Buskers 3:
First, the Irish Once, then the French Edith Piaf, now the American August Rush. Busking for dollars must be one of the loneliest ways to try to find yourself. But, of course, 20 years ago few people even knew what the word meant although most of us have contributed to it or probably would have if we had the time and hadn’t just threw all our spare change in the Salvation Army bucket six months earlier.
Bart, I thought you spend all your spare change on new age spas.
Right, that’s why buskers in my neighborhood die cold and stressed. But back to August Rush.
What’s the verdict?
We loved it. After we made jokes about it for being so predictable and derivative. What fun! I had brought the DVD along to a family gathering (Linda’s family) in case the conversation got too predictable and derivative. The teenagers tried to ignore it but eventually we all got caught up in what is essentially a gorgeous fairy tale that becomes deeply meaningful and is a powerful journey into exploring our own loneliness. That’s after ignoring the predictable and derivative stuff. Fagin as Robin Williams made up to look like Sting was almost harder to take in than the formulaic racial casting, but even that eventually worked. The director is of the female formula which may explain how this was able to really turn out well.
If anyone actually reads this drivel and knows Manhattan, then the mis-placed subway geography will be confusing but the Washington Square Park scenes will be oddly familiar to those who actually write this drivel. If you look carefully you can almost see the apartment on Sullivan.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
The Defiant Ones
Desmond Tutu was in town last weekend. He had been invited to speak at a Catholic university but was disinvited when the president heard that Tutu had once made a remark that the president's one Jewish friend told him could be interpreted as being (gasp!) anti-Semitic. When the Jewish Protection Association heard about it they said, "Who?" "Tutu?" "Forgetaboutittu." The Catholics tried to reinvite him but by then it was too late and Tutu spoke in a parking lot in what passes for the "inner city" in Minneapolis and became the forum for peace, truth, and reconciliation. In honor of Desmond Tutu being in Minnesota, a South African won the Masters in Augusta on the same day. A white South African, so in recognition of past deeds he wore a black shirt and white trousers. The jacket was green. (note to other golfers: winners do not wear plaid pants). In honor of a black South African and a white South African in the news on the same day I watched The Defiant Ones with Sidney Poitier and Tony Curtis.
Stanley Kramer directs and Tevye plays a Southern sheriff for which he got an Oscar nomination. Poitier and Curtis got nominatons, too, but they both lost since Curtis insisted that Poitier receive equal billing. Curtis' name comes first in the opening credits but it was still signifcant for 1958 that anyone would insist a black man get equal credit with a white actor of equal drawing power. Has it happened since? I loved this movie. I wanted to see it since last winter when Deborah sent me a magazine devoted to Southern movies and this one was on the cover. The story is based in the South (though it could almost be Syracuse, NY, based on an experience I had there in 1970) but filmed in California.
The idea of a black man and a white man handcuffed together was odd since, of course, as many PC-people have pointed out, O Brother Where Art Thou (which was filmed in the South) did not have an integrated leading cast and should have since, of course, there must have been black people on the chain gang somewhere and how could the Coen Brother's not cast an African-American as one of the three hokey Homerites. But, of course, chain gangs were segregated (also in upstate New York in 1970) and it would have been odder had the Coen's integrated the gang.If they had paid attention when they watched The Defiant Ones then they would have had a very good explanation and one worth hearing Tevye explain. It is worth noting that Robert Mithcum was originally offered Tony Curtis' role (and Marlon Brando, later) but he turned it down since he had been on a chain gang and said it was too unbelievable to have it integrated even with the explanation.But, of course, this is not a movie only about a black man and a white man chained together (and later not-too regrettably remade with a black woman and a white woman), it's also a movie about a black man chained to a gay Jew and winding up in each others arms and both having significant smoking issues. Talk about deep inhalation. There's a new rating guideline based on smoking taking place in the movie. This one needs an R. And how did they get waterproofed cigarettes and matches?OK, enough. This is a great movie about two people suffering from loneliness, one from hatred and the other from the effects of hatred. The color issue really is only a way to tell the story. There's a lonely woman whose character could appear to be too stereotypical and pathetic to be serious but I saw her role as another way to show the human condition of loneliness. The ending is wonderful. The whole movie, while being ripe for ripping off due to some interesting casting, is well worth the time to watch.
There's a character played by a grown-up Alfalfa which will make you see the point of an iPod with good ear buds.Stanley Kramer had his share of people mad at him for not being anti-HUAC enough (but nowhere near Elia Kazan who has a three-vowel, four-letter first name famous for being an answer to a crossword clue and a last name famous for some people turning into a four-letter word). Kramer made some great movies. When I was growing up I remember loving It's a Mad, Mad, World maybe because it made me feel grown up. High Noon is supposed to be an anti-HUAC movie and he produced The Juggler (made in my birth year) which starred Kirk Douglas and was the first full-length feature film made in Israel. Kramer also did Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. It's not clear if Kramer is Jewish although he grew up in Hell's Kitchen but Dustin Hoffman is and played in the sequel to Meet the Parents which was a remake of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner and who also starred in Kramer vs. Kramer. And that takes us from Kramer to Poitier and back again.Sorry, I just had to play the Six Degrees of Separation game which got started with Sidney Poitier. There you go. Go see The Defiant Ones.
Stanley Kramer directs and Tevye plays a Southern sheriff for which he got an Oscar nomination. Poitier and Curtis got nominatons, too, but they both lost since Curtis insisted that Poitier receive equal billing. Curtis' name comes first in the opening credits but it was still signifcant for 1958 that anyone would insist a black man get equal credit with a white actor of equal drawing power. Has it happened since? I loved this movie. I wanted to see it since last winter when Deborah sent me a magazine devoted to Southern movies and this one was on the cover. The story is based in the South (though it could almost be Syracuse, NY, based on an experience I had there in 1970) but filmed in California.
The idea of a black man and a white man handcuffed together was odd since, of course, as many PC-people have pointed out, O Brother Where Art Thou (which was filmed in the South) did not have an integrated leading cast and should have since, of course, there must have been black people on the chain gang somewhere and how could the Coen Brother's not cast an African-American as one of the three hokey Homerites. But, of course, chain gangs were segregated (also in upstate New York in 1970) and it would have been odder had the Coen's integrated the gang.If they had paid attention when they watched The Defiant Ones then they would have had a very good explanation and one worth hearing Tevye explain. It is worth noting that Robert Mithcum was originally offered Tony Curtis' role (and Marlon Brando, later) but he turned it down since he had been on a chain gang and said it was too unbelievable to have it integrated even with the explanation.But, of course, this is not a movie only about a black man and a white man chained together (and later not-too regrettably remade with a black woman and a white woman), it's also a movie about a black man chained to a gay Jew and winding up in each others arms and both having significant smoking issues. Talk about deep inhalation. There's a new rating guideline based on smoking taking place in the movie. This one needs an R. And how did they get waterproofed cigarettes and matches?OK, enough. This is a great movie about two people suffering from loneliness, one from hatred and the other from the effects of hatred. The color issue really is only a way to tell the story. There's a lonely woman whose character could appear to be too stereotypical and pathetic to be serious but I saw her role as another way to show the human condition of loneliness. The ending is wonderful. The whole movie, while being ripe for ripping off due to some interesting casting, is well worth the time to watch.
There's a character played by a grown-up Alfalfa which will make you see the point of an iPod with good ear buds.Stanley Kramer had his share of people mad at him for not being anti-HUAC enough (but nowhere near Elia Kazan who has a three-vowel, four-letter first name famous for being an answer to a crossword clue and a last name famous for some people turning into a four-letter word). Kramer made some great movies. When I was growing up I remember loving It's a Mad, Mad, World maybe because it made me feel grown up. High Noon is supposed to be an anti-HUAC movie and he produced The Juggler (made in my birth year) which starred Kirk Douglas and was the first full-length feature film made in Israel. Kramer also did Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. It's not clear if Kramer is Jewish although he grew up in Hell's Kitchen but Dustin Hoffman is and played in the sequel to Meet the Parents which was a remake of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner and who also starred in Kramer vs. Kramer. And that takes us from Kramer to Poitier and back again.Sorry, I just had to play the Six Degrees of Separation game which got started with Sidney Poitier. There you go. Go see The Defiant Ones.
Kite Runner
In honor of the Pope gracing our fair shores, I offer the following incredibly old joke which has been previously told using any number of other religious leaders as the main character.
The Pope is visiting New York and is picked up at the airport by a limo. On the way into the city, the Pope says to the driver, "You know, I've always wanted to drive one of these limos but I never get the chance." The driver says, "Hey, you're the Pope. Whatever you want." So they exchange places but the Pope hasn't driven much before and pretty soon gets pulled over by a NYC policeman. The policeman approaches the limo and recognizes the Pope before he gets to the limo. He runs back to his car and radios the station house. He calls the sargent and says, "You'll never guess who I pulled over." The sargent says, "Who?" The police officer says, "I don't know, but he has the Pope for a chauffer."
It was nice of the Pope to express his sadness and shame over the debacle of decades of pedophile perverts. So in honor of his shame, we watched The Kite Runner.
Great book which Linda and I read when it was first published. Good movie, very true to the story. A few things got left out but mostly it stuck to the book. Great casting. The child actors really fit their parts.
The book talked about an issue which did not get covered in the movie. The issue of orphan status in the Afghan culture which makes adoption difficult and almost impossible for an orphan to marry due to the cultural importance of family background. If you can't prove who your father is then no one wants you. In the book, that issue is brought out very sadly.
The movie doesn't hesitate to show the extraordinary difficulty of Taliban rule. Stoning adulterers to death while at the same time using children as sex slaves.
The NY Times ran several articles after we invaded Afghanistan in 2001 about the American soldiers finding the Taliban living in what looked like mud houses from the outside but inside were almost palatial in style and sickening in use. Hundreds of boys and girls were freed by the Americans. They had been taken from villages and used as sex slaves.
I can deal with the fact of contradiction in religion and that without mystery there is no religion but the extent of contradiction in Taliban fundamentalism makes it difficult for me to find much compassion for them.
There is a branch of Islam which does get a lot of compassion from me. Sufism. Wow! Beautiful stuff. Rumi, one of the famous early 13th century Sufi poets gets quoted in the movie. There's another Sufi poet, Hafiz, who lived soon after Rumi. He became very popular in America due to an American, Daniel Ladinsky, who took a 19th century translation and interpreted it (or rendered as the publisher says) in a way that made our two teenagers say, "Wow, he writes like we talk!"
Louise Erdrich, the Minnesota Native American author of some of my favorite books (Love Medicine, Beet Queen and lots more) has a bookstore not far from where we live. She sells so many of Daniel Ladinsky's Hafiz books that she keeps a stack of 20 or more of The Gift on one shelf.
There's a bunch of web sites to find Hafiz and Rumi but I'll leave with just a few:
You Don't Have to Act Crazy AnymoreYou Don't Have to Act Crazy Anymore -
We all know you were good at that.
Now retire, my dear,
From all that hard work you do
Of bringing pain to your sweet eyes and heart.
Look in a clear mountain mirror -
See the Beautiful Ancient Warrior
And the Divine elements
You always carry inside
That infused this Universe with sacred Life
So long ago
And join you Eternally
With all Existence - with God!
From: 'I heard God Laughing - Renderings of Hafiz' by Daniel Ladinsky
What Should We Do about that Moon ?A wine bottle fell from a wagon
And broke open in a field.
That night hundred beetles and all their cousins
Gathered
And did some serious binge drinking.
They even found some seed husks nearby
And began to play them like drums and whirl.
This made God very happy.
Then the 'night candle' rose into the sky
And one drunk creature, laying down his instrument
Said to his friend - for no apparent
Reason,
"What should we do about that moon?"
Seems to Hafiz
Most everyone has laid aside the music
Tackling such profoundly useless
Questions.
From: 'The Gift - Poems by Hafiz the Great Sufi Master'
Last thought on pedophile priests: Why don't they just screw each other??"
The Pope is visiting New York and is picked up at the airport by a limo. On the way into the city, the Pope says to the driver, "You know, I've always wanted to drive one of these limos but I never get the chance." The driver says, "Hey, you're the Pope. Whatever you want." So they exchange places but the Pope hasn't driven much before and pretty soon gets pulled over by a NYC policeman. The policeman approaches the limo and recognizes the Pope before he gets to the limo. He runs back to his car and radios the station house. He calls the sargent and says, "You'll never guess who I pulled over." The sargent says, "Who?" The police officer says, "I don't know, but he has the Pope for a chauffer."
It was nice of the Pope to express his sadness and shame over the debacle of decades of pedophile perverts. So in honor of his shame, we watched The Kite Runner.
Great book which Linda and I read when it was first published. Good movie, very true to the story. A few things got left out but mostly it stuck to the book. Great casting. The child actors really fit their parts.
The book talked about an issue which did not get covered in the movie. The issue of orphan status in the Afghan culture which makes adoption difficult and almost impossible for an orphan to marry due to the cultural importance of family background. If you can't prove who your father is then no one wants you. In the book, that issue is brought out very sadly.
The movie doesn't hesitate to show the extraordinary difficulty of Taliban rule. Stoning adulterers to death while at the same time using children as sex slaves.
The NY Times ran several articles after we invaded Afghanistan in 2001 about the American soldiers finding the Taliban living in what looked like mud houses from the outside but inside were almost palatial in style and sickening in use. Hundreds of boys and girls were freed by the Americans. They had been taken from villages and used as sex slaves.
I can deal with the fact of contradiction in religion and that without mystery there is no religion but the extent of contradiction in Taliban fundamentalism makes it difficult for me to find much compassion for them.
There is a branch of Islam which does get a lot of compassion from me. Sufism. Wow! Beautiful stuff. Rumi, one of the famous early 13th century Sufi poets gets quoted in the movie. There's another Sufi poet, Hafiz, who lived soon after Rumi. He became very popular in America due to an American, Daniel Ladinsky, who took a 19th century translation and interpreted it (or rendered as the publisher says) in a way that made our two teenagers say, "Wow, he writes like we talk!"
Louise Erdrich, the Minnesota Native American author of some of my favorite books (Love Medicine, Beet Queen and lots more) has a bookstore not far from where we live. She sells so many of Daniel Ladinsky's Hafiz books that she keeps a stack of 20 or more of The Gift on one shelf.
There's a bunch of web sites to find Hafiz and Rumi but I'll leave with just a few:
You Don't Have to Act Crazy AnymoreYou Don't Have to Act Crazy Anymore -
We all know you were good at that.
Now retire, my dear,
From all that hard work you do
Of bringing pain to your sweet eyes and heart.
Look in a clear mountain mirror -
See the Beautiful Ancient Warrior
And the Divine elements
You always carry inside
That infused this Universe with sacred Life
So long ago
And join you Eternally
With all Existence - with God!
From: 'I heard God Laughing - Renderings of Hafiz' by Daniel Ladinsky
What Should We Do about that Moon ?A wine bottle fell from a wagon
And broke open in a field.
That night hundred beetles and all their cousins
Gathered
And did some serious binge drinking.
They even found some seed husks nearby
And began to play them like drums and whirl.
This made God very happy.
Then the 'night candle' rose into the sky
And one drunk creature, laying down his instrument
Said to his friend - for no apparent
Reason,
"What should we do about that moon?"
Seems to Hafiz
Most everyone has laid aside the music
Tackling such profoundly useless
Questions.
From: 'The Gift - Poems by Hafiz the Great Sufi Master'
Last thought on pedophile priests: Why don't they just screw each other??"
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