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“I guess I just like liking things”

February 26, 2015 What’s Left of Pop Music

I don’t consider myself a connoisseur of good music by any means, and will readily admit that my taste can be truly cringe-worthy at times. But that’s okay, because it makes me happy, and that is what matters. That said, I need to talk about this song from 2006 by former boy band heartthrob, Nick Lachey, entitled “What’s Left of Me.”

The song itself probably isn’t very noteworthy. The lyrics are a little cheesy and melodramatic. Lachey isn’t even a very strong vocalist. There is too much “breathiness” to take this seriously. But I find this song hauntingly beautiful, and it continues to give me chills whenever my iPod’s shuffle serves it up to me. At first, I just chalked it up to being a touchy-feely kind of gal, and it being a sweet love song. But then I realized why it has so much impact to me, and for that we need to slip into a time machine to the late nineties.

In September of 1999, Jessica Simpson’s debut single was released and then spawned a weird media gossip train that most of us frankly don’t understand, even though we watched it all unfold on our televisions. She became immediately connected to Nick Lachey, whose singing quartet 98* was in their prime; they were just about to release a Christmas album (a mark of success if there ever was one). It wasn’t Justin and Britney, but it was a close second. As JT and Brit went down in flames, Nick and Jessica were courting rather publicly, sharing personal aspects of their relationship that really should not have been divulged. After their marriage, they starred in a reality series for MTV called Newlyweds, where their relationship faced even more public scrutiny. It was such a public spectacle, it came as somewhat of a shock when the news spread all over the supermarket tabloids that they had broken up. Jessica became the vamp, and Nick became the victim. (This breakup would continue to boost Jessica’s career over the long term, but that is another post for another time.)

So, for anyone that even sort of keeps up with celebrity news (or who has eyes and needs to shop for groceries on a regular basis), it is incredibly difficult to separate the art from the artist. Would this song be as remarkable to me if some other person sang this song? Or if the heartbreak that caused the song was unknown to me? I don’t think it would. Whenever I hear it, it seems very convincingly sad and broken to me, despite the fact that Lachey is not superbly talented.

This, I think, is a side effect of our current media news-driven culture. Knowing certain aspects or details about the lives of celebrities changes the way that we view the art that is produced. Would you watch a movie about the Holocaust if Mel Gibson were attached to it? Did that thought produce an unconscious visceral reaction of disgust? On one hand, we can dismiss the idea of celebrity culture being important, but on the other hand it can enhance how we experience things.

I can’t really say definitively that the off-chance that something will seem more profound because we have a birds eye view of the people that created it is reason enough for the paparazzi fueled gossip rags to stay in business. The two are currently hopelessly intertwined, however, so I choose to see the silver lining. And in this case, I have found artistic merit from something that, in isolation, I would probably not.

 

February 25, 2015 Lyn Plays Ken’s Labyrinth

 

Firstly, an apology as last week’s suggested games didn’t work out (but will, or I’ll glare at them some more).

I played this a lot when it was new in the early 1990s. A Wolfenstein 3D clone, Ken’s Labyrinth sent you off on a journey of really long hallways. The first game sends you off to find your dog. I don’t know what the other games are about, I didn’t read all the things. Although a huge burst of nostalgia, I can’t really tell you this was loads of fun.

The Ken of the Labyrinth was (and still is) Ken Silverman, who still programs in his spare time. This game was made while he was still at High School, so come on. It’s not Doom, but it’s a pretty decent effort.

Will I play it again? Nope. My little nostalgia moment was fun, but I think I can live without Ken’s Labyrinth. However, if you would like to experience the game (and if you never have, you kinda should), you can grab it from Ken’s website linked above.

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February 24, 2015 Tuesday 41: Best Picture Winners

It’s still Oscar season as long as people are griping/celebrating/watching highlights on YouTube, right?

I got curious as to how many of the Best Picture Oscar winners I had seen, and once I found out was 41, I figured I might as well try to rank them. It ended up being kind of difficult, especially in the middle. If I did this again in ten years, I suspect my top ten and bottom ten would still look about the same (barring the next ten years’ worth of movies, of course), but the middle 21 would probably get all changed around. Hard to say. The best way to approach this, of course, would be to watch all 87 in a row and figure out their current standings from there. Maybe I’ll do that some day, but for now I have to rely on my memory, which I admit is not what it used to be.

Here are the 41 Best Picture winners that I have seen, ranked by how much I liked them:

41. The English Patient (1996) – I don’t hate it the way Elaine does, but it was all a bit much, wasn’t it?

40. Chicago (2002) – There are very few musicals I actually want to see again – unless they involve skeletons, man-eating plants, or animated characters.

39. Chariots of Fire (1981) – I know I was supposed to be moved by this, but I was mostly bored. I can still play many parts of the theme on the piano, though. Song > movie for me.

38. Ben-Hur (1959) – There’s a bar in my town named after this movie.

37. The Hurt Locker (2009) – I literally have nothing to say about this movie.

36. The Departed (2006) – I’ve said it before, but maybe if I hadn’t seen Infernal Affairs first I would’ve liked this one more.

35. The Artist (2011) – I liked it, I did. I just… I dunno. I wouldn’t ever seek it out again.

34. A Man for All Seasons (1966) – Honestly, I don’t remember a lot about this movie. It gets bumped up because I was in a theatrical production of it in college and I have fond memories of that experience.

33. Rain Man (1988) – It’s fine.

32. Driving Miss Daisy (1989) – A rewatch of this one would probably lower it, but Morgan Freeman and Jessica Tandy were wonderful together.

31. The Sting (1973) – A fun caper flick. Worth your time.

30. The Sound of Music (1965) – Yes, it’s a classic and it’s great, but I don’t ever need to see it again. I doubt I’ll get that choice, though, as my wife loves it.

29. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) – Nurse Ratched went on to play Kai Winn in Deep Space Nine, so that’s two evil characters to her credit.

28. Amadeus (1984) – The best part about this movie is Falco’s song “Rock Me, Amadeus,” which didn’t have anything to do with this movie. This movie also inspired an episode of 30 Rock that was pretty great.

27. A Beautiful Mind (2001) – I’ll admit it: I never saw the twist coming.

26. Argo (2012) – Good movie, but learning the actual facts around historical movies tends to lower them in my estimation.

25. The Deer Hunter (1978) – I’ve always been fascinated by the Vietnam War.

24. Crash (2005) – I know I’m supposed to hate this movie, but I don’t. Sorry.

23. The King’s Speech (2010) – Too many biopics at the Oscars.

22. Million Dollar Baby (2004) – I like most Clint Eastwood movies, as it turns out. There are a couple I haven’t seen, but they’re on my list.

21. Slumdog Millionaire (2008) – That outhouse scene is one of the grossest things I have ever seen and I’ll never forgive this movie for that.

20. Dances with Wolves (1990) – James Cameron’s remake isn’t nearly as good.

19. Shakespeare in Love (1998) – Hey, this was back before we knew Gwyneth was bananapants crazy!

18. Annie Hall (1977) – I feel bad admitting this, but I don’t remember much about this one. I remember liking it (and many other Woody Allen movies… please don’t judge me).

17. Casablanca (1943) – The best Humphrey Bogart movie I’ve ever seen.

16. Titanic (1997) – The boat stuff is great! The rest of it is ridiculous.

15. Forrest Gump (1994) – This one will get carry-over good vibes for a long time, even though I’m bitter it beat Pulp Fiction and Shawshank Redemption for the Oscar, which is just plain ridiculous.

14. Gone with the Wind (1939) – I’ve seen this movie like four times. That’s plenty. Scarlett O’Hara is a jerk, folks!

13. The Silence of the Lambs (1991) – Unnerving.

12. Platoon (1986) – I sometimes get this one confused with Full Metal Jacket.

11. American Beauty (1999) – Kevin Spacey was fantastic in this, as were many others. That plastic bag nonsense makes roll my eyes so hard it hurts, though.

10. Rocky (1976) – Hate all you want, Network and Taxi Driver fans!

9. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) – If this were the whole trilogy rather than just part 3, this would be a lot higher up.

8. No Country for Old Men (2007) – The older I get the more I’ll like this one, I expect.

7. The Apartment (1960) – Hey, I’ve talked about this one before!

6. Schindler’s List (1993) – I think everyone should see it at least once. I’ve seen this movie three times, but I hope I don’t see it again.

5. Braveheart (1995) – I thoroughly enjoyed the director’s commentary on this one, even. I’ve only ever listened to maybe 5 or 6 of those.

4. Gladiator (2000) – Ancient Rome fascinates me almost as much as the Vietnam War.

3. The Godfather Part II (1974) – It might be better than the first one, but you can’t get here without it.

2. The Godfather (1972) – The first time I ever saw this movie I watched the second tape first on accident. I thought it was one of those “start in the middle of the story” movies. I felt pretty dumb about it afterwards.

1. Unforgiven (1992) – My favorite Clint Eastwood movie, my favorite Western, and one of my favorite movies of all time.

How many Best Picture winners have you seen?

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February 23, 2015 Oscars Wrap-Up

I don’t have a lot of thoughts on the Oscars, but I’ll give you what I do have, and not in any particular order:

  • Four of my eight picks happened, and I’m okay with that. I’ve never fancied myself a prognosticator, only a fan.
  • The hologram opening was neat.
  • I love Anna Kendrick’s singing voice and I still want her to release an album.
  • Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Zoe Saldana should be cast in a movie together immediately, and I’m suggesting a “Mr. & Mrs. Smith”-type thing.
  • Neil Patrick Harris is a fine Oscar host. It was weird, though, to see him because my wife and I watched Gone Girl right before I switched over to the Oscars. Those of you who have seen Gone Girl know why it was weird.
  • The In Memoriam presentation was nicely done. I particularly liked that they (mostly) muted the clapping. You could tell people were still clapping, but it was nice to not have to hear most of it.
  • I knew Lady Gaga could sing well, but apparently a lot of people were surprised by it.
  • The absolute highlight of the evening was the “Everything Is Awesome” performance.
  • I DVR’d the show until I could start and fast forwarding through commercials and acceptance speeches from people I didn’t know was the correct way to watch. The only bad part about it was not being able to read Twitter in realtime along with the show.

There you go: 3.5 hours of a show boiled down to 9 bullet points.

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February 20, 2015 87th Oscars: My Picks

I haven’t done so well this year as far as seeing the Oscar nominees goes. I had good intentions for some of these, but it’s way more fun to watch big budget spectacles on the big screen and see the thought-provoking dramas at home. That isn’t to say I won’t go see dramas on the big screen, I’m just more likely to go see BIG movies. Sorry, movies, that’s just how I roll. As it turns out, I’ve only seen two of the movies in the list below: American Sniper and The Grand Budapest Hotel.

But regardless of how many of these I’ve seen, I have (somewhat informed) opinions on what I think will win. Often that’s different that what I hope will win, but I’m used to that.

So ahead of the Oscar broadcast this Sunday, I thought I’d share my picks for the major categories (and by “picks” I mean “hopes”) by bolding them:

Best Picture

“American Sniper”
“Birdman” – I’m really driven to wanting this movie to do well, and it has everything to do with Michael Keaton being Batman for two movies.
“Boyhood”
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”
“The Imitation Game”
“The Theory of Everything”
“Whiplash”

Actor in a Leading Role

Steve Carell – “Foxcatcher”
Bradley Cooper – “American Sniper”
Benedict Cumberbatch – “The Imitation Game”
Michael Keaton – “Birdman” or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) – Again, I really want him to win.
Eddie Redmayne – “The Theory of Everything”

Actress in a Leading Role

Marion Cotillard – “Two Days, One Night”
Felicity Jones – “The Theory of Everything”
Julianne Moore – “Still Alice”
Rosamund Pike – “Gone Girl”
Reese Witherspoon – “Wild”

Actor in a Supporting Role

Robert Duvall – “The Judge”
Ethan Hawke – “Boyhood”
Edward Norton – “Birdman” or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Mark Ruffalo – “Foxcatcher”
J.K. Simmons – “Whiplash” – Listen, he shoulda got an Oscar for playing J. Jonah Jameson, so this is long overdue.

Actress in a Supporting Role

Patricia Arquette – “Boyhood”
Laura Dern – “Wild”
Keira Knightley – “The Imitation Game”
Emma Stone – “Birdman” or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) – She’s just awesome in general, and the more Birdman wins, the better, right?
Meryl Streep – “Into the Woods”

Adapted Screenplay

“American Sniper” Written by Jason Hall
“The Imitation Game” Written by Graham Moore
“Inherent Vice” Written for the screen by Paul Thomas Anderson
“The Theory of Everything” Screenplay by Anthony McCarten
“Whiplash” Written by Damien Chazelle

Original Screenplay

“Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” Written by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr. & Armando Bo
“Boyhood” Written by Richard Linklater
“Foxcatcher” Written by E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman
“The Grand Budapest Hotel” Screenplay by Wes Anderson; Story by Wes Anderson & Hugo Guinness
“Nightcrawler” Written by Dan Gilroy

Director

“Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” – Alejandro G. Iñárritu
“Boyhood” – Richard Linklater
“Foxcatcher” – Bennett Miller
“The Grand Budapest Hotel” – Wes Anderson – It’s high time Wes Anderson gets an Oscar, folks, and this movie was beautifully done.
“The Imitation Game” – Morten Tyldum

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