Technical Difficulties
Sorry for the dearth of posts today, guys. I went to see G.I. Joe last night for this Atlantic piece, and my subsequent explosion of outrage has broken my critical faculties. I should be back later this afternoon.
John Hughes Is Dead
Since his best movies, teen flicks have been cast out of Paradise.
I think this dialogue from Dogma captures it best:
I think this dialogue from Dogma captures it best:
Bethany: What exactly brought you to Illinois?In life as in art, unfortunately.
Jay: Some fuck named John Hughes.
Bethany: "Sixteen Candles" John Hughes?
Jay: You know that guy, too? See, all these movies take place in a small town called Shermer, in Illinois, where all the honeys are top-shelf, but all the dudes are whiny pussies - except for Judd Nelson, he was fuckin' harsh....So we collected some money we were owed, and we caught a bus. You know what the fuck we found out when we got there? There is no Shermer in Illinois.
Honestly
I don't understand how you write a long piece imagining the potential rise of an American dictator without saying a word about The Plot Against America. Roth's description of an entire neighborhood wandering the streets in pajamas as they attempt to process Charles Lindbergh's election to the presidency captures perfectly the naivete that could allow such a thing to happen. It's also lovely sad and comic writing.
The Postal Service
It's rare that my day job and this blog intersect, but I thought some of you might get a kick out of this post on The Postal Service as a band and an institution, and the aesthetic pleasures of receiving the mail (oh, and a little bit about financial management, too).
Whatever Happened to Meredith Scott Lynn?
Believe me, that is not a question I ever thought I'd be asking myself. Meredith Scott Lynn was one of the very funny actors who played Elle Woods' insanely competitive law school classmates in Legally Blonde, and I probably never would have given her a second thought except she showed up as Fred Armisen's mother in this Funny or Die video:
All of which is really an excuse to muse on the strange nature of acting as a profession. The payment rates negotiated by Screen Actors Guild certainly make it possible for someone to live on very sporadic work. Day performers earn at least $782 hours a day as of June 10, 2009, and weekly performers are guarantees $2,713. Lynn appears to have had a couple of credited gigs a year since Legally Blonde, which I'm guessing means she does something else to make money on the side. As someone who really enjoys working and gets bored easily, I'd imagine it's really frustrating not to be able to work consistently, not to mention kind of financially terrifying if you're working job-to-job, as I'd guess most actors are. And I also wonder how, if you're an actor, you decide what level of work you're okay with before making the choice to move into something else full-time. If you're working short arcs of Law & Order, or CSI, with the occasional guest gig and voice work in other places, do you stick with it? Decide acting's a fun way to pick up some money on the side? If you really love acting but just aren't making it, how do you reconcile yourself to that?
I suppose a lot of professions are like this--after all, I know a fair number of full-time freelance writers, though most of them are looking for some kind of full-time employment. But acting seems like a profession where the gap between the top and the bottom are insurmountably large, both in what you make, and how secure you are that you'll get to keep working. And acting, for a lot of people who do it, seems like a real core passion. So how do you make the choice to stop trying? Or to be happy where you are?
(Also, sorry for the slow posting today, guys. The internet has been broken for a lot of people, but even more broken for me, and I'm still playing catch-up.)
All of which is really an excuse to muse on the strange nature of acting as a profession. The payment rates negotiated by Screen Actors Guild certainly make it possible for someone to live on very sporadic work. Day performers earn at least $782 hours a day as of June 10, 2009, and weekly performers are guarantees $2,713. Lynn appears to have had a couple of credited gigs a year since Legally Blonde, which I'm guessing means she does something else to make money on the side. As someone who really enjoys working and gets bored easily, I'd imagine it's really frustrating not to be able to work consistently, not to mention kind of financially terrifying if you're working job-to-job, as I'd guess most actors are. And I also wonder how, if you're an actor, you decide what level of work you're okay with before making the choice to move into something else full-time. If you're working short arcs of Law & Order, or CSI, with the occasional guest gig and voice work in other places, do you stick with it? Decide acting's a fun way to pick up some money on the side? If you really love acting but just aren't making it, how do you reconcile yourself to that?
I suppose a lot of professions are like this--after all, I know a fair number of full-time freelance writers, though most of them are looking for some kind of full-time employment. But acting seems like a profession where the gap between the top and the bottom are insurmountably large, both in what you make, and how secure you are that you'll get to keep working. And acting, for a lot of people who do it, seems like a real core passion. So how do you make the choice to stop trying? Or to be happy where you are?
(Also, sorry for the slow posting today, guys. The internet has been broken for a lot of people, but even more broken for me, and I'm still playing catch-up.)
What Sounds Good, And Why
I have some strange and fairly particular things that I tend to like in a pop songs: I'm more interested in lyrics than in music and production (though those are important, of course), and I'm sort of obsessively attuned to unusual inflection in lyrical phrases. I recognize my limitations. I'm a writer, and I've learned through sad experiences with the violin and trumpet, that I am seriously not a musician. Words make sense to me in a way notes don't. I appreciate my friends who have been able to sit down with me and explain what's happening musically. And as a result, I've really been enjoying reading The Singles Jukebox.
It's not that I love every particular song the blog takes on, though the panelists' take on "The Girl and the Robot" was pretty rad. It's not a place I'm going to find out, necessarily, exactly what I should be listening to. But I'm enjoying going there to be unsettled. The thirteen-ways-of-looking-at-a-pop-song approach is helping me listen better, more critically, and for different things.
It's not that I love every particular song the blog takes on, though the panelists' take on "The Girl and the Robot" was pretty rad. It's not a place I'm going to find out, necessarily, exactly what I should be listening to. But I'm enjoying going there to be unsettled. The thirteen-ways-of-looking-at-a-pop-song approach is helping me listen better, more critically, and for different things.
Yes, Precisely
This Fandango commenter encapsulates my feelings about having to go to the midnight screening of G.I. Joe tomorrow for the war movies piece I'm finishing up:
DOOD YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS MOVIE IT HAS NINJAS!!!! AMERICANS AND EXPLOSIONS!!! WHAT MORE COULD YOU ASK FOR VANHELSING WAS A GOOD ISH MOVIE SO I MEAN IT CANT BE THAT BAD AND PLUS LIEK IF IT IS BAD U CAN LIEK MAKE FUN OF IT AND STUFF SO YA IM GOING!! PLUS ITS GI JOE IL GO JUST CAUSE OF THE TITLE!! P.S THE SUITS LOOKS SHWEET
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