enough with the (self) demands

What have I done?

Looks like I'm on a national slam team. Sweet Jesus.

Let me back up a bit.

I feel like lately - in the broader sense, since last September when I started going back to the poetry readings - that I have slowly but surely been getting off-track with the writing that was getting right back on track. Oh, I've been writing but suddenly it became clear that most of my writing was geared toward the slam format (3 minutes in length, bombastic, populist, room for error if you have been labeled a "literary" type). Now I have just completed the qualifying and slam-off sessions, a roast for a close poet acquaintance that required some sharp-edged taunts, work schedules increasingly rabid and my mouth filling with that metallic cloud that usually signals something displeasing. I need hours of healthy sleep, and moments of quiet, blank slate.

I'm getting insufficient amounts of both.

Now, I have a year-long commitment ahead of me...the bulk of which is crammed into the coming summer months, culminating in the national competitions in August.

So with all the creative concerns, family and personal issues I won't detail here, stressors and schedules of work, slam-related potential stressors and schedule issues, and the usual maintenance required for marital bliss and self-introspection, what is a tired old man to do?

Breath deep, and slow.

Repeat.


***


This week's batch:

Game 6 (in theaters) is a marvelous film (especially for writers and actors and people who like meaty but realistic sounding dialogue). It will be hard to find, but I say go and seek it out.

Waiting (DVD) was not as stupid and reprehensible as you might think. Actually pretty funny. Maybe I was just in the right mood. But It worked.

Hostel (DVD), by the same token, was not as disgusting and awful as you might think. Unfortunately it was not a consistently scary movie, or even particularly tense one. But it was watchable, which was a surprise.

Keane (DVD) is weak in resolution but a powerhouse in performance. Damian Lewis was criminally overlooked as best actor this year, and deserves some recognition for his lead role. Hard to watch, but incredible.

The Tenants (DVD) was quite good. based on a Bernard Malamud story, and featuring great turns by Dylan McDermott and Snoop Dogg, a very strong film, if a little frustrating in it's inverted racism.




...coming this summer - Ken Burns: HotDog The Movie...

showzen you right

Forget what I said about Wonder Showzen. Let me re-phrase:

Wonder Showzen is so black and hilarious and serrated that it makes South Park on its best day look like a low-fat Twinkie filled with pixie dust and sugar kisses.

Yeah, I said it. I said "Twinkie" without using the international trademark symbol.

Because that's how I roll.


***


Don't let the critics and the box office tallies scare you: Slither and Lucky Number Slevin are both good for what ails you, at a discounted price. One is unapologetically nasty, gooey, coy and occasionally even intensely scary, and the other is B-movie amusing with A-list talent, and despite its predictablility will catch you off-guard in the lengthy denouement (say that with a thick French accent, it always sounds better).


***


Trying to cull together roughly 60 pages of poetry for a manuscript...and it's damn hard to do. I have hundreds upon hundreds of poems and when you really start being picky, you realize how much sub-par work you've created. Plus the whole concept of personal poetry, "I" poetry, versus the need for the general audience to feel pulled in by something, and I am left wondering if anyone would read such a tome. Then add to the mix my already burgeoning feeling of inadequacy in trying to write pieces that do not fall easily into slam-mode. All to say, I am feeling a little bloated and moody. Artistically.




(can you dig that, sucka?)

peanut butter badgers

Last night a couple of guys - one probably 17, the other maybe in his thirties - connected in a magical way by discussing two current online treats: the Peanut Butter Jelly Time song, and the Badger/Mushroom/Snake song. To give you a sample of the latter's lyrics, they go something like this -

"Badger, badger, badger, badger,
badger, badger, badger, badger,
badger, badger, badger, badger,

Mushroom! Mushroom!"

And so on. They are infectious and funny and terribly cute if terribly cute "does it" for you.

Simply seek them in any search engine by trying the words "badger, mushroom" or "peanut butter jelly time"...because I can't even recall what the URLs were.


***


Brick is an awesome piece of film. Rian Johnson, the director, has created a dead-on bit of noir pulp played out in a southern California high school. It is well worth your time and money to see, so rush right out and find it.


***


The ever-prominent delays in blogging have mostly been poetry-related. The slam venue I read at has been coming down to its final qualifying weeks before the big slam-off where a national team will be chosen. I am in the top ten, though the realist in me knows I will not be in the final five. We'll see how that turns out.


***


CURRENT GOOD STUFF

Wonder Showzen, Season 1 on DVD: Subversive, hilarious and deadly dark. Not for children, and really, not for a lot of adults.

Robot Chicken, Season 1 on DVD: Not in the slightest bit subversive, but really funny, and in brief, bite-sized morsels, direct from Adult Swim to you. The work of Seth Green, when he's not suckling at the teat of Mike Myers.

Inside Man: Spike Lee without race-based drama? Huh?! A terrific caper film that falls back lovingly on the crime dramas of the seventies.



(end reel one)