My requirements for a relationship

I was reading one of my favorite movie bloggers Jim Emerson today, and this post came to my attention Bad sneakers and a piña colada, my friend - scanners

Anyway I thought it would be fun to think of the things, or tastes if you will I find in a relationship, whether they are turn ons or turn offs.

I keep it no secret, I am a movie buff, this is a number one thing with me. There are certain movies I will show women, and then I see what their reaction is to them. Quentin Tarantino has said he's done this with women and "Rio Bravo", he shows them "Rio Bravo" and sees what their reaction is.

For me it can be a real turn off if a woman doesn't like your favorite movie, or at least one of your favorite movies. I will always show a woman one of my favorites, I've done this with "It's a Wonderful Life". The most serious relationship I was ever in began by each of us showing eachother our favorite movie. She went first and we watched "Titanic". I was less than enthused, but I could still watch it, for it wasn't a bad movie. She of course cried, I had my arm around her, it was a beautiful moment, we were still starting out in our relationship, so I could block out the movie with the fact that I was with her.

I showed her "It's a Wonderful Life", she told me she liked it, I felt she was humouring me, we still weren't at the stage where we could be completely honest with eachother.

I couldn't help but be the movie nerd that I am and I don't think it helped when we saw "You've Got Mail" together. She loved it, thought it was the best movie ever made, I of course had to allude that the original film "The Shop Around the Corner" was better. We watched, and wasn't but five minutes into the film when she asked me to turn it off. It turned out she didn't like the way the actors talked back then, it annoyed her. I swallowed my pride, but trying to make this relationship work, she suggested "The Wizard of Oz". Of course "The Wizard of Oz", who doesn't love that movie? Half way through the film, she found an excuse to leave, I knew then, it wouldn't last.

Things got even worse when our music tastes were different, I remember playing her an Elvis Costello song that I said really meant a lot to me, she could only say "oh it's nice" at the end. Trust me, if I tell you her music tastes, you'll just make fun of me.

We always had our books, which is the one thing we always could talk about, she introduced me to authors she liked, and I did the same, but I don't think I could get past the "Shop Around the Corner" incident. It ended.

Another relationship I had was also less successful, I showed her "Casablanca" and "His Girl Friday", she was bored by the black and white, and made fun of it. I showed her a Coen Brothers comedy, she thought it was stupid. In a last ditch effort on her part, we went to see the George Clooney film "Up in the Air" recently, I was moved by it, she found it depressing, afterwards it was obvious we were from a different planet entirely. This one I should've known when we also went to a Neil Young concert and she spent the time covering her ears.

It's important to share your passions, I feel that's the only way to know if you click with someone, if they find your passions dull or uninteresting then where would that lead you? I'm not saying someone has to be entirely in love with what I love, but they must know that this is part of who I am, and vise versa.

The Beach Boys: Another Obsession

The Beach Boys were when I first discovered rock and roll, for that they will always remain special to me.

It's almost like a dream now, it's one of the earliest memories of my life. I was seven years old, it was summer time, I was lying around my dad's record player. My dad was quite the eclectic music lover. His favorite was Elton John, I remember listening to his live album and liking parts of it. Then he had Bruce Springsteen "Born in the U.S.A.", an album I only listened to for its title track. All day I would listen to these records, but it didn't really have a lasting effect.

Then it happened, all I remember was my dad taking me down to the garage, inside one of his cupboards he pulled out a record I had never seen before. It was "Best of the Beach Boys Vol 2". The picture on the cover had a bunch of weird looking guys sitting in what looked like a Forrest. My dad told me, the record used to belong to his brother, my Uncle Bill who died only a few years earlier. I never really got to know my Uncle Bill, I had small memories of him and there are pictures of me sitting next to him.



I went back upstairs and I put the record on, I played it all the way through, I remember thinking I had never heard anything like it. All the rock and roll I heard up until then was full of guitars and had what I thought was a dirty sound I didn't care for much. The Beach Boys were clear and crisp, I was entranced by their music, it was fun and positive. I remember when "Surfin Safari" came on, which I thought was the greatest song at the time.

The album became my favorite for a long time. Later that year, my parents went out, my brother and I were being babysat. When my parents got home, we were already in bed, I wasn't awake, but I remember my dad coming into my room and slipping something underneath my pillow. When he left, I checked to see what it was, it was another Beach Boys greatest hits album. This one had classics like "Sloop John B" and "Warmth of the Sun" on it.

Throughout my childhood, I just kept collecting Beach Boys albums, they were all greatest hits, I started to wonder if they ever really made real albums. I don't remember how old I was when I first heard the "Pet Sounds" album, I was still very young. I remember loving "God Only Knows" the first time I heard it. To me it felt very spiritual, even though if you listen to the lyrics, it's really just a straight forward ballad. But the music itself brings it above all that, that's thanks to Brian Wilson the founding member and genius behind all those great songs. Brian was the heart and soul of The Beach Boys sound.

It was only later I found out Brian had a big problem with drugs which if you've seen him lately had a lasting effect. It's hard to believe that all those fun songs were made by someone who was forever sad, of course that's a common thread in rock and roll.

I grew up a bit and I found myself listening less and less to The Beach Boys. To them, they represented my youth and innocence, and as you grow up, things become a lot more complicated than the lyrics to "Surfin Safari". But over time I did return to The Beach Boys music, especially when life was really starting to get depressing.

It has been said that after 1967 in the Summer of Love, The Beach Boys became passe. America had entered Vietnam, and you were hearing more protest songs on the radio. There was the counter culture generation, and The Beach Boys just looked like a bunch of squares compared to them. And of course this is where Brian Wilson's drug problems were at an all time high.

But this was also a creative high on the group, the were experimenting with different types of sounds and music, they carried harmonies better than ever. Just nobody really cared anymore.

It was at this point when the other band member starting pitching in and writing songs. The best of the lot came from Brian's brothers Carl and Dennis, both ironically died young. Dennis in particular made songs that would inspire me, including "Forever" which along with "God Only Knows" was their best love song ever.



I still love their early records, there is a youthful innocence about them, it was true and honest. Just like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, The Beach Boys, were a bunch of white boys who wanted to be like Chuck Berry, Brian Wilson also wanted to be The Four Freshman, and George Gershwin for that matter. It's safe to say the only thing manufactured about The Beach Boys was their image (They were thought of as real surfers when in fact only Dennis surfed, and Brian had a fear of water.)

The music of today leaves me jaded, it's depressing to listen to because it doesn't seem honest. The Beach Boys represented a sound, and a feeling, when was the last time do remember a music group really doing that, without it feeling manipulated?

I get angry when I hear The Beach Boys still touring, I get angry because I know it's not The Beach Boys, the ones who are touring are Mike Love and Bruce Johnston with a bunch of other musicians. I saw them in concert and it was depressing, it seemed like I along with everyone else was trying to recapture their youth, including the guys on stage. Before he died Dennis Wilson released a solo album entitled "Farewell my Friend", in many ways I like to think that song was a farewell to the band. Brian Wilson still makes music thank God, but no matter how good it is, the feeling was left back in the 60s.

The Beach Boys still make me feel good, they are still my favorite band, and they made the most beautiful love songs in all of rock, if I ever have kids, I'd like to introduce them to The Beach Boys the way my dad did, for me it was a magical moment in my youth.

Glenn Beck just isn't funny

We have been told that Glenn Beck isn't someone to be taken seriously, even Glenn Beck has said this. He has again called himself a commentator not a reporter. On Wikipedia he described himself once as a circus clown. Beck has even gone on the road doing his special brand of comedy along with inspiration speaking.

I can't speak on the comedy show since I've never seen it, but what I've observed from Beck's own show is simply this, he's just not funny.

Beck's more annoying than funny, annoying because he's sincere at what he says, annoying because what he says doesn't make sense. How can a man be so sincere at something that doesn't make any sense?

Does Beck actually mean what he's saying, or is it all an act? I just don't know anymore. What I do know is Beck's schtick doesn't even make sense, The Marx Brothers sometimes didn't make much sense either, but they belonged to a different kind of world of madcap zaniness that seemed real to them. This is where Beck loses me, he doesn't seem to have a full grasp on his own reality, he tries too hard to make something out of nothing, The Marx Brothers made it look effortless.

It seems Glenn Beck is trying to be two different people, sometimes it seems he's trying to be the counterpoint to Jon Stewart, someone who mocks the government, and attempts to satirize its political figures. These are the times where he reminds us he's only an entertainer a circus clown if you will.

The other persona is that of a serious minded conspiracy theorist who predicts the world's downfall with ideas that when put together makes about as much sense as a Michael Bay montage.

Which one is the real Glenn Beck you wonder? They both are, the problem with this guy is when he's trying to be funny he isn't, and when he's trying to be serious it comes off as funny, but it isn't, it's more sad in a way, it's sad for Glenn Beck and it's sad for the people who watch him and take him seriously.

What kind of lives do these people live, have they lost their grasp of reality? Do they take Glenn Beck seriously, or do they just have a bad sense of humour?



(Serious Glenn Beck? Not sure, he almost had me until he said Hitler Youth and Climate Change people in the same context.)



(Funny Glenn Beck? Is this meant to be taken seriously?)



(Newsflash Jon Stewart is funnier doing Glenn Beck than Glenn Beck is)




(Now that's funny)

R.I.P. Alex Chilton

Big Star is a band you should know if you already didn't.

Catching up with 2 Artists

The two artforms that are most important to me are film and literature. When I'm not watching a film, I'm usually reading a book and vise versa. I consider myself somewhat of pseudo-intelligent on both subjects.

Late last year, we lost two giants of both the literary and film world when filmmaker Eric Rohmer, and author J.D. Salinger both past away. When artists like that pass away it's customary for fans of their work to do a retrospective. For me, when I heard these two men died, I was amazed with myself that I have never read a word of Salinger's prose, nor seen a piece of celluloid from Rohmer's films.

Salinger of course is best remembered for writing "Catcher on the Rye" which is still considered the main book on teenage alienation. I guess I got past my teenage alienation stage which made me not jump up and read it right away, I decided to wait. Salinger has also written "Nine Stories" and "Fanny and Zooey" both of which I'm even more interested in reading.

Rohmer was one of the founding fathers of the French New Wave. He started out as a film critic along with Francois Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, and Louis Malle. He's probably best known for his "Six Moral Tales" series of films all of which I have failed to see so far. Rohmer continued to make films well into his eighties, his last one was made not long ago in 2007, and he remained a critical success throughout his career.

When I heard of the deaths of these two artists, I was sad, mostly because I've heard of them and they were well respected, and now I find the urge to explore their work now more than ever.

In Canada We Have the Choice to Pay for Fox News

Thank God I live in Canada where we don't have to worry about Fox News every day. In my household, we have the Fox Network where I watch "The Simpsons", but Fox News is a completely different entity altogether. I think if we wanted Fox News we would have to pay for it. I'm not sure, I've never looked into it, all I know is in America, the faces of Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly seem to be everywhere, and here, we don't hear about or see them all that much.

I think I get my fill of Fox News when Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert mock them on practically every episode of their comedy shows. I remember when Beck had his own show on CNN, back then he didn't get as much attention as he does now, when I saw him then I found him to be the same kind of blow hard who distorted facts and exaggerated the truth as he does today, but I guess CNN didn't know how to publicize him. Beck even devoted a whole show to being interviewed by Anderson Cooper, it was amazing I don't think I ever saw a talk show where the host was his own guest.

I don't think Canada has an equivalent to Fox News, when I think of Canadain News, I think of Lloyd Robertson, or Peter Mansbridge, and of course "This Hour has 22 Minutes". In fact I trust our newsmen more than our politicians, for if there are anybody who try to distort facts and grand stand for no apparent reason it's them, don't believe me, just watch a House of Commons debate.

Of course Canadian politics have always lacked the drama and intensity of American politics. In Canada we have more than two parties, so it never feels like the people I know are either left or right. In America it's as if you have to be one or the other, there isn't a middle ground. I'm not sure if the gap between the two parties is smaller, but it doesn't seem like it.

I'm not very politically savvy, I look as politics as another word for bureaucracy, nothing ever seems to get done no matter which side you agree with, I felt real leadership has always come from someone who forgoes the consequences and makes decisions.

I feel like I'm simplifying my point, but like I said I'm not politically savvy. I view the world not through a political point of view but through a moral one. I believe the Iraq War is unjust, I believe gay people should get the same rights as everybody, and I believe universal healthcare is a great thing. I also believe in family values, good education systems, stricter gun laws, and freedom of religion. I believe I've learned these things by the way I was raised and viewing the world as I see it, politics have never had anything to do with it. If I would categorize myself, I would associate myself more as a liberal, but whether or not I would vote for the Liberal party is up in the air. I don't believe in Progressive Conservatives simply because I don't believe progress has anything to do with conservatives. In other words, I don't think I belong to a party, nor do I want to be, each party has let me down in some way or another.

I kinda feel sorry for Americans who only have the two choices, and then you are viewed by your choice as either good or bad in the media. I don't think I could stand for a Fox News type of show in Canada, it might make politics more interesting here, but it would be sending us down a road where morality and the truth no longer matters. In no way am I going to pay for that.

The Process

The process of writing is a joy for the most part. I wouldn't say I'm prolific or even that great but I find the more I do it, the more I'm finding my voice.

I'm fascinated with the whole creative process that goes into writing, or goes into anything for that matter. Everyone has there own way of doing things in order to get into as we say:The Zone.

It usually takes me months to finally sit down and write something mostly because I spend that time thinking it out thoroughly. I must have a clear picture in my head, at least something to go by before I sit down at the keyboard. This process is where I think I've done some of my best writing.

Lately however I've been coming by other ways to write. Recently I've hitched my wagon to a local comedy group in my city. They are full of people who I have gotten to know and trust very much. We write all our original sketches, bring them to the table for the others to peruse and then we sometimes do re-writes. I must say I'm finding working this way with a group of people very gratifying and fun. Even if a sketch isn't working out, we sometimes come together and try to make it work. It's very give and take and you have to leave your ego at the door.

It's also becoming a stronger way for me to understand comedy. As I was going on in my last post, there's an art to comedy, and it has its own formula. When I'm writing a comical situation, I ask myself why is it funny. Sometimes I can't find an answer, and that's when I think it's not as great as it could be, but I must put those petty things aside when working on a deadline, in hindsight there have been only two sketches I have written so far I have been proud of, one of them in particular became good only when we rehearsed it with the actors.

One thing writing tends to do is keep me isolated, and that's when it becomes almost hard to take. I love discussion, and dissection which is something I think you can only perfect when with more people, but there is that time when you have to be alone with your own thoughts. This however isn't always an agonizing situation, for I have found many times I couldn't wait to get home and write, to be with my characters that I love so much. This is probably a description of being in the zone, when everything seems to click and all you need to do is put it on paper.

Even what I'm doing right now, I feel is part of the process, it's a recording of thoughts, trying to express something sometimes not all that clearly other than to myself, but it's a way of wiping away the cobwebs of my brain to make a clearer picture in my head of what I feel is what I need to express.