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Aug. 12th, 2007 @ 07:51 pm 
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I'm back. Well, not really.
Post frequency has declined as we polish a product at work, forge new paths off work and generally stay way too busy. But a post to celebrate guilty pleasures.
Recently I photographed my alcohol. This took several hours. There's a lot of it, several thousand dollars of just the hard stuff (i.e. not beer, not wine.) It's also a regular theme through-out my blog. I know some people who drink too much, meaning their lives require the drink and their behavior changes. That's not me by a long shot, but I also don't feel guilty about the stuff. But I only like the good stuff. Expensive. Strong. Can't be guzzled, must be sipped.
T.V., on the other hand... I've been watching the DVD sets of WKRP and Get Smart. Love 'em. But also enjoyed "The Ultimate Coyote Ugly", a show about a contest of Coyote Ugly bartenders to bring new girls up to spec. Okay, not much plot. The characters do develop, but not far. None-the-less, a guilty pleasure.
My other main "guilty" pleasures are programming (phones, computer, etc., doesn't matter) and playing musical instruments. Not real good at the latter, very good at the former, but neither one really adds much value to the...
This may be hard to believe, but a temporal time-shift resulted in the above being drafted several months ago. But here we are again.
I saw "Grosse Pointe Blank" for the first time today. Saw the Simpsons movie opening week. Both were good. The thing about Grosse Pointe Blank, though, is that it is a Cusack flick. Yeah, it's got Alan Arkin, who has done great stuff... most notably "So I Married An Axe Murderer" but also "The InLaws", a small part in "Edward Scissorhands", and is in the new "Get Smart". But let's face it - he was also in Gattaca, which was one of the five worst (meaning "not fun" movies I've ever seen!) And it's got Dan Ackroyd, of "Blues Brothers", "Ghost Busters", and more notably for this posting, "Driving Miss Daisy". We won't talk about the leading lady, Minnie Driver (played Debby) whose only previous impact (on me) was South Park, and she's not even listed on the DVD case or liner notes! But at least there's Hank Azaria... many voices of the Simpsons and my addled brain believes we were on recognition terms long ago at a studio far far away, but...
The point is that, well, yes, it's probably another Alcohol-fueled posting. And aren't those really the best kind?
John Cusack is the main character. His assistant is played by his sister Joan (who I adore, more on that in a bit). Bill Cusack, a brother basically makes a cameo. He's not a common name though... except that I posted about Veruca Salt a while ago and he dated Louise Post, the primary perpetrator. Sister Susie didn't appear in this flick, but did in "Hero" and "High Fidelity"; the Cusacks appear to like working together.
No, really, the point is, I like Cusack movies. I like John in High Fidelity, Better Off Dead and Grosse Pointe Blank. The Grifters is a tremendously underappreciated flick. And "Say Anything" was a great film for its time. All, incidentally, character films. (Much like "Driving Miss Daisy", see above.)
Joan Cusack, yes, a sister of his, has an even warmer spot in my heart. Combining Allyce Beasley's vocal qualities with the prettiest face in show business, and some great flicks including "Looney Tunes: Back In Action", "School of Rock", "Toy Story 2", Addams Family Values", "Toys" with Robyn Williams, "My Blue Heaven" with Steve Martin, and "Hero" (which was much better the first time I saw it than the second.) And she was in "Say Anything" also.
Apparently they were both in "Sixteen Candles". I've never seen it. I hear it has Molly Ringwald, who I despise despite liking her live performance in the play "Sweet Charity" a while ago and respecting her performance in "Space Hunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone"
Another Cusack, Ann, was in a zillion decent sitcoms and in the movie "Tank Girl". I'm not saying that's a great movie, but it's worth seeing sometime. When exhausted, drinking and with old buds.
(Quick trivia: Despite playing unmarriable crones, Allyce Beasley has been married four times, including to corpse-like funny-man Vincent Schiavelli. Vincent was in many of the Dorf flicks. Not that you cared.)
Okay, so the alcohol is wearing off. The point is, I like character flicks. "The Ref" is like one of my all time faves. That just works for me. And "Grosse Pointe Blank", ostensibly about a hit man going to a high school reunion, is definitely a Cusack, meaning a character flick.
Two inebriated wobbly thumbs up! Or at least in a vaguely uppish direction. |
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