the camera in the first place.

So in case anyone is wondering... Yes, the Panasonic DMC-LX1K Digital Camera does have a tripod mount. Oh, and this goes for the DMC-LX1S (silver model) as well.

File Under: Argus; Movies; Panasonic DMC-LX1K Lumix Digital Camera
Music: Cliff Martinez "Solaris Soundtrack"

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