Year-End Round-Up

This will be shorter than my typical "best of" posts from the past. With work, family, hobbies, obligations, there really just wasn't a whole lot of time for media consumption... There are a number of movies I didn't see that I would have loved to have seen, but it's already the end of January, so I'm going to go ahead and throw out what I've got, and if there's something exceptional I see on disc, I'll address it then...

MUSIC

The Satanist (Behemoth) - This CD is a couple years old at this point, but I've listened to it a lot this year, and there wasn't anything else that topped it. A masterful piece of metal, it grabs you by the throat and pummels you through the aether. Ridiculously fast, hard-hitting - the very definition of brutal - but there are moments of grace and beauty in the depths as well. One of the best metal albums I've ever heard.






BOOKS

The Familiar: Vol. 3 - Into the Forest (Mark Z Danielewski) - At times, it's understandable and even agreeable why Danielewski's latest could be called a big pretentious slog. But there's such beauty here, such power, such insight... if you give it a chance, the book will confuse you, entrance you, and even inspire you.






MOVIES

Swiss Army Man (dir. Dans) - Literally the most artsy-fartsy movie you could ever see, I loved almost every minute of it. Weird, unpredictable, touching, poignant... Swiss Army Man is at its best when it's free-wheeling between humanist angst and scatological absurdity; it drags a bit at the end when it tries to anchor itself in reality, but just about everything else about is a joyous celebration of life, love, lust, loss... Can't recommend it enough. My favorite this year.





Everybody Wants Some!! (dir. Richard Linklater) - This "spiritual sequel" to Dazed and Confused is at times more like an 80s-inspired remake... but it still never fails to deliver. A smile on my face from the opening song, Everybody Wants Some!! doesn't have the same ingenuity as Dazed and Confused, but it is more mature and polished. This comes a more confident filmmaker.

The whole Trump thing (no, not that one - the recent one)

Considering the sheer number of ridiculous statements the man makes, this may become a continuing entry, but for now...

I don't understand the outrage over Meryl Streep's speech at the Golden Globes. Once you get past the "look at us privileged people from humble beginnings" introduction, the content is quite elegant and hard to argue against.

(1) Primary message: be empathetic and compassionate to others, especially if you are in a position of power and the other is not.

(2) Secondary message: the press is accountable to the truth only, not to authority.
(3) Tertiary message: diversity matters.

I think if you showed somebody a transcript with the name removed, or even just talked about the actual content of the speech, they would be hard-pressed to say those are controversial messages.

So... why the "controversy"?

She never mentioned Trump by name, and I don't think anyone could justifiably call what she said "an attack"... There was no defamatory statement about Mr Trump. She said she was disgusted by his flagrant mocking of a disabled reporter, and that led into the statement on empathy. Again... why the controversy?

There's this implication that Hollywood is out of touch with "the common man," that liberal elites should "shut up and [do whatever they're paid to do]" rather than comment on politics... but Hollywood has been out of touch for a long time, so that's not the issue. And telling someone to not talk about something because you don't like what they're saying is just a childish thing to say - they can say anything, just as you can say anything in response.

One of the pillars of our democracy is that nobody is above scrutiny. Obama caught a lot of flak over his eight years - some of it deserved, some of it not. Would you have been just as outraged if Streep had been talking about him? If so, then you should look at your own biases.

What's more troubling in my mind is Trump's response... Because, really, who cares what Meryl Streep has to say? Even if she had outright insulted him or gone on this lengthy tirade, her statements are not going to affect anybody or anything. They're getting attention, but they'll be forgotten soon enough. Trump, however, will soon take office as the most powerful man in the world, and what was his response? To belittle her directly, and then go on the defensive to justify himself as right about months-old statements referring to a story about 9/11, all of which have proven false.

So, if Streep bugged you that much, or you're just generally outraged by the Hollywood elite, some suggestions...

(1) Take a breath. There are a lot of outspoken liberals involved in the movie-making process. But there are conservatives as well. It's everyone's right to say whatever they please.

(2) Boycott Meryl Streep. If it's that big a deal, don't watch her movies.

(3) Boycott Hollywood. Again - if you feel so strongly, do something about it. If you hate uppity liberal Hollywood and how much money they have and blah blah blah... then just don't give them money. Done.

For the Record (cue: needle drop)

We've done this song and dance before, you and I...




It's been (apparently) about eighteen months since my last entry (itself about eighteen months after its own previous entry), and I've got that itch again...


As it so often does, the keyboard calls for action.



After my first major break from writing, I started this blog and wrote a couple (what I hope were good) short stories. I can't guarantee the same will happen this time - but I've got the call again, and I'm hoping to answer it justly.




Goals for the New Year
(1) Write - at least a little bit - most days of the week. This will, likely, devolve into my insipid opinions on movies, books, or whatever media I've just consumed, but hopefully there will be at least a few nuggets of substance sprinkled in there somewhere. And even more hopefully, I'll be able to write something new.

(2) Finish a two-year-old story... No details, but I was cruising for a while on a story that had some really nice individual pieces, but then hit the inevitable road block, and it's been sitting untouched ever since. The hope is that the physical act of writing more will get me back into the rhythm, so I can find and complete the rest of the story.

(3) Other stuff - more mundane. Saving money, raising a happy healthy child, living healthier, all the other usual stuff people say at the start of the year.




Good luck to you and yours. I hope you'll wish the same to me and mine.