Archive '07 - LOST in Tubeland

I spent this Sunday night not watching the Emmys. Well, I'm lying a bit. I watched the first ten minutes, during which time some Family Guy cartoon characters did a musical number about how much TV sucks. This was followed by the host (some pasty bland guy from American Idol) who made the quite accurate point that he could not fill the shoes of his predecessors. At this point I came to my senses and turned off the TV.

After checking out some results online, I do regret though that I missed seeing my favorite current television actor awarded. Lost is my favorite show (maybe of all time! I'm not kidding.) and a big part of that is Terry O'Quinn's consistently fascinating performance as John Locke. At some point, I hope to post my theories about Lost, but the bottom line is, I believe Locke is the key to the show.

This is all colored by the fact that I don't really watch TV. OK, I'm lying again. I watch movies and news shows all the time, but to keep from having no life at all, I really only watch one series show regularly at a time. I realize I'm missing out on a lot because of this, but choices must be made. I've never seen an episode of ER for example and I like George Clooney!

Right now and for the foreseeable future, it's Lost. It started out as a fun mystery thriller, but this last season has been amazing, revealing depths that could never have been guessed at the beginning. Can't wait for Season 4 in January!

Just for fun, I'm thinking of what preceded Lost as the ONE show I watched. In approximate reverse order they were The West Wing, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Sopranos, South Park and Seinfeld. For the record, I vote All in the Family as the best all time sitcom.

Speaking of awards shows, I'm jazzed that Jon Stewart will be back hosting the Oscars next year. If they could just have him alternate with Steve martin every year, we'd be set.

Archive '06 - Favorite Films of 2006

5) BORAT – This one just came out of nowhere. I'd never even heard of Sacha Baron Cohen's Kazakhstani reporter character or seen Da Ali G Show, but I was intrigued by the glowing reviews Borat was getting. They were well deserved. This is the funniest film I've seen since the South Park movie. Cohen interacts with mostly unsuspecting real Americans who are told that this foreign journalist is trying to learn about American culture. What they are not told is that Borat is ignorant, anti-Semitic, homophobic and not quite toilet trained.

Aside from the laughs, Borat is one of the more politically pointed films on the subject of intolerance and bigotry, specifically anti-Semitism. Cohen is Jewish and delights in mocking the most outrageous stereotypes of Jew hatred. For me the most powerful statements on this subject have come from hysterical comedies. In this, Borat belongs on a list with Blazing Saddles and All in the Family.


4) BRICK – The first 2006 film I saw was Brick, which is kind of an inverse of another fine film, The Good German, the last film I caught this year. The Good German is filmed with the black and white look and style of a 1940's film noir. Brick is filmed with a contemporary look, but the performances and plotting echo that classic noir period. It's about a high school outsider who gets caught up in drug deals gone wrong and violent double crosses.

But Joseph Gordon-Levitt (the kid from 3rd Rock From the Sun) plays the role as if he was Humphrey Bogart in The Maltese Falcon. Not an imitation – he succeeds in channeling the spirit of Sam Spade. Sure enough, the high school is filled with femme fatales, tough hoods and slimy villains with nicknames like "The Pin." The result is movie buff heaven.


3) HEART OF GOLD - Jonathan Demme's Neil Young concert film, Heart of Gold, is the best concert movie since The Talking Heads' Stop Making Sense back in 1984. It's probably not a coincidence that the earlier film was also directed by Jonathon Demme. I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that Demme be required to direct all future concert films, because his camera has a way making music performances immediate and cinematic like no other director. It doesn't hurt that his subject is one of the all time greats of rock n roll, Neil Young. While Young can rock hard enough to be nicknamed "The Godfather of Grunge," here he's in his acoustic folk/country mode.

The first half of the concert is most of his latest album, Prairie Wind, his strongest in years. Having been diagnosed with a brain tumor that he has since recovered from, Young wrote with the passion of someone who felt he might not have much time left. The second half is devoted to tracks from the similarly styled albums Harvest, Comes a Time and Harvest Moon. Aside from Bob Dylan, Neil Young is the only aging rock star who has embraced getting older as a part of his music. The result sounds more vital than most artists less than half his age.


2) THE DEPARTED – Of course I was rooting for Martin Scorsese to win the directing Oscar for Gangs of New York or The Aviator. These were fine films, but the win would have been to right the injustice of his being passed over for his holy trinity of masterpieces: Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and Goodfellas. If he finally wins for The Departed, it won't a career award, it will be because he's returned to gritty form with a vengeance.

Like Alfred Hitchcock's thrillers or Woody Allen's dramadies, all Martin Scorsese's gangster films are kind of the same and kind of not. "Gimme Shelter" may be back but Jack Nicholson has replaced Robert DeNiro, the Irish replaced the Italians, cops are given a closer look than in previous films and the story is based on a Japanese thriller. This, plus a healthy dose of humor, are all like new instruments in Scorsese's hands.

Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon give career best performances and it's been over twenty years since Nicholson's been this good.


1) UNITED 93 - United 93 is not an enjoyable or entertaining film in the traditional sense. It is, however an important one. It looks at 9/11 with a clear unflinching eye. There's none of the distracting sub-plots or flourishes that trivialized Olver Stone's World Trade Center. Using only information available from cell phone records and ground control eyewitnesses, director Paul Greengrass coldly and accurately recreates the events of that horrible morning.

For me, at least, it brought back many of the feelings I had on 9/11 itself. This film is almost unbearably intense, but because we know how it must end, that tension is not released with suspense. The only comparable film equivalent I can think of is Schindler's List.

One sign of United 93's authenticity, is the fact that the airport personnel on the ground were not actors, but the actual participants playing themselves. by choosing to focus on the one 9/11 attack in which the victims resisted and fought back, Greengrass does provide a glimmer of hope along with the sadness and horror. I was initially very skeptical that a 9/11 film could be made that was not exploitive. Sometimes it's good to be proven wrong.



While I'm at it, I may as well note what I consider the worst film of 2006: Superman Returns. Here are ten reasons it was such an utter disappointment:

1) The new Superman is just doing a Christopher Reeve impersonation.
2) It's nice that they found a beautiful actress to play Lois. It would have been nicer if they found one who could act or be even a little believable as a reporter.
3) The guy from X-Men who played Lois' boyfriend added nothing to the movie
4) Adding a kid to a story that absolutely does not need a kid is a sign of desperation.
5) What's with the whole Superman as Jesus analogy?
6) The entire premise of the film is based on Superman having been gone to find fragments of his old planet. No details are given regarding this mission, which means no thought was given to it and was just a manipulative plot device.
7) "Truth, justice and all that other stuff."? - It's "The American Way" you douchebags!!! Just cause you're trying to pander to an international market doesn't mean you fuck with a classic catchphrase.
8) Very liberal use of the old John Williams score and Marlon Brando outtakes from the first film. There's a fine line between homage and rip off.
9) Luthor's plan is to create earthquake like natural disasters. Gee, that sounds familiar.
10) Superman 1 and 2 exist. They are great movies and if more respect had been paid to why they succeeded, the rest of the sequels may not have sucked so bad.

Archive '06 - Random Musings

************************************************************
Happy Hanukkah/Christmas/Festivus ect!!! There are lots of great Christmas songs out there, but I've never found a full Christmas album that I've actually wanted to own. And, no, it's not because I'm Jewish. Jews can like Christmas songs too! I just didn't want a sappy Christmas album so I downloaded my own CD. And here tis:

1) Christmas Don't be Late – The Chipmunks
2) Little Drummer Boy – David Bowie & Bing Crosby
3) Jingle Bell Rock – Hall & Oates
4) Santa Claus is Coming to Town – Bruce Springsteen
5) Merry Christmas Baby – Bruce Springsteen
6) Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) – U2
7) Christmas all Over Again – Tom Petty
8) I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus – John Mellencamp
9) Blue Christmas – Elvis Presley
10) Wonderful Christmastime – Paul McCartney & Wings
11) Happy Xmas (War is Over) – John Lennon
12) Do They Know its Christmas? – Band Aid
13) Snow Miser / Heat Miser – Year Without a Santa Claus
14) Merry %$#&@ Christmas – South Park
15) Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer – Elmo & Patsy
16) I Am Santa Claus – Bob Rivers (Black Sabbath "Iron Man" parody)
17) The Hanukkah Song – Adam Sandler
18) Let it Snow – Frank Sinatra
19) Frosty the Snowman – Darlene Love
20) Winter Wonderland – The Ronettes
21) What Child is This – Martina McBride
22) Do You Hear What I Hear – Perry Como
23) Little Drummer Boy – Bob Seger
24) Silent Night – Stevie Nicks

Yeah, the Perry Como one's a little sappy, but it was from the opening credits of Gremlins so it gets a pass.

A few more tunes I would have included if there was more room on the CD:

Father Christmas – The Kinks
Fairy Tale of New York – The Pogues
12 Days of Christmas – Bob & Doug McKenzie
Oh, Holy Night – Sufjan Stevens
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen – Barenaked Ladies

*****************************************************************************

Wow, its been awhile since I've blogged. Well, now I have a new computer, so there's no excuse not to. And what have I been doing with this new computer? Downloading music. Bands I'd heard about, but never knew much of their catalogue. Bands like Velvet Underground, Arcade Fire, Sufjan Stevens, Mott the Hoople, Frank Zappa, George Clinton and Love.

I've also found myself a fan of an artist that absolutely no one I know can tolerate - Alice Cooper. I'd only known a few of his hits previously, but his early seventies stuff was a potent combination of Bowie glam and Sabbath metal. I'm particularly enjoying songs off Billion Dollar Babies like "Hello Hooray" and "Generation Landslide." Everyone seems to think he's pretty cheesy, but I don't care.

On another subject, I love this quote from Isaac Asimov about one of my favorite subjects: nostalgia. "To anyone who has lived a life that has not been utterly disatrous, there is an iridescent aura permeating its second decade. Memories of the first decade, extending back to the age of ten, are dim, uncertain and incomplete. Beginning with the third decade, after twenty, life becomes filled with adult responsibility and turns to lead. But that second decade, from ten to twenty, is gold; it is in those years that we remember bliss."

The Chicago International Film Festival started this week. Last year "Brick" was the big standout. Hopefully, I'll have some quality discoveries to report on this year.

*****************************************************************************

When United 93 was released earlier this year, I was skeptical whether a film about 9/11 would be appropriate. I related to those who wondered if it was being made too soon after that horrible day. As it turned out, United 93 was a masterpiece. Viscerally intense and a fitting tribute, that film is like a time capsule of how we all felt that day. Not a pleasant experience, but an important one.

Cut to last night's screening of Oliver Stones World Trade Center. It's a good film. At some points a very good film, but perhaps it is too soon for this one. The story of police trapped in the rubble of the destroyed building is moving one and their true-life heroism is honored, but many scenes would have been identical if it were an earthquake film.

The most powerful moments are those simply showing the actual media coverage of the day. But Stone relies on the exact kind of melodrama that United 93 gained its power by avoiding. World Trade Center is about the characters in the movie. United 93 is about all of us.

So, yes. Oliver Stone made a good film and did not succumb to any of the excesses that he's known for. Still, when the subject is 9/11, is good good enough? World Trade Center deserves an audience, but I would hate to see this very Hollywood take on the tragedy overshadow the brilliant and definitive United 93.

*****************************************************************************

Archive '06 - Three Colors (Movie Review)

THREE COLORS (BLUE / WHITE / RED)

While I dont put too much stake in coincidences, I try not to just write them off, especially when it involves a core philosophy and the theme of a great movie. The idea is that we're all interconnected in sometimes surprising ways. Is that not why were here on My Space. While it may only be some good friends reading these words, its possible that someone whose life story I could not imagine may come across them as well.

As frustrating as the internet can be, as more of us get connected, we as humans become more interconnected. I joined My Space because I received an E-mail from my friend, Paul, informing me that he had a page. Id been thinking of blogging for some time, and here the opportunity presented itself. That same evening I re-watched a film called Red, which is about these very ideas.

I did not watch it because this idea was on my mind. Its the 3rd part of The Three Colors Trilogy and I had already watched Blue and White not long before. I had planned to see the film before I knew that would be the day that I would join My Space, thereby establishing the exact kind of connections alluded to in the film.

The late Polish director, Krzysztof Kieslowski, released his trilogy in 1994, shortly before the internet changed all our lives. The Three Colors are based on those of the French flag. Blue representing liberty, white representing equality and red representing fraternity. Each film is visually dominated by its title color, but that only the most basic level of these extraordinary films. Roger Ebert has observed that each overturns the conventions of a different film genre. Blue being an anti-tragedy, White being an anti-comedy and Red being an anti-romance.

Blue is about a French woman (Juliette Binoche) who has just lost her family in a car accident, yet refuses to allow herself to grieve, instead withdrawing from the world. Has she liberated herself from grief through isolation or would coming to terms with her loss offer liberty? White is about a Polish man whose wife (Julie Delpy) has left him. Dejected and humiliated, he's determined to either win her back or take revenge, either way reestablishing equality.

In Red, a Swiss model (Irene Jacob) forms an unlikely bond with an older former judge who is eavesdropping on his neighbors. Their age difference prevents them from falling in love, but what of the younger judge who's life seems to parallel the older? Does this seemingly endless possibility of interaction represent fraternity or is more needed? Also fascinating is how the three films manage to subtly and not so subtly interact with each other.

While Blue is my favorite of the three because of Binoche's heartbreaking performance and a powerful score, its Red's message that most resonates (White, a fine film in its own right, does not equal the brilliance of the other two.) Kieslowski pursues his themes with such precision that the films improve with repeated viewings. They work as human dramas, but also, on a much higher level, they embrace the larger human story.

Archive '06 - The Benefits of Joementum (Political Opinion)

After a long election day and a hearty victory celebration, I couldn't be happier with tonight's election results. It sent the right message, not just for the Republicans, but also to the Democrats.

Although Dems have retaken the House, it was not by a large margin. There was no mandate, but instead a divided government in which both parties will now have to work together. This is a good thing.

The number one issue remains the War on Terror. We should not have to choose between an incompetent Bush Administration - who, through sheer stubbornness, has managed to turn a necessary action in Iraq into a complete debacle - and the more extreme left-wing Democrats who, just as stubbornly, refuse to recognize the threat of Islamo-fascism.

Enter Joe Lieberman, one of our most decent and thoughtful public officials. His win tonight diverted the Democratic Party from a leftward slide that could have made it a permanent minority party. The Connecticut race was a symbol for the far left. Had Lamont won, they would have used that result as a lever to pressure Hilary, Obama and other moderates into weaker (and unelectable) positions on national security.

Lieberman's win is a win for the traditional Democrats in the Truman / JFK mode and a defeat for the Al Sharpton / Michael Moore wing. Not good news for out-of- control Bush who would rather be facing easily dismissed lefties. Hopefully the new Democratic leadership will work with Republican moderates like John McCain to keep Bush in check and pursue a more productive course in Iraq.

I strongly believe that the American people are basically moderate who lean a bit left on some issues and right on others. The extreme partisanship that has poisoned Washington is not healthy. Perhaps tonight's results will force at least a type of cooperation between the parties. The stakes are too high not to.

Archive '06 - In Support of Israel (Political Opinion)

Yesterday in Chicago, I was one of 5,000 who gathered to voice our support for Israel during this time of war (with Lebanon). It is not a war Israel chose to fight, but it is a war they must win. Would we tolerate regular rockets hits on our towns or the kidnapping of our soldiers? That these launches and kidnappings took place on territory that Israel withdrew from in the name of peace only makes the situation crystal clear. It should lay to rest the lie that violence against Israel is about the occupation. It is and has always been about Israel's right to exist.

One fellow was carrying a sign that, for me, perfectly encapsulates the whole Middle East crisis. On the sign were drawings of two baby carriages and two men with machine guns pointed at each other. One was an Israeli soldier and the other an Islamist terrorist. The soldier put himself between the carriage and the terrorist, while the later used another baby carriage to protect himself from the soldier. A quote from former Israeli Prime Minister, Golda Meir, read "We will have peace when the Arabs love their children more than they hate ours."

As I will always clarify when I write on this subject, I have nothing against Arabs as a people or the religion of Islam. It is only the radical Islamists who use violence and terror that I consider the enemy, not just of Israel or the U.S., but their own people.

I, like most supporters of Israel, not to mention it's government, would like to see a peaceful Palestinian state. But how can Israel continue to justify withdrawal from territories when they're used as launching grounds for attacks. The Palestinian people are victims, not of Israel, but their own radical leaders. A few years ago, I thought we were close to a peace agreement, but now it seems another generation removed.

It was comforting to see so many brave the hot Chicago day to attend the rally. Israel has always been a great friend of the United States and rallies like this show that American support is widespread. We gathered to pray for peace and for victory because the former is impossible without the later.

This article nicely sums it up.
http://jewishworldreview.com/0706/prager071806.php3

I'll end with a link to the lyrics of Bob Dylan who in 1983, wrote Neighborhood Bully, which remains as biting and true today as it was back then. http://www.bobdylan.com/songs/bully.html

Archive '06 - A Taste of Kink (Concert Review)

Saw Ray Davies, lead singer of The Kinks at the Taste of Chicago 4th of July concert. (What? You thought this post would be about something else?)

I generally try to avoid the Taste on the 4th because of the mass of humanity, but Davies is pretty much the last of my rock n roll heroes still living that I had not yet seen perform (Elvis Costello, you're the only one left!)

My friends and I thought we'd be consigned to the lawn, but happily much of the crowd was there only for the opening act, My Morning Jacket. They were fine - basically one power ballad away from becoming the Goo Goo Dolls. When they finished, half the pavilion emptied out and we made it to the fourth row.

The Kinks might be the most underrated of the great sixties bands. Even though they inventing the power cord and the rock opera, Ray and Dave Davies dont get the credit of their peers. Of course, as part of the British Invasion, their peers were The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and The Who.

The concert was fun, despite the absence of some of my favorite Kinks tunes. Everyone was shocked that he didnt do Lola, but other classics were there: Where Have All the Good Times Gone, All Day and All of the Night, You Really Got Me. Also, a few obscure gems from their creative peak: 20th Century Man, Low Budget, and best of all an acoustic Sunny Afternoon.

Half the show was devoted to Ray's new album, Other People's Lives. Definitely quality material, but as he kept saying, "you can't escape from your back catalog." Davies' genius is for writing about other people's lives. Unlike the universal appeal of other great songwriters, his songs are usually about simple pleasures, very working class and very British.

Their first rock opera, Arthur or the Decline of the British Empire is about a middle aged man just wants to smoke a cigar, sit in a comfy chair and probably doesn't even like rock music. It also pre-dated The Who's Tommy by a few months.

That Davies wrote like a bit of a cranky old man when he was in his twenties makes seeing him in his sixties not quite so jarring. The concert was solid, but I can't rave about it. I can only suggest that you check out The Kinks' classic albums like Face to Face, Something Else, Village Green Preservation Society, Arthur, Lola vs. Powerman and the Money-go-Round and Muswell Hillbillies.