Sight & Sound Top 10

BFI Top 50 Film of all time

1. Vertigo
Alfred Hitchcock, 1958 (191 votes)

2. Citizen Kane
Orson Welles, 1941 (157 votes)

3. Tokyo Story
Ozu Yasujiro, 1953 (107 votes)

4. La Règle du jeu
Jean Renoir, 1939 (100 votes)

5. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
FW Murnau, 1927 (93 votes)

6. 2001: A Space Odyssey
Stanley Kubrick, 1968 (90 votes)

7. The Searchers
John Ford, 1956 (78 votes)

8. Man with a Movie Camera
Dziga Vertov, 1939 (68 votes)

9. The Passion of Joan of Arc
Carl Dreyer, 1927 (65 votes)

10. 8½
Federico Fellini, 1963 (64 votes)

11. Battleship Potemkin
Sergei Eisenstein, 1925 (63 votes)

12. L’Atalante
Jean Vigo, 1934 (58 votes)

13. Breathless
Jean-Luc Godard, 1960 (57 votes)

14. Apocalypse Now
Francis Ford Coppola, 1979 (53 votes)

15. Late Spring
Ozu Yasujiro, 1949 (50 votes)

16. Au hasard Balthazar
Robert Bresson, 1966 (49 votes)

17= Seven Samurai
Kurosawa Akira, 1954 (48 votes)

17= Persona
Ingmar Bergman, 1966 (48 votes)

19. Mirror
Andrei Tarkovsky, 1974 (47 votes)

20. Singin’ in the Rain
Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly, 1951 (46 votes)

21= L’avventura
Michelangelo Antonioni, 1960 (43 votes)

21= Le Mépris
Jean-Luc Godard, 1963 (43 votes)

21= The Godfather
Francis Ford Coppola, 1972 (43 votes)

24= Ordet
Carl Dreyer, 1955 (42 votes)

24= In the Mood for Love
Wong Kar-Wai, 2000 (42 votes)

26= Rashomon
Kurosawa Akira, 1950 (41 votes)

26= Andrei Rublev
Andrei Tarkovsky, 1966 (41 votes)

28. Mulholland Dr.
David Lynch, 2001 (40 votes)

29= Stalker
Andrei Tarkovsky, 1979 (39 votes)

29= Shoah
Claude Lanzmann, 1985 (39 votes)

31= The Godfather Part II
Francis Ford Coppola, 1974 (38 votes)

31= Taxi Driver
Martin Scorsese, 1976 (38 votes)

33. Bicycle Thieves
Vittoria De Sica, 1948 (37 votes)

34. The General
Buster Keaton & Clyde Bruckman, 1926 (35 votes)

35= Metropolis
Fritz Lang, 1927 (34 votes)

35= Psycho
Alfred Hitchcock, 1960 (34 votes)

35= Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce 1080 Bruxelles
Chantal Akerman, 1975 (34 votes)

35= Sátántangó
Béla Tarr, 1994 (34 votes)

39= The 400 Blows
François Truffaut, 1959 (33 votes)

39= La dolce vita
Federico Fellini, 1960 (33 votes)

41. Journey to Italy
Roberto Rossellini, 1954 (32 votes)

42= Pather Panchali
Satyajit Ray, 1955 (31 votes)

42= Some Like It Hot
Billy Wilder, 1959 (31 votes)

42= Gertrud
Carl Dreyer, 1964 (31 votes)

42= Pierrot le fou
Jean-Luc Godard, 1965 (31 votes)

42= Play Time
Jacques Tati, 1967 (31 votes)

42= Close-Up
Abbas Kiarostami, 1990 (31 votes)

48= The Battle of Algiers
Gillo Pontecorvo, 1966 (30 votes)

48= Histoire(s) du cinéma
Jean-Luc Godard, 1998 (30 votes)

50= City Lights
Charlie Chaplin, 1931 (29 votes)

50= Ugetsu monogatari
Mizoguchi Kenji, 1953 (29 votes)

50= La Jetée
Chris Marker, 1962 (29 votes)

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)

Magic Mike

Another Saturday morning matinee on the promenade. Fun film, especially the first half. Loses some steam in the second half with the script nearly bordering on t.v movie of the week. But Soderbergh's flare, and casting, overcomes the soft script. Liked much more than Haywire and The Girlfriend Experiment which both seemed like exercises.

And Matthew McConaughey is on fire and having a ball.

Here's a pretty on-point review courtesy of The New Yorker.

This Is Hot

'Miss Holocaust Survivor' Crowned in Israel.

Wine

BevMo is having their 5 cent sale so I decided to splurge and grab three different varieties (being that it is summer all white -- a sauvignon blanc, a pinot grigio, a chardonnay) to try them out.
Note: I brought a recent list of the 2012 Gold Medal Winners (Los Angeles Int'l Wine & Spirits Competition) with me, and none of them were included in the 5 cent sale.

Vineyard View Sauvignon Blanc (Napa Valley, 2010)
"This crisp and fragrant wine showcases the vibrancy of Sauvignon Blanc. Grapefruit and green lime aromas precede flavors that linger long into a clean finish. Enjoy this wine as the perfect choice for any occasion."

Kind of disappointing Maybe it's because I've had some uniquely explosive glasses of Sauvignon Blanc recently (i.e.  Toronto at an Asian fusion restaurant which had sort of spicy kick to it) but this just seems average. Mild, inoffensive. Wouldn't go out of my way to track it down.

Solstice

Sitting out in my local park on 4th street this past Saturday afternoon. Sun still out way past 7:30 pm. What a trip it must be to live in Alaska and experience the summer solstice. Sun out way past midnight, past two a.m. Kids out in the street, kicking the ball around and it's 2:30 am on the clock. What a mind trip.
Summer Solstice! Haullucinatory.

Louie!

Returns this week. Thursday, June 28th. Season 3. In a year that has Springsteen release a new album, Wrecking Ball. And in cinema Tarantino's Django Unchained, and P.T. Anderson's The Master, the return of Louie on t.v. might trump them all for hope and expectations.

More than the others, Louis C.K. has a brief window now in which he's connected into the zeitgeist.

UPDATE: This is a really nice review from NPR's John Powers.

Malick & Co.

Back at it. Filming on the beach. Friday post-work summer jog. This time Christian Bale and, instead of Wes Bentley, some unfamiliar Asian-looking actress drifting in and out of the water in a shawl. As the sun sets. Come dusk a life guard disallowed them from stepping into the water.
Mallick, "First the fire marshall, now the life guard." (Kurt Vile/War on Drugs play out as purple dusk turns blue on the beach up to Hill.)

The Blues Brothers

Turned it on after the Heat's coronation tonight and couldn't turn it off. Smokey & The Bandit is to the south, as The Blues Brothers is to Chicago.
Man, people would have a blast watching it at Hollywood Forever. So carefree. So joyful. So musical.

The Grey

Finally. A fucking strong film. From beginning to end. Dark and intense. Joe Carnahan is on point -- from the look, to the performances -- all elements working together to elevate the material.

In a movie with numerous exceptional scenes, and moments, one in particular to point out is Dermot Mulroney (suffering from a fear of heights) having to cross the divide from the bluff to the treeline, it made me squirm with tension.

Wish I experienced the film in the theater

On Sam Peckinpah (by Monte Hellman)

From editing The Killer Elite (1975):
"Peckinpah was amazing to edit for. We'd wait until 10pm for him to arrive in the cutting room, view the day's work, and give us notes. The first thing he'd do, after staggering into the room, was piss out the window. After watching the newly edited scenes, he'd start his comments, speaking so softly we had to lean in, putting our ears close to his mouth. Given his drunken state, we didn't have great expectations. Amazingly, he was coherent, precise, concise, insightful, creative, and brillant. One night he had the idea to intercut two completely different, but equally difficult scenes, resulting in perhaps the best scene in the movie...

Directing him was another story."

On Warren Oates (by Monte Hellman)

"Warren was a poet trapped in the body of a clown. He called me the day before he died, telling me he'd just had a heart attack. I screamed at him to get a doctor immediately. Then he went into denial mode, saying it was just indigestion. A few days later, the minister failed to show for the memorial, claiming he put the wrong date on his calendar. All us mourners conducted the service ourselves, then retreated to one of Warren's favorite watering holes, celebrating his life in a way he'd appreciate."

eci

Q: COCKFIGHTER was probably Warren Oates's best ever performance, and a rare opportunity for him to play the lead.  You used him in four films (THE SHOOTING, TWO-LANE BLACKTOP, COCKFIGHTER and CHINA 9, LIBERTY 37), and the little-seen IGUANA (1988) was dedicated to him.  Do you have any anecdotes that sum up the man to you?
A: Warren was a poet trapped in the body of a clown.  He called me the day before he died, telling me he'd just had a heart attack.  I screamed at him to get a doctor immediately.  Then he went into denial mode, saying it was just indigestion.  A few days later, the minister failed to show for the memorial, claiming he'd put the wrong date on his calendar.  All us mourners conducted the service ourselves, then retreated to one of Warren's favorite watering holes, celebrating his life in a way he'd appreciate.

Monte Hellman

"All the movies I like are ones that move me."

Toronto

My cousin London's whirlwind wedding weekend...

Flew in on Thursday (6/14), met up with parents, and attended a dinner party at Aunt Susie's friend's residence. Met Juan, and drank white wine on the back patio

Friday, June 15th:
The Spoke Club
600 King Street West, 3rd Floor
Toronto

Saturday, June 16th:
St Mary's Church
130 Bathurst Street
Toronto, Canada

Royal Ontario Museum
100 Queen's Park
Toronto
Please join us following the wedding ceremony to celebrate!
Cocktails, Dinner, & Dancing
Six Thirty In The Evening
Black Tie

Sunday, June 17th -- Father's Day:
1 Highland Avenue
Toronto
Hosted by
Lynda Reeves & Michel Zelnik

Please join us for brunch and a farewell toast
Drink starting at 11:30am
Buffet brunch and BBQ from
12:30pm to 3:30pm

OKC Thunder

If I had any disposable income there'd have been a $500 wager placed on OKC (-165) to win the series. Now it's up to -280 after game 1.

They are a fully talented team, and make better adjustments.

Double Feature: Moonrise Kingdom/Promethus

Saturday morning at the cinema.

Moonrise Kingdom:
Beautiful formalism, precise detail in the cinematography and production design, choreography of shot-to-shot. But didn't feel anything for the characters who are essentially props giving line readings. Didn't buy into the love story, just young actors reading Wes Anderson dialogue. Very little emotional connection or investment.. Sat outside of the movie, studying the mise-en-scene, rather than in it.
And boy, what a mess of a third act. The story was done when the runaways are found, there's no where to go from there...

And then...

Prometheus:
Vomitus mess. What story do you want to tell Ridley?  You can't tell three stories in one movie -- choose one and focus on it. Storytelling run completely amuck.

Both films concerned with the look, so much more than the content.

I might be done watching movies for a while.

Chicago

Brunch in Wicker Park. Walk down a street festival on the Sunday afternoon. Girls in their summer clothes play corn hole. Tossing a bean bag with one hand, drinking a cold one in the other. Not inhibited to have a bit of a beer belly. I love this town.

Enter into a neighborhood dive, saddle up at the bar for one Old Style while I'm in town. A haggard Polish woman is the lone barkeep. She's not amused by our company or our patronage. An eerie, disco-era-esque song comes on the jukebox, female singer. It's right for the place. But completely at a loss for who it is...

"Who is this?"
Barkeep: Huh?
"Who is playing this record?"
Barkeep: Machine.

Sums up the weekend.

Bill Murray

On Bill Murray (living in Charleston, S.C.)

33 1/3

Music From Big Pink. a novella. by John Niven.

Sad. With little offer of redemption, or second chances. Lives cut short. Not to get back on one's feet. From youth, to a life wasted. Except for one magical summer of '67, and some of '68.

Side A.
Tears of Rage
To Kingdom Come
In a Station
Caledonia Mission
The Weight

Side B.
We Can Talk
Long Black Veil
Chest Fever
Lonesome Suzie
This Wheel's On Fire
I Shall Be Released

The Best Western

Chicago, IL. Saturday night, 6/2/12.

Dolphin Center

This very well maybe the best song of the year.

Naked Man Eats Victim's Face

A Twisted, strange world. Cocaine psychosis & bath salts. Saw photos of the victim, the only clue that it was a human being's face was the one eyeball disguised in red pulp, and the remnants of a goatee.

Party Time With Barry

I think I'd still choose to have a cold one, or several, with G.W. Bush over Obama back in the day.

When you were with Barry and his pals, if you exhaled precious pakalolo (Hawaiian slang for marijuana, meaning "numbing tobacco") instead of absorbing it fully into your lungs, you were assessed a penalty and your turn was skipped the next time the joint came around. "Wasting good bud smoke was not tolerated," explained one member of the Choom Gang, Tom Topolinski, the Chinese-looking kid with a Polish name who answered to Topo.

Ted Kaczynski, Class of '62

Harvard University's alumni association has issued an apology for references made by Ted Kaczynski, a graduate of Harvard's Class of 1962, in the school's latest directory.

A spokesman for Harvard told Boston.com that Kaczynski, the so-called "Unabomber," submitted the entry for the directory himself.

"While all members of the class who submit entries are included, we regret publishing Kaczynski's references to his convictions and apologize for any distress that it may have caused others," the Harvard Alumni Association said in a statement on Wednesday.

Kaczynski was convicted in 1998 of killing three and injuring 23 in a mail-bombing spree spanning three decades.

The alumni report issued before the class' 50th reunion listed Kaczynski's occupation as "prisoner," "8 life sentences" under the "Awards" section and home address as his Colorado prison cell: "No. 04475-046, US Penitentiary—Max, P.O. Box 8500, Florence, CO 8126-8500."

"It's funny," Gary Peterson, a fellow graduate of the Class of '62, told the Harvard Crimson. "He's more famous than anyone else in our class."

Rolling Thunder '75

The Return of Andrew Dominick

Girls - Episode: The Return

Hannah returns to her hometown in Michigan for her parents 30th anniversary. Best show on t.v. (after treme and louie).

Artie on Louie!

Notes of Summertime in May

"Barefoot girl sitting on the hood of a dodge...Drinking warm beer in the soft summer rain."

The Fabulous Baker Boys / Bull Durham -- American cinema of the 1980s with a shared deft touch and relaxed charm. Timeless.

Two Hearts

"Once I spent my time playing tough guy scenes. But I was living in a world of childish dreams.
Someday these childish dreams must end...To become a man and grow up to dream again."

Jole Blon

This summer's song. Gary U.S. Bonds.


Jole Blon, Delta flower
You're my darling
You're my sunshine
I love you, I adore you
And I promise to be true

In the evening, in the shadows
I'll be waiting by the river
When I hear your sweet voice
I rejoice, I save my kisses for you

Sha la la, sha la la...

Jole Blon, Cajun angel
Let me tell you that I love you
In the spring, you
Swore we'd be married
But I'm waiting still for you

When your hair turns to silver
I'll still call you Delta flower
Pretty Blon, I'll still love you
And I will wait for you

Sha la la, sha la la...

We'll go away from this city
We'll go back, girl, back to our home
Some day I promise I'll take you
Cause so far away we've roamed

And the bells, they will ring
From the mountain through the valleys
On the banks of the river
There you will be my bride

Sha la la, sha la la...

Roger's Tattle Tale

The Lakers pull off game 3 against OKC, and Hannah belts out a killer rendition of The Darkness 'I Believe in a Thing Called Love.' A duet later on The Everly Brothers 'You've Lost That Loving Feeling.' And even some dancing in the dark.

The Fantastic Expedition of Dillard & Clark

One of my true-go-to Sunday morning albums. L.A. country rock. Lazy and relaxed.

Welcome to the Friendly Confines

When I saw the Cubs starting lineup on opening day, my reaction was: 70-92. And that was kind. A fan's generosity.
Here's another editorial taking the long standing position that if the Cubs want to win, Wrigley Field (or, the largest beer garden in the world) needs to be torn down.

I heard that this season at the park they replaced Old Style -- with Coors -- as the Official Chicago Cubs beer.

Girls - Episode: Hard Being Easy

Wild, wild. The first t.v. show I've seen forever that is genuinely subversive, risky. And uncomfortably so. Sexual situations informing character's psychology and behavior. This latest episode is lift off.

Bret Easton Ellis ‏ @BretEastonEllis

I love Tina Fey but she is completely Empire compared to Lena Dunham's hopeless transparent post-Empire fearlessness. "Date Night" anyone?

Last Days

Sunday night. Gus Van Sant's film (2005) has gained with age. One of the forgotten scenes of the decade -- Blake playing instrumental loops in the music room as the camera pulls out and remains stationary. 
Sad and quietly evocative.

One More Saturday Night

I've always wanted to do this but with a mannequin.

Cinco de Mayo

With the supermoon aglow above, and the heat of the flames of a backyard fire, a country tune on the radio fought through the buzz of the cool L.A. air. Instantly recognizable, yet I didn't know how, or who. And it rang for two joyous moments on this Saturday night. Then it ended. No one could place it. To be lost forever in the ether.

In the middle of a Monday night slumber, I woke up in a sweat. The song's chorus playing in my head, and frantically scribbled down the lyrics.

Johnny Paycheck -- "The real shit."

Hollywood Park Race Track (Friday Night)

Watched the ponies. And drank some Jack. Then came Devo.
Setlist:
Don't Shoot (I'm a Man)
Peek-a-Boo
What We Do
Going Under
Fresh
That's Good
Girl U Want (note: the show shifted gears here for the better)
Whip It
Planet Earth
Satisfaction (Rolling Stones)
Secret Agent Man (Sloan & Barri)
Uncontrollable Urge
Mongoloid
Jocko Homo
Smart Patrol/Mr. DNA
Gates of Steel
----------------------
DEVO Corporate Anthem
Freedom of Choice
Beautiful World

"We are not men, We are DEVO."

The Joker

Pico Blvd aka Last Night at the Alamo. One last tequila shot. One last beer.

"It's not how it used to be, but it'll do."

Girls

I was ready to light Lena Dunham's show in effigy. But it's growing on me in engagement. There are some flaws, namely all the male characters and the Zosia Mamet character. But it's depiction of young 20s females and the small details of their lifestyle seems truthful with a warts and all mentality (i.e. ugly, narcissistic behavior) and her performance, surprisingly, is heartfelt ("I just want someone, who wants to hang out all the time, and thinks I'm the best person in the world, and wants to have sex with only me." )

Man, she's getting some unwarranted backlash. I don't even know if this comment (from NPR's Fresh Air interview comments section) is in earnest, or peppered in sarcasm.

Sean McNally (SeanMcNally) wrote:

Why isn't there Hmong representation on the show? Does Dunham believe the Hmong experience isn't a valid take on being young and female in America, and in New York City, in 2012? It's a glaring omission in the episodes that have aired thus far.

A Movable Feast

Was sitting with G. Black in the Greensboro airport this past Monday.  Hemingway's posthumous, 1964 reminiscence of living as an ex-patriate in Paris during the 20s was brought up. Specifically, the short story - 'A Matter of Measurements' - in which Fitzgerald, over a drunken lunch, confesses to Hemingway his perceived doubts of being able to please Zelda. She has broken him as a man. Hemingway gets pissed. His friend is hurting. "Zelda just wants to destroy you."

I didn't think this sounded right as the concluding statement to the memoir, and in fact, it is the penultimate piece (after consulting my old, note-ridden copy from college.)

'There Is Never Any End to Paris' is the way to go out.

"All things truly wicked start from an innocence. So you live day by day and enjoy what you have and do not worry. You lie and hate it and it destroys you and everyday is more dangerous, but you live day to day as in a war...
That was the end of the first part of Paris. Paris was never to be the same again although it was always Paris and you changed as it changed...
There is never any ending to Paris and the memory of each person who has lived in it differs from that of any other. We always returned to it no matter who we were or how it was changed or with what difficulties, or ease, it could be reached. Paris was always worth it and you received return for whatever you brought to it. But this is how Paris was in the early days when we were very poor and very happy."

Men Without Women

Fucking Hemingway.

"He came to the hospital in Milan to see me several months after and was very disappointed that I had not yet married, and I know he would feel very badly if he knew that, so far, I have never married. He was going back to America and he was very certain about marriage and knew it would fix up everything."

Adam Yauch

His reaction to the NY Times review of 'Ch-Check It Out.' 

Magnum

Gold.

White wine & golden guns. AKA A Sunday in Asheboro NC.

Back from Asheboro.

Roger Ebert's Greatest Films of All Time (2002/2012).

Aguirre, Wrath of God (Herzog) Apocalypse Now (Coppola) Citizen Kane (Welles) Dekalog (Kieslowski) La Dolce Vita (Fellini) The General (Keaton) Raging Bull (Scorsese) 2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick) Tokyo Story (Ozu) Vertigo (Hitchcock)

To add a title, I must remove one. Which film can I do without? Not a single one. One of my shifts last time was to replace Hitchcock's "Notorious" with "Vertigo," because after going through both a shot at a time during various campus sessions, I decided that "Vertigo" was, after all, the better of two nearly perfect films.

The other titles I consider the best work by their directors. I expect Coppola's "The Godfather" to be on this year's S&S list again, and it may even move higher. It is a great film. But "Apocalypse Now" is a film which still causes real, not figurative, chills to run along my spine, and it is certainly the bravest and most ambitious fruit of Coppola's genius.

I've written before how its critical reputation was harmed after he made an unwise statement at the Cannes premiere about being dissatisfied with the ending. I was there the night he said it, on a yacht while chatting with six or seven film critics. It was clear the film was a triumph. It was clear he was referring to the fact that the film's 70mm version was intended to play without end titles, which would be supplied by a brochure. The 35mm ending was as we see it now. That's all he meant. An urban legend has somehow perpetuated itself that he was referring to the entire Kurtz segment.

More critics would say "8 1/2" was Fellini's greatest work, and there is support for "Amarcord" and "La Strada." Sometimes the way you consider a film depends on when and why you saw it, and what it meant to you at that time. "La Dolce Vita" has become a touchstone in my life: A film about a kind of life I dreamed of living, then a film about the life I was living, the about my escape from that life. Now, half a century after its release, it is about the arc of my life, and its closing scene is an eerie reflection of my wordlessness and difficulty in communicating. I still yearn and dream, but it is so hard for me to communicate that--not literally, but figuratively. So the Fellini stays.

So does the Keaton. There must be a silent film, and I consider "The General" to be his best. "Aguirre" is the most evocative expression of Herzog's genius, and I admire it even more after watching him go through it a shot at a time with Ramin Bahrani a few years ago at Boulder. (Having agreed to do one of his films, it was the one he chose.)

"Citizen Kane" speaks for itself. "2001: A Space Odyssey" is likewise a stand-along monument, a great visionary leap, unsurpassed in its vision of man and the universe. It was a statement that came at a time which now looks something like the peak of humanity's technological optimism. Many would choose "Taxi Driver" as Scorsese's greatest film, but I believe "Raging Bull" is his best and most personal, a film he says in some ways saved his life. It is the greatest cinematic expression of the torture of jealousy--his "Othello."

There must be an Ozu. It could be one of several. All of his films are universal. The older I grow and the more I observe how age affects our relationships, the more I think "Tokyo Story" has to teach us. Kurosawa's "Ikiru" has as much to say, but in the rigid economy of the Sight & Sound limitations, impossible choices are forced.

That leaves only one title to be replaced: "Dekalog," by Kieslowski. This is an easy decision, because the magazine's new rules insist that if you vote for, say, a pair of films ("The Godfather" and "The Godfather Two"), or a trilogy (Ray's "Apu" trilogy or Kieslowski's "Blue, White and Red trilogy), each film counts as a separate title. Therefore, since "Dekalog" consists of ten films, averaging an hour long, it would take all ten places on my list.

At one point in pondering this list, here's what I thought I would do: I would simply start all over with ten new films. Once any film has ever appeared on my S&S list, I consider it canonized. "Notorious" or "The Gates of Heaven," for example, are still two of the ten best films of all time, no matter what a subsequent list says.

I decided not to do that--trash the 2002 list and start again. It was too much like a stunt. Lists are ridiculous, but if you're going to vote, you have to play the game. Besides, the thought of starting with a blank page and a list of all the films ever made fills me with despair.

So there must be one new film.

The two candidates, for me, are Charlie Kaufman's "Synecdoche, New York" (2008) and Terrene Malick's "The Tree of Life" (2011). Like the Herzog, the Kubrick and the Coppola, they are films of almost foolhardy ambition. Like many of the films on my list, they were directed by the artist who wrote them. Like several of them, it attempts no less than to tell the story of an entire life,

In "Synecdoche," Kaufman does this with one of the most audacious sets ever constructed: An ever-expanding series of boxes or compartments within which the protagonist attempts to deal with the categories of his life. The film has the insight that we all deal with life in separate segments, defined by choice or compulsion, desire or fear, past or present. It is no less than a film about life.

In "The Tree of Life," Malick boldly begins with the Big Bang and ends in an unspecified state of attenuated consciousness after death. The central section is the story of birth and raising a family.

I could choose either film. I will choose "The Tree of Life" because it is more affirmative and hopeful. I realize that isn't a defensible reasons for choosing one film over the other, but it is my reason, and making this list is essentially impossible, anyway.

Apart from any other motive for putting a movie title on a list like this, there is always the motive of propaganda: Critics add a title hoping to draw attention to it, and encourage others to see it. For 2012, I suppose this is my propaganda title. I believe it's an important film, and will only increase in stature over the years.

Aguirre, Wrath of God (Herzog)
Apocalypse Now (Coppola)
Citizen Kane (Welles)
La Dolce Vita (Fellini)
The General (Keaton)
Raging Bull (Scorsese)
2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick)
Tokyo Story (Ozu)
The Tree of Life (Malick)
Vertigo (Hitchcock)

Tree of Life

Got home on a late Saturday night, and passed out to the world going into creation.

Woke up in the early morning light and Sean Penn is walking on the beach.

Happy 75th Birthday

To my Dad. With love.

They don't make 'em like they used to.

Levon Helm

Tom Joad

He still speaks -- in a weekend of coachella, nbc page promotions, the promise, old overholt, lone star, a good year -- there's still the grapes of wrath. there's still john steinbeck. And there's still that old, weird america.

Ma said "How'm I gonna know 'bout you? They might kill ya an' I wouldn' know. They might hurt ya. How'm I gonna know?"

Tom laughed uneasily, "Well, maybe like Casy says, a fella ain’t got a soul of his own, but on'y a piece of a big one—an' then—" "Then what, Tom?"

"Then it don' matter. Then I’ll be all aroun' in the dark. I’ll be ever'where–wherever you look. Wherever they's a fight so hungry people can eat, I’ll be there. Wherever they's a cop beatin’ up a guy, I’ll be there. If Casy knowed, why, I’ll be in the way guys yell when they’re mad an'— I’ll be in the way kids laugh when they’re hungry an' they know supper’s ready. An' when our folks eat the stuff they raise an' live in the houses they build—why, I’ll be there. See? "

How to Turn Down the Rock 'N' Roll Hall of Fame

Unchained.