(no subject)

1: The District of Columbia's rank on Outside Magazine's list of "20 Best Towns in America." The District topped the list because of its size and the amount of effort the city put into making progressive changes. Chattanooga, Tenn., ranked second on the list.

Astonishing. I'm used to my city coming in last or close to last on everything. Sounds like this magazine has unusual criteria. Progress is good, but try living here when there's always something under construction.

I approve of schools presenting Most Improvement awards, but they don't pretend that that's the highest honor possible.

(no subject)

My latest viewing: Grizzly Man. I feel inclined to appreciate it. I'm not glad that events went as they did, but I suppose I'm glad that they turned into such a documentary. The trouble is, I don't know how to like it.

The only other Werner Herzog film I've seen is Aguirre, the Wrath of God. Seems he has a thing for ambitious maniacs dying in the forest. This documentary is arguably less depressing, partly because of the much smaller death count. I'm ever so relieved that we don't see or hear even the start of the fatal attack on Timothy Treadwell. Nevertheless, Herzog's direct statement of his view on nature doesn't help. (My own view is about midway between his and the optimistic Treadwell's.)

Also unlike Herzog, I don't see the man's documentation as particularly ingenious or serendipitous from a cinematic perspective. I rather like animals, and a secondhand report of red foxes in the movie was the deciding factor in my watching, but even they carry only so much interest for me. The main thing to keep it from getting boring is Treadwell as himself, who, though not explicitly diagnosed, seems to have been bipolar.

It's long been my policy not to speak ill of the recently deceased, especially those who died young and horribly, but to refrain this time would not do justice to my review. Gone are the days when love of animals was all it took for anyone to get and stay on my good side. The positive aspects of Treadwell's persona are overwhelmed by more flaws than I can hope to enumerate. Even before he became a paranoid, misanthropic criminal, the arrogant motormouth would have made a half-hour hike insufferable for me. That said, I do feel closer to him than to the childish opponents who expressed their hatred in letters and woodland pranks. It's things like that that keep me on the left wing.

At least you could say that he died doing what he loved most. Not so for his girlfriend, but she did die basically a heroine.

Aside from about two minutes' worth of living fox footage, the main things I got out of the deal were the pleasant sounds of Herzog's voice and the ending music.