"Things fall down. People look up. And when it rains, it pours."

That is the tagline to Magnolia.

Does it not just sound like one of the most perfect phrases ever stated?? It flows directly off the tongue, nothing complex about it. Simple thoughts. Simple sentences. But altogether a wonderfully poetic flash of genius. 

Things That I Love Today: "Skipper Dan" by "Weird" Al Yankovic

Two "Things That I Love Today" segments in 2 days. I know, right?? I'm finally getting back into this whole blogging thing!!

Anywho, despite its truthfulness, and the inevitability that if I ever do pursue acting as a career, this will in fact happen to me, I still really love this song. It's also nice to see some original "Weird" Al stuff out there. His parodies had their moments, but are all a little timely. 

Here's the song (it won't let me embed it, but here's the link). I enjoy it thoroughly. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNo8LvdOwSk&feature=channel

Things That I Love Today: Taylor Swift

I am not against her music, despite it's girly feel and teenage middle country poppishness. What I really do think is awesome about Taylor Swift though is her ability to transcend the teen star persona and just become a girl who's having a lotta fun with what she's doing. 

I was iffy about her at first, thinking it was another Carrie Underwood type of girl, who made pop songs which eventually led to a country one every now and then. But then she went on to do "Saturday Night Live", and once she finished her set, the look on her face was something of "oh my god, I can't believe I just performed on 'Saturday Night Live'!!" And that was something that really made me respect her a whole lot. You get these new acts out there and they feel that they've made it but the deserve to be there. Not her. She is out there, and time and time again she keeps proving that she is just thankful that she's got as far as she has.

She then goes on to do that T-Swizzle bit at the Grammys and/or Country Music Awards (can't recall which) and now, I get word that she's done this:

She can put out all the Top 40 songs that she wants, I'll still like her for mostly everything else she does beyond her music. 

"Sleep in peace when day is done, that's what I mean."

Today, was a landmark. It was a cavern in the horizon that is my television watching experiences. It was a bright light amongst a string of faulty bulbs. Today, unlike any other day, I finished the series, Six Feet Under. And today, I was moved.

This is of course, not the first time I have ever been deeply affected by a television series. In fact one comes along every 2 or 3 seasons to bring chills down my back, and put my faith back in the idea that quality entertainment and astute artistic visions can still be found out in the abyss. Shows ranging from The West Wing to The Twilight Zone keep me interested in the medium, so much so, that I continually get into new shows because that feeling of seeing something amazing for the first time is something that is just not comparable to any other feeling out there (except maybe the feeling of experiencing something great for every single viewing, which is the most rare). 

Saying that other television shows have moved me though, doesn't really seem to make Six Feet Under all that unique, does it?? Well, this particular show does deserve it's own place inside me. Six Feet Under is just...different than anything else I have ever seen.

Sitcoms have more entertainment value than substance, and dramas move in between melodramatic entertainment and underlying morality checks. Six Feet Under is no exception by those requirements. Where it differs is in the depth of the characters and the feelings that it evoked deep inside of me.

I have indeed been so into a show that I have yelled at the TV in disgust with a certain action. It seems however, never moreso than I have with Six. It has become the single television series that I have ever watched in which I have been filled with as much joy and happiness towards the characters as I have with pure frustration and anger. I have been pissed at shows before, but this...this was something completely new. 

In my previous experiences, I have become enamored with certain aspects of writing and the lives of fiction that the screenwriters have provided me with, but with those examples, there was always an out for me. There was always a safe house for me to identify with through one of the other characters. I would sit there and complain "Oh my god, how could he possibly do that!?" all the while knowing that someone else within the show was at least human enough for me to rely on their decisions to get me through the episode. 

The Fisher family and Company within this series however, demonstrates some utterly despicable behavior though. So much so that I would go episode to episode hating different characters and then liking them the very next episode. It wasn't like this with one or two characters though. It was all of them. Every single character, no matter the time or circumstances, created for themselves this awful situation where I could not simply recognize with them any more. I couldn't sit there, and believe that I wanted everything to go there way, because I really didn't. I tried willing myself to do so, arguing that "maybe I'm just too reserved and am trying to live my life by too strongly restricting guidelines, and these people are the ones who really know how to live." Alas, no luck. 

And of course, I know realize that that was probably the intention of the show. The whole idea that in order to feel the pain that these people are going through the audience must come to identify with not just the good qualities of the main characters, but the bad qualities, is simply exquisite. It is absolutely brilliant and brutal to think about, but in order to really feel for or like any of these people, you must be able to love and hate them. 

That is something that is so profound to think about. A television show kept me engrossed with itself despite the fact that all of it's main characters demonstrated instrumentally terrible behavior throughout. I couldn't wait to see what happened next, even if I hated these people. I have never seen a film, book or television series demonstrate pathos like that. 

So "fuck you very much" Six Feet Under. You made silly putty of my emotions, and now I am exhausted thinking about all you put me through.

And I can only think about how much I wish I could go through that all again. 

Top 100 Movies Of All-Time: #99

99. DOG DAY AFTERNOON (1975, SYDNEY LUMET)

Starring: Al Pacino, John Cazale, Chris Sarandon

Like I said in the previous entry in this series, I'm kind of making this thing up as I go along. The "official" list that I am basing these rankings on tells me that I apparently like Dog Day Afternoon enough to put it at number 99 on the list. So, that's what I'm doing.

In all truthfulness though, it's pretty much a cop out for me to do so. Let me explain.

The first, and only time, I ever watched this movie, was back in high school with a bunch of my friends at Jon's house. I recall sitting in his mom's room (which had more space) and sitting enjoying immensely the undeniably fantastic performance of Pacino throughout this film which I can at least recall being so very, very good. The reason that it is a cop-out for me to place this movie on this list though, is that today, I don't recall all that much, other than the fact that I absolutely adored the film after that first screening.

I simply am putting Lumet's work on the list at 99 because I retained the fact that I loved it as opposed to why I might have done so.

Oh well, I say. It's my list, and I'll cry if I want to!!...or something to that effect.

Anyway, the little that I do recall about the movie allows me to, at least on some level, back up it's entry on the list. The single scene in the film that stuck with me through the years is Sonny's (Pacino) dictating his will. That heartbreaking sequence where the desperate bank-robber finally realizes what is at stake and that there's going to be a chance now that nothing will work out for him, is one of the single greatest examples of acting...well, ever. 

The pain, and the suffering and the embarrassment and all of the dueling emotions that Pacino throws out at his audience makes the scene almost to painful to watch. We are identifying with a man that we shouldn't really have any pathos for. He's simply at the end of his line. It's an incredibly powerful part of the film, and some of the most effective filmmaking you will ever see. 

It is just a shame that Pacino had to go up against Nicholson and Cuckoo's Nest that year. Damn shame. 

Oh and of course the whole relationship between Sarandon's transexual wannabe and Sonny is groundbreaking for American cinema. And of course "Attica! ATTICA!". 

Jeez, I have to watch this movie again soon.

"Here comes your man"

Tomorrow, creativity is happening.