Up with Geography: Ethiopia

Country Name:
Ethiopia

Capital:
Addis Ababa

Continent:
Africa

Maps:

African continent. Ethiopia outlined in dark ink.

A close-up of Ethiopia & its neighbors.

Neighbors:
Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, South Sudan, Sudan

Water Borders:
None

Total Area:
426,400 square miles

Five Largest Cities:
Addis Ababa, Gondar, Mek’ele, Adama, Hawassa (based on 2016 estimates; the middle 3 cities are all very close in population size)

Famous Geographical Point:
Lake Tana (the source of the Blue Nile)

Famous Person:
Yohannes Gebregeorgis, founder of childhood literacy non-profit Ethiopia Reads

Book Set In/About:
There Is No Me Without You by Melissa Fay Greene

The true story of an Ethiopian woman who, after the deaths of her husband & daughter, opened her home to an orphan, only to soon find herself running a full orphanage during the height of the AIDS crisis.

Movie Set In/About:
“Adwa” (2009), directed by Haile Gerima

This documentary film tells the history of the 1896 Battle of Adwa, wherein Ethiopians armed only with knives and spears were able to defeat the invading Italian army bent on colonization.

Headline of the Day:
“Ethiopian Ethnic Rivalries Threaten Abiy Ahmed’s Reform Agenda” in Financial Times

Top 50 Actors, #47 - Denzel Washington: "Training Day" (2001)

Movie Stats:
Released 2001 (Italy)
American & Australian, in English (minor, non-translated Spanish, Russian & Korean)
Director - Antoine Fuqua
Stars - Denzel Washington, Ethan Hawke

Plot Summary:
Rookie LAPD officer Jake Hoyt’s (Hawke) first day on the job with the narcotics department becomes a wild ride due to his supervisor, Alonzo Harris (Washington).

Warnings:
Extreme violence; extreme gore; extensive blue language; brief female nudity (everything); consensual (sort of) drug use (pot laced with PCP).

Bad Stuff:
I was bored to tears. I don’t understand how a movie with this much action & violence can be so dull, but it is.

Half the time, I didn’t understand what was happening. I’m a reasonably intelligent person, but I had to keep asking my husband (who’d seen it before) what was going on because nothing made much sense to me. I feel like they rarely explained anything.

There’s a big, eye roll-inducing coincidence that saves a character’s life & I can’t get over it because it was so stupidly unrealistic.

Good Stuff:
I liked the theme of it, the ideas that it played around with. It’s the movie’s one saving grace. To defeat “wolves,” does one need to become a wolf? And if one becomes a wolf, how far is too far to take it? It was an interesting insight into the kind of damage that battling against crime can do to a person’s psyche.

The cameos (Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Terry Crews) were fun.

About the Performance:
One of my most unpopular opinions in life is that I don’t care for Denzel Washington as an actor. Something about him bugs me, and I think he’s a bit of a scenery chewer. I also don’t tend to care for the types of movies he chooses to make. I had a hard time picking a film for him & wasn’t looking forward to watching this. That being said, I thought he was very good in it. I completely loathed his character, which I think was the point. However, I did feel that he fell into scenery chewing toward the end.

Other performances of Washington’s I’ve reviewed: Inside Man.

The Verdict:
Originally, I chose this film because it’s one of the ones Washington won an Oscar for, but I wasn’t particularly interested in it. So I decided to watch “Malcolm X” instead. After I got it from the library, though, I realized that it’s nearly 3.5 hours long, which was a firm “no” for me, so I went back to this. Everyone raves about this film, so I figured I would probably like it, despite my instincts. I was wrong. I didn’t like it at all. Alonzo is an asshole. Jake is whiny and annoying. Nothing makes any sense. The female nudity is ridiculously gratuitous. And it’s so slow! It’s supposed to be the longest day of Jake’s life, felt more like the longest day of my life. Just boo. Not my cup of tea for sure.

I give it 2.75 stars.

Up with U.S. Geography: California

California is the fourth of the eight states I've lived in to make the list! At the time of this post, my husband & I have lived in SoCal for just over five years and plan to stay at least until retirement age.

State Name:
California

Capital:
Sacramento

Date of Entry:
September 9, 1850

Maps:

Map of USA. California outlined in dark ink &
with name written on it.

A close-up of California & its neighbors.

Neighbors:
Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, Mexico

Water Borders:
Lake Tahoe, Colorado River, Pacific Ocean, San Francisco Bay

Total Area:
163,696 square miles

Five Largest Cities:
Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, San Francisco, Fresno

Famous Geographical Point:
Mt. Whitney

State Nickname:
The Golden State. Well, California first experienced explosive population growth after gold was discovered here. Also, the state is known for its sunsets & fields of poppies (the state flower). And apparently, gold is one of our official state colors!

Famous Person:
Ansel Adams, landscape photographer & environmentalist

Book Set In/About:
East of Eden by John Steinbeck

Set in Salinas Valley, this novel follows the lives of two intertwined families, with strong parallels to Biblical tales.

Movie Set In/About:
“Shelter” (2007), directed by Jonah Markowitz

A young man who’s given up his dreams of art school to help raise his nephew finds himself slowly falling for his best friend’s older brother. I chose this film not only because it’s beautiful but also because each of the main characters represents a different side of SoCal, one poor, one wealthy.

Headline of the Day:
“California Governor Signs Executive Order Stopping State's Death Penalty for Now” on cnn.com.

Top 50 Actors, #48 - James Cagney: "White Heat" (1949)

Movie Stats:
Released 1949 (USA)
American, in English
Director - Raoul Walsh
Stars - James Cagney, Margaret Wycherly, Edmond O’Brien

Plot Summary:
A heist caper featuring a remorseless killer — Cody Jarrett (Cagney) — with a mommy complex (Ma is played by Wycherly) who comes to trust a man he maybe shouldn’t trust, Vic Pardo (O’Brien).

Warnings:
Violence.

Bad Stuff:
It has a little too much “movie magic” for me, i.e. absolutely everyone is a crack shot or that one scene where Ma is being followed by the police & a car conveniently backs out of a driveway, blocking the police car following her, etc.

Cody’s wife Verna (Virginia Mayo) is completely superfluous to the plot. She added nothing beyond a pretty face. It would’ve been the same movie without her in it.

Good Stuff:
I enjoyed the cat & mouse nature of it.

The acting is good. I particularly enjoyed all three leads.

I liked the idea that Cody was thoroughly dependent on Ma, and not in a creepy way. She wasn’t his moral compass but his reality compass, making sure that his plans were solid & keeping an eye out for plots against him. Then [SPOILER] as soon as she’s gone, he’s completely incapable of making sound decisions [SPOILER]. I thought it was a nice twist on the genre.

About the Performance:
I don’t think it’s any secret that Cagney played a lot of gangsters. It was kind of his thing. Normally this is something I might complain about here, “Oh, he played the same type of character he always plays!” But I thought there was more nuance to Cody Jarrett than that. Here is this thief and murderer who rules his gang with an iron fist, who executes complex plots, and he needs his mommy to be successful. Watching him unravel was quite fascinating. [SPOILER-y] The scene where he discovers he’s been duped and says, “And we went for it, I went for it,” I absolutely loved his delivery. [SPOILER] I was impressed.

Other performances of Cagney’s I’ve reviewed: Yankee Doodle Dandy; The Public Enemy.

The Verdict:
I thought this would be a fairly standard gangster film but found that it had a little something extra. Perhaps that’s because it came fairly late in the game (old style gangster films had largely fallen out of fashion by the late 40s). I liked that it showcased actual hit-the-pavement police work. I liked how clever & resourceful Pardo was, and the delicate dance he does with Cody. Most of the acting falls on a range from good to impressive. Occasionally, things get a little too convenient in order to move the plot forward, but beyond that, I thought it was both engaging and enjoyable. A really solid film.

I give it 4 stars.