The Year of the Dog (2007)

Starring former Saturday Night Live cast member Molly Shannon, The Year of the Dog was a sad and poignant movie. Shannon plays an old maid, a 40-something woman who has given up on dating and getting married. She is a seemingly independent woman; she owns a home and a car, and works as a secretary at a company near her home in California. And when she’s not at work, Shannon’s character, Peggy, spends all of her time with her totally adorable Beagle, Pencil. We barely have time to get attached to Pencil, as he dies about five minutes into the movie.

The rest of the film is about how she copes with her loss, and it is a major downward spiral into emotional instability. Firstly, most of the people in Peggy’s life seem to have toxic personalities and are very unsupportive. She has friends at work, and a relationship with her brother and his wife and children. Her “friends” at work seem self-centered, and instead of relating to Peggy about her loss, or at least giving her time to grieve, they try to distract her by encouraging her to go out and find a man, go see a funny movie, and basically forget all about her poor little dog who died only that morning.

Trying to move on, Peggy goes on a horrific date with her neighbor, played superbly by John C. Reilly. The man’s house is decorated with deer and moose heads mounted on the wall, and as a child he even shot his own dog accidentally during a hunting trip. Peggy then adopts a new dog, a huge German Shepard who was abused and has behavioral problems. She starts falling in love and becoming heavily influenced by the dog’s trainer, who is vegan, and gay (though she heartbreakingly doesn’t find out about the latter until later in the film). Peggy decides to become a vegan, starts volunteering for the ASPCA and learning about non-profit organizations that rescue farm animals from being slaughtered. This is where Peggy starts going crazy. After being romantically rejected by her dog trainer, she realizes that she has always been disappointed by people, and relates to animals much better than people. And it’s sad. Don’t get me wrong; I love animals, especially dogs. I have never had a dog, but I love it when you pass them on the street, and they smile at you, or you can tell that they’re feeling sad. They have feelings just like people, and give so much love.

So Peggy starts stealing money from the company she works for to donate to organizations like PETA. She has a harder and harder time relating to people, her new dog mauls another dog and is euthanized, she is fired from her job for stealing, and she adopts 15 dogs from the pound to rescue them from being killed. Her house becomes a disaster area, and there is Peggy, lost in the chaos, but loving the company and love her house full of rambunctious dogs gives her.

In the end, after attempting to murder her neighbor, who she believes killed Pencil by leaving slug poisoning out, Peggy joins a group that protests animal cruelty, and we see her on a bus, headed towards her future.

Though her character was an extreme example, I think many of us fear becoming “the crazy cat lady,” or being old and alone, and not being able to relate to people.

There was a lovely overdubbed monologue at the end of the film, where Peggy talks about love. How some people love other people, some people love power, or money, or material things. But how she loves animals, and knows it’s her calling to save as many as she can. I didn’t cry at the end of the movie. But I did cry in the car on the way home, thinking about love, and wondering, at the end of a relationship, or when someone you love dies, where does the love go? It’s still inside of you, aching to come out, to be expressed, even if the person, or dog you love is gone. So maybe all of us become a little bit like Peggy. We try to find some other way to express that love, to put it back into the world, where it can do some good.

Springtime for Spitzer, or Thunderballs 2007: The 107th New York Legislative Correspondents Association show

It was so much fun to see the Legislative Correspondents Association show this weekend in Albany, which was a James Bond-themed satire of state politics and national events. It is amazing to me all the work the performers put into the show. They’re not being paid. They’re just doing it for fun. And the good time they’re having really comes across to the audience.

The show centered around the premise of New York Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver plotting to laser remove what’s left of Governor Eliot Spitzer’s hair, in hopes that it will force Spitzer to do their bidding.

The show was performed twice. The Friday night performance was a lot of fun. There were many young people in the audience. I believe many of them were legislative aides, or friends and family members of the performers. People felt free to laugh at jokes about the governor and the myriad of political figures who were mocked.

Saturday night was a black-tie dinner event. Spitzer and Bruno were in attendance, along with several state senators and assembly members. And frankly, it was a lot harder to laugh about Spitzer’s know-it-all attitude when he was sitting, literally, two feet behind me. I kept turning around to take sneak peeks at him, and he seemed to be laughing and taking it all in stride. And after Phil Bayly’s impressive performance of “Thunderballs,” a song about Spitzer’s, well, you can figure it out, I heard the governor comment that at least the song was complimentary.

There were three rebuttals after the Saturday night performance, all delightful in their own way. Sen. Malcolm Smith and several other politicos performed “ZOPA Cabana.” From the best I can gather, ZOPA stands for zone of potential agreement. It’s a political term describing when legislators step over party lines in order to get funding for a particular issue. And Spitzer showed a very charming little film, which can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJ8W19E4O54. But the guy who really brought down the house was Chris Callaghan, who performed a medley of satirical songs about him losing the comptroller election, a portion of which can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ry0NuyoFl2c.

The show could not have come together without all the hard work of the members and alumni of the LCA, especially show chair Melissa Mansfield, who made a great Paula Abdul and dairy princess Kirsten Gillibrand.

I wanted to share the lyrics with you for one of my favorite songs in the show, “Kiss Eliot’s Behind,” which is sung to the tune of “This Little Light of Mine.”

"Come on folks it time, to kiss Eliot’s behind. You may think he’s slime, but kiss Eliot’s behind. Let’s all get in line, and kiss Eliot’s behind. Get behind, get behind, Spitzer’s behind. You can vote for Bush, but kiss Eliot’s fat tush. Your bills may need a push, so kiss Eliot’s fat tush. Don’t forget to gush, then kiss Eliot’s fat tush. Get behind, get behind, Spitzer’s behind. Come on folks it’s time, to kiss Eliot’s behind. You may think he’s slime, but kiss Eliot’s behind. Let’s all get in line, and kiss Eliot’s behind. Get behind, get behind, Spitzer’s behind.”

Spiderman 3 (2007)

Well, it’s Spiderman! It has to be exciting!

The third installment of the Spiderman series opened in theaters today. I woke up this morning and said to myself, “I’m going to see Spiderman!” And I did. The movie was showing at least every half an hour starting at 3 a.m. at the theater near me (in addition to the midnight showing last night). The theater was pretty empty when I saw the movie. After all, it was 10:45 a.m. on a Friday, and most people are at work or at school. So I saw the movie with a bunch of unemployed people (myself included in that group), toddlers, and a baby who screamed through most of the movie. It was quite an experience.

I thought the way the director, Sam Raimi, opened the film was great. As the opening credits ran, we saw scenes from Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2. It was a great way to remind the audience of the plots of the previous films.

Geeky Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) gets a bit of a big head in this film. New Yorkers love Spider-Man, and Peter is enjoying all the glory. Unfortunately, it gets in the way of him connecting emotionally and relating to his girlfriend, MJ (Kirsten Dunst). And we’ve all been there. Well, we haven’t all been Spider-Man. But at some point or another, we’ve all been a little too absorbed in our own lives, and wound up hurting the people we love because of it.

And there are three bad guys in the movie! Venom, played by That 70’s Show’s Eric Forman (also known at Topher Grace) was very cool and scary. The Sand Man was played by Thomas Haden Church, who I remember as the dopey custodian on Wings. Plus Peter’s friend Harry Osborn becomes the New Goblin, played by James Franco.

Frankly, the plot is not that interesting. There are a lot of bad guys. They die; they come back, they die again, they come back again. The middle of the movie was even a little dull. And Peter Parker’s physical changes when the black suit symbiotic alien thing takes him over really amount to him having black hair and wearing black eyeliner.

What is really interesting is that despite the fact that it’s a movie based on a comic book, most of the emotions people go through in the film are very easy to relate to: Love, jealousy, anger, grief, competitiveness, vengefulness, loss, pride and shame. The characters deal with real psychological issues.

One scene reminded me of a friend’s description of the book “What is the What: The Autobiography of Valentine Achak Deng” by Dave Eggers. The Sand Man explains himself to Spider-Man. He explains why he needed to steal money. He explains how he accidentally shot Peter’s uncle. And Spider-Man is able to forgive him. “What is the What” discusses the idea that if we were all able to explain ourselves to each other, our personal histories, where we come from, what we have suffered through and what we have overcome, then we as a society would be able to relate to each other in much healthier ways. That we would be able to understand and relate to each other, instead of making assumptions and snap judgments about each other.

And in the end, Spider-Man talks about how we all have a choice. In the comic book world of Spider-Man, it’s all very black and white. There is good, and there is evil. In reality, there are many, many shades of gray. But that choice is still there. We have to make decisions that uphold our personal morals. We have to choose to be better people. Sometimes the need to make a decision is thrust upon us, but we are the ones who must choose which path to follow.

*******
As an added bonus, the new trailer for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was shown. It looks so good! I can’t wait for July 13!

Avenue Montaigne (2006)

A surprisingly delightful movie, Avenue Montaigne, also known as Fauteuils d'orchestre, is a character-driven study of aging, love, pain, loss, and life changes.

Set in Paris, the film follows the lives of a waitress, an art collector and his son, a concert pianist and his wife, and an actress for three days. And they are a very busy three days.

Our main character, if you can call her that, is Jessica, a 20-something girl from the suburbs who comes to Paris to find a job. She arrives in Paris without a place to live or knowing if she’ll find work at all. She winds up getting a job as a waitress and gets to start working the day of her interview. This was the only part of the film that I found totally unrealistic. Who moves to a strange city without knowing where they will live or how they will support themselves? Anyway, I digress. Always in the right place at the right time, Jessica quickly meets the neighborhood celebrities: An elderly art collector who is auctioning off his collection, and his son, who is still grieving the loss of his mother and upset with his father for selling the art the couple collected together over a lifetime; a 40-something concert pianist who loves to play the piano, but wants to give up playing professionally because he’s tired of wearing tuxedos and traveling from city to city and concert hall to concert hall to play for people who know too much about music, and his wife, who made her life out of scheduling his concerts and being by his side at every glamorous event; and a 40-something soap opera actress, who, though she is well paid for her television work, longs to perform more serious and creative roles. The climax of the film is the night of the art collector’s auction, pianist’s final performance, and actress’s opening night.

But the plot isn’t what is special about this film. What’s special is the amazing range of feelings the characters go through along the way. And they’re honest feelings. In one scene we see Jessica sitting on the roof of the concert hall in the rain, alone in a strange city, with no friends and no where to go, and you can feel her loneliness, her fear, and most importantly, her courage to face this incredibly frightening situation head-on. Many of the characters faced issues of growing older, and having their wants and needs and place in life changing. The art collector misses his wife, but refuses to stop living even though his wife has died. And we see crisises in relationships. Can the pianist’s wife be happy by her husband’s side in a house by a lake? Is love enough? The issues and feelings raised in the film are ones we have all felt and have dealt with or will deal with in our lives.

And I loved how for the most part, the characters, even the totally crazy actress, were very self-aware. No holding in feelings, no pretending to be someone that they’re not, but real, flawed people who were growing and learning and trying to be better people.

Something that I thought was really interesting was that all the music in the film is music that is being heard by the people in the movie. It’s the music the pianist is playing, or the pop music the retiring theater superintendant is listening to on her headphones. The soundtrack isn’t artificial, it’s part of the scene, part of the characters’ lives.

It was so nice to see beautiful, breathtaking long shots of Paris. The Eiffel Tower is nearly always in view, and the city lit-up at night is lovely.

I know many people don’t like to see movies with subtitles, but I found that they were not distracting at all. The dialogue is very comfortably paced, and I didn’t find that I missed any of the facial expressions or gorgeous scenery by reading the subtitles.

The Queen (2006)

I finally caught this film on DVD after trying unsuccessfully to see it in the movie theater. And frankly, I wish I had seen it in the theater. What I was really taken away by in this movie wasn't Helen Mirren's Academy Award-winning performance, but by the beautiful cinematography and grand scenic shots of Scotland. It took my breath away to see the rolling green hills and wide skies.

The film is mostly about the way the royal family publicly handled the death of Princess Diana. I had just turned 16 when Diana died, and don't remember most of the media hullabaloo. However, as a former journalist, I now understand how handling a crisis publicly can make or break you. Making the right speeches and sending out the right public relations statements at the right times and in the right places can cast a public official in a very nice light. And as this film delves into, while newly elected Prime Minister Tony Blair was very forthcoming with his grief for the death of the “People's Princess,” the royal family was very far away physically and emotionally from the center of where the public came to mourn: Buckingham Palace in London.

I had trouble relating to the emotions displayed in the film. Mirren portrayed Queen Elizabeth as having a uniquely British emotional disposition. She kept her feelings to herself and held everything inside. She does her duty as Queen and she is strict about following the rules of the monarchy. The only time the Queen cries in the film is when she is alone, stranded in the middle of the hillside when her car breaks down.

Watching the movie was like watching a caricaturization of the real public people involved in the tragedy. Tony Blair as the hero, coming to bring the Queen into the modern ages of public relations. His wife as the wicked and mean anti-monarchist. The Queen's husband and the Queen's mother staunchly asserting the need to follow the rules of the monarchy. Prince Charles as a wimp, trying to buddy up to Tony Blair, so that he won't come off in a bad light. And the Queen, trying to maintain her dignity, yet unable to meet the changing desires of her subjects.

As historical fiction, the film did a good job of setting the scene and showing what these characters might have gone through at the time. It was an interesting way to revisit a historical event nearly a decade later.

The Everybody Fields and The Kamikaze Hearts at the Parting Glass, April 27, 2007

A great show. I had never heard either of these bands before attending their performance at the Parting Glass last Friday night in Saratoga Springs, NY.

The Everybody Fields are a trio from Johnson City, Tennessee. They are an alternative country, bluegrassy, rootsy folk band driven by harmonizing instrumentals and two strong, soulful vocalists. Their sound reminds me of Neko Case’s solo album “Fox Confessor Brings the Flood.” Imagine sitting on your couch on a rainy Saturday afternoon, looking outside your window, and feeling a little bit melancholy, and a little bit hopeful. Those are the feelings The Everybody Fields’ music evokes. The band is made up of Jill Andrews and Sam Quinn on vocals, guitar and bass, and Josh Oliver on keyboards and guitar. Andrews and Quinn’s vocals were both full of emotion and passion, and while their voices are very different technically, (Andrews voice is strong and clear, and you just know she can really belt out a song, while Quinn’s voice is more classically country sounding) they harmonized really well and in interesting ways.

Their nine-song set took the audience on a great emotional journey, starting out with a very upbeat song, then into sadder territory, and lightening up again at the end. The lyrics were poetic and honest. And while Andrews and Quinn were dressed in a very hipster fashion, I was initially a bit thrown off by Oliver, who looked like he could have rolled out of bed right before the show, and didn’t seem to mesh with the group’s image. But I was incredibly impressed by his performance. If I were a song, I would want to sound like his electric guitar solos. They were evocative, seemed technically challenging, and sounded just like my heart felt. And what more can you ask from music but than to help you understand and express your own feelings? I haven’t heard either of their albums, “halfway there: electricity and the South” (2004) or “plague of dreams,” (2005) but I’m looking forward to listening to them, as well as to “nothing is okay,” which is due out on Aug. 21.

The Kamikaze Hearts were the main act for the evening. Based out of Albany, NY, this group of five guys mostly all sported the typical dirty hippie look of long hair and full beards. A combination of an Indie rock and folk sound, the Hearts are driven by a strong drum and bass section, which is complemented well by a couple of acoustic guitars, keyboards, a lap steel guitar, a mandolin and a banjo. The music was really high energy and some of it was very radio-friendly sounding. The band, made up of Bob Buckley, Nate Giordano, Matthew Loiacono, Troy Pohl and Gaven Richard, were joined last Friday by Frank Moscowitz on the keyboards. The band sounded good together vocally and had a very strong sound. And after eight years of playing together, you could tell they were very comfortable with each other. It was like we were watching them practice in their garage. They had great banter between each other and the audience, and even started songs over a couple of times, to the amusement of the audience.

What I found very interesting musically was hearing a rocking solo played on a mandolin, which looks like a teeny, tiny guitar and is about the size of a yukelale. I was also impressed by the drummer’s ability to sing lead vocals for several of the songs while keeping a really strong and solid rhythm. And the lead guitarist’s voice sounded very familiar to me, though I couldn’t place from where. The banjo added a lovely dimension to the music. The only problem I had was that by 11:30 p.m. I was getting sleepy and the band was less than an hour into their set. They played for more than an hour after that, and I found that I couldn’t keep up with the high energy level of the music.

My group ate dinner at the Parting Glass before the show started. It was cafeteria-style seating in the room with the stage, and we were able to keep our table for the whole show. For $9 I had a big cheeseburger with Swiss cheese, mushrooms and a side of steak fries. Served on a poppy seed Kaiser roll, it was cooked well and had just the right amount of greasiness. Many people ordered the fish and chips, ($8.50) which looked delicious. It was a large piece of white fish, breaded and baked, and served in a basket on top of a large serving of steak fries. It looked healthier and tastier than the greasy fish and chips I remember eating in London. The Parting Glass is an Irish pub, is decorated with old Guiness posters, and has a very good, comfortable feeling. Our waiter was friendly and attentive.

Welcome to my blog

Hello World! Welcome to my blog. I have never had a blog before, and I'm very excited about it. I will be reviewing music, movies, books, restaurants, and anything else I find interesting. I hope you enjoy!