Well, Big Jimbo

Finally gets pardoned.  (I guess I should I should tread carefully here cuz some of my friends love Jimbo so) but my love, adoration, and respect for Morrison melted away many many years ago now.  I know I know, I was not there (well, I was but I was an infant) when he re-wrote the rock singer rule book and that may be why he means so little to me now.  I think the first album is still smashing, particularly Whisky Bar, Break On Through, Light My Fire, Crystal Ship but after that it is painfully obv to me that Morrison either started repeating himself and/or half-assing it lyrically for the entire rest of his career.  I think Manzarek & Kreiger were fabulous musicians, too, and that their talents were essentially wasted after the eponymous debut.

Jimbo gets a pass

You know what else is painfully obv to me after reading the NYT movie page last Friday? Manohla Dargis kicks A.O. Scott's ass left, right, & sideways every stinking week.  Maybe Ms Dargis did not want the top movie review job but she certainly deserves it.  Here are two examples each from just a couple of days ago, like I said:  Dargis reviews Vengeance & The Tourist.  Scott reviews The Fighter and And Everything Is Going Fine.  Dargis' reviews are fast, whip-smart, crackling quick reads that actually reflect, particularly Vengeance, the type of film she is reviewing.  Scott's reviews are plodding and dull that give off no light whatsoever of the fun and mystery of movies.  (Dargis did get scooped, though, by our own, SFChronicle reviewer, Mick LaSalle aboot The Tourist being a remake of a 2005 French film [but LaSalle is an absolute nut for French cinema, one of his best features.])

Here is a quote from her review of The Tourist:

"[Mr Depp] likes tunneling into his characters, preferably under a thick smear of makeup and flamboyant threads, which is why he's never made sense in mainstream romance.  There's no place for him to hide with Frank, so he stands around trying to look hapless as Ms Jolie grabs the lead.  There's definitely some amusement in watching her come to his rescue, a role reversal the movie only flirts with.  But oh how much more fun it would have been if Mr Depp had really played the girl, eyeliner and all."

Why can't I write like that? (Hopefully I will someday.)  That paragraph sizzles.  I would use the word flirt in everything if I could.  And flamboyant is great, almost an internal rhyme with tunneling.  Thick smear of makeup?!  And she is right, too, Depp should have played the girl.  That is a film I might think about seeing.  


Here is a quote from Scott's review of And Everything Is Going Fine:  

"What caused this gentle man, with two young sons (one of whom, Forrest, composed music for this film) and a place of honor in the imaginative life of New York and the rest of America, to end his life? There is no simple answer, of course, but someone might have turned an exploration of the question into a funny, illuminating and poignant piece of theater.  Or, failing that, a movie, which is what Mr Soderbergh has done."

Now that is more like the way I tend to write, sadly.  You lose the thread of this paragraph starting with the parenthetical.  And, like me, it has this detached, faux high-style air about it that smugly whispers from a pedestal (or soapbox.)  I understand he is writing about a suicide, tough sledding there, but all of his paragraphs are like this:  cold, detached, and literary, whereas Dargis gets in the sandbox and uses all the tools at her disposal to bring life to the films she reviews.

Here is Ms Dargis' review of Vengeance.  Here is Scott's of The Fighter.  Tell me what you think.

Radio-Coteau Sonoma Pinot Noir

The Radio-Coteau was a present from my Sweetie.  She got it at Paul Marcus.  I am not a big California Pinot guy.  I like a couple of Barnett Anderson Valley ones and some Carneros ones by Kent Rasmussen and Truchard but the Radio-Coteau was sooo lovely.  The fruit was in perfect balance, not overbearing at all.  The oak integrated after one glass and a couple of swirls.  It was not earthy or pine-y like some have described it as and it was not like a Burgundy but it was wonderful.  We had it with sausage raviolis and broccolini fried in pancetta with just the right amount of chili pepper flakes on top.  Wonderful.

Thanks, Sweetie.

Now it is off to the Red Zone to see if I can win the store NFL football pick-'em.  I was sooooo close last week.

Love you all, mwah!

mds