Believer Day

 Always a good day when The Believer arrives!

25 Hours!

 Cory Booker for President!

Both

Both my kids came to see me during lunch yesterday. My son usually eats here. My daughter came to cool down for a few minutes after an April Fools prank was played on her by a friend. This is the only year I will have both kids on campus at the same time so I try to enjoy it!  

First of April

 This is a nice joke 

More from Soonertown

 

Forgetters

Just finished book three out of the six part Forgetters series of novellas by Dave Eggers. The plan I guess is that this will make up one complete story. Keeper of the Ornaments is poignant and a fast read. Each story features someone who has lost connection and is forced or stumbles into reconnecting to humanity. All have been very realistic depictions so far. I got the last two on my night stand ready to go. 

Boomer and Sooner

 

Chronicles

This was a wild ride of a memoir. Chronicles, Volume One by Bob Dylan reads more like a work of beat poetry than a straight-forward autobiography. This is not a chronological retelling of a life, more of a collection of insightful observations about what Dylan was experiencing at various moments of his life. Dylan doesn't even let chronology get in the way. There's a substantial section dedicated to the process of creating one his lesser known albums (I mean, Dylan fans will know the great Oh Mercy but compared to some of his other works it falls quite a bit down in levels of public recognition). 

The writing is mesmerizing. The story-telling is hypnotic. The deep insights are not un-surprising coming from a Pulitzer and Nobel winning song-writer. Sure, this will be a great draw for budding Dylanologists but fans of memoir will get into it as well. This was written in 2004, can't believe it took me so long to finally come around to it. By the way, it has been twenty years and no Volume Two. This also doesn't surprise long time Dylan fans. With Robert Zimmerman, you never know...he could drop it into the universe tomorrow like an asteroid from the Kuiper Belt. He might even skip volume two and go straight to three (like they did with the Traveling Wilburys).

Reminds me that a couple of weeks ago I was walking in walmart wearing a shirt I got at a Dylan concert. An old man, this guy looked wise and wizened, a blue-vest wearing employee of the Waltons. He stared at my shirt as I passed him. He looked like the modern version of old bluesman Robert Johnson. Looks me in the eye and says in a deep deep voice from the dawn of time "Bob Dylan. He has it." I said "yes sir he does." that was it, and he kept on walking.

Touch of Evil

I was gifted this movie on Blu-Ray a couple of weeks ago for my birthday. This movie is weird but I really like it. Touch of Evil is over 60 years old but so many of the issues ring true in modern times...racism, corruption, generation gaps, etc. This movie often feels very modern. 

I first saw it thirty years ago. At the time I didn't realize there were other versions. The theatrical cut I saw was one that had been heavily altered by the studios against the wishes of Orson Welles, the director of the film. Studio seems to be a running theme in Welles's career. In the late 90's a re-cut based on a thorough memo by Welles himself was released. I watched that one when it came out and enjoyed the movie even more. And apparently there was a preview cut that was eventually heavily edited into the theatrical cut. 

My Blu-Ray has all three cuts. I've only watched the re-constructed cut on my blu-ray. Someday I'll have to check out the other cuts as well. I remember the theatrical cut featuring a brassy score by Henry Mancini. I did re-watch the famous one-shot opening for both the theatrical and re-constructed versions. Mancini's score is pretty cool but the Welles's version seems more realistic. I like both. 

Again, it's a strange flick. It has awesome set pieces, like filming a car actually driving through the streets without the fake screen background prevalent in the day. All the acting is great. Yes, a bit hard to see Charlton Heston as Mexican. Welles is fantastic as both director and actor.

Tired

 This is why I’m so tired.