TUPAC LIVES!!!

“We talk a lot about Malcom X and Martin Luther King JR, but It’s time to be like them, as strong as them. They were mortal men like us and everyone of us can be like them. I don’t want to be a role model. I just want to be someone who says, this is who i am, this is what i do. I say what’s on my mind.” - Tupac Shakur

I don’t listen too much in the way of Hip Hop or Rap, lost interest after N.W.A. and the total commoditization of the genera. Tupac, though, almost had me back. He was a poet and a performer who had a message beyond the obvious, he was a man in protest and opposition to the societal forces that cause the wealth, education, and opportunity gaps that exist between races in America. Tupac had a voice that represented his people’s plight and not the image of entitlement that is projected by a majority of the performers, at least those in the mainstream.  

Okay, sorry got off on a tangent there, just saying Tupac was a bad MoFo. And he is Gridlock’d with Dr. Cal Lightman, or Tim Roth, depending on just how sunk into pop-culture you are. The cast is top notch, Tupac was downright amazing in his role and while Thandi Newton was way too fucking hot to be a junkie, it is a smart film that really takes a shot at our governmental institutions and how they are run. Plus it gets hipster points for being the first time I can recall the use of the ‘d to connote finality, so that is awesome also. Find it on Netflix Streaming and don’t be a junkie in America, those are the messages of the Stream for the day.  

Blazed and confused...

What do you do when you don’t feel like putting the effort in? I have a big test tomorrow, work today and tomorrow, and am just tired. So I am mailing this one in.

Blazing Saddles is hysterical, many of you have already seen it and know this, and so what is the point? I re-watched it recently and it seemed strangely prescient. I saw a lot political parallels that I had not noticed before. Perhaps it was that I was not 18 and stoned when I watched it or perhaps the racial undertones that are flooding the upcoming election are making things clearer for me. Maybe it is one of those things you just learn to see better with age, ladies I am not really old just not young so keep the boobies coming, whatever it is I found that between laughs there were some sobering realities that we are still dealing with today no matter the color of the president.

Anyway, Blazing Saddles has never failed to make me laugh. It has some of the funniest set pieces in cinematic history and really is a farcical achievement that has not been touched since it was made. Blazing Saddles is a truly a one of a kind film by a one of a kind director and writer Mel Brookes. Brooks has his shtick and go to bits as any good comedy director will; however Brooks has the rare ability to add humanity to his movies and this one has a list of characters that you come to care about along with a bunch of one-liners that still get used, out of context, even today. Find it on Netflix Streaming and enjoy it for the first or 21^st time. 

Fresh Squeezed

People always make a big deal about type casting and how a star cannot be a star being type cast. I think that is nonsense. There are plenty of actors who are huge stars just playing themselves. Perhaps my favorite I am always that guy, guy, is Samuel L. Jackson. SamJacks always plays SamJacks no matter how many motherfucking snakes are on the motherfucking plane. What does that have to do with life, very little too none, however he is in the movie you should see today, Fresh.

Fresh, is an old school revenge crime thriller, set in a disturbing urban landscape, a crumbling Brooklyn housing project; Fresh is a look into some of the most important issues dealing with poverty and drugs. The generational nature of poverty is laid bare, as the institutions around the characters force more and more of them down the same path as their predecessors, into lives of drug and gang violence.

The gravity of the situation is what makes everything so compelling. You can invest fully into the character of Fresh and relate to his circumstance, even if they are nothing like your own. This is because of how effective the movie is at expressing the dismay and denigration of those trapped in poverty.

There are many great examples of this and Fresh is a great one, but I would be remiss if I did not bring up Season 4 of The Wire. If you like Fresh, which you will, then you absolutely must watch Season 4 of The Wire. There is no doubt that it will be the most compelling bit of media you have ever consumed. Also, if you want to get a scholarly look into poverty that is still very approachable for all, check out Poverty and Power by Edward Royce. For those of you who already did watch The Wire the name of the author should resonate and don’t think it is a coincidence.  

Multidimensional Streaming...

You want truth? Here is some truth; blogging everyday is not as easy as you think. The more you write the same type of things the more the stuff you are writing feels the same. So today I want to change things up a little bit and add a bit more latitude to the scope of stuff I talk about. I am still going to annoy the shit out of everybody with my terrible movie and television recommendations, now with some social commentary sprinkled in for just that extra bit of pucker effect when you see a new post. So clench up folks it is going to be a bumpy ride, cause I sure as shit don’t know where this is going.

 To tell you just how wacky shit is going to get today’s movie is Gung Ho, yes the terrible 80’s movie with Mr. Mom. Why Gung Ho, well a few reasons one it is terrible, but in a good way. It is a Ron Howard effort and you can see his joy in the movie. It is lighthearted and entertaining if forgettable fare. That is it, that is all it is, not much I know. What is interesting was the location of the movie and how it resonates especially in today’s economic reality.

Detroit Rock City

The movie is based in a factory town that was about to lose its factory. When one of the soon to be ex-employees gets the idea to have the Japanese company who bought them out have them instead shift production to their factory. The story line was based on the idea that American ingenuity will overcome American indifference.

 Transport this story to today and the same situation is playing out all over the country, except in the real world it is American owned companies who are moving their manufacturing overseas and not overseas companies shutting down American factories. They don’t need our companies with American manufacturing to shut down, because American manufacturing is an endangered species.

Did the taxpayers pay for this sign...really?

Do I have a point to make here; sure I do, but fuck that noise make your own opinion. Mine is straight forward, stop legislating morality, stop fighting half-measure wars, spend more on schools then prisons, and make sure that everybody has access to doctors. That is it my whole plan. I know, I am a fucking genius, just like Michael Keaton in the movie. 

In Memorium...

2010-2011 Miami Heat, I know it's a movie blog, but it is my movie blog and I want to blog about sports today:

Everybody else gets to have an opinion on this team and this result and in the age of over sensationalization of every little thing we have the petri dish that was this Heat team. Without intention the media has proved the age old adage, that mere observation does in fact change the dynamic of any organism. If the way it functions, it evolves, and in the end lives out its life span all are forever changed through the mere act of observation, than what would the blatant media obfuscation and self insinuation into this Heat team dynamic do to such a balance? All of the media glare; the unrelenting overhyped stories about the most miniscule of story lines weighed this team down.

As adulthood approached I was faced with many decisions, some I made poorly and some I made well, none of them, thankfully, were done under the spotlight of media attention. I like to think I would do better in the situations that famous people find themselves in then the famous people do. We all think that, sitting behind the warming glow of our computer screens, we conceptualize ourselves in those situations and play out the best possible result, and then in our points of view, play the result. For those saddled with fame there is no warming glow to hide within, instead there is only the harsh glare and flashing bulbs of scrutiny. So it is easy for sports pundits to sit around today and dictate platitudes about what could and should have been with this Heat team, instead of focusing on the accomplishment.

All of the sports pundits want to sit and gloat today, beat their chests about how they were right, that this Heat team was destined to fail. Ignoring all that they had overcome to get to this point of failure, as professionals we should all strive to fail this well in our jobs, lives, and accomplishments. This is failing upward if there is such a thing. Did this Heat team fall short of their goal? Yes. Of their penultimate goal they fell short; they did accomplish countless others along the way, including taking this team, constructed in the summer and incomplete most of the season, to game six of the NBA Finals. There are 30 other teams in the league that would and will be attempting to change everything about their structure so they can have a chance just to get to the same point.

All of this is ignored though; the narrative is something else entirely. It is a gross mixture of bitterness, disdain and disrespect. Marginalizing what is an outstanding accomplishment, trivializing the success that most can only dream of achieving. The media has turned into a dictator, without their consent, without stroking their egos, without acknowledging their perspective; no person shall be viewed in a positive light. Go against the grain and be castigated as a homer or frontrunner. Reject their narrative and be cast as the villain.

In the end here is what I took from this remarkable Heat season. Wow, was it a lot of fun and man did the Heat get close. Yes I am disappointed the Heat did not win, no I am not ready to give up on a team that was two wins away from a championship just because some slob with a typewriter and a website says to. I leave this Heat season much the way I came into with a great deal of hope for the future of this team, lots of finals games to agonize over and some championships along the way. The media leaves beating its chest and crowing about how they were right, finally and regardless of the countless times they were wrong this season about the Heat, about how this team needs a major overhaul, about everything else that is wrong with this team. Instead I ask what the fuck is wrong with the media?