Raging Bull

I christened my Blu-Ray player with "Raging Bull" - a Scorsese flick I'm ashamed to admit I hadn't seen. This is an amazing film - I think I was struck most by the use of cameras, women and fighting (natch) during slow-motion sequences. All of them are loved and, at times, manipulated well by Lamotta, but ultimately destroy him. This was Pesci's first major film and he is spectacular. I need to see "Ordinary People" again, but I can't imagine how that beat this out for best picture in 1980.

I think I stayed away from this movie because of my general queasiness with blunt-force, pugilistic trauma. After seeing it, I will probably not watch it again because my fears were realized. However, the cinematography is breath-taking and was worth the pain.

To Have and Have Not

I watched Howard Hawks's "To Have and Have Not" film (loosely) based upon Ernest Hemingway's novel of the same name. This was Humphrey Bogart's (Harry "Steve" Morgan) and Lauren Bacall's (Marie "Slim" Browning) first movie together - they purportedly fell in love during the filming. Their chemistry is undeniable. Walter Brennan plays Eddie, Harry's alcoholic friend. Brennan's Eddie is a little over the top to our modern tastes, I think, but is lovable none the less. The Germans are a little curious as the head officer appears Samoan, but I'm sure the Germans enlisted creeps both far and wide.

The story isn't what you watch this movie for. You watch it for Bacall's and Bogart's performances, waiting for the classic lines such as "put your lips together and blow." As a bonus, Hoagy Carmichael plays Cricket, and provides a couple of velvet-voiced performances.

Music - The Decemberists, Charles Bradley, Wanda Jackson

I've recently listened to The Decemberists' "The King Is Dead." I enjoy everything about this album except for one thing: Colin Meloy's voice. I like everything else, the songs, arrangements, and I like Meloy's lyrics, even his $10 words, but the voice... maybe I should give it more time.



I purchased the debut album from Charles Bradley, "No Time For Dreaming." Daptone Records can do no wrong, it seems. It's great to see older artists making a name for themselves after toiling for years searching for a music career.



I'm really enjoying this - it doesn't have the immediate kick of, say, an Aloe Blacc, but it's solid songwriting that transmogrifies (speaking of $10 words) into a warm soul blanket after only a few listens.

I also listened to Wanda Jackson's new album, "The Party Ain't Over" that was produced by Jack White. Again, love the music, love, love, love White's guitar playing, but, again, this artist's voice is not one I can listen to repeatedly.

Here's a video of her in her heyday - what a firecracker:



Here's her and Mr White's recent appearance on Letterman:



Again, love the music and love the idea of older performers getting their ya-yas out, but the voice... God bless her and America, though.

Looking forward to the new North Mississippi Allstars album next week.

The History of Western Philosophy - Socrates

Socrates looms large in Philosophy's history, but, as Russell notes, "is a very difficult subject for the historian." Russell outlines some notes that are generally accepted as being true:

- "He was undoubtedly an Athenian citizen of moderate means" and well-known.
- He educated the young and, unlike the Sophists, did so for free
- He was tried, convicted and executed in a trial around 399 B.C. on the charge that "Socrates is an evil-doer and a curious person, searching into things under the earth and above the heaven; and making the worse appear the better cause, and teaching all this to others."

Russell relates how most of our knowledge of Socrates comes from two men. One of these was Xenophon, a military man whose intelligence has been called into question by a variety of historians and seems biased towards Socrates as he never discusses what caused Socrates to be persecuted. Russell therefore states that any of Xenophon's discussions of Socrates's philosophy cannot be trusted, but Xenophon's historical accounts of Socrates seem to be reliable and corroborated. The second person is Plato - one of Socrates's students and a witness to his trial. Russell states that although Plato's intelligence is obvious, his writing can be called into question precisely because Plato is a gifted writer:

"Plato... is an imaginative writer of great genius and charm... His Socrates is a consistent and extraordinarily interesting character, far beyond the power of most men to invent; but I think Plato could have invented him. Whether he did so, of course, is another question."

The most famous account of Socrates is Plato's Apology - the speech that Socrates made in defense of himself at his trial. Plato himself admits that this is not a word-for-word retelling and that literary license was taken. However, Russell notes that Plato was present and that Plato's intention is "broadly speaking, historical."

Socrates was put on trial, Russell believes, mainly due to his antagonism towards the aristocracy, of which Socrates was a member. He was convicted of basically corrupting the young. The prosecutor called for death, and in Athenian law, the defense was allowed to propose a lesser punishment. Russell posits that if Socrates wished to avoid death, he could have easily done so by countering the death penalty with a large, substantial fine that would have been paid for by Socrates's benefactors, including Plato. Instead, Socrates countered with an insignificant fine and thus, the death penalty stood.

Socrates is well-known for using the dialectic method to great affect; that is, the method of question and answer to seek knowledge. Russell notes that although Socrates did not invent this method (Zeno, a student of Parmenides is credited with this and with using it on Socrates), he most certainly refined it. Russell also notes that if the way Socrates's use of the dialectic method in the Apology is in any way truthful, it is not difficult to see why "all the humbugs in Athens would combine against him."

Russell then explains that Socrates was most concerned with ethics as the dialectic method does not answer questions that have to deal with empirical science. When Socrates attempts to do so in regards to Geometry in some of Plato's later dialogues, Russell states that he asks leading questions that any judge would disallow. Russell says that although this slowed later philosophers' scientific progress, Socrates's use of the dialectic method was excellent at uncovering logical errors - a useful trait.

"Perhaps 'philosophy' might be defined as the sum-total of those inquires that can be pursued by Plato's methods. But if this definition is appropriate, that is because of Plato's influence upon subsequent philosophers."

Movie Report

I've recently seen the following: A Prophet, Black Swan, Exit Through the Gift Shop, and Restrepo.

A Prophet - A French film about an Arab man who goes to prison very green and not only adapts, but climbs his way up through a criminal underworld. This movie has been universally praised for its straight, non-manipulative portrayal of prison. Here's the trailer:



I'm not as gaga about it as most critics are, but it's very good. The pacing was good, it was watchable in spite of the subject matter, but I didn't find it to redefine the genre of prison films as some critics have said it does. I need to see it again.

Here is the link to Filmspotting's review of the film and an interview with the film's director and star, Jacques Audiard and Tahar Rahim.

Black Swan - The first dance/dream sequence is an amazing piece of film-making. My impression coming away from this film is that the dance sequences are exquisitely filmed and the acting and portrayal of obsession are also very good. I think it goes off the rails a little bit with the effects and horror movie aspects, but not too much. Go see it - the dancing scenes alone make this film viable.



I don't find myself enjoying A.O. Scott's reviews, mostly due to their length and pretense, but he is a masterful writer. Here's his Black Swan review.

Exit Through the Gift Shop - A documentary about a Los Angeles-based shopkeeper, Thierry Guetta's obsession with filming LA street artists leading up to hunting for the famous London street artist, Banksy. The film is directed by Banksy and has a nice twist at the end that questions the nature of art. It is funny and thought-provoking. I watched it via Netflix instant viewing.



Here is Melena Ryzik's review.

Restrepo - A documentary that chronicles the deployment of a platoon of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan's Korengal Valley. I wanted to see a different movie. This is a very good portrayal of a platoon's tour of duty. Just because I wanted to see a movie that explores more of the macro notions and fallacies of "nation-building," I cannot discredit this documentary. The fact that it is made entirely from the soldiers' points of view is what makes this film special.



I'd link to Michael Phillip's review of it on the Chicago Tribune's website, but the site itself (not to mention the paper) is such a disaster, that I'll link to Filmspotting's Top 10 of 2010 episode where Restrepo is discussed and Phillips is a guest reviewer. Hopefully Phillips will find greener pastures sooner rather than later (sorry for the digression).

Movies I Hope to Get to See

Culling these from Paste Magazine's articles on upcoming films at Sundance and elsewhere, I'm wanting to document the ones that sound interesting to me. I usually dump this sort of thing in my Netflix queue, but I'm far enough ahead of the curve on these that they're not listed in Netflix.

Pete Smalls Is Dead:

At Slamdance - from Paste's article:

The Category: Slamdance, Narrative Feature
The Premise: KC (Peter Dinklage), a former screenwriter turned downtrodden East Coast Laundromat owner, finds himself back in Los Angeles when his dog Buddha is kidnapped by loan sharks. KC reaches out to his friend Jack (Mark Boone Junior), who promises to front the $10,000 “dog” ransom if KC comes to L.A. to attend the funeral of their late friend Pete Smalls (Tim Roth), a famous Hollywood director.



The Key Players: Director Alexandre Rockwell; Peter Dinklage, Steve Buscemi, Tim Roth, Rosie Perez

The Draw: That amazing cast. Buscemi and Roth together for the first time since Reservoir Dogs. The ridiculous blonde wig Buscemi wears. And the ludicrous premise. Delightful.

Page One: A Year At the New York Times - from Paste's article:

The Category: Sundance, U.S. Documentary Competition
The Premise: With the Internet surpassing print as our main news source, newspapers going bankrupt and outlets focusing on content they claim audiences (or is it advertisers?) want, Page One chronicles the media industry’s transformation and assesses the high stakes for democracy if in-depth investigative reporting becomes extinct. At the media desk, a dialectical play-within-a-play transpires as writers like salty David Carr track print journalism’s metamorphosis even as their own paper struggles to stay vital and solvent. Meanwhile, rigorous journalism—including vibrant cross-cubicle debate and collaboration, tenacious jockeying for on-record quotes, and skillful page-one pitching—is alive and well.

The Key Players: Director Andrew Rossi

The Draw: Oh, how can we count the ways this movie could be entertaining? It might be a hard-hitting expose of the unsightly sausage-factory works that goes into producing the world’s most influential newspaper. Or it might be a fast-paced thrill ride through the thousand-and-one split-second decisions that must be made to put out a high-quality daily. Or it could be a hilariously un-self-aware paean to the diligent saints that so many journalists see themselves to be. Or… or… or…

The Green Wave

The Category: Sundance, World Cinema Documentary Competition
The Premise: In early 2009, a new generation of Iranians hoped for change through the upcoming presidential elections. Fueled by youthful exuberance and media technology, a groundswell—the so-called Green Wave—emerged to challenge the status quo, and caused a seismic shift in the political climate. A new brand of revolution seemed to be at hand. All polls predicted challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi would be the country’s next president; however, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the victor, prompting a backlash of unparalleled violence and oppression and a massive surge of human-rights violations that continues today. In this powerful and urgent documentary, filmmaker Ali Samadi Ahadi integrates animation with live-action footage, testimonials, and posts from courageous Iranian bloggers, who dared to tell the world about the anatomy of the movement and its devastating consequences. The Green Wave is a remarkable portrait of modern political rebellion, an exposé of government-sanctioned violence, and a vision of peace and hope that continued resistance may galvanize a new Iran.
The Key Players: Director Ali Samadi Ahadi
The Draw: Reminiscent of the beautiful Waltz With Bashir, but with the added twist of integrating actual tweets and other social media into the narrative. It could be the rethinking of the current wave of the digital age that The Social Network promised to be. And it could have far more impact on the world.

THE GREEN WAVE teaser (ENGLISH) from Jan Krueger on Vimeo.

14 Favorite 2010 Albums

I'm finding that I'm enjoying R&B more as I grow older. I continue to enjoy alternative country, americana, folk, roots, or whatever you want to call it. There continues to be a wealth of world music out there that I need to take pains to explore - the same goes for jazz. Great music continues to be made, but the "noise" surrounding it has grown, too. It seems that the internet and other trends continue to bring us a world of options, but have also made it more work to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Out of the numerous 2010 albums that I've listened to, here are my 14 favorites in alphabetical order with a sample song from each. I hope you dig it like chicks dig overalls.

Aloe Blacc - Good Things



Black Mountain - Wilderness Heart



Blitzen Trapper - Destroyer of the Void



Broken Bells - The High Road



The Budos Band - The Budos Band III



Carolina Chocolate Drops - Genuine Negro Jig



Cee-Lo Green - The Lady Killer



I have to include this, too:



I love that.

Dylan LeBlanc - Paupers Field



Janelle Monae - The ArchAndroid



JJ Grey and Mofro - Georgia Warhorse



Johnny Cash - American VI



Mary Gauthier - The Foundling



Midlake - The Courage of Others



and last, but certainly not least:

Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings - I Learned the Hard Way

The History of Western Philosophy - Heraclitus, Parmenides, Empedocles

I don't have a whole lot to relate about the philosophers I've been reading about. I'm really making this post just to beat the number of posts I made in the entirety of 2010 (4). This is the FIFTH post I've made in 2011. Whew - glad I'm over that hurdle!

So, here's what I've got:

Heraclitus: everything changes
Parmenides: nothing changes
Empedocles: "Great Empedocles, the ardent soul, leapt into Etna, and was roasted whole." There's also the trifle that he discovered air as a separate substance. Oh yeah, he hated beans, too (see Pythagoras). Maybe his discovery of air and hatred of beans was a result of bath farts. There's a hypothesis!

The History of Western Philosophy - Pythagoras

(click for bigger picture)

Who thought reading a history of Philosophy would be funny? Regarding Pythagoras, credited with first developing deductive reasoning, Russell offers this:

Pythagoras is one of the most interesting and puzzling men in history. Not only are the traditions concerning him an almost inextricable mixture of truth and falsehood, but even in their barest and least disputable form they present us with a very curious psychology. He may be described, briefly, as a combination of Einstein and Mrs. Eddy. He founded a religion, of which the main tenets were the transmigration of souls and the sinfulness of eating beans. His religion was embodied in a religious order, which, here and there, acquired control of the State and established a rule of the saints. But the unregenerate hankered after beans, and sooner or later rebelled.

That's hilarious! "Hankered after beans!" Okay, maybe not Greg-Giraldo-hilarious, but pretty funny for a history of Philosophy. Right? Ahem.

The History of Western Philosophy

I started "The History of Western Philosophy" by Bertrand Russell today. He is a skilled, direct writer. I am encouraged by this as a broad and deep topic does not need to be hampered by imprecise and/or pretentious prose.

From the "introductory:"

Philosophy, as I shall understand the word, is something intermediate between theology and science. Like theology, it consists of speculations on matters as to which definite knowledge has, so far, been unascertainable; but like science, it appeals to human reason rather than to authority, whether that of tradition or that of revelation. All definite knowledge - so I should contend - belongs to science; all dogma as to what surpasses definite knowledge belongs to theology. But between theology and science there is a No Man's Land, exposed to attack from both sides; this No Man's land is Philosophy. Almost all the questions of most interest to speculative minds are such as science cannot answer, and the confident answers of theologians no longer seem so convincing as they did in former centuries. Is the world divided into mind and matter, and, if so, what is mind and what is matter? Is mind subject to matter, or is it possessed of independent powers? Has the universe any unity or purpose? Is it evolving towards some goal? Are there really laws of nature, or do we believe in them only because of our innate love of order? Is man what he seems to the astronomer, a tiny lump of impure carbon and water impotently crawling on a small and unimportant planet? Or is he what he appears to Hamlet? Is he perhaps both at once? Is there a way of living that is noble, in what does it consist, and how shall we achieve it? Must the good be eternal in order to deserve to be valued, or is it worth seeking even if the universe is inexorably moving towards death? Is there such a thing as wisdom, or is what seems such merely the ultimate refinement of folly? To such questions, no answers can be found in the laboratory. Theologies have professed to give answers, all too definite; but their very definiteness causes modern minds to view them with suspicion. The studying of these questions, if not the answering of them, is the business of philosophy.

He goes on to explain why it's relevant to pursue this seemingly Sisyphean endeavor - "To teach how to live without certainty, and yet without being paralyzed by hesitation, is perhaps the chief thing that philosophy, in our age, can still do for those who study it."

It's been a long time since I've changed the oil in the brainpan - this feels daunting, but also very refreshing.

12 Books to Read During 2011

I'm going to participate in Roof Beam Reader's 2011 TBR Pile Challenge. Here are my 12 books from my tbr (to be read) pile:

The Darkness That Comes Before - R. Scott Bakker*
Let the Right One In - John Ajvide Lindqvist
Consent to Kill - Vince Flynn
The Boxer Rebellion - Diana Preston
A History of Western Philosophy - Bertrand Russell
The Polish Officer - Alan Furst
Woken Furies - Richard K. Morgan
I Married a Communist - Philip Roth
American Gods - Neil Gaiman
Feast of the Goat - Mario Vargas Llosa
Occidental Mythology - Joseph Campbell*
Foucault's Pendulum - Umberto Eco
Chicago: City on the Make - Nelson Algren
The Havana Room - Colin Harrison

* - alternates

The most amibitious book, I think, is "History of Western Philosophy," by Bertrand Russell. In the event I find it too daunting, I have "Occidental Mythology" by Joseph Campbell as a worthy alternate.

It's somewhat disconcerting to lay out these books as my reading list for all of 2011. I tend to be spontaneous with my picks, but maybe there is value in having this structure.

"Consent to Kill" would probably not be on my list if an acquaintance of mine hadn't already lent it to me and implored me to read it.

Giddy up.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!

I feel like starting off the New Year with a blog post to get my brain's RPMs up a little this morning.

I'm trying to catch up on all the music releases in 2010 that I missed and there's quite a few. This was inspired by my friend's "Best of 2010" list. I had heard exactly 1 out of the 10 records he listed. So, in the meantime, I got caught up on Avi Buffalo, Cee-Lo Green, Black Label Society, and a few others. I simply don't enjoy a lot of modern music that are critics' darlings. I can abstractly respect most of it, but most of it simply leaves me cold - there's no emotional component in it for me.

Once I give myself time to pour through the music of 2010, I'll see if there's enough I like to do a top 10 and discuss in more detail.

More later - thanks for reading.