I'm thinking very hard about not re-upping membership at the end of the month.
If not for "forever," then at least to take a break and see.... what happens. It'll be four years on January 1st. That's a long time, even if I was totally thrilled about the direction of the site.
I am not.
So... I dunno. You can always catch me on MySpazz or LiveJournal if I do go off. I'm cheechcaballero on LJ, and uhh my MySpace link above should work... it did for me just now....
Also- I was completely exhausted and undecided between going to see Joanna Newsom and Jay Farrar on Sunday night when it hit me- oh yeah, tonight is the LAST night of Crispin Glover's appearance in town, to perform spoken word and show his movie, What Is It?, which is not gonna be out on video any year soon. So I'd BETTER go to that, and hope it's not sold out already.
So I went.
It is a very deliberately odd movie.
And deliberately "breaking taboos," or being offensive, depending on your perspective.
He explained after the movie, in a very earnest, drawn-out, low-key-as-possible discussion, how he started out making a short film with actors with Down's Syndrome, then decided to draw out the film to specifically include taboos (as he liked to call it) that normal Hollywood entertainment wouldn't like: racial themes, sex, nudity, trangressive violence towards... snails. Like that.
I'm afraid I disagree with him on that main point; I don't believe dealing in taboos is an end, although it can be a means of entertainment. I think for it to be meaningful, well, maybe you take on some particular social or political aspect of society or media... rather than just throwing a bunch of grotesque stuff out there. I hesitate to say he was being a lazy filmmaker, though; he seemed very sincere. But I wasn't really entertained or moved, for the most part.
One good thing- some of the scenes, particularly in the underground cavern sequences, reminded me of Jodorowsky, David Lynch, and Ken Russell... which is funny, as he said he was influenced by four directors: Buuel, Herzog, Fassbinder, and Stanley Kubrick. Huh. Well, I noticed the little L'Age d'Or references, but I stand by my original impressions. Besides, I think Jodorowsky blows Buuel out of the water.
...still, I don't think Glover's film succeeds as real comedy or drama, or surrealist vision that came together really well for me.
Before the movie, he did an hour or so performing prose from his books (Ratcatching; Concrete Inspections; What It Is, and How It Is Done, and more) while a slide projector put the pages up behind him. I liked this segment more than the films, but even there... I liked it, but I can say now that Glover is not one of my absolute fave surrealists. I don't regret going, though. The evening had some good moments, it's always kinda neat to see a "star" live, and someone who seems like they won't be around a lot doing promo in the future. If I hadn't gone I woulda wondered "what if?" about missing What Is It? and now... well, I know what it is-
It's fine
everything is fine.
If not for "forever," then at least to take a break and see.... what happens. It'll be four years on January 1st. That's a long time, even if I was totally thrilled about the direction of the site.
I am not.
So... I dunno. You can always catch me on MySpazz or LiveJournal if I do go off. I'm cheechcaballero on LJ, and uhh my MySpace link above should work... it did for me just now....
Also- I was completely exhausted and undecided between going to see Joanna Newsom and Jay Farrar on Sunday night when it hit me- oh yeah, tonight is the LAST night of Crispin Glover's appearance in town, to perform spoken word and show his movie, What Is It?, which is not gonna be out on video any year soon. So I'd BETTER go to that, and hope it's not sold out already.
So I went.
It is a very deliberately odd movie.
And deliberately "breaking taboos," or being offensive, depending on your perspective.
He explained after the movie, in a very earnest, drawn-out, low-key-as-possible discussion, how he started out making a short film with actors with Down's Syndrome, then decided to draw out the film to specifically include taboos (as he liked to call it) that normal Hollywood entertainment wouldn't like: racial themes, sex, nudity, trangressive violence towards... snails. Like that.
I'm afraid I disagree with him on that main point; I don't believe dealing in taboos is an end, although it can be a means of entertainment. I think for it to be meaningful, well, maybe you take on some particular social or political aspect of society or media... rather than just throwing a bunch of grotesque stuff out there. I hesitate to say he was being a lazy filmmaker, though; he seemed very sincere. But I wasn't really entertained or moved, for the most part.
One good thing- some of the scenes, particularly in the underground cavern sequences, reminded me of Jodorowsky, David Lynch, and Ken Russell... which is funny, as he said he was influenced by four directors: Buuel, Herzog, Fassbinder, and Stanley Kubrick. Huh. Well, I noticed the little L'Age d'Or references, but I stand by my original impressions. Besides, I think Jodorowsky blows Buuel out of the water.
...still, I don't think Glover's film succeeds as real comedy or drama, or surrealist vision that came together really well for me.Before the movie, he did an hour or so performing prose from his books (Ratcatching; Concrete Inspections; What It Is, and How It Is Done, and more) while a slide projector put the pages up behind him. I liked this segment more than the films, but even there... I liked it, but I can say now that Glover is not one of my absolute fave surrealists. I don't regret going, though. The evening had some good moments, it's always kinda neat to see a "star" live, and someone who seems like they won't be around a lot doing promo in the future. If I hadn't gone I woulda wondered "what if?" about missing What Is It? and now... well, I know what it is-
It's fine
everything is fine.
VIEW 10 of 10 COMMENTS
morgan:
Heh, I must have deleted said tag, because I remember there being rude tags on my sets but I can't remember any of them individually!
fraulin:
Crispin Glover is crazy. Do you have some of his music?
