From Sochi to Hollywood and weird choices

Now that a real competition is over (Olympics) we can turn our attention to the silly competition among people involved in the movie biz.

I was watching the last 30 minutes of Lincoln the other night and it occurred to me that Steven Spielberg's film  might be the most important film ever made.  Important being a film that should be required viewing by all high school freshman.

When I think about films that high school freshman should be required to view I really can't compile a very long list.....Lincoln, Sound of Music,???????

THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH IMPORTANT FOR THE HISTORY OF CINEMA....

IMPORTANT FOR THE EVOLUTIONARY PROCESS OF THE HUMAN RACE

And then it suddenly occurred to me that Lincoln didn't win Best Picture in 2012.  I thought and thought and thought and couldn't come up with an answer on what film could possibly have defeated one of the most important films of all time......IF NOT THE MOST IMPORTANT.........

I finally relented and went online and discovered that the 2012 Academy Award for Best Picture went to
ARGO

LINCOLN DID GET 12 NOMINATIONS and Daniel-Day Lewis did get his Oscar for his master portrayal of Abe....but for future generations I'm fairly certain that watching Lincoln as a freshman in high school will be much more important than watching the ARGO

ARGO is probably better appreciated in grad school.

There seems to be a buzz about 12 Years a Slave and certain people are predicting it will win.....but Lincoln was so much more important to the issue of slavery and it didn't win.  To be honest watching 12 Years a Slave was slightly less painful than being at the dentist.  Of course I'm a guy who can't possibly understand why Hannibal is a new TV series and shows like Joan of Arcadia get canceled.

WHAT PART OF SLAVERY AREN'T WE AWARE OF?  Is somebody going to make a new movie about slavery next year and just show us a 60 minute actual rape?

Exploitation VS Education

LINCOLN vs 12 Years a Slave

If 12YaS wins it will be because voters actually feel guilty over not making Lincoln their top choice in 2012.

I think Wolf of Wall Street could win because Dallas Buyers Club and 12YaSlave will offset each other.

The only sure thing is Cate Blanchett unless all the Woody Allen news has some strange affect on Academy members.

And Jared Leto is a lock for Best Supporting Actor

Keep in mind this is the movie industry and nothing is what it seems......

It's a lot like politics but unfortunately politics affects our daily lives and unless you actually work in the movie industry the Acadamy Awards is just a one night, well clothed, fantasy break in
the action known as life.

I'm still in shock that BLACKFISH wasn't nominated for best doc..

It might have been the most important film of 2013

And when it comes to subjective vs objective who really has the final say?

Maybe Steven McQueen will make 24 years an Orca next year and everything will be made ok.

I've got to go now and find a seat at the Red Carpet event so I can watch an actor walk and wave for 30 seconds.

Talk about silly people.........

By the way...next Olympics is 2016 in RIO.

Michael Timothy McAlevey

Four years since Vancouver

SOCHI, RUSSIA

I was thinking about catching a flight over for a few events and than I read that TSA is confiscating toothpaste, deodorant, after shave and cologne as you try to board planes in the United States with Sochi as your destination.  

I refuse to purchase Russian made toothpaste  so I'll just stay home and watch it on
TV and the computer.  If I was a smart phone guy I'd have another path to the action.....but I've never been accused of being a smart anything guy.

I find it so hard to believe that there are people who don't care about the Olympics.

Although there could always occur a "glitch" in the proceedings, it's important to point out that the Olympic event truly is the only time that most of the civilized portions of the human race get together for a celebration.   

I realize the other portions of the human race will try very hard to make sure the celebration is tarnished. And that's one difference, as those of us who grave Olympic competition watch, from previous watching experiences.....the threat that something horrible will happen sits just behind the visual reality taking place.

That fear could be slightly increased because the event is happening in RUSSIA.
I think back to four years ago in Vancouver and yes there was a slight thought that perhaps someone could do something destructive but deep down inside I knew I was watching an event in CANADA....and I never really stressed out or worried while watching an event.

Last night I was watching the new snowboard event called Slopestyle and twice I had visions of some sniper from GEORGIA blowing one of those air born lunatics right out of the sky.

I apologize for introducing that image into your awareness but.....IT'S RUSSIA.
And have you noticed how close it is to the GEORGIA border? Last time I checked Putin wasn't that pleased with the GEORGIANS......right?

I WAS TRAINED BY ROMAN CATHOLIC NUNS TO FEAR AND HATE THE SOVIET UNION DEMONS WHO DIDN'T BELIEVE IN GOD.....

They did a pretty good job and although I'm pretty much over the hate dealio I still have some inbedded memories from my childhood.

WE PRACTICED GETTING UNDER OUR DESKS ONCE A WEEK
BECAUSE THE RUSSIAN'S WERE GOING TO DROP ATOM BOMBS ON OUR LITTLE ASSES.

ONCE A WEEK.....EVERY WEEK FOR AT LEAST FIVE YEARS BETWEEN THE AGES OF 6 AND 11 HOODED STORM TROOPERS BLEW A WHISTLE AND WE JUMPED AND HID.  Being under a exposed tiny wooden chair/desk would really help during a nuclear attack, don't you think?

AND NOW AS AN ADULT I'M SUPPOSE TO FORGET THAT PRACTICE?

I think I should clear some room under my desk....it's a bit crowded under there with my computer and my art and boxes of Christmas cards envelopes that I keep so I'll remember addresses for next year and of course I must have 100 CD's just in case I want to play some music that I can hear on YouTube within 10 seconds.

Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't I start this dribble by addressing the Olympics?  How I ended up digressing to Nuclear warfare can only be blamed on RUSSIA....right?

What I love most about the Olympics is the individual time and effort put in to training for the opportunity to compete in the games.

MAKING THE OLYMPIC TEAM IS THE GREATEST REWARD FOR MOST OF THE ATHLETES....as it should be.

THREE IN EACH SPORT GET AN EXTRA REWARD AND ONE IN EACH EVENT GETS THE ULTIMATE REWARD  but the stories are in the quest to make the Olympic team.  Forget that it takes fours years to train and wait for the next opportunity......the training goes back to childhood.

A 25 year old in the Olympics for the first time has been working on that goal since the age of 4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14?????????  And then they get in to their chosen event and finish 4th by a breath or a judge's pencil or a bump in the snow or an odd crosswind coming from over the Caucasus mountain range.

Team games are more fun and a lot less nerve racking than individual events.

One of the things I like to do during the Olympics is post pictures of the hottest babes.

Call me shallow if need be but when I see a smokin hot lady who is also a smokin hot competitor I just stand up and say....YEAH!

The first Gold Meow goes to MADISON CHOCK from the United States....of course she is an Ice Dancer so one can't be surprised by her looks....but whatever she does....she does it looking really beautiful.

Because of the other Ice Dancing teams from the United States, Russia and Canada there is very little chance that Madison will be visible on the medal stand....but she can sit on my medal stand any day of the week.

Ok....that was a little inappropriate.....but you get my point.....right?

MY JOB DURING THE OLYMPICS IS TO AWARD AS MANY
GOLD MEOWS
AS
POSSIBLE.

Let the games begin!

Seamus Garrity......guest

2/3/14

 

Today at 2:13 AM

It's been 20 years.

Today I have my first parent-teacher conference, and I am sure they are going to rave about my amazing daughter. I have no doubt about it. They already do with regularity. She's fun and easy she is to get along with. She really brightens up the world, and has given me so much perspective on life.

20 years ago today, when I was 15 years old, my best friend died suddenly and in the strangest of ways. He went into cardiac arrest in his mom's arms. I think the paramedics revived him briefly but I don't think he ever regained consciousness. If I am not mistaken his last word was "mom." She told me this story through the most intense tears I had ever seen just days later. The extreme pain and confusion I felt personally at the time was greater than any I had ever felt before, but hers was worse than I could understand. When she said "I know you were his best friend," her voice was cracking even though she was already crying. This was the first time that that thought of he and I being best friends had occurred to me. It was a natural friendship and we really just always got along.

His death changed me permanently in ways that I used to think made me deeper. That's literally what I thought, that his death had deepened me as a person. For a long period of time after his death my thoughts were only about him. Not just everyday, but maybe every minute. I did things and saw people and went out but I was usually thinking about Sean, trying to fathom that he was gone forever, or trying to imagine where he was physically. These thoughts went on so ceaselessly that it seemed like part of me became planted in another dimension, and all my decision making and even my well being came from that other side. I could feel things before they happened and I knew I could get as out of control as I wanted and that somehow I would be protected. There was a special kind of magical feeling that I had in all of my thinking and all of my behavior. And this never really went away.

The thing that is striking to me on this day in particular, 2/3/14, is how long it has been. How far removed I am from being 15. Sean and I would get together when I cam home from boarding school and we would hang out a lot. We'd go to the mall and try to find girls. We'd hang out at my house with the group of friends that we had, and we would talk. We would generally talk about girls. He did not believe me that I had had sex. He was really interested in snowboarding, something I had the privilege of doing everyday in boarding school, and he was really interested in playing bass. My last memories of him were from Christmas break 1993. First I remember we would go on long bike rides, and one day I had All Apologies stuck in my head, just the guitar part, and I though that I had come up with it. I was singing it and singing it and kind of bragging, and he couldn't place where it was from. When we were on the bike path at the beach he finally said "last song of Nirvana." It was the last song on that album which was still new. Maybe that happened in the summer. One thing that did happen in the winter was we went to see Nirvana at the Forum. And I remember New Years Eve a few nights later. We were just walking around our neighborhood. I broke a friends window, he may have pushed me into it.

My very last memory of seeing him alive was the morning I left to go back to school. We had been drinking the night before. There were four of us there but only he and I were drinking. I remember he had taken a beer out of my fridge and started drinking it. He was fucking with me to see if I would get mad and worried about my family finding out. I didn't care. I had already begun my drinking career about a year prior. I don't really remember anything we talked about that night. I do kind of remember the sound of his voice. He had very cool inflections. He had very graceful hands. He was very funny. He could kick my ass, but for some reason I felt like he mostly let me lead in the hierarchy of our group. I don't know why. But that morning I left all four of us were sleeping in my room. I had to get up early to get on a plane. I gave everyone 5. He was on the top bunk and I gave him 5 last. It was like a handshake-high 5. And he said "later dude." He was amazing. I walked out of the room and as I shut the door I heard a voice inside my head say "and that was the last time I saw my friend alive."

I talked to him maybe a couple more times on the phone. The last time I remember talking to him was around the Northridge Earthquake. His apartment had been hit hard and he really tried to convey to me how intense it was. The night I found out he died, 20 years ago today, I heard the phone ring in my dorm. It was late at night. After lights out. The phone rang and rang. As soon as I heard it ringing I knew he was dead. I don't know why I knew that. I knew it was another friend of ours calling. I acted surprised when my dorm parent came in to get me. I acted surprised when my friend told me over the phone. I acted strange for a long time.

The thing that compelled me to write something about this is how different my life is today. How different it is from how I thought it would be. I'm thinking about how much more life I have had than him. Todays date seems futuristic in a lot of ways. I think about what he and I would think of my life today. I know that we couldn't really fathom it. I couldn't explain to us what it's like to look at my wife in her eyes and the sense of completeness that she can bring to me. I couldn't explain to us what it's like to hold my daughter and make her laugh and to hear her laugh. We wouldn't understand and I don't know how interested we would be in it. But one thing that I do understand better is how his parents felt when he was gone. I can only imagine it. It the most terrifying part of my day when that thought creeps in.

Soon after he died my mom and I were driving. It was a summer day, I think. Someone had given me a bunch of pictures of Sean and I was going through them in the car. One of the pictures was from the 5th grade talent show. He was lip singing a song. My mom asked "what song was he he singing?"

I said, "this one!" and I turned on the radio and it was playing. On the radio. It was Patience. That was awesome.

I wonder if we would have grown apart. The odds are. We definitely would have kept in touch, although I don't know who I would be today if he hadn't died. I am certain that he death greatly effected the trajectory of my life. The depth of my coolness. He became something so profound to me. He became my link to the other side. He became the guide that brought my consciousness to another dimension, and I have though about him every single day since the day he died, 7,300 days ago.

 

THIS WAS WRITTEN BY SEAMUS GARRITY and I'M STILL CRYING AS I FINISHING POSTING HIS PIECE......

 

Michael Timothy McAlevey

20 years ago today St. Pepper taught the band to........

And 2/3 comes around one more time......I didn't realize that Buddy Holly's plane creahed on this day but of course that was a very long time ago and while 20 years also sounds like a long time ago it really isn't when it comes to hearttime.

Hearttime has it's own reality and each and every person's hearttime is different.

We get a lifetime to figure our our heart
and then we just return to the start
it's not easy being
it's not hard seeing
and yet
it all appears translucent
like
a
billowy silk veil
just blowing in front of my timesail

I don't like this day
because it only exists as a memory
of one really sad event

and I'll feel better tomorrow
when the 3rd of February
has just simply come
and
went

It was 20 years ago today St.Pepper taught the band to play....

and maybe I'll just put on that album and let the
day
drift
away

In honor of you Sean...with a little help from your friends.....