Monthly Archive for July, 2007
Ingmar Bergman, Bill Walsh and Michelangelo Antonioni all pass on the same day.
Jeez. I don’t have a lot to say. The Trilogy with Monica Vitti was a revelation; Blow Up is one of the best films ever made; The last shot in Zabriskie Point and the shot where everybody disappears in Red Dessert blew my mind; I’ve been working on a loose adaptation of The Passenger for a looooong time.
If Bill Walsh was a man I aspired to be like functionally, then Antonioni was a man I aspired to be like artistically.
He was 94.
Bill Walsh, a man who I aspired to be when I was a wee youth, passed away today.
I was too young to understand why the West Coast Offense was revolutionary, all I knew was that the 49ers won a whole lot because they were classy, smart, hard-working, professional, and that the organization was best exemplified in their avuncular but fiercely competitive head coach.
In many ways, I’ve always run my shows and play rehearsals in the same way that I imagine Bill Walsh would have run football practices: an abundance of smart and detailed preparation so when “game day” came (the shoot or a performance), we would be ready for multiple contingencies and be able to make good choices in the heat of battle.
He was 75.
“Bravely Mad Dementia.” Get used to it.
That’s all.
And speaking of bravely mad dementia (which Google confirms as official phrase coinage), do you know where Johnny Hong Kong goes when he needs a pseudonym?
The Ron Mexico name generator, of course.***
My Ron Mexico name is Jorge Iran. Mary Milan’s is Wanda Belarus.
What’s yours?
***My posting of this link does not condone dog fighting or the transmittal of the herpes under a clever pseudonym in any way.
Gawker is doing God’s work by running a poll to find out America’s most annoying liberal arts college. My alma mater is currently tied for sixth (with Brown, natch) with only has 9% of the vote.
We’re hella more annoying than half those bitches above us. Sarah Lawrence? Sheeeeit. Oberlin is sort of a heavyweight though.
By the way, school sponsored drinking is not annoying unless by annoying you mean totally sweet. The Bravery, however, is pretty annoying in the traditional sense of the word.
Taking a turn from the non-stop Transformers coverage, can you correctly answer these five questions:
Who is the vice president?
Who is your state’s governor?
Does the US have a trade deficit or surplus?
Which party controls the House of Representatives?
Is the chief justice of the Supreme Court a liberal, moderate, or conservative?
If so, then according to a recent study conducted by the Pew Research Center for People and the Press, you’re more informed about current events than most Americans. Their most hilarious finding is that those who watch Fox News know the least about current events.Â
Surprise, surprise.Â
McSweeney’s has a letter to Optimus Prime from his GEICO insurance agent.
You have claimed not to be responsible in any of them, usually listing the cause of the accident as either “Sneak attack by Decepticons” or “Unavoidable damage caused by protecting freedom for all sentient beings.”
[snip]
$6,564,239.44 requested reimbursement for repairs to a truck part called the “Autobot Matrix of Leadership.” You stated this occurred in “an ultimate confrontation between good and evil,” with a Ms. Meg Atron and a Mr. U. Nicron causing the damage in question. Mr. Prime, I have checked every known car- and truck-part catalog published in the United States and have found nothing even resembling that part, never mind any part so expensive. Whatever disagreements you had with Ms. Atron and Mr. Nicron, I suggest that next time you either settle things peaceably or leave your Autobot Matrix of Leadership at home so it doesn’t break. GEICO does not cover Autobot Matrix of Leaderships.
