Burn After Reading

The Coen brothers latest film, "Burn After Reading," scored 3.5 out of 4 stars from Colin Covert at the Star Tribune. As the credits rolled, I could only wonder--in the spirit of the movie--what the f*** just happened? I can say that Covert's analysis makes sense now, but I have to reflect on the closing dialogue. What can we learn from this? Um...I don't know. Perhaps, well, we could not let this happen again.

In Covert's words, "shot, scored, and edited like a paranoid conspiracy thriller, but acted with comic exuberance by a brilliant ensemble cast [George Clooney, Brad Pitt, John Malkovich, Frances McDormand, and Tilda Swinton], it presents itself seriously while hardly making any sense at all."

My favorite part was watching Pitt play an idiot. As Covert puts it, "Pitt makes [his character] Chad a dunce among dolts." I was not the only one in the theater laughing out loud at his antics.

Profanity and bloodshed give the film its R rating.

VideoJug

I came across a very interesting video website with a tag line "Life Explained. On Film." While I could attempt to describe the content myself, VideoJug provides an excellent description in their "About Us" page:

"Since launching in September 2006, VideoJug has grown into the world’s most comprehensive library of free factual video content online. Our professionally-produced, high definition videos cover every conceivable topic and the site is the definitive online "encyclopaedia of life".

"With offices in the UK and US, VideoJug professionally produces literally thousands of videos per month. Each film is carefully researched and produced with high quality production values. VideoJug embraces its mission to be the definitive source for credible answers and wisdom for every conceivable aspect of human life. No matter who you are, no matter what your problem may be, VideoJug is here to help, inform and inspire."

After watching a few videos, I had to watch more. Perhaps it's the odd humor of the Brits or the outlandish acting in each tutorial, but I couldn't help but laugh out loud. Most of the ones I watched were under the "Love & Sex" category because they had an interesting way of presenting uncomfortable topics relatively cleanly.

One of my favorite videos was "How To Get A Girlfriend If You're A Hopeless Nerd". Hilarious!

And if you can handle one that is a little more crude, check out "How To Hide An Unwanted Erection" and pay attention to the euphemisms for Willy.

There are plenty of useful videos outside of the "Love & Sex" category. For example, I learned "How To Fold A T-Shirt In 2 Seconds".