Ramsayings

One of the rare pleasures I had as a video store clerk was being able to enjoy how customers responded to Charlie Kaufman’s work. One such customer was even eager to check out Donald’s stuff after watching Adaptation! For me, Kaufman’s scripts were love letters to outsiders of all shapes and sizes, for whom the pursuit of a “normal” life presents a tremendous challenge. Yet even when some degree of normality is obtained or acceptance achieved, his protagonists remain just out of step with their peers.

Caden Cotard, the man at the center of Synecdoche, New York, is no exception. I spent some time reading Filmbrain’s excellent two-part review (part 1, part 2), but felt that Charlie Kaufman’s motifs remain the same. In Synecdoche, he continues to play with time and space, leaving it up to Cotard to reconcile his place within them, while struggling with infirmity and insecurity. Synecdoche, New York finds Kaufman addressing the creative process in a way he hasn’t since Charlie drove himself to distraction in Adaptation.

It’s hard to say very much about Synecdoche, New York. I was completely mesmerized by the story and the performances, without much more than a passing thought for where the plot might lead. I found it spellbinding. I was completely engrossed in the characters and what they might do next. Does that make me one of Armond White’s “fashion sheep?” Maybe. Do I care? No.

Why? Because part of the joy in seeing movies made by writers and directors like Kaufman, Gondry, Anderson, Reichardt, and others is that they feel like our movies. Their actors feel like our actors.To me, this cinema is Generation X coming to grips with a world it hasn’t shaped in any meaningful way, reflected in Cotard walling himself off from the war-torn reality that exists outside his “theater of the real.” There’s an overwhelming sense of inadequacy and impotence that permeates the movie, and those are two sentiments that could be applied to Generation X if you ask me.

This is the sort of movie I’ll come back to again and again. It’s the sort of movie I’d love to see released in a special edition three-disc set, complete with notes and interviews and documentary footage. There’s no chance that it’ll receive such lavish attention when it comes out on DVD, but one can dream.

Maybe you weren’t with me when I linked to Adolph Reed Jr.’s now infamous “Obama No” piece from the progressive, but you might find Joan Didion’s sober thoughts on the Obama presidency more palatable. From her essay in the New York Review of Books:

No one ever suggested that the candidate himself was drinking the Kool-Aid—if there had been any doubt about this, his initial appointments laid them to rest. In fact it seemed increasingly clear not only that he would welcome some healthy realism but that its absence had become a source of worry. “The exuberance of Tuesday night’s victories,” TheNew York Times reported on November 6, “was also tempered by unease over the public’s high expectations for a party in control of both Congress and the White House amid economic turmoil, two wars overseas and a yawning budget gap.” A headline in the same day’s Times : “With Victory in Hand, Obama Aides Say Task Now Is to Temper High Expectations.”

What’s happening now is pretty much what happened with Bill Clinton. People thought the revolution was at hand and then welfare was more or less abolished. We’re dining on thin political gruel these days, but there are those who call it a feast. It’s time for what remains of the American left to regain its senses and actively pursue a progressive agenda in the face of austerity. It’s our only hope.

Engadget dropped this little tidbit last week about Criterion delaying their Blu-ray launch yet again. Do I suspect anything nefarious? Not really, but I wish Criterion would reconsider dumping money into a format that will never be adopted in any meaningful way. I’m hopeful that their flashy new website (pun intended) is an indication that they may be rethinking Blu-ray and considering some sort of HD digital delivery system.

With the HD Streaming Netflix on New Xbox Experience blowing my mind, I’d hope that they’d find a way to get their content uploaded there to spare the expense of authoring Blu-ray discs. I have my fingers crossed.

I laughed when I read this at Pitchfork. They threw a similar tantrum when I saw them in July 1996, playing 20 plus minutes of feedback, allegedly because they’d been asked to play longer to avoid traffic snarls with the crowd leaving a Phillies game. Some things never change, huh?

These 90′s reunions would be much more appealing if the bands could seriously get their acts together. I’ve skipped Stone Temple Pilots and Smashing Pumpkins simply because I expected both to be disastrous, not to mention that it feels too soon for these reunions. (I’m looking hard at you too, Pavement.)

Marathon shoes, originally uploaded by Blackmail Is My Life.

23 weeks of training came to fruition yesterday as I completed the Philadelphia Marathon in 3:13:33. I ran through three pair of Puma sneakers, the last three I had from my Philebrity Fit Club winnings. They served me well. I ran over 750 miles in the past six months, and they were with me every step of the way.

Want some highlights? Of course you do!

• It was crazy cold. I’ve read that it was 27 degrees at the start, but 19 with the wind chill. For context, consider this: the air horn that would’ve signaled the start froze! Mayor Nutter had to countdown the start.
• I ran most of the race behind a man who wore shorts, no shirt. Need I say more?
• That crazy cold made for some crazy conditions. The water was freezing on the street at the water stations, making a difficult run treacherous. I tip-toed through them gingerly, fingers crossed. I didn’t fall, so that technique clearly worked.
• The course map was wrong! I think people had an idea that we wouldn’t be running up South St. as it’s been torn up. We ran up Spruce instead, which meant running across some Belgian block. How quaint! Sprain an ankle in a colonial style!
• There are cars parked on the course. Periodically the Clif pace runner would call for fans to step back off Chestnut St., which would really help, except they were actually protecting us from the cars parked on the course. I didn’t see anyone wipe out on a hood of a parked vehicle, but it was definitely possible.
• Speaking of wipeouts I didn’t stop to watch: I was running in Fairmount Park when suddenly the pack parted and I saw a white flash in my peripheral vision. I identified it as a shoe. Its owner was in hot pursuit, diving back for it against the oncoming runners. Like I said, I didn’t wait to see if he was trampled. I hope not.
• The Clif bar pace guy was great, but: he ran the first half of the marathon behind pace, and then made up the difference in the second half. This was a disaster for a runner like myself, who needs to stick to one pace and run like a human metronome.
• A half-marathon is a piece of cake. Everyone should do one. I wasn’t crowing like this in September when I ran my first, but now I think it’s safe to say that 13.1 miles just isn’t that far. It seems far, but if you take the time to prepare yourself, you can totally run this distance. Think about it.
• Running fans make funny signs. The funniest I remember reading read: Bet U Wish U Taped Ur Nipples Today. I didn’t, but I laughed anyway. I needed to laugh. I just finished running Lemon Hill.
• Speaking of hills, Philadelphia isn’t as flat as everyone says. It’s hard to visualize just where the course takes you, so the little hills here and there really catch you by surprise. Fairmount was tough; Lemon Hill was tougher; and that last little overpass into Manayunk was the worst.
• Everything you hear about the last 6.2 miles is true. I ran 20 mile training runs three times. I was consistently able to dig in and run the last four miles up to 20 seconds faster than my workout pace. Not so on Sunday. I sputtered to 8 minute miles by mile 22. Should I have eaten another gel? Maybe, but there wasn’t much left in the tank anyway.
• Having said that, I think that I went out too fast. The adrenaline was flowing and I felt great in those first seven miles. I cranked out a sub-7 mile somewhere in there. Didn’t mean to, but I did. Did it hurt me? Probably, but I still managed a 7:19/mile average on the run.
• Anything else? I’m already looking forward to next year’s marathon. I really wanted to qualify for Boston and I just missed it this year. I don’t feel badly about it; I only spent six months training for this one and I nearly did it. I plan to rest, recover from this run, get some new sneakers (possibly Pearl Izumis), buy a running jacket, and stay frosty this winter. I hope I see you out there!
• Last, but not least: I want to extend a special thanks to Ross and Bryan from Philadelphia Runner. I can’t say enough how great these guys are and how welcome I feel every time I walk into their stores. Their support and encouragement were wonderful. Ross even handed me a water along the course!