Movie Review: The Truman Show (1998)

The Truman Show (1998) directed by Peter Weir

Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey) lives in the idyllic seaside community Seahaven. He's lived there all his life, has a devoted wife Meryl (Laura Linney) and a best friend Marlon (Noah Emmerich). He's an insurance salesman. All his life he's dreamed of exploring the larger world. He's been kept from that dream because he is the main character in a 24-hour television show that started with his birth, "The Truman Show." Seahaven is an artificial community under a dome (a structure so large it can be see from outer space) with cameras and actors imbedded everywhere, including Meryl and Marlon. The whole thing is orchestrated by Christof (Ed Harris), the producer of the show who keeps things running smoothly and dramatically. This movie picks up where Truman discovers that there is something wrong about the world around him. His path of self discovery is thwarted by the cast and crew but cheered on by the viewers of the show, including Lauren (Natascha McElhone), a former cast member and bit player who fell in love with Truman and tried to get him to escape in his college days (yes, the town has a college).

The movie is anchored by a great cast. Carrey gives a very good performance with only occasional outbursts of his over-the-top style in moments when Truman is under great stress or trying to provoke a reaction. Ed Harris is cool and collected and manipulative as Christof, the would-be God of Truman's world. He has moments of being a father-figure to Truman but his true interest is recreating the world as "Truman's world." Christof even describes himself as the "creator" and plans out all the drama in Truman's life, including his love interests and his family life. 

The story is a fascinating commentary on reality TV, extensive surveillance, and media manipulation. People on reality TV are treated as entertainment even though viewers are meant to identify and befriend the characters they see. It's a way to spike ratings and keep people on the same channel. Even with his whole life on display, Truman has an inner self and a free will that is challenged by the discovery that his world is an artificial construct, even if it is built specifically for him. But it is not really for him, it's for Christof and for ratings and for product placement. Truman has no genuine human relationships in Seahaven. Anything close to that is taken away or immediately taken up by Christof to mold into the larger drama. It's both frightening and heartbreaking.

Even almost thirty years after its release, the movie has something to say about human life, truth, and genuineness that resonates with viewers. I had a professor who said that universal problems are always contemporary. Dealing with those problems, finding ways to overcome them, is a challenge that we all face--"we all" covering different times as well as different locations.

Highly recommended.

The movie was reviewed and commented on in A Good Story is Hard to Find Episode 367. Check it out! 

National Aviary, Pittsburgh

The National Aviary in Pittsburgh is a zoo devoted to birds. Not far from the sports stadiums, it is nestled among other museums and educational attractions across the river from downtown. 

Entrance

On the walkway from the parking lot

The main attraction that lured us there was Birdly, described as a "full-body flight simulator." Patrons put on 3D goggles after laying down on a contraption where they can simulate flapping wings and directing their flight through a virtual landscape. Options include current-day New York City or Jurassic lands, among others. When we got to the Aviary, we discovered Birdly was not working. They are waiting on some replacement parts. So we only looked at real birds.

Birdly flight simulator

Our first visit was to the Tropical Rainforest area, featuring many exotic birds. The tree canopy overhung the walkway, so we could have touched the birds (if that was allowed) or they could have touched us. 

The Southern bald ibis watched us from on high. It's from South Africa (so, very southern), more from mountainous regions. I found it a little scary-looking.

Southern bald ibis

The Victoria Crowned Pigeons live up to their regal name (yes, named after Queen Victoria). It hails from New Guinea.

Up in a nest

Showing some plumage

A left-wing bird

Demonstrating how to bow to royalty

The Hyacinth Macaws hail from South America and seemed ready to chew on anything. We noticed some of their branches had rope twined about it, maybe a human intervention to help the tree stay healthy.

Macaws hanging around

Being upside-down seemed natural for them

Showing off

Looks like that other bird is on his shoulder

The Great Argus has the longest tail feathers of any wild bird and loves to show off in mating season. It definitely was not shy about walking around in front of us.

Extra-wide shot

The Canary's Call area has lots of smaller birds on display, though the most fearsome were the Malayan Flying Foxes, a bat species from Southeast Asia. They were still because we were there in the afternoon.

Bats are birds too?

Burrowing Owls like dry, desert-like habitats and are one of the few owl species to be active during the day and at night.

Burrowing Owl

The Bearded Barbet gets its name from bristles that grow on its lower beak. Both the males and females have the bristles!

Bearded Barbet

We continued on to Penguin Point where the Antarctican birds were very active and entertaining. 

Swimming like a pro

Relaxing on a stone

Hiding in a hollow

The habitat includes both dry and wet areas, along with a tunnel underneath where shorter (or more limber) visitors could get in the middle of the action. 

Hanging around

My daughter in the display!

My son joins her

In its own habitat is the Harpy Eagle. Named after the Greek mythological horrors, the Harpy Eagle weighs around 20 pounds with a wingspan that is short compared to other eagles. It lives in tropical forests, hunting down medium-sized mammals (monkeys, sloths, anteaters, etc.). No wonder it has to stay by itself!

Harpy Eagle

In the Grasslands exhibit, a lot of tiny birds are on display. The Cuban Grassquit is from Cuba, though biologists have set up some colonies in The Bahamas to protect the species.

Cuban Grassquit

Island Canary from (you guessed it) the Canary Islands

More food than bird!

Peeking out

The Wetlands habitat has plenty of large and recognizable birds. The Roseate Spoonbill uses its bill to scoop up crustaceans from the shallow water where it walks. Like the Flamingo, it gets its pink color from its diet.

Roseate Spoonbill

Pink Flamingo

Typical curly-neck pose

Typical one-leg pose

Who's pinker?

Making an escape?

Maybe that lady should be more worried than she looks!

We paid a little extra so the kids could feed the Rainbow Lorikeets. They are kept in their own room in Canary's Call. Our kids had small cups full of nectar that the Lorikeets would land on to get a quick snack.

Dual-action!

Fun with feathered friends

A close encounter

Happiness is feeding others

Missing out on the action

The Wetlands had a nature talk by one of the employees, who drew many birds to her with treats, even ones she didn't want to talk about!

Showing off a starling

On our way back to the car we saw some of the outdoor exhibits of even larger birds. 

Andean Condor

Bald eagles, jailed for July 4!?!

Book Review: The Everlasting Man by G. K. Chesterton

The Everlasting Man: A Guide to G. K. Chesterton's Masterpiece by G. K. Chesterton with introduction, notes, and commentary by Dale Ahlquist

Responding to H. G. Wells's The Outline of History, G. K. Chesterton writes a more sensible, more erudite review of human history. Wells goes for a secular understanding, based on the science of his time which was not always so precise and has definitely not aged well by our time (though it was still contemporary for Chesterton). Chesterton, being Catholic, centers history around Jesus Christ, so the first half of his book is about prehistoric man and the various pre-Christian cultures that arose in history. Chesterton recognizes that we know almost nothing about primitive humans and gives a much more rational and believable account of what they must have been like. He proceeds through various civilizations, leading to the Roman Empire where Christ was born. He describes the revolutionary impact of Christ on humanity, both individual humans and the culture in general. He then goes through a bit of the history after Christ, looking at the various other religions and offshoots of Christianity and how they point to the centrality of Christ.

The great insight Chesterton underlines is the uniqueness of both human beings and of Jesus Christ, the titular Everlasting Man. Pre-historic cave paintings are by humans of other animals. The animals never made cave paintings or established civilizations. Humans are a lot more special and odd than an evolutionary attitude admits. Christ also provides a huge change in religions. Many people put their faith in various gods, demons, or their own intellects. Only one person convincingly claimed to be God and the church He founded has outlasted a lot of the institutions that were deliberately crafted to replace Christianity. Jesus is unique in history because He is God made man.

The analysis is brilliant. The text is enjoyable, though Chesterton often cites contemporary examples that are a century away from us now. The footnotes provided by Ahlquist fill in some of the gaps, though often they just reference Chesterton making the same point in other writings, sometimes not as clarifying as they could be. Ahlquist taught this book for years, so he has a detailed understanding that helps. An appendix provides study questions for each chapter.

Highly recommended--The subtitle is not exaggerating when it calls this Chesterton's masterpiece.

South Side Views of Pittsburgh

Lots of guide books recommend riding one of the incline trains on the south bank of the Monongahela River in Pittsburgh. We went to the Monongahela Incline, starting at the lower level. The train was built by German immigrants in the 1870s to make the trek up and down the hill much easier. The ascent is 635 feet, so that's a lot of stairs to climb. The incline was put on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974 and still operates today, though it is mostly a tourist attraction now.

The train on its way down

The ride is fairly smooth, going slowly for the first and last twenty feet and then reaching a speed of six miles an hour (so, not a whole lot faster). The views of downtown Pittsburgh from the top are amazing.

Monongahela and eastern Pittsburgh

Downtown

The downtown area comes to a point at the confluence of the three rivers. The Allegheny and the Monongahela unite to form the Ohio River, which winds its way off to Ohio in the west.

Bridges at the confluence

Another view of downtown

A cruise ship on the Monongahela

The many less famous bridges of Pittsburgh

While we were on the heights, we had some ice cream at a local place. I tried the cherry vanilla, which was delicious, though it was my third choice. My kids scooped the number one and number two flavors I would have chosen.

More fun than the train ride?

Cherry vanilla

Enjoying churro-flavored scoop

Banana pie fan

Back by the station, we saw some classical-looking homes next to a much more modern home. How did that happen?

Some residences that have wonderful views

At the top station, I noticed their concrete welcome mat. 

No need to replace it

Can't quite see the car coming up

The ride down was swift and did not look as perilous as the trip up. 

View from inside the top

Station Square Shopping area

The other train coming up

The funicular has two tracks, both with trains. One goes up while the other goes down. They act as counter-weights, making the system use less power to move them up and down. This was a fun attraction and a great place to visit, with plenty of amazing views (and geocaches) at the top.