response 263 of 289:

Dec 16 21:02 UTC 2002

Think about what the movie 8 mile is about? It is about a white kid 
looking for acceptance from black peers. There are two things about him 
that make him different. 1) he is white 2) even though he is poor, he 
still lives in the 'burbs. Detroit is a very segregated metro area. 8 
mile is the dividing line between city and suburb. It also divides 
white from black. I am not sure but I would guess that those things 
have something to do with Emimem's choice of title for his movie. 

response 265 of 289:

Dec 16 21:28 UTC 2002

Could it also be because it's a well-known strip in the 313 area?  
Trailers aren't exactly urban dwellings, really.

response 267 of 289:

Dec 16 22:08 UTC 2002

They have trailer parks in the suburban communities that border 8 mile. 
Not every suburb is rich. In fact, because of sprawl, a there is a lot 
of decay in the "inner tier" suburbs from what I understand. 

313 is the area code for the area south of 8 mile which is mostly the 
City of Detroit. 810 is the area code of the suburbs north of 8 mile. 

response 269 of 289:

Dec 16 23:02 UTC 2002

My niece in Tennessee is a big Eminem fan.  She's excited about the 
prospect of coming up to Michigan next summer because I've promised to 
take her to see the actual 8 Mile Rd.  I know nothing about it at all, 
but I've told her we'll go there.

I can just see me with her, cruising up and down the entire length of 8 
Mile.

I occasionally go for drives at lunch time, and have gotten to 8 Mile 
going down Earhart Rd.  I wonder if she'll be satisfied with that part 
(which is in the country) or whether she'll insist on seeing the 
populated parts.

Someone tell me there's nothing unsafe about driving on 8 Mile; that my 
niece and I aren't going to be bludgeoned or shot at if we visit the 
seedier parts; that I didn't make a stupid promise.

response 271 of 289:

Dec 16 23:29 UTC 2002

There is absolutely nothing unsafe about driving on 8 Mile.  In general, it's
safe to drive through the sketchy parts of cities.  You're locked inside a
2-ton metal box, you're surrounded by other drivers who are potential
witnesses, and unless you're in bumper-to-bumper gridlock you can drive away
if someone does try to mess with you -- what's anyone going to do to you?

response 273 of 289:

Dec 17 01:29 UTC 2002

I am not a suburbanite.  I live in Tecumseh.  I grew up in Eaton 
Rapids, and spent several years in the UP.  What I know of cities, I 
got from watching "Goodfellas" and "The Godfather", and from reading 
the newspaper.  I've never gone to Detroit except to attend a baseball 
game.  I've pretty regularly got lost, and seen some pretty rough 
looking sections of the city.  I don't know if I've seen any parts 
which were rough enough anyone made a movie about growing up in them.

response 275 of 289:

Dec 17 02:54 UTC 2002

I've been to the seedier parts of most places, and honestly I don't think I've
been under much threat, even when out of my car at night in really nasty
places.  There are just certain ways you do things, I guess, but driving in
Detroit in daylight is certainly not much of a high-risk activity.

I take that back, sort of.  You're at lower risk in the neighborhoods than
you are on the highways. :)

response 277 of 289:

Dec 17 03:09 UTC 2002

Just don't look like you are worth anything.

response 279 of 289:

Dec 17 03:43 UTC 2002

        I was going to suggest travel on Pontiac Trail to Eight 
Mile in South Lyon, but you don't get to the scary part of 
South Lyon before you would turn right on 8 mile.

response 281 of 289:

Dec 17 05:15 UTC 2002

There was a time where you had more to fear from people dropping 
cinderblocks from the overpasses....

response 283 of 289:

Dec 17 22:24 UTC 2002

Re #281:  It was worry enough.  A co-worker of mine was killed by
a cinderblock.  She left behind a husband and an infant son.

response 285 of 289:

Dec 18 08:51 UTC 2002

And I think Mike has more sense about this sort of thing than I, so I bow to
his experience.

In the process, I completely missed that this drift was part of the movie
item.  So here we go:

I caught Two Towers tonight, in a typical "midnight of" gathering that brings,
er, interesting people from all four corners of the greater Ann Arbor area.
Typically, there were lots of familiar faces in the crowd, which is not
notable except that "lots of familiar names" is pretty much the feeling I got
from watching this movie.  Beautiful landscapes, impressive action sequences,
and a story that is *loosely* based on Tolkien's book of the same name.  Quite
loosely.  I can accept and even appreciate dramatic license in some
circumstances where the book does not flesh out certain concepts, and Jackson
did a nice job of illustrating some themes that he feels are important to the
story.

However, there are a *substantial* number of departures from the text, and
most of them seem to have no purpose.  They do not clarify parts of the book
that would be obscure on film, and they don't particularly add to the drama.
Some create their own drama, of sorts, but it is cheap and unbecoming.  My
friend and I regularly exchanged confused glances, and at one point in the
middle of the film he quite literally threw his hands in the air and gave up
on trying to understand where the movie was going.

I knew going in that Two Towers would take liberties with the story, but I
wasn't prepared for how many it took or how fundamental some of the changes
were.  I suppose this will make Return of the King interesting, since I no
longer have any idea what's going to happen, but it's bizarre.

Good movie, though.  On its own, it develops some plotlines fairly well and
shows impressive amounts of action.  Certain characters get less focus in this
film than in the first one, but due to the pace of the movie that is
ultimately forgivable.  It's a nice, watchable film, but don't expect it to
be anything that it is not--which is to say, don't expect it to actually be
"The Two Towers" in any sense a reader fo the book would think it to be.

If Jackson could just cut it out with the comic relief characters, we'd be
in good shape for part III.