Moderation in all things

[dr_kromm]

Well, this weekend ended up being moderately balanced.

On the downside, I blew most of Saturday working on income tax forms, and yet completed a mere 50% of my tax workload for 2008. We have two full-length income tax returns here in Québec – one for the federal government and one for the province – and I got my tallying, document-hunting, and receipt-copying done for both, and filled out the federal forms. That would be more than half the battle, except that the province doesn't allow a single return for a household, so Bonnie and I must complete separate returns . . . and I'm the designated accountant chez nous. Another Saturday of fun awaits next weekend.

On the upside, we escaped on Saturday night to have dinner at M. and Y.'s place. Y. is a good cook, so it was a pleasant meal. And then today, M. and I went to see Watchmen. I know that movie adaptations are love-'em-or-hate-'em things about which fans tend to be religious. Speaking as someone who read the graphic novel numerous times the year it was released, I liked it. This is a movie that I'll probably watch again and buy on DVD. It isn't the comic represented panel-for-panel, but I think it's the best that we could have hoped for, given the differences in the media.

Comments

[whswhs.livejournal.com]

I found the film of Watchmen worth seeing twice, once conventionally and once in IMAX. It wasn't entirely satisfactory; I felt that the combat was crudely portrayed, both in the emphasis on massive physical force over any sort of skill or tactics, and in all the characters using equally deadly force, which nearly erased the moral disparity between Nite Owl and the Silk Spectre, on one hand, and Rorschach and the Comedian, on the other. But I thought some aspects were actually better than the original; in particular, the film's version of the secret plot tied up the story more neatly than the more Lovecraftian menace of the graphic novel.

I spent time working on my own taxes, and it looks as if I'm in decent shape this year. But I need to call my bank Monday and check what my interest earnings were last year; I don't know what's happened to the form they mailed me. And I still have to figure my first quarter estimated tax payment.

[vinzclorthodom.livejournal.com]

Just curious, do you use a software to make your taxes? I know your situation is a bit irregular, but many of the current software handle every possible situation. Also, you usually only have to enter your documents once. Just to give you an idea, with an online software like impotexpert, it takes me all of an hour and a half each year to prepare my tax forms and send them to both governments. Not only that, but they are processed much more quickly by the governments, which is good if they owe you money (I already received and cashed both of my checks).

As for Watchmen, I liked the movie a lot. Yes, it was more violent than the graphic novel, but I didn't mind it too much as the novel was depicting violence grittier than usual for that time. What I liked is that the director, although he beefed up some of the fight scenes, didn't create new ones just to make it more action-oriented. Frankly, that was my fear after seeing the trailers.

I think the movie's problem was that it was marketed as just another super-hero action movies, like Iron Man or Spider-man. Many of the critiques I heard were about the fact that only one guy had real powers, that there wasn't enough action, or that we could see - gasp! - a blue penis in a couple of shots (ok, maybe more than just a couple). The horror!

Watchmen is not really a super-hero movie. It's more a drama movie with pretty fucked-up people who happen to be masked heroes. And frankly, the modified end makes much more sense to me than the original one. Why introduce a new, seemingly coming out-of-nowhere element that would take a while to explain if you already have all the elements you need at your disposition? The effect is certainly the same in the end.

[dr-kromm.livejournal.com]

Just curious, do you use a software to make your taxes?

No. Mostly because my situation – contract employee of a foreign company that doesn't issue a T4 or equivalent – is highly irregular and doesn't fit into any of the standard boxes. With or without software, the greater part of my workload is tallying up all the earnings and expenses for which I can provide little concrete proof, and doing so in a way that's "good enough." I'd say that 3/4 of my return by weight consists of documents enclosed to support my claim; the actual tax forms are almost a minor postscript.

I think the movie's problem was that it was marketed as just another super-hero action movies, like Iron Man or Spider-man.

I agree that the movie's "problem" – inasmuch as a high-grossing movie could be said to have a problem – is that people expected another Spider-Man or similar. I wouldn't blame marketing, though. The publicity I saw made the movie's darker nature abundantly clear. It even showed DM and the Comedian slaughtering VC! The problem was between the ears of people watching the trailers: They were all but told the plot of the movie, yet they came expecting Spider-Man. The "marketing problem" here is that the marketing of other movies about people in costumes was a little too good, and tainted some viewers' expectations of this film.

a blue penis in a couple of shots

I find it hilarious that this offends people! DM doesn't need to worry about heat, cold, sunburn, etc., so of course he goes naked. Not unsurprisingly, then, his wang is visible. Yet even though people see a human body (theirs) every freaking day, but never a giant blue guy with glowing eyes, they zoom in on the mundane (a dick) instead of the "giant," "blue," and "glowing" parts. I'll never understand nudity hangups.

It's more a drama movie with pretty fucked-up people who happen to be masked heroes.

Indeed, I'd go out on a limb and say that it's mostly about non-heroic people who go around in masks in part because they're fucked-up. Sure, NO II and SS II are fairly heroic in the usual sense, but they're just about the only ones who are. And even so, NO II has to see SS II in glorified fetish wear to get it up, which puts a new spin on why they're wearing masks. (Okay, that's a low blow, but it's part of the film's intended subtext.)

[vinzclorthodom.livejournal.com]

I find it hilarious that this offends people! DM is naked because he doesn't need to worry about heat, cold, sunburn, etc. Not unsurprisingly, then, his wang is visible. Yet even though people see a human body (theirs) every freaking day, but never a giant blue guy with glowing eyes, they zoom in on the mundane (a dick) instead of the "giant," "blue," and "glowing" parts. I'll never understand nudity hangups.

It also representa his growing distance from humanity in that he finds it less and less important to follow humanity's convention. I mean, if you're a real, bona fide god like he is (eat your heart out, Superman), why would he care what the others think is acceptable or not?

To be honest, I've seen this movie three times already, one on IMAX and two in a normal theater (although I didn't had to pay for the last one). The more I see it, the more I like the character of Ozymandias, and the way the actor played him. I finally realized why the last time; his philosophy is in fact pretty much the same as Vinz in that he is really ready to do anything to save "humanity", even if it leads him to his own downfall. He sees humanity as some kind of abstract ideal that must be saved, even though he has no compunction about killing any particular individual... or a big bunch of them. Like Vinz, he thinks he knows better than anyone how to do it, him because of his great intelligence while Vinz relies on his personal experiences.