I’m jumping over that strange Easter Monday where the weather seemed to suddenly announce the end of summer (one month late), because work and life got in the way, as it often does. The main pop culture activity I did that day was to watch the two Richard Linklater films, Everybody Wants Some and Boyhood, back to back. So good, I love Linklater. Much of what I could say about those films is contained within a podcast I made called Richard Linklater on my archived Swamp Podcast page. Check it out, if you like. But the short version is, Everybody is a kind of sequel to Linklater’s Dazed and Confused, and Boyhood is a unique time lapse experience that only has the Seven Up films to compare it to (and maybe the Harry Potter films). I’m mentioning them here because there was some thematic continuation about Boyhood at least that spilled over into today.
At work in the library there was a patron who looked like a doppelganger for Ellar Coltrane, the actor who played Mason Jr, the main character of Boyhood, who we see grow up in real time. This version of Mason was a more down on his luck version, mind you, holing up in a corner of the Adult Fiction shelves, on his phone, creating a bit of a stink because I think he was homeless. My colleague refused to go into that section to shelve because of the odor he was emitting. Near the end of my shift, as we were about to close up, he came up to my counter to give back the phone charger he’d borrowed. His t-shirt was torn, and there were some marks on his face, but he was a strikingly handsome lad all the same, like Ellar in the film. I detected in his speech and manner a certain awkwardness, that slight lost quality I’ve noticed in other homeless people (libraries are a magnet for them, and I’ve seen many of them). I could be wrong about him, and I hope I am, but I hope he’ll be okay.
One other way that film spilled over into today was my colleague (let’s call her Peggy) who shared the evening shift with me. I didn’t know her well, but she filled me in on her life as we worked. It turned out, like Mason’s mom in the film (who was played by Patricia Arquette), she’s an ’empty nester’ now her daughter is moving out. And, like the mom, she’s single again after going through a couple of husbands. I also hope she’ll be okay. Finally, I liken myself to the Ethan Hawke character in the film. He’s the boy’s father. There’s a scene where he gives Mason Jr a present of a cd album he’d compiled called The Beatles Black Album. It’s made up of the best of their solo stuff after the band broke up. A classic Richard Linklater pop culture detail. I have made such an album myself, because like Mason Sr, that’s the way my mind works. I hope I’ll be okay, too.
On this incredibly sunny Easter Sunday out of the box I caught a bit of the film Almost Famous on the free-to-air. It was only a couple of minutes, but it was classic scene after classic scene. ‘I am a golden god!’ Tiny Dancer on the bus. ‘Tell Ben Fong Torres it’s a think piece.’ ‘Let’s deflower the kid!’ (this from a pre Sookie Stackhouse Anna Pacquin). ‘Rock stars have kidnapped my son.’ ‘It’s a think piece.’ Ben Fong Torres: ‘I like what I’m hearing.’ Cameron Crowe is a genius. And he was married to Nancy Wilson of Heart. Still surfing the fta I encounter The Movie Show with Margaret and David. SBS have been screening old episodes all month. I’m surprised to see Margaret’s reviewing the classic anime film by Satoshi Kon, Perfect Blue. She’s impressed by the animation, but not the script and gives it a mere 3 out of 5 stars. Sacrilege! I can’t go into all the ways that is a mind-blowing and influential film. Shame on you, Margaret. It was a good show for its time, but streaming and social media have pretty much superseded the format. I had another listen to Brian Wilson’s Smile. So good. I think I’m ready for the Beach Boys’ version. I have a good Uncut Ultimate Music Guide magazine dedicated to the Beach Boys, and in it there’s a section on Brian’s solo work, including this album. It gives the album 5 stars and describes how Brian set about ‘rummaging through the Capitol archives in search of the master tapes and then set about creatively recreating them, with Van Dyke Parks filling in the gaps and completing the lyrics.’ In this second go-round I focused a bit on the connective tissue between each of the songs and the overall concept. There’s a lot to unpack, and although there seems to be a tension between Parks’ heavy literate, almost baroque words and Wilson’s lighter, at times whimsical intentions, the whole thing does gel. I especially like how the song Vege-tables is such a silly song (‘I’ll jump and down till you toss me a carrot’ is so Brian) but it’s about literally the earthiest food group. The only song that sits slightly uncomfortably for me here is actually Good Vibrations. Although it feels like a good ending song, ‘the vibe’ as such takes me out of what has preceded it, probably because the lyrics are largely those of Mike Love. No doubt a thesis could be written about all this (and probably has), but I won’t go into one here. Maybe later.
Besides all the scintillating pop culture talk there was a little commotion in the library today when another colleague, Lauren, discovered a spider in a display she was dismantling. It was a small but ugly little black thing. Lauren and Julia gasped, then Lauren grabbed some insect spray and, egged on by Julia, was gonna do the deed, when I suggested I could be macho and catch it and rehabilitate it. But they demurred. Dey de-murd-ered – sumpin’ like dat. I think someone’s going to spider hell, ooh yeah. Speaking of…The latest news from Gaza has international aid workers driving three clearly marked vans deliberately targeted and killed by Israel (though Israel says it was a ‘mistake’), and finally the western media is up in arms. After more than 150 Palestinian aid workers have been killed in similar attacks. One general bleated Israel has a right to protect itself. Yes, protect itself from people delivering food. Aid agencies said they were stopping operations for their own safety. Which I guess was the plan all along. Can’t give no comfort or aid to them Palestinians, can we? Blood-suckers.
And the hits keep coming – this time with Twitter/X. I tend to be a lurker, but I like to repost items that interest me for ready reference. There were a lot today! Check out my Twitter for what I reposted, but here’s a brief rundown. Twice Mina striking the most insanely adorable pose ever – in slomo. Liam O’Neill‘s angry post eviscerating the ABC for its protection of news presenter Fauziah Ibrahim‘s right wing activities while it sacked another presenter for comments made about Gaza. A wonderful clip of Twice fans making their own video for the song One Spark. A funny post from Jokien reminding us that Jesus, Gandalf, Palpatine and the Terminator all share the ‘I’ll be back’ concept. And lastly, a terrific thread on how Kpop group NMixx have so many already iconic songs. Social media, and especially Twitter/X, get a bad rap (especially from the MSM, I wonder why?), but damn, I reckon it’s indispensable. |
 So, first I checked out the Cash Converters, but saw nothing of interest, apart from a Cardcaptor Sakura anime film, which sort of tempted me, but not enough. The store is long past its prime, where back in the day it had amazing items, like a complete set of Bubblegum Crisis figurines and a stack of classic anime dvds and old comic books. I so wanted those figurines, but they were too expensive. At the newsagents I got a magazine called Ultimate Scifi Retro Collection. It’s by SFX. When I picked it up and turned to a random page, I saw my favourite author, Ursula Le Guin, staring back at me. It was a page of notable scifi authors and books. Unbelievably, it also featured The Airtight Garage of Jerry Cornelius graphic novel by Moebius, an obscure touchstone artifact from my misspent youth reading Heavy Metal magazine. I had to buy that mag. I looked it over while having delicious coffee and cake at a nearby cafe. I then bought a book, Japanese For Busy People, in an op shop. This was a significant purchase, as it seems to suggest I will definitely go back to Japan in the future (with hopefully a better command of the language). In another op shop I bought a hardback copy of Lady of the Trillium, by Marion Zimmer Bradley. I have the first in the series, Black Trillium, also in hardback. That one was written by Bradley, Julian May and Andre Norton, a gaggle of witchy scifi writers. Then I picked up a Doris Day dvd collection that features all three of the films she made with Rock Hudson. I love Doris, and I especially love that second film, Lover Come Back. Also grabbed Curtis Mayfield In Concert on dvd. Can’t wait to see that one. Poor Curtis, he became paralyzed when part of a lighting rig fell on him during a gig in 1990. But what a voice. It was a fun day out. When I got home I listened to and digitized those singles I bought at the Box Hill Record Fair. It was a pretty mixed bag. The best were the Mi Sex singles and the Redhouse single, I Like Dancing. All in good condition and I’d forgotten how catchy the latter was. I looked them up in my Australian Encyclopedia of Rock by Noel McGrath and discovered the song came out in 1976. I’m still not sure if they’re the band I saw at the local roller rink. It might have been MEO245. Though my mate Rui cites seeing Redhouse at our high school back then, so they were around. The Little Feat single was probably the worst. The A-side actually has Linda Ronstadt singing a live version of All That You Dream. Wtf? The B-side has a badly edited live version of Feats Don’t Fail Me Now. What a waste! The Flower Pot Men single, Let’s Go To San Francisco, was in shocking condition, what I call a Rice Bubbles record – lots of snap, crackle and pop. Not a bad Beach Boys pastiche though. Songwriter John Carter went on to produce another Beach Boys-flavoured number in Beach Baby by First Class. The Flower Pot Men touring band briefly had Jon Lord of Deep Purple in it, and it’s suggested this song was the one lampooned in This Is Spinal Tap, whose first fictional hit is Listen to the Flower People. Supermarket chain Coles has lately been putting up barriers in their self-check areas, I guess to stop customers running off with unpaid goods. Personally, I don’t care as I have no intention of ripping then off (even if they’re happy to rip me off). But for other people, like my older brother, this is a high offence. He says he won’t go there anymore. He calls that area in the store ‘a prison’, and he’s kind of right. He also reckons he won’t buy any perishable goods (especially food) if they’re from China, therefore he doesn’t frequent Aldi either. I actually have lost track of where our food and goods come from, but I assume much of it’s from China (Australia’s number one trading partner). I’m not much of a label reader. If it’s something I want, and the price is right, I buy it. The only bit of ‘mindful’ consumption I do these days is I never frequent Harvey Norman stores, Woolworths stores and avoid Coke products and Starbucks. I do this ‘divestment’ (good word) for political reasons I won’t go into here. But I think we should keep this ‘mindful consumption’ idea in mind when we’re shopping. It’s a good habit to have.
Had dinner at a friend’s place and we ended up watching the Melbourne Comedy Festival Allstars show on ABC. Was pretty good entertainment, but the acts were very hit and miss. I’m not much of a comedy fan so I hardly knew any of them. Rather than the jokes I was more interested in each comedian’s subject matter. Drugs and sex were popular topics. Jenny Tian‘s rap about combining giving head with playing Mortal Kombat was brilliant. I wondered what topic I would choose if I was a comedian. It would probably be something political ala Bill Hicks. And something edgy, I mean real edgy. Wouldn’t it be great if some comedian got up and did a skit on Gaza and Israel? How to make comedy out of that? Or too soon? I’m thinking of a skit on our Minister for Foreign Affairs, Penny Wong, and what seems to be her Israel stance. Earlier in the year she described the situation there as ‘complicated’, then ‘unacceptable’ when an Australian aid worker got killed. I see her wagging her finger and doing the sassy neck jerk thing with a faux American accent: “Unacceptable, Benjamin!” She takes exception to that, but not over 30,000 civilians dead? You’re wong, Penny, very wong…Mmm, that last part a bit racist? Yeah, don’t think I’ll give up my day job. We also took in an old Shaun Micallef’s Mad As Hell from when Covid was happening. There was no audience, due to social distancing, and a lot of the humour was about Covid. Shaun showed a crazy clip of (then President) Trump describing the virus and sounding like a clueless little child. To emphasise the cluelessness, Micallef pointed out everything Trump said was wrong (wong? – except maybe that it was a ‘small’ virus). It was weird how nostalgic it all felt. |
