Monday, August 25, 2014

Episode 8 - 25 - 14

Richard Attenborough died age 90. Minority Report TV show. Managed to see Richard Linklater's Boyhood and Jonathan Glazer Under the Skin; the former's use of real-time lapse as storytelling overshadowed it's ability to actually create a narrative. The latter however, relied completely on narrative but not story and profited immensely.

Ferris Bueller's Day Off, 1986 - Various

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Monday, August 18, 2014

Episode 8 - 18 -14

Hmm, what exactly is there to talk about this time around? Wiener-cleavage? George Takei? Yes indeed. I won't give you context, you'll have to listen in.

I keep meaning to see Boyhood, which is playing at our local Cinemark. Low-fi artsy-fartsy using real-time aging experimentation for film? I'll check that out. But what I really want to see is this recently unearthed gem:



Music:

Bloodsport, 1988 - Paul Hertzog
No Retreat, No Surrender, 1986 - Paul Gilreath

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Monday, August 11, 2014

Episode 8 - 11 - 14

Robin Williams passed away today, losing a decades-long struggle with depression informed by bipolar disorder and alcoholism. I prefer the expression, "Death by depression" to suicide, since it decenters the individual as the cause and focuses on the illness, much as if he died from a stroke or congenital heart failure. I don't accept the simplistic rational that an individual is solely responsible for their mental illness - we understand that there are biochemical issues in the brain that can be treated with medication and cognitive therapy. It's hard for someone to fight these demons forever, though, and whether it was a momentary mistake or a deliberate decision from a perceived rational state, Robin Williams decided it was time to stop fighting. It's irrelevant to think this entails weakness or failure; if the success Robin Williams achieved and the millions of people he made happy couldn't beat this, maybe nothing could. He was wrong, however, because he believed he was not loved. If only he could see now how much we all wanted him to stay with us.

It's a shame to muddy that somber note with what we talked about on the rest of the show: the goddamn new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie.


Music from:

What Dreams May Come, 1998 - Michael Kamen
Aladdin, 1992 - Alan Menken
Mrs. Doubtfire, 1993 - Howard Shore

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