We've got some great news, folks! Personality of Cult 2 has an opening date: January 30, 2009, which means this opening at the Circle Cinema also happens to be the night of the midnight movie!
Here's where you come in. You get to help us pick the midnight movie! Please vote in this poll:
This weekend was D-Fest, Tulsa's huge arts and music festival. It's a good mix of local and visiting bands, lots of cool stuff to do, and it was tons of fun. And, Three Penny Upright scored me an artist's all-access pass.
Friday night was our night for fun. We saw Sir Threadius Mongus at the Continental, The Oh Johnny Girls and The Starkweather Boys at 1974. All great shows, and I'm so glad I went. The rest of the night I hung out with friends at the Nightingale Theater booth and more than abused my privileges at the artist's lounge, where there were complimentary snacks and more essential to my ability to get through the night, Red Bull.
Here-to-fore, I've never really liked Red Bull. I've felt that it tasted like strawberry soda that's been filtered through a mummy, with a color that suggests that it should never be seen outside of the can...kinda like taking a piss after a B-complex supplement. However, with them giving the stuff away, along with my want/need to stay out and party, I've changed my tone a bit. I think I downed about 5-6 over the course of the night (a couple of them with vodka), and Red Bull gave me the energy I needed to stay out until nearly four in the morning.
I could've kept going with a couple more, but when I felt the desire to ask for a needle and spoon with my next Red Bull, I decided to retire for the evening - or morning - at this point. Thankfully, I crashed from the stuff as soon as I got home, before the need to dismantle my electronics and clean the house with my mind set in.
I slept in until the afternoon on Saturday and headed back to D-Fest around four. Three Penny played at Tsunami at eight, and I went into my usual roadie mode, helping the band get checked in and set up. It was a special set for them, their last with their bass player Don, who's moving to Massachusetts next week. After the show, we walked around, checked out a few bands, had a few drinks. Sure enough, I had a few more Red Bulls. At one point in the evening, I think I got so hyper that my speech patterns devolved into Morse code, and I might, might have seen through time at one point.
By the way, when you've had a few Red Bulls, the last drink I recommend you throw in the mix is a White Russian. I'm pretty sure the chemical reaction in my stomach produced pure nitro-glycerine, but it soon transgressed into a feeling of calm and harmony with the universe. Everything was golden-hued, there was no more pain, and I marveled at the sight of everyone's auras.
I left around midnight to head to a pool party I had been invited to. Upon walking in the door, my buddy Tony commented on how I smelled "fruity", which meant that A) the Red Bull was escaping through my pores, and B) I'm really lousy at hiding new-found addictions.
Swimming was a fun way to end the night, even though it gave me a full-body hangover in the morning. But, a few aspirin and some methadone to calm the shakes and I was right as rain.
Today, I lounged around the house for a while and went to Don and Amber's going-away party. Good times, noodle salad. I'm sure gonna miss them.
Now, I'm back home and detoxing from the Red Bull. You know, a soda product shouldn't have this effect on the human body, nor should it garner a feeling of empathy for meth addicts. But on the up side, the chills I'm experiencing means I'm not wasting electricity on the air conditioner, and I'm typing reasonably well for a man shaking like an off-kilter Maytag. And now, I got to empty the puke bucket, hose myself off, get the dead baby off the ceiling and get some sleep.
I've always been a fan of superhero movies, going all the way back to Richard Donner's Superman. And as much as I've loved them, there's always been an element of realistic logic missing from them. Until now, filmmakers have just assumed that the suspension of disbelief needed for an audience to buy that a man can fly instantly meant that all real world consequences went out the window as well. They never showed Superman or Spiderman buying new clothes to replace the outfit they left in those phone booths. Heroes and villains alike could purchase parts for custom jet planes and doomsday machines without raising the slightest bit of suspicion from government agencies. It's always bugged me.
Now, the filmmakers are wising up. F-16's are chasing a bogey that turns out to be Iron Man. Satellite photos uncovered where the X-Men hide their plane. And now, warrants have been issued for the arrest of Batman.
I like to imagine that after the cinematic abomination that was Batman And Robin, Hollywood finally started listening to writers and directors that actually knew a thing or two about character development, psychology and human emotion. These huge mythologies created in the comics provided an outline, but logic drove the vision onto the big screen. X-Men started this trend by by forgoing the yellow spandex for more sensible black uniforms, giving all their characters a reason for being there and actually utilizing the full capacity of the characters powers. When Batman Begins came around, they actually explained how Bruce Wayne received his training and got all those wonderful toys, going so far as to explain how he covered his tracks in purchasing all of the parts he needed to become Batman.
Now, we have The Dark Knight. Starting out roughly a year after Batman Begins, and Gotham City is indeed a different place. The cops and lawyers have the bad guys on the run, and the bad guys are having to take bigger and bolder steps to hold on to their part of the city. In a lot of ways, Batman has made a difference, but he's still as busy as ever and the citizens are still unsure what to think of him. Most people seem to privately praise his efforts while publicly calling for his head. For Gotham City, it's a duality that they can live with, until the Joker comes along.
Heath Ledger is now the definitive Joker, and as much as I loved Jack Nicholson's take on the character, Ledger makes Jack's Joker look like a pussy. This Joker is the new standard for bad guys and a stunning legacy for an actor lost to this world way too soon. That being said, as hard as I tried, I couldn't shake the same feeling I had seeing Brandon Lee in The Crow. I worry that I loved the performance so much because i knew that this was the last time we'd see something like this. I also came to realize another similarity: This is twice now that we've lost an actor after they portrayed a character whose main disguise is white grease paint. Not that I suspect a curse, but on the other hand, I wonder if another actor would have the balls to do a character in white-face again.
The Joker, as a character has always been a tough nut to cracked, and in TDK, he certainly cracked. He's a fully realized character with no rules, his back story changes each time he tells it, and his motivation is clear: total chaos. His grudge with Batman is one of hatred as well as admiration. The Joker is a master manipulator, giving everyone he targets a choice; he'll give anyone what they want, but it usually means that they must sacrifice the ideals that made their motivations worthwhile in the first place. The same holds true for the audience, at times, you don't know whether to love or hate the guy. Some of his demented antics left me laughing my ass off or mumbling "Ooooh, well played!" under my breath. Case in point, the disappearing pencil trick and "I'd like my one phone call, now."
Batman this time around really doesn't have that much screen time, but the time he does have is gold. He actually does detective work, escalates his arsenal to better serve his needs in taking down more sophisticated bad guys. Nothing he has on his utility belt is a clever plot convenience. There's no shark repellent spray just in case he needs it. He actually adapts his methods based on what needs to be adapted.
Bruce Wayne has become a really great character in my opinion. He uses his wealth and power to serve two purposes simultaneously: to find information that will help Batman and to ensure that no one would ever suspect that he is Batman.
Harvey Dent was very well done and fit neatly into the story, but unfortunately didn't have much time to shine because of the Joker. The story sets up Two-Face very well, and went in direction I wasn't expecting at all. Maggie Gyllenhal taking over for Katie Holmes was certainly an upgrade. The setup for Commissioner Gordon was a testament to the genius that is Gary Oldman. His role in Batman Begins kinda disappointed me, but now I view it as a great setup for a great performance in this film.
All in all, this is the best film I've seen this year, and the only one I'm dying to see again on the big screen. I loved Iron Man and Wall-E (tied for second best), Incredible Hulk, Hellboy II, and everything else I've seen this year, but I believe I can wait for DVD on all those. With TDK, I still need to catch it at the IMAX, where I'm certain I'll be blown away all over again.
This work week began and ended with the same shit-sucking project. We started out behind schedule, rushed through it all, and in the end there were big errors in the whole damned thing. We got it fixed, but that's a really shitty call to get at 4:30 on a Friday afternoon.
That evening, I went to a friend's improv show at the Nightingale. That made me feel a little better. But afterwards, we caught a late showing of Hellboy II. Holy crap, was it good! Great action, great humor, and one of the most visually imaginative movies I've ever seen. Really dark, but I like dark. As much as I love Guillermo del Toro, I would really hate to be one of his kids. Think of the bedtime stories they have to endure, and what richly detailed and vividly beautiful nightmares they have as a result.
Saturday I hung out over at a friend's house as she got her kitchen prepared for remodeling this week. It wasn't until I pulled into her driveway that it dawned on me what I was doing: A friend was packing up boxes, most of which was going to Goodwill, and I was pulling up in a huge pickup truck. Sure enough, I left with a few boxes to drop off on my way home.
Saturday night, I went over to another friend's house to work out some details on a project we've got cooking. I can't give too many details, but I can tell you that us winding up watching an old episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 could be considered research.
This morning, I had a wild hair to clean out my huge closet. Unfortunately, that wild hair wore off before the cleaning was done, and now, I'm sitting here watching the Two Towers amongst massive piles of junk. Typical me.
1. I'm approved for the car loan. I'm working out all the final details to determine how much my tags, taxes, title and insurance should cost me. Plus, I have to get a few repairs done on the truck before I return it to my folks. I'm also working on a budget for when I have to make all of these new payments. I'm thinking a dramatic cutback in my cable package and smoking habit might be in order.
2. Wednesday night, I completed my sixth set of stand-up material. I promised myself that i would get this far, and have 25 minutes of material built up before I began revising, repeating and fine-tuning my act. Sure, I'll pepper in some new stuff here and there, but like any other performing art, it's best to have a back catalog as a base.
3. Entries for the next art show are up to eight now, and it looks to be shaping up to be an interesting show. This week, I need to square up a few people to jury the concepts and decide who gets into the show...and I need to get cracking on lining up some sponsors.
4. I had a happy Fourth of July. I had some friends over and we walked down to the river to see the fireworks, then went to a pool party across town. Good times, noodle salad.
5. Last night was Cairde na Gael at the PAC. The show was great, and the afterparty at Kilkenny's was a blast.
6. Today, I did laundry and finished up the artwork for a poster I'm doing for the Ms. Center of the Universe Pageant. So far, they've loved the stuff I've come up with, and they've asked me to be a judge...but we'll see. On one hand, I've done enough work for pageants over the years that I feel I'm a little too cynical to be judging this kind of stuff. On the other hand, there's a wet t-shirt contest involved...so I'm torn. Not too torn, but still...
7. This next week should be pretty busy starting out, but I hope and pray that it'll smooth out by the weekend. Fingers crossed.
