Tuesday, October 20, 2020
Monday, October 12, 2020
…presents ‘Today’s Movie Review’:
Perhaps,
like yours truly, you had never heard of the sequel to the Peter Sellers
classic film, ‘Being There’ (based on the novel of the same name by Jerzy
Kosinski). Maybe you, too, would have been caught as gleefully unaware as I was
when I nearly stumbled over that very gem lying amid a misplaced pile of VHS
tapes for sale right in the middle of the sidewalk in Chinatown!
It’s called
‘Being Here’ and is even more eerily prescient than the original. In that one,
of course, Sellers played a simpleton named Chauncey Gardiner, or ‘Chance’, who
is inadvertently drawn into a world of increasing political power – all the way
to President – without ever actually having a clue about anything. This time
around our hero is, hilariously, severely mentally ill. His name is Ronald D
Clump, or ‘Clumpy’. The character, although purely fictional (so much so as to
stretch our willingness to buy into the absurdity of the story far beyond any
typical suspension of disbelief) nevertheless feels oddly familiar. Perhaps we
should thank the sheer brilliance of the late Mr. Sellers for that. It’s worth
watching for his performance alone.
Without
giving too much away, I will tell you that our man ‘Clumpy’ blindly yet enthusiastically
leads our country through a hair-raising series of mis adventures, including
everything from plagues to burning infernos and devastating superstorms and
tornados, to sexually groping to boundless, tumbling escapades with porn stars,
from staggering incompetence to over-the-top corruption and authoritarian
takeovers and crack downs… and more! Sure, many of the giggle-inspiring cheap
cracks and gratuitous insults would never make it into a movie in today’s
Hollywood – who would have thought racism and physical threats could ever be so
funny? But all that is just the tip of the melting iceberg. Like with Clumpy
himself, it may look like I’m giving it all away, but I’m not. Why, many of
those seeing this wondrously preposterous flick won’t even realize they’re
paying for it!
Unfortunately,
the sound quality is a bit ‘off’ and the voices out of synch, not to mention
that the musical score is more than a tad tiny. A bad copy? Perhaps… It’s a
small price to pay compared to the exorbitant but totally fair amount I had to
shell out to that poor gentleman there on the sidewalk. He didn’t seem to speak
English and most likely didn’t realize how much this rare treasure is actually
worth! Heck, the gold foil wrapping alone is bound to cost you!
Which is neither here nor there. That’s not what this rare masterpiece is all about, which, my good friends is (as the title says): Being Here!
Two thumbs
up the old wazoo for this one!!!
Friday, July 24, 2020
Fall-Room Dancing
[seen through 2020 vision]
Dancing was an easy thing
until I fell face-first
and all the judges sneered and
laughed
declaring me the worst
‘Aha!” I thought, ‘and there it is,
it’s a blessing, not a curse!
I can be a fool and fail
and still end up in first!’
As my nose, it bled, my throbbing
head
exploded into verse:
‘There’s no need to think or care,
to ponder or rehearse!’
‘It’s just a waste of energy
to in logic get immersed,
you see, it’s what you want to see,
be it backward or reversed!’
Before I rose up off the floor
I’d declared myself alert,
my face, it smarted, but not my
brain!
the truth no longer hurt
Call me a fool, it’s just a name,
but there’s no need to call a nurse,
especially not a mental one,
they’re judgmental and too terse
Then I stood up to proudly stand
there in my bloody shirt,
perhaps I cannot dance at all,
but talent’s just a curse
I say I won, and there you go!
your presumptions have been burst,
you can scream and wail and curse
and all,
but reality’s been reversed!