" - it's the beginning - it's not the end "
ITEM! tonite's w.o.agwu telly choice: batman, 7.35pm bbc4 ( & part 2 is on at the same time tomorrow ) - it's the one w/special guest heroes the green hornet & kato - with BRUCE LEE playing kato - so it should be of guriosity value at least - presumably the heroes mistake each other for bad guys & a slugfest ensues before they realise their error & team up to battle the real villain...?
( - i dunno if the green hornet was already a tv show at the time of the teamup or if it spun off from the success of this guest spot w/batty - i sortof suspect the latter )
( iirc the green hornet might've appeared on the radio a year or two before batman's comic book debut in 1939 tho )
ITEM! talking of batman, i've finally seen the heath ledger & christian bale film that everybody's been talking about - yes, todd haynes dreamy & epic biopic I'M NOT THERE, "inspired by the music & many lives of bob dylan"
"funnily" enuff, ledger & bale probly give the two least interesting performances of dylan in the film - the star of the show is marcus carl franklin = the eleven year old black "tiny troubadour" dylan - afaik him & richard gere are the only actors who actually sing their own songs ( rather than miming to a pop star's cover version of a dylan glassic ) - little franklin does especially well on tombstone blues - & the bobtastic dialogue somehow sounds fresher coming from such a young mouth ( - helped by some spot on spouting of the poetic wisdom )
like superman when he's been exposed to red kryptonite, every version of dylan has an alias from dylanology just to keep you on yr toes ( - & all his album titles have been changed ) - here are those bob dylan actors in full:
marcus carl franklin = woody guthrie, boxcar busker dylan
christian bale = jack rollins, folky dylan
ben whishaw = arthur rimbaud, poety dylan
cate blanchett = jude quinn, rock star dylan
heath ledger = robbie clark, actor/pop star dylan
richard gere = billy the kid, cowboy/old man dylan
( you can see why blanchett got most of the headlines - as well as cos she's a lady, she's got the most "showy" part - & she isn't at all bad in it - franklin, richard gere & ben whishaw* are better tho, imo )
* wishaw isn't a familiar name to me - i was wondering if he was a famous actor who'd somehow slipped beneath my radar ( "the young ppl's music" again ) - he's pretty impressive in the flick anyway
the million dollar bashers ( ie dylan goverists ) mostly did a top notch job & include stephen malkmus ( - his ballad of a thin man = probly the best 'un ), yo la tengo, galexico, jim james ( "goin to acapulco, goin on the run" also v.goob ), tom verlaine, eddie vedder & various sonic youths - the only really bad cover i can recall offhand is antony & the johnsons version of knocking on heaven's door at the end of the film
i reckon I'M NOT THERE = abt as goob as any ( fictionalised ) film abt dylan cld possibly be - i thort it was pretty great myself actually - the oldest & youngest dylans lives intertwining like some wacky unending circle of existence thingy works very well - tho the repeated central messages "nothing can be done to change things" & "if ever told to look at yrself - NEVER LOOK"= kindof bleak ( - tho this might be todd haynes rather than dylan - or me misinterpreting things, obv )
ITEM! i've been finding the olympic swimming much more exciting than i expected ( & well done to all our medallists ) - but i thought it was a bit creepy watching our brave english boy ( a shaved & oiled up 14 year old in skimpy trunks ) doing his synchronised diving yesterday morning - & now that they've come last his older boy partner has been bullying him...! ( - i'm sure there's a message abt english public schools in there somewhere )
ITEM! momus draws tintin
http://imomus.livejournal.com/391511.html