Letting Idiots Be Idiots

Last night while waiting for a movie to start I couldn't help but overhear a conversation from the couple behind me. This is not the same as eves dropping, not that I give a rat's pooper whether that's what I was doing. When you didn't bring anything to read and you decided to attend an event even if it is alone, there's that moment when even the most mundane succession of words are something to latch onto. It's like the value a used free newspaper takes when you have to kill time on the subway.

I'm learning to just let idiots be idiots, and that may be one of my New Years Resolutions, except that it gets easier the less I care. The guy was telling his date about his experience on the field of battle - Internet discussion boards. He was boasting that he had "corrected" someone and that "CS Lewis was not a contemporary of Tolken" and he want on to shoot some shit about the Narnia books. His girlfriend rebuked him a little by saying that at least the Narnia books are readable and that she couldn't get through Lord of the Rings. He went on regardless, insisting that Narnia is so simple and Rings are so detailed that the two authors wouldn't have known each other. I wanted to say "Have you read the Screwtape Letters or any other Lewis?" I wanted to put him straight about whether the two authors were peers. But before I could twist around to politely invite myself into their conversation, the guy went on to speculate about how people will receive his upcoming internet review of Astroboy and how the kid who plays Charlie in Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chololate Factory does the voice of Astroboy. By then my eyes were glazing over and I was ready to splash the last of my coffee into my own face.

That's how it sounds when someone reviews movies online on a regular basis, the pointlessness of the exercise driven home perfectly by this stranger I didn't much respect. I've been accused of having "too much free time" myself having posted my share of comments and reviews on imdb and other sites. But the futility hadn't hit home as well as it had listening to this dink. I forget who said this of critics versus doers but, "all respect should go to the person actually in the arena." True critical thinking is rarely seen among so-called critics and audience chat board wags. Try to set something straight and it is like diving in after a drowning person and being pulled under.

"There is too much detail."

"There is too much dialog."

"The ending isn't ________."

For people starting out with a project, passing a draft script around, these can stop a writer in his or her tracks. And yet, without feedback they could move forward and create something that makes all of those comments moot. I'm thinking of Bill Murray's words of wisdom at the end of Meatballs, "It just doesn't matter, it just doesn't matter. . ."

film and sleep

I saw a good film by a friend of mine tonight, his best yet, with strong believable performances throughout. So much dialog that it seemed like a short padded into a feature, but it kept my attention so I can't complain about running time. It was based on a play after all. If I submitted the same script, people would say "Too much talking" or "Show, don't tell." But sometimes letting the characters talk is just fine and the only time we can allow that is when we do our own movies.

The trouble with me and being a film fan lately is that once a movie is part way through my eyelids get heavy. I don't know if its my meds or being middle age, but the same thing happened watching Inglorious Basterds so it is no reflection on the movie itself. It's an ironic sort of curse - that the simplest thing I enjoy - sitting down to watch a movie - is now complicated and involves effort. I used to be astonished when people would say they didn't feel up to a movie or didn't have time. Now keeping my eyes open and also the sitting part can be a chore thanks to developing a bum rear end you might say.

I'm not sure what the solution is. And I've yet to sit down and watch all of the Extended Lord of the Rings DVDs, let alone the special features, even though for years I was all about the commentaries. Maybe I'm unconsciously telling myself something. Maybe once I have made more progress with my own projects and feel like first and foremost a writer/filmmaker then I can enjoy movies again. I'm wondering if it is psychosomatic. But I doubt it. It might be the beginning of the big FADE OUT. Maybe I'm making more of it than I should. But I couldn't even drag myself to the after-party and I really need to do more of that. I mean who do I think I am wandering off and skipping the party? It's not like I don't need to meet new people or pay attention to the people I already know. I still have my sleepy head up my fissure-laden anus.

Too much information? Oh, well, it's not like anybody reads these blogs. If it wasn't for Kevin Smith being graphic about medical problems I'd be in a silent panic, so it's likely that there's no such thing as too much information. I wouldn't want people to say "we had no idea" when I die of something. I want to make sure the signs and red flags are up, in case anything can be done. I have a doctor's appointment this coming week, and this guy is good. But I still haven't replaced the awful and neglectful GP I had up to 2006. Oops, is that slanderous? Not if I don't name the buck-passing, lying jumble of abuse. With any luck there will be a decent GP out there who doesn't greet honesty with "If you feel that way, maybe we should close your file." I didn't realize how quality of doctors has been nose-diving lately, but that's what I'm hearing. I once got yelled at for mentioning more than two ailments during a visit -- as if I'm supposed to know the rules for patients in Ontario. Apparently instead of giving the holistic picture and being pressed for "is that all?" as it used to be, now we have to split up our ailments and come back for another visit so the doctor can bill accordingly.

I just hope whatever is shorting me out isn't something that could have been caught if I had all the right people looking at me at the right time. Next, my eye doctor whose office sent me some insurance letters that had nothing to do with my situation and seemed like junk mail pitches. I thought it was bad enough that I never know when the bank or the phone company are really calling or whether it is some worthless time-wasting promotion cold-call. Maybe stress and exhaustion are the cause of my sleep seizures - that's what I call them - and my sore butt.

December 6

This year the newspaper ran an image of a lady from the government looking at a rose as the lone person who showed up for an event intended to acknowledge officially violence against women. Her event was boycotted by those it concerned because the Harper government has withdrawn funding that gave any meaning to such a gesture.

As this blog indicates, I don't have the names of these organizations at hand. There had been some talk that they lost funding because they were poorly run or the money was going to overpaid staff or whatnot. But those details aren't assembled. The only information we do have is that crisis oriented services for women are diminished and not replaced by anything that can be called more efficient.

That said, if there isn't one official day to reflect on violence it isn't like we will then be thinking about it full steam 365 days a year. This is the 20th anniversary of the shootings at Ecole Polytechnique. Has there been 20 years of progress? I don't know. All I did about it was watch the movie today.

wanted more money

So somebody on the internet answered my question about why Eddie Murphy isn't fulfilling his lifelong dream of playing Richard Pryor. Apparently director Bill Condon wanted to keep the budget down to keep creative control and Eddie wouldn't accept a pay cut. So he's probably walking away from an Oscar just so he is free to make Norbit money and continue diluting what's left of his name's value. I tell you money is tearing the heart out of show business.

I can see the advertisement now: Marlon Wayans is Richard Pryor. . .

Uh, no, he isn't.

This makes me wonder about Condon, however. The below-the-line budget would be the same even if Eddie's fee lifted it into the danger zone. But even if he had to make his deal with the Devil to make a $70 million dollar movie instead of a $50 million dollar movie, what kind of input could the studio suits really give that could throw Condon off? He's doing a bio-pic. The suits wouldn't have as many templates to refer to as hip bio-pics to pass themselves off as knowledgeable or creative. Most life story movies are a mess, like life. Condon can only vindicate himself if his script and final film are a masterpiece. Albeit a masterpiece with the wrong actor in the lead. But the other thing that could happen is that Wayans - under years of pressure from his brothers - might be a revelation finally working with a decent script and high stakes. Not that Requiem for a Dream isn't a great script and director, but people don't think of him being in that. We think of disposable movies like Senseless and Scary Movie crap. Good luck to him, but it's a shame for Eddie that money had the last say.

Eddie Murphy not Richard Pryor ?

I just realized I haven't been blogging since August 22, which happens to be right after my first shift at Maple Leaf Gardens here in Toronto. That may not be coincidence. I've felt like I had to stifle some interesting blog observations because there is a certain discretion about working in security. Battle of the Blades has come and gone, and the site is in transition. There is much to say, which won't be current anymore but may be referred back to.

No, for some reason checking imdb is what gooses me to eschew any entries I've got waiting in longhand ready to type up. Turns out that with zero fanfare Marlon (Senseless) Wayans has won the role of Richard Pryor in Bill (Dreamgirls) Condon's biopic. I remember perhaps a year ago reading that there was definite fanfare about the prospect of Eddie Murphy playing Pryor and it seemed the deal had been sealed. So what has cheated us out of seeing this Murphy as Pryor movie? I know that Marlon was in Requiem for a Dream, which is a fine movie, but he wasn't born and kissed by God to play Richard Pryor. WTF? If he ends up winning an Oscar, I fear for Murphy's life. I look at Murphy's imdb page and the list includes Untitled Brett Ratner Project like Ratner is now Woody Allen. I don't know if the director of Norbit and Meet Dave is represented on Eddie Murphy's full docket of upcoming work commitments. But I'm shaking my head. Is the best we have to expect the planned Beverly Hills Cop IV? I'm sure even that will be botched. I know there were some no-nothing internet wags making noise against Murphy's stature versus that of Richard Pryor. But with all due respect, Murphy has more range as a performer. I'd really like to know the circumstances under which Eddie Murphy left that project. I don't give a Ratner's ass about show business or scandal and the airhead flitting of gossips, but I care about the quality of movies being made available and what is behind the big mistakes. What went wrong?