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.