THIS #HALLOWEEN 🎃 IM YOUR AUNT WHO LOVES A DOLLAR GENERAL DEAL AND MISSES A GOOD FILENE’S RUN EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK...SHOW ME YOUR COSTUMES!!! AUNTY HAS SPOKEN!!! BOO! 🙌🏼🗣🙌🏼 pic.twitter.com/jysFhoOFJi— Steven Tyler (@IamStevenT) October 29, 2018
Wednesday, October 31, 2018
Happy Halloween!
The nightmare becomes real in the form of Steven Tyler of Arrowsmith merely looking as he always does.
A Star Is Born
The bad news first. A Star Is Born gets bogged down in its second half and, like all too many recent movies, could have been twenty minutes shorter. Also the second half features some pop music which is dreadful (I enjoyed that the movie was an indictment of modern pop). Actually, since you know exactly how this movie is going to turn out they could have skipped from the middle to Lady Gaga's closing number.
The good news:
The first half is dynamic and completely enjoyable with the exhilarating immediacy of the music scenes, the best I've seen in a non-documentary film other than Get On Up, the James Brown biopic.
All of the music is original - most of it composed by Willie Nelson's son with contributions from Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga - and it's quite good (including the pop stuff which is supposed to be obnoxious). I didn't know Cooper could compose, play, and sing (though I knew he was one of our nation's finest air guitarists).
The film looks great - kudos to first time director Cooper.
I became a Lady Gaga fan. She was captivating. I never paid much attention to her before because of the atrocious pop music videos and her weird costumes. Here, at least in the first half, she appears with very little makeup and she's a good looking lady. It also turns out she's a fine actress and she and Cooper have terrific chemistry together (as do Cooper and Sam Elliot - Cooper's character even sounds like Elliot). And boy, can she sing! I'm going to get that record of duets she recorded with Tony Bennett. She has range, tonal control, and a throaty undertone. Even though I was disappointed in the last section of the film make sure you stick around to hear her closing song.
Though updated from the 1950s and 1970s film versions it is also a surprisingly old-fashioned movie thematically. A Star Is Born is about the importance of marriage, the efforts the two principals make to sustain it, what both are willing to sacrifice for each other, and, ultimately the different priority each places on career versus marriage.
The good news:
The first half is dynamic and completely enjoyable with the exhilarating immediacy of the music scenes, the best I've seen in a non-documentary film other than Get On Up, the James Brown biopic.
All of the music is original - most of it composed by Willie Nelson's son with contributions from Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga - and it's quite good (including the pop stuff which is supposed to be obnoxious). I didn't know Cooper could compose, play, and sing (though I knew he was one of our nation's finest air guitarists).
The film looks great - kudos to first time director Cooper.
I became a Lady Gaga fan. She was captivating. I never paid much attention to her before because of the atrocious pop music videos and her weird costumes. Here, at least in the first half, she appears with very little makeup and she's a good looking lady. It also turns out she's a fine actress and she and Cooper have terrific chemistry together (as do Cooper and Sam Elliot - Cooper's character even sounds like Elliot). And boy, can she sing! I'm going to get that record of duets she recorded with Tony Bennett. She has range, tonal control, and a throaty undertone. Even though I was disappointed in the last section of the film make sure you stick around to hear her closing song.
Though updated from the 1950s and 1970s film versions it is also a surprisingly old-fashioned movie thematically. A Star Is Born is about the importance of marriage, the efforts the two principals make to sustain it, what both are willing to sacrifice for each other, and, ultimately the different priority each places on career versus marriage.
Tuesday, October 30, 2018
Mr Brightside
I like the music and the sound of the words of Mr Brightside have but never bothered to actually look at the lyrics or figure out what it means because I don't care. From The Killers, an American band, who found initial popularity in the UK when Mr Brightside was released in 2003 and all five albums have hit #1.
Monday, October 29, 2018
Red Sox World
The Sox own the first two decades of the last two centuries! Five championships from 1903 to 1918. Four from 2004 to 2018. Don't ask me what happens after 2020.
Wednesday, October 24, 2018
The Ovation
Last night's Game 1 of the World Series at Fenway saw the Dodgers players introduced to varying levels of boos, with Manny Machado deservedly getting the most. However, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts received a standing ovation from the fans.
This is why. Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS with the Red Sox down three games to none and the Yankees leading 4-3 in the bottom of the 9th with the best relief pitcher in baseball history on the mound. Pinch runner Dave Roberts stole second base, the most important stolen base in Red Sox history, when everyone in the stadium including the Yankees knew he would be running, and scored the tying run on a single. Big Papi eventually won the game in extra innings, the Sox went on to win the next three against the Yankees, and then sweep the Cardinals to win their first championship since 1918. The base Roberts stole is on display at Fenway along with an endless tape loop of the steal.
Boston loves Dave Roberts. #WorldSeries pic.twitter.com/jwZ0T0qtSy— MLB (@MLB) October 24, 2018
This is why. Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS with the Red Sox down three games to none and the Yankees leading 4-3 in the bottom of the 9th with the best relief pitcher in baseball history on the mound. Pinch runner Dave Roberts stole second base, the most important stolen base in Red Sox history, when everyone in the stadium including the Yankees knew he would be running, and scored the tying run on a single. Big Papi eventually won the game in extra innings, the Sox went on to win the next three against the Yankees, and then sweep the Cardinals to win their first championship since 1918. The base Roberts stole is on display at Fenway along with an endless tape loop of the steal.
Tuesday, October 23, 2018
Texas In The Beginning
In 1837 this was the first Executive Mansion of the Republic of Texas, home of its first President, Sam Houston. For more on Houston read Sam Houston: The Raven. Photo from the Texas State Library & Archives Commission.
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