Poetry? More Like Boretry

Have you ever seen the disgustingly repulsive video of the guy who gets his head stuck up an elephant's ass? (here's the link if not: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ske8AG5q74) I feel as happy as that guy every time I'm forced to elaborate on poetry. Not to offend those who are into poetry because it can be a beautiful rhythmic pattern. But much like a morphine drip, it's only enjoyable in doses. - For poetry causes pain to the brain when forced to devour for more than an hour. I would rather endure the smell of manure than learn hycoos that cause me to snooze. - Maybe it's not that bad, but you catch my drift.

When Woodstock Didn't Rock

You know all those annoying telemarketers, military recruit calls, infomercials on TV, door-to-door salesmen? Well this documentary kind of reminded me of all those, only it lasted about two hours longer. It was pretty painstaking to sit through this documentary for two hours in which I glanced at my watch probably thirty plus times waiting for 1:50 to roll around. As interesting as Woodstock was, they could have picked more interesting music from the massive collection of artist who performed there to be in this documentary. I don't think I could have actually handled sitting through the rest of the film.

Walk the Line

As stated in my previous two blogs, my sympathy for those addicted to drugs is not very high. And while Johny Cash was addicted to pills, I want rant about that again. However, Cash is one to feel sympathy in relation to his life. I don't remember where the movie says he grew up but obviously his family was poverty struck. Cash and his brother, Jack, were forced to work long days as kids for his dad in order to provide for the family and his dad was a raging alcoholic. Cash confided in his older brother when his father would rant but after Jack died, his father, in his drunken stupors, would proclaim that the devil took the wrong son, obviously scaring Cash and giving him a feeling of unworthiness. Never the less, he presses on, joining the air force, getting married and producing his first record. He struggled throughout his career attempting to please his wife but also June Carter at the same time. His relationship with his wife comes to an end after a fight and eventually, after Carter rids him of his pills, they marry. The actors did a good job of fulfilling the relation between characters, ultimately dragging the viewer into the film even more.

Kurt Cobain's Self-Inflicted Pain

I am a fan of Nirvana. Though I don't know much of their history, it falls as most rock groups: grew up rough, became an "outcast", got famous, expressed their ridiculously rebellious ideas and their "I don't care" attitude. Not to express sympathy for their less than ideal childhood presented in description through the article we were required to read, but their story is no different than any other. But just from reading this article, is sympathy really due to these guys? They claim that what brought them together was the common flaw that they all came from divorced parents. And has Kurt Cobain claimed, it was devastating for him, throwing him into this state of seclusion. Again, not to express sympathy because my parents are still together so I don't know how that is, but I know plenty of kids who have gone through parent divorce and though it is traumatizing, some take it to the extreme more than others. Cobain's suffering didn't differ any more than the average teenager growing up. And I am not sympathetic at all to those who find themselves addicted to any kind of drug. he claims that a big part of it was to cancel the pain from singing and back pains caused by his guitar. Please. Spare me. Every addict has an excuse. I know plenty of bands who can handle the pain without heroin. Again, I am a big fan of Nirvana and their music and I sincerely enjoy Dave Grohl's band, Foo Fighter's, but to feel sympathetic for another rebellious, drug addicted singer afraid of the fame is simply ridiculous. Artists like that who dresses to be different, confide themselves in solitude and addict themselves to drugs and then publicly describe themselves to be all these things are only wanting others to drown in their self-pity. So get over yourself before you want others to sympathies for you.

A Holiday Without Celebration

One can easily view from this film that Billie Holiday's life was nothing of glamor. Raped as a teen and her mother working as what appears to be a slave, Holiday moves to New York to be closer to her mother and works and lives cleaning at a whore house. As she ages, she becomes one of the nymphos herself. Tired of the lifestyle she leaves and lands a job across the street as a singer. Her career explodes and she takes off on the road with a band where she is exposed to various forms of racism and drugs. Once home after being awaken by the death of her mother, Holiday begins rehab where she is picked up by investigators and held for the illegal use of drugs. She cleans up from drugs, starts new only to land herself right back into it, ultimately causing her death at just 44.
While the life of Billie Holiday is sad, I land no sympathy for her after the days she left the whore house. From then on, everything was her decision. She chose to selfishly deal with the addiction of drugs and physically threatened to kill her eventual husband over the addiction. Apparent to the many loved ones surrounding her, Holiday suffered tremendously from this addiction and took for granted the ones supporting her. After being sober, she lands back into drugs only to bring her pianist, a close friend of hers which got her a spot singing to begin with, down with her and ultimately causing his death as well. Throughout the movie, she fell in her own self-pity only to take for granted the ones who lifted her up.

Musical Dreams

I think there are pros and cons to having musicians visually stimulate their music onto the screen. On one hand, it does give the fan more capability to fully understand the point that the artist is trying to make or have the fan feel when listening to the music. It allows the viewer to get wrapped up in the mood of the song, creating a dream like stage while listening and viewing the song. Some songs even become instant hits mainly because of their videos. For example, when I think about Michael Jackson's song "Thriller" the first thing that comes to mind is the dance everyone knows created from this video. So without the sense of videos for these songs, their rise to fame probably wouldn't exist.
On the other hand, like a movie based on a book, it takes away from the imagination. Most people prefer any book over a film based on it because it allows the reader to view and create the characters that they want to create. Much like music and the lyrics being sang, the listeners can create an idea of what the artist is trying to proclaim. So music videos take away from the listeners sense of creativity.

Talk To Me

Watching this film, I quickly felt the connection that the actors displayed in the characters. The film begins with a convict, Petey Greene, getting the opportunity to do talk radio in prison on good behavior. He meets an employee, Dewey Hughes, of a local radio station called WOL when he comes to visit his brother in prison. After an agreement with the warden, Greene gets out of prison early and finds himself at WOL attempting to get a job. With his job and reputation on the line, Hughes talks his boss into giving Greene a chance. Greene goes on air and proclaims foul statements which losses his opportunity to be with the station. But after hearing the publics possitive reaction to Greene's blunt and honest remarks, Hughes gets Greene back in the booth where his talk radio show becomes an instant hit with the public. Hughes was raised in the projects and aspired to become someone successful and get out of the trouble he was brought up around. He explains later in the film that he learned how to act, talk and dress by watching the Tonight Show. Hughes takes on the responsibility of Greene's manager and quickly lands him publicity doing stand up comedy and his own comedy show. Though it isn't stated in the film, the actor playing Greene does a phenominal job of displaying his characters distatse for all the fame and new direction that his manager is taking. Hughes is too caught up in his own dream that he is playing out in Greene that he doesn't realize the conflict happening. He gets Greene a spot on the Tonight Show and feels that they have finally reached the top. But when Greene takes the spot light on stage, he annouces his disgust in being there. After doing so, Greene and Hughes got into a fight off stage, ending the friendship and partnership between the two. After a period apart from each other and Hughes becoming the new talk radio host and ultimately buying the company, they reunite their friendship until the end when Greene dies at just 53 years old. His funeral session was held in public where over 10,000 people came to mourn his death. Overall, I felt that this film was excellent and the cast chosen to portray the characters were perfect for each roll.