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The 2-year-old's guide to Dostoevsky. Which is not unlike how my own mind processes his works.
A post aimed more for the local readers, in case they give a flying fig. Robin Thicke is doing and instore signing and a small performance at my store on December 3rd (I think it's the 3rd, but check his myspace page for confirmation because he's the one putting out the bulletins about it).
Also the new Robert Altman tribute issue of The High Hat is out. Varying topics regarding his oeuvre, both good and bad, all well-written (and several by some friends of mine). Other articles include the existential paradox of technical death metal by Phil Freeman, HBO TV series Deadwood and The Wire do Institutionalism by Hayden Childs, and a very thought-provoking article on prayer by Greg Hough (including handsome photograph).
Almost 2:30am. I wish my headache would subside just enough to give me rest. The internet sure is a lonely place at this hour.
A post aimed more for the local readers, in case they give a flying fig. Robin Thicke is doing and instore signing and a small performance at my store on December 3rd (I think it's the 3rd, but check his myspace page for confirmation because he's the one putting out the bulletins about it).
Also the new Robert Altman tribute issue of The High Hat is out. Varying topics regarding his oeuvre, both good and bad, all well-written (and several by some friends of mine). Other articles include the existential paradox of technical death metal by Phil Freeman, HBO TV series Deadwood and The Wire do Institutionalism by Hayden Childs, and a very thought-provoking article on prayer by Greg Hough (including handsome photograph).
Almost 2:30am. I wish my headache would subside just enough to give me rest. The internet sure is a lonely place at this hour.
posted by Melissa at 2:10 AM
8 Comments:
Robin Thicke is in no way related to Alan Thicke?
I had to ask, lol.
It's his son.
Thanks for the plug, Mel. I pray there'll be more HH writing from you sometime.
I've seen only six Altman movies in my life, which disqualifies me from Altman Geek status, and kept me from pursuing a role in the Altman tribute.
The latest, A Prairie Home Companion, I saw just yesterday. Speaking as someone who quite likes Robert Altman and Garrison Keillor, I found the movie painfully lame and self-indulgent and claustrophobic, save only for a handful of scenes when Altman most allows Keillor to just be Keillor -- just filming some actual PHC shows and connecting to it some semi-fictional backstory and "Lake Woebegon Come to Life" might've been a better way to go, I think -- and the sort-of amusing cowboy shtick by Woody Harrelson and John C. Reilly.
It was a really interesting article, Greg.I always felt that prayer, or rather the need for prayer, was sort of a hardwired into the human psyche from the beginning of time, perhaps back when cavemen where drawing deer and buffalo on cave walls, prayers in their own way for a successful hunt. I think the need to cry out to anyone who will listen when you're feeling helpless is a large part of what we are. I'm more inclined to believe that the religions of the world were only built around the basic need for prayer in all of us. Something with a name to direct our prayers toward.
Wow, I'm rather glad to see that I'm not the only one who felt that way about A Prairie Home Companion. In fact I couldn't even finish it. Claustrophobic definitely, although maybe that was the feeling Altman was aiming for -- that cramped, cluttered backstage theater atmosphere, sort of like the long narrow hallways and bustling rooms of servants in Gosford Park. But in this film it felt like it was choking me. I enjoy Keillor, naturally, and I liked the dynamic between Tomlin and Streep, mostly because I have always loved Tomlin and Streep and they are remarkably in sync with each other here. But overall it felt, like you said, over-indugent, and not interesting enough to carry it through to the end. Maybe I missed something, but I just didn't see what everybody else appeared to see in that picture.
Altman films I've seen:
The Company
Prêt-à-Porter
Gosford Park
Nashville
Short Cuts
MASH
McCabe & Mrs Miller
Popeye
OC & Stiggs
Vincent & Theo
The Player
Wow, I saw more than I thought I did. Still no real authority on teh guy to toss in my two bits. I'll leave that to the more learned of those guys. ;-)
Gosh, I don't know when or if I'll ever get another piece in the Hat again at this point. I feel so creatively stifled these days. So little has seized me, inspired me. My writing's been the pits for almost a year. I look back over previous posts in my blog and feel embarrassed over my lack of effort. I feel like I'm just taking up precious meg space that could potentially be used for something contructive out there.
I read your post about your daughter doing Seussical. Gertrude McFuzz, by the way, is one of my favorite Dr Seuss books out of them all. You must be so proud of that little girl of yours. And your boy has got quite an arm on him for art! Talent runs thick in your family, kiddo. I can't wait to see the pictures from your gal's play!
It does seem, and studies in human physiology might indicate, that the "need" to create and believe in things beyond the physical world is a hardwired, time-tested Darwinian tool.
Wish I should share some files of my daughter singing, too, so I could prove to any doubters out there that I'm not just a biased loving dad.
My son now usually has his "quiet time" for drawing, just before he goes to bed. He's like a mad scientist in his bedroom, working on a new creation.
And pshaw on your review of your recent posting. The down-to-earthiness and attention to detail usually gets you over, I think. If the flair and fire are too often missing lately, oh well, they'll likely come back with time if you keep plugging away.
Altmans I've seen in full: M*A*S*H*, Nashville, Vincent & Theo, The Player, Gosford Park and A Prairie Home Companion.
I've seen in part: Popeye, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Cookie's Fortune, Short Cuts.
Can you believe it, Greg? Altman died this morning. Not like most of us didn't see it coming. But wow.
I might actually be inspired to write something about it here, as soon as I am able.
You and the Hat writers were the first I thought of, when I saw the news just minutes ago.
Ain't that the way the world often works, though? Beyond the most classic example of historical synchroncity, Jefferson and Adams dying on the same day 50 years after July 4, 1776, we've got...
Isabel Bigley, who first played Sarah Brown in Guys & Dolls on Broadway, dying just a week or two after my daughter played Sarah Brown here in Oregon. And a week or two after that, the New York Times' Maureen Dowd wrote that Hillary Clinton reminded her of Sarah Brown.
My word. Totally, Greg-my-friend. A butterfly flaps its wings in Brazil...
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