Weekend getaway to Western Massachusetts
This was the best Memorial Day weekend I've had in a few years. One, I was off Saturday and Sunday. Two, I had a car to get around, places to get around to, and people to get around with.
Saturday I went to Easthampton, MA to see my friend Tish, whom I met at the We Media Conference last February. As usual, good times and zany talk ensued, including a long bit about David Caruso on "CSI Miami":
We went to the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, which has the largest collection of his work - more than 700 paintings, drawings, and studies and an archive of more than 150,000 photographs, letters and materials. They even relocated his studio - a loft farmhouse - from deeper in town.
The museum was showing an exhibit on graphic novel art, and they had a lot of nice stuff, including Terry Moore, Peter Kuper (complete with one of his stencils), Robert Crumb, Will Eisner, Frank Miller, Jessica Abel and Howard Cruse.
That night we saw "Speed Racer." All I can say is, wow. And then "fuh, fuh, fuhfuhfuhfuhfuhfuhfuhfuhfuhfuh" as I lurch into 18 seizures from the candy-cane cartoon fever dream landscape this movie creates. It's an assault on the eyes, showcasing colors you never knew existed, flashing lights, and every possible narrative trick possible - flashbacks, simultaneous flashbacks, background wipes. But wow, what a rush.
The Wachowski brothers made a movie that does exactly what it set out to do. It is the cartoon. "Speed Racer" works well as a movie because the cartoon already had dramatic elements - race-fixing, mob adventures, and the enigmatic Racer X (well played by Matthew Fox). And because it embraces the cartoon, the production design and special effects go for the fantastic and cartoonish rather than trying to make you think this is real. The race scenes, each one at least 10 minutes long, are spectacular ballets of metal and chrome defying every rule of physics.
John Goodman adds a fine gravitas to Pops Racer to leaven out the cartoon stuff. Emile Hirsch trotted out his matinee-idol looks, Christina Ricci was pert and cute. Also, Stephen Colbert nemesis Rain was acting in Korean (well, English). I think just now that my eyes are processing regular colors again, though.
Sunday morning we went for a walk around Easthampton. Tish lives near in the center of town, yet her back yard is the Lower Willston Pond and woods and the hills:
The rest of the weekend, once I got back to CT, was pretty low-key. Just relaxing, cooking, and watching some TV and stuff before working Monday night.
So, another great weekend. With all these weekends off, I've been trying to make the most of it. I'm off only on Saturday this weekend, and I don't have any plans yet. (miashell?) Eric of the Four Horsemen is moving to San Francisco, and is having a party Friday night, but I have to work. Maybe he can stop by on his drive back to Philly. My weekends in June are almost completely booked, with a trip to Philly for the Roots Picnic concert, another Rosemary visit up here, and my friend Danielle and her girlfriend will visit, and maybe Tish will come down. I'm enjoying being social and outgoing again. Gotta keep this up.
Saturday I went to Easthampton, MA to see my friend Tish, whom I met at the We Media Conference last February. As usual, good times and zany talk ensued, including a long bit about David Caruso on "CSI Miami":
Click to viewWe went to the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, which has the largest collection of his work - more than 700 paintings, drawings, and studies and an archive of more than 150,000 photographs, letters and materials. They even relocated his studio - a loft farmhouse - from deeper in town.
The museum was showing an exhibit on graphic novel art, and they had a lot of nice stuff, including Terry Moore, Peter Kuper (complete with one of his stencils), Robert Crumb, Will Eisner, Frank Miller, Jessica Abel and Howard Cruse.
That night we saw "Speed Racer." All I can say is, wow. And then "fuh, fuh, fuhfuhfuhfuhfuhfuhfuhfuhfuhfuh" as I lurch into 18 seizures from the candy-cane cartoon fever dream landscape this movie creates. It's an assault on the eyes, showcasing colors you never knew existed, flashing lights, and every possible narrative trick possible - flashbacks, simultaneous flashbacks, background wipes. But wow, what a rush.
The Wachowski brothers made a movie that does exactly what it set out to do. It is the cartoon. "Speed Racer" works well as a movie because the cartoon already had dramatic elements - race-fixing, mob adventures, and the enigmatic Racer X (well played by Matthew Fox). And because it embraces the cartoon, the production design and special effects go for the fantastic and cartoonish rather than trying to make you think this is real. The race scenes, each one at least 10 minutes long, are spectacular ballets of metal and chrome defying every rule of physics.
John Goodman adds a fine gravitas to Pops Racer to leaven out the cartoon stuff. Emile Hirsch trotted out his matinee-idol looks, Christina Ricci was pert and cute. Also, Stephen Colbert nemesis Rain was acting in Korean (well, English). I think just now that my eyes are processing regular colors again, though.
Sunday morning we went for a walk around Easthampton. Tish lives near in the center of town, yet her back yard is the Lower Willston Pond and woods and the hills:
The rest of the weekend, once I got back to CT, was pretty low-key. Just relaxing, cooking, and watching some TV and stuff before working Monday night.
So, another great weekend. With all these weekends off, I've been trying to make the most of it. I'm off only on Saturday this weekend, and I don't have any plans yet. (miashell?) Eric of the Four Horsemen is moving to San Francisco, and is having a party Friday night, but I have to work. Maybe he can stop by on his drive back to Philly. My weekends in June are almost completely booked, with a trip to Philly for the Roots Picnic concert, another Rosemary visit up here, and my friend Danielle and her girlfriend will visit, and maybe Tish will come down. I'm enjoying being social and outgoing again. Gotta keep this up.