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June 07, 2007
FINISHED (KIND OF)
Finished my paper. It's okay. I read over it and was somewhat impressed that I'd written it, considering how the subject of Kant still perplexes me. I think it's better than a paper I wrote on Whitman last fall even though I felt like I knew enough to write a book about it. Go figure. In my final day of paper-writing, I decided to add another element: thoughts on Rhetoric the Scottish skeptic David Hume. I devoured four articles by him in record time, merely because it wasn't as dense as Kant (Hume is the most readable of "Modern" philosophers). I think this ends my illustrious career as a Kant scholar. This was definitely an educational experience: I will never attempt as ambitious a paper on something I don't have a lot of passion for; I think it was kind of an arrogant endeavor on my part. There are 295 books about Kant (not by Kant; ABOUT Kant) in the U of M library, and I read two of them. My bad.
I need to review KNOCKED UP, which I was such a pleasant surprise. Like everyone else, I caught up with FREAKS AND GEEKS on DVD and enjoyed it. But Judd Apatow's next two projects - the cancelled TV show UNDECLARED and the superhit 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN - left me cold. The former was a raucous romp through a dormitory that was about as similar to a college experience as BEVERLY HILLS 90210 was to my high school experience. The latter was a series of awkward situations forced upon the wallflower hero who responded by acting worse than the worst social retard. Both had funny moments, but the sense of sweetness soured me because it was just an excuse to lay on the dick/fart jokes and dudes acting funny off weed.
But KNOCKED UP is the best comedy since TALLADEGA NIGHTS. Critics are hoo-haaing about the fundamentalist message (basically, Be a man and do the right thing), but I was more impressed by its ability to make the normal funny, instead of the previous, which tried to suppose the ludicrous as normal. Most of the characters in this movie could exist in a way to similar to exactly the way they're depicted. And I liked the way the movie didn't use emotional peaks and valleys as an excuse for good storytelling: the characters are subjected to some tough traumas and they deal with it in unique, often harsh way.
Seth Rogen is given the task of being the star of this movie - a first for him. In VIRGIN, he was the wacky, heavily-tatted Good Time Charlie who thought everything was gay. In FREAKS AND GEEKS, he rolled his eyes a lot and had the benefit of being the only character who didn't have to sustain a character arc. Despite his clearly limited acting range, and his inability to play anything as though its not a scene in a comedy, he's a thoroughly likable schlub, and it makes sense that he could
a) impregnate
b) commit to (and)
c) win the love of
the beautiful star of the movie - which is a neat trick for a guy who doesn't look like he should be on film (Apatow and co-star Katherine Heigl deserve credit for this too). The supporting cast is also stellar, and no one deserves mention over anyone else, though I've always though Apatow's wife Leslie Mann should have been a bigger star, ever since she invested a throwaway romantic interest role in THE CABLE GUY with eye-fluttering thoughtfulness. This will probably end up being my favorite movie of the Summer.
Wilco is doing Volkswagon ads, which is probably going to pay them about as much as they made off YANKEE HOTEL FOXTROT, so I guess I'm okay with it. At least its not a lame act of self-promotion or goofing on an image like those Bob Dylan Victoria's Secret ads. I guess people who like Wilco are the kind of people who buy Volkswagons. Go figure.
I rented the recent DVD release MEATBALLS off Netflix because I figured it was the ANIMAL HOUSE of Summer Camp movies, and Summer Camp has always been one of my favorite pieces of nostalgia . . . and it was awful, and Bill Murray was annoying. It just shows how far an actor can travel when he pursues the right material and the right director. Two years later, with the same director, he perfected his comic persona in STRIPES. Five years later, his GHOSTBUSTERS act became the archetype for the late 80s, early 90s comic characterization (a thesis I'm developing; it wasn't until Jim Carrey burst on the scene that it changed). And then after years of alternating between great movies (GROUNDHOGS DAY), duds (LARGER THAN LIFE), and TNT staples (WHAT ABOUT BOB?), he hit the jackpot with RUSHMORE. What a career.
Today I tried to do the NY Times Crossword Puzzle and failed miserably. Sigh . . .
| By Andytown | 11:58 AM
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