Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Re. my absence. I had to get away.
The only way I can describe it, and this is particularly poor, is that after a really great time at LB and Hen's wedding reception, something went very wrong in my head. Way before that weekend I had started to dislike this John Pynchon character a great deal. He became everything gob shite about me. Crass and drunk and vile and intolerant. I didn't want to be him anymore. I wanted to be someone else and to do something else. There was a point during the week when I became absolutely depressed, fed up and sick of writing about myself. It was all I was doing and it was all the same old shit. Lorraine, films, no sex, music, TV, indifference, writers block, severe insomnia, shit, shit, shit, shit.
So, I stopped. I did other things and I went back to sleeping at night again. Now I'm back and I feel a lot better. Madly enough I missed blogging, but I have also found other things to do and the balance is better. Maybe this will mean that the volume of posts will go down, but hopefully the quality of the posts will go up. I am not the most interesting person in the world and I certainly am not the best writer in the world, but feel free to disagree, if you see fit.
I had an email from a friend in a far off place. That helped a lot. You know who you are.
Anyway, I had to return. The 2007 Shuffleathon is in full swing. (It is going to be an annual event, isn't it Swiss?) I have a disc cut and ready to go this weekend. I have not tailored it in any way, shape or form, for the person it is going to. (Just as well, because I don't know them anyway and, for various reasons, I cannot read their blog.) Hopefully they will love it.
Of course they will love it, it is a masterpiece. You know it.
The Greatest Compilation Album In The World, Volume 3
And do you know what? It would be equally wonderful if they just hated it.
Last weekend I saw two films: "Across The Universe" and "Shoot 'Em Up". I will write about "Across The Universe" today.
Here in the UK, "Across The Universe" has had somewhat of a rough ride from some critics. (Hi there esteemed film reviewers of the "Independent" and "Metro" newspapers!) Basically they felt that "Across The Universe" was just awful; shoehorning the Beatles music into an ill-thought through piece of musical cinema, using those songs in wholly inappropriate and crass ways.
I cannot say that I understand their opinion completely. Maybe you just have to be a Beatles fan to appreciate the film, but I thought that "Across The Universe" was absolutely wonderful.
OK... Maybe not absolutely wonderful. Outside of the many great musical set pieces (there are 31 songs on the soundtrack) the film suffers from a somewhat lethargic pacing and a fairly witless and predictable story. Guff about the innocence of the early Sixties being eroded by Vietnam, civil rights, the expanding drug culture, sexual and political revolution is used as a background to a simplistic story of Boy meets Girl, Boy and Girl fall in love, Boy loses Girl, Boy gets Girl back and, hey, guess what? The message here is that "All You Need Is Love".
You got all that? Good. Forget all of it, because what makes "Across The Universe" a really good film, and where it really works, is in the stunning visuals (Julie Taymor also made "Titus", which anybody will tell you is an astonishing looking film) and the brilliant versions of those songs, some of which are over 40 years old.
Highlights?
T. V. Carpio's version of "I Want To Hold Your Hand", reinvented as a lesbian torch song. Evan Rachel Wood's exuberant "It Won't Be Long" (I sadly have to report that I had completely forgotten that brilliant opener to "With The Beatles"), as a great, lost, call and response, Sixties girl group number. Bono's truly bonkers version of "I Am The Walrus". Joe Cocker's muscular take on "Come Together". Joe Anderson's "Happiness Is A Warm Gun" (with Salma Hayek popping up a a nurse, oh, yes!) Practically everything sang by Jim Sturgess ("Strawberry Fields Forever", "Across The Universe", "Girl") and Dana Fuchs ("Helter Skelter", "Oh Darling", "Don't Let Me Down").
Er... Basically the highlights were all of the musical sections of the film. True, Eddie Izzard doing "Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite" was kind of terrible, but I think it was supposed to be terrible.
Even if you are not a Beatles fan, and there are some of those curious creatures about (Hi there, Mr. Planet! Hi there, Graham!), there is a lot to enjoy in "Across The Universe". But be warned. You are almost certainly going to miss out on some of the fun Beatles references, he says smugly. (A girl climbing in through a bathroom window, anyone? The climatic rooftop gig being interrupted by the police, bringing to mind the last time the Beatles played live, on the roof of Apple headquarters on 30th January 1969.)
I think that "Across The Universe" is worth seeing, but I would say that, being Beatles fan A number 1.
Remember... "All You Need Is Love".
"Shoot 'Em Up" later in the week. "Heroes" is on tomorrow.
The only way I can describe it, and this is particularly poor, is that after a really great time at LB and Hen's wedding reception, something went very wrong in my head. Way before that weekend I had started to dislike this John Pynchon character a great deal. He became everything gob shite about me. Crass and drunk and vile and intolerant. I didn't want to be him anymore. I wanted to be someone else and to do something else. There was a point during the week when I became absolutely depressed, fed up and sick of writing about myself. It was all I was doing and it was all the same old shit. Lorraine, films, no sex, music, TV, indifference, writers block, severe insomnia, shit, shit, shit, shit.
So, I stopped. I did other things and I went back to sleeping at night again. Now I'm back and I feel a lot better. Madly enough I missed blogging, but I have also found other things to do and the balance is better. Maybe this will mean that the volume of posts will go down, but hopefully the quality of the posts will go up. I am not the most interesting person in the world and I certainly am not the best writer in the world, but feel free to disagree, if you see fit.
I had an email from a friend in a far off place. That helped a lot. You know who you are.
Anyway, I had to return. The 2007 Shuffleathon is in full swing. (It is going to be an annual event, isn't it Swiss?) I have a disc cut and ready to go this weekend. I have not tailored it in any way, shape or form, for the person it is going to. (Just as well, because I don't know them anyway and, for various reasons, I cannot read their blog.) Hopefully they will love it.
Of course they will love it, it is a masterpiece. You know it.
The Greatest Compilation Album In The World, Volume 3
And do you know what? It would be equally wonderful if they just hated it.
Last weekend I saw two films: "Across The Universe" and "Shoot 'Em Up". I will write about "Across The Universe" today.
Here in the UK, "Across The Universe" has had somewhat of a rough ride from some critics. (Hi there esteemed film reviewers of the "Independent" and "Metro" newspapers!) Basically they felt that "Across The Universe" was just awful; shoehorning the Beatles music into an ill-thought through piece of musical cinema, using those songs in wholly inappropriate and crass ways.
I cannot say that I understand their opinion completely. Maybe you just have to be a Beatles fan to appreciate the film, but I thought that "Across The Universe" was absolutely wonderful.
OK... Maybe not absolutely wonderful. Outside of the many great musical set pieces (there are 31 songs on the soundtrack) the film suffers from a somewhat lethargic pacing and a fairly witless and predictable story. Guff about the innocence of the early Sixties being eroded by Vietnam, civil rights, the expanding drug culture, sexual and political revolution is used as a background to a simplistic story of Boy meets Girl, Boy and Girl fall in love, Boy loses Girl, Boy gets Girl back and, hey, guess what? The message here is that "All You Need Is Love".
You got all that? Good. Forget all of it, because what makes "Across The Universe" a really good film, and where it really works, is in the stunning visuals (Julie Taymor also made "Titus", which anybody will tell you is an astonishing looking film) and the brilliant versions of those songs, some of which are over 40 years old.
Highlights?
T. V. Carpio's version of "I Want To Hold Your Hand", reinvented as a lesbian torch song. Evan Rachel Wood's exuberant "It Won't Be Long" (I sadly have to report that I had completely forgotten that brilliant opener to "With The Beatles"), as a great, lost, call and response, Sixties girl group number. Bono's truly bonkers version of "I Am The Walrus". Joe Cocker's muscular take on "Come Together". Joe Anderson's "Happiness Is A Warm Gun" (with Salma Hayek popping up a a nurse, oh, yes!) Practically everything sang by Jim Sturgess ("Strawberry Fields Forever", "Across The Universe", "Girl") and Dana Fuchs ("Helter Skelter", "Oh Darling", "Don't Let Me Down").
Er... Basically the highlights were all of the musical sections of the film. True, Eddie Izzard doing "Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite" was kind of terrible, but I think it was supposed to be terrible.
Even if you are not a Beatles fan, and there are some of those curious creatures about (Hi there, Mr. Planet! Hi there, Graham!), there is a lot to enjoy in "Across The Universe". But be warned. You are almost certainly going to miss out on some of the fun Beatles references, he says smugly. (A girl climbing in through a bathroom window, anyone? The climatic rooftop gig being interrupted by the police, bringing to mind the last time the Beatles played live, on the roof of Apple headquarters on 30th January 1969.)
I think that "Across The Universe" is worth seeing, but I would say that, being Beatles fan A number 1.
Remember... "All You Need Is Love".
"Shoot 'Em Up" later in the week. "Heroes" is on tomorrow.
Labels: Illness, Movies, Thoughts
# posted by Pynchon @ 10:23 pm 
