Off To the Movies
Did you think I was going to say that we're heading out to see "United 93"? I can only wish.
Nope, the exciting feature for tonight is "Ice Age: The Meltdown."
Parenting definitely has its rewards.
Then there are the other parts.
Update: Oh. My. Acorn. Words fail.
Later: What keeps popping into my mind was something that Jean Kerr (writer, humorist, playwright and wife of famous critic Walter Kerr) once wrote in one of the pieces included in Penny Candy, I believe. I'm almost positive I kept this book, but I don't recall seeing it for years and don't propose to go a-hunting at this time of the night. So please note that I'm working completely from memory here (and we're probably talking a good 15-20 years since I last dipped into this book). Thus, everything--even if presented in quotes--is my condensation and paraphrase.
Anyway, in her piece, Jean Kerr is writing about (or gets on the topic of) the difference between being a critic and just your garden-variety audience member, most particularly when viewing--well, a train wreck (that last characterization is definitely mine alone). And then she comes out with something like this:
The critic thinks: "My God, this is a bad play. Now, why is this a bad play?"
The hapless audience member thinks: "My God, this is a bad play. Why was I born?"
I can, as they say, relate.
Still later, oh, my!--here's more: Clearly, I've gotten over the words failing part. (Heh.) I just happened to see a GE commercial, of all things, which featured an elephant doing a dance riff on "Singin' In The Rain" as part of that company's ecomagination campaign, and I found watching that a much more rewarding aesthetic experience. I also thought it was better done.
Yeah, yeah, yeah: I get that producing a spot is a far cry from producing a movie, and that what is affordable for 30 seconds, or whatever, would be astronomical--prohibitive, even--for an actual feature. I acknowledge that I'm mixing apples and oranges. And I don't consider "watching commercials" as part of the fun of viewing TV.
I still stand by what I said.
Nope, the exciting feature for tonight is "Ice Age: The Meltdown."
Parenting definitely has its rewards.
Then there are the other parts.
Update: Oh. My. Acorn. Words fail.
Later: What keeps popping into my mind was something that Jean Kerr (writer, humorist, playwright and wife of famous critic Walter Kerr) once wrote in one of the pieces included in Penny Candy, I believe. I'm almost positive I kept this book, but I don't recall seeing it for years and don't propose to go a-hunting at this time of the night. So please note that I'm working completely from memory here (and we're probably talking a good 15-20 years since I last dipped into this book). Thus, everything--even if presented in quotes--is my condensation and paraphrase.
Anyway, in her piece, Jean Kerr is writing about (or gets on the topic of) the difference between being a critic and just your garden-variety audience member, most particularly when viewing--well, a train wreck (that last characterization is definitely mine alone). And then she comes out with something like this:
The critic thinks: "My God, this is a bad play. Now, why is this a bad play?"
The hapless audience member thinks: "My God, this is a bad play. Why was I born?"
I can, as they say, relate.
Still later, oh, my!--here's more: Clearly, I've gotten over the words failing part. (Heh.) I just happened to see a GE commercial, of all things, which featured an elephant doing a dance riff on "Singin' In The Rain" as part of that company's ecomagination campaign, and I found watching that a much more rewarding aesthetic experience. I also thought it was better done.
Yeah, yeah, yeah: I get that producing a spot is a far cry from producing a movie, and that what is affordable for 30 seconds, or whatever, would be astronomical--prohibitive, even--for an actual feature. I acknowledge that I'm mixing apples and oranges. And I don't consider "watching commercials" as part of the fun of viewing TV.
I still stand by what I said.
