Breaking Bad - Madrigal/Hazard Pay

With a much greater emphasis on Mike (Jonathan Banks) as a fully-formed character in these past two episodes, the show has breathed new life. The coming out episode of Madrigal was a revelation.

Haiku: Heat

summer heat rising
venice city of lost dreams
do not mess with Mex

Thinking About Venice
Heat — MOVIECLIPS.com

Louie Goes on a Date

Always conscious of avoiding cliches, Louie goes out on a date with 'Tape Recorder' whose real name is disclosed later as Liz (Parker Posey), and he by no means sabotages the date or fills it up with cringe-worthy moments on his end. Instead, Liz is a bit of a wild child, a loose canon (who likes to drink 'two shots of Jaegar'), excited, maybe manic.
She runs Louie ragged over New York City during the course of the night. From 86'd at a local bar, to having Louie try on a dress, to feeding at a gourmet fish store, to helping a homeless man fill his prescription and get a room for the night...

An average episode to this point culminates in Liz leading Louie to a rooftop overlooking the city skyline. She's flushed with adrenaline, enthusiasm and straddles the ledge, dozens of stories up, to the true discomfort of Louie who tries to talk her down. She explains that he's only scared because there's a small impulse inside him that finds it too easy to jump. But she won't jump because she's not scared, she's having too good of a time. She is. Louie gets it. The entire night chasing this heightened moment of ecstasy, dissolving into brief tranquility.

And then the moment ends.

Harsh portrait black & white photography of Liz's face. Worn, stark, and a natural beauty.

Beasts of the Southern Wild

Directed by Benh Zeitlin. Laemmle Monica on a Monday night. Hard to believe this is an American film and an American voice. Takes place in a swampland, Bayou community off the Gulf of Mexico. Has the feel and fabric of a foreign film. Of another people. Another land. Thought about comparisons to Ray's Panther Panchali, with the signs of modern civilization creeping in to a cut-off, insular community/village, or more recently Uncle Boonmee.

Yet I didn't have much in the way of an immediate, overwhelming emotional reaction while the film played. Never quite grabbed a hold as much I would have liked. Neither in the gut, nor in the heart. Though it has a lot of heart on screen.

I am very much attracted to this idea of a young film collective establishing themselves in New Orleans. This film achieves a vision and a voice, and a different feel entirely.

We Are Alive

From the New Yorker: Bruce Springsteen at sixty-two.

The Part About The Critics

Finished Part 1 from 2666 this afternoon. Pelletier, Espinoza, Morini, and Liz Norton. Haunting, quietly eerie, and lonely.

Norton felt somehow insulted by Morini's decision not to go with them. They didn't call each other again. Morini might have called Norton, but before his friends set off on their search for Archimboldi, he had already begun a voyage, a voyage that would end not at the grave of a brave man but in a kind of resignation, what might be called a new experience, since this wasn't resignation in any ordinary sense of the word, or even patience or conformity, but rather a state of meekness, a refined and incomprehensible humility that made him cry for no reason and in which his own image, what Morini saw as Morini, gradually and helplessly dissolved, like a river that stops being a river or a tree that burns on the horizon, not knowing that it's burning. (107)

'Archimboldi is here,' said Pelletier, 'and we're here, and this is the closest we'll ever be to him.' (159)

British Open

Adam Scott with a comfortable lead for most of the day, bogeys the last four holes. Els takes home the Claret jug. Didn't feel like Els won. Gotta say Scott lost it. And that was written on Els' face.

Louie - Daddy's Girlfriend Pt. 1

"You're bad at sex, Louie." Later, working himself up to ask out Parker Posey in the bookstore. The first great episode of this third season. Took to the fourth episode. Back in stride. Giddy with excitement. Wish tonight was an hour long and went into the date. Fist pump!
In the big picture, he's at the age where his kids are the underlying priority of his life and are represented that way in this season.

Mr. Wizard

The Gathering of the Juggalos

This year's festival was announced today, here's looking back at this exceptional piece of photojournalism capturing Juggalo nation.

2666

Author Roberto Bolano. I'll get through it this summer. First section, 'The Part About the Critics.' Off to a good start this afternoon.

Rampart

Director Oren Moverman. Another LAPD corruption tale starring Woody Harrelson -- in the vein of Bad Lieutenant (Harvey Keitel), Dark Blue, Training Day, etc. Lacks a fresh take, and Harrelson's character 'Daterape' Dave isn't interesting enough to warrant a character study. Not quite sure what drew Moverman to this material. The Messenger was better.

To Rome With Love

This is bad Woody Allen but still enjoyable Woody Allen. Lighthearted and farcical (i.e. singing in the shower bit). An easy-going trip to Italy. With enough magic to put a smile on my face. Greta Gerwig is wasted, more of her and way less Alec Baldwin. What is his character even doing? I had forgot that Penelope Cruz is even in the film,  so when she appears there is a burst of energy.

Dexter Filkins

It might not be in the U.S. news but Afghanistan is still around. And reporter Dexter Filkins is still over there -- investigating, and reporting. 
Being in Filkins' shoes for even 24-hours would be worldly impressive. An eye-opener. And he keeps going day-after-day, month-after-month, year-after-year. I feel small when listening to him.
And near the end of the interview when he humbly talks about buying a school bus so that the female students would be safe going to and from school -- simply doing the right thing, but noble at the same time.

Take This Waltz

Sara Polley -- writer/director. 'Video Killed the Radio Star' -- the amusement park scene alone is worth the time, and price of admission. Hypnotic and exhilarating, with Michelle Williams going through several emotional beats. Until it deliberately comes to an abrupt end.

Yet, Michelle Williams' overall performance is so downtrodden, and moody that her character becomes more and more unlikable, rather than complex.

The Frogs (7/9/95)

Grateful Dead

A Long, Strange Trip: How a New 14-DVD Box Set Turned Me On to The Dead. by James Parker

It’s on Wednesday that I feel, for the first time and with a perverse sense of relief, the great sadness of Jerry Garcia. The disc is called Dead Ahead, and it features an October 1980 show at Radio City Music Hall. Garcia is gray-faced, with gray in his beard, and the lilting, tilting almost-reggae of “Fire on the Mountain” (lyrics by the Dead laureate Robert Hunter) becomes—rather magnificently—not just a study in but an enactment of complete artistic burnout/befrazzlement. You’re playin’ cold music on the barroom floor / Drowned in your laughter and dead to the core … Garcia’s voice is plaintive and pure, his guitar-playing still almost obsessively pretty, but this must be the undertow, the downside, the shadow of the Dead. Improvisation has its hazards, in life as in art. And having cultivated over 15 years a unique state of exposure to the music, and to everything that goes with the music (“The existential reality,” he said once, “is note to note”), Garcia is paying the price: Almost ablaze still you don’t feel the heat / It takes all you got just to stay on the beat … Intolerably sad, yes, but it makes me feel better about the Dead and their people. I knew there had to be a low in there somewhere. Drug-tingles and swoopy dancing will only get you so far. To make the big-time connection, the one that lasts, you must confess to brokenness.

Summertime Blues

There ain't no cure. Sometimes you just have them.

Louie - Telling Jokes/Set-Up

Laurie (Melissa Leo) to Louie when he refuses to reciprocate, and lick her pussy:
"You're gay...Where are the gentlemen! What is wrong with this country?... Obama (muttered under her breath)."

Here's the scene courtesy of Louis C.K.

The Jungle

Willie Nelson's 4th of July Picnic to warm things up at the Cinefamily. Then step onto the sands of Playa Del Rey aka 'The Jungle.' Each time I've gone to the jungle, it's been like entering a portal to another planet. People just going nuts, open door policy at all the bungalows. Psychedelic post-apoocalyptic party. Fireworks in the sky, explosions on the ground. I think I left a piece of my mind back on that beach.

Fourth of July

"I guess before we left the U.S., since this is the last night in the U.S...(U.S.A. chant breaks out)...This is a toast...
I guess I just wanted to clarify that whatever we said, whatever we said tonight, whatever we said in the other cities, we have an opinion, and it comes from a position of caring.
And it comes from a position of caring for our country. And I think that's what makes you a patriot. It's when you care for our country, when you care. And you just don't care for the country, it's the people in it. We got great oceans, mountains, canyons, cities...but it's the people in it that make up this country. 
And we know you've been through a lot and I think when you care about that, that makes you a patriot.
And it's not necessarily about victory, it's not necessarily about corporations, and what's good for them, it's not about money, it's about the people.
So when we leave this country, I want you to know...I guess we just hope that you're proud of us when we leave here & take our songs abroad. We hope we have your support, and we hope that you're proud of us for having an opinion, and a stand... Thank you very much."

--Eddie Vedder  (Holmdel, July 14th, 2003) -- encore break before going into 'Growin' Up' by Bruce Springsteen.

The Mind is a Chattering Monkey

"Too many hours slumping over screens and study tasks leads to depression and anxiety."

America's anxiety epidemic from The Atlantic.

Summersong

This is a real chill song by the group Wide Wail. Breezy and outdoors.

Return

Writer/Director Liza Johsnson. A soldier returns from the Iraq war and tries to cope with the normalcy of domestic American life. A standout performance by Linda Cardellini. Nearly a close-up of her in every moment. But worthy. She's the movie.
Sad and quiet Sunday night film. Life and consequences, sometimes uncontrollable.

Look at Miss Ohio by Gillian Welch (closing credits)