I work with some great people. My friends Mike Cary and Ruth Loiacano (I spelled that right, didn't I, Ruth!) loaned me stuff that I enjoyed very much over the weekend. Mike loaned me the DVD of Dazed and Confused (that makes two movies that I "can't believe that you haven't seen" that I finally saw this year; Jaws being the other one.) and Ruth let me borrow the All Music Guide to Jazz, a skonking big reference tome.
Dazed was just a film that I somehow missed for the last nine years. I was never moved to rent it, since its basic story, an American Graffiti-style look at one night in the lives of a bunch of Texas teens in 1976, was pretty much something that I had already lived through (yes, I was 16 in '76), and it never aired on a cable network that I received...and who the heck wants to watch the edited for television version? But after viewing it, while I'm a bit puzzled at the paddling Freshmen obsession (something Kentucky teens, at least Caverna High School seniors, just didn't do-or at least I don't remember doing or receiving it as a Freshman), they really nailed the whole drugs and beer and woo-hoo party, man to Seger and Skynyrd scene as I vaguely remember it back then. I was a bit surprised that most of the principal characters' actors and actresses haven't gone on to bigger and better things...only Ben Affleck, Milla Jovovich (rrrow), Joey Lauren Adams (double rrrow), Parker Posey and Matthew McConaughey (who played a great, funny character-I've known several guys like that), all of whom had small roles, have done anything that has caused a blip on my radar screen. Go figure.
I also watched Woody Allen's 20's comedy, Bullets Over Broadway. I'm usually hot and cold on Woody's oeuvre, with only Zelig, Annie Hall, and Sleeper being films of his that I could sit through previously. There's just something uninvolving to me about most of his films. That being said, I enjoyed Bullets very much. It had a great cast and great perfs by John Cusack, probably my favorite male actor (I usually like everything he's done...but I haven't seen Serendipity yet, either), the luscious Jennifer Tilly, the great Jim Broadbent ( he's done several movies I love, including Topsy-Turvy and Moulin Rouge!), Dianne Weist, and several others.
I also just finished watching the Will Smith biopic Ali. I'm not really a boxing fan, but I remember Ali's great fights growing up and all the hoohah that surrounded him, so I get a little nostalgic for that sort of thing from that time period. Smith is good, and Jon Voight does a creditable Howard Cosell (even though John Tuturro was better in Monday Night Mayhem) but the film is shot with all flash and little substance by Michael Mann, who keeps us at arm's length from Smith's Ali and never lets us see what makes him tick. Maybe it was impossible to show, I don't know, but that distance keeps the film from becoming truly gripping, and almost is somber and regretful in tone, hardly the way I would think Ali should be portrayed. Also, ending it abruptly in 1974 after the Foreman fight (or as abruptly as a damn near 3 hour film can end) was a little jarring...I wanted to know more, even though I do know more when you think about it. So I guess it wasn't entirely unsuccessful, but I wish it could have had a bit more depth.
I spent a great deal of time digging around in the AMG Jazz book. For the last couple of years I've been getting more interested in Jazz, ever since the Ken Burns documentaries I suppose, and I enjoyed reading up a bit more on the people that interest me like Miles Davis and John Coltrane. I've got a few Davis CDs, and I've got the one Coltrane Ken Burns disc, and I was interested in the book's recommendations. Jazz is a daunting world to the neophyte, there are so many styles and artists and many years of stuff to sort through. I think it's mostly a case of wanting to investigate a new style of music that I haven't paid a lot of attention to before. There's just a depth missing to much of today's music; it's all surface and no depth. Of course, there are exceptions, but as the years go by they are few and far between. Maybe this is related to what Devra wrote about back on Thursday; I'm finding myself more interested in going back and discovering stuff I've overlooked in the past. I do like Coldplay, though...
The Falcons won today! They beat New Orleans 24-17, and are surpassing my wildest hopes for the season. I honestly believe that unless they totally collapse they could win 10 games and get a wild-card berth in the playoffs.
I haven't had much, if any commentary on comics lately, I know...there just hasn't been anything that's sparked my interest. I'm hoping the new 100% comes out this week or next. If you're not reading this excellent Paul Pope book, then you're missing out on a real tour-de-force, not to mention one of the best romance comics of the last 40 years. You might want to wait until it comes out in trade format; at right at 6 bucks an issue it's pricey, but in this case I feel that you definitely get what you pay for.
Music today-a shitload of contemporary gospel music. Praise Jesus.
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