DIGGERS

I enjoyed "Diggers" over the last couple of days, as a Netflix title. It is directed by Katherine Dieckmann and takes place in 1976, just before Gerald Ford left the presidency and Jimmy Carter took over. This is one of the reasons I liked it. The cars and hair styles and life styles were all very familiar to me. It is a working class film and is about clam diggers in Long Island who see the writing on the wall. Their way of life is dying out; this film is about how they cope with their changing economic landscape. This is another reason I liked it. It is about real change that can happen to people. It weaves between comic relief and serious issues, such as: infidelity, financial pressure, friendship loyalty, family tensions, and the sheer undermining of long standing traditions,-the way people gain livelihood, ya know- such as clam digging in Long Island. I am still considering inclusion on my list of Best Films 2007, but I am going to have to see how it stacks up against other titles that I have yet to see. It seems as if I am leaning in the direction of inclusion, yet it never came to Austin and has not received much attention in the press. Obviously, that should not be of any concern to me, I believes-duhhh...!

THE TRAILER SCENE WITH ELLIS

Pages 263-280 in "No Country For Old Men", by Cormac McCarthy-the passage where Ed Tom Bell visits his uncle Ellis in a run down trailer. Uncle Ellis is a retired Texas Sheriff, I believe.

You wear out, Ed Tom. All the time you spend tryin to get back what`s been took from you there`s more goin out the door. After a while you just try and get a tourniquet on it. Your Grandad never asked me to sign on as deputy with him. I done that my own self. Hell, I didnt have nothin else to do. Paid about the same as cowboyin (page 267).

If I waste one more brain cell on "No Country..." I must be a fool, I`ve been thinkin`, but that is exactly what I been doin`. I pulled out a map of Texas and tried to find Sanderson, cuz that is where Llewelyn Moss and Carla Jean`s trailer is at. This looks like it is about 50 miles east of Alpine on the desolate highway 90 that takes you to El Paso. it`s a lttle lonesome out there. I have made that ride a couple of times, and the buzzards were big as planes, and if you got stuck out there you was a gonner. Don`t think that AAA ever would come out there to rescue you. Anyways, when you look at Sanderson on the map it seems to be about 50 miles north of border maybe. The crime scene in the movie would be approximately twenty miles from the border, but that is just a guess. The film was shot in Marfa and in New Mexico, from what I`ve read. Marfa is a little west of Alpine, and is a very colorful town, according to some of the stories I`ve heard from folk on my Yahoo Group. The chilly timbre of the movie comes from the geography of West Texas, I believe, and from the as a matter of fact way that the story is told by Cormac McCarthy. It`s the Old West again, but then you notice that it has changed some since the late 19th century. Much of this story, and it is an internal one largely, is about how it dawns on Ed Tom Bell just how much the West has changed. The recollections about the old days of law enforcement, as expressed in the dialogue between Ellis (Barry Corbin), who was Ed Tom Bell`s uncle, and Ed Tom Bell himself, are my favorite part of the movie. I think it is also the part of the movie that best expresses the theme of things here. Put simply, these are troubling times (early 1980s) that cannot be controlled by the old methods of law enforcement; those methods harken back to the glory days of the Texas Rangers. Those are just memories now and they reside in Waco at the Texas Ranger Museum. I have been there several times, and they have a gun of Billy the Kid and the belongings of Sam Houston himself. They do not have any of Superman`s paraphanilia there though? I didn`t see any compressed-air guns there neither.

NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN

"No Country For Old Men" is chalk-full of meat & potatoes; laced with an array of the Coen Brother`s rarest and most exotic celluloid-kitchen spices. There are tasty chunks of art in this cowboy stew, fur sure, my fine young rodeo-raunchero! I saw this film last Saturday night and I am still soaking it in. The Alamo Draft House was sold out and the Arbor was jam-packed too. I got the book by Cormac McCarthy so I can begin to take this thing apart. I`ve read maybe a dozen reviews and big people are saying like this is the best movie that has ever been made. I don`t really know what is going on here; I`m not saying it is a conspiracy but lots of folks are really behind this movie. I`m trying to look at all the Coen`s old movies too, in order to absorb their vocabulary, and this may help when I see "No Country For Old Men" again in a few weeks. I`m seeing it as a sorta medieval allegory of the New West. This aint the world of Hop-Along-Cassidy anymore, but more the rough and tumble raucous of the drug wars that started surfacing around 1980, the time of the movie action. Javier Bardem reminded me of Frank Booth (played brilliantly by Dennis Hopper) in "Blue Velvet"-yea, Chigurh is a drug war monster, a sociopath with the Beatle-Cut-From-HELL and the silly offerings of riddles that are high stake wagers of life and death. Tommy Lee is the stoic philosopher who has seen crisper days, but sees the writing on the wall-society is crumbling at apart into protons of infinitesimal teen-i-ness. It is almost all over, and Ed Tom Bell knows it. Much of this concerns his acceptance of this status. The walking over the border bridge by Llewelyn Moss felt very familiar to me. The wideshots of cactus, prairie, and mountains is something I have seen much of too. The little border towns of Del Rio and Eagle Pass were just perfect for the trip that`s comin` across yonder. The rotund trailer park honkey-mamasita was the only one who held her own with Chigurh. Some of these gals from West Texas are made of sterner stuff. Woody Harrelson played the cocky and cool investigator with the irony of a monkey on his shoulders in that he sensed that things wouldn`t go too good. And sure enough there were some rough spots in there for him. The plot didn`t always make sense, but once it dawned on me that the audience needed to be on a more frothy level, I was okay. Everything was mysterious and symbolic, and the generic,seedy hotels where drug deals go down on small border towns are real,... where mostly things are figgidy and nervous, and accomplices will be lucky to grip terra firma another 24 hours. There is no justice here and the Dark Side emerges out of the void smelling like musty roses. And there are real Texans here or good actresses like Kelly Macdonald that have caught the West Texas essence. The plot revolves around the confiscation of more than two million in drug money cash grabbed up by a seemingly lucky cowpoke played by Josh Brolin. His efforts to hang on to the bread is primarily what all the hoopla is about. "A Simple Plan" came to mind and I knew there would be oodles of trouble. I wasn`t wrong. Just the carnage of busted drug deal makes this a great movie, but there is tons more...I`m still pondering some of it...like where did Carson Wells misfire? Where is the music? How could people flee to El Paso for safety? How could Chigurh recharge that cattle device? Did it have a battery charger that goes with it? Why did Llewelyn return to the scene of the crime? Why couldn`t Ed Tom Bell better protect, or in any way protect Carla Jean and her mother? Did some big drug wars really begin in 1980 (is that historically accurate)? Why was such a villain like Chigurh so idealized? The Coen Brothers are big jokers but I don`t believe that they are that sick!...That`s just a few queries I have...

I felt lucky to pick up this package at Waterloo Video yesterday, but it was more than I really should have spent. By the time I pick up some of the individual titles, even if I get them used, I will be spending more. But I suspect they will be bringing home the bacon this year at the Oscars. Last night I watched "Blood Simple" from 1985 and did not seem to remember it very good, so it was like I was seeing it for the first time. It is an absolute masterpiece, very Texasie, and I immediately thought of Thompson`s "Blood and Money". This one however actually takes place in Central Texas. The final scene happens somewhere in Williamson County, not a particularly friendly county. When the Coen`s tell a tale things are not exactly what they seem. By applying this principle to "No Country For Old Men" the whole thing makes alot more sense. I am beginning to believe that this is an existentialist piece, maybe a Western, but with an Albert Camus take. This would explain everything, since stuff does not have to make absolute sense when cast in this philosophical light. And isn`t this the way that these drug war scenarios go down? I believe this to be true. There are no John Waynes or Gary Coopers here. Llewelyn Moss is a marked man. Ed Tom Bell is a blast from the past-powerless over the new forces of evil that have been unleashed on the border of Texas. Just view the documentary "Cocaine Cowboys" and you will see what really happened in Miami in the seventies and eighties. we almost lost Miami! Think of Port Royal and Captain Morgan`s ruthless cutthroat pirates in the late 17th century, who had virtual control of the carribean! Pablo Escobar was more powerful than just about anyone. Everyone who goes to "No Country..." should also see "Cocaine Cowboys". Those two are bookends of understanding to both the fictional tale and the particulars of record!

A GLANCE BACK

(This art piece is a simulation of the chaotic, final moments of the life and death of our 35th President. It is done with a sorta Jackson Pollack abandon/drippiness of shimmering, colliding acrylics that blend like unmitigating events in Dealey Plaza, and some fragmented photographs are buried underneath...various ones are of JFK & others are of the very Claude Bovee himself? This is a self-portrait of sorts, as all Americans were metamorphosized by the Assassination. The obfuscation is a fitting metaphor for the random (& at times premeditated) chaos that prevailed during the hurley-burley, or cascading, out-of-control events, surely from the pages of the Darkest Weekend in American History heretofore-11/22-11/24/1963.)


In the hazy mist of the grainy 16 millimeter Nix film, two men stack boxes on the Sixth Floor of the Texas School Book Depository. The night before powerful men meet to finalize plans to preserve the Military Hierarchy. Behind the picket fence a fake-construction worker assembles a sophistocated Swiss rifle to exact a head-shot to the 35th. Rogue CIA agents are positioned throughout Dealey Plaza to quickly bully witnesses after the shooting, and to manipulate the evidence to appear as something different. Oswald himself, the night before, sees one scenario, but it is completely changed on Friday, when he is victimized to take the fall. Even Jack Ruby knows more of the particulars, and begins to sweat profusely on Friday afternoon, when he gets a call from Chicago with ominous orders for his role in FATE. The Dallas police are alerted that he must have ample access to their building in order to do what he must. The details of what must happen are carefully gone over so that no stone is left unturned. Little do they know, but many of the people who see too much will meet with accidents after the incident. When the Motorcade goes by, the Plaza resounds with rifle fire, Oswald`s hair stands on end as he realizes the cunning of his fake-confederates! He flees the TSBD and catches a bus; a witness actually sees him in shock and hair very disheveled. Even today the History Channel pulls all the conspiracy specials, and only single-bullet-theory/neo-pro-Warren Commission ones are shown. The cover-up is finalized-case is finally closed. Just watch the chilling tape of Jack Ruby saying the stakes are just too high, the men who did this are just too powerful, for the American public to ever know the truth.

THE FOUR WITCHES

This engraving by Albrecht Durer, the new object of my affection, is curious and troubling to me. This one was not at the Blanton show that I attended last Saturday, but I found myself dwelling on it over the past few days. You see, I have studied The Three Graces, a frescoe that resides in Naples, and that was originally an adornment for a wealthy Roman patrician in Pompeii some 2000 years prior. I have even painted my own version of it, so I have pondered its particulars on many occasions. With o`erwhelming curiosity, I sought answers to this image riddle in the writings of Erwin Panofsky, the utmost authority on this great artist; it seems as if Durer was blending the old Roman frescoe motifs with some of the prevalent thinking of Northern Europe, invested with blacker overtures. The subtle rendering of the devil on the left, as well as the skull and bones on the floor give this a more malevalent timbre, and something of the occult may be going down in this buoyant frame. This is not Ira Levin`s Rosemary`s Baby or anything, but maybe three of the girls are performing some kind of hocus-pocus on the girl with the garland, who has her back to the viewer. O. G. H. is on that little orb-disco-ball above the ritual practicing ladies, and looms large in limerick. This is a warning "O Gott hute" (May God forbid). Panofsky talks about the popularity of a volume published in 1487 Malleus Maleficarum, a handbook for witch-hunting, which recalls a tale of a midwife who coupled with witches to cast a spell on the baby in the lady. This would fit with Durer`s iconography of this engraving from 1497, where some suspicious going-ons are suggested by the gesticulations and glances of the maidens. The nudity is an influence from Italy, but it is displayed with this superstitious Northern story of witchcraft, where women are devotees of Lucifer. Odd indeed! Durer was just covering his bets against witch persecutors of the day; "see I`m on the side of the good guys", he was trying to say through his work! Yet there is an erotic allure to this coven that Albrecht cloaks in a very clever fashion. Okay, this is essentually "Rosemary`s Baby" Part I-do you see it?

DEATH AND THE LANDSKNECHT

This really caught my eye this morning when I was paging through my volume The Complete Woodcuts Of Albrecht Durer, edited by Dr. Willi Kurth, which I just received by mail a few days ago. The image of death with an hourglass confronting a knight is very familiar to me. I could not find much on this woodcut in books or on Google, but I did see that it resides in the British Museum; I will provide you with the link here, because you can really see it perfectly (be sure to open it up). It appears as if the olde chap`s days are numbered, and that the skinny ol` boy has come to stake `is claim on `is soul; not such good news for the knight, but it seems to come up for all of us souls eventually. Lo & behold though, Shakespeare refers to the woodcut in a sonnet (you will have to scroll down a ways until you see it)! This is from Durer`s (here is some good general information) mature period for woodcuts, circa 1510. I am seeing this as more Northern and not influenced by his trips to Italy. This is cold, harsh stuff, and is more Teutonic from my point of view. Moreover, this compliments the severity of the medium of woodcuts for its rigidity, by way of the gruesome news-bearing skeleton, mocking the innocent with the transience of the hourglass! Somber carvings for the last Friday before Thanksgiving. It seems as if a bit of Halloween is bleeding into my Thanksgiving!

MELENCOLIA I

I attended this show at the Blanton on Albrecht Durer on Saturday, and saw some of the most important woodcuts and engravings for the whole history of art. I was surprised by how much clearer the detail was when you are gazing at an actual original print made from the block or copper engraving. I have been looking at these works all of my life, such as Melencolia to the left, just in books or on the internet. The show ends on the 25th so I may go back again. The amount of detail is overwhelming for my frail eyes, worn by years of hardship. One can only speculate as to the amount of vision streaming through the spirit of Albrecht Durer, but he must have had nearly 100 % retention of his observations and readings. This is the most widely researched work of art in the entire history of art, and I got to witness it first hand. What it truly depicts is a mystery. Apparently it is a composite of many of the ideas that Durer was contemplating; the magic of Ficino, geometry and proportion, numerology, medicine, theology, cosmology, and flagrant symbolism, which was a hallmark of the Italian Renaissance. Durer is mirrowing his several visits to Italy where he absorbed these elevated notions. When I look at the angel/maiden I am seeing Boticelli`s female figues, with melifluous locks of hair, garlands, and diaphonous gowns. She is sadly peering o`er the cosmos, perhaps contemplating the fallof man or his imperfections in the face of ultimate creator? I`m seeing a nature versus civilization Hegelian diatribe, but then again I`ve had maybe one too many cups of Nicaraguan java!

10/15/2007 You can see the printer better on this Wiki page, so be sure to study it here. MELENCOLIA I Last night I read the analysis of Erwin Panofsky in his book The Life and Art of Albrecht Durer. I just got this title on Amazon, and it is an essential guide for any serious student of Mister Durer. The maiden represents intellectual profundity, it would seem, while the putti represents skill in craft, such as in the graphic art of engraving. Both are weak without one another, so thus we have the sadness of lady. Durer absorbs the medieval motifs, but gives it a Renaissance twist, with multi-extended and philosophic bent. You may want to read Panofsky`s take here (pages 157-171 the newer Princeton edition with an introduction by a UT professor, Jeffrey Chipps Smith), but needless to say, much of it has to do with the magic of Marsilio Ficino, who was able to make the meloncholy inducing planet of Saturn work for him in a positive way. I just noticed that the hourglass locks in her wings. The hourglass would be time or mortality, thus death, but she being an otherworldly creature can transcend this maybe, through contemplation of the cosmos. This has been shown to be an egotistic, narcissistic amalgamation of Durer as consummate artist, who holds both the skills of craft and the wisdom of philosphy, and thus deserves some bullions of gold to be weighed in the scales `bove the frisky putti. Speculation can abound when observing this engraving, and no doubt that Mister Durer chuckles above in the Heavenly Spheres!

Before The Devil Knows You`re Dead

I was very shocked by this movie, directed by Sidney Lumet, for its violence and coldness,and its rejection of the nuclear family, which is unwoven here with the kind of realism that you only see in tabloid journalism. Philip Seymour Hoffman could not have played a colder pickle, and when he is zonked on heroin and further rationalizing his capers, a chilly wind blew over me. The most striking aspect to this, was the weaving of flashbacks in, that continued to give you little bits of pertinent data, always subjective, but always drawing you into the womb of the conspiracy, until you finally felt like you were in on it. Two films came to mind for me, "A Simple Plan", and the Coen Brothers` "Blood Simple". I am really looking forward to their new one, "No Country For Old Men", by the way. "Before The Devil..." is just the film I have been waiting for all this year, but so far have only seen luckwarm product. The way you are gradually given little tidbits of information about the jewel robbery, is exactly the way you hear about incidents in real life. You are given small fragments of evidence, and you have to try to fit it into the puzzle, if you can...sometimes you can`t. As this starts to unfold, it gets more and more violent and abusive. What people will do to get their hands on some loot is outragious. Hoffman`s role as a cold, calculating fuck-up may get him an Oscar. One thing that comes to mind is the JFK Assassination, where you look at the Zapruder film, then the Nix film, then still photos, then you read testimonies...then you rewind all the tapes and look at it again, knowing that you probably overlooked something. This is what Sidney Lumet does here as a simple plan goes haywire!

11/13/2007 If you want to see a perfect film this year, go see "Before the Devil Knows You`re Dead. I read a number of reviews this morning on Rotten Tomatoes, and some of the best known critics have poured sincere praise on this film. I printed three of these reviews; the one by Carina Chocano of the LA Times, J. Hoberman`s of the Village Voice, and Richard Schickel`s of Time. The screenplay by Kelly Masterson is really perfect. The way he keeps repeating the crime scenario over again, but modulating the nuances of data, is completely original...very ingenious indeed. Also, the acting that Sidney Lumet gets out of these people is the best possible... Ethan Hawke`s as the squirrley younger brother to Hoffman seems real. Marisa Tomei plays a plaything-bunny, the cardboard wife of Andy (PSH), who is more aligned with the brother Hank, and she cooly does her thing with icy abandon. The father, Albert Finney, seems like King Lear in Shakespeare tragedy, but of the seedy suburban jewelry store variety, if you can see the connection? Richard Schickel makes the point of the toppling over of family values. I saw this too...in fact the family is the root of the problem...this is a hard pill to swallow, and makes this story all the more a hubrus for each of us individually! Unless something better comes along by December 31st, this will be my number one for 2007!
The murky notion of family values takes the A train here and gets off at the wrong stop too!

GRAM PARSONS-THE FLYING BURRITO BROS

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GRAM PARSONS! I was fishing around for ditties on Sunday at Waterloo, and found myself focusing on the tracks wafting through the stereo system. "Man, that sounds like Gram Parsons, manna from heaven for sure," I was thinking. I went up and asked the clerk, and she said: "That`s THE FLYING BURRITO BROTHERS, dude!" "Duhh," I retorted. So I dug up this double CD with 43 tracks, & I`ve been rotating this platter since that day. I know Gram`s music more by way of Emmy Lou Harris, but now I`m getting it first hand. I read a review of a new book about him in Sunday`s Times. Also, a new anthology is coming out today. Wonderful harmonies and picking; not exactly rock, not exactly country... no label really fits...very original American music...I guess. It pleases everyone, is really the way it works! The myths around Gram Parsons are many. I believe I will look into them? I like The Train Song best for right now. 10/10/2007 I just read about the incident of Gram Parson`s body being stolen and taken to the Joshua Tree Park. This is quite a story and very shocking! Also, the stuff about him hanging out with the Stones is interesting. Apparently, Gram is in the film Gimme Shelter, so I will look for him the next time I see that film, with its unsavory rows with the Hells Angels. His influence on Exile On Main Street is obvious; I have always maintained that this is my favorite Stones` album. The rock form is most fully realized here, including some country tingings! I will just gradually absorb all of the contributions that Gram Parsons has made, and still contemplate the true tragedy of his death at the ripe age of twenty-six; the irony is that he seemed to have licked heroin, but was taken away by morphine and alcohol. The Guilded Palace Of Sin (this is a masterpiece-you can read why on this link, or just create your own reasons for loving it-that is usually the best way to listen to rock...) from 1969, the Flying Burrito Brothers first release, is my favorite; there are more originals, and the country sounds are cloaked in psychedia and pop hooks. The fusion is more consummate.

PETE SEEGER: THE POWER OF SONG

I watched this stirring documentary at Dobie on Saturday to a completely empty theater. Yea, that is right, I was the only person in the audience. This is very contrary to Pete Seeger`s idea of the importance of audience participation. I`m beginning to wonder about this current generation; I do not really know what they value? So much important history was covered, that I also was reviewing all of the events of my life. This would include my early enthusiasm for folk music, which withered once the sixties morphed to psychedelia. Peter, Paul, and Mary were wonderful though, and The Byrds version of Turn, Turn, Turn is very stirring. My very favorite is the Kingston Trio however. I have been a big fan of Joan Baez too. Much significant data is integrated into this biography of Pete Seeger; his condemnation as a Communist comes to mind first. Eventually he was vindicated, but not before years of loathing were cast on him. His mastery of the banjo is properly chronicled in this documentary also. He studied many of the local forms of music such as bluegrass. He was affiliated with John Lomax, the musicoligist. This will warrant considerable more study. I would enjoy a collection of his popular pieces, but could not find one yesterday when I went to Waterloo. This may include: We Shall Overcome, If I Had a Hammer, Goodnight Irene, Waist Deep In the Big Muddy, & Where Have All the Flowers Gone? This was a talking head documentary too, and had testomonials from Bob Dylan, Natalie Maines, Joan Baez, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Paxton, and his children. Pete really influenced the peace movement, the Civil Rights Movement, the Labor Movement, environmental causes, and the downtrodden in general. His major cause has been his support for working people and the unions. He is not a popular singer, but only cares about trying to influence society in order to help surpressed people. This is so rare today that we can barely recognize that such a figure could even exist. I wish more young people could see this, so that they could comprehend such a person. The Dixie Chicks at least have carried this batan of defiance against Bush and the Iraq War, and are emerging unscathed. Pete Seeger was against the Vietnam War with a strong voice and he too has proven to be right in his thinking. I loved his appearance on the Smothers Brothers singing Waist Deep in the Big Muddy, and it took courage for the Smothers Brother to insist on letting him sing it on their popular show! Oh, the footage of Woody Guthrie was probably the best! Here is good link for Pete Seeger, the Pete Seeger Appreciation Page.

DAY OF THE DEAD-NOT THE MOVIE

Well, today is Dia de los Muertos, and people are honoring the DEAD. This is more of a happy occasion, than a sad one, so there is not a need to be morose. That is good for me, since I need to cheer up a little. I`m thinking happy spirits, tranquil spirits, laughing spirits, when I think of all of the dead people who I have known. My guys, I think of you often, and they are pleasant thoughts! Please don`t haunt me too terribly! Study the day a little too! Wiki entry.