Tweet

At it’s core, The Kite Runner is a story about fathers and sons. There is Baba, a rich man living in Afghanistan and his son Amir. There is Ali, who is Baba’s lifelong friend and servant, and his son Hassan, who is Amir’s closest friend. Rahim’s father was the servant to Baba’s father. These lives are intertwined and there are bonds that should not be able to be broken.

The title refers to a popular sport in Afghanistan at that time, kite flying. One boy would man the kite, the string specially treated to be razor sharp, with a goal of cutting the strings of the other kites. Once a kite was cut, another boy would run to catch it, as kites were a prized possession. During the city tournament, Amir’s kite wins, and Hassan runs to catch it. It is that simple act of running to catch a kite that drives the rest of the story forward.

Hassan is brutally attacked by a group of older boys who resent him for being Hazara, a people who populate the central regions of Afghanistan. Amir witnesses the attack but does not intervene, and the resulting guilt causes him to make a decision that impacts his life and Hassan’s life forever. Amir is shown to be non-violent, a pacifist almost to a fault, while it is Hassan who shows courage in the face of bullies, until he is overpowered and unable to fight.

After the Soviet Union occupies Afghanistan, Baba and Amir flee to Pakistan, and then make their way to California. Years later, Amir, now married, receives a phone call calling him back to Pakistan. He learns a shocking family secret, and embarks on a journey back to Afghanistan to rescue a boy who is living in horrible conditions. He finds his beloved Kabul to be greatly changed.

I won’t give away the ending except to say that there is happiness to it, and a sense of closure for Amir. He gets his chance at redemption as well as finding a way to move his life forward. Except for the one scene of brutality, which is really not even shown as much as implied, the movie is full of stirring images of life in Afghanistan, and for Afghanis living in California. The wedding of Amir and Soraya is particularly beautiful. If you are a fan of the book, you should definitely see this. If you haven’t read the book, you should still see this, for it’s evocative imagery, it’s quietly brilliant acting, and it’s happy ending.

To enter to win $1000.00 or one of ten copies of “The Kite Runner” signed by author Khaled Hosseini, visit this Kite Runner DVD Sweepstakes page to enter and for all of the rules. The contest ends April 8th.

Tweet

Tweet

South Park is just one of those shows that you either like, or that you detest. The first few episodes I watched, I spent the whole episode with my mouth hanging open, shocked at the vulgarity. But after a few viewings, I started to “get” it. Sure the language and subject matter is unbelievably foul, but strip away all the cursing, and there are actually lessons to be learned from South Park. It’s true! Most of the episodes that I’ve seen have had something to say about tolerance for people of different races, religions and beliefs, about war and protest and sticking up for what you believe in, about the ridiculousness of worshipping celebrities.

South Park:Imaginationland was a trio of episodes that ran in October, 2007. Starting with a bet between Cartman and Kyle over the existence of leprechauns, the boys are whisked away in a hot air balloon by a strange man and taken to Imaginationland, the place where every character from books, movies, TV shows, comic books, and popular culture lives. The ONLY time I allowed my boys to watch this DVD was when I freeze-framed so we could spot the characters we recognized.

After terrorists attack Imaginationland, the wall that divides the “good” characters from the “evil” characters crumbles, and soon there is all-out war between the two groups. Butters is trapped, Stan is trying to help, and Cartman and Kyle–well, that’s the only part of this trilogy that I could really do without. The consequence of losing the bet about the existence of leprechauns involves Kyle having to do…something to Cartman, and I am not going to repeat it here, but it stopped being funny for me pretty much from the first mention of it.

The DVD comes with two bonus episodes, “Woodland Critters Christmas” and “ManBearPig”, and the feature movie actually made more sense after I watched those two episodes, as characters from those episodes appear in the movie. There’s some debate on the Amazon.com page for South Park: Imaginationland as to whether this needed to be released separately, since the three episodes will surely be included on the box set for the 2007 season, and also whether $14.99 is too much for a 67 minute disc. If you are a big South Park fan and want to be able to watch these three episodes independently of the whole box set, then here you go!

Tweet

Tweet

This morning it was hard to wake up, and I stumbled out into the kitchen with my eyes barely open to make a pot of coffee. Imagine my surprise when I found Nathan (who is nine if you didn’t know) standing there stirring CoffeeMate and sugar into his mug.

Me: “oh, Dad made coffee before he left?”

Nathan: “No, I made it.”

Me: “um, you did? How did you know how?”

Nathan: “Dad showed me the other day.”

Me: blink blink

Forget the fact that I’ve been making coffee with him standing right there in the kitchen for months now, apparently he just needed his Dad to show him. And it was GOOD coffee, too. Not watery or too strong, just perfect. He’s on his way to making some woman a fine husband, that’s for sure.

Secondly, this morning I watched the movie Things We Lost In The Fire, starring Halle Berry, Benicio Del Toro, and David Duchovny. Kaitlyn was a little pouty about it not being a WonderPets episode, but I held my ground and kept the DVD on, and watched it all the way through. And you know what? It was pretty good! Berry and Duchovny play married couple Brian and Audrey, who are happily married with two children. Del Toro is Jerry, Brian’s childhood best friend who is also a heroin addict. The title refers to an electrical fire that destroys Brian and Audrey’s garage (although I guess when you live in a huge house with an indoor swimming pool, “garage” means building behind the main house that is big enough to be a house of it’s own).

I don’t want to give away the plot here, but I do want to say that if you enjoy good dramatic acting, this movie has it. There are strong performances by John Carroll Lynch (“Zodiac”) as Brian’s business associate and neighbor who befriends Jerry, Alison Lohman (“Matchstick Men”) as a woman who meets Jerry in a Narcotics Anonymous meeting, and Omar Benson Miller (who just did an amazing episode of Law & Order) as Audrey’s brother who helps Jerry through detox.

The movie is available from Amazon.com as both a single disc and in HD. Both versions have a look at the making of the movie as well as deleted scenes. It’s a sad movie, to be sure, but the performances, especially by Berry and Del Toro, are Oscar-worthy. Want it now? Use this:

Tweet