Monday, Feb. 24, 2003
Back to school, only without Rodney Dangerfield, posted at 10:55 p.m.
Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com I do not usually get frustrated about entries getting eaten, but tonight I am. Because it was my fault, since I had copied it onto my clipboard, then forgot that I had and used it to copy an E-Bay bid number so I wouldn't forget it. So when I tried to paste my entry in, it was Bid # 27444396.Here is a rundown:
1. Going back to school today was great. I missed it, I missed the kids. I am feeding off their energy and loving my job right now. Snowstorms are apparently coming again on Wednesday night, though, so the joy might be shortlived. (Heck, it will probably end tomorrow about halfway through 7th period - they're an edgy bunch, not always fun.)
2. I enjoyed the Grammy Awards. Norah Jones is gorgeous and talented, and she is this year's Alicia Keys - a talented throwback teenaged artist who will probably have a very long career. I enjoyed John Mayer's performance quite a bit, as well. It is hard to believe that just eighteen months ago, I was e-mailing him and asking him to play The Common Grounds, and only fourteen months ago I was seeing him play to fifty people at tiny club in North Carolina. It is a thrill to see an artist you love make it big, although there is also a sense that you wish you could have kept the audiences small. Hopefully Mayer will get another album out soon, because I have the first edition to Room for Squares, and that came out a long time ago. I don't want him to pull a Jewel on me.
As for the awards show, I enjoyed all the performances - except Faith Hill's. Everybody else was basically pretty good, though no one blew me away. Everyone was just solid. Sort of like the albums this year. No masterpieces, but a lot of good ones. I will admit to being disappointed in Simon & Garfunkle's performance. They sounded wan to me.
3. I spent part of the evening writing an e-mail to David Poland, a movie columnist who I've been reading for years. This was my first e-mail to him.
This is what he said: "What The Pianist happens to be is, without a doubt, the best film that�s been nominated for Best Picture by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences."
This is what I said: No way is "The Pianist" the Best Film nominated. Sure, it's a good movie, great even. But what did it offer that other Holocaust films have not offered? This film doesn't compare with "Schindler's List" or even "Life is Beautiful." Polanski sets up shots masterfully, but the film seemed detached to me, not nearly as personal as one would expect from someone who grew up in the Polish ghettos. There were just not enough personal moments with Adrien Brody's character; his long alone scenes didn't compare with Tom Hanks' similar scenes in "Cast Away." His family (the film's most interesting characters) goes, and there is no mention or hint about them again. That may have been the only way Brody's character survived, but the scene after scene of him struggling to survive dragged ploddingly along. The ghetto scenes were suitably horrific, but I didn't feel the movie transcended until the impromptu concert scene with the German officer. And even then, I was squirming in my seat because the previous half hour had seemed to go on so long.
I don't mean to diss "The Piano" too much, but I found it uneven. I'd still pick it for the 2nd best nominated film, though, after "The Hours" and *slightly* (maybe) ahead of "Lord of the Rings." I think "The Hours" is the most underrated film in years. I was transfixed, transported, and amazed through the entire running time, and I'm a 25-year old straight guy* (I made this point because his competitor, apparently ignorant that emotions are transcendent regardless of gender or sexuality, has been making this dumb big stink about how it's a movie for women and gays) who's never read any Virginia Woolfe. That film should win, hands down, since "Bowling for Columbine" and "City of God" weren't nominated.
**
He sent me back a friendly, immediate reply, saying "To each his own..." and adding that he's from the area and his dad went to the high school I teach at in the 1920's. Maybe I'll have it published tomorrow. I sort of doubt it; he probably would have told me.
Good thing I'm making good use of my time, though.