I have spent an inordinate amount of time in movie theaters this last week. Part of it is just making sure that I am well-versed (-viewed?) and can talk about all the movies of the moment in these tender times between the Globes and the Oscars. The Wrestler is an awesome comeback vehicle for Mickey Rourke, and I’m a sucker for all the 80s metal. Revolutionary Road was actually a lot better than I thought it would be and I can’t get Kate Winslett’s performance out of my head. But by far my favorite 2008 movie of note is/was Synecdoche, New York, the Charlie Kaufmann masterpiece. I saw it at Austin Film Festival back in October and it’s on a return limited engagement at the Dobie, so I went to see it again. This makes Adaptation and Being John Malkovich look like simple fairy tales. If you’re into that sorta thing…really warped narrative that feels like it could implode at any moment…you’ve GOTTA see this. Amazing. I’ll probably go see it once more before Thursday just to make sure I get one more screening in before it leaves town.
I also got a chance to take in a program of films created by students of Kat Candler at her Arts and Labor “Script To Screen” classes. Long time Chillville listeners will remember that I am an 2007 alum of the STS experience. I am also enrolled in the advanced class that starts at the end of the month. My favorites from the program were: 1) Adaline (directed by Deneice O’Connor), a groovy little headtrip, pun intended, about a man who just wants to get on the bus; 2) Color By Number (an Arrested Development styled short about a riotously funny elementary school love triangle; and 3) The Curfew (director Nick Walker), a well actualized horror short that sorta plays like Teeth, minus vagina dentata.
Speaking of “film” that doesn’t require you to go to the theater, check out Fiddlestixx, the latest offering from Austin’s woefully underappreciated Zellner Brothers. Check it out at atomfilms.
I’ve got peeps in Reno, and every year (except this) I usually place money on a handful of teams to win in the NFL playoff derby, a combination of my favorite teams and some longshots who I think could be dark horses. Last season, 2007, I had 50 bucks on the Arizona Cardinals (as a lark) to go to the Super Bowl. Had they done it, it would have come in at $7,500 (it was 150:1 odds). This year, they are one win, over a very beatable Eagles team, from doing just that. Sadly, my Reno visits in 2008 didn’t seem to include any sportsbook time.
There’s a big discussion in this week’s Chronicle about separate but equal facilities at the Austin Fire Department and separate facilities for women firefighters. For the records, in most radio stations I’ve worked in, the women seem to get a couch in their restroom. I’m just sayin…
I just finished Outliers, the latest thought offering from Malcolm Gladwell. I almost gave up on it in the early pages because it felt a little wobbly and I had a lot on my plate. Man am I glad I stuck with it. I loved The Tipping Point and Blink, but I think this is actually my favority MG book, in terms of what it means, and what it means to me, in the here and now. Genius.
South-by-Southwest is looming, ready to take its role of elephant in the room. Where’s the Free List, yo?
