We’re moving on to March, which means Spring is on the way, and thank goodness we’re closer to a warmer golf season. And this week, it’s time to break open another box of random thoughts.
Small Victories Are Still Victories
When I started seriously considering creating a blog, the big question I kept asking myself was if I could keep up the momentum each week. At the time I started it, I had a lot of ideas about movies and music that I could write about, some more fleshed out than others. To prepare for my new adventure, I read a number of articles about creating a blog – both the technical aspects of creating a website (one of my prouder moments was creating the “subscribe” function – I’ve never been the technical type) and the content aspects of starting a blog. I remember one article suggesting having 12-15 blog posts ready to go when you launched. Yeah, I didn’t quite have that when I started. Why am I bringing this up? Because this week’s post marks my 10th post, a good time to pause and reflect on how it’s going.
Most of my experience doing this blog has been very fun. It’s given me a great opportunity to find new topics to write about, expand my moviegoing experience, revisit some old movies and dive back into the catalogues of my favorite musicians. It’s very satisfying to take a kernel of an idea and turn it into a story that I hope resonates with people who read it. It’s also been nice to read a comment or talk to someone who enjoyed a nugget of a piece and hear the encouragement to “keep going”, as one commenter put it. But each week I have to admit I still have that moment of uncertainty before I press the “Publish” button, even after spending several hours working on that week’s post. I guess that’s part of the challenge with stretching yourself, which was one of my goals with this blog.
While it’s been fun, the biggest challenge has been finding those kernels and building them out. At least once a week, I have a moment of “I’m going to run out of ideas!” panic. Thankfully, I’m a list person and am always adding to the list of future blog post ideas. When I shared my first post with my close friends before it went live, my friend Mark jokingly said he hoped I didn’t start sharing the details of our golf rounds when I ran out of content. Needless to say, if it comes to that, I’ll shut it down. Early on, I was encouraged by a podcast my cousin Lesley referred to me. It was called “The Source of Creativity” on the Ted Radio Hour podcast and during the episode, the host interviewed artists about the mystery of creativity – where it comes from and what happens when it stops. It was very interesting to listen to the thoughts of musician Sting, who went through bouts of writer’s block, and author Elizabeth Gilbert, who faced the daunting challenge of following up a hugely successful novel (Eat, Pray, Love), early in her career. So, if I occasionally run into bouts of writer’s block, at least I have good company. And while ten weeks is a small victory, it’s still a victory in my book.
The Film with the Highest Degree of Difficulty that Actually Worked
Around the time I was having one of my woe-is-me panics about running out of ideas, I rewatched Apocalypse Now, the 1979 Vietnam War odyssey directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Usually when I am watching a classic film, especially one I’ve seen before, I like to think about how it was created – what the director, writer and actors were trying to accomplish during certain scenes. Occasionally, you marvel at the technical aspects of a movie – a tracking shot, a special effect, or managing a complicated scene with a large group of cast members. I’m not talking about obvious CGI or animated scenes – it’s clear you can do a lot with a computer. To me, what’s impressive is the pure creation of a scene or a moment that can create emotion in the viewer.
What makes Apocalypse Now unique is not just the film itself, but the story behind the making of the film, which was reported in the press during the three years it took for Coppola to film, edit and bring his film to the public. The behind the scenes story was brilliantly captured in the documentary Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse, using footage shot by Coppola’s wife Eleanor during the film’s production in the Philippines. To say that Coppola faced challenges making this film would be an understatement – he largely financed the making of Apocalypse Now himself; he replaced the original star (Harvey Keitel) with Martin Sheen after shooting began; he had to work with the Philippine government for the use of military equipment; a large portion of the sets were destroyed by a typhoon; his production was thrown into chaos when Sheen suffered a heart attack during shooting (he was only 36, but was in poor health and smoking three packs of cigarettes a day); his other star (Marlon Brando) showed up overweight and unprepared for filming; and most importantly, the script was in a state of constant change as Coppola was never satisfied with the full story, particularly the ending. The story was inspired by Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and Coppola constantly added and subtracted scenes and ideas throughout the production, right up until the end. The climactic scene with Brando and Sheen was largely improvised and you can see Coppola just winging it during filming.
Watching the footage on set, and listening to the conversations between Francis and Eleanor, at times you can hear the pure panic of what making this film was doing to him. He was facing personal financial ruin as the budget continued to skyrocket, he was determined to finish and not give up, and he was so worried that he would spend all of this time and money on a film that would be a disaster. After an incredible period of success (The Godfather, The Conversation, The Godfather Part II), he was genuinely afraid his career would be over. As I was watching some of the scenes where there were hundreds of people on set waiting for him to decide what to do, I couldn’t help to think of all of the pressure he must have been feeling. Footage from the film’s production is complemented by interviews with cast members, members of the production team, Francis, and Eleanor that were conducted years later as the documentary was put together before its release in 1991. These interviews work very well, because it allowed each of the party some distance (about a decade) since the movie was made, so they could bring a new perspective to their experience. Ultimately Apocalypse Now was a critical and financial success and is now considered one of the best films of all time, but the journey was incredibly challenging. I recently wrote a blog about musicians who take risks and my uncle Larry had a great idea about exploring filmmakers who take risks, a topic I will definitely write about, but this example might be the best one. So, now I have another idea to add to my list – it all comes full circle. Thanks Larry!
I Hope This Ages Poorly (Or Why I Regret Deciding to Read the Stephen King Catalogue)
Moving on from one apocalypse…You know how sometimes you’ll read a take that aged poorly? In today’s social media environment, it’s very easy to find a take on Twitter or in an online article that may only be a few weeks or a few months old that looks very bad with the news of today. I mostly see this happen with takes on sports or politics, but it could be about anything. I bring this up because I hope when I look back on this post a few months from now, I laugh at how ridiculous it was.
After I stopped working last year, I made a commitment to start reading more. I have always been a big reader (both fiction and nonfiction), but decided to finally get to some books and authors that I’ve always had on my Goodreads list. I’m also a completist by nature. If I discover a new musician or artist that I like, chances are, I’m going to go all in and devour as much of their catalogue as I can – that’s just the way I am. So, when I was updating my Goodreads list one day, I decided to tackle the books of Stephen King. I’ve read a few of his books over the years, but there were a lot that I hadn’t discovered yet. So, I started at the beginning (with Carrie) and went from there. I didn’t read just books by Stephen King (I suspect that might have had a detrimental effect on my mental well-being) – I mixed in other authors in my day to day reading.
Anyway, last summer I came upon The Stand, which King originally released in 1978, with a longer version released in 1990. This newer version clocked in at 1,152 pages in hardcover form and is a beast of a story. Why am I bringing this up? If you know the story of The Stand, then you can probably guess why I thought of it this week. It’s the story of a strain of influenza that was created for biological warfare, but is accidentally released into the public and kills 99% of the world’s population. The resulting breakdown in society and the struggles of the survivors is chronicled in the novel. It features some supernatural aspects (typical of most King novels) that don’t always work, but it’s still a great story. The Stand was made into a TV miniseries in 1994 for ABC, and there is a new limited series in production that will be released on CBS All Access this Spring. How do you think the conversations in the CBS offices are going right now?
Now, The Stand is an extreme scenario – not even close to what has been happening the last few weeks. That being said, let’s hope in a few months, I look back at this and say, “Oh, yeah, remember when that was a thing? Boy, that aged poorly” OK, this isn’t a news or political blog – I’m here to entertain and (hopefully) make you laugh. Oh, and one more thing, for god sakes, don’t go watching Contagion or Outbreak. I’ve given you plenty of movies to watch these last few months – stay away from the pandemic films! Moving on….
This Month’s Deep Cut Recommendation – Letters to Cleo
As I mentioned last month, from time to time I’m going to provide a recommendation of a movie, a musician or a book that may fly under the popularity radar, but is worth checking out. This month I am picking the Boston rock band Letters to Cleo.
Formed in the 1990s and hailing from Boston, Letters to Cleo are an alternative rock/punk band, led by singer Kay Hanley. Their songs include some hard rocking guitars, heavy drums and fun lyrics. They had a few flashes of fame during their early career. Their first single, Here and Now, was featured on the TV show Melrose Place and was a top 10 single from their debut album, Aurora Gory Alice (1993). Their next two albums – Wholesale Meats and Fish (1995) and Go! (1997) – were also very strong. The group broke up in 2000, but has reunited a number of times for special shows, mostly in the Boston area, and two EPs, the last few years. You may have also seen them in the film 10 Things I Hate About You, and on the TV show Parks and Recreation. Apparently, one of the show’s creators, Michael Schur, is a fan of the band and had Adam Scott’s character wear one of the band’s t-shirts on an episode. It led to the band making an appearance playing on the show.
LTC also holds the record for most elapsed time between the first time and second time that I saw a band live. I believe I saw them play at Pearl Street in Northampton in about 1995, right around the time of their second album’s release. And then I saw them this past November at the Paradise in Boston and let me tell you, after almost 30 years playing together, they can still bring it. In addition to their first three albums, Itunes has a live show recorded in Boston from 2009 that is excellent. Hope you enjoy Letters to Cleo.
Maybe This Movie Season Isn’t a Total Loss
Last week I mentioned that I really enjoyed The Invisible Man, the new suspense film starring Elizabeth Moss. This week we have another new release that is very good – it’s The Way Back, starring Ben Affleck as a former high school basketball star struggling with personal demons and an alcohol addiction, who is convinced to coach his alma mater’s basketball team. This movie was directed by Gavin O’Connor whose previous films include the U.S. Olympic hockey drama Miracle and The Accountant, which also starred Affleck. Have to sidetrack here – how did I miss seeing The Accountant when it came out in 2016? Affleck played a genius accountant working for shady organizations who turns into a gun-wielding badass when the Treasury Department starts to investigate. A movie that doesn’t turn accountants into nerdy punchlines? I need to see this – accountants have been getting a bad name for too long in movies.
OK, where was I? Affleck is outstanding in The Way Back – parts of the movie are very inspirational, but to be honest, parts are pretty tough to watch. It’s especially moving knowing what Affleck has been going through in his personal life. During recent press interviews promoting the film, he was pretty open in discussing his addiction battle and the toll that his lifestyle took on his marriage to actress Jennifer Garner. After some questionable career choices, he had a big comeback when he won the Best Picture Oscar for Argo in 2012, and watching The Way Back, it’s easy to root not only for his character Jack Cunningham, but for Affleck himself. Let’s hope this movie starts him on the way to another comeback.
That’s all for this week – I hope you enjoyed this edition of Random Thoughts. Thanks again for reading!