Blah. Blah blah blah. Blah. So sayeth Mr. B
Digital extrusion. Taking my babbling nonsense and condensing it into an unpalatable package. I've been dumping a lot of my stress into the characters in four ongoing story lines because retreating to their worlds means not being ME. Plus they, generally, cope better than I do so I get weird reassurance from watching them.
Insomnia came back with a panic attack. Usually I feel them coming. Or building up. Not this one. So it went right into "I feel like shit sleep 30 minutes oops back to reality" insomnia. My least favorite kind. Whee.
I'm paying Pandora for their service because, unlike Spotify, they have a "Have a taste, want more? Subscribe." approach. One commercial, thirty minutes of music, four hours a day limit. Whereas Spotify decided "Oh, you keep watching the commercial for thirty minutes of uninterrupted music but you're not subscribing! Okay, that option will now become random." And then they decided that annoying me into subscribing would work. Went from two commercials and three songs to three commercials and three songs and up to five commercials for two songs. Even if those songs are Ramones tunes. Yeah, fuck you Spotify.
The difference between scrapping and fighting is this. If you think to yourself "Oh man, I might have to fight..." you're scrapping. If instead you think "I'm going to have to hurt this person fast or this will suck..." you're fighting. I've been in a grand total of seven fights in my life. Feared for my safety/life every time. Never once did it occur to me that I should just kill them. A few times I thought "gonna win or be at the ER" but I never thought "need a gun, must kill threat". If you can't take an occasional beating when you're young, good luck making it to old.
I have opinions. You have opinions. Opinions are not facts. They may be supported by facts, but an opinion is not itself a fact. Keep that in mind as I continue. Okay. I find Jack White and Quentin Tarantino to be the two most overhyped and overrated people in entertainment. Are you curious? Do you even care why? If you do, continue. If you don't, I recommend SandRhoman on YouTube if you want to see history handled properly.
So anyhow. Jack White isn't exactly innovative or groundbreaking. I find his music derivative and predictable which would actually be fine if he wasn't so convinced of his own genius. His feud with The Black Keys kinda finished off my limited tolerance for his nonsense. If he'd just shut up and play music I would happily ignore him.
[Trigger Warning- I'm going to be using the full form of the N word in the following discussion. If seeing that word offends you stop now.]
I saw 'Reservoir Dogs' in the theater. I liked it. The non linear storytelling was refreshing. Some parts of it bugged me, but not too much until I rewatched it on video. I saw 'Jackie Brown' but just couldn't watch it all the way through. Then 'Pulp Fiction'. Yeah. That didn't impress me. Nothing about the characters or situations felt in any way believable. At one point in my life I was friends with a crackhead and a LSD/Schroom dealer which brought me into contact with prostitutes, junkies, professional shoplifters, some meth dealing bikers, and the knowledge of where a half dozen crackhouses were. These were not fun, clever, erudite or interesting people. Tarantino writes the kind of dialog that doesn't come from real life, it comes from being a video store clerk who watched every movie in the place. And hearing Tarantino say "nigger" pisses me off. Not even "nigga". See, the jokes in Blazing Saddles, which contain quite a few hard r N words were in large part written by Richard Pryor. You want to use a pejorative thats routinely used against you, that's one thing. Thinking that you as a smarmy white boy can do it because you're "edgy" no. It's not your word to use and I don't even care if you get black actors to say it. It's not your word to use. Just like if you're gay you can call your boyfriend faggot. If you're straight? Not your word, don't use it.
My bigger issue is with the notion that Tarantino films are "homages" and not straight ripoffs. Yeah but no. It's only an homage when your audience knows or recognizes the reference. 'Scream' is clearly an homage to slasher films. Because the intended audience knew those movies. How many people knew "City on Fire" before they saw "Reservoir Dogs"? Tarantino repeatedly steals entire scenes from obscure movies and seldom properly credits them.
Rewatching "R.D." made me begin to dislike Tarantino, almost specifically because of the praise for his dialog. In my eyes the first scene flushes credibility right down the shitter. Two things. First, there is no honor among thieves. Even Mafia members have rolled on their "families". All the robbers are given colors because nobody knows anybody else and this will "protect" them. Except there's a little problem. They're going to commit a crime that could get them killed or sent to prison for life. And they're going to take that chance with strangers? No professional would entertain that idea for a second. Watch "Heat" if you want to see how an actual crew would work. [Also actual convicted robbers asked to 'break down' crime scenes in movies immediately call that out as b.s.]
Which leads to the dialog. Watch the restaurant scene again. But now remember that they're STRANGERS. Who has this kind of conversation with strangers? I mean, I grew up when Madonna was a mega star but I never listened to an entire song of hers. Thinking everyone there not only knew the songs but actually paid attention to the lyrics? Probably not happening with the type of people portrayed. I realize few people have sat in a room with actual criminals while they talk but still. Tarantino is mediocre but overhyped and is far too impressed with himself to actually make something not absolutely predictable.
These are opinions remember. I'm not a critic. Even though they somehow get taken seriously. Despite lacking the talent to do what they're criticizing. Two great examples. Roger Ebert. Self professed cinema expert. He tried actually making movies. With Roger Corman of all people. He failed miserably. Soooo...can't MAKE a good movie, hmm, your opinion should obviously be unquestioned.
The musical equivalent is Lester Bangs. Most of you haven't heard of him and wouldn't know the name if it weren't for R.E.M. [If you, in fact, even get THAT reference] He is still considered one of the best music critics ever but guess what? He tried to play music and was a miserable failure. Here's the thing about music critics. They savaged Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin for years while those two groups became two of the biggest bands out there. How did the profession retain any credibility? Music is all about individual tastes anyway. Opera is the one form of music I find intolerable. If you asked me to write a review for an opera you would be silly and also not get glowing praise. If you love opera good on ya. Love what you love. Why give a fuck about me?
Last criticism/bitch. Fan art for "Good Omens". I've seen the show. Aziraphale and Crowley don't actually age. They aren't ever shown as young pretty boys. So why does most of the art insist on airbrushing (so to speak) the age out of them? If you're attracted to the relationship and the dynamic, well you don't appear to be attracted to the characters/actors themselves. Are they only appropriate as a fantasy once they're age lifted and prettified? They're not a "proper" couple as is apparently. Personally, my opinion, you're wrong.They are FAR more sexy just as portrayed. Of course I also thought C. Aubrey Smith was gruffly adorable in "Little Lord Fauntleroy" but y'all do y'all. Nice to see ageism isn't going anywhere.
