Sunday, October 01, 2006
GETTING USED TO SLEEP
I'm so used to being on MySpace these days that I've been much more active on my blog there, which is why this blog seemed to get updated all of a sudden - I'm posting the same stuff here, finally, so the two blogs are up to date. Not sure if this is the case, but the MySpace blog seems to be getting a lot more readers (or, at least, a lot more feedback). But I know some of you don't have MySpace. So I'll keep maintaining the two for the time being. One thing I've been talking about in an ongoing way is my struggle to get a decent night's sleep. I recently got a CPAP Machine which is supposed to stop the apnea and the snoring and let me get a normal night's sleep, but it's had its drawbacks too, as I've been getting used to it. Here's a few posts I did about my recent experiences with the machine:
SLEEP DIARY 9/29/06: Facial Disfigurement Part 1
Well I finally got my sleep machine yesterday, and I couldn't wait to try it out. Especially with the promise of a good night's sleep (finally).
I have to admit, I don't feel much of a difference this morning. This is going to have to be a gradual thing I guess, if I want to find newfound energy and stuff.
But I have an interesting side effect this morning. I took off the mask and I have HUGE RED LINES ALL OVER MY FACE!
I look like a fucking freak. And I can't wait to go to work this morning.
Just wanted to share the nightmare that is my life with you. Haha.
Facial Disfigurement - Part 2 (The Update)
Well, the facial disfiguration thing was a false alarm, I guess. By the time I took a hot shower and got to work, the grooves in my face had faded a bit. Still some redness, but nothing like when I first woke up.
I guess I'd pulled the mask straps tight the night before when I thought I had an air leak. But this is all new to me and it's stuff I got to get used to. It did kinda freak me out Friday morning to wake up and see marks all over my face.
I might actually have to get a new machine next week, because of a few problems. But I'm getting closer. I'm using this one as much as I can in the meantime. Not a huge change, but I've been sleep-deprived for so long now - who knows how many years - that it might take awhile to get back to the way normal people feel after a night's sleep.
More on this as it develops...
THOMAS DOLBY IN CONCERT
Thursday night I saw Thomas Dolby in concert. It was a really cool venue - the Berklee Performance Center, which is the theater for the Berklee School of Music in Boston. Nice initimate venue.
I really had no idea what to expect. Dolby was big in the 80s, mostly because of his hit single "She Blinded Me With Science" - a song I've always thought was okay, but I dig his other stuff a lot better. Since getting my Ipod I've rediscovered a lot of older music I hadn't heard in awhile and Thomas Dolby's first two albums THE GOLDEN AGE OF WIRELESS and THE FLAT EARTH are in heavy rotation.
Like I said, I dug Dolby's music, but he hasn't toured in like 15 years so I wasn't sure what to expect. Turns out it was an amazing show. It was just him onstage with stacks of synthesizers and some cool camera/video set-up on a screen behind that alternated between showing him and what he was doing on the synthesizers - making layer upon layer of sound - and video imagery, including some clips from some of his old 80s videos.
Dolby did a lot of great songs, from "One Of Our Submarines (Is Missing)" which he explained was about his uncle who died in a submarine in World War II, to my favorite of his songs "Europa and the Pirate Twins" to the hits "She Blinded Me With Science" and "Hyperactive."
Dolby talked a lot between songs, about everything from his disillusion with the music business (he dropped out of the industry 15 years ago to work on music technology instead), to a new album that he's working on, to his fascination with astronomy (the song "Windpower" opened to video images of sun spot activity).
He mentioned how a lot of people identify him with the 80s, but he was more a part of the synthesizer movement that was going on in the 70s, the same time punk was going on, along with bands like Throbbing Gristle (which later morphed into Psychic TV), Soft Cell and Cabaret Voltaire. Dolby is so much more than just "another synthesizer guy." He was one of the pioneers of the genre and you can see his influence in everything from the Pet Shop Boys to trance and current electronica. His work in technology as well shows how he was a major innovator.
It's just great to have him back in music, though, and I thought the show was really great. If he comes to your town/city, you really should check him out.
I found myself digging his music more than ever by the time the concert was over. Thomas Dolby was so much more than the one hit wonder a lot of people perceive him to be. Hell, his one hit might be the least important thing about his career.
NEW MOVIE REVIEWS: THE SCIENCE OF SLEEP & FEAST
THE SCIENCE OF SLEEP
Considering the recent problems I've been having with sleeping, this movie sounded like a natural for me. The Science of Sleep is the new movie from director Michel Gondry, who previously gave us Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. In that movie, Jim Carrey spent most of the film trapped in his own mind, as technicians tried to remove all memories of his ex-girlfriend - something which he eventually rebelled against. That movie had a script by the celebrated screenwriter Charles Kaufman. Gondry's new flick doesn't have Jim Carrey or a Kaufman script, but once again it's about someone who lives within his own head.
Gael Garcia Bernal (probably most famous for Y Tu Mama Tambien) plays Stephane, a child-like guy who is more comfortable living in his dreams, where he has his own surreal TV show. Stephane has come to Paris at the bequest of his mother, who has lined up a job for him at a calendar company. Stephane thinks it is a graphics artist job, and he hopes to be able to pitch the calendar he's been working on for years - where each month is represented by a painting of his that illustrates a natural or man-made disaster. But the job turns out to be a tedious one where he pastes together letters for calendar storyboards, and the owner of the calendar company thinks that his "Disasterology" calendar is unsellable. Dissatisfied with his work, Stephane rarely shows up, and spends even more time sleeping and dreaming. His co-workers populate his dreams, sometimes as themselves, and other times in other roles, such as cops who chase him around.
Then there is Stephanie (Charlotte Gainsbourg), his new neighbor across the hall. At first, Stephane is interested in her friend Zoey, but the more he realizes that Stephanie is creative as well, and a kindred spirit, the more he falls in love with her, and she begins to inhabit his dreams as well.
But Stephane is unable to get his act together and is much more comfortable in his dreams than he is in the real world.
Despite the above synopsis, the plot is actually pretty thin compared to something like ETERNAL SUNSHINE. But though it lacks the meat of Gondry's previous film, I liked THE SCIENCE OF SLEEP a lot, in a whimsical way. Even though Stephane is totally out of touch and incapable of dealing with the real world, his dreams are interesting enough, and the entire film's tone is light but fascinating and it sucked me in. I can't claim SLEEP is a great movie, but for what it was, it was a pleasant enough diversion. I enjoyed it.
FEAST
I saw FEAST at a special screening (a big thanks to my buddy Mike Marano), but it is in limited release and will be coming out soon on DVD.
For those who don't know the origins of this movie, I'll do a quick recap here. It all began with the show "Project Greenlight" wherein Matt Damon and Ben Affleck choose a script and a director from a competition, and then the show follows the director as he takes the film from script to screen. The show lasted three seasons. The first two season resulted in small art house movies that frankly sounded pretty lame. So, for the third season, they decided to try to make a genre picture that might make actually make a profit. The director this time was John Gulager, an amateur filmmaker and all around schlub who's also the son of actor Clu Gulagar. And the script was a horror film by screenwriters Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton. Gulager had problems throughout the film's production, first with the budget, then with trying to get various family members and his girlfriend in the cast (almost everyone related to him seems to be an actor). Once the film is actually made, against all odds, the studio that backed it, Miramax, ceased to exist and there was a chance the movie might never see the light of day. But somehow it has been released, however briefly.
After all of the obstacles that stood in its way, it's amazing this film was ever completed. And since I was a fan of Gulager's season of Project Greenlight (the first season of the show that was actually watchable!) I really wanted to see the final result. Gulager definitely seemed like an underdog throughout this story, trying to make the movie his way, and getting thwarted at almost every turn (and almost getting fired once or twice along the way).
The final cast includes Gulager's father, Clu, as a crusty bartender, and his girlfriend Diane Goldner as a biker chick. So those are two victories for Gulager's struggles. The rest of the cast includes such people as Henry Rollins as a motivational speaker, Balthazar Getty as a thugish bar patron, and Krista Allen (who has done everything from Emmanuel softcore films early in her career to tons of television credits from CSI to Smallville, but who I first discovered in the HBO show Unscripted). There's even Jason Mewes (barely onscreen) as a fictional version of himself - an out of work actor named Jason Mewes - whos' one of the first people to die.
So now you're up to speed. What's the movie about? Well, it's simple enough. A bunch of people in a bar suddenly get thrust into a nightmare when a lantern-jawed guy shows up with a sawed-off shotgun and tells them that a group of monsters are outside, and are going to try to kill them. It turns out this heroic looking guy and his wife accidently hit a monster with their car out in the desert, and were attacked. Somehow they were able to last this long, but they've come to the bar for help, with the monsters in hot pursuit. So it's just these people's tough luck that now they have to fight for their lives.
The motely crew of patrons then gets put in a situation where some will live and some will die.
The monsters themselves are never explained, which seems to be a good thing, because that way we never have to get caught up in origins which may not make sense. The actual violence in the film is filmed in fast-motion, almost to the point of being annoying (it's not always easy to tell what's happening). The creatures are fast and they're vicious. At first they are dressed in animal skins and look like extremely tall beasts (there is even a baby one that spins around the bar like a whirlwind at one point, cutting everything it touches with razor-blade hands). Later, when we finally see what they look like, they're similar to the Marvel Comics character Venom, maybe crossed with the creatures from Alien.
In lieu of actual character development, we are instead treated to a scorecard as each character is introduced when the film begins. Each character's image is frozen, and below them we get a list of stats, like a baseball card, telling us their name, something about them, and what their chances are of living through the movie are. This gives us background info for all of the character in the minimum amount of time, and provides some humor as well.
And then, the monsters close in.
The movie moves fast. You certainly won't have a chance to be bored. And while the script is simplistic and pretty cliché, I actually enjoyed it while it was on. It's not rocket science, and wasn't even particularly scary, but it was a fun time. I've certainly seen a lot of big Hollywood horror flicks that were much worse than FEAST. Considering what he had to work with, director Gulager seems to have fun with the material and has time for a few camera tricks.
If you like straight-on monsters vs. people movies that move like a rollercoaster, then you're going to have a good time with Feast.
I hope it leads to more work for Gulager. I'm really curious to see what he'd do on a production where he had more control. As it is, he seems to have done okay, despite being constantly under fire during the filming of Feast.
If you don't get a chance to see it in a theater, then definitely rent it when it comes out on DVD.
THE NEW TV SEASON - PART 1
Well, the new TV season is starting, and while a lot of the new shows that came out so far haven't attracted my interest, a couple have. So let's take a look at them, shall we?
SHARK
I was totally disappointed with SHARK. They took James Woods as a totally vicious defense attorney then made him have a change of heart, and turned him into a "good guy" with the D.A.'s office, and even gave him this sappy subplot about his daughter choosing him as the parent to live with after a divorce. Basically, they took an interesting character and neutered him from the get-go. AARGH!!
Better to have kept him as the sleazy defense lawyer and showed us his day-to-day life than to once again have to force "redemption" on a character who was more interesting without it. What is this fucking obsession with redemption? Don't those assholes in TV Land realize that a character is a lot more interesting if he's not trying to redeem himself? That is tired old shit. Or, if you gotta redeem the guy, make it a long, ongoing process, so we can actually enjoy the venomous version for awhile.
It's times like this that I really miss Adrian Pasdar as PROFIT. Now there was a motherfucker who never heard of the word "redemption." Of course, that show didn't last one season.
I doubt I'll be watching SHARK again. I need to limit the amount of time I watch TV, and Shark just might be the first to go. Even though I do dig James Woods. (Shark is on Thursdays at 10pm on CBS)
JERICHO
Skeet Ulrich plays a prodical son returning to his hometown of Jericho, to a father who never approved of him. Here, the father is played by Gerald McRaney, who really acquitted himself of his Major Dad days by appearing on DEADWOOD as the ruthless Hearst. But here, McRaney is bland again.
Hell, everyone is bland, even when the mushroom clouds start a' sproutin'.
Oh, did I mention that? Jericho is about the end of the world. Or at least a big chunk of it. All these nuclear bombs start going off around the country, and small town Jericho tries to cope with what to do next.
JERICHO has an interesting plot, but the first episode was just plain boring and dragged. And, to tell you the truth, none of the characters were compelling enough to make me want to give a shit about them. I'll give it one more try. But it doesn't look very hopeful that I'll stick with this one, either. (Jericho is on Wednesdays at 8pm on CBS)
HEROES
NBC takes a stab at creating a superhero show, in the spirit of the X-Men movies. No costumes. Just everyday people who slowly discover they have super powers. There's the guy who can fly. The cheerleader who is indestructible. The Japanese salaryman who can stop time and teleport. The child genius. A cop who can read thoughts (he'll be in episode 2). Even a stripper/internet cam chick whose mirror images can kill people. They don't know each other, but you know they will eventually. The one who will bring them together is a teacher from India, whose father did extensive research on the human genome and discovered that there were extraordinary people amongst us. After his father dies under mysterious circumstances (there's some strange CIA type guys involved), he comes to America, intent on finding these special strangers.
After one episode, it's hard to tell if Heroes will live up to its promise, but so far so good. As with any ensemble show like this, you're going to find some characters more interesting than others. The Japanese guy is probably the most likable of the bunch, since he takes such glee in using his powers, and seems constantly amazed that he's able to do such wonderous things. The invulnerable cheerleader is pretty cool, too, even though her awareness of her "freak" status seems to make her somewhat of a sad sack (instead of making her totally psyched about the things she can do). The stripper isn't as interesting (nor is her brainiac kid), but she has the coolest power. Her creepy mirror images are the most fascinating "ability" of the bunch.
I was less enamored with the guy who can fly, Milos Ventimiglia (formerly Jess on the Gilmore Girls) or his Congressial candidate brother (played by the always reliable Adrian Passdar, whose character doesn't have much depth yet). Or the brainy kid. But you can't like everybody.
This show at least appears to have a long-range plan and will hopefully get a chance to develop and grow. I'll be sticking with this one for the time being.(Heroes: Mondays at 9pm on NBC)
THE UNDERGROUND
Damon Wayans complained a lot about his gig on the bland ABC sitcom My Wife and Kids after it was canceled. How it held him back as a comedian. How it made him homogenized. But it was his choice, after all. Now, he claims to be trying to flex his comedic muscles again with The Underground, a sketch comedy show on Showtime that reminds me a lot of the show that made Wayans famous - In Living Color.
The Underground, though, is on a channel that offers a lot more freedom, so Wayans can go much further than In Living Color ever did, with such bits as "The Real Vagina Monologues," featuring a real vagina with an animated mouth. There's nudity and strong language, but while there's a lot more freedom here, In Living Color was still more consistently funny at its peak. The Underground, in contrast, is pretty hit or miss. Some bits are hilarious and others are a little lame. But you have to credit the guy with trying. Sketch comedy isn't easy, and Wayans does a valiant job of tyring to pull off a show where he's the big name on the marquee.
The rest of the cast, which includes Wayans's son, all seem to do an okay job. The show has only been on a couple of times so far, so it's too early to decide whether the experiment is a success or not. I've read some bad reviews of the show, but I've enjoyed it so far. The good skits seem to outweigh the bad. And I like Wayans and his cast enough to keep checking it out.(The Underground: Thursdays at 10pm on Showtime)
RETURNING SHOWS
Well, I'm still watching PRISON BREAK, and it's still paying off. The convicts escaped at the end of last season and this season they're on the run. But first they're trying to get the five million dollar stash that D.B. Cooper buried in Utah (he was originally one of the guys, but died during the escape). Meanwhile FBI agent William Finchtner (the sheriff from INVASION, a show I dug last season) is hot on their trail. So far one of the convicts, mob boss Abruzzi (Peter Stormare) has been shot down. But the rest are still on the loose and its anyone's guess who will make it. As for me, I hope Theodore Bagwell (Robert Knepper), know as "T-Bag" to his friends, sticks around for awhile. He's the most villainous character on the show (he was originally locked up at Fox River Prison for rape and murder), and they need him desperately because everyone else is so damned self-righteous. From former death-row inmate Lincoln Burroughs to his brother Michael, who master-minded the escape (Lincoln was framed), to Michale's former prison cellmate Sucre who wants to stop his girl from marrying another guy, to C-Note who told his family he was in Iraq instead of prison - they're all pretty much a goody two shoes bunch.
The show does a great job of building suspense, and keeping the guys a hair away from being captured at all times. This is edge-of-your-seat television, and I'm really digging Season 2 so far. Even if none of these guys (except maybe T-Bag) would last a day in the HBO prison show OZ, which was a hundred times more vicious.
(Prison Break: Mondays at 8pm on FOX)
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Another great show that's back with a vengeance is NIP/TUCK. One of the wildest anything-goes show outside of HBO (it's on FX), Nip/Tuck is about plastic surgeons Sean McNamara and Christian Troy - friends since childhood and now partners in their own practice - and has developed into a kind of insane soap opera over the past couple of years. Recent storylines have included such storylines a woman who uses peanut butter to seduce her pit bull (and gets a nipple bitten off for her trouble) and plastic surgeon Sean's coming to grips with his wife giving birth to a baby with a birth defect.
This show has been really good for a long time, and if you haven't checked it out, now's a good time to give it a chance, as a new season begins.
(Nip/Tuck: Tuesdays at 10pm on FX)
OTHER TV NEWS
One of my favorite new HBO shows, LUCKY LOUIE was recently cancelled. This is pretty depressing because, after 13 episodes, I really grew to care about these characters. It's basically a Honeymooners-type sitcom with no limits on language or subject matter, and as a result, the show seems old-fashioned and cutting edge at the same time. Star Louie CK is terrific - as is everyone in the cast - and I've praised this show before. But unlike The Wire - an HBO show which had low ratings but was praised by the critics and so was renewed - it doesn't seem like there are a lot of critics championing LUCKY LOUIE, and they should be. This is a show worth saving. So if you're a fan, and you're as upset about this news as I am, please write to HBO and ask for them to give the show a second chance. Something this refreshing wouldn't stand a chance on another network without major changes, and HBO is pretty much the only station with the guts to air a show like this. So let's hope they rethink their decision. But the only way to get them to do that is to write and complain about the show's cancellation.
Also, Laura Kightlinger, a great comic who also was part of the Lucky Louie cast, just wrapped her first brief season on the Independent Film Channel (IFC) with her own show, THE MINOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF JACKIE WOODMAN. I've been a Kightlinger fan for a long time, and if you haven't seen the show yet, I suggest you try to catch it in reruns. Kightlinger plays a middle-aged slacker screenwriter who just can't seem to get motivated to do any actual writing. While I don't love Jackie Woodman as much as Lucky Louie, I think it's a good show and worth supporting. Hopefully IFC will renew it. The more we see of Laura Kightlinger on TV, the better.
