Category Archives: Movie

Movie, Music, Politics, Psychology, Racism and Prejudice

45 Years Later, The Fringe Is Still Here

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80s fans all know “Lunatic Fringe” by Red Rider. 

Or they think they do. 

If you’ve seen the 80s movie “Vision Quest,” you either get chills when the guitar intro riffs right before the drums kick in, or you roll your eyes. 

Do you know what the song is about? It’s not love, personal triumph, or sports.

The song came out in 1981 and came back with a vengeance in 1985 with the movie. 

The song is about extremism and anti-semitism. Tom Cochrane knew he had to finish the song that night in the studio after he got the news that John Lennon was dead. 

It’s an appropriate song for current events.

If you listen closely at the beginning, you can barely hear someone say, “See you on the other side.”

It is an anthem that warns extremists that they are not invisible and won’t win. 

We think that the nutjobs appeared from the ether. They’ve always been with us; the ebb and flow of time requires that we periodically remind them there’s a reason they can’t feel welcome in public discourse. I grew up right in the middle of some of the most pernicious racists imaginable. Like most extremists, they lived in a bubble of self-perpetuating hate. 

Everyone who studies sociology knows the paradox of tolerance.

Red Rider hid a pointed societal warning right in our faces 45 years ago.

Entertainment, Movie, Opinion, Review / Critique, Social Media, Social Rules

Remakes & Covers (At The Road House)

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Each time a movie or song is redone, I tell myself not to read the comments. I can recite the permutations verbatim without needing to dive in.

Although it surprises people, I saw the original Road House movie at the theater in 1989. Although it was a contrived and ridiculously stupid movie, I loved it. Watching it was difficult at the time because there was a large man breathing very loudly and making running commentary during the initial part of the movie. I can see why women thought Patrick Swayze was good-looking. Or Sam Elliott. And I can see why a lot of men thought the action was riveting. Of course, it was stupid. Road House and all the movies like it aren’t shooting for an Oscar. I call all these movies “Kicking Ass in Kentucky.” But Road House was entertaining stupidity. Everyone in the theater knew that the bad guy was going to get his ass kicked.

We all need this kind of story from time to time. Escapism, over-the-top romance. The movies that tap into this need have to be simplistic and badly rendered, much like our lives. Top Gun was another dose of testosterone disguised as a movie. “Reacher” on Amazon is another example of a clichè that makes for great television. I haven’t watched an episode of it. I can, however, see that it resonates for the same reason that Road House did.

A spectacular method for dealing with remakes is not to watch them. But it seems that people are incapable of finger control; they must get on the internet and insist that nothing can top the original. I love generalizing. So I will go out on the clichéd limb of saying that most of these people are the same ones who slobber as they insist that there is no good music anymore.

Almost everything is an echo and permutation of what precedes it.

True inspiration and originality are rare commodities. Almost everything is built on the back of something else or someone else’s idea.

I just wish the commenters would get a dose of what creativity feels like and avoid the relentless onslaught of repetition as they all say the same thing.

Even though I’m older, I lean in the opposite direction. Bring on the remakes and the covers. Some of them are going to be good. And some? They eclipse the original. Yes, there is going to be a lot of content and nonsense that doesn’t appeal to us. And that is precisely what makes the world of entertainment so enjoyable.

There’s something for everyone, even if we’ve seen it all before.

Love, X
.

Behavior, Cellphone, Entertainment, Humor, Lemon Moment, Movie, Nostalgia, Opinion, Personal, Psychology, Social Rules, Technology

The Magic of Focus

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What makes going to the movie so special? It could be the excessive butter that leads to gas-propelled walking and making you regret every decision you’ve made in your adult life by eating too much of it. The kernels that plague your teeth and make you reaffirm the decision that, yes this year, you need to go to the dentist. It could be the occasional narcissist who thinks that we need their phone lit up in order to see that they are checking their Tinder for people who are really into selfishness. Rarely do you see a brain surgeon at the theater. I really doubt that Chad or Karen needs to check their phone every 16 seconds.

And that leads me to one of the most joyous things about theaters. It is one of the last remaining places that we are supposed to pretend that our life doesn’t require our personal and immediate attention. We get to focus on a fantasy world, feel our heart race, and even feel a tear sometimes form in the corner of our eyes. Without the distraction of devices. We’re just sitting and absorbing a collective story that brings us happiness.

I’m old school. I want to see and hear the nuance on the screen and to dive in to an alternate reality for a couple of hours. To feel the spark of creativity and originality fire in my brain as I watch and listen. And that requires focus. No matter how people defend their restlessness, entertainment without focus is a diluted shadow of the experience when you aren’t aying attention.

I know people roll their eyes at me when I tell them I don’t get bored. There’s no secret to it. Even if you’re sitting alone on a quiet porch, there’s an entire world within your view. And another one inside of your head to match it.

It’s being in the moment and giving each moment your attention. I can’t help but think that so many people are sitting in the passenger seat of their car ignoring the world as it passes by. At the fulcrum of most people’s lives are their phones. They are the best communication and entertainment devices ever invented. But you have to remind yourself that for every second you are distracted by your phone, you are missing the world and the people standing right next to you. If if first come first serve is truly important to us, then surely it follows that the people already with us deserve our undivided attention.

And that’s one of the reasons I love movie theaters. We haven’t quite lost the expectation of being in the moment and focused.

Like all experiences, a great movie that is shared takes on new life. Much in the same way that doing something together has the same result. All of us can list seminal movies that changed us in small ways. None of it could happen without allowing the magic of imagination and focus to envelope us.

Yes, we also get to eat a bushel of popcorn and drink so much soda that we are afraid we might not make it to the bathroom before the movie is over.

Love, X
.

DIY, Humor, Project, Sling Blade

Sling Blade Scenario DIY Kit

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Well, I finally finished my ultimate art project, one celebrating one of the best movies of all time: Sling Blade.

Now, if I find myself in a Sling Blade scenario, I have a tool handy for the Doyles of the world.

It’s a brilliant piece of art, if I do say so myself.

Yes, that is a real lawnmower blade in the kit.

Love,
Karl aka X

Allegory, Entertainment, Movie, Review / Critique, TV

“What’s Remembered, Lives” Nomadland

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The title of this, “What’s remembered, lives,” is a quote attributed to the father of Frances McDormand’s character, Fern. It’s a pithy encapsulation of a truth many of us remember when we lose someone close. Fern finds herself trapped in a self-fulfilling cocoon of memory.

I tried “Nomadland” without knowing much about it. I heard buzz about it before. Frances McDormand seems to bring depth to everything. Though she’s not a classic beauty, she’s aged beautifully. Despite being sixty-four, she appears nude in this movie and does not shirk from any realistic depiction of her character. Some moments will shock you, but none of them are gratuitous.

Frances McDormand’s character is experiencing the hollow of life after her husband died. The town they lived in died due to economics. She travels in a van as a nomad. Each place she visits greets her with fascinating and complicated people, many of whom are portrayed by ‘real’ people from the nomad movement.

It was one continuous, unutterable emotion rendered as a movie.

I might compare it to a dream, one punctuated by hyperrealistic moments that don’t let you flinch away from them. The scenery is beautiful, as is the simple music by Ludovico Einaudi. (Who I discovered accidentally a couple of years ago.) There is an odd assortment of live music in the movie, and all of it is performed with creative intimacy – by people you would love to get to know.

The movie paces with an intentional speed that might confuse some people. This movie is a bit of poetry and prose set in motion. It might well be a creative second cousin to Pat Conroy’s writing.

If I had to compare this movie to something, I might say it’s a photograph of the love of your life found after a violent storm, half-hidden in debris. Or a woman’s beautiful singing voice rendered hoarse from exertion. The beauty is bare for you to see.

Like I always do, I found little pieces of myself in this movie, and in unexpected places.

As for the ending, after Fern experiences her catharsis, it is evident that Fern chooses herself and the nomad life over one filled with people and intimate love. She is a nomad once again.

She will see us all later, though.

Entertainment, Movie, Music, Nostalgia

Top Gun, Otis Redding, And a Coincidence

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In the movie Top Gun, when Maverick (Tom Cruise) goes to Charlie’s House, most people remember the iconic song “Take My Breath Away.” For me, though, the song that stole the moment was Otis Redding’s “Sittin’ On the Dock of The Bay.” Toto originally was supposed to do the “Danger Zone” song, as well as another that would have been the song used instead of “Take My Breath Away.” Judas Priest was going to do a song for the soundtrack too but thought the movie would flop, as did many critics. Tom Cruise declined to do the movie repeatedly.

Most people with harsh criticisms of the movie tended to knock “the talking scenes” such as the one following the love scene at Charlie’s beach house. We all endured the testosterone-laden antics of our male friends in the late 80s as a result of this movie. For most of us who survived the 80s, each of us has at least one guilty pleasure in a song from the movie. I don’t think any of us miss the aviator sunglasses that seemed to be everywhere. None of us fully escaped the energy of Kenny Loggins as he sang “Danger Zone,” the fourth or fifth choice to sing the song.

What most people don’t consider is the unintentional coincidence of Otis’ biggest hit being in the scenes at the beach house. Maverick was about to go on the biggest mission of his life in one of the most modern airplanes in history, where death followed at every high-G spin.

Otis Redding recorded “Sittin’ On the Dock of The Bay” two times in 1967, with the second time being shortly before he died in December. The song was never officially finished. Otis is heard whistling in the song because he forgot the riffs he intended to fill in and started whistling to preserve the session. After Otis died, the beach sounds were added to this famous song by Steve Cropper, who helped Otis co-write the song.

I forgot to mention: Otis died in a plane crash.