Friday, December 24, 2010

Tis the eve of someone else's savior...

...I am drinking a Pacifico, listening to the first Led Zeppelin album, wrapping presents. The Murph is "helping". Was going to bum out and watch Au hasard Balthazar. But christ, it's already half past ten; I'll never make it. Might as well watch Die Hard again. I need to hit that proverbial prune juice to get regular with the blog entries. But that might take a Christmas miracle.

Happy Holidays, turds.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

If you were expecting a lengthy update...

...too bad. Not feeling it lately. Still, I've been doing some reading and watching some movies - recapped in short here.

Blood Meridian is the most memorable book I've read in quite some time. If Faulkner had grown up in the Southwest and wrote Moby Dick, it have would read like this. The contrast between the skillful eloquence of the prose and the human depravity which it depicts is mesmerizing and unlike anything I've encountered. To quote a critic, Cormac McCarthy is a genius - also probably somewhat insane.

Decided to then go with a more traditional Western in Once Upon a Time in the West. Can't go wrong in terms of entertainment with Sergio Leone. Claudia Cardinale is a goddamn babe and Charles Bronson is cool as shit with great lines ("I saw three of these dusters a short time ago...inside the dusters, there were three men...inside the men, there were three bullets.")

Finally checked out When We Were Kings, which is about the "Rumble in the Jungle" between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in 1974. Despite its Academy Award, I wouldn't say it's the greatest documentary in terms how well it was put together; clips get recycled here and there. Though it's hard to deny the vintage footage of B.B. King (apparently he could stand and play guitar at one point) and James Brown (the eternal badass in his prime), not to mention Ali - who was a hilarious enigma way ahead of his time with that clever rhyme scheme. Boxing may not cater to everyone's sensibilities. But watching Ali absorb Foreman's punishment, essentially draining the aggressor of power and then successfully mounting an assault...it is a thing of brilliance and beauty.

The Descent - gnarliest Lifetime movie ever.

Been jamming The Promise by Bruce Springsteen a lot. Don't know how these were leftovers from the Darkness on the Edge of Town sessions. It's classic Springsteen: blue-collar Americana that is melancholy, sentimental and always genuine. Haters be damned.

Kind of want to see The Fighter. My cinematic instincts are telling me that I should know better. We'll see what happens.

Starting to read Lolita. Lock up your daughters.

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