tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29763791.post11177000888492137..comments2023-10-31T05:07:19.353-04:00Comments on Delenda est Carthago: Dan in Real LifeDr. Φhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14086783503820477029noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29763791.post-34560908099016652272011-02-08T21:47:38.876-05:002011-02-08T21:47:38.876-05:00Trumwill: Just checked. Nothing. Sorry, that...Trumwill: Just checked. Nothing. Sorry, that's happened to me before, too.Dr. Φhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14086783503820477029noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29763791.post-65848986807125866762011-02-08T18:37:14.644-05:002011-02-08T18:37:14.644-05:00Ugh. I think Blogger ate my comment. There's n...Ugh. I think Blogger ate my comment. There's not one in a moderation queue, is there?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29763791.post-26557058732859789282011-02-08T03:49:38.861-05:002011-02-08T03:49:38.861-05:00Well, obviously if Dan had just shrugged it off, t...Well, obviously if Dan had just shrugged it off, there would have been no dramatic tension. But my complaint is that the movie succumbed to didacticism by the end.<br /><br />People's felt experiences are what they are, but I can't help but suspect that "the one" feeling is a combination of favorable timing and confirmation bias. In my own case, I would assert the exact opposite: that because I did NOT succumb to "oneitis", my courtship of Mrs. Phi was successful.Dr. Φhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14086783503820477029noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29763791.post-89981282084529337452011-02-08T00:15:50.081-05:002011-02-08T00:15:50.081-05:00For some reason, when I saw that you were writing ...For some reason, when I saw that you were writing a post on this movie, I almost immediately thought that's where you were going to go with it (Dan's lack of perspective). That's another thing I sort of overlook. Partly because it made the movie better than it otherwise would have been* and partially because I do believe that sometimes you "just know" from very early on.<br /><br />Sort of on that subject, though, my friend (and HC commenter) Abel Keogh wrote a book about his wife's death and his subsequent re-entry into the dating market, called "Room for Two."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29763791.post-90723639492285076502011-02-05T17:31:36.449-05:002011-02-05T17:31:36.449-05:00Trumwill: I think your interpretation of the rela...Trumwill: I think your interpretation of the relationship between Dan's feelings and his daughter's isn't far off, and it brings to mind something I couldn't integrate into the original post.<br /><br />I can sympathize with Dan's feelings for Marie because, um, a man doesn't have to be a widower to have a flutter whenever an attractive girl is nice to him. Believe me, I <em>totally</em> get how having an intimate conversation over a cup of coffee stirred Dan's romantic interest in Marie. But having those feelings doesn't make her his true "soul mate" or whatever. While the movie kept its focus on the social/moral difficulty involved with wooing his brother's girlfriend, it didn't seem to give much weight to the possibility that Dan wasn't really keeping his own feelings in perspective.Dr. Φhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14086783503820477029noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29763791.post-26008838291281735002011-02-05T16:45:56.911-05:002011-02-05T16:45:56.911-05:00Regarding Blue Bloods, I can recommend it if you l...Regarding Blue Bloods, I can recommend it if you like cop shows (which I do), though not as much otherwise. There is some good philosophical discussion on civil liberties and means-and-ends and the like within the Reagan family with the rarity of those arguing the anti-liberal opinion being also-protagonists rather than anti-heroes, scummy, or foils only to be proven wrong by the episode's end. So far, anyway.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29763791.post-61159763720277738222011-02-04T03:25:29.378-05:002011-02-04T03:25:29.378-05:00Reading over my previous comment, it's about a...Reading over my previous comment, it's about as clear as mud, so I'm going to try again...<br /><br />The main point of comparison between Dan and Daughter was that Daughter had said earlier in the movie that she knew she loved Boy after three days and he had said that was ridiculous. Then, there he is at the end of the movie, he is saying that he loves her after three days. I read (or chose to read) that as being more of an ironic eating-his-own-words sort of thing than an agreement that Daughter's love for Boy was genuine.<br /><br />Given that he let the older daughter drive, I would expect that he probably let Daughter see Boy when they got back, but I decline to believe that he believes it's love on par with what he felt for Marie.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29763791.post-81090499439486929982011-02-04T02:24:48.794-05:002011-02-04T02:24:48.794-05:00I saw it as more of an ironic similarity than a pa...I saw it as more of an ironic similarity than a parallel. An example of the ridiculousness of the feelings that he nonetheless sincerely developed (in the same three days it took her to realize her "love") rather than as a validation of the depth of hers. Another inconvenience in a series of inconveniences that plagued his weekend.<br /><br />I do think yours is more likely what the writers were going for, but I think I resist it because I just can't bring myself to believe that an otherwise responsible man would really equate his daughter's puppy love with the presumptive love of his life. It undermines the love story that is the thrust of the movie, which negates the time spent watching (and mostly enjoying) it. So I take it more as "Yeah... three days... how about that."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29763791.post-55873030651558039212011-02-03T06:01:41.011-05:002011-02-03T06:01:41.011-05:00Thursday: interesting observation on the fertilit...Thursday: interesting observation on the fertility patterns of the super rich. Can you source it?<br /><br />Trumwill: The penultimate scene has Dan confessing to his daughters that his yearning for Marie is analogous to middle daughter's yearning for Pedro. It was painfully didactic. But I'd like to hear your alternative interpretation.<br /><br />You may be right that (IMO) lazy writers set up implausible scenes for the purpose of establishing character relationships, etc.<br /><br />I gotta check out Blue Bloods.Dr. Φhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14086783503820477029noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29763791.post-3688713181440851192011-02-02T19:31:35.200-05:002011-02-02T19:31:35.200-05:00I've been watching the show Blue Bloods lately...I've been watching the show Blue Bloods lately and one of the things that jumped out at me was that it centered around a family that actually said grace before eating. One does not get the impression that they're all that devout, but it's remarkable how strange that is on TV compared to real life.<br /><br />Regarding Dan in Real Life, I largely agree. I have known some families to play football (my in-laws played tag-tackle), but it's much rarer in real life than on TV. But I think that, like the larger families, is mostly story lubrication. The things we really do are much less interesting to watch.<br /><br />Regarding the daughter, I actually interpreted that in somewhat of a different manner. I don't think that there is any rational basis for my having done so (your interpretation is likely what they had in mind) except maybe so that it didn't detract from my overall enjoyment of the movie.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29763791.post-21790413198252171022011-02-01T01:27:01.362-05:002011-02-01T01:27:01.362-05:00Successful people in Hollywood seem to have a lot ...Successful people in Hollywood seem to have a lot of kids.<br /><br />I am also guessing that the genuinely rich also tend to have a fair amount of kids. After all, they can afford them and have the money for nannies etc., so kids don't take away much time from having fun either.<br /><br />Of course, they are a vanishingly small percentage of the general population, but they happen to be in the field of vision of a lot of Hollywood types, so they make it on film.Thursdayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13002311410445623799noreply@blogger.com