From the Desk of…
I’m speaking of course about the hubris of thinking it was cooling down outside only to get blasted in the face with summer heat again. False fall, I think they call it. I’m ready. I’ve already started planning for October. Sure seems like Ohio House Representative Bob Young (R-Green) is getting into increasingly hot water, what with the domestic violence charges and broken protection orders. It would rock if they had to expel another Ohio Republican for being a criminal. Really makes you think, doesn’t it? Burning Man turned into a nightmare, or at least a different kind of nightmare if you’re the kind of person who hears about Burning Man and thinks “no thanks.” I think they ought to pull permits due to the environmental damage they’re doing, and also because it’s a vile den of tech bros and conservative thinkers.
Football is back, baybee! OSU looked like an OSU team in the early season, and Clemons collapsed immediately. Sports! Gotta love it.
It probably says something that I woke up Saturday to multiple “sorry for your loss” messages about Jimmy Buffett. Probably says something else that I had several boat drinks before noon to see off the end of summer.
The Brain Dump
[Sir Elton John voice] b-b-b-bene gesserit
they should do hands across america again
solemnly driving out to buy fresh limes
it really sucks that the idea of the multiverse is everywhere now, wish there were someplace i could get away from it
Enjoying this three-day weekend? Thank a veteran
I think nature is healing, or at least I pushed out more brain garbage and watched more movies. Movies like these!
At the Movies
Gee, whatever could I be gearing up for, I wonder.
The Exorcist III (1990), dir. William Peter Blatty ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Moments where it is very strong... moments where it goes cornball. Some good audio design... some bad audio cues and zooms. Mixed bag. Need to seek out the 2017 director's cut.
The Fan (1981), dir. Ed Bianchi ⭐⭐⭐⭐
huh. i've never seen a movie riff on De Palma and Fosse at the same time. a few tweaks and this probably would've blown my mind. great Bacall and Biehn though. would make an interesting double-bill with Perfect Blue.
I Spit on Your Grave (1978), dir. Meir Zarchi ⭐⭐
I get it. Sure, you can draw an artistic throughline from Bergman's The Virgin Spring to Noé's Irréversible through this. I think it's possible for a film to have smart ideas and inartful execution, and I think a man's inartful direction of sexual violence against women will inevitably betray its purported purpose of illustrating reality's horrors through its inadvertent male gaze. It's possible for a film to be interesting in themes and vile in depiction.
Camille Keaton does a great job though.
Wow, if those are the movies I didn’t like, the ones I did must have been solid gold!
One Picture
In closing,
Rather than subject you to my continued ruminations, I’ll instead leave you with a link to Jimmy on Carson, where he does “Margaritaville” (as one does) but also a cover of “Stars Fell on Alabama,” and I’ve always been partial to Jimmy’s covers of that number. Until next time, try to relax once or twice. It’s good for you.