JUNO... The Movie... The soundtrack... The orange tic-tacs!

I'm a sucker for an indie protagonist . Last year it was Little Miss Sunshine, in '04 it was Zach Braff's character in Garden State, and this year it's Juno.

Not sure if it's her sarcastic charm, nonchalant coolness, or both... but I fell for her almost instantly!

The movie is good, but it's the character that you'll gravitate to. What a wildly emotional ride watching this forthright sixteen year old navigate through a nine month adventure into adulthood. You'll laugh with her, you'll cry with her, you'll feel her pain, then cheer her on.

Ellen Page delivers a stunning performance. No surprise she's nabbed a golden globe nomination for this role. I don't recall ever seeing any of her work, and after IMDB-ing her ,I am fairly confident this film was my first encounter with her luminance. No doubt she will be around for years to come.

Clearly I walked away from this movie with two new obsessions. The character of Juno MacGuff, and the actress Ellen Page, but this film is filled with all sorts of other goodies.

There's a splash of Arrested Development greatness. Jason Bateman and Michael Cera are part of the cast. Two fine actors, just as terrific as we knew them to be while playing Michael, and George Michael Bluth. It's wonderful seeing these two in a movie together. Both characters eloquently define very specific periods of life. Cera nails teenage awkwardness, as
he ALWAYS does! One of my favorite quirks about this particular character is his fondness and fixation with orange tic-tacs. I too love orange tic-tacs! As for Bateman, he perfectly portrays a generation x-er on the verge of a mid life crisis. He's stuck on grunge music, and ninety's flicks. More things I personally relate to.

Then there's the music! A truly spectacular soundtrack was spawned here. A marvelous mix of indie rock, classic hits, and cool covers. Standout tracks.... The Moldy peaches' "anyone else but you" Kimya Dawson's "loose lips", and one of my all time favorite covers Sonic Youth's "superstar". The music is impeccably intertwined with the story, setting the mood and always striking the perfect emotional chord.

As much as I enjoyed this movie, I must point out a few flaws. The biggest one is Jennifer Garner! I loathe her! How she's managed to have steady work in Hollywood is incomprehensible, but how she was cast amongst such a brilliant ensemble is beyond baffling. Her acting sucks, and she didn't do her character justice. She comes across as an empty vessel bringing absolutely nothing to the scenes she's in. Another peeve, really just a minor annoyance is the film's beginning. It starts off slow, and some of the humor feels forced. Thankfully this dissipates after about ten minutes.

Bottom line... go check it out. Juno is a master of the wisecrack, a total cynic cutie. If you love indie anti-hero's as much as I do you won't be disappointed.

You really CAN'T go home again!

Last night I was haunted by old friends. People I haven't spoken to in ages. Three friends I once considered dear, some of whom haven't crossed my mind in decades! Why were they suddenly in my thoughts?

Well it all happened in my dreams. In fact it was the latest installment of a recurring nightmare. The general common thread... me not being able to find my way home! Not to my apartment in Gramercy Park, but to my childhood home on Eleventh Avenue in Monroe Township, New Jersey. The house I grew up in. The house where I lived for 18 years. A place even my parents no longer reside.

So there I was with this random collection of old pals. They were all exactly the way I knew them at the height of our friendships... looks, attitude, age. etc. However, I was the "adult" me. We were all hanging out, playing in the street, as we often did. The next thing I remember we were piling into a car. For a flash here, and a flash there, it seemed as though I was the driver. This kept changing. One second a person from the random crew took to the wheel. The next second it was one of the new people in my life... some good friends... some a strange assortment of acquaintances. Regardless of the person in the driver's seat, we could never seem to get past a certain block! We'd circle, drive down different roads, but no matter what we just couldn't get to Eleventh Avenue. At points we were so frustrated we decided to ditch the car, run the streets, hop fences, and even swim through pools.

This nightmare was so intense, I actually woke up shaking. WTF does it mean?

Sigmund Freud once called dreams the "royal road to . . . the unconscious". How ironic considering my dream was literally a road to nowhere! I've always been fascinated by dreams, and interpreting dreams, so I decided to do a little a little research, and a little soul searching.

I started with the notion that I could never go home again. Seems simple enough. Almost a year ago my parents sold Grossman Headquarters and set up residence in a modern day geezerville. You know one of those 55 plus communities for "active" adults! I guess I haven't fully dealt with the fact that I can never again go to THE place I've always considered home. This theme is pretty obvious, but could my search for my old home be even more symbolic?

According to The Dream Visions Dictionary... A house, apartment, flat, or any place of residence often represents you or your life, even if the dream residence does not resemble your actual residence. The events in the dream residence may represent events in your life. A house can also represent security, comfort, protection, familiarity, or belonging.

I definitely have issues with COMFORT, FAMILIARITY, and BELONGING! This makes so much sense.

Feeling enlightened about this interpretation thus far I moved on to other key parts of the dream. The concept of not being able to find something... and the act of swimming.

Back to The Dream Visions Dictionary... Dreaming that you have lost an item can mean you feel you've lost in your real life whatever that item represents, or that you're afraid of losing it, or that you feel perhaps you've been overlooking it or taking it for granted lately.

Swimming can represent moving forward in your life or trying to achieve a goal (get somewhere in your life), or freedom from your usual limitations.

ALL of this strikes a chord! The lost home and the swimming truly are symbolic to me. I could go on and on, but I'll save these issues for future blogs.

Last night's dream and today's interpretation are the best therapy I've had in a long time. I learned a lot... and I've rediscovered my passion for dream interpretation. Will I actually do anything with what I've learned about myself? Probably not!

beautiful bird

I can't stop listening to Andrew Bird's Armchair Apocrypha. The poignant prose, the chilling lyrics, the vibrant violin. I'm totally smitten. Give this album one little listen, and you will be too!

I think I stumbled upon this musical gem in the 'listeners also bought' section of the i-tunes store. For whatever reason I decided to do a little sampling and instantly fell in love. This is Bird's twelfth album. Yes, twelfth album! How I haven't heard of him till now is completely baffling. Now that I'm familiar with his brilliance, I am sure I'll be listening to him for years to come.

The first track is titled "fiery crash". Critics have compared this tune to Wilco's "war on war". I couldn't agree more. The similarities are remarkable. There's the obvious guitar resemblance, but for me the likeness in philosophy is the true parallel. Anyone familiar with the Wilco hit knows the haunting line "you have to learn how to die... if you want to be alive". Equally haunting is Bird's "to save our lives you’ve got to envision... the fiery crash". Both chilling rants of society questioning human existence, and predestinarianism in this post 9-11 world. The beauty of both songs lies in this juxtaposition between the messages of anxiety and the poppy, upbeat cheerful rhythm. This concept is certainly not a breakthrough technique, but often it's achieved in a cheap and meaningless manner. This was not the case with "war on war", and is undoubtedly not the case with "fiery crash".

The songs that follow are an array of consistently sweeping and splendid indie pop goodness. Without skipping a philosophical beat, Bird takes on mortality, office stress, obsessive compulsive behavior, awkward moments, imitation, and so much more.

I love quoting music, and this album is chock full of quotables. Here's a few I MUST share...

"Grab hold of your bootstraps... and pull like hell... ‘till gravity feels sorry for you and lets you go... as if you lack the proper chemicals to know the way it felt the last time you let yourself... fall this low" - Armchairs

"When I was just a little boy... I threw away all of my action toys ...While I became obsessed with Operation... With hearts and minds and certain glands... You gotta learn to keep a steady hand... And thus began my morbid fascination" - Dark Matter

"Oh don't tell me that it just isn't fair... don't speak about the cycles of life'... cause your thoughts are so soft I could cut 'em with a spork or a bride's... knife" - Spare-Ohs

There you have it... I've given you a taste of this treasure. Now go get it, and enjoy it!

welcome

i've been known to have an opinion or two, so i'm diving into the blogosphere, and setting up roots in my own little corner of cyberspace.

welcome. read. share. beware.