Posted: October 29th, 2007 | Filed under: Cinema, Culture | No Comments »
It is not often that a contemplation of a relatively run of the mill — if entertaining — romantic comedy comes with a caveat about family life. Extrapolating one’s extended family situation from a comparison to the Burns clan in “Dan In Real Life” is fraught with peril.
Single father of three girls, Steve Carell, visits with ma and pa and sis and brothers and their kids over the holidays. Of course the patriarchs live a bucolic seaside manse in Rhode Island. And the family idles away their days in good humor and without any appreciable dysfunction, competing on crossword puzzles, doing jazzercize, having talent shows and playing touch football.
Who do they think they are, the Kennedys? Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: October 29th, 2007 | Filed under: Personalities, Politics, Ruminations | 1 Comment »
While it has passed more under the radar than I might expect, it seems to me that this fake FEMA press conference imbroglio says as much about the ethos of our current administration as any of Karl Rove’s machinations.
Surely you heard, right? During the wildfire havoc in southern California, FEMA staged a fake presser to pat itself on the back. Wherein FEMA employees passed themselves off as legit media, tossing softball queries to those in charge of the operation. It’s the kind of scenario frankly that gives fodder to those conspiracy theorists who doubt we ever landed on the moon, that the whole lunar landing deal was staged in a hangar somewhere. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: October 22nd, 2007 | Filed under: Cinema, Culture, Ruminations | 1 Comment »
Who among us when we were in our early twenties didn’t have questions about life, society, our parents, their values? I certainly did, as did most of my compadres.
Christopher McCandless did too. He graduated from Emory in the early 90’s. At which point, his intelligence and bubbling resentment toward his oft-warring parents manifested itself. Rather than going to Harvard Law School, as he might have done, he set out on the highway looking for adventure. And solace. And understanding. And escape. He seemed in search of the answer to the Big Question, though he probably couldn’t articulate the query. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: October 18th, 2007 | Filed under: Culture, Music, Personalities, Ruminations | 2 Comments »
When I got home last night from Bob Dylan’s latest landing in Louisville, I put on Modern Times. Frankly I hadn’t listened to his last album much. Like most releases these days, by any artist for that matter, it didn’t grab me immediately, so I placed it on the shelf with the myriad of other Dylans.
But as I listened with new ears, which I’m doing again this morning as I write, last night’s gig makes perfect sense. Read the rest of this entry »
