A salute to Justin Sandercoe

“Birth of the Cool” is dedicated to turning you on to cool things.  To that end, I’m introducing you all to Justin Sandercoe, who is a wonderful, cool person if ever there was one.  I ran across him when I was looking for a guitar lesson on how to play a certain song.  I just love his Tasmanian accent and the joy he brings to his work.  You can read all about him here, but what you really  should do is check out one of his guitar lessons, which I think you will enjoy even if you are not a guitar player.  There are many, many lessons and songs on his website, but here is one that I am working on these days.  The section on strumming is a great example of what a terrific teacher he is.  I just get a smile on my face every time I tune in to Justin’s world.  As I said, he is a cool dude.

Charlie Pierce calls out Maureen Dowd

Of late I have been not liking many of Maureen Dowd’s columns – I used to like a lot more of them.  Her column over the weekend was pretty ridiculous when you measure it against stark reality.  So, I loved it when Charlie Pierce called her out, as only he can do.

“Perks of Being a Wallflower” and “Lincoln”

A few days ago I watched “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” on Blu-Ray on the recommendation of my son Jesse.  I enjoyed the movie and found it to be an unexpected little treasure.  You can read about it here.  I want to highlight the performance of Ezra Miller in the role of “Patrick.”  Patrick is in essence a teenage Oscar Wilde and thus it took a special actor to play the part.  Ezra Miller more than fills the role – he is mesmerizing.  Also, having not seen even one of the Harry Potter movies, I was introduced to Emma Watson, who, at least in this film, was wonderful.  Check it out.

Last night I watched “Lincoln” on Blu-Ray and was mildly disappointed.  I guess my hopes were unrealistic, but I don’t find it to be a “great” or “classic” film.  Sure, Daniel-Day was his usual awesome self, but I kept thinking, “haven’t I seen this on the History Channel?”  Sometimes Spielberg’s sincerity and love of the subject make the result seem over-simplified and a bit patronizing.  (Same goes for Spike Lee).  Oh well, as they say, “different strokes for different folks.

“The Dude abides” (The Big Lebowski)

In my recent “Master and Commander” post mentioned that I might post a list of movies that I will “pretty much always end up watching if I’m channel flipping.”  I found that it was really hard for me to just pull up those movies from my memory banks, so what I have decided is to make the subject an on-going theme and post the movies as they happen in real time.

First entry:  “The Big Lebowski”  I love this movie.  A couple of nights ago I was channel flipping and came upon TBL at about two thirds in where Jackie Treehorn (Ben Gazzara) has the Dude waylaid and brought to his Malibu digs.  Eventually Treehorn slips mind-tripping drugs into the Dude’s drink, which leads to us taking the head-trip right along with the Dude.  That trip just makes me laugh my ass off every time I watch it.  It is Coen brothers genius on display, with everything from Buzby Berkeley dancers with fans made out of bowling pins to Jeff Bridges turning into a human projectile flying down a bowling lane wearing the greatest stoner face you’ll ever see. 

Of course I hung in to the end, savoring John Goodman’s insanely volatile Vietnam vet, and digging on Steve Buscemi’s portrayal of the Dude’s timid bowling companion (Donny).  My only regret was that I didn’t come in soon enough to see the hilarious John Turturro bit as Jesus Quintana, an opponent of The Dude's team in the bowling league semifinals.  If you haven’t seen that segment you are missing out on a brilliant comedic tour de force.

I’ll end with what the Dude says in closing, then echoed by Sam Elliott (“The Stranger” and narrator):  “The Dude abides.”  Amen.

Roger Ebert, R.I.P.

I knew it was inevitable, but even so I was very saddened this morning to hear that Roger Ebert had died.  The obituaries are blooming all over the Internet, all of which are laudatory, and in my opinion well deserved.  There are certain folks who leave a hole in the fabric of my world when they pass on.  Roger was one of them.  With regard to such folks, the constant that applies is that I would have loved to spend a day with them, just gabbing about our interests and life in general.