Author Archives: Robert Boehlert

About Robert Boehlert

left handed, etc.

Letter to Julia 4/24/17

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Dear Julia,

I liked this event; I like to offer constructive criticism. Geoffrey Burt Hill and I had a brief, but pleasant conversation about headphones (He agrees that those Thurston Moore designed over the ear headphones look kind of dumb. It’s okay though, I still love Sonic Youth.) and Kendrick Lamar’s new album DAMN. (To Pimp a Butterfly is still Kendrick’s best, IMO, but it’s definitely as good as Good Kid M.a.a.d City, but I digress) before the event began so I was in a pretty good mood going in. We all talked for a while about the housing system, West campus, and the challenges of building a residence house with a personality and character that’s distinct. Apart from the suggestions that I made within the event, I also think Rose could do a better job with sign ups. It’s very frustrating when you sign up for an event, there’s no space, and then a day after the event you get an email saying there’s an empty space for you. (That’s happened to me more than once…) Beyond the Rose Scholar Program I think my biggest gripe with Rose House is that there is not an oven or stove in the second floor kitchen in Rose Main. It’s very inconvenient to have to go all the way down to the pantry on the ground floor anytime I want to cook something–especially when the pantry is locked because of vandalism.

Love,

Robert

Letter to Julia 4/21/17

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Dear Julia,

In my opinion Dr. Strangelove is 10/10 great movie. It’s the best kind of satire. The whole film is completely ludicrous while remaining somehow painfully believable. It perfectly captures the absurdity of Cold War paranoia and jingoism. Everything I’ve ever read about the Cold War just reinforces how dangerous unstable that time was for both Americans and Soviets. One thing I thought about as we watched this movie during the event was how many classic movies have taken America to task for its role in the Cold War, like. There’s especially a lot of movies that focus on the Vietnam War like Forrest Gump, Apocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket. (On the other hand there’s movies like Rocky IV where Sylvester Stalone pretty much defeats Communism through boxing) I bet there’s a lot written somewhere about how film was and is a tool for society to come to terms with American history with. If that was a class at Cornell I’d definitely take it.

Love,

Robert

 

Letter to Julia 3/27

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Dear Julia,

This week’s table talk was entitled: Immunotherapy: Training the Body to Fight Cancer. As you know, I don’t know mitochondria from macaroni so this was about as far out of my wheelhouse as one could get before circling back around to the other side again. GRF Shiv talked about a lot of very interesting cancer research, but I was barely hanging on through most of it. For instance, at one point we were talking about CAR-T therapy and I just couldn’t stop thinking, “‘CAR-T?’ Why not just say ‘cart’ at that point?” But generally it was indeed very interesting, if hopelessly beyond my grasp. What it did get me thinking about though–something I really should follow up with GRF Shiv on more thoroughly–is what place researchers who develop new and life-saving drugs and treatments ultimately have within the context Big Pharma. I know the exploits of the pharmaceutical industry are a topic that you yourself are highly passionate about, so naturally my mind went straight there during this table talk. Usually when you and I talk about Big Pharma, we talk more about the shadiness of the FDA and DEA, drug classifications, direct to consumer advertising, etc. I wonder what perspective the folks who research and develop the drugs that drug companies manufacture and distribute have about the industry and any implicit socio-political implications thereof.

Love,

Robert

Letter to Julia 3/24

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Dear Julia,

I certainly can see why Gattaca was chosen for Film Friday event; it checks a lot of good sci-fi dystopia boxes and it’s well made. That said as much as I wanted to enjoy the film, it kept rubbing me the wrong way in small ways. Ethan Hawke is a very particular actor to me–he’s just so specific– and seeing him in a thriller like this one felt jarring. I also thought that generally the film was very melodramatic at points. Example: the incredibly homoerotic swimming race between Ethan Hawke and his brother. I get what they were going for there and I thought it was interesting, but the cinematography and the score and the acting all together distracted–not intensified–the drama. I also thought that the film had some questionable politics about disability. I understand Jude Law’s character’s arc, but it just felt like bad posturing to have the one paraplegic character decide that life was not living due to his disability. For comparison–I think Forrest Gump does an excellent job with the character of Lieutenant Dan. His disability is one aspect of who he is, and his strengths and weaknesses as a person exist both within and without the context of his disability. Jude Law’s character on the other hand seemed like a perfectly capable and interesting person–he spends over a year helping Ethan Hawke assume his identity only to kill himself when he can’t exist to benefit someone without a disability. Beyond that though the entire premise of the movie bugged me. If doctors could assess you through your genes as depicted in the film, wouldn’t Ethan Hawke be a prime candidate for working at the company he sneaks into? The film’s message is that Ethan Hawke’s drive and passion and intelligence are more important than his limitations, but wouldn’t the test at his birth show all those qualities as well? That’s how things worked for Uma Thurman–who also had a heart condition. Furthermore, regardless of Ethan Hawke’s intelligence and wherewithal, I think that a high probability of having heart problems is a perfectly valid reason to prevent someone from going on a perilous space mission. It’s amazing Ethan Hawke could get a spot on the mission despite the adversity he faced, but by being there he could be endangering the lives of his crew and the success of the mission. Even today there are certain physical requirements astronauts need to meet–surely a heart condition such as Ethan Hawke’s would have precluded him even now. Oh well, despite my criticisms I still think the film was worth watching and thought provoking.

Love,

Robert

Letter to Julia 3/17/17

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Dear Julia,

City of God has been in my Netflix instant queue since probably freshman year so I was glad to finally watch it. It felt kind of like a hybrid of Forrest Gump and The Wire. I appreciated the breadth of characters and multi-decade time span of the film–it wove a vivid, human narrative. If I had to critique it I would say that some of the narration felt a bit cliché at points. The protagonist was the least interesting character in the film, so a lot of what he had to say as a narrator felt a bit contrived and unnecessary. I don’t think I would have done away with the narration altogether though because that would’ve undermined the tone of the film. Beyond that, while I appreciated the direction and the cinematography a great deal–the film was vibrant and incredibly visually stimulating–but it could have perhaps been dialed back a bit. There were a few moments where the flashy style of the film undercut the power of what was being depicted. By and large though those were my only two complaints with this film. I’d definitely like to watch it again soon. by the time the film is over it leaves lot to carry around with you so to speak. It was a 10/10 wow for sure.

Love,

Robert

Letter to Julia 3/5/17

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Dear Julia,

First off, I know what you’re thinking, “What a surprise–Robert picked the event with someone talking about the law.” Look at this from my perspective though, how would I not got to an event about the law? You’ve heard me talk about my love of Justices Ginsburg and Sotomayor enough at this point to know that a strong progressive judge is pretty much the coolest thing you can be in my book, so I was excited to see where Judge Miller would fit in coolness-wise. And on that note Julia, I’m happy to report he indeed really cool. Miller mentioned that he was the first judge in NY state to rule on whether or not a police officer who smells marijuana on an individual can stop and frisk them. (Naturally I thought about or conversation about the penumbra of privacy in the Constitution and its amendments earlier this week.) Beyond that though, he just was a really personable and interesting guy. He talked a lot about the ethical issues he’s faced and the guilt that comes both from successfully defending people who admit to their guilt and failing to defend people he knows to be innocent. What I thought was most admirable though was how much passion, optimism, and excitement he had about his role in the legal system. I hope I find that same gratification when I finish law school too.

Letter to Julia 3/3/2017

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Dear Julia,

I always feel woefully undereducated on rights issues for Muslims. (I still have that NY Times article about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict saved for later after all this time. There’s really no excuse for my lack of exploration into this topic at this point. Speaking tangentially of which, I’m glad you showed me Waltz With Bashir the other day. That was a really fascinating and powerful movie.) So, that said I was excited to go to this event showing the documentary film They Call Me Muslim. I love documentaries (as you well know), and I was particularly interested in this one because it focused on the experiences of Muslim women specifically. The film itself was only about a half hour long so we had a bit of a discussion afterwards to fill out the time a little more. I thought Piragash made a very interesting point about how the film conflates two issues that aren’t comparable. Yes, women in France can’t wear the Burqa and women in Iran are required to, but Piragash’s argument was that women in Iran face a systemic oppression of which the burqa is only a symptom, which is distinctly different from the discussion over the legality of the burqa in France. I thought the film still was worth watching just for the perspectives of the women it presented, but after turning this around in my mind for a couple days I’m inclined to side with Piragash that it might have simplified a complex problem to make its comparison feel more salient.

Love,

Robert

Letter to Julia 2/13/17

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Dear Julia,

On Wednesday my Rose Scholar event was a group discussion led by Professor Peter Enns on the American political discourse. We discussed the President’s Muslim ban, his Supreme Court appointment of Neil Gorsuch, his cabinet appointments of controversial figures like Betsy Devos and Jeff Sessions (both of whom Kate McKinnon has done a great job satirizing on SNL recently). For most of the hour though, we discussed the role of information, media, and the news in our political discourse, and the effect this has on our ability to communicate with people we don’t agree with. One person asked Professor Enns if liberals have become too proud and egotistical–aristocratic even–about their value scheme. This is a topic you and I have also discussed. It’s hard. For me being a liberal has always generally meant having enough empathy for other people to care about their well-being. Meanwhile (and I apologize in advance for the hyperbole here) conservatism and libertarianism to me are more centered around a fuck you, I got mine type of philosophy. In other worlds: life is something to be shared vs something to be earned. With that in mind it’s hard to think about seeing eye to eye with a person who I feel fundamentally misunderstands the human condition. I agree with Professor Enns that the political polarization we face today needs to change, though. So I guess that means I’ll need to put aside my moralism a little more (even though I’m definitely right about everything) when we talk to people who are a little more outside our political wheelhouse.

Love,

Rob

letter to julia 2/8/17

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dear julia,

my first rose scholar event for the semester was watching fight club–as you well know since i brought you along! i’d seen it once before so it was nice to catch some of the lines of dialogue and use of the mis en scene that foreshadow the film’s conclusion. naturally most of that had gone over my head on my first viewing a few years ago. i stand by what i said when we finished the movie the other night. while fight club is undoubtedly a good movie, and very well made, it’s a weird one to have as your favorite. whether or not it embraces or satirizes anarchism and violence is likely a fruitful topic of discussion for students of film, but nevertheless i doubt i’m alone in thinking that i walked out of the movie with more desire to get in a fight than when i walked in. this to me speaks to a certain fetishization of violence and hyper-masculinity–even if the film is, beneath the surface, rejecting that perspective. i certainly see the arguments for it being a commentary–a critique–on what it depicts of course. to that end though, you and i often discuss the nuances between merely depicting something morally reprehensible and saying something about that morally reprehensible activity through the depiction. so what do you think julia, if fight club‘s commentary works so subtly that you need to speak with someone with a PhD in film to fully grasp how, does the film really succeed at conveying its message? (or as the saying goes, if you have to explain a joke then isn’t it not a very funny joke?) then again, maybe this line of questioning is exactly what fincher intended–that you could get out of fight club what you put into it so to speak. from my experience with a couple of his other movies, i certainly enjoy his work. of the other movies in his canon i’ve watched–the social network, se7en, zodiac, and gone girl–all were impeccably made films. (i’ve read that the game is good too; we should add it to our list of movies to see at some point) with those films though, while they were each challenging, the challenges felt like they were driven from the characters, not the film itself if that makes sense.

love,

rob

p.s. where is my mind by the pixies is a great song–and a well chosen one for fight club‘s closing credits–but i still think gouge away is my favorite pixies song. the guitars hit you harder in gouge away than edward norton hits jared leto in fight club.