Punk Syndrome

All I can say is, they are hella punk.  Their sound is tight and their band has a quality that is kinda transgressive.   The trailer to the film shows what the road is like. And I think what they are doing is pretty cool. Hearing about them makes me want to hear more.

OK--Hozier & Annie Lennox

I do not know how many awkward intersections I've been at where I've been singing my ass off to this song in the car with the radio cranked.  Don't judge me. But hearing his pipes up against Annie Lennox was so cool.

Probs because I was singing my ass off to Eurythmics songs on the radio 20-something years ago...

Beyonce Takes Us to Church

You know, there was this weird poll out of Iowa that 40% of likely GOP caucus participants thought that Beyoncé was "mental poison" following 2016 hopeful Mike Huckabee's very tacky slams of her relationship with her husband and her performing persona. I'm not sure what they'd make of that performance. Beyoncé is one of the most nominated and winning performers in Grammy history. It's true part of her stage persona is her sensuality. But I'd compare her to Elvis Presley in some ways--he "scandalized" America with his performances. But I'd say his gospel work was every bit as real. (And yes, it is very bizarre that I am talking 1950's folks shaming "the Pelvis" for his gyrations when talking about Mrs. Carter--which is I think more about how far some people have not, actually, come.) Artists are complicated. Maybe they don't appeal to all audiences--but "mental poison"?

So here's Elvis.

Except she nails it for me where Elvis seems tame.  I dunno. Comparisons are odious. But I don't like people putting down Beyoncé, that's all.

Ken Curtis Fan Club.

So, "Gunsmoke" is a show that is actually new to me, because I never really got to see it in syndication until recently on ME TV. The run of "Gunsmoke" overlapped my early years, but my memories of 1972-5 could be called hazy at best. I was too busy learning to walk and talk and use a big girl potty to pay much attention to tv, and westerns weren't really my parents' bag, anyway. For some reason, the character of "Festus" bothered me. The idea of the rural character who can barely be understood isn't too much of an oddity--Boomhauer on King of the Hill boasted a dense patois that I vaguely understand. Brad Pitt's character in Guy Ritchie's "Snatch" was well nigh incomprehensible, and one of the running gags in the long-running Italian police drama Commissario Montalbano is that the character of Catarella is barely understandable and frequently gets big words and proper names wrong.

But Ken Curtis, who portrayed Festus, had a voice that didn't match up with his face. But I recognized it. So, I had to look into it, and he was a big-deal singer with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra and the Sons of the Pioneers. And, while his character on Gunsmoke was notoriously scruffy, Ken Curtis himself cleaned up beautifully. And in early episodes of Gunsmoke, they even let him sing. So weird he played such an odd character, but then had, you know. That voice. Glad I checked it out.

I Like Orwell but these quotes...

You know, in political writing, poor Eric Blair gets quite a bit of trotting about. He's so quotable. He was insightful and a very clear user of language. But I found these two quotes while looking for where he ever said "All art is propaganda"--because of course it is--and was immediately dissatisfied. Here they are:


He was an embittered atheist, the sort of atheist who does not so much disbelieve in God as personally dislike Him.

and

Liberal: a power worshipper without power.

I've considered myself an atheist and a liberal for some time, and have always imagined myself to be a god worshipper without God and a person who does not so much disbelieve in the use of power, as much as I personally dislike it.

So, there's my being a well-read contrarian for the day.

How the Hell Is Taylor Negron Dead?

Well, since he was the husband of the Rodney Dangerfield character's daughter in Easy Money I've kind of followed him. He was a great character actor and a funny, funny stand up. So, thank you, 2015, for already showing you are as brutal to the comedians I love as 2014 was. Taylor Negron. Shoot.

Sony Pulled "The Interview" Because Hackers and Terror And Whevs, Oh My!

It's got handsome and offbeat James Franco and awkwardly lovable-ish funny Seth Rogan going for it, so why wouldn't Sony just Run, run, run with a politically-themed comedy that sort of implies that journalists could maybe sometimes be hired killers of tinpot dictators in a country that might even rhyme with "Snorth Berea?"

Oh. Sony. Were you even looking for a great excuse to dump an unfunny dog of a movie on a miracle that even the engineers of Springtime for Hitler wouldn't have hoped for?

See, in the parlance, even bad publicity is good publicity, and the bad publicity for movies like The Last Temptation of Christ can pay off if a studio braves the negative attention to make the movie a kind of martyred piece. Admit it can't get a good clean hearing--revel in it. Show it proudly, and let the reubens funnel in. Which would be ever so great if it was any good. Or hustle it into,say, Netflix's queue  of instant movies.

But if it really sucks? Which would make burying it for controversy's sake a nice clean break with reality? What does that contract with Messrs  Franco and Rogen even look like?

Addendum: It seems like the North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un is very thin-skinned. It behooves a dictator to have more of a crust about such things--his old man did.