Tuesday, August 12, 2014

An Artistic Heavy Weight: Robin Williams


Aladdin, Dead Poet's Society, The Fisher King, Patch Adams, Good Will Hunting, Mork and Mindy, The Crazy Ones, only gave us a tiny glimpse into the artistic mind of Robin Williams. He was so much more than he showed us on camera. He was a titan in his industry, but he was a human. He struggled just like we do. He fought his demons just like we do. Sometimes he triumphed and sometimes he gave up, just like we do. I heard an interview with him on NPR, and it gave me a deeper glimpse into the person that hid behind the face. It's an interview he did with Terry Gross from NPR's Fresh Air. There is a lot of talk about the film he was promoting at the time but she really gets deep with him around 13:30 and at around the 30:20 mark they start talking about how depression affects funny people.

Saturday, August 9, 2014

The Business of Rat Races and Bacon

One score and fifteen years ago my father and mother brought forth upon this continent, a baby boy. He was to be groomed and trained for a survival game, if you will, making the world go round with the pitter-patter of his humungous little feet inside an unbeatable obstacle course that has been commonly referred to as The Rat Race. I am this boy, and I have been running this Rat Race for about 10 years now. It is tiring and upsetting and rewarding and exciting, but aside from all that it has been completely and totally irrelevant to life and by "completely and totally irrelevant " I mean "utterly and fundamentally irrelevant". It's almost as if it has been a facade to suck me away from the real reality that is really real. What is this reality, you ask? I'll tell you: The exquisite and yet delicate balance of the phenomenon known as BACON.

There is no such thing as money in my pocket, only bacon in my mouth.
There is no such thing as a name on my docket, only bacon in my mouth.
There is no such thing as a raise or a promotion, only bacon in my mouth.
There is no such thing as delays or demotions, only bacon in my mouth. 

I forget this truth so often and I'm here to echo a reminder through the maze of The Rat Race: STOP! ENJOY SOME BACON!
Don't let the world get you down



Wednesday, August 6, 2014

A Polar Bear Reviews Guardians of the Galaxy

The film is based on an obscure Marvel comic book about 5 random beings thrown together as a result of various circumstances. They are the epitome of unlikely hero's. As a matter of fact, it could have been the subtitle of this movie. The characters were shockingly deep and full of life and each one of these unlikely hero's stole my heart.  

Considering all the buzz I've heard over the internet and social media, I bought my tickets on-line and got to the theater 10 minutes early. However, the theater wasn't as packed as I thought it was going to be.  Where was everyone? A few more people slowly trickled in, but the theater was less then half full. I couldn't believe it. It seemed like everyone was talking about this film. Then I realized, not everyone was talking about this film. Only the geeks were talking about this film. They were talking so loudly that I hardly noticed the rest of society was completely silent on the matter and had passed it off as another potential flop.

I'll be honest, there are too many geeks out there, so it won't be a flop, but it doesn't have enough familiarity to entice the everyday house wife or the Sports Center watching businessman. However, I have to give it to the director, because he made it as palpable as possible for the non-geek. An adorable and yet strikingly handsome human played by Chris Pratt from Parks and Recreation and his nostalgic Walkman are both culture life-preservers in this Alien world on the other side of our galaxy.

As movies go it was out-of-this-world, and geeks around the world would applaud it as a good adaptation of the comic. If the mainstream public can set aside reality for the first 10 minutes of the film and not try to compare it to something that they know or recognize, then they will appreciate and come to love it by the second act. The plot was thick with action, humor, and drama. Subtleties like background action and irony make it a pleasure to watch. Character dynamics makes it interesting to follow, and directorial genius, make it one of those movies that you will want to watch again and again.