Thursday, July 31, 2008

Oh goody goody goody!!!

Just saw the preview for this sorry piece of tripe, Real Housewives of Atlanta. These women actually make the NYC ladies look like LADIES!!! Holy moley!!! You've got a REALLY angry woman going through a divorce running around Atlanta like she's the good lord's gift to the world and how she's so successful, when all she has to show for it is a failed marriage and a stripper pole in her basement. Some big haired bim who has a boyfriend who most of her girlfriends don't even see ... her boyfriend is called Big Poppa ... what a white trash wannabe Mr. Big wanting hussy. There is a pretty nice woman who is married to an NBA player, she's actually pretty down to earth, but her "estate manager" is wound up tighter than a swiss watch. She hires the estate manager so she doesn't have to "deal with the rest of the staff" .. wow , simply wow. Ah who else ... there's another lady who is married to an NFL player who wants to make a comeback. She's obsessed with body image and has her hands in about 20 different pots and manages to have a 10 month old adorable baby ... then there's another one who is big hair bim's best friend who is a former single mom who's been married for the last 10 years to a man who won't let her eat starches. The mouth on her is something to behold. LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLOUUUUUUUUUDDDDDD!!!!Where are the belles???? Where's AlexSimon and Duhmona??? I'm already missing yenta jill and Bethandthecity. I doubt there are any 4th wife countesses anywhere in Atlanta are there???

Hazy Day Part Deux

Took 2 painkillers last night and watched a movie called Running With Scissors. I'd heard about it a little bit and I guess Richard Roeper (why he's considered a movie critic, I'll never know) called it one of his worst movies of the year. What a dork. It sure wasn't. It was a decent movie at best. For me, it was one of those "wow, look who's in this movie" movies. Alec Baldwin, who I respect more and more the older he gets. I think the first time I thought he was fantastic was in Outside Providence. He's not in this movie very much, but he plays schlubby Dad's really well. Jill Clayburgh! Wow, she's fantastic in this film and is the main reason to watch it. She plays a haggard wife of a psychiatrist. Annette Benning is great too. She plays a mentally ill mother who signs her son over to the psychiatrist's family. It also has a cameo by Gwenyth Paltrow. Now she's an actress I can normally do without ... Shakespeare in Love ... blech, but she was born to play Sylvia Plath in Sylvia, which is did incredibly well. Another Shakespeare in Blech player, Joseph Fiennes played Paltrow's "brother" in this film too ... hardly recognized him. The guy who played the main character, Augusten Burroughs, was great ... wonder what else he's been in.

I almost dozed off toward the end, but managed to stay awake for the very end where they do a prologue since the movie was based on real events. The final scene is the guy who plays Augusten Burroughs with the real Augusten Burroughs in a really cute little snippet.

That's about all I could do ... drifted off to lala land after that.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Post Surgery Hazy TV Viewing

Had surgery yesterday morning, so I had the distinct pleasure of channel surfing .. HD channel surfing noless, all afternoon while in my drug induced haze. My latest go to channel is Planet Green. There's always something interesting there, not that I agree with half of it ... pedelling a bike to charge a battery to use with your computer ... give me a break. I'm sorry, but my laptap is not doing a whole lot regarding my so called carbon footprint to justify my riding a stationary bike to charge up a dumb battery. Thomas Edison is probably rolling in his grave right now.

I do like the show, Emeril Green. He's my favorite cherubic chef. Basically, people go shopping with him at Whole Foods, how fun would that be??? Especially if he's footing the bill??? He seems like such a cool guy ... down to earth. I could be wrong, but his persona relays to me that he seems like a good egg. A good cherubic egg with frizzy hair.

Tried watching news, but it made my pain pills wear off too fast. Watching the news has become such a stressful thing.

Watched the second half of Moscow on the Hudson on Universal HD ... great film. It stands the test of time. I'm sure there are people who don't even remember the Soviet Union. For those of you who don't, watch this film. After Moscow on the Hudson, they played The Fisher King ... the most understandable of Terry Gilliams films and a darn good one. Jeff Bridges is an underappreciated actor and at that time, Robin Williams was too. Terry Gilliam works with sets and scene set ups better than anyone. It's probably why he doesn't make films too often. First of all, I can't imagine what a pitch meeting is like with him ... you can't explain in words most of his stories ... Brazil especially. I'm not on the Brazil is the greatest film bandwagon. I guess I'm just not bright enough to "get it". There are elements of Gilliams Monty Python in all of his films. The Red Knight could be plucked right out of the Holy Grail .. heck, there's a grail involved in Fisher King .. HA! But I will say, Robin Williams is the hairiest man on earth and seeing him naked in Fisher King ... in high definition noless ... oy.

Started watching Dogs of War with Walken ... I'll have to tivo it because I took 2 more pharmaceuticals and fell asleep. Seems good ... Walken is so weird. There are so many favorite roles of his. Deer Hunter, of course, but his turn as an exterminator in Mousehunt was hysterical .. and the watch up the butt guy in Pulp Fiction ... classic "this watch ..... this watch, is your birthright"... HA!!! But I think one of the best monologues in film is Dennis Hopper giving the Moors/Italians/Cantaloupe speech in True Romance to Walken was the best. Walken's face was the best.

So today, this is about all I can do ... sit at my computer. I smell really bad ... a combination of not showering and sterile hospital smell ... glad you read that aren't you?

Friday, July 25, 2008

Superbad

Ok, so I'm the last person on earth to watch this hysterically funny movie. It's another one of those "loveable loser" Judd Apatow movies .. nothing wrong with that, it's a great forumla. I don't know if I'll ever get tired of loveable loser movies. I guess Seth Rogen wrote this film when he was 13 years old, which makes it even funnier ... only a 13 year old pubescent boy could come up with a name like McLovin. But the kid they found for McLovin has to be the best casting find in comedy. Unfortunately for him, his career in hollywood was over the minute the movie came out. Who knows, maybe he'll turn into the next Jerry McConnell, disappear and then come back as a completely different looking guy. Time will tell.

Started watching the DA Pennebaker documentary, Don't Look Back. It's about Bob Dylan's 1965 London shows. He's looking as cute and raggamuffiny as ever, but what a colossal dipwad ... just grumpy grumpy grumpy. I only watched a few minutes before I started falling asleep, so this will be one I'll have to revisit over the next few days.

Got through all 8 episodes of Mad Men ... Sunday is the new season premiere. And wouldn't you know it .. the guy who created Mad Men was a writer for the Sopranos! There you go, at least I'm consistent!

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Getting through the tivo

I'm a huge Roberto Benigni fan. Down By Law, Night on Earth, Coffee and Cigarettes (thank you Jim Jarmusch, you totally rock), Johnny Stechinno, The Monster ... and of course, La Vita e Bella ... saw that one in the theater and could watch it over and over again. I find it to be one of the most inspiring films ever made ... how far a parent will go to protect their child. I don't want to watch his version of Pinnochio ... but I did see another fantastic film of his called The Tiger and the Snow. It's bascially a mirror version of Life is Beautiful, but done so incredibly well. He plays an Italian poet who is trying to save the love of his life in Iraq, who is laying in a coma in a Baghdad hospital after the American invasion and occupation (yes, I wrote that). There were a couple laugh out loud scenes, one involving his trying to get to Basra on a camel and him convincing American soldiers that he's not a terrorist ... I don't think this film was widely released in America for obvious reasons. The political overtones were blatant, which made it even better. Roberto Benigni is a great actor ... totally deserved that Oscar for LIB. I remember Steven Spielberg referred to him as an Italian Furby after his most memorable Oscar acceptance speech. I think I actually cried watching that. Anyway ... the most surprising performance was by Jean Reno. He's a fantastic actor and I had no idea he was fluent in Italian (he's French and usually plays Frenchmen, only in this film, he's an Iraqi). Not sure if he's fluent in Arabic, but he sure seemed to be in this movie. There's a twist, of course, but there's a beautiful scene toward the end of the film where the title of the film comes to life and everything gets tied up in a nice bow. I'm going to have to buy this one for my collection. I loved it. But wait, the coolest part of the film HAS to be ... the dream sequences where Atillo (Benigni) is getting married and who is the piano player ... freaking Tom Waits!!!! Tom Waits ... Tom Waits!!!! Singing at the piano, in Italian!!! This guy is the coolest guy on earth. He worked with Benigni in Down By Law, which was directed by Jim Jarmusch, Jim Jarmusch directed one of my favorite westerns, Dead Man, with Johnny Depp, which brings me to ....

And onto my Polanski film festival ... the Ninth Gate ... why why why??? Is Polanski just going for a paycheck on this movie?? Johnny Depp was good, he's so versatile ... Willy Wonka, Captain Jack ... but he must have done this film because he wanted to work with Polanski. I don't know, it's a good thing he made the Pianist because if he hadn't I would have lost all faith in Polanski as a filmmaker and ended my film fest with Chinatown. There's just no reason to watch this film other than Depp and Emmanuelle Seigner look really good.

I watched a couple episodes of Man Men .. I have 8 more to go .. the season premiere is on Sunday so I better get cooking, or smoking .. or drinking ... I thought there would never be another drama as good as the Sopranos, well, watch it David Chase ... Mad Men is just as good. It's amazing how this show is so realistic to the time period of the early 60's. You see pregnant women smoking, a kid spills something and the dad tells the kid to get the mom to clean it up .. oy, how far we've come, thank god. It's amazing, the plot lines are almost secondary to the setups.

Swingtown is turning into guilty pleasure viewing. There's just not much to report. Sa-wingers Sa-winging. I wish Steve Martin and Dan Akroyd would show up to one of Trina's pool parties. At least it would be funny and not so soap opera-y.

Monday, July 21, 2008

Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men!!!

Woo hoooooooooooo!!! My favorite mysogynistic, smokin' and drinkin' show. They ran a marathon on Sunday night and I managed to tivo most of them. Now I have to get through them so my other precious shows don't get deleted in the process ... I'm gonna be a busy busy loser tv viewer this week!

I've been watching this new channel called Planet Green. I'm not a big environmentalist, I don't recycle, I reuse and I watch my consumption .. haven't bought bottled water in years, not because it's better for the environment, but because buying water, in my view, is a silly waste of money. I've always felt that way, even before it was chic to bash bottled water. Never understood why someone would pay so much for something that you are already paying for, in most instances, by turning on your tap. Now, if your water is gross, that's another issue, but my water isn't gross, it's very drinkable and I'll keep filling up my water bottles and spending my money elsewhere, like our satellite bill so I can keep watching tv!!! Anyway, this Planet Green channel is dangerous. I was ironing and they actually suggested that people DRAFT off trucks on the highway to save on gas mileage. These idiots obviously haven't a clue what drafting is ... it's freaking dangerous! NASCAR drivers draft off each other, basically, you get up on the bumper of the driver in front of you and they literally drag you with them ... I can't believe these hoohas at Planet Green are actually suggesting that people do this WITH SEMIS!!! This could get you killed. I can see it now "yes, Mr. Jones died tragically, but gosh darn .... he was get that extra mile to the gallon drafting off that semi that stopped suddenly, sending him hurling into the butt of his truck... yippeee!!" Boo to Planet Green for even suggesting this.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for shrinking my so called carbon footprint, but I'm not going to go all hogwild. I'm nowhere near the polluter that most big companies are ... let's start with them. These environmentalists need to stop guilting regular citizens into buying into their agenda. Start guilting Texaco, Kimberly Clark, et al. I was happy to see that the Sunchips factory in California is a sustainable operation. All Sun Chips are made using solar power! I'll buy them for that reason now.

Ok, this is turning political ... back to mindless tv!!!

Man men mad men mad men mad men!!!! Woo hooooo!!!!! Thank you AMC, thank you thank you thank you.

I guess Real Housewives is going to have an Atlanta version. Not too thrilled, but I'll tune in. If they want southern belles, they need Dallas or Savannah. But my NYC version ... those are my goils! I guess AlexSimon were the first to pony up for the new season. No surprise. Those 2 losers are the biggest dipwads on television and I love 'em!!! They make me feel so much better.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

The Blanchett Film Festival Continues and a Little Something about a New York Doll

Watched Notes on a Scandal last night. Wow, disturbing, but so incredibly good. Blanchett was definitely in a supporting role, this movie was Dame Judi Dench's. She's just fabulous. Interesting, both Blanchett and Dench have played Queen Elizabeth I, only Dench won the Oscar for it (a bogus win, in my opinion, she should have won it for Mrs. Brown ...). Dench plays this very disturbed woman ... to a freaking tee, mind you. Blanchett looks absolutely gorgeous in this film. She is a true chameleon. She looked completely different in The Good German and completely different again in Babel. Those two shared the screen wonderfully.

I'm a documentary geek and 2 of my favorites are The Nomi Song, about Klaus Nomi a pioneer new wave singer who was one of the first tragic losses to AIDS, in 1983, the other is New York Doll, about Arthur "Killer" Kane, the bassist for the uber punk band, New York Dolls. Between the 2 of those, I've probably logged 50 hours of viewing. New York Doll was on this morning and of course, I watched it again. Kane was an addict, and a musician ... 2+2 right? After going on a bender and throwing himself out of a hotel window, while in the hospital, he found God via the LDS church. He became a member in good standing, working in the family history center in LA and finding out his dad had passed away. In 2004, he was contacted to join the rest of the Dolls in a reunion concert in London. He got out his bass and went to NYC to practice and meet up with his nemesis, David Johanson, aka, Buster Poindexter (Hot Hot Hot .. please, yuck), who was the lead singer for the Dolls. The concerts went off without a hitch and everyone was cheering for Arthur and he looked like he was having fun being with his friends from back in the day. 22 days after he got back to LA and back to work, he went to the emergency room, was diagnosed with Leukemia and died within 2 hours .. boom, done ... sad, but kind of not sad because he died happy after being reuinited with his friends and realizing that he had fans all over the world. Very sweet film.

Monday, July 14, 2008

Eastern Promises

Wow ... what a film. David Cronenberg actually seems to be mellowing out in his filmmaking. The last 2 films I've seen of his, this one and A History of Violence, actually made sense. Viggo is amazing. Great plot twist I might add. When I travelled through Russia, when it was still Soviet, I could see some of the smatterings of what the place is now ... mob run, only when I was there, it was called the black market. With the fall of communism, the black market rose up and now ... well, what a mess. Violent isn't the word, although, really only 1 scene is super violent. Takes place in a bathhouse and involves a very very very ... swinging it all ... naked Viggo Mortensen taking on a couple Chechen thugs and freaking kicking both their clothed butts! It was an incredible scene .. I'm assuming Mortensen did his own stunts. How they filmed it is beyond me. Great show!

Another show I've been watching on a regular basis is Penn & Teller Bulls&^% ... I've watched every episode and was shocked when Penn said that they were now in season 5!!! I watch too much tv. I've learned a lot from them. About what a BS organization PETA is ... the myths of recycling ... how Wal-Mart isnt' so bad (yes, I wrote that). Last week was about dolphins and the crazy people who think they can talk to them ... yes, there are those kind of people out there. Nex week's episode should be interesting about sleep medication.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Wonderland .. Swingtown ... World Trade Center

In keeping with my Michael Winterbottom habit, I watched Wonderland. Well, it was definitely better than Jude ... yuck. What does this guy have with adapting Thomas Hardy novels. Well, Wonderland had a Trainspotting vibe to it. I didn't understand a darn thing that was going on. It moved from story to story, lots of characters, not quite sure how they all fit together and I feel like an idiot when I write this, but I didn't get it until the very end when I pushed the "info" button to see the plot synopsis ... Ohhhhhhhhh, those women are sisssssssssters!!! Now I get it. I liked seeing the guy who played Don Konkey in Dirt was in the movie ... real accent and all. Couldn't understand a word he said. Also, the woman who plays the googley eyed mom in Swingtown was in it, only for some reason, she didn't look so googley eyed in this movie. Was it good? Yea, I guess so ... just hard to follow.

And wouldn't you know it .. SOMEONE SMOKED IN SWINGTOWN!!! I can't believe I was happy to see it, but it just made things a little more authentic. The episode wasn't terribly remarkable, just good enough to keep me watching.

Stumbled on World Trade Center. Usually, I'm opposed to Oliver Stone movies. I will never forgive him for what he did to Natural Born Killers and I'm hoping that someday Quentin Tarantino will remake the film the way it was intended. I liked JFK for the most part, Kevin Bacon stole the show. Platoon .. ugh, one of the worst, no, the worst 'nam film. Stone makes sledgehammer movies ... he beats you over the head over and over and by the time you're done, you're saying "enough oliver stone, enough!!!". Wall Street was pretty good, but became such a cliche film. I am looking forward to seeing his film about Wonderboy, W. Josh Brolin as W will be interesting to see.

Nicholas Cage frustrates me. One of my favorite guilty pleasure movies is Valley Girl. I could watch that movie over and over again. He was great in Leaving Las Vegas, deserved the Oscar, but he seems to have become a parody of himself after that. In WTC, he was very good, albeit he didn't move around a whole lot as he spent half the movie wedged in the wreckage of the World Trade Center. What was amazing about the movie was the buildup and the special effects. Gave me the chills. I saw a documentary about a year after 9-11 made by some European filmmakers who were in the WTC the day of the attack. The thing that haunted me the most about the documentary was the thud after thud after thud of the jumpers hitting the ground. Stone made that very prominent, which was depressing to hear. But the most moving scene was the scene at Bellvue hospital with the wife of Cage's character standing with the mother of an elevator operator, waiting to get word about her son. She knew he was dead, but she was just waiting for confirmation. This woman gave the most realistic cry of agony and despair I've seen on film. All in all, it was a very good film. It teetered on the border of consipracy, like most of Stone's films, but I didn't feel the sledgehammer like I normally feel.

After WTC, I flipped onto the very beginning of Eastern Promises. Viggo Mortensen plays a Russian mobster ... he's one of the scariest actors alive. Watching him in A History of Violence was amazing. Plus he was married to Exene Cervenka from X, so his cool cred is off the charts. Granted, he dumped her and their son, but oh well, I'll give him a pass because he's a stinking weird actor/artist, kind of like I do with Bob Dylan. I didn't watch Eastern Promises ... it was almost 2am. I have it on the tivo, will report back after I watch.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Zee Good German

I think I would have my cultural ethnicity stripped from me if I didn't watch this film. Has one of my favorite actresses, Cate Blanchett and George Clooney. It's a Steven Soderbergh film. He's one of those filmmakers that I like every other one of his films. He makes a commercial piece of tripe like the Oceans 11, 12 & 13 and Erin Brokovich's ... blech ... so he can make good films like The Good German, Sex Lies & Videotape and Bubble.

Zee Good German reminded me not so much of Casablanca, which I think is what he was going for, but The Big Lift, one of my favorite Montgomery Clift films (they really need to make a biopic of him). It's in black & white and uses post WWII footage, which is blended really well. Tobey McGuire plays one of the worst people I've ever seen on film .. actually cheered when he got killed (sorry, spoiler, but that's really not the point). Is there an accent that Cate Blanchett CAN'T do? Seriously, they make such a big deal about Meryl Streep doing accents .. Blanchett's are better.

But back to the movie. It really goes into how political the end of the European was was. Who would get prosecuted for war crimes, who would get "hired" by whom to help develop space programs and weapons. It was the Russians and the Americans ... hello cold war. It also showed how everyone was a victim or a victimizer in post war Germany. It was sad to see, especially as the daughter of a post WWII German. I've gotten into spitting matches with people who think that all Germans sat idly by while carnage occured ... poppycock. Germans were trying to survive themselves! Most Germans didn't know what the heck was going on and then some in the world wanted to punish each and every German for the atrocities of a few. Ok, blood boiling ... simmer down. Phew.

Monday, July 7, 2008

Control

Finally got finished watching Control. Never ever ever ever watch this film while bummed out. Dang! I know what happened to Ian Curtis and all, but seeing it on film was heartwrenching. The guy who played Ian was spooky, heck all the band members were spooky. Samantha Morton was good as Deborah, Ian's widow ... did I mention how depressing the film was? I think I'm going to have to let this one marinate for a little while. I didn't feel this bummed when I read the book, Touching from a Distance, on which this film is based ... maybe being filmed in black and white also made a difference.

Don't get me wrong, it was a very good film, maybe a bit too good. Joy Division is/was such a great band. I probably like them better than New Order. And wouldn't circumstance have it, I published this post and what song popped up? Dead Souls by Joy Division ... I'm completely creeped out now. I hate it when films stick in my head like that, now I'm going to be sullen for the rest of the day. The last film to do this to me was Pan's Labyrinth, but that was a work of fantasy, not a true story. The events in the film, more specifically, Ian Curtis's suicide really happened. Ugh, why do I do this to myself.

Ok, good film, not for everyone.

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Bob Dylan

I watched the terrific documentary, No Direction Home, when it first came out on American Masters on PBS. Martin Scorsese directed while taking a break from The Departed. It's just terrific as only Marty can do. He was a producer on the Woodstock film too, so this must have brought him back to the good old days .. well, he also directed The Last Waltz ... ok .. so, Bob Dylan. I can't say that I'm a big fan of his. I love Rainy Day Woman Pt. 1 and Subterranean Homesick Blues and one of my favorite songs, he wrote ... All Along the Watchtower. Jimi Hendrix did that song more justice than Bob ever would singing it. VH1 Classic ran the film in it's 4.5 hour entirety and I've been going through it as insomnia strikes.

I like Bob Dylan's .. for lack of a better term, presence. He's this little skinny kid from the iron region of Minnesota and he managed to turn music on it's ear on his terms. He wasn't taken over by the business. He is an aloof, smartass musician. He's mean as a feral cat, he has no patience for anything or anyone. I love how everyone around him dismisses his awful behavior as his being an artist ... man, I need to get me some of that. Since I was never involved in the Dylan love, I can admire his horrible behavior from afar. He lied about everything ... where he grew up, how he got to NYC ... he's a master manipulator. But what an incredible song writer/poet and maybe he lies and acts like such a dipwad to people wouldn't pay attention to him as a person, but pay attention to the music, and it worked.

Joan Baez, who was one of his girlfriends described him perfectly, he's a ragamuffin who women wanted to mother. Yep, look at old pictures of him .. he looks like this little babyfaced guy with tousled hair and that voice ... oh man, he's just cute as a button. But it's the %$#@ you attitude that appeals to me.

I can't wait to see the film, I'm Not There. It takes 5???? periods of Dylan's life and they are played out by different actors. Richard Gere, Heath Ledger (spooky) and the best has to be Cate Blanchett as the cute touseled haired Dylan. Perfect casting. Dylan is rather feminine looking during that time. David Cross plays Allan Ginsberg, perfect ... love David Cross. He's another freaking jerk who is successful in spite of it.

So anyway, No Direction Home is a great film.


Part II ... boy I am Bob Dylan ignorant. The song is Rainy Day Woman Pts 12 & 35 ... and as I finish up watching, it's kind of like one of those films that grows on you with each viewing. Felt that way about Swingers, Napoleon Dynamite and O Brother Where Art Thou. I have 10 minutes left to watch and I have to say that I love that guy! He must have been hanging around Andy Warhol a lot because he's very obtuse and difficult to interview. He doesn't lap up the questions, he spits them right back ... zero tolerance. Love it. I've also put into good use, my Itunes gift card ... added some Dylan and Hendrix to my repertoire. Itunes gift cards are the best.

I've added a picture that I hope isn't too offensive. It's a picture of Woody Guthrie's guitar. He was a guy ahead of his time. That picture was from the 1940's or 50's ... radical before radical was cool. I have a Woody Guthrie song over there on my playlist, California Stars covered by Wilco. Bob idolized Woody.

Saturday, July 5, 2008

Swingtown is starting to lose me

Ok, so it was cool for the first couple episodes ... Chicago, cool, 1970's cool, Sa-wingers ... well, not so cool, but kind of hooky, cool music ... but this last episode was really stupid.

I will give fair warning here ... if you don't like hearing about porno movies, stop reading.





ok????


Ahem. This episode dealt with the court case of Harry Reems, of Deep Throat fame. He was arrested in the mid 70's for trafficking obscenity across state lines. Ok, I'm ... down with that. Brother was getting railroaded for something stupid and it was obviously politically motivated. Heck, I saw the film, as most college age people do .. come on, admit it. In any event, the show portrayed Harry Reems as a victim. BS ... he knew what he was doing. During the course of the show, they made him seem like a poor schmuck who wanted to be an actor. Yea, he wanted to be an actor all right ... he made over 100 porno films. Actor ... ha! I really hate it when writers whitewash the truth. Harry Reems was a porno actor, boom, done. He liked it ... boom, done. Nothing wrong with it. I'm all for it. You go Harry. Oh, he found god and sells real estate in Utah now. So what a bullshit episode.

The other thing that is annoying is that nobody smokes on the show. I'm not a smoker, I don't advocate smoking. But come on, it's the 70's in Chicago ... everybody smoked back then. If it wasn't cigarettes, it was pot, hash ... dried banana peels (doesn't work btw :( ) I also don't like the freaky google eyed daughter stalking her teacher. It's just creepy. Maybe it wouldn't be creepy if she did it with a smoke while watching Deep Throat.

I'll keep watching because I dig the Deckers, but everyone else is ticking me off.

Friday, July 4, 2008

Missing George Carlin

How many of these have we seen in the past 2 weeks? Well, chuck this one in with the rest of them.

My Dad is very cool. When I was a kid ... a long time ago ... probably when I was 12 or so, my Dad decided that it was ok for me to listen to George Carlin records. We also listened to Richard Pryor records, wow, that ticked my mom off royal. Maybe he did just to tick her off, in any event, listening to those records, Carlin's in particular, really shaped my way of thinking about the world. Pryor records just introduced me to another cultural experience, and many words that I had never heard, much less uttered. But Carlin ... he spoke about everyday things, the irony of life in general. I had the 7 words committed to memory by the time was 12. Am I proud of that? Well, it showed that I could actually memorize stuff, but it also showed, again, the irony of everyday life. His wit was exceptional. Why do people name their dogs Spot? If I get a dog, I am going to name it "Stain" ... brilliant! Simple, funny!

But I lost George Carlin long before 2 weeks ago. After his wife died, he seemed to grow very very melocholy in his humor ... humorless humor, I guess. His bitterness toward the world was sad to see. When he proclaimed that nobody should vote, I was saddened. Everyone should vote, no matter what. I vote so I can complain because I always vote for losers.

Carlin was arrested with Lenny Bruce in Chicago in the early 1960's. What I wouldn't give to have been sitting in that paddy wagon with them ... Lenny was the Christ figure of comedy. Lenny broke the barriers ... gave his life, literally, so comedians like Richard Pryor and George Carlin could perform without the risk of being arrested for obscenity, although Carlin was arrested and his case regarding the 7 words did make it all the way to the SCOTUS .. he won, :) Carlin's big thing were WORDS ... words don't kill, people kill. Lenny Bruce was convicted of obscenity and died while appealing his case. He was pardoned after he died. The film, Lenny, was terrific. One of Dustin Hoffman's best performances.

So, that's my diatribe on George Carlin.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Musings

Watched a few things ... ah, summertime.

Swingtown is really ... swinging .. ha! It's a good show with Grant Show .. oy, I'm just a punster this morning. Not sure how it's doing in the ratings, but most shows I love end up getting cancelled, so I had better enjoy while I can.

John Lennon, In His Life. A movie about the early years of John Lennon. It was pretty good, better than Backbeat, that's for sure. Backbeat was just too awful for words. I think In His Life was made in England, using English actors, so that already made it better. I am a Beatles fan ... been one since my mom and dad bought me Abbey Road when I was a mere pup.

Another group I love is Joy Division. I was so out of the loop when I was a kid that I never realized that New Order used to be Joy Division. I think I made that discovery when I was in college and never realized what happened with Ian Curtis until I was in grad school. Joy Division was a pioneer of what became the Manchester Music Scene ... how cliche. JD actually put out records in the late 70's ... Ian Curtis committed suicide in 1980 and New Order was born and went on to massive success, although, I only like their music from the early to mid 80's ... went too commercial for me.

I read Ian's wife's memoir, Touching from a Distance, good book. The documentary, called .... wait for it ... Joy Division, was really good as well. It had all the cast of characters, Tony Wilson, the band members, even Ian's mistress, which I was shocked to see. He killed himself over his torment between his wife, Deborah, with whom he had a child, and Annik Honore, the mistress. It's really too bad. Ian Curtis was a true poet, and people thought that Kurt Cobain was a poet .. ha! He worshipped at the altar of Ian Curtis. For obvious reasons, Deborah Curtis never appeared in the documentary, but Honore sure does, a lot ... kind of weird. The band members kind of shrink back when they talk about her ... latent guilt maybe? Even Tony Wilson, the guy who took Joy Division national and summoned the whole ... gag me .. Manchester Music Scene, seemed sheepish about the subject. Tony Wilson died in the last couple years too, which I was shocked to hear. 24 Hour Party People is such a great film about that whole era ... starts with Joy Division, ends with Happy Mondays, who I loved too ... Happy Mondays took me through graduate school ... there's a little smattering of both groups over on my playlist.

Still have to find time to watch the movie based on Touching from a Distance.

Got through Chinatown .. wow, what a loser I am for not watching this sooner. I hang my head in shame. I'll be a complete snob and say this is a throwback to film noir ... pronounced, film no-wahhhhh ... my favorite character is Polanski's. He plays a thug who cut Jake's nose up, what a little schmuck he his. Faye Dunaway, most notorious as the brief wife of J Geils lead singer, Peter Wolf, is pretty good ... she's too actressy for me, kind of like Kathleen Turner is too actressy for me ... Nicole Kidman too. Nicholson is natural, but I don't get the whole leading man thing because he looks like a balding turtle. Loved him in Easy Rider, did he write that? I think he did. The most believeable leading man role was in Terms of Endearment. The other Polanski film I got through was Death and the Maiden. Love Ben Kingsley. I'll harken back, why did he do You Kill Me??? Ben, that was so beneath you! Kingsley was great in this film. Sigourney Weaver too, but overall, it was an ok film. It was based on a stage play, which you could tell. The best part of the movie was the final scene though ...

ok ... drivelling over.