Monday Music and Musings

Good Monday to you my friends....

Analog Kid - Rush

This is a classic Rush song and one that I always enjoy. Though to be fair I have to admit that I enjoyed Rush more when I unaware of the political leanings of their main lyricist N. Peart. I suppose I should be charitable because of his age when he wrote most of their music. But anyway this is still a pretty great song. 

  I hope the day is finding you well and that you are recovering for yesterdays festivities. I know that often the Super Bowl is the most watched even of the entire year. I would love to see a study done as to how many people miss the Monday after the big game. I suspect that the offices in most of greater Seattle are going to be pretty empty today. I would imagine that a good chunk of Denver will be empty as well but probably out of sadness rather then recovery from the happiness. I have watched nearly all the Super Bowls since I was 10 or 11 and I can't recall anything ever being that bad. I was shocked. I don't Seattle is that good but I never thought of Denver as bad either.

Magic - Ben Folds Five

A great song by the Ben Folds Five. I love basically everything Ben Folds and the Ben Folds Five has ever done. 

So I suppose I should address something that happened yesterday that for me was far more impacting than anything that happened in the Super Bowl and that was the death of Philip Seymour Hoffman. It isn't unusual for me to get emotional about something. I am not afraid to show my emotions. I wear them on my sleeve and my open face and anyone who knows me knows that over the stretch of time they are going to see me either laugh loudly and openly and they will see me with tears in my eyes. This is the reality of my being.

Rod Stewart - Maggie May

I do not listen to a lot of Rod Stewart and this song is coming from a film soundtrack. I believe it is Almost Famous. But it is a great song. I really should check out the rest of his music because I do love this song.

But, while I am emotional I usually do not react to the deaths of famous people that I do not know. I just never have. I am not sure why. I suppose on some logical level I never knew them and they did not know me and so why get worked up about it. But it wasn't like I was making a choice to not be emotional of these events I just wasn't. What was odd about yesterday was as news began to pop up on Facebook and different people begin sharing links to news articles about Philip Seymour Hoffman being found I began to find myself getting sad.

The Angels Are Singing In Heaven Tonight - Ralph Stanley II

A great bluegrass number and a nice thought. 


I cried for the death of a very talented man and I cried at the memories I have of his many wonderful performances and of the many films that he has been in that have been a big part of my life as a lover of cinema. I am not going to speculate as to the nature of his death. We all have demons and we all handle them in different ways. But I am saddened by and I miss him. It is very hard for me to pin down a favorite film or performance of his that I liked better than any others but I think that for me my top 5 Philip Seymour Hoffman performances in now real particular order are.

Almost Famous

The Big Lebowski

Pirate Radio

The Master

Magnolia

There are many more but for me those are the performances that I think of when I think of him and his acting. I am sad that he is gone and I will be revisiting these films again soon.

I do not know what else to say. It may be uncool of me to be sad about this and so be it. I am going to sit her and be uncool. I think I am in pretty good company.

See you tomorrow. 

Top 5...Phillip Seymour Hoffman

I like movies and music and books and many other things that I can use to make myself feel cooler then you. Now while that may bother some people I am okay with it because that is who I am. At my core I am sure that I am not really cooler then anyone but when I am in the middle of listening to some music that I love or a film that has captured me completely none of that really matters. Once I surface from that little world I wonder sometimes if maybe it is too much of an escape and I would be better served too focus my energies on other non pop culture things. But that is a conversation best left for another day.

One of my favorite films of all time is "Almost Famous" it is a film that for me captures both music and the power of film together. I realize that it is not a film for everyone but for some reason it works just perfectly for me and one that I watch almost as much as both "Fight Club" and "Quadrophenia". As I was watching it today I was reminded of how much I enjoy Phillip Seymour Hoffmans work in the film as Lester Bangs. This led me to today's blog post.



                             THE TOP 5 PERFORMANCES OF PHILLIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN


5: Hard Eight

4: Boogie Nights

3: Magnolia

2: The Big Lebowski

1: The Master


I have to give special mention to two films of his that I think exist separately from the 5 above and those are 'Almost Famous' and 'Pirate Radio'. I think his performances in both of those films are just great.

Watch those previews and if you get a chance watch those films. I think you will enjoy it.

Thrown for a Loop by the Master

I went to see a couple of films in the last few days. On Sunday I went up to Bridgeport in Lake Oswego and watched the Paul Thomas Anderson film, "The Master". I am not really sure what to say about that, other then that it was an interesting experience.

The film itself is beautifully crafted and visually amazing. The story on the other hand is kind of aimless and pretty twisted. It is loosely the story of a lost and sad man who has no focus or direction in life. He has a serious drinking and anger problem and then one day he meets basically an L Ron Hubbard type of character. There are some definite similarities between the group that The Master runs and Scientology. But that really isn't the point and the story doesn't really focus on that as much as the relationship between the Jaquin Phoenix character and The Master who is played by Phillip Seymour Hoffman. I really think that both of these men will be nominated for best actor Oscars and honestly I think Phillip Seymour deserves to win. He just does an amazing job. I realize that this film in not for everyone but I liked this film and it deserves to be seen even if it is a little hard to watch at times. I think sometimes the best films are a little hard to watch and that is what makes them great because they invoke feelings and cause you to think about its effect on you.

Then last night I went to my usual Tuesday night $5 movie house Cinebarre and watched the "Looper". The science fiction film starring Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

 The bottom line, and it is hard to find a bottom line in a science fiction time travel film, I really, really enjoyed it. The future world that it is set in I found fascinating and very interesting. It wasn't set so far into the future that it was inaccessible for the viewer and because of that it wasn't dependent on a ton of special effects or computer blue screen effects. In fact, that aspect of it made me interested enough in things to want to find out about the world and the future in which the film is set. Why things were that way and what caused them. I like a film that doesn't feel the need to explain every little thing to me and in this case as one of the characters in the film said...we get into that and then we start diagramming things on the table with straws. It is enough to know the basics of the story. I am sure there are probably some logic gaps and things that the cine-phile might find annoying but I really found this too be an enjoyable film. The action sequences are well done and in such a way that the violence has an impact. That is something that I wish more directors did. In cinema, often less is more. I am being a little vague as too plot because it will be more fun for you if you are a little surprised by things. I say if you are looking for some science fiction and some action then go see this film. I think you will enjoy it.