Cafe Bucky

My daughter Sophia and I just went to see Take the Lead - there are a couple of minor spoilers. We decided it would be fast just to have an in-house IM. The basic idea is: NYC kids that are having trouble in high school are taught ballroom dancing by Pierre Dulaine (played by Antonio Banderas). It’s based on a true story.

daniel: Ok Sophia, so we just saw Take the Lead
sophia: yes we did
sophia: I liked it
daniel: I liked it too, though some parts were just a bit corny
sophia: well, it is a movie
sophia: I think most of it was pretty realistuc
sophia: *realistic
daniel: yeah, I just wonder about a guy like Antonio Banderas wandering into an NYC high school and getting cooperation that easily
sophia: well, I think most high school kids have at least enough maturity where they can tell when an authority figure means business
daniel: true
sophia: and he did know how to get them to cooperate
sophia: i.e. the scene where he turns up the music they hate until they all take their positions
daniel: yeah
daniel: who was your favorite character?
sophia: I liked Lahrette a lot, but I also liked Caitlin, because I could relate to her
daniel: I liked Lahrette and Ramos
sophia: yea, Ramos was good
daniel: I liked all of the attitudes
sophia: the characters were well-defined
daniel: did you know of any really good dancers in your school in NYC?
sophia: of course
sophia: I dont think anybody was that good, but some were pretty talented
sophia: about 30% is from music videos, 50% is from watching others in the club/school dance, and 20% is just originality
sophia: that is, where people get moves from
daniel: yeah - I liked the blended music (ballroom / spanish harlem hip hop) the most
sophia: I don’t think that style of music is concentrated in Spanish Harlem
daniel: the dancing in those scenes was the most exciting bit
sophia: it’s all over New York, I think
sophia: but I agree, the dancing scenes were most exciting
daniel: so would you recommend this film to your friends?
sophia: Yep, it’s a lot of fun!
sophia: and when it comes to getting the personalities of NYC-inner-city-youth-kids down, the writers of Taking The Lead hit the nail on the head
daniel: I liked the reference to “Stand And Deliver” - instead of a tricked out car, it’s a bike
sophia: yea, it was a nice gesture on the student’s part, but a little bit unbelievable
daniel: of course
sophia: I did think it was realistic that his bike got stolen, though
daniel: yeah, that’s NYC
sophia: also, the metal detectors at the high school reminded me of Brandies(sp?) High
daniel: the one place where Kryptonite locks don’t have a guarantee
daniel: well I think we’re done here
sophia: yep
daniel: Go see it folks!
sophia: P.S. Dad, you might want to put a spoiler alert on this (we tell people that the bike gets stolen… little things like that)

Photo: Mark Seliger

My wife and I were heartbroken a bit when Kurt died on April 5th, 12 years ago. We were big Nirvana fans. I always wonder how Kurt would have evolved, had he made it to his 30’s. He was someone we gave a shit about - someone worth mentioning in the same conversation as John Lennon. The big difference is that he didn’t live long enough to leave us with the same wealth of material (and let’s face it, they both did some songs that suck, but made up for it with sheer brilliance elsewhere, such as “You Know You’re Right” or “Jealous Guy”, to name a couple of their not as well known tunes).

Sure, the Beatles changed the world, and they’ll always be my faves. Nirvana came along and shook things up when rock had turned into a parody of itself (see the VHS or DVD of Nirvana “Live ! Tonight ! Sold Out !” for a honest look at the band)

A film worth catching (but not a rainy depressing day, because it’ll just make it worse) is Gus Van Sant’s Last Days, which is somewhat based on Kurt’s experience.

The Movie Timeline is a fascinating attempt to map events from films to human history. Take a look.

Long ago, when I was a wee lad of 11, Ralph Bakshi unleashed Fritz the Cat into the theatres. If for nothing else, Fritz is notorious for being the first X-rated cartoon. I just saw it for the first time. FtC is dated, racist, somewhat violent, occasionally entertaining, and a sort of postcard from the NYC drug counterculture of the late 60’s. Fritz is into bamboozling the babes for sex, bemoaning the amateur high school punks clogging up Washington Square, trying to get hip in Harlem, and heading out of town for the magic of the open road (after instigating a riot). The film would get an R rating in this day and age. This ain’t for the kids, mind ya.

For as wild as Fritz gets (”I shot the john!”), there’s some humanity that comes through (when he objects to the beating of the needle-toting girlfriend of the Rabbit Revolutionary). For the most part, Fritz is trippin - off on his journey with no responsibilities to get in the way.

It’s an uneven movie (the Bo-Diddly scene is a detour), but I’m glad to have seen it once - I regard it as an artifact; as something to remind me of how things were 35 years ago for a wide swath of youth. A later Bakshi movie that I really like is Wizards, which is very funny Good vs Evil tale of two brothers.

I would like to do a cool sidebar of my ongoing media inputs. But since I don’t have that yet, I’ll toss off a few mentions while I am waiting for my boiling ravioli to achieve edible status…

Chasing Amy is a potty-mouthed romp, and a lot of fun. Ben Affleck is great in this one, and I was very charmed by Joey Lauren Adams. Of course now I gotta go back and check out Clerks, Mallrats, Dogma, and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (I realize that maybe some of this stuff might suck, but that’s always the risk - that maybe you got exposed to someone’s best work, and that everything after that is a bit of a letdown)

“Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” by Philip K. Dick. The inspiration for Blade Runner. One thing I notice about SciFi is how outdated certain situations have become over time (like going to a payphone). On the other hand, it’s wonderfully futuristic for a book put out in 1968. I keep noticing the differences between book and movie (SF vs LA, for one). The desire for a live animal pet in the book is only hinted at by J.F. Sebastian’s creations in the movie. The best thing about reading the book at this point is that it’s part archeology, part SF, and a good entree into PKD’s works (now I want to read some more of his oeuvre.)

GT4. Best. Driving. Game. (of all time) I’m not much of a gamer, but I used to do many high performance driving schools. This is the closest I can get to being on the track without leaving my house. True story: While going for my Super License on the Seattle track, I misjudged the uphill transitions - my car spun a full 360 without hitting anything - I didn’t panic, and still got a bronze for the lap! I love that they included Suzuka, Sears Point, Circuit de la Sarthe (Le Mans), and, of course, the mighty Nurburgring Nordschleife (btw, back in the real world, the decal on the back of my M3 is the Nurburgring map, which I obtained from the trackside store in 1999 when I went to the European GP - among driving enthusiasts, just being able to go there and stand by the track is a sort of pilgrimage) The sheer variety of cars and tracks is overwhelming, the “feel” is accurate, and it’s truly an immersive experience. Ten Thumbs up.

Ok, that’s enough of that. I’m having a pretty geeky weekend. Random bits:

My contract took a turn for more interesting. I’m still at AOL, and can only say that I’ll be getting into a lot of XML + XSLT. … and other stuff. I’m under NDA, as per usual.

So.. anyyyyyyyyway. I’ve been:

* installing AOLServer on my PowerBook
* adding a dash of the tDOM package
* and I wrote a “workbench” in Tcl of 3 frames that lets me endlessly tweak .xsl and .xml files, and see the resulting html output, all from a browser.
* loading up slots of my Safari subscription with all manner of XML-related titles.

Music: I’m off to the Apple Store to see if they have an Airport Express in stock. I’m pining to stream my collection to the decent speakers in my apt (5.1 Acoustic Research - S-20’s)

And another geeky thing I’m pining for… I’ve been wanting an electric guitar (I’m so out of practice!). I’m not all code & command lines. The creative side wants to do more than photography. Hoping for a Strat copy (or Mexican Strat?) that I can route through GarageBand. (yes, I still have my Edirol PCR-50 keyboard, and it’s great, but it’s still not a guitar)

More random:

Movies:

* I really enjoyed the silliness of Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle
* and am glad that The Bourne Supremacy came out so well!

Paper:

* Sophie’s World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy is something I picked up, almost randomly. I’m glad I did. It’s putting a lot about philosophy into context (and sequence). Fun and informative.
* Is it my imagination, or is Wired Magazine turning into an ongoing ad for BioTech?

Hey, snappy title. I can keep using that.

So I saw The Day After Tomorrow. One word review: Hokey.

Ok, it is fun to see LA get hit by a twister. I grew up there in the 60’s and 70’s. Here’s a little tidbit about the Capitol Records building: It’s supposed to be symbolic of a stack of vinyl records. (yeah, before iPods, and cds, and cassettes, and even 8-track, we used to have these things called “turntables”, because they, well, turned … and some of them would let you stack about 5 records up on a spindle (oh c’mon, I’m not going to explain what a spindle is (yes you are! (no, I won’t))) .. so the records would drop down, one by one, causing the tonearm to progressively get more out of alignment).

Anywayyyy … I’m ready to see a great movie, for a change. Any suggestions? Shrek 2 plodded along. Troy was embarassing (Orlando Bloom playing a coward?) for its dialog. Coffee & Cigarettes was uneven, but interesting. Mean Girls was a hoot (Jambo!)

Ah, what a great evening.

I was savoring a Guinness, and decided to get my mind off Trip Prep for a while, and see what was on TV …

The Godfather. Perfect! I missed the first 20, but with my faithful pal TiVo, I started recording and headed for the kitchen.

Pasta. Sauce. Zinfandel - Red, of course. My wife walked in, saw me eating, saw a scene where the family was eating, and bust up laughing. It’s ok. I think it’s a Guy Thing to love this movie. It’s got so much: love, sadness, violence, vendettas, treachery, a feeling of family.

“In Sicily, women are more dangerous than shotguns.”

One of the best movies ever made. Pass the cannoli.