Ever since Sunday night I have been totally pissed off, borderline psychotic. The Sopranos ending was more than just a blow to me as a fan...but as a fan of good writing...despite my inability to do so. I will not even blog about the bullshit commercial reasons for why the ending was what it was (dvd sales with "alternate endings" and ticket sales to the Sopranos movie) or anything about the finale..except to say...I was really angry.
Tonight in an attempt to wash that memory out of my brain I turned off the phone, holed up inside, and planned to watch something to take my mind off of the horror I could not embrace...well...something wonderful happened....I checked my Tivo and found that I had recorded American Splendor...the story of Harvey Pekar...the famous comic book writer. Now, I am the first one to admit that I know NOTHING about comic books...happily so...but I had heard very good things about the movie, so I decided that I was going to give it a shot...what the fuck...I had seen the worse that pompous bullshit could offer...no, not this blog...well...not just this blog...so I decided to watch.
I can't begin to tell you how fucking great that movie is...wow...I was so blown away. I must admit that I am sucker for intelligent, off-beat, quirky, funny, dark, well acted subject matter...and boy did American Splendor have that in spades. I was moved. I laughed out loud. I shifted uncomfortably at the delightfully awkward exchanges. I smiled knowingly at the causticly dry humor. I was transfixed on his imperfections...and I nodded approvingly at his half-assed attempts to work on them with a surprising amount of heart. I try to never say that someone "should" or "has to" watch something...but this...this deserves to be seen.
I know some will say that pathetic to be moved by television...ignorant self-righteous idiots that refuse to understand that television is the modern day theater...but I am just happy to be moved at all.
There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that's your own self. - Aldous Huxley
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