Isn’t “Downtown” one word? Don’t they proof their tile mosaics?
random nyc pic
11
i, cracker
I saw Cadillac Records. It’s the story of Chess Records. A worthy subject! I was angry that I didn’t get to see it in a theater because I thought it would’ve played better with a superior sound system. But it actually turned out to be a good thing that I saw it at home.
I liked it, but in a bid for authenticity the actors who played Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf and Little Walter—all key roles—affected thick southern sharecropper accents. I am so lilly white, so Ohio, so bloody Caucasian that I couldn’t understand a word they were saying! What a bunch of mumbly sons-of-guns! Mrs. Wife turned on the subtitles for me and it was smooth sailing after that. This is all very embarrassing.
I noticed that Beyoncé, who played blues singing-junkie Etta James, was the only one who performed her songs from start to finish. All the other performers had song snippits. In clubs and studio scenes, they never seemed to sing to completion.
Then the credits rolled and I couldn’t help noticing that Beyoncé was the Executive Producer.
It’s her coin. She can do whatever she wants, I guess.
anniversary + more cell phone jammer shenanigans
Today is the 1st Anniversary of this idiot blog. I envy people who are so emotionally evolved that they never look back and have no regrets. Well, that ain’t me, pallies. I can think of, quite literally, DOZENS of things over the past 12 months that I wish I had done differently. But I am glad I began this blog. So there’s that.
A tip o’ the hat to Bobzyeruncle, me blogfather.
* * *
Best rationale ever from a cell phone jamming victim:
I think those Verizon employees who follow me around must have all died because my phone keeps… hello… HELLO?
i had blood on my hands
I took 2.5-Year Old Daughter to a local working farm. It’s owned by the county and is run as a “period piece” from the 1890s. The volunteers all wear clothing from that era and use vintage farm tools to work the land. No electricity! Or iPods! It’s meant to be educational but all I could think of was how horrible life must have been in the 1890s. What a cynic. God bless the 21st Century.
We (ho-hum) saw some sheep…
…and hens.
We walked up to the horse barn and saw a cute little kitty cat sitting outside. I reached down and gave him a little scratch under his chin. He got that eyes-half-closed look of ecstasy that cats get when they’re being scratched and leaned into my hand for more.
Then he sneezed and sprayed blood all over the back of my hand. Here’s a pic of the hay with some blood splashed on it.
I almost wretched. Proof positive that the city is the place for me.
* * *
Father and daughter share a tender moment:
2.5 Year-Old Daughter: What’s that sound?
Me: Daddy had gas.
2.5 Year-Old Daughter: Daddy, you gas is beautiful.
Me: Yes, I know that.
lowlights from the friday new york times fine arts/leisure section
A Chinese director is preparing an operatic adaptatoin of “Das Kapital” by Karl Marx…1
No, thank you.
Nicholas Cage as an astrophysicist…2
Pass.
…a sequence in which he cuts back and forth between a woman giving birth and a soldier having a limb hacked off…3
Ugh! Hell no!
On a Swedish commuter train she broke into a fearsome improvised dance for an audicence of startled fellow passengers.4
Snigger. Pass.
Interest blooms into camaraderie when the men discover a mutual love of the band Rush…5
Voilà! Finally! Jackpot!
1 From the Arts, Briefly column
2 Film review: Knowing
3 Film review: The Edge of Love
4 Art review: Projects 89: Klara Linden at MoMA
5 Film review: I Love You, Man
Exile on Pain Street 