About a month ago I TIVO’d George Carlin’s latest HBO special, It’s Bad For Ya. I didn’t get to watch it until 2 weeks ago. It was filmed on his 70th birthday. There were a couple of moments during the act where he was a bit slower than he used to be, but for the most part it was good old fashioned Carlin and a hilarious act. Even not at his very best, he was still funnier than almost any other stand-up comedian out there. He started the show off saying how much he hated Lance Armstrong and Tiger Woods. Who says that? I can’t stand those guys either, but no one says that. He explained that he doesn’t want to be told who his heroes are going be by TV commercials or the media. People should choose their own heroes. George Carlin died yesterday at the age of 71. He was one of my heroes.
George Carlin didn’t compromise for anyone. He was from the old Lenny Bruce school of stand up. He was funny as all hell but he wanted you to think as much as laugh. He challenged all authority. The government, religion, education, parents; no one was left off the hook. He challenged what most people consider the norm or proper way of doing things. He was in your face, at times very crass and always funny. His comedy wasn’t always political; he could be silly and tell fart jokes too. I think that I have seen every one of his HBO specials, many of them I saw a few times. There wasn’t a bomb in the bunch. He was my favorite stand-up comic and look forward to watching HBO replay his many specials for years to come. They’ll never get old.
The next movie on my list is one that shows up on most, if not all Top 100 lists. Usually it’s a lot higher than it is here, but again it’s my list and I call them how I see them. Without question Raging Bull is an all time classic, directed by an all time great with one of the all time performances. What De Niro did in this movie is amazing; gaining and losing weight like that.
You all know what the movie is about so I’ll make this quick. De Niro plays boxer Jake La Motta. He was a Middle Weight champion in the 40’s. He’s best known for being the first guy to ever beat the legendary Sugar Ray Robinson. Aside from being about his boxing career, the film is about Jake’s relationship with his wife and the rage that consumed him. These sort of end up being one in the same. The film takes us through his boxing career and post boxing career as a hack stand up comedian. I think the most interesting part of this movie is the relationship he has with his wife Vickie played by Cathy Moriarty. He never trusts that she is being faithful and this usually causes him to blow up and beat the hell out of someone. What ever happened to Cathy Moriarty by the way? This was her first movie and if you look her up on IMDB.com she has done nothing but absolute crap since. She was nominated for an Oscar and usually after that you get some sort of big time follow up. Instead she got Neighbors which was the Belushi/ Aykroyd movie that wasn’t funny. She was 21, hot and coming out the best movie of 1980. She was last seen in a 2005 episode Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. She couldn’t even get on the original and more popular version of Law & Order. Oh well, such is life in Hollywood I guess.
This is considered by many to be Martin Scorsese’s masterpiece. It’s not my favorite from him, but it’s hard to argue. He got so much out of his actors. Thematically and style wise it really capped off the 1970’s for him. He started diving in to some new territories after this. In fact his next two films King of Comedy and After Hours are different, but great. You want to see a whacked out movie, definitely check out After Hours. None the less Raging Bull is one of the all time greats and deserves all of the accolades it gets.
At my job I have about 65 clients or so that I work with on a fairly regular basis. Some of them are very nice, some could be described as evil and some are just flat out stupid. Either they’re stupid or just don’t want to put in the effort to think about anything. I could go on and on about the stupid and evil ones for hours and one day I probably will; but today I want to discuss something that some of the nice ones do that really gets under my skin. I’ll send them an email letting them know that I have completed the mundane task they’ve asked me to do for them and while most will reply back with a simple thank you, some will replay back with something like, “you’re a rock star”. I understand they are trying to be nice but to me this is pretty condescending. Don’t talk to me like I’m in 5th grade. Am I supposed to get all excited because you called me a rock star? Am I rock star because I just did what I was asked or told to do? That doesn’t make sense. I’m the furthest thing from a rock star. I’m an Account manager in corporate America. I’m not up doing blow with hookers and trashing hotel rooms on a Tuesday night, I’m sitting on the couch watching baseball. All calling me a rock star does is remind me of how depressing my current occupation is. So please, just say thanks or don’t say anything at all. I honestly don’t care nor do I need your recognition for doing something that could be done by an idiot. Besides, personality wise I much closer to being a folk singer than a rock star. Read the rest of this entry »
It has come to my attention that there are rumors going around that Michelle Obama used the word “whitey” in a speech at the Obama’s church. Something along the lines of fighting against whitey, and that there is a video tape of the speech. As of yet the video tape has not surfaced and this looks like another dirty republican lie used as a campaign weapon. It is quite disgusting how often they pull these kinds of attacks and how low they will go. Besides the obvious fact that this is flat out unproven, the thing that pisses me off most about it is how hypocritical it is. They are insinuating that Michelle or the Obamas in general are racists. If someone could not win the presidency because they or their spouse is a racist I would venture to say that 90% of the presidents that we have had in our history would not have been elected. Probably more. I would include our current President in this 90%. If you think that Bush has never dropped an N bomb while in the White House, you are more of an idiot than he is.
I would be naïve to think that race has nothing to do with this election. Obama has already done what many people thought was impossible to do in our life time. In a nation with a long history of racism and classism, a man trying to be the first minority Commander-In-Chief is going to have every dirty trick in the book thrown at him. With that in mind, if McCain has any dignity or self respect he will run his campaign on his merits and his policy and not the color of his skin. Unfortunately I am not confident that will be the case, but I suppose it is not out of the question. In any event, the Obama campaign understands these tactics. The republicans used them against Kerry and even against McCain back in 2000 among many other past candidates. To dispel this garbage they set up a website to refute any lies that the republican smear factory comes up with. Check out http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/fightthesmearshome/. All in all you should vote for who you think is the better candidate. Race should not factor in to your vote even a little bit. If you think McCain will be a better President, all power to you. I would disagree but you are doing the right thing by voting for who you believe in. I just hope that you think he is the better candidate because of his policy and not because he is white.
A guy who I worked with at my last job utterly hated this this movie. His name escapes me right now, but he sort of looked like Erik Estrada, better known by some as Ponch from the 70’s TV show CHiPs. Anyway, he was nice guy but I couldn’t understand his hatred for the movie. He gave the same excuses that most fans of Nick Cage or Van Damme movies give when they don’t like a movie that the critics mostly like. They’ll say it’s slow or it’s boring of if they’re honest they’ll just say that they don’t get it. Well I happed to like Wonder Boys. I liked it so much that it made my top 100. I’m not saying that I am smarter than this ex co-worker or have better taste (which I obviously do), but I guess I just got it.
Michael Douglas plays English professor Grady Tripp who seven years before was the talk of the literary world after writing a masterpiece novel. Since then he has not been able to complete his highly anticipated second novel which is now in the thousands in pages. His editor Terry Crabtree played by Robert Downey Jr. (who I would call a scene stealer in this, but everyone is so good, it’s impossible for anyone to steal a scene from anyone) comes to town to try and pressure Tripp in to getting the book done. Crabtree has gotten just as desperate for another hit as Tripp. The movie takes place over a long weekend and there is a lot packed in. Tripp’s third wife files for divorce, his girlfriend (played by an understated Frances McDormand) who also happens to be the school chancellor and wife of the head of the English department, lets him know she’s pregnant with his child and a big literary convention is hitting the campus where he will undoubtedly be asked about the progress of his new book. I haven’t even mentioned what Toby Maguire’s character, James puts him through. Something involving a dead dog and a stolen Marilyn Monroe outfit. James is actually at the center of this story along with Grady Tripp. He is a promising student in one of Tripp’s classes. He’s a pathological liar and an extreme introvert, but Tripp sees something in him. Did I mention that James hooks up with Crabtree? There is a lot going here.
The bottom line is that this is a very funny movie. It’s sort of a goofball comedy for people that don’t mind thinking a little bit when watching a movie. It can also at times be sad and touching. It’s not about the plot, this movie is completely character driven and the performances are all top notch. I don’t think I have ever like Douglas in a movie more than I do here playing against type. I haven’t even yet mentioned Katie Holmes (she is great in this small part) who plays one of Tripp’s students who is crushing on him and happens to rent a room in his house. The film bombed somewhat in the theater, but it shouldn’t be forgotten. Toss it on your Netflix queue, I think you’ll like it.
Goodbye Bo Diddley. One of the true all time rock and roll greats. Along with Chuck Berry and a handful of others, he created the beat that started rock music. His style is still being copied to this day. If it wasn’t for him we may not have had the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton or even The Clash. Elvis Pressley notoriously stole from him. I can’t claim to be an expert on him and his music, but I have and enjoy a few of his albums. If you are a fan or rock or the blues, you should at least grab a greatest hits album. Aside from the music being great, he is damn funny. I have never heard of anyone putting their own name in the titles of so many of their own songs such as, Diddley Daddy, Hey Bo Diddley, The Story of Bo Diddley and of course Bo Diddley among others. He is a pioneer that will be missed and hopefully will now be appreciated as much as he should be.