"The Final Cut"...This IS Sci-Fi

The Final Cut
Robin Williams, Mira Sorvino, Jim Caviezel
directed by Omar Naim

In between listening to Shostakovich string quartets and reading Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh I found time to watch a DVD last night. I don't watch a whole lot of movies these days. I rarely go to the theater. I don't know what's wrong with me, cuz I just don't see all that much on the shelves of the local video/DVD rental store that appeals (the blame for that may fall on the store itself, which doesn't exactly have the most diverse selection). But yesterday I came across a fairly new release on DVD, The Final Cut, that looked promising from the blurb on the back of the box, which read:

Welcome to the not-so-distant future, where implanted microchips record every single moment of a person's life. Upon death, it becomes the job of a "cutter" like Alan Hakman (Oscar-winner Robin Williams) to edit down the deceased's lifetime into a fitting memorial film. For years he has used his god-like power of final cut to absolve the dead of a multitude of sins. But when, on his latest assignment, he views a terrible secret that can't be erased, Hakman finds his own life in jeopardy in this riveting science fiction thriller.

That's a pretty good summary of the film's premise (though I'm not so sure about this "terrible secret that can't be erased" bit). Robin Williams is in fine form as the "cutter" (picking up the mantle of playing the "creepy guy" like he did so well in One Hour Photo and Insomnia). Director Omar Naim has a firm grip on his craft and leaves quite an impression, especially considering that this is a first-time effort.

The Final Cut passed, with flying colors, my test of a film's quality...it was exceptionally thought-provoking. It made me think outside of the film itself in considering the ramifications of having everything one sees (all that memory is made of) recorded and stored for posterity. It also tackles the notion that our memories are not always in alignment with what actually happened, how they can be tainted and completely changed by our own perception as well as our personality.

The "cutter" really does have certain "god-like powers", in that he is privy to EVERYTHING that his/her subject has ever seen and done...the good and the bad. It is the cutter's job to choose the memories that will be shown at the deceased's "rememory", a strange morphing of funeral and cinema in which a relatively short film of their memories (as edited by the cutter in accordance with the family's wishes) is shown for the benefit of family, friends and loved ones.
Can you imagine a life lived with the knowledge that a stranger is going to one day see all that you have done, even the things you don't remember doing? All that you've mentally blocked out will be on display for the cutter to edit. And what kind of person is it that can do this cutter's work, eyewitness to the depths of depravity and sin that everyone, in one way or another, succumbs to at some point in their life? Williams' character, Alan Hakman, is exceptionally successful at his vocation, and you have to wonder if it's because he enjoys his work so much, being a peeping tom staring into the dark side.

But it's not like that. Hakman, by cleaning up the memory-life of others, is only doing something for them that he wishes he could do for himself. For you see, he is tormented by a memory from his own childhood. All his life he has blamed himself for what he remembers as the death of a 10 year old boy who made his acquaintance when he was that age. He sees himself, in his role as cutter, as the modern equivalent of a "sin-eater". The "sin-eater", in ancient tradition, was a social outcast who took on the sins of a dead person through a ritual in which they ate bread and salt placed upon the corpse by relatives, accepting payment for this act by removing coins placed upon the eyes.

Hakman sees himself in this role and justifies himself as one who "forgives people's sins long after they've been punished for them". Perhaps, in so doing, he seeks forgiveness for his own sins. By taking on the burden of the iniquity of so many others, he hopes for atonement (from God?) for what he perceives as the damning transgression he "committed" in his youth.

I won't spoil it and say what happens, but take my word that this really is a "thriller" in the best sense of the word, and that it doesn't rely on what has become the cliched stock-in-trade for these types of movies, the "twist". Oh, there's a bit of a twist in it...I guess that's become the expected norm...but the entire movie does not depend upon it and it doesn't really leave you wanting to see it again with an eye to how the twist plays into it (like, for instance, The Sixth Sense).

You'll want to see it again because the concept is so intriguing and the execution, on behalf of director and cast, is so well done.

This is TRUE science fiction, in the tradition of Memento and Twelve Monkeys. I get so frustrated with the local video store when I look at their sci-fi/fantasy section. It's obvious that their definition of "science fiction" ALWAYS involves outer space and their view of "fantasy" is pretty much boiled down to "a movie starring dragons". They keep the Lord of the Rings trilogy in the Action section (where you can also find Twelve Monkeys, Minority Report and even Starship Troopers...you'd think they'd at least figure that last one into their own scheme of what sci-fi is). The Final Cut, even though the blurb on the box explicitly spells it out for you that this is a SCIENCE FICTION THRILLER, is located in the Drama section (right there with Memento). Okay...so it IS a drama, as opposed to a Comedy or a Horror film, and I guess it didn't pass their credentials as an "action" movie (not enough explosions, I guess).

But take my word for it; as one who has read an awful lot of science fiction (used to love Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction) I can attest that The Final Cut is science fiction at it's very best. The kind that not only helps you envision the possibilities of the future but also makes you consider the ramifications (moral, ethical & practical) of what those possibilities entail.

If I were using a Five Star rating system, this film would easily earn 4 and 1/2 stars. I noticed that Siskel and Roeper had both given it the coveted "Thumbs Up", and I would have to agree.

On a Shostakovich Jag

The last several days I have been obsessed with one particular piece of music. I often go through stages where I will listen to the work of one artist/composer/band almost exclusively for a period of days...I call these "jags". Periodically I find myself on a "Dylan jag", where I plumb the deep resources of my Bob Dylan CDs. Red House Painters jags are not uncommon, depending upon my mood. Autechre jags crop up fairly regularly and they will often morph into "general electronic music jags".
But rarely (if ever) have I found myself immersed in a jag such as the one I'm on now, which is all about one single piece of music...namely Dmitri Shostakovich's 8th String Quartet.
I very much enjoy string quartets as a general rule. I have complete collections of Beethoven's and Dvorak's, and believe it or not, I actually have three different recordings of Shostakovich's complete string quartets (the one performed by the Fitzwilliam String Quartet is the one currently getting so much attention, though I also very much enjoy the live recording I have by the always great Emerson Quartet and I can't dismiss the first versions I obtained of the works, as rendered by the Eber String Quartet). I love the Beethoven quartets and they're probably my favorite. The Dvorak quartets have not revealed their genius to me just yet...I'm probably not at the point in the evolution of my musical appreciation to fully grasp their charms.
Can't really explain why I am so enamored of the Shostakovich quartets, but I am. And I find it very difficult to write about this music, or to even explain why the 8th String Quartet has me in it's sway to the point where I have listened to it before going to sleep every night for the last week. As with any great classical piece, it only gets better the more familiar one becomes with it.
It's a mournful piece, and I've read it described as "an instrumental war requiem". That is as good a description as I could come up with. I have a penchant for melancholy music (see the afore-mentioned Red House Painters reference)...perhaps that explains why the 8th so appeals to me.
This may be the first time I've obsessed over a single piece of music, but it will not be the last, because I hope to develop the same admiration for other masterworks that such repeated exposure inherently spawns.

XM 'Bonuses' Kick In

Well, the "bonuses" XM subscribers were offered with the $3 rate increase kicked in on April 2. Now those of us who didn't think the Opie & Anthony show sounded like it was worth paying extra for can find out. And I kinda feel sorry for those XM listeners who don't have a computer, because they wont be able to enjoy the XM Online that was the only other bonus we got for the extra 3 bucks. Those poor folks (as well as those who are still on dial-up) are basically paying $3.00 for something they didn't feel was worth $1.99 when it was a Premium option.
Doesn't seem fair, ifn' you ask me.
But alas, my wife and I recently made the upgrade to DSL and so I can enjoy the Online service and the two "Online Exclusives" that, IMO, are worth logging in for...I think I've already mentioned in a previous post that if I'm gonna listen to XM it's gonna be through my hi-fi, not the cheesy computer speakers we've got. Still, there are 2 channels (EnLighten and Special X) that may just give those chincy little Realistic computer speakers a work out.
EnLighten is a channel devoted exclusively to Southern Gospel music. I really wish this were available as a regular XM channel, as I find that I enjoy this style of music more and more as time goes by. There's an earnestness and sincerity to these songs that is sadly missing in a lot of contemporary Christian music these days.
Special X is described by XM as "Just Plain Weirdness". That's a fairly accurate description of the music they play, though it doesn't quite meet the "bizarre criteria" of, say, The Dr. Demento Show. At the moment Tom Waits' "Step Right Up" is playing, and I suppose most folks would call that "weird"...those of us who have already developed a taste for Waits don't really think of it as such. It's just the Tom Waits we know and love, weird or not.
I dunno, Special X is kind of a clearing house for the slightly oddball and the campy and/or kitsch elements spanning the myriad varieties of music in the vast XM library. There's nothing inherently "weird" about "Bi Mir Bist Bouchene" (sp?) by Steve Lawrence & Edie Gorme, which they just played, and even the "camp" elements could be disputed by people who enjoy that style...but then they follow that up with "Honky Tonk Hermaphrodite" by the "Reverend" Billy C. Wirtz, and there can't be too many out there who wouldn't consider this song "weird" ("Doggone, I just chipped a nail and I'm all out of Red Man").
So maybe I will check in with XM Online now and again. I've already got my presets entered, so that's some form of commitment, right?
As for Opie and Anthony on the High Voltage channel...I haven't even bothered to check it out yet. From what I know about it, it doesn't sound like something I would enjoy, but I won't rule out the possibility that it could surprise me and actually be entertaining...the odds are against it, though, as I generally cannot stand to listen to DJs spouting off their version of humour and their even less significant opinions. But I'll be sure and post when I finally get around to it and let you know.

Farewell, John Paul II

John Paul II
1920-2005

Though I am a Protestant Calvinist, nevertheless I sincerely wish to express my heartfelt sympathies to the faithful in the Catholic Church and would like to unite with them in their hour of mourning for the Pontiff, John Paul II. If ever there was an example of grace, dignity, compassion and integrity, it was this Pope.

Against Pop: Music Snobs Proselytize

Cultural elitism and snobbery are taken to new levels at against pop, a website that purports, in an extremely wordy manner, to make a "case against pop & rock" music.
I've always been more amused than appalled by those who think their personal tastes in music are intrinsically superior by virtue of the complexity of the style of music they prefer. Lots of jazz fans are like that, turning their nose up at conventional pop & rock (don't even mention country) because of the relative simplicity involved in the composition and performance of those types of music compared to jazz. Indeed, it does require significantly more technical skill ("chops") to play jazz than your typical pop/rock song (though I would posit that the very best pop/rock musicians in the field can hold their own with any jazz-bo).
Then again, I've met people who are classical music snobs who feel the same way about jazz as jazz snobs feel about pop/rock. For whatever reason, jazz just doesn't rise to their standards...perhaps it's the loose, relatively unstructured nature of the music (as compared to classical), or maybe it's the focus on improvisation that bugs 'em. I dunno (although I'm sure the site administrators for against pop could educate us, since they appear to fall into the "classical snob" camp).
Classical snobs do tend to be a tad more uppity than jazz snobs, at least that has been the impression I've noticed. I'll never forget an incident that occurred when I was working at CD Warehouse a few years ago. I was playing a George Strait CD on the store's stereo, as I liked to mix it up quite a bit and play all different kinds of music. There was a lady who had come in the store and had spent all her time there in the classical section. She eventually came to the counter and purchased a CD, but she had this disgusted look on her face. She said, "How can you stand to listen to that stuff? That's not music!"
"I dunno", I answered, "I guess it's because I like it".
And there, in a nutshell, is why all the high-falutin' arguments purporting ANY style of music's superiority over another (case-in-point: against pop) are futile execises in pompous elitism that not only will never change anyone's mind but come off as laughable.
People listen to whatever kind of music they listen to BECAUSE THEY LIKE IT...because it sounds good to them. Most people could care less about the virtuosity required to produce a piece of music, and that's just fine because virtuosity itself is not necesarilly a requirement for a song to have the ability to touch someone, to move them to whatever extremes of emotion it aims for, and so on.
For instance, a simple Nick Drake song, to my ears, is every bit as moving as Samuel Barber's Adagio, which is, in it's choral version, my favorite classical composition. Why? How should I know? It just is...it just has that power over my emotions, the sound of his voice, the feeling he puts into his singing, maybe even the simplicity of the song itself culminates in a response that is every bit as musically satisfying as that provided by the most complicated, yet beautiful piece of classical music I've ever heard.
At any rate, it seems to me to be a futile gesture and a waste of time and energy to make such a case against any genre of music in the way that against pop does with pop/rock. We're going to listen to what we enjoy listening to, and that is all there is to it, whether it's a lame Britney Spears song on the radio or an old recording of Maria Callas singing a Verdi aria. And why should those of us who enjoy the sound of a good, distortion drenched, guitar heavy rock and roll song every once in a while CARE about what anyone thinks?
The philosophy of the classical snob, the jazz snob, the snob that thinks ANY kind of music is superior to all others is the antithesis of my own philosophy about music, which is summed up in the ancient adage, "Variety is the spice of life". Indeed, I would have been burned out on music years ago if I only listened to one genre. I'll concede that at this point in my life I listen to more classical music than any other kind. But I'll never become one of the snobs who rejects all other forms of musical expression.
Fer cryin' out loud, listening to Autechre has helped me get a firmer grip on classical, ifn' you can believe that.

Meme #2: For want of a song...

Step 1) Pick a band or singer

Step 2) Answer the questions using only song titles

Step 3) Post

Okay...here goes my second meme:

Artist: David Bowie

Are you male or female?: "The Man Who Sold the World"

Describe yourself: "Even a Fool Learns to Love"

How do some people feel about you?: "Space Oddity"

How do you feel about yourself?: "Here Today, Gone Tomorrow"

Describe your ex-girlfriend: "Queen Bitch" (Just kidding...couldn't resist)

Describe your current girlfriend: (Wife, in my case) "Lady Stardust"

Describe what you want to be: "Heroes"

Describe your current mood: "Tired of My Life"

Describe your friends: "Kooks" (kidding again...I love the few friends I have!)

Share a few words of wisdom: "Don't Be Afraid"


Found via: Crocodile Caucus

(Almost) An Hour with KRXO

An hour (or close to it) with Oklahoma's classic rock giant, KRXO, and this is what I get:

"What a Fool Believes"---The Doobie Brothers

Some of yer old school Doobie fans, the ones whose favorite songs are "China Grove" and "Black Water", may not be too awfully fond of the more Adult Contemporary stylings of the Michael MacDonald hits (this one is probably the biggest, but "Takin' It To The Streets" qualifies). They're certainly entitled to their opinion, but personally I quite like this song and would rank it over many of their other, more rockin' tunes. ESPECIALLY "Black Water", which is, as far as
I'm concerned, one of the most annoying songs in all of rock.

Okay, no fair. I was planning on writing a post about "An Hour With KRXO", just to see what it's like to spend an hour with terrestrial radio (as opposed to XM Satellite Radio)...I haven't spent 5 minutes with KRXO since getting XM, and I was feeling a little bit guilty. After all, KRXO is THE classic rock station in Oklahoma, and I have spent many forgotten hours being reminded of my musical heritage by their DJs.

I had every intention of commenting on each song they played in a one hour time limit...note the Doobie Brothers quip at the top. That was going to be my starting point, and I could only hope that they wouldn't throw in any 38 Special or Styx into the mix (as I wasn't really in the mood to get too cruel).

But they foiled my plans by offering up what they like to call, "Get The Led Out", which is basically a long block of songs by Led Zeppelin. So I'm thinking, well, I might as well have just dragged out one of my Zeppelin CDs and tried to write a review, wouldn't have been much difference, now, would it?

Oh, well.

They kicked the set off with "Going To California", with the line about how Rob's "woman unkind smoked his stuff and drank all his wine". Back in my marijuana-consuming days I would have seen this as KRXO's way of telling me it was time to load up a bowl and fire it up, "the kllla Zeppelin tracks are on the way and you need to get your head ready". And no doubt the stoners who took the cue probably enjoyed "Since I've Been Loving You" more than I did when they played it. It's never been one of my favorite Led Zeppelin tracks (favorites being "When The Levee Breaks", "The Battle of Evermore" and "Immigrant Song", in case you wanted to know...oh, yeah, I like "No Quarter" a lot, too).
From "Since I've Been Loving You" to "Trampled Under Foot", which is another Page/Plant song that I just do not enjoy. Physical Graffiti gets a lot of credit from Zep diehards as being one of their best albums, but I beg to differ. It has a few really good songs in the mix, but it's too long and with dreck like "Trampled Underfoot" included they should have cut it down to one album.

Okay, 25 minutes into the hour and Get The Led Out is over (I forget that a "block of rock" is just 3 songs...that they give a flippin' TITLE to their Zeppelin blocks made me think it might be longer in duration).

~~~"After Midnight"---Eric Clapton

No disrespect to Slowhand, but I can't stand this stupid song.

But hey, I'M the stupid one, because I just realized something (it dawned on me when they followed "After Midnight" with "Lay Down Sally"...another Clapton song I hate...and I LIKE Eric Clapton)...this is THURSDAY! As in "TRIPLE PLAY THURSDAY"!!! In other words, they'll be spinning 3-song blocks o' rock from EVERY artist they play tonight! Oh JOY!

Reminds me of the game me and my friends used to play where we'd try to guess which song KRXO would play next in any particular block. The trick was to get at least one correct of the two that they would play after the first. It wasn't that hard, because the playlists at KRXO are so tight that you can count on them playing the same songs every time. And the fewer big hits an artist had, the easier it was to guess. For instance, with the Rolling Stones it would be pretty difficult. Lots of big hits and fazed cookies from that lot (although "Jumpin' Jack Flash" or "Honky Tonk Women" would usually be a fruitful guess). But with a group like Blue Oyster Cult it was easy to get both songs...made only somewhat more difficult if the first song in the block was "(Don't Fear) The Reaper", the obvious shoe-in. If that were the case, one need only guess "Godzilla" and you're guaranteed at least 2 out of the three.

Then again, that was a completely hypothetical example, since it's doubtful that KRXO would play anything else from BOC than those two songs. I can't think of another that they would play...even though I CAN think of several others that are worthy ("E.T.I.", "In Thee"). The Cars would have been a better group to pull an example from. "Just What I Needed", "Let's Go" and "Let The Good Times Roll" is a safe bet.

Well, I WAS planning on spending an hour with KRXO, but they've kicked off a Crosby, Stills & Nash block, and that's not something I'm prepared to endure (especially when they lead off with "Southern Cross"...yuck). Sure, they could find a loophole and throw in some CSN&Y for to redeem the whole thing, but I'm not about to hang around long enough to find out. I can't even describe how much I can't tolerate "Southern Cross".

BTW, ~~~375,000 in cash and prizes to the winner of Don Quixote's Talent Quest karaoke contest, but those $1.50 long necks is what keeps 'em coming back.