The Fountainhead movie review

I still couldn't get enough of The Fountainhead. I did some researches and I found a movie adaptation. So I watched it! Well, it cut out some scenes from the first 500 pages of the book, and most importantly Stoddard Temple. But the rest of the book was used faithfully. I guess the screenwriter or the producer or whoever came out with the idea of cutting short the story had the same feeling as me, believing that cutting those scenes would have no huge impact on the story.  

But wrong! I read the book first, and without those cut scenes, it became unbearable to me. The story seems to fall apart to me. I guess that is why people always say book is better than movie. A two-hour movie just is just unable to convey the whole story perfectly as it should be. Hitting the book first renders the movie unenjoyable. This is the curse of readers. 

I also feel like they didn't show how tough Howard had to go through when he couldn't get a single commission and went for works in the quarry. They didn't show how desperate the situation he was facing. But of course, desperation is not something Howard would feel as he embodies the objectivism so perfectly, as Man is an end to himself and himself only, not the means to the ends of others. 

The movie is just too much Dominique and Howard and Gail, too little Ellsworth and his gang, and Peter and Katie. I would really like to see how Katie would look like and also the actress who would have portrayed her. I don't why but I have a strong affinity to her. If a reason is to be made now, I guess I would say, she is like a lotus to me. Born in the mud, but not stained by the mud. To me, whatever Howard and Ellsworth or whoever were fighting, they were fighting in the mud, stained. 

There is one thing I love about movie though. Gail committed suicide in the end of the movie, but nothing is mentioned in the book. At the end of the movie, after Gail gave all the instructions for Wynand building to Howard, he said the epic line to Howard : "Build it as a monument to that spirit which is yours ... and could have been mine." As Howard walked out his office, he pulled out a pistol from his drawer and BANG! 

I think this is a proper ending to Gail. He got his final wish done, although he would never be able to see Wynand building to be erected. He put out a good fight against the current and lost everything, his Banner and the woman he loved, Dominique, eventhough one can argue that he never got Dominique's love since the beginning and so it is not counted as love, as love is something mutual. But guess what, his tombstone, Wynand building will stand in the middle of New York city as the highest skyscraper. Gail fought almost as strong as Howard and to the end. If not, Gail fought stronger in my opinion. In fact, I even think Gail is more heroic than Howard. 

The Fountainhead book review

After almost 2 and a half months, I finally finished the book. Phew, it was such a huge book, hard to swallow. The idea is too new to me that I still need time to soak it in. A seven hundreds pages book, I feel the first 500 pages are really slow-paced. Luckily, the final 200 pages pick up the pace. I used almost 2 months just to finish the first 500 and merely a week for the last 200. 

The reason for this is that Howard Roark, the protagonist of this book, seemed like a stubborn bastard at first glance. He went against current, against almost everybody in the book, and didn't explain himself to us why. Actually he barely spoke up his mind, only actions. No normal human emotions, at first he showed no guilt, no pride, no happiness, and chose the hard way to start his architect career. We readers are supposed to root for the protagonist. But he was almost like a robot, he seemed alien to us. 

The antagonist was also unclear at the beginning. It is supposed to be Ellsworth Toohey, a columnist and an architectural critic. But at first sight, Ellsworth seemed to be right all the time. His evilness is fully shown only in the last hundred pages, especially when he confessed to Peter Keating, a university colleague of Howard and also an architect, about his motive and his aim. 

If the slow build-up in the first 500 pages is necessary, then it is worth the wait because the third act, the final blow is epic. The whole story is like Rocky fighting a strong opponent. The opponent keeps throwing punches at Rocky, one after another, and Rocky fights back at the end. This is what I feel during the third act. The Howard Roark part is the gold of this book. This is also the part where Howard finally speaks up his ideal. I am not gonna spoil the story here, but there is an epic speech from Howard himself from page 677 to 685, basically the explanation of the philosophy of objectivism. 

Then I realized why it is a book of ideas. There is as if no characters in this book. The characters are merely the representatives of the ideals. This is a book about clash of ideals, objectivism against collectivism and altruism, the creators versus the parasitic society, and objectivism triumphs (spoiler : Howard wins at the end). The whole book certainly reminds me of the prologue of Tolerance by Hendrik Willem van Loon, except this time the pioneer wasn't prosecuted. It really makes me think about the society nowadays especially the internet. The internet is the perfect example to show the power of the mob. It is a stage where the mob bullies the minority, whoever is different. 

One thing I don't quite understand is the romance in between Dominique and Howard. It is unconventional. It is weird and starts off weirder. Their romance started by a rape! WTH?! I read the scene and my jaw dropped, couldn't believe what I had just read. What Dominique does in the book is also unreasonable to me. The only explanation I can make of is that their relationship is like sadist and masochist, torturing each other for fun. I tell myself, may be one day I will understand. But now, I don't get it.

At the end, I would like to see Katie more though. Peter Keating, the go-with-flow guy, got nothing left for him at the end. I just want to see Peter and Katie getting together again. I understand this is what Peter deserves, but at least make him and Katie get back together again. Peter has not much talent. He is simply not fitted in this clash of titans. Nothing much said about Peter at the end. I really hope he can at least live a simple life with Katie.

Now that I have finished the book, I am really doubtful of the idea of altruism and being unselfish. Is it fundamentally evil or is it not?     

Elysium for the heroic

I just watched the movie Elysium. It is not bad at all. The story is good. It has romance, actions, and an important message behind it. A movie setting in a futuristic dystopia, it does make me think of the becoming problem of overpopulation and pollution when I walked out of the theater. 

Those weapons used in the movie are so violent and bad ass, so bad ass that they kinda overshine the suit Matt Damon wears. Before the movie, I was expecting some very good actions scenes after he wore the suit, to really show the significant improvement to his physical strength, like may be can jump ten meters high and run super fast with the suit. But there is nothing much about this aspect in the movie. I guess the suit just improve a little his strength and let him able to move again like a normal human. However, the final throwdown in between the good guy and the bad guy really got me. I can say that I could almost feel the punches and the pain during this final scene. 

At the end, the protagonist as whom Matt Damon plays, had proved his worth to go to Elysium. Not the phony Elysium in this movie, but the true Elysium in Greek mythology, as Elysium is reserved for the heroic, the righteous. 

I want to also point out a funny thing I found in the movie. Those privileged who live in Elysium speak French while the world below, the poor speak Spanish. This is almost a stereotype, as if French is reserved for high-class phony society, and Spanish is for the poor. 

Monaco - Monte Carlo - F1 GP

Monaco, I mean what else can I say. Monaco is almost the synonym of wealth. My family and I went there by train. I love train station, so I will just start off with its train station. It is in fact a cave. Not as deep in as San Remo train station, but a cave nonetheless. A well-lit, interesting cave indeed. There are two main exits from the train station. To get to Monte Carlo casino, you have to take the elevator to the top floor, and take the exit there. From there the casino is just a few hundreds meters walk.

Monaco Monte Carlo train station

The train station exit at the top floor

The view once exiting the station

The Monte Carlo casino, probably the most popular casino in the world and also the main attraction of Monaco. Once getting infront of it, tonnes of people is what you see first, and then the majestic casino. At the entrance, a series of famous branded cars like Rolls Royce, Ferrari and Porsche, sitting infront of it. Strangely though, there was no Lamborghini the day I visited the casino. Just like San Remo casino, Monte Carlo disappointed me for the same reason. The building is almost like a castle, the art work inside is impressive. But the games it offers are very limited. Only a few tables were opened for public. Strangely enough, many Chineses were gambling, almost exclusively. The dress code is not restricted at all. As long as no slippers and no singlet, and you should be fine. I have to mention that there are some other rooms I didn't visit, because these rooms required some sort of entrance fee and restricted dress code. So I can't tell how is the ambiance inside.

Monte Carlo Casino

The casino square

The other main attraction of Monaco got to be the F1 circuit, the famous Fairmont hotel hairpin turn and the tunnel under the same hotel. My father is a F1 fanatic and he was the happiest among us when seeing the hairpin and the tunnel. He was so excited, almost like a child, running here and around, asking us to take photo of him with the circuit. This circuit is probably the narrowest of all, thus taking over during the F1 race is almost impossible. There is one saying describing the circuit, "it is like riding a bicycle in your living room". Considering the powerful F1 cars nowadays, the circuit is limiting the the full potential of the cars. It rather tests the skill of driver. Here is a video explaining the track, by Mark Webber, nick-named by father as "the tall guy".

Fairmont Hotel hairpin 

The entrance of the tunnel

The tunnel

Boats, an essential component of Monaco

An interesting story, probably I was just day dreaming, but I met Will.I.Am while walking though the tunnel. He was with a woman. When I saw him, I didn't know what to do and I just stared awkwardly at him while we walk towards each other. He noticed me staring at him, and he smiled a little to me. When my brain done reloading, he had already walked very far away from me. Too bad none of my family saw him except me. There is no way I can prove what I saw.  

What I think about the city? I think the city need to be refurnished because its buildings look a little bit old and abandoned. For those who know nothing about F1 GP, this circuit of Monaco is featured in the movie Iron Man 2. 

San Remo - Italian Riviera

San Remo, an Italian city in Italian Riviera in the region Liguria, is situated very near France, with just a dozen kilometers from the border. Comparing to French Riviera, Italian Riviera is not very popular but still equally charming as French cities such as Nice, Cannes and Antibes. San Remo is not very visited by foreign tourists, thus less illegal immigrants selling touristic souvenirs, something I appreciate a lot. 

First of all, the train station. San Remo train station is very unique. It is basically inside a cave. The platforms are even deeper inside. From the entrance, there is a 500 meters walk before you reach the platforms. And with the moving walkway, the train station itself looks certainly like an airport. 

San Remo train station.

The long walk to the platforms.

The old city of San Remo is called La Pigna. Standing on a small hill, La Pigna is quite small but very beautiful and charming. Taking a stroll inside La Pigna, and you won't be able to stop yourself from taking photos, one after another. Your camera will run out of memory in no time. The following photos were taken in La Pigna.

 

Riviera, of course we must mention its beautiful beaches. San Remo's largest beach is covered with fine sand, but comes with an entrance fee, around 3 to 4 euros. The other beaches in San Remo have very rocky shore, but they are free. 

Sunbathing

San Remo has a casino. I thought I could bring my family to a western casino and expect something to amaze us. But we found nothing but disappointment. No table games at all, there were only gaming machines, mostly slot machines. The casino building is certainly worth visiting though.

Another thing to mention about San Remo is its cycling paths. The paths are very well paved and very enjoyable to cycle on, and there were many bicycle rental shops there. So we also did a short cycle tour in San Remo.

If you get bored with San Remo already, you can get out by train to the nearby towns like Ventimiglia or Bordighera, both are very nice to visit. Train service is very frequent and cheap. In fact, you don't even have to buy the ticket. The journey is so short that the ticket controller won't have time to check you. You can even go through the border and visit some small towns in between Menton and Nice like Cap d'Ail, and also Monaco. All of them are easily accessible by train.  

Yin and Yang Jamming

Les Claypool is so far the best bassist I know. But beware of Les though, because as well as he can play the bass, he is definitely a weird dude. Weird is his style, and his songs with his band Primus are even weirder. His skill on the bass is off the charts. And this following video with him and Buckethead jamming, just blew my mind. 

They both are like the left and right sides of the human brain, or Yin and Yang. Les with a weird mask providing the order, the rhythmic awesome bass line; and Buckethead with a emotionless mask providing the imaginative jamming with his guitar. And the rest of the band provides the playground for both of them to play on.

I knew Les by one of his songs, Tommy The Cat. And I was amazed by the bass line, especially the bass solo at the 3.06 minute mark.

Even though Les is good, but I still prefer Flea from RHCP as my all time favorite bassist. Les is just too weird for me sometimes. Plus Flea's trademark is shirtless while playing bass, and shirtless is something I do very often. My preference doesn't mean who is better than who, because they are equally skillful in my opinion. They are both masters of bass who I look up to. I prefer Flea simply because his playing style matches my personality better. And here is the video of Flea and Chad jamming. Equally insane!

If you don't understand how awesome these musicians are, it is probably because you don't play these instruments. In my opinion, one has to know how to play one instrument or at least learn the basics, in order to understand the difficulty that lies behind. Same goes with sports.

  

Siena and Palio

Siena, one of the typical Tuscany towns. Famous mostly because the annual Palio, held twice a year on the 2 July and the 16 August. Palio di Siena basically a horse race in Piazza del Campo at the town center,  a race in between the 17 contrades of Siena (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contrade_of_Siena). The race usually lasts 90 seconds, which is rather short, but it is the preparation and the festivity beforehand that attract people to the Palio. 

Taking trains to Siena from Florence and Pisa must all take a change at Empoli. Once reach Siena train station, there is a tourism office inside the station where you can grab a free map and any information needed. Siena is not big at all. The Siena streets are narrow and the buildings are tall enough to provide the shade, making the walk inside the old city pretty enjoyable. In front of the train station, there is a shopping center, and inside of it, there are escalators helping people to get up to the old city of Siena. 

Siena

Siena train station

This is the view after taking the escalators of the shopping center in front of the train station.

From the train station, after passing through a shopping center and a few escalators,
and a hundred meters later, you will reach this city wall. The old city of Siena is inside
this wall.

Cathedral of Siena

The flags of the 17 contrades.

Piazza del Campo on a normal day.

Piazza del Campo on a normal day.

Piazza del Campo just before the Palio.

Video recorded by my mom. Piazza del Campo on days before the Palio.

Fences around the plaza and the horse race circuit covered with thick layer of dirt.

In the movie Quantum of Solace, there is actually one chase scene took place in Siena, in the middle of Palio.