Whit's Blog / 1000 Recordings

A little hole

Seeing a movie no one told you to is a blind date, of sorts. You don't know anything about the movie, and you start out thinking, "You know, if I don't like this, no one's going to be mad at me if I just turn it off." Especially since I just joined one of those mail-away movie clubs, so it's not like I even paid for it, really, sort of.

No one but the New York Times told me to watch The Dying Gaul. Well, either the New York Times or my parents. I'm hoping the New York Times, if you're asking. Patricia Clarkson has always deserved this role, ever since Teddy did her bad in "Murder One," all those years ago. Small movies aren't often slick movies, and movies with gay men in them are far too rarely slick movies, and there is certainly room to get upset about some stereotypes, including Hollywood, but the performances were bullet-hard and the premise was sharp like a cactus thorn.

Radio Days

When I was in high school, my friends who knew more than me about funny listened to the Prairie Home Companion. I thought it was precious (without ever listening, mind you) and I wouldn't do it.

A friend of mine introduced me to it in Indiana. I listened, most weeks. I listened to collections of Garrison Keillor's work. I cut a bed for flowers once while I listened to him, and I listened to WLT (abridged) twice. It was very, very funny.

I remember hearing an "O Brother Where Art Thou" edition in Omaha. "O Death" nearly left me speechless. I remember saying I had heard something extraordinary, something I would never hear again. (Then I bought the soundtrack.)

I stopped listening. I forget why. I think because I wanted to make dinner then.

It's a good movie, an Altman movie. Lily Tomlin, again, shocking in her intelligence. And Meryl Streep. Good God, Meryl Streep. Can she EVER suffer any sense of uncertainty? One hopes not.

John C. Reilly. Woody Harrelson. And Tommy Lee Jones. You get the sense that Altman just understands how to help people find their way in front of the camera.

That's Gonna Be Tough

Inside a DVD clamshell from a rental shop: "PLEASE REWIND TAPE"

Insist

The grind, the hack and the insistence of techno is what makes a fella feel all smushy inside.

 

They're not happy. And when they say, "Acoustic Version," don't think they're gonna get all Richie Havens on you.

What's pathetic and demonstrates being old? "Discovering" good tracks from Weezer and Gorillaz in July, 2007, is what. I might as well be a paleontologist.

Italian Faces

Boy on a Bike
Originally uploaded by WhitA

I have said before that it's the faces in Italian movies that make the movies so memorable and heartbreaking and lovely. They're so lovely, and perfectly and broadly animated. Visiting Rome for the second time, I had the chance to see the life that informs the art.