Just to Let You All Know I’m Still Alive

I realized it has been quite some time since I last wrote anything on The Brimstone Blog.  I really do not have anything insightful to say today (as if I ever do), however, I just wanted to post a little something to let everyone out there know that I’m still here on this planet.

Let me start by lamenting the lost of a great American actor, Charlton Heston, this past weekend.  A larger-than-life figure who starred in many a cinematic epic, including “Ben-Hur” (for which he won an Oscar), “The Ten Commandments,” ”Khartoum,” “A Touch of Evil,” “The Agony and the Ecstasy” and the enduring “Planet of the Apes.” 

Married to the same woman for sixty years, and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Chuck Heston stood with Martin Luther King in support of the Civil Rights Movement as well as becoming President of the National Rifle Association, thus proving that one does not have to consistently reside on only one side of the political fence.  And by the way, if he was ten years younger and not experiencing the onset of Allzheimer’s disease, he would have kicked the shit out of that bloated, unfunny, blow-hard, Michael Moore as he made the ridiculous “Bowling for Columbine.”

With that said, my last thought for the day and on a completely different note is that, much like WFMU’s Bill Kelly, I’m wondering if Joe Girardi is gonna let Joba Chamberlain throw at David Ortiz as he crowds the plate this season.  I sure hope so. 

Once

I was pretty excited that the film “Once” came from Netflix yesterday afternoon.  And I was not disappointed after I watched the movie last night.  The Irish film, directed by John Carney, concerns the relationship between a busker, played by Glen Hansard of the band The Frames, and a Czech immigrant, played by Marketa Irglova, in modern-day Dublin.  Hansard’s character alone had special resonance for me as it reminded me of when I busked on Grafton Street during my time at Dublin’s Trinity College in the summer of 1996.

The two nameless characters come together and cultivate their relationship as they begin to write and ultimately, record songs together.  It is the couple’s songwriting process that make “Once” such a charmingly special film for it is truly magical to watch two people begin to communicate with each other and appreciate each other through their music.

This is a film that looks as if it cost a pittance to make by today’s standards, but even so, it is filled with warm and funny moments, not to mention some really well-crafted songs by Hansard and Irglova themselves.  This is one that is not to be missed. Enjoy.

Control

I recently had the good fortune to check out the film, “Control,” which documents the short lives of the band Joy Division and its singer, Ian Curtis. The film, directed by Anton Corbijn, who photographed Joy Division in 1979-80, is a dark, yet wonderful exposition of a man tomented by some inner monster which he just can’t locate and the effects that monster has on his band, his family and himself.

As I just stated, the film is dark. It has to be. For darkness, along with all of its wonderful cousins- the color grey, rain, nightclubs, steel and smoke, are at the core of Joy Division’s music. That music echoes and almost personifies where the band came from, the industrialized north of England. It is a place where the sun has to to fight a bitter battle each day to shine through the gloom of the factory smoke. There is one scene in the film where Ian tells Annik Honore, the Belgian fanzine writer with whom he’s having an affair, that his favorite color is “Man City Blue.” I believe that is the only time in the film that the audience gets any glimpse of color at all. But that is to the director’s credit and skill because Corbijn uses that darkness to paint this picture of the man whose monster was born of that darkness.

Sam Riley, making his big screen debut, briliantly captures the fated Ian Curtis. He is clearly a creative and loving person, but his monster slowly begins to tear him apart causing his family as well as his ability to perform, to degenerate. One would swear he is watching live footage of the band when Riley explodes into the nervous, jerky and poetically epileptic dance moves that were the hallmark of an Ian Curtis performance.

The film is actually based on a novel by Debbie Curits, Ian’s wife, and well-played by Samantha Morton. Other notable roles are that of the flamboyant Tony Wilson played by Craig Parkinson and Rob Gretton, Joy Division’s manager, played by Toby Kebbel.

“Control” is currently playing at one theater in New York City, but I’m sure its release on DVD will be forthcoming. If you are a fan of Joy Division, the film is mandatory. If you are a fan of the late seventies British music scene, the film is a must. And if you are a fan of the human condition, “Control” is highly reccommended.