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| Tuesday, March 1, 2005 08:28 PM |
| Long-Delayed Weekend-in-Review |
 by Fëanor |
- Ray: I started watching this on DVD on Friday night, put it aside for a while, and then finished Saturday morning. And this wasn't even the extended edition!
This was the last of last year's Best Picture Oscar nominees that I was able to see before the Oscars; I missed only Sideways, which I didn't particularly want to see, anyway, so I don't feel too bad about it. Of course, I didn't particularly want to see Ray, either, but I did, and I enjoyed it. Yes, it is in many ways the typical Hollywood biopic: a white-wash of a famous person's life (in this case, the life of Ray Charles Robinson, better known as jazz/soul/R&B/blues/gospel singer and pianist Ray Charles), broken down into simplistic, easily digestible dramatic pieces. But despite that, it is extremely moving, well-acted, and totally entertaining. And, to be fair, it doesn't completely ignore Ray's faults. His occasional betrayals of those close to him (including being unfaithful to his wife multiple times), and his drug use are dealt with in some detail.
But Ray is clearly the hero of this piece. It's the story of his triumph over diversity adversity (triumph over diversity? Maybe I was thinking of Hitler's life story...), and his infidelity and drug use are treated as small errors and weaknesses which he ultimately overcomes. Characters in the film are generally split into two, easily recognizable groups: the evil people who want to hurt Ray or hold him back; and the good people who want to help Ray. They aren't all as simple as that, but most are.
But like I said, it still manages to be a good movie, in large part due to an interesting story, clever editing, and great acting--especially on the part of Jamie Foxx, who deserves his Best Actor Oscar for his stunningly accurate and moving portrayal of the title character. Foxx's Ray is a great musician haunted by the early accidental death of his younger brother, and strengthened by memories of his tough but loving mother. It's a fine performance in an ultimately triumphant and moving film.
- Guitar Wolf: One of the main reasons I had to break up my viewing of Ray was that I decided to go to the Guitar Wolf show. (I still haven't watched my tape of "Battlestar Galactica," so please, don't tell me what happened!) I left at 8 to make sure I'd arrive in time for the 9 o'clock show. I got to the bar by 8:30 and got a parking space nearby. Then it was time to begin waiting.
The North Star Bar, btw, is not a good place to see a show. Well, it does have good sound, and a pretty good number of different kinds of beers and liquors available, but it's also very tiny, very cramped, and very smoky. Plus--and I don't know if this is a regular thing, but still--the first opening band didn't come on until an hour and a half after show time, and Guitar Wolf didn't come on until around one in the morning. I think that's bullshit even when famous bands that fill stadiums do it, but when a relatively unknown Japanese trio and their two totally unknown opening bands do it, it's really ridiculous.
And then there was the fact that the first band totally sucked. The lead singer's technique was to hoot and howl and laugh a lot, and then his annoying noises were looped and repeated over and over again while he and his two bandmates viciously beat their guitars and drums. The guy standing in front of me let the band know how much he disliked them by shouting his opinion really loudly and making various rude hand gestures. In a venue this small, that kind of stuff does not go unnoticed, so the lead singer improvised some new lyrics that were pretty clearly directed at the guy. It was a little embarrassing.
After this shaming display, we had to wait while the first band packed up their stuff, and then while the second band set up their stuff--apparently there was a dearth of roadies available. So the second band (who are another Japanese trio called Peelander-Z, btw) sets up all their stuff, makes sure everything is working, and then they all walk off-stage. This puzzled me at first, until I thought back to something I'd heard while I was waiting in line for the show--these guys do their shows in costumes. Maybe they were going to change.
Turns out I was right. They came back on in ridiculous outfits--the bassist in an Indian head-dress and red bat wings; the drummer in a blue jumpsuit, feather boa, and a pair of wrestling championship belts; and the lead singer in a yellow, banana-like costume. They were, respectively, Peelander Red, Peelander Blue (AKA, the Champ, though even the lead singer admits he doesn't know what the guy is the Champ of), and Peelander Yellow. There was also a young woman known as Peelander Pink in the crowd who occasionally wandered on-stage.
Now these guys were fucking entertainers. The mood in the place, which had been low and rather pissed-off after the first act, immediately sky-rocketed. Peelander-Z woke us all up and got us all involved. They didn't have a great command of the English language, but they got their message across, partly with the help of some large, hand-printed signs. A high point for me was when Peelander Yellow told us how they couldn't get good Japanese food in America because it was too expensive, so instead they ate STEAK! We all cheered when they held up a big sign with the word on it. They seemed to be referring to Philadelphia cheesesteak, but then they asked us how we liked our steak, and helpfully provided the answer, again on a sign: MEDIUM RARE! We all roared our approval. We read all their signs aloud when prompted, and even sang along. They even taught us some Japanese (yes in Japanese is HI! Now say that a million times!) It was a hilarious, rollicking good time. UPDATE: Oh, and uh, yeah: their music was pretty good, too. Repetitive and not totally original, but fun.
Then, finally, Guitar Wolf came on. Now, in case you don't know, let me inform you: Guitar Wolf is loud. Their CDs are louder than CDs should be capable of being. When one of their MP3s comes on my shuffle at work, I have to quickly remove my headphones and turn the volume down before my ear drums burst. They were obviously even more impressive and dangerous live. The experience was like an endurance test, for us and for the band. Guitar Wolf, Bass Wolf and Drum Wolf, clad in their signature sunglasses and leather jackets, occasionally fixing their slicked back hair with combs, and often chewing, drinking, or spitting, just pounded on and on with repetitive fury and energy. It wasn't clear when one song began and the other ended; they just kept going, and it all started to sound pretty much the same. Drum Wolf took his shirt off and played the whole show topless, and Bass Wolf whipped off his leather jacket part way through the show, but Guitar Wolf, perhaps as a matter of principle, kept the whole regalia on the entire time. By the end, sweat was literally pouring off of him in a continuous stream. I'm really not sure how he did it; he did seem pretty much all-in near the end, panting and twitching, and unable to communicate with us beyond a few shouted words ("Philadelphia! Baby! Rock and roll!"). Anyway, by the time it got to two o'clock, I couldn't take anymore and left. I think they were done playing; I'm not sure. At that point, I didn't care. I was exhausted and dizzy, and I felt physically ill.
I'm still glad I went, mind you. I doubt Guitar Wolf is going to do many American tours, so it was a rare and unlikely experience, and worth the pain and time expended. Also, I got to see Peelander-Z, who were unexpectedly the best band to play that night. Peelander-Z and Guitar Wolf both tried an interesting gimmick--they pulled folks out of the crowd and gave over their instruments and let these random strangers play for a while. Peelander-Z replaced their entire band with audience members, while Guitar Wolf only replaced Guitar Wolf himself. Peelander-Z worked the gimmick far more effectively. They just let people pound away and come up on stage, and it was just like a big party up there. Guitar Wolf tried to make it all serious by carefully handing over the guitar pick with great ceremony. Then he tried to make the girl jump up and down with the guitar, but it took him a while to get across what he wanted her to do, and it was just awkward and not fun.
Also, Guitar Wolf seemed to be having some kind of fight with the stage hand. He kept knocking his mike stand down, at first seemingly by mistake, and the stage hand kept righting it. Maybe I was misinterpreting what was going on, but after a while this seemed to infuriate Guitar Wolf and he started knocking the thing down on purpose, and finally even switched positions with Bass Wolf on stage, perhaps just so he could play with the microphone with impunity, I don't know.
There were other odd moments during the show. One crazy asshole shoved his way through the crowd, suddenly started violently moshing, and then suddenly stopped and shoved his way back out. And there was the one guy swinging back and forth, shirtless, from the stair railing above, and the large group of people below urging him to jump. What with all of that, and the smoke, and the beer I drank (only one, in defiance of the two drink minimum! They haven't tracked me down yet...), it's no wonder I left feeling sick.
But like I said, I'm still glad I went. It was quite a show.
- Games: Saturday I get together with my old gang of friends (which includes bloginator and his wife, and her sister, kheara) and we played some games and watched some "Brak Show." It was a good time. It had been a while since we had gotten together, and it was nice to catch up. Well, we didn't really "catch up"; we're not the kind of group who really does much of that. The discussions were more about movies and TV than about our lives, or school, or jobs. But that's cool. It was a good time.
The next day was game day. As usual, many games were played and much fun was had. We also ate lots of terrible food, and some not so terrible food. I tried Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper for the first time and enjoyed it a great deal. In fact, amongst all of us, we managed to kill off six cans or so.
But, onto the games. The first game played, and the one that I'd been most interested in trying out, was a recent purchase of mine called War of the Ring. It's an incredibly long and complicated war strategy game set in the Lord of the Rings universe. Yagathai and I played the good guys (and boy was I glad to have Yags on my side; he's quite adept at picking up new rules and turning them to his advantage, and is thus a formidable opponent in a game), while TrackerNeil and Sarcasmo took the parts of the bad guys.
The game took quite a while to get going; it was an hour or two before we even started fighting, and the thing was so complicated, we spent a good deal of the time handing the rule book back and forth and reading it aloud to each other. With all that, we still made some big mistakes. But we learned a lot, and I think we all had a good time.
Even before any fighting had begun, I'd decided that I liked the game quite a lot. TrackerNeil and Sarcasmo seemed slightly less thrilled, as they felt they were losing most of the game, and that the bad guys had the weaker position. Yagathai and I were not so sure about that, and we'd both like to play the game again soon in the role of evil to see how we'd do. Both sides have their own strengths and weaknesses, and I think the trick is to play to your strengths.
TrackerNeil and Sarcasmo ultimately forfeited to us after over three hours of play, but after discussing it later, Yagathai and I weren't convinced they would ultimately have lost if we'd played it out. One of the big strengths of the bad guys is that they have a virtually limitless supply of troops, whereas the good guys have only a small number of reinforcements available. We went for a sort of quick, surprise military strategy instead of the long, sneaky, destroy-the-ring strategy. We were close to snatching up the last victory points we needed, but I'm not sure we would ultimately have been able to press our attack successfully against their endlessly refreshing horde of monsters.
I'm slightly surprised I liked the game, as I tend to dislike war strategy games once I play them. Maybe it was the LotR connection, or the fact that I sort of won that tipped the scales for me. Or maybe it's just a really good game. Anyway, I definitely want to play it again soon--though, due to its length, the chances of that happening are slim.
P.S. Thanks much to all who attended game day: Yagathai, TrackerNeil, Sarcasmo, PinkHairedGirl, BabyRaven, Peccable, ST, dje2004, and anybody else who showed up that I didn't notice (was Banquo there?). Game day would not be possible without you! Thanks also, of course, to my lovely wife, who even made pasta for us all when we got hungry again late at night.
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