Overall, I loved TOY STORY 3. It's the best movie about the poetry community (particularly in its Sunnydale Day Care scenes) since Terry Zwigoff and Daniel Clowes' ART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL.
No matter what city or town you live in, if you're part of a poetry community you've met a few leaders like Lotso Bear (superbly voiced by Ned Beatty). I've met and dealt with at least four Lotsos over the last dozen years.
Interesting quote from Walter Chaw's review of TOY STORY 3 on the filmfreakcentral.net site: "Seduced by the chance to be loved by generations-upon-generations of toddlers, they find a darker truth in a cliquish cabal whose lust for self-preservation at a daycare divided between a room for the older kids who know how to take care of toys and the youngsters who don't has made them bellicose and strange."
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Mel Gibson then and now.
I posted this on Facebook last night:
Was a stand-in for Joe Pesci on LETHAL WEAPON 3. Never met Mel but he was mostly subdued and seemed to only speak to his male assistant. There was one day (filming at the Warner Ranch inside the interior Murtaugh house set) when work stopped for Jeffrey Boam to do some rewriting--and Mel, Darlene Love and other crewpeople sat around talking to each other. Normal behavior from him on that occasion. One day, a boy accompanied by parents came to the set (assuming it was a meet-and-greet sort of thing). Mel had lunch with him (during the regular cast-and-crew break) and was cordial.
So, no forebodings of bad behavior to come--which began surfacing a few years later when his homophobic comments appeared in the U.S. press.
We're witnessing a spectacular and horrifying implosion of soneone consumed by a plethora of demons.
[UPDATE 7/12/10: Here's another of the leaked-to-RadarOnline tapes of Mel arguing at high R-rated volume with Oksana, with the most ugly statements coming in the final portion--http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2010/07/exclusive-new-audio-mel-gibson-admits-hitting-oksana-threatens-kill-her-listen-it]
Was a stand-in for Joe Pesci on LETHAL WEAPON 3. Never met Mel but he was mostly subdued and seemed to only speak to his male assistant. There was one day (filming at the Warner Ranch inside the interior Murtaugh house set) when work stopped for Jeffrey Boam to do some rewriting--and Mel, Darlene Love and other crewpeople sat around talking to each other. Normal behavior from him on that occasion. One day, a boy accompanied by parents came to the set (assuming it was a meet-and-greet sort of thing). Mel had lunch with him (during the regular cast-and-crew break) and was cordial.
So, no forebodings of bad behavior to come--which began surfacing a few years later when his homophobic comments appeared in the U.S. press.
We're witnessing a spectacular and horrifying implosion of soneone consumed by a plethora of demons.
[UPDATE 7/12/10: Here's another of the leaked-to-RadarOnline tapes of Mel arguing at high R-rated volume with Oksana, with the most ugly statements coming in the final portion--http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2010/07/exclusive-new-audio-mel-gibson-admits-hitting-oksana-threatens-kill-her-listen-it]
Friday, July 9, 2010
Yes, kids, you too can aspire to Write Bloody.
http://writebloody.com/?page_id=53
http://writebloody.com/?page_id=50
http://writebloody.com/?page_id=56
If you want to sit at the Algonquin Roundtable of Indie Poetry and meet the exacting standards of Derrick Brown (doesn't hurt to have slam-to-lit crossover aspirations and already be a National Name who hits the road each year), just click the links above!
http://writebloody.com/?page_id=50
http://writebloody.com/?page_id=56
If you want to sit at the Algonquin Roundtable of Indie Poetry and meet the exacting standards of Derrick Brown (doesn't hurt to have slam-to-lit crossover aspirations and already be a National Name who hits the road each year), just click the links above!
RIP Santa Monica's Poetry Rodeo reading.
Last night, Eric Lawson and I were the final two featured poets at Ellyn Maybe's Poetry Rodeo reading at Pier 212 Cafe (the former Novel Cafe) on Main Street in Santa Monica.
Kudos to Ellyn (one of the nicest as well as most talented poets in the Southern California community) for having a weekly residency for her work, as well providing a spotlight for featured and open-mike poets. Seems like it's been a bad summer for local readings with the cancellations of Michelle Angellini's Silverlake Living Room series and Encino's long-running Barnes and Noble reading with Ron Dvorkin (though Ron will relocate to the Borders in the Canoga Park/Woodland Hills area).
Here's a link to the Amazon.com page for Ellyn's RODEO FOR THE SHEEPISH spoken-word-with-music CD:
http://www.amazon.com/Rodeo-Sheepish-Ellyn-Maybe/dp/B002S1KFX6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1278710278&sr=1-1
Kudos to Ellyn (one of the nicest as well as most talented poets in the Southern California community) for having a weekly residency for her work, as well providing a spotlight for featured and open-mike poets. Seems like it's been a bad summer for local readings with the cancellations of Michelle Angellini's Silverlake Living Room series and Encino's long-running Barnes and Noble reading with Ron Dvorkin (though Ron will relocate to the Borders in the Canoga Park/Woodland Hills area).
Here's a link to the Amazon.com page for Ellyn's RODEO FOR THE SHEEPISH spoken-word-with-music CD:
http://www.amazon.com/Rodeo-Sheepish-Ellyn-Maybe/dp/B002S1KFX6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1278710278&sr=1-1
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Yes, it's true: Barry Levinson's JIMMY HOLLYWOOD to get a Blu-Ray DVD release.
JIMMY HOLLYWOOD on Blu-Ray--http://www.amazon.com/Jimmy-Hollywood-Blu-ray-Joe-Pesci/dp/B003H14DG6/ref=sr_1_55?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1278406667&sr=1-55
No need to discuss this again--suffice to say I was a stand-in for Joe Pesci on this film during its shoot from mid-summer to early fall of 1993. And, to give cinematographer Peter Sova (who also lensed DONNIE BRASCO and LUCKY NUMBER SLEVIN, among other credits) his due, JIMMY HOLLYWOOD (if well-transferred), should retain the grit-and-gloss feel of its theatrical presentation on Blu-Ray.
Although Joe's blonde wig (for the character of Jimmy Alto) these days reminds one of Phil Spector's hairpiece in the circa-2003 interview clips promoting the new documentary THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY OF PHIL SPECTOR.
No need to discuss this again--suffice to say I was a stand-in for Joe Pesci on this film during its shoot from mid-summer to early fall of 1993. And, to give cinematographer Peter Sova (who also lensed DONNIE BRASCO and LUCKY NUMBER SLEVIN, among other credits) his due, JIMMY HOLLYWOOD (if well-transferred), should retain the grit-and-gloss feel of its theatrical presentation on Blu-Ray.
Although Joe's blonde wig (for the character of Jimmy Alto) these days reminds one of Phil Spector's hairpiece in the circa-2003 interview clips promoting the new documentary THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY OF PHIL SPECTOR.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Probably the quintessential quote criticizing me for not being a 100% poetry cheerleader.
"Everyone is having a great time. Literally everyone....and you come along and take a shit in the middle of the living room."
I just reiterated a pithy precis of every single time I've made poets angry over the last seven years--regarding things I've posted on Yahoogroups listserves or on this blog or (in some unfortunate cases) said at readings.
And I'm presuming that the anonymous person who fired the shotgun blast of the quote above is quite pleased to speak a version of the Truth to me--knowing that he/she (though I'm certain it's a "he") speaks for lots of wronged people (and as I've been re-learning, if I'm critical/questioning of others and they respond with anger and hatred, it's all my fault and none of theirs).
Eventually, we'll all leave the Earth behind and our poems will remain--to be evaluated on their enduring qualities when the specific virtues and sins of the poets writing them are long forgotten.
That should matter more than who is currently valued as the best-liked, harder-than-hardest-working, and/or most commercially successful person sitting in the musical chairs of what's still referred to as the Southern California poetry community.
.
I just reiterated a pithy precis of every single time I've made poets angry over the last seven years--regarding things I've posted on Yahoogroups listserves or on this blog or (in some unfortunate cases) said at readings.
And I'm presuming that the anonymous person who fired the shotgun blast of the quote above is quite pleased to speak a version of the Truth to me--knowing that he/she (though I'm certain it's a "he") speaks for lots of wronged people (and as I've been re-learning, if I'm critical/questioning of others and they respond with anger and hatred, it's all my fault and none of theirs).
Eventually, we'll all leave the Earth behind and our poems will remain--to be evaluated on their enduring qualities when the specific virtues and sins of the poets writing them are long forgotten.
That should matter more than who is currently valued as the best-liked, harder-than-hardest-working, and/or most commercially successful person sitting in the musical chairs of what's still referred to as the Southern California poetry community.
.
Friday, July 2, 2010
W.S. Merwin is the new poet laureate--and, no, that doesn't make me want to read his work.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/07/01/entertainment/main6636396.shtml
Quote from literary gasbag/former NEA head Dana Gioia in THE WASHINGTON POST article about the Merwin announcement: "There is something monklike about Merwin," Gioia said. "He is trying to achieve a contemplative distance from desire and ambition."
Don't have the quote at hand, but I remember reading of Merwin metaphorically holding his nose at the mention of Allen Ginsberg--who wasn't "mature" enough for the Great Man.
All this makes me wish that Kay Ryan had been given another term as Poet Laureate.
Quote from literary gasbag/former NEA head Dana Gioia in THE WASHINGTON POST article about the Merwin announcement: "There is something monklike about Merwin," Gioia said. "He is trying to achieve a contemplative distance from desire and ambition."
Don't have the quote at hand, but I remember reading of Merwin metaphorically holding his nose at the mention of Allen Ginsberg--who wasn't "mature" enough for the Great Man.
All this makes me wish that Kay Ryan had been given another term as Poet Laureate.
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