1:40 p.m. - 2005-11-27
LOOK OUT: BED SORES!!!!
Earlier today when she was trying to pry my fat ass off of our futon, Kia called me Fatiguo Man. What a great idea for a superhero! Fatiguo Man's superpower could be never getting off the couch. If he ever solved or prevented a crime, it would somehow be the result of his extensive knowledge of what's on television at any given time. His superhero uniform would be rumpled and instead of tights he'd wear sweatpants.
Yes, it's true: I've been stricken by holiday malaise. I think it hit me pretty hard this year because I had a surplus of fatigue going into the holiday, the result of a couple or three grueling jobs in the couple of days before. These included three kids' concerts back to back to back, three sets of live-band karaoke, and a punishing six hours in the studio playing whatever the man behind the console told us to. The studio night reminded me of that movie 24-Hour Party People, where the producer guy tells the drummer to do something different and then makes him move his drums to the roof-top and tells him to keep playing and the rest of them go out for drinks but the drummer has to keep playing the same thing for hours on end. Except they didn't make me go on the roof, but otherwise, same idea.
So, I came home from that late Wednesday, exhausted and useless. Luckily, Kia had no plans for activity, and we settled in for a Holiday Movie Round-up and long weekend of doing nothing. Her selections:
*Cube 2: HYPERcube! We'd seen Cube a couple of years ago and it did blow. Cube 2: HYPERcube is pretty much the same movie, but with more violence and lip service to ALTERNATE REALITIES to justify a bunch of none-too-convincing CGI effects. Cloddish writing and stiff acting round out this holiday suckfest.
*West Side Story: The DVD version has a long making-of documentary that was illuminating in that we had no idea what a bastard Jerome Robbins the choreographer was. Next time you see those gang dancing scenes, keep in mind that they were mostly done on concrete and the dancers had to do take after take after take. Rita Moreno is one of only a few performers who have won an Oscar, an Emmy, a Tony AND a Grammy. As the spitfire Anita, she steals the film...and our hearts!
*Duck Soup: Duck Soup!
*The Empire Strikes Back: OMG! So, guess who is Luke's dad? No, those middle-aged people in the first Star Wars are like his aunt and uncle or something. Give up?
DARTH VADER!!!
I know, it's crazy. I wonder if Luke had, like, a brother or something.
*The Umbrellas of Cherbourg: Directed by Jacques Demy. If you're a wallpaper buff don't walk, RUN to the nearest video store and rent this. Almost every scene explodes with vivid colors and light. And it's got great music, by Michel LeGrand, start to finish, all the dialogue sung. And Catherine Deneuve. And Catherine Deneuve's mom sells umbrellas. And the camera work and editing is really new wave and compelling, somehow overcoming the inherent artificiality of the sung dialogue, and WHY ARE YOU NOT RUNNING TO THE VIDEO STORE?
Fatiguo Man implores you!
Next: More (or less) Fatiguo Man
