Eric the Half a B Saturday, August 09, 2003

Thinking about Velocity Trap, the sci-fi heist movie I talked about earlier. A guy I used to know said people shouldn't remake good movies, they should take another crack at films that fell short but had a solid idea underneath. The example he used was Nuts, the Barbra Streisand vehicle, which I never saw, although I understand she is to die for.

I think VT falls into that category. A decent B-movie, but with a little effort it could've been a real classic (on the level of, say, the greatest B-movie of the '90s). But B movies, as I said earlier, seem to be dying out: You can't do something quick and dirty and clever anymore. Yadda yadda, corporate consolidation, cretinization, 1970s apogee.

This also got me thinking about great stuff that slips through the cracks (which was, ostensibly, the point of the original Wrong Turn Journal, although the stuff was mostly mine and it wasn't that great). So I wanted to throw out some notes from time to time about things I've been watching/reading/listening to lately that haven't gotten the attention they deserve...

Pete Townshend: Yes, yes, everybody knows Pete. But I think his solo stuff is something really special, really (as my friend Matt would say) transcendent. Really, the only bad album he's made is the rock opera The Iron Man, from the same kids' book as the movie Iron Giant, which I won't link to because I'm tired of doing it. His records have this wonderful intimate sound to them--I may be paraphrasing wrong, but a friend said that playing his stuff in the car was like riding with a good friend. He writes confessional songs, but not navel gazing (like Jewel or Mark Eitzel or whatever other delicate flower you can name); he's brutally honest about his shortcomings and dark patches, but writes so effortlessly, and sings so earnestly, you can't help but forgive him. He's like a buddy who keeps making a scene at your parties, but always calls the next day to apologize from the bottom of his heart. (And you kind of like watching him trash the place anyway.)

Intimate, soulful, literate, pretentious but laughing at himself. Everything he's done is worthwhile in its way, and much of it is brilliant. Dig in!

@ 10:03:00 PM,

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