It’s all about entertainment
Okay, maybe it sounds like I’m being defensive, but in fact I appreciate the helpful suggestions regarding the, um, shortcomings of my iTunes collection. When I started filling it up, I just added entire discs, which created certain imbalances, and ate up more space than was necessary. Now I’m adding more judiciously, and there’s plenty of room left. But some good questions are raised. Like, where the hell is the Depeche Mode, anyway? I actually only own a little, but that’s more than nothing. I thought I’d put those discs up already. And where are those surf music discs I recently, painfully, transcribed from tape?
Much media viewing lately. Watched “Ghostbusters” with the kids again this weekend. Can I just say? Sigourney Weaver? Yummy. Despite some very ’80s hair. Lee and I watched “Lost in Translation” on pay-per-view (now actually priced lower than our video store, without the whole driving there and back thing). It was wonderful. Slow-paced, without flagging. Interesting that she was able to maintain a particular pace while still making it visually interesting. Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson were both incredible. I kept fearing at the end that Sofia Coppola might ruin it, that she might hit a wrong note and end up throwing them into bed together, but she held true to her story. It was beautiful.
Big TV discovery, for us anyway, of the last couple of weeks is “What Not To Wear” on BBC America, a makeover show on which at least one of the two hosts is virtually guaranteed to fondle the breasts of their subject, which adds a certain interest to the whole thing. Tuesdays at 9. Don’t miss. And, Bravo’s “Significant Others” is hilarious — well-written, well-acted; first cable sitcom I can think of that is as good as (and actually better than) network fare.
What else? Oh, Johnny Depp in “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.” Perhaps this movie makes no sense to someone not familiar with the book, but to someone for whom the book and its author were once something more than role model, it’s deeply, deeply funny. And nothing is funnier than when his attorney (Benicio Del Toro, not quite beefy enough for the Samoan, but who’s to gripe?), totally done up on mescaline and devil ether, cannot figure out how to step off a carousel bar in Circus Circus. Viciously funny stuff, but it may be a “you had to live there” sort of thing. But a sudden and wide appreciation for the talents of Johnny Depp, who had also recently delighted in “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “Once Upon a Time in Mexico.”
Huge ultimate vanity project — growing out of the idea that anyone would be interested in what’s on my iPod, you can now see what’s actually playing on iTunes, updated every time the song changes. It’s off to the right. If it doesn’t change, it means I’m away from the computer, which is something I do from time to time. Or just not listening to music, which is less likely.