SweetMisery’s Neighborhood

I finally saw Blade Runner for the first time.  I still haven't read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sleep, but I knew that Blade Runner would still stand on its own as a separate entity so I decided to go for it.  Let me preface by saying I think Ridley Scott is a brilliant director, I think Alien is one of the finest films of our time.  However, I know that Scott is also not much of an "actor's director", he expects his actors to do their job without much in the way of direction, and unfortunately, the cast of Blade Runner, with the exception of Rutger Hauer, needs some serious direction.  Let's face it folks, it's a fluke Harrison Ford ever got into acting in the first place.  And while he's got that sort of bumbling charm going on, he plays himself in every role.  I originally watched the "Final Cut" version which is Scott's supposed final edition of the film.  Having never seen the theatrical release with the voiceover, I felt that a lot was left out of the film that they intended to explain in the voiceover.  I'm halfway through the theatrical version right now and the voiceover is done so badly it's laughable. While they do hit you over the head with some explanations, a few of them are more subtle points that would have really cleared up a number of things in the Final Cut version that I felt were lacking.

Anyway, in the end, I didn't give a shit about the characters.  I didn't give a shit about the plot.  I didn't care who won or who died.  I didn't understand why Ford and Young connected, they had zero chemistry, it made no sense.  I also didn't care if Ford's character was really a replicant or not.  I couldn't bring myself to care about any of it.  I know I'm considered a geek around these parts, but I didn't care for Blade Runner at all.  Gee, so glad I picked up the 5 disc special edition blu-ray with 30+ hours of crap on it.  Bluh.  I decided to only finish the theatrical version and watch the deleted scenes.  I understand it's the type of film that probably gets better with repeated viewings, but frankly, I had no desire to after viewing the Final Cut alone.  I decided to give the theatrical version a go because I do realize that many people lived with that cut for a long time and originally fell in love with that film.  By the time the Final Cut version was released a couple of years ago people knew the ins and outs so well that were explained in the old voiceover, they no longer needed it in the final cut.  Fine.  But that doesn't help a first-time viewer.  Again, I had picked up on 90% of what was explained in the voiceover WITHOUT the voiceover, but it's that 10% of crap that would have shed a bit more light on the film.

I had to wash Blade Runner out of my system on Saturday night so settled in with Raising Arizona which is one of my favorite movies, but it had been far too long since my last viewing.  I don't know, they were jammies, they had Yoda's and shit on 'em.  There are a lot of great lines in that film and that's one of my favorites.  That film is so clever and funny and Holly Hunter is a freaking goddess.  She can be so funny and so serious in the same moment, it's such a treat to watch her in anything.

I'm down to three episodes of Twin Peaks before I'm done.  There have been a lot of really great guest stars.  The old guy from Robocop, you know, the one who says, "Dick, you're fired!" shows up as Andrew Packard.  Miguel Ferrer is also in Robocop.  By the way, his character, despite being a guest spot, actually has growth.  In a recent episode he walked in and hugged Truman, which was hysterical.  He was so cold and sciency in his first episode.  And while he's still a bit cold and sciency, he has a healthy dose of respect for the folks of Twin Peaks and finally seems to get them the way Cooper does.  I liked that. 

Chancellor Gorkon from Star Trek VI (aka David Warner) played Thomas Eckhardt and Sue Ellen Mischke (the bra-less wonder) from Seinfeld played his assistant.  Rollergirl from Boogie Nights is playing a nun and Cal (the jerk) from Titanic is playing a love interest for Audrey Horne.  It's all rather interesting.  Except for Heather Graham.  She's awful.  She's really awful.  It sounds like she's a sixth grader reading her lines in EVERY film she is in.  I will give you that she's gorgeous and ... um ... I think that's it.  Because she's sure not an actor.  She kinda played an airhead in Boogie Nights and so she wasn't horrific in that, but really, everything else is just awful.  Oh yeah, I almost forgot, in one of the bittiest parts of all, my pal and yours, Ted Raimi played "Heavy Metal Youth".  :-)  Love it.

Now it's time to get my ass into the office for another short work week that will still have five days of work crammed into it.  Bluh.  I need coffee.

Foxglove Purpurea

foxglove curves like a spine

vulpine floribunda

purple cups

look nothing like fox gloves

that little bit of dark fur

on the paws

only looks like a back bone

with fluted vertebrae

digitalis in the nectar

every part a poison

I keep it away from my daughter

so tall, it tops the fence

and waves in the wind

paralyzing beauty

she reaches out a hand

to touch the purple

that she can't reach

drawn to taboo

look! two have joined

spines entwined

rapture

stem to stem

Lucy Simpson, Seattle, 2009

the serpents in her hair

I am her audience in this hour

of dim day – sun's daily death

singing bones of winter elms

I have waited for her birch fingers

to unclasp her taciturn bun

for her auburn currents to fall

loose with red tinder fish

swimming the light of day’s low tide

where she sits brush clutched in hand

torturing her scalp with one hundred strokes

till her hair shines voltaic

till I hear hissing from her head

She gathers in the coils

and wraps them tight

snapping the lock of the clip

For one half hour

she and I were free

Lucy Simpson, 12./2009, Seattle

 

Me & Sarah meeting up. It was lovely! I felt like I've known her for years. Must take them up on the visit offer.

 

And then

there's Jack.

and a couple of pics from a walk

 

and lastly:

The topic today is guitar – specifically the kind that plug in. Why? Because it's my birthday and that's what I want to blab about.

So anyway, here’s an easy lick that enables even intermediate level guitar players to readily throw some ripping scale runs into their improv playing. It goes through 24 notes just to ascend a single octave, so it’s a great way to add a bar of shred while relocating to a new position on the fretboard for the next part of your solo.

It also sounds pretty damn slick.

But what’s really nice about this riff is that it only uses the first and second strings and the exact same frets are used on both strings. That makes it easy to remember and easy to execute.

We’re in everyone’s favorite shredding key, E minor, which is spelled E, F#, G, A, B, C, D. Begin on the E note located at the fifth fret of the B string and then ascend the scale in six-note stairs.

I’ve tabbed it out in the example above as a legato riff, which really makes this lick haul ass. To play it this way, pick only the first note in each triplet, then hammer-on the next two notes. The result is a fast, fluid run of notes that also looks cool as you play it.

This pattern also makes a terrific alternate picking lick. Start with a down stroke and use an “outside” picking style by alternating up-down-up-down all the way through.

Once you’re comfortable with all four positions, start adding some spice by mixing them up all over the place. The results can be pretty cool. I uploaded a full sheet of tablature examples with this post to help get you started. Yay! FREE TABS!

Finished Knit the Season by Kate Jacobs.

This is the third book in the Friday Night Knitting Club series, and it's as enjoyable as the other two.

Dakota is trying to balance the demands of the shop (Walker & Daughter) with her own dreams of being a pastry chef, as well as feeling like everything's changing.  (There's a lot going on in this book, most of which are relative surprises.)

These books are pure comfort food, this one especially.  Good book to read at Christmas. :)

Time to put away the decorations and move on with this bleak winter.  It's a lot easier to clean up after Christmas on the blog than it is in real life.  Then again, I don't decorate so there really wasn't anything to do except chuck the couple of chotchkies I got as gifts this year.