"Searching For Sugar Man": A-. This documentary filmed by Swedish director Malik Bendjelloul tells the story of an American singer-songwriter named Sixto Rodriguez, who in the very early 1970's released two well-received albums and then figuratively fell off the face of the earth. In the seventies, before the days of MTV, file sharing, Pandora and satellite radio, music artists needed more than singing or instrumental talent in order to make a career in the business. They needed a label to distribute and, more importantly, promote their records. They also needed radio play, an agent with connections, perhaps a financially underwritten concert tour, free publicity, and of course a healthy dose of luck. Rodriguez had none of these things going for him. Sadly, his label, Sussex Records, dropped him after the second album, at which point he continued to make his way in the world doing hard manual labor. Although he kept playing his guitar, he let go of his dream.
There is a saying that life can be cruel, and the application of that adage is quickly unveiled in this movie. Unbeknownst to Rodriguez, his songs became extremely popular in the country of South Africa at a time when the anti-Apartheid movement was shifting into a higher gear. It is estimated that over a half million copies of his records were sold - - some of them as bootlegs - - in that country alone. More than two decades later, Cape Town record store owner Stephen Segerman took it upon himself to investigate who this invisible star was. After a little digging he discovered that there were reports of Rodriguez' death, resulting from a self-inflicted shot to the head during a concert in the States. Yet, Segerman is unable to obtain tangible proof or even any concrete evidence that such a tragedy actually occurred.
The thought came to Segerman that he should follow the money. If a half-million records were sold, who was on the receiving end of all that dough? In one of the most interesting segments of the movie, Segerman interviews Clarence Avant, former head of the now-defunct Sussex label. Avant claims ignorance, but his squirming in the hot seat in front of the camera reminded me of Mike Wallace grilling people on 60 Minutes.
Like any good detective, Segerman stays on the trail. Finding out what happened to Rodriguez becomes his obsession, to the point where Segerman is referred to by his friends as "Sugar Man," the title of one of Rodriguez' best songs. He seeks out people in the music business, relatives of Rodriguez, and his former co-workers from long ago. How could such a talented artist with such a huge following - - albeit thousands of miles away - - disappear almost without a trace? How could someone with such international star power not be aware of it?
Forty-five minutes into the movie, a major revelation is disclosed to the audience. I could probably spill the beans, since at that point the film is barely at the half-way mark. But on the chance that doing so would constitute an unwelcomed spoiler, I will hold my cards close to the vest and resist the temptation. Suffice it to say that this is one of the three best movies I have seen this year.
As for the music, I love the soundtrack and urge you to add it to your library. The songs are all originals, taken from Rodriguez' two albums. His lyrics might remind you of Dylan, only this man can actually sing. Jose Feliciano's vocals comes to mind, but with a better variety of tempo and production. By the way, if you do acquire the soundtrack on CD, do not read the liner notes until you've seen the movie. The notes writer wasn't as judicious as I in divulging potential spoilers.
Monday, November 19, 2012
Friday, November 9, 2012
Movie Review: "Flight"
"Flight": B+. We are introduced to Whip Whitaker (Denzel Washington) by watching him guzzling room temperature beer and snorting coke in his hotel room within minutes of being awakened by an early morning phone call from his ex-wife. They are arguing over their teenage son, with whom Whip has had little contact since the divorce. The timing is particularly bad for Whip, as his much younger girl friend Katerina (Nadine Velazquez) is putting on her clothes, not bothering to seek the privacy of the bathroom. We think to ourselves, "This guy is a swinger who walks on the wild side." That first impression is quickly adjusted when, moments later, Whip exits his room and swaggers down the hall. He is wearing the uniform of an airplane pilot, and he's got a flight to catch at the Orlando airport. He is Captain Whip Whitaker. When he boards the flight on the way to the cockpit he is greeted by a sharply dressed flight attendant, none other than Katerina.
We know from the coming attractions and TV promos that this short Orlando to Atlanta flight is doomed, and that were it not for the skill and courage of Captain Whit, all of those aboard the flight would perish. Knowing this ahead of time does not in any way diminish for us the nail-biting tension and thrill of watching what transpires on board. Director Robert Zemeckis makes us feel like we are on board too. We also realize, if we are capable of thinking about anything else in the heat of the moment, that the star of this movie is Washington. Zemeckis is not going to bump him off in the first twenty minutes of the story. However, the ensuing crash is not without fatalities. The NTSB is going to investigate, and that spells trouble for Whit, who wakes up in a hospital wearing bandages over his face and IV hook-ups to his arm. He finds out later that his blood has been drawn and tested while he lay unconscious in the hospital.
While the plane is in mid-air, but before the crash, the camera switches briefly to the poor side of Atlanta, where another druggie, Nicole (Kelly Reilly), desperately needs money to pay her rent and to satisfy her narcotic craving. She'll take her money any way she can get it, but draws the line when a porn producer offers her a gig. When she ODs after injecting herself, she ends up in the same hospital as Whit. They meet each other in a stairwell, where they have gone to momentarily escape detection while they have a cigarette or two.
Back to Whit's situation. He soon realizes that not only is his flying career in jeopardy, but he faces criminal prosecution, with life jail term possibilities, for flying the plane while under the influence of alcohol and drugs. The pilots' union has a representative (Bruce Greenwood) to help him, and a lawyer (Don Cheadle) to find legal loopholes to make things as tough as possible for the NTSB investigation. Their strategy is to blame the airplane manufacturer for the crash. "The plane quit working in mid-air." The union rep and the lawyer are needed, but a third aid is the only one Whip totally trusts, Harling Mays (John Goodman), who is a combination wing man, drug supplier, body guard and hippie mystic. Once again - - and this is about the third or fourth time I've written this in 2012 - - Goodman steals every scene he's in.
What the union rep and the lawyer don't know initially is that Whip is an alcoholic. What happens when they, or the NTSB, find out? Will Whip lose his wings? Will he do hard time? Can he stay sober long enough to get through the NTSB investigation? Can Nicole help him, or are her own problems insurmountable?
Most movies featuring an alcoholic as the protagonist have a fine line to tread. The alcohol abuse needs to rear its ugly head enough times for the viewer to appreciate the sadness and severity of the problem. Yet, once that realization is instilled in the collective awareness of the audience, the point does not need to be further hammered home. We almost get to that point in Flight, and indeed, maybe Zemeckis is guilty of crossing it. Nevertheless, I found enough other aspects of the movie laudable so that, in my view, the movie succeeds. Foremost among them is the stellar acting performance by Denzel Washington. As a pilot, a playboy, a liar or a lush, Washington becomes his character. The supporting cast delivers too. Reilly's role calls for her to be pretty enough to be tempting, but sometimes gaunt and disheveled when she is high. Cheadle nails it as the union attorney. He is not afraid to tackle the NTSB, and gives advise to his client, Whip, which is practical and legally sound. He has to be careful not to violate the lawyer's Professional Code of Ethics, providing Whip an aggressive defense without literally telling Whip to lie. There is one scene where the attorney witnesses an illegal operation (payment to a drug dealer), but manages to keep his involvement indirect.
Flight raises serious questions involving morality and ethics. The question that keeps coming up, and which Whip himself asks, is this: If anyone else had been in the pilot's chair for that fateful flight, would there be any survivors? If the answer is "unlikely," does that excuse him from driving drunk? You will have to see this movie to find out how the obvious answer is determined. Don't count on seeing it as part of the on-board entertainment on your next Delta flight.
We know from the coming attractions and TV promos that this short Orlando to Atlanta flight is doomed, and that were it not for the skill and courage of Captain Whit, all of those aboard the flight would perish. Knowing this ahead of time does not in any way diminish for us the nail-biting tension and thrill of watching what transpires on board. Director Robert Zemeckis makes us feel like we are on board too. We also realize, if we are capable of thinking about anything else in the heat of the moment, that the star of this movie is Washington. Zemeckis is not going to bump him off in the first twenty minutes of the story. However, the ensuing crash is not without fatalities. The NTSB is going to investigate, and that spells trouble for Whit, who wakes up in a hospital wearing bandages over his face and IV hook-ups to his arm. He finds out later that his blood has been drawn and tested while he lay unconscious in the hospital.
While the plane is in mid-air, but before the crash, the camera switches briefly to the poor side of Atlanta, where another druggie, Nicole (Kelly Reilly), desperately needs money to pay her rent and to satisfy her narcotic craving. She'll take her money any way she can get it, but draws the line when a porn producer offers her a gig. When she ODs after injecting herself, she ends up in the same hospital as Whit. They meet each other in a stairwell, where they have gone to momentarily escape detection while they have a cigarette or two.
Back to Whit's situation. He soon realizes that not only is his flying career in jeopardy, but he faces criminal prosecution, with life jail term possibilities, for flying the plane while under the influence of alcohol and drugs. The pilots' union has a representative (Bruce Greenwood) to help him, and a lawyer (Don Cheadle) to find legal loopholes to make things as tough as possible for the NTSB investigation. Their strategy is to blame the airplane manufacturer for the crash. "The plane quit working in mid-air." The union rep and the lawyer are needed, but a third aid is the only one Whip totally trusts, Harling Mays (John Goodman), who is a combination wing man, drug supplier, body guard and hippie mystic. Once again - - and this is about the third or fourth time I've written this in 2012 - - Goodman steals every scene he's in.
What the union rep and the lawyer don't know initially is that Whip is an alcoholic. What happens when they, or the NTSB, find out? Will Whip lose his wings? Will he do hard time? Can he stay sober long enough to get through the NTSB investigation? Can Nicole help him, or are her own problems insurmountable?
Most movies featuring an alcoholic as the protagonist have a fine line to tread. The alcohol abuse needs to rear its ugly head enough times for the viewer to appreciate the sadness and severity of the problem. Yet, once that realization is instilled in the collective awareness of the audience, the point does not need to be further hammered home. We almost get to that point in Flight, and indeed, maybe Zemeckis is guilty of crossing it. Nevertheless, I found enough other aspects of the movie laudable so that, in my view, the movie succeeds. Foremost among them is the stellar acting performance by Denzel Washington. As a pilot, a playboy, a liar or a lush, Washington becomes his character. The supporting cast delivers too. Reilly's role calls for her to be pretty enough to be tempting, but sometimes gaunt and disheveled when she is high. Cheadle nails it as the union attorney. He is not afraid to tackle the NTSB, and gives advise to his client, Whip, which is practical and legally sound. He has to be careful not to violate the lawyer's Professional Code of Ethics, providing Whip an aggressive defense without literally telling Whip to lie. There is one scene where the attorney witnesses an illegal operation (payment to a drug dealer), but manages to keep his involvement indirect.
Flight raises serious questions involving morality and ethics. The question that keeps coming up, and which Whip himself asks, is this: If anyone else had been in the pilot's chair for that fateful flight, would there be any survivors? If the answer is "unlikely," does that excuse him from driving drunk? You will have to see this movie to find out how the obvious answer is determined. Don't count on seeing it as part of the on-board entertainment on your next Delta flight.
Monday, November 5, 2012
Mountain State Is Key To Uphill Climb
The national media tells us there are nine battleground states for tomorrow's presidential election. They are New Hampshire, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida along the east coast; Ohio, Wisconsin and Iowa in the Midwest; and Colorado and Nevada in the mountains. According to the New York Times, North Carolina and Nevada are not all that close, with The Tar Heel State leaning toward Governor Romney, and The Silver State picking President Obama. The other forty-one states and the District of Columbia apparently are already spoken for. I wonder if that is how the campaign directors view it. Why did the Democrats send Bill Clinton to St. Cloud two days before the election? Why did the Twin Cities get a visit from Paul Ryan? Could it be that The Gopher State is still in play? I am also hearing from my crack research team of three (me, myself and I) that Pennsylvania, which has not voted Republican since 1988, is not a gimme for the Prez.
One of the interesting things about the lay of the land is that five of those so-called battleground states, plus Pennsylvania, are in the Eastern Time Zone. Their polling places will close mid-evening Minnesota Time, meaning that we might have a pretty good idea before the Ten O'Clock Snooze (as WCCO news legend Dave Moore used to say) whether there will be a changing of the guard in the White House. One election historical nugget we have heard over and over is that no Republican has ever been elected President without taking Ohio. In fact, assuming the forty-one "non-battleground" states (including Minnesota and Pennsylvania) go as predicted, if President Obama wins both Florida and Ohio that will put him over the requisite 270 Electoral Votes.
Can Romney win without Ohio? For the sake of discussion, let's say Obama wins in Ohio but Romney triumphs in Florida. With the seven remaining battleground states still up for grabs, there are 128 possible combinations, and Obama wins under a whopping 116 of them. Is it unreasonable to think that North Carolina, Virginia and New Hampshire, all of which voted blue in 2008, might turn red this time? Since the Reagan Landslide in 1984 there have been six presidential elections. North Carolina and Virginia voted Republican in every one of them except the last one (2008). New Hampshire has only gone red two out of those six elections (1988 and 2000), but the Republicans are crossing their fingers that the voters in the Granite State will support the candidate who has a residence there, viz., Mitt Romney.
If (again, for the sake of discussion) we give North Carolina, Virginia and New Hampshire to Romney, where does that leave us? First, to be fair, let's give Nevada to the Democrats, as the Times is predicting. (After all, any populace which would re-elect Harry Reid to the Senate in 2010 for a third term is probably not going to abandon his ship.) Now we are down to three battleground states (Wisconsin, Iowa and Colorado), with 8 corresponding possibilities. Here they are:
1. WI-R; IA-R; CO-R. Romney wins.
2. WI-R; IA-R; CO-D. Obama wins.
3. WI-R; IA-D; CO-R. Romney wins.
4. WI-R; IA-D; CO-D. Obama wins.
5. WI-D; IA-R; CO-R. Obama wins.
6. WI-D; IA-R; CO-D. Obama wins.
7. WI-D; IA-D; CO-R. Obama wins.
8. WI-D; IA-D; CO-D. Obama wins.
If you are supporting the President, you have to feel pretty good about your chances. He wins under six of the eight scenarios.
Romney needs Wisconsin (see # 5 above), the state that voted to keep their current Republican governor, Scott Walker, in office after a hotly contested recall effort. Although Paul Ryan is their native son, Wisconsin has voted Democrat in all of the six presidential elections since the Reagan Landslide. Romney also needs Colorado (see # 2 above), a state that has proven to be unpredictable and independent-minded in recent years. In 2008, Wisconsin and Colorado gave Obama 56% and 54% of their votes, respectively. Most of the campaign pre-election talk has been about Ohio and Florida, but Wisconsin and Colorado will be the center of attention if the early results from the Eastern Time Zone hot spots are not dispositive of the issue.
You may be well advised to keep your favorite pizza delivery business on speed dial. It could be a two dinner night. Let's hope there are no hanging chads.
One of the interesting things about the lay of the land is that five of those so-called battleground states, plus Pennsylvania, are in the Eastern Time Zone. Their polling places will close mid-evening Minnesota Time, meaning that we might have a pretty good idea before the Ten O'Clock Snooze (as WCCO news legend Dave Moore used to say) whether there will be a changing of the guard in the White House. One election historical nugget we have heard over and over is that no Republican has ever been elected President without taking Ohio. In fact, assuming the forty-one "non-battleground" states (including Minnesota and Pennsylvania) go as predicted, if President Obama wins both Florida and Ohio that will put him over the requisite 270 Electoral Votes.
Can Romney win without Ohio? For the sake of discussion, let's say Obama wins in Ohio but Romney triumphs in Florida. With the seven remaining battleground states still up for grabs, there are 128 possible combinations, and Obama wins under a whopping 116 of them. Is it unreasonable to think that North Carolina, Virginia and New Hampshire, all of which voted blue in 2008, might turn red this time? Since the Reagan Landslide in 1984 there have been six presidential elections. North Carolina and Virginia voted Republican in every one of them except the last one (2008). New Hampshire has only gone red two out of those six elections (1988 and 2000), but the Republicans are crossing their fingers that the voters in the Granite State will support the candidate who has a residence there, viz., Mitt Romney.
If (again, for the sake of discussion) we give North Carolina, Virginia and New Hampshire to Romney, where does that leave us? First, to be fair, let's give Nevada to the Democrats, as the Times is predicting. (After all, any populace which would re-elect Harry Reid to the Senate in 2010 for a third term is probably not going to abandon his ship.) Now we are down to three battleground states (Wisconsin, Iowa and Colorado), with 8 corresponding possibilities. Here they are:
1. WI-R; IA-R; CO-R. Romney wins.
2. WI-R; IA-R; CO-D. Obama wins.
3. WI-R; IA-D; CO-R. Romney wins.
4. WI-R; IA-D; CO-D. Obama wins.
5. WI-D; IA-R; CO-R. Obama wins.
6. WI-D; IA-R; CO-D. Obama wins.
7. WI-D; IA-D; CO-R. Obama wins.
8. WI-D; IA-D; CO-D. Obama wins.
If you are supporting the President, you have to feel pretty good about your chances. He wins under six of the eight scenarios.
Romney needs Wisconsin (see # 5 above), the state that voted to keep their current Republican governor, Scott Walker, in office after a hotly contested recall effort. Although Paul Ryan is their native son, Wisconsin has voted Democrat in all of the six presidential elections since the Reagan Landslide. Romney also needs Colorado (see # 2 above), a state that has proven to be unpredictable and independent-minded in recent years. In 2008, Wisconsin and Colorado gave Obama 56% and 54% of their votes, respectively. Most of the campaign pre-election talk has been about Ohio and Florida, but Wisconsin and Colorado will be the center of attention if the early results from the Eastern Time Zone hot spots are not dispositive of the issue.
You may be well advised to keep your favorite pizza delivery business on speed dial. It could be a two dinner night. Let's hope there are no hanging chads.
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Album Review: "Night Train" - Jason Aldean
"Night Train": A-. It is not often that I will listen to the latest record release by a music artist and subsequently decide to purchase all of that artist's previous records. After enjoying Jason Aldean's latest effort, Night Train, which was released in mid-October, I have decided to take the plunge. Right before the Quentin Chronicle was created in November 2011, I saw Aldean on a country music awards show and was impressed enough to buy his fourth album, My Kinda Party. There are a few songs on that record that have stuck with me over time, and I predict that at least a handful of tunes from Night Train will as well.
Common themes that one can find in Aldean's songs are: his love of small towns, including those he's left behind; riding in a truck or an old Ford through the countryside and headed for a favorite spot, usually with his girl snuggled next to him in the front seat; rivers and fields; putting in a hard day's work; and memories of his escapades as a teen. The lyrics evoke pictures in the listeners' minds. Who needs music video?
Aldean grew up in Macon, Georgia and moved to Nashville at the age of twenty-one to pursue his music career. He was not exactly an overnight sensation, but stuck with his dreams through the ups and downs. Three years later he married his high school sweetheart, Jessica, and four years after that released his debut self-titled album.
Some folks dislike country music because they view it as having too narrow a range of subjects, usually drinking, fighting or lost love. While you can find songs in the Aldean catalogue that fall into those categories, his repertoire is much broader than that, and so is the perspective from which he sings. For example, Wheels Rollin' is one of the better songs I've heard describing what it's like to live the road-weary life of a touring band. In Black Tears he laments the sad degrading situation facing a dancer at a strip club. In Water Tower, he personifies his home town's water tower, which has seen the town's major events unfold before it and has served "like a lighthouse in a storm" to guide the singer back home. Drink One For Me appears to be sung from the perspective of a soldier stationed overseas who is thinking about his friends back in his old stomping grounds.
My favorite song on the disc is the lead-off, This Nothin' Town. I always think it's wise to start an album with a song which would make a good live concert opener. Excellent choice by Aldean here, as this number has a rock n' roll feel but with country lyrics:
It might look a little laid back to ya
But it ain't all just porches and plows
But don't let that one red light fool ya
There's always something going down in this nothin' town.
The title track, Night Train, is memorable. He and his girl drive out to the country, then hop out and start running toward the hillside where they can camp and watch the freight train go by.
Hurry up girl I hear it comin'
Got a moon and a billion stars
Sound of steel and old boxcars...
Let's go listen to the night train.
Of course, as alluded to above, what would a country album be without a few love songs? These are the songs which best suit Aldean's sincere southern voice. Two of the best are Talk and Walking Away. In the first of the pair the singer tells his girl that he's tired of talking, now "I don't want to waste that moon." It's time to move on to something else. I wonder what he has in mind? The second song is a warning to a girl who's attracted to him. He tells her that if she's smart she will walk away as fast as she can. She can't "be the angel that could make me change." She is too good for him; he knows it but she doesn't.
Common themes that one can find in Aldean's songs are: his love of small towns, including those he's left behind; riding in a truck or an old Ford through the countryside and headed for a favorite spot, usually with his girl snuggled next to him in the front seat; rivers and fields; putting in a hard day's work; and memories of his escapades as a teen. The lyrics evoke pictures in the listeners' minds. Who needs music video?
Aldean grew up in Macon, Georgia and moved to Nashville at the age of twenty-one to pursue his music career. He was not exactly an overnight sensation, but stuck with his dreams through the ups and downs. Three years later he married his high school sweetheart, Jessica, and four years after that released his debut self-titled album.
Some folks dislike country music because they view it as having too narrow a range of subjects, usually drinking, fighting or lost love. While you can find songs in the Aldean catalogue that fall into those categories, his repertoire is much broader than that, and so is the perspective from which he sings. For example, Wheels Rollin' is one of the better songs I've heard describing what it's like to live the road-weary life of a touring band. In Black Tears he laments the sad degrading situation facing a dancer at a strip club. In Water Tower, he personifies his home town's water tower, which has seen the town's major events unfold before it and has served "like a lighthouse in a storm" to guide the singer back home. Drink One For Me appears to be sung from the perspective of a soldier stationed overseas who is thinking about his friends back in his old stomping grounds.
My favorite song on the disc is the lead-off, This Nothin' Town. I always think it's wise to start an album with a song which would make a good live concert opener. Excellent choice by Aldean here, as this number has a rock n' roll feel but with country lyrics:
It might look a little laid back to ya
But it ain't all just porches and plows
But don't let that one red light fool ya
There's always something going down in this nothin' town.
The title track, Night Train, is memorable. He and his girl drive out to the country, then hop out and start running toward the hillside where they can camp and watch the freight train go by.
Hurry up girl I hear it comin'
Got a moon and a billion stars
Sound of steel and old boxcars...
Let's go listen to the night train.
Of course, as alluded to above, what would a country album be without a few love songs? These are the songs which best suit Aldean's sincere southern voice. Two of the best are Talk and Walking Away. In the first of the pair the singer tells his girl that he's tired of talking, now "I don't want to waste that moon." It's time to move on to something else. I wonder what he has in mind? The second song is a warning to a girl who's attracted to him. He tells her that if she's smart she will walk away as fast as she can. She can't "be the angel that could make me change." She is too good for him; he knows it but she doesn't.
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Refusing To Sleep With The Enemy
In the world of sports, what if it would behoove your team to have your bitter rival win its next game against another opponent which poses a bigger threat to your team than does your rival? That is the exact situation faced by fans of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish this coming weekend.
Under the current rules of the BCS (which stands for "Bowl Championship Series"), only the top two rated teams have an opportunity to play in the National Championship Game on January 7, 2013. There is no tournament like the NCAA has for basketball. The BCS ratings are calculated weekly using a somewhat complicated formula involving two polls (the Harris Interactive Poll and the USA Today Coaches' Poll) and six computer rankings. Each of the six computer rankings takes into account not only a team's won-loss record but also its strength of schedule (SOS). Thus, beating a team ranked, say, number 9 is worth more in the computer rankings than beating a team ranked number 19. (Incidentally, the BCS system for determining the national champion is going to be replaced by a four-team playoff, starting with the 2014 season.)
According to the BCS ratings which were released two days ago, the top four teams, in order, are Alabama, Kansas State, Notre Dame and Oregon. All four of those teams are undefeated, and since they are not scheduled to play each other, there is a decent chance - - I would put it at about 80% for each team - - that their records will remain unblemished throughout the remainder of the regular season. Thus, the fans of each team will not only be cheering for that team; they will also be pulling for the other three top-rated teams to lose, thereby enhancing their own team's chances of getting into the National Championship Game. Right?
As former Indiana head coach and ABC analyst Lee Corso would say, "Not so fast, my friend!"
Consider this coming weekend's slate of games. Number 1 Alabama plays LSU. The Crimson Tide is a 9.5 point pick, even though the game is in Baton Rouge. ND fans will automatically hope the Tigers can pull the upset (even though the LSU head coach is a Michigan alum, the wacky Les Miles). Similarly, Irish fans won't hesitate to cheer against number 2 Kansas State, which is an 8 point pick this weekend over visiting Oklahoma State. However, it is the third battle, number 4 Oregon against Notre Dame's arch rival, Southern Cal, which is causing a division in the ranks of Irish boosters. For which team should we cheer?
At first blush this should be a no-brainer, at least for the casual observer. A win by Southern Cal, which is a seven point home dog, would deliver two immediate benefits to Notre Dame. First and most obviously, it would knock Oregon from the ranks of the unbeaten and give ND some BCS breathing room. (I am going out on a limb by predicting Notre Dame covers the seventeen point spread against Pitt in The Bend.) Secondly, a win by SC on Saturday would benefit Notre Dame's SOS if the Irish manage to beat the Trojans over Thankgiving weekend.
There is, however, one tiny problem in asking this Domer, and many other Domers, to cheer for a Southern Cal victory on Saturday over the Ducks. To wit, I would be cheering for Southern Cal! You can call me a fool or you can call me short-sighted. You can even call me Al. I am sorry, I just cannot bring myself to cheer for the Trojans.
When I think of Southern Cal I think of cheaters like former running back Reggie Bush, whose family accepted at least $200,000 in illegal benefits from SC boosters. I think of former head coach Pete Carroll, who got out of Dodge and fled to the Seattle Seahawks right before the NCAA lowered the boom with very tough sanctions, including drastic scholarship reductions and a two year bowl ban, against his program. I think of phantom penalties in the LA Coliseum, including the invisible holding penalty which cost ND a national championship in 1964, not to mention mysterious holding and clipping penalties throughout the years which never show up during a replay review. I think of athletic directors like Mike Garrett, who finally got fired for "looking the other way" when NCAA rules were being broken right under his nose. I think of their football practices being open to visits from Hollywood stars and rappers who have no connection to the school. I think of former quarterback Matt Leinart, who was enrolled in a single class, ballroom dancing, to keep his eligibility alive for his final season. I think of Southern Cal's current coach, Lane Kiffin, a Minnesota native who is such a horse's patootie he makes Jay Cutler look like Billy Graham. And of course, who can think of USC without recalling their most famous football player, stone cold killer OJ Simpson? Only a jury of his starstruck peers believed The Juice was innocent.
My theory is this: If Notre Dame keeps winning, things will work themselves out. If I'm wrong and it turns out that a perfect season by the Irish does not result in a chance to play in the National Championship Game, so be it. I will still be able to look in the mirror knowing that I didn't prostitute myself by rooting for an SC victory over the Ducks. As we used to cry out during SC Week back in the day, "Puncture the Trojans!"
Under the current rules of the BCS (which stands for "Bowl Championship Series"), only the top two rated teams have an opportunity to play in the National Championship Game on January 7, 2013. There is no tournament like the NCAA has for basketball. The BCS ratings are calculated weekly using a somewhat complicated formula involving two polls (the Harris Interactive Poll and the USA Today Coaches' Poll) and six computer rankings. Each of the six computer rankings takes into account not only a team's won-loss record but also its strength of schedule (SOS). Thus, beating a team ranked, say, number 9 is worth more in the computer rankings than beating a team ranked number 19. (Incidentally, the BCS system for determining the national champion is going to be replaced by a four-team playoff, starting with the 2014 season.)
According to the BCS ratings which were released two days ago, the top four teams, in order, are Alabama, Kansas State, Notre Dame and Oregon. All four of those teams are undefeated, and since they are not scheduled to play each other, there is a decent chance - - I would put it at about 80% for each team - - that their records will remain unblemished throughout the remainder of the regular season. Thus, the fans of each team will not only be cheering for that team; they will also be pulling for the other three top-rated teams to lose, thereby enhancing their own team's chances of getting into the National Championship Game. Right?
As former Indiana head coach and ABC analyst Lee Corso would say, "Not so fast, my friend!"
Consider this coming weekend's slate of games. Number 1 Alabama plays LSU. The Crimson Tide is a 9.5 point pick, even though the game is in Baton Rouge. ND fans will automatically hope the Tigers can pull the upset (even though the LSU head coach is a Michigan alum, the wacky Les Miles). Similarly, Irish fans won't hesitate to cheer against number 2 Kansas State, which is an 8 point pick this weekend over visiting Oklahoma State. However, it is the third battle, number 4 Oregon against Notre Dame's arch rival, Southern Cal, which is causing a division in the ranks of Irish boosters. For which team should we cheer?
At first blush this should be a no-brainer, at least for the casual observer. A win by Southern Cal, which is a seven point home dog, would deliver two immediate benefits to Notre Dame. First and most obviously, it would knock Oregon from the ranks of the unbeaten and give ND some BCS breathing room. (I am going out on a limb by predicting Notre Dame covers the seventeen point spread against Pitt in The Bend.) Secondly, a win by SC on Saturday would benefit Notre Dame's SOS if the Irish manage to beat the Trojans over Thankgiving weekend.
There is, however, one tiny problem in asking this Domer, and many other Domers, to cheer for a Southern Cal victory on Saturday over the Ducks. To wit, I would be cheering for Southern Cal! You can call me a fool or you can call me short-sighted. You can even call me Al. I am sorry, I just cannot bring myself to cheer for the Trojans.
When I think of Southern Cal I think of cheaters like former running back Reggie Bush, whose family accepted at least $200,000 in illegal benefits from SC boosters. I think of former head coach Pete Carroll, who got out of Dodge and fled to the Seattle Seahawks right before the NCAA lowered the boom with very tough sanctions, including drastic scholarship reductions and a two year bowl ban, against his program. I think of phantom penalties in the LA Coliseum, including the invisible holding penalty which cost ND a national championship in 1964, not to mention mysterious holding and clipping penalties throughout the years which never show up during a replay review. I think of athletic directors like Mike Garrett, who finally got fired for "looking the other way" when NCAA rules were being broken right under his nose. I think of their football practices being open to visits from Hollywood stars and rappers who have no connection to the school. I think of former quarterback Matt Leinart, who was enrolled in a single class, ballroom dancing, to keep his eligibility alive for his final season. I think of Southern Cal's current coach, Lane Kiffin, a Minnesota native who is such a horse's patootie he makes Jay Cutler look like Billy Graham. And of course, who can think of USC without recalling their most famous football player, stone cold killer OJ Simpson? Only a jury of his starstruck peers believed The Juice was innocent.
My theory is this: If Notre Dame keeps winning, things will work themselves out. If I'm wrong and it turns out that a perfect season by the Irish does not result in a chance to play in the National Championship Game, so be it. I will still be able to look in the mirror knowing that I didn't prostitute myself by rooting for an SC victory over the Ducks. As we used to cry out during SC Week back in the day, "Puncture the Trojans!"
Friday, October 26, 2012
Movie Review: "Argo"
"Argo": B+. By 1979, the Shah of Iran had been ruling his country for over twenty-five years. He had come into power with the assistance of the United States, but the people hated his cruel style of leadership, which included Gestapo-style secret police and harsh punishment for his political foes. Finally, a student-led rebellion ousted the Shah and he fled, dying of cancer, to the US, where he was welcomed by our federal government. Back in Iran, anti-American sentiment fueled by the country's new revolutionary leader, the Ayatollah Khomeini, resulted in the storming of the walled and barricaded American embassy in Tehran, where fifty-two US citizens were imprisoned and held captive. Moments before the siege, six Americans somehow managed to get out to the street, and covertly gained refuge in the home of the Canadian ambassador a few miles away. This movie is the story of how the CIA attempted to rescue The Six before the Iranians realized that they were still in Tehran.
Ben Affleck plays Tony Mendez, a CIA troubleshooter who is picked by his boss, Jack O'Donnell (Bryan Cranston), to devise a plan to get The Six out. They are working against the clock, because they correctly predict that the revolutionaries will be able to piece back together the shredded documents in the embassy office and determine that they are six prisoners short. Meanwhile, the Canadian ambassador and his wife are risking their own lives by hiding The Six in their home. If found out, they will be labeled as spies by the revolutionaries and probably summarily and publicly executed along with The Six.
The US Department Of State does not think much of Mendez' seemingly goofy plan to use a phony film project as a subterfuge to get The Six out. His idea is to create fake IDs for The Six, and then pass them off as part of a Canadian film crew which is scouting Tehran for locations for a futuristic sci-fi movie called Argo. (For reasons of clarity, I will call the sci-fi movie Fake Argo.) After discussing alternatives such as using bicycles (rejected due to too much snow and too great a distance from Tehran to the border) or having The Six pose as teachers (rejected because the English school in Tehran had been closed for eight months), one State Department honcho concedes to Mendez, "All of the rescue ideas are bad, but yours is the least bad."
In order to convince the Iranians that the film project is legit, Mendez enlists the support of Hollywood make-up artist John Chambers (John Goodman), who in turn talks director Lester Siegel (Alan Arkin) into signing on. As is usually the case with those two actors, they bring the story up a notch by supplying humor (among other things) to counterbalance the otherwise dramatic unfolding of the plot. Chambers and Siegel use their Hollywood connections to get story boards, posters, press releases and other film production paraphernalia created for Mendez to take with him to Tehran to give Fake Argo indices of authenticity and legitimacy.
The bulk of Argo shows how Mendez' steady hand and fearlessness gives The Six their chance to escape. None of The Six knows the first thing about filmmaking, and they aren't too sure that Mendez' plan won't be suicidal. Mendez convinces them that his plan is their only chance to get out of Iran alive, so they must learn their roles, not to mention their new fake identities and background bios as they appear on their phony Canadian passports. Affleck, who also directed this movie, does a credible job as Mister Cool, Calm & Collected, which was probably Mendez' demeanor in real life. The scenes shift from revolutionary headquarters to Washington, DC, to the hostages held captive in the US embassy, to the Canadian ambassador's home which is functioning as the hideout of The Six. The tension mounts and the clock is ticking, because the revolutionaries start to piece things together.
The denouement, unfortunately, is a little beyond the scope of reason and believability, but I chose not to let that interfere with my overall enjoyment of the movie. (It is the first movie I attended in almost a month!) Another minor irritation is that I enjoyed most of the songs, including tracks by Dire Straits and Van Halen, but too many of them did not relate to what was happening on the screen. It's almost as if the film's music director picked a few of his favorite classic rock gems at random. Finally, the sound bite spin by former President Jimmy Carter during the closing credits regarding the fifty-two hostages (who were held for 444 days and were not released until Carter's term as President expired) is both laughable and inaccurate. I guess the man could not face the truth.
Ironically, even though Fake Argo was a fictitious film, the concept of which was created soley as a ruse to rescue The Six, their story is based on fact. The taking of the US embassy occurred in 1979, but the details surrounding the story of The Six never came to light until they were de-classified by President Clinton in 1994. I have always admired the Canadian people. Now having watched Argo, I like them even more.
Ben Affleck plays Tony Mendez, a CIA troubleshooter who is picked by his boss, Jack O'Donnell (Bryan Cranston), to devise a plan to get The Six out. They are working against the clock, because they correctly predict that the revolutionaries will be able to piece back together the shredded documents in the embassy office and determine that they are six prisoners short. Meanwhile, the Canadian ambassador and his wife are risking their own lives by hiding The Six in their home. If found out, they will be labeled as spies by the revolutionaries and probably summarily and publicly executed along with The Six.
The US Department Of State does not think much of Mendez' seemingly goofy plan to use a phony film project as a subterfuge to get The Six out. His idea is to create fake IDs for The Six, and then pass them off as part of a Canadian film crew which is scouting Tehran for locations for a futuristic sci-fi movie called Argo. (For reasons of clarity, I will call the sci-fi movie Fake Argo.) After discussing alternatives such as using bicycles (rejected due to too much snow and too great a distance from Tehran to the border) or having The Six pose as teachers (rejected because the English school in Tehran had been closed for eight months), one State Department honcho concedes to Mendez, "All of the rescue ideas are bad, but yours is the least bad."
In order to convince the Iranians that the film project is legit, Mendez enlists the support of Hollywood make-up artist John Chambers (John Goodman), who in turn talks director Lester Siegel (Alan Arkin) into signing on. As is usually the case with those two actors, they bring the story up a notch by supplying humor (among other things) to counterbalance the otherwise dramatic unfolding of the plot. Chambers and Siegel use their Hollywood connections to get story boards, posters, press releases and other film production paraphernalia created for Mendez to take with him to Tehran to give Fake Argo indices of authenticity and legitimacy.
The bulk of Argo shows how Mendez' steady hand and fearlessness gives The Six their chance to escape. None of The Six knows the first thing about filmmaking, and they aren't too sure that Mendez' plan won't be suicidal. Mendez convinces them that his plan is their only chance to get out of Iran alive, so they must learn their roles, not to mention their new fake identities and background bios as they appear on their phony Canadian passports. Affleck, who also directed this movie, does a credible job as Mister Cool, Calm & Collected, which was probably Mendez' demeanor in real life. The scenes shift from revolutionary headquarters to Washington, DC, to the hostages held captive in the US embassy, to the Canadian ambassador's home which is functioning as the hideout of The Six. The tension mounts and the clock is ticking, because the revolutionaries start to piece things together.
The denouement, unfortunately, is a little beyond the scope of reason and believability, but I chose not to let that interfere with my overall enjoyment of the movie. (It is the first movie I attended in almost a month!) Another minor irritation is that I enjoyed most of the songs, including tracks by Dire Straits and Van Halen, but too many of them did not relate to what was happening on the screen. It's almost as if the film's music director picked a few of his favorite classic rock gems at random. Finally, the sound bite spin by former President Jimmy Carter during the closing credits regarding the fifty-two hostages (who were held for 444 days and were not released until Carter's term as President expired) is both laughable and inaccurate. I guess the man could not face the truth.
Ironically, even though Fake Argo was a fictitious film, the concept of which was created soley as a ruse to rescue The Six, their story is based on fact. The taking of the US embassy occurred in 1979, but the details surrounding the story of The Six never came to light until they were de-classified by President Clinton in 1994. I have always admired the Canadian people. Now having watched Argo, I like them even more.
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Album Review: "Tempest" - Bob Dylan
"Tempest": B+ It is not uncommon for a singer to get to the point in his life when he simply cannot reach the same vocal range that he was able to call upon in his younger days. Some decide to save face and concentrate more on writing, producing, managing or promoting other artists. Some, such as Paul McCartney, decide to battle on and more or less warble their way through some of the notes. Another tact is to speak some of the lyrics where once there was singing. Neil Diamond comes to mind. "It doesn't matter," their fans say, "we forgive you and we still love you." In Diamond's case, he is entitled to speak a few lines now and again because he is a great entertainer who gives a concert crowd their money's worth with every evening's performance. Not only that, the songs are his; he wrote them. In McCartney's case, not only is he the guy who penned the songs, he's a Beatle, for cryin' out loud! He don't need no stinkin' reason.
Now we come to Bob Dylan, whose first Top 40 song, Subterranean Homesick Blues, was released forty-seven years ago. Dylan just released his thirty-fifth studio album, Tempest, earlier this month. Dylan is another singer who talks his way through the songs. But unlike Diamond, who as a young man had excellent vocal chops, Dylan has used talking as his standard lyric delivery vehicle since he was in his twenties. Some early examples, all from 1965 and '66, include Positively Fourth Street, Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35, and Just Like A Woman. In my view, Dylan has always been foremost a poet. He is a poet who sings his poems, if you loosely define "sings." And so it is that when the Duluth-born Bobby D, at the age of 71, releases a new album, the evaluation should give the most weight to the poetry. We already know he can't sing worth a hoot.
Not to belabor the point, but this truth was brought home when I played the first track, Duquesne Whistle. It had been awhile since I'd listened to Dylan, so his raspiness kind of jolted me as he started to sing after a fifty-three second instrumental intro. I quickly adjusted. It turns out that Duquesne Whistle is one of the highlights of the ten song album, and for my money contains the best musicianship. The snare drums of George G. Receli definitely remind the listener of the clickety-clack you'd hear on a train. The whistle brings back memories, both good and bad, for the singer as the southbound train gets him closer to his home town.
Most of the songs occupying the middle of the album are dark, and all of them are mysterious. In Soon After Midnight, among the slowest tempos of the ten selections, he appears to be apologizing to a woman he wants to return to after disappointing flings with others. A similar tone is struck with Long And Wasted Years, where once again he is heard apologizing. In Scarlet Town the singer describes where he was born, switching between praise and damnation. Which is it? Pay In Blood is another song which, even after several listenings, is subject to a wide spectrum of interpretations. Is the singer sentenced to hard labor in a prison, or is he calling out the dishonest politicians and their graft?
The last three songs of the album will probably generate the most discussion among Dylan aficionados. Tin Angel is a thumping nine minute slow story about a king who gathers an army to go after his unfaithful wife who has been whisked away by a rival chieftain. The trick to understanding this song is to read the lyrics while listening, because the quotation marks on the lyric sheet enable the listener to figure out which of three characters is speaking. It is my favorite song on the menu, one that conjures up vivid pictures in my imagination. The title track, Tempest, is a fourteen minute ballad telling a partly fictionalized account of the Titanic tragedy. The song has an Irish folk vibe, which is appropriate since the last port of call on the voyage was Cobh (fka Queenstown), Ireland. The album closes with Roll On John, a tribute to the fallen Beatle, John Lennon, who was, in a lot of ways, the English Bob Dylan.
Even though the album is dark and moody, Dylan does have some fun with a handful of lyrics, including "Shake it up baby, twist and shout" from Long And Wasted Years, "Little boy blue come blow your horn" from Scarlet Town, and "I heard the news today, oh boy" from Roll On John.
I predict Tempest will go down as one of the best Dylan albums of the twenty-first century, yet I'm not sure it's deserving of a grade higher than B+. The poetry is outstanding, but the randomness of the lyrics and the simpleness and sameness of the melodies are the counter-balancing aspects that I can't overlook.
Now we come to Bob Dylan, whose first Top 40 song, Subterranean Homesick Blues, was released forty-seven years ago. Dylan just released his thirty-fifth studio album, Tempest, earlier this month. Dylan is another singer who talks his way through the songs. But unlike Diamond, who as a young man had excellent vocal chops, Dylan has used talking as his standard lyric delivery vehicle since he was in his twenties. Some early examples, all from 1965 and '66, include Positively Fourth Street, Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35, and Just Like A Woman. In my view, Dylan has always been foremost a poet. He is a poet who sings his poems, if you loosely define "sings." And so it is that when the Duluth-born Bobby D, at the age of 71, releases a new album, the evaluation should give the most weight to the poetry. We already know he can't sing worth a hoot.
Not to belabor the point, but this truth was brought home when I played the first track, Duquesne Whistle. It had been awhile since I'd listened to Dylan, so his raspiness kind of jolted me as he started to sing after a fifty-three second instrumental intro. I quickly adjusted. It turns out that Duquesne Whistle is one of the highlights of the ten song album, and for my money contains the best musicianship. The snare drums of George G. Receli definitely remind the listener of the clickety-clack you'd hear on a train. The whistle brings back memories, both good and bad, for the singer as the southbound train gets him closer to his home town.
Most of the songs occupying the middle of the album are dark, and all of them are mysterious. In Soon After Midnight, among the slowest tempos of the ten selections, he appears to be apologizing to a woman he wants to return to after disappointing flings with others. A similar tone is struck with Long And Wasted Years, where once again he is heard apologizing. In Scarlet Town the singer describes where he was born, switching between praise and damnation. Which is it? Pay In Blood is another song which, even after several listenings, is subject to a wide spectrum of interpretations. Is the singer sentenced to hard labor in a prison, or is he calling out the dishonest politicians and their graft?
The last three songs of the album will probably generate the most discussion among Dylan aficionados. Tin Angel is a thumping nine minute slow story about a king who gathers an army to go after his unfaithful wife who has been whisked away by a rival chieftain. The trick to understanding this song is to read the lyrics while listening, because the quotation marks on the lyric sheet enable the listener to figure out which of three characters is speaking. It is my favorite song on the menu, one that conjures up vivid pictures in my imagination. The title track, Tempest, is a fourteen minute ballad telling a partly fictionalized account of the Titanic tragedy. The song has an Irish folk vibe, which is appropriate since the last port of call on the voyage was Cobh (fka Queenstown), Ireland. The album closes with Roll On John, a tribute to the fallen Beatle, John Lennon, who was, in a lot of ways, the English Bob Dylan.
Even though the album is dark and moody, Dylan does have some fun with a handful of lyrics, including "Shake it up baby, twist and shout" from Long And Wasted Years, "Little boy blue come blow your horn" from Scarlet Town, and "I heard the news today, oh boy" from Roll On John.
I predict Tempest will go down as one of the best Dylan albums of the twenty-first century, yet I'm not sure it's deserving of a grade higher than B+. The poetry is outstanding, but the randomness of the lyrics and the simpleness and sameness of the melodies are the counter-balancing aspects that I can't overlook.
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