Sloth, Maybe?

  On Sunday, February 26th, my wife indulged my fondest wish for the beginning of the moviegoing year.   We went to see the much ballyhooed Cocaine Bear . Now I have seen two films this year prior to Cocaine Bear.   There was the three hour epic Avatar: The Way of Water .   I went into the theater for that film with great trepidation.   I had had my fill of three hour epics since Avengers: End Game and wanted no more of it.   However, I had been surprised by how well James Cameron mapped out the flora, fauna, astronomy, and culture of the various tribes of Na’vi of the moon of Pandora.   It is a lower tier Middle Earth, but it had me ask questions of the clash of cultures and how our own local astronomy helped mold our cultures and psyches. Wait, was I talking about Cocaine Bear ?   One more digression. Todd Field’s film TÁR , the tale of the rise and fall of a fictitious musical conductor played by Cate Blanchett is another exploration into an e...

  I found myself at a reunion at my high school.   I had brought my art portfolio which I assembled over the four years I worked there.   I open the portfolio and examine my work dating back to my teenage years.   I hated it, not only because it was the work of a child, but that I had not practiced since my graduation.   As a result, my talent not just stalled, but regressed.   A fellow alumna approached me.   She said she was now part of the Shen Yun dancing troupe.   We got into conversation and I told her I had become a filmmaker - a half truth, since I was also out of practice with that discipline.   Excited, she asked me if I could film her leaping over a hedge. I managed to corral   some fellow alumni and we built a slide ramp on which she can dance.   We orchestrated how she would slide down the ramp and leap into the air.   We fixed a camera on a pendulum to film her slide down the ramp and leap through the air. We disc...

  I’m on location for a film shoot.   It’s for an action adventure film starring Nicholas Cage.   He plays a solider that served during the American Revolution.   He abandons his post at a fort along the Hudson River.   He fights his way past his brothers in arms who are as large and brawny as Vikings.   He grabs a double barrel shotgun (an anachronism) with four shells and jumps into the river.   The director calls “Cut!   Where is the songwriter?”   I discover that I’m under a blue tarp underwater.   The tarp creates a pocket of air where I can breathe.   One of the Viking stuntmen grabs me by the scruff of my neck with one hand and carries me over to the director.   The director says, “I need you to write a song for the soundtrack.   Follow me, I’ll bring you to your co-writer.”   I follow the director and he introduces me to a heavy set young man with a face that makes him look like a simpleton.   I shake han...

After reviewing the 2021 Amazon miniseries Wir Kinder Vom Bahnhof Zoo , I decided to travel back in time about 40 years to 1981, when the first film incarnation of the same title was made.   From the wayback machine, I present Christiane F. - Wir Kinder Vom Bahnhof Zoo .   I will refer to the 1981 film as Christiane F. so as to avoid confusion.   Most importantly I will do my best to focus on the 1981 film without drawing comparisons with the 2021 iteration. How I managed to purchase a copy of 1981’s Christiane F. is an adventure in and of itself.   My search for the film on Amazon came up dry, leading me to the 2021 miniseries.   After finishing the series, I widened my net beyond Amazon in search of the movie.   I found a BluRay copy for online purchase from Walmart. You heard me.   Walmart . Let that sink in. The title read in what turned out to be Catalan Spanish:   Yo, Cristina F.   I checked in what regions it was playable.   It li...

  It's been one year and seven days since my first blog involving a carpet and the long, winding history behind its design. Since then I've written about film, music, art, television, musicals, anime, cyborgs, artificial intelligence, quitting writing, resuming writing, meditation, contemplation, cogitation, good, evil, post-it notes... Oh, and Boba Fett.  I can't forget Boba Fett. You may have also checked out my other blog page, The Inanna-verse, which deals with everything involving my scripts, art, comedy, and YouTube videos dedicated to the Sumerian goddess.  I don't worship her.  I swear.  I don't worship anyone or anything.  Except perhaps my own overblown ego. I've even had my wife Susan write a few guest blogs.  There was one about the one season Cop Rock series and another about David Byrne's American Utopia on Broadway.  The last one had the most feedback on this page. Needless to say, I'm jealous of my wife. Oh, there is another a...

Amazon Studios’ miniseries Wir Kinder Vom Bahnhof Zoo (We, the Children from Bahnhof Zoo) splits Christiane F's perspective into six characters:   Christiane, Stella, Babsi, Axel, Benno, and Michi.   Some of the ensemble meet fatal ends.   Some piece their lives back together and carry on as normal people would.   Some find true love when on the verge of death. And then there’s Stella. Of the six Zoo children, Stella has suffered the most.   At the beginning of the story, Stella and her very young siblings greet her mother who returns from rehabilitation for her alcoholism.   Stella works in the pub run by her family, where the escape of alcohol dangles before them as low hanging fruit.   One pivotal day, while closing up the pub, Stella is raped by a regular barfly as her mother lies in a drunken stupor.   When Stella demands that her rapist be taken by the police and sent to jail, her attacker shrugs it off as “fooling around.” One night, while...