Day: November 7, 2023

I wasn’t looking forward to NYAD, having heard mostly mezzo-mezzo responses since Telluride. But you know what? It isn’t half bad. And I really admired Annette Bening’s titular performance as well as Jodie Foster’s best friend-slash-trainer performance, which everyone feels should be a Best Supporting Actress nominee. I’ll elaborate later but this a completely decent sports saga about dogged, never-say-die persistence. Bening’s willingness to jump into the rage pool and expose herself outside the vanity realm is quite brave and in keeping with Nyad’s personality…seriously impressive.

@womensfootwearinamerica So inspiring! #nyad #diananyad #marathonswimming #inspiringmovie ♬ The Champion – Lux-Inspira

…gets my vote and then some.

I’ve re-watched Steven Soderbergh‘s utterly brilliant, reality-grounded Traffic three or four times since it opened on 12.27.00. I’ve rewatched Ridley Scott‘s efficiently made but overly emphatic Gladiator exactly zero times since it opened on 5.1.00. What does that tell you or at least suggest?

[Paywall-posted on 5.5.23] A reasonably decent HE parody piece, posted earlier today by Seasonal Aflac Disorder:

“I’m lying in the L.A. County morgue, literally and figuratively chilling, and I hate to admit I’ve left a much nicer corpse than some of my fellows filed in the other cabinets. What the hell with all the gas and sounds? Have some dignity, Jesus. They took out the vitals and weighed them yesterday on the scale with good numbers all around, much better than anyone else in here.

“The amount of obesity, male pattern baldness and poor dentistry — all avoidable with visits to Prague or Tijuana, respectively — that could have been avoided is irritating beyond belief. One young woman left a nice corpse, and honestly, I can tell she appreciated the work I put into myself. The morlock who catalogued my clothing could hardly appreciate my fine Italian loafers and carelessly threw them in the cardboard box, and in so doing wrinkled my linen slacks.

“So far the afterlife is fairly mezzo mezzo, if you know what I mean. I expected some big flash of white light or something, not a flowing-robed Jesus or bullshit like that, but c’mon! Death, honestly, feels a lot like Parasite when they let the maid back in…”

[Posted on 5.4.15] The very first time I’ve ever heard that familiar John Williams theme coming out of a wooden, 1930s-era radio. It’ll probably turn out to be the last time. The radio is located at Dun-Well Doughnuts on Montrose near Bushwick. But that’s not the point.

The waitress behind the counter spoke with the usual mincing, sexy-baby, beep-uh-duh-beep-beep vocal fry. When she asked if I wanted soy or almond milk (as they have no dairy), it sounded like “deebeedeesoyahahmand?” Uhm…are you asking if I want regular or low-fat milk? “M’sayingweeyonlyhavesoyahmand.” Soy or…? “Soyahamand.” Which is the least problematic? “Soy.”