tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8347718.post7826777932832893952..comments2024-03-28T02:21:05.851-07:00Comments on VINYL IS HEAVY: Viewing Log #35: Baby birch bleat bang [2/22/10 - 2/28/10]Ryland Walker Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09233954424885027837noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8347718.post-17759060215862854752010-03-01T18:15:32.432-08:002010-03-01T18:15:32.432-08:00I've been on the "it's not great"...I've been on the "it's not great" forefront for some time. In fact, since I watched it the first time, which was in preparation for Season Five. No doubt it's "important" but good grief it's ballooned into an overblown pat on the back by a lot of white people. That said, there are a lot of things I dig: all the black actors, a lot of the dialogue, and seasons 3 and 4 especially. Finally, yes, I agree: people need to quit it with the Dickens analogies.Ryland Walker Knighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09233954424885027837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8347718.post-54396923068559438032010-03-01T17:46:36.617-08:002010-03-01T17:46:36.617-08:00'you should really call it "Casting a gla...'<i>you should really call it "Casting a glance."</i>'<br /><br />Yeah, I like that. More. But too late!<br /><br />Also like the way you describe the start of <i>The Wire</i> - it took me quite a while to get into it (towards the end of s1), and I still fear that it's sorely overrated. No doubt a pretty hackneyed call to make now, but I don't believe that everybody who's been going nuts over it has been exposed to 60 hours of Wiseman (me included), or read 60 hours worth of Dickens (kinda loath that comparison). If we all had, it sure would feel far more minor than it does.Matthew Flanaganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17377516945046894253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8347718.post-87754916758888462852010-03-01T07:13:02.704-08:002010-03-01T07:13:02.704-08:00And, for the VINYL record, I just left the longest...And, for the VINYL record, I just left the longest comment I've ever written on my facebook page in response to some dudes calling A SERIOUS MAN the opposite of nihilist. It goes like this:<br /><br />No, no, no! This is the furthest thing from humanism. And nihilism, again, isn't just a synonym for dread. Nihilism is a tricky word to use, I guess, with all its popular misuse/reduction. <br /><br />Nihilism, as I understand it, and as got lost somewhere in the piece's formation, is a process (I'm thinking Kierkegaard just as much as Nietzsche) of dissolution; you reach a distrust of all meaning; it's not an end in and of itself; it doesn't start from a lack of meaning. Nihilism is about a crisis, and reaching that crisis, and what we might do to live past such a crisis. And faith, as it happens, can't protect you from that. <br /><br />I'd say the dybbuk story does illustrate some kind of test, but it doesn't aim to answer anything, or really illustrate anything, other than that baseline absurdity. In a lot of ways, the movie's a big throwing up of the hands.<br /><br />The central metaphor I used in the first version of this now-"streamlined" (for accessibility?) essay was listening. Ears abound! Everybody's listening to something besides themselves. And Larry's forever asking about Hashem, the word, as something to hear (that he doesn't hear). But if we believe the Rabbi Nachtner, who offers the most convincing illustration/encapsulation of the film, it's up to you to hear yourself. This puts the onus on the human, sure, but this isn't humanism. It's a lot closer to pragmatism--as a reaction to nihilism's approach and eventual onset.<br /><br />At bottom, it comes down to the song. All that Larry sees as truth has turned to lies, and he's lost with nobody to love. The film doesn't offer that. <br /><br />All that said, I'm glad you guys found stuff to really feel in the picture. It just scared the bejesus out of me. And I know that this says as much about me as your reactions say something about what you brought to this conversation of faith that the film precipitates.Ryland Walker Knighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09233954424885027837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8347718.post-57620098744673052962010-03-01T07:12:07.742-08:002010-03-01T07:12:07.742-08:00Matt, you should really call it "Casting a gl...Matt, you should really call it "Casting a glance."<br /><br />Jaime, I can see that, but in a show all about language, and the word, it jumped out as just that: a tiny encapsulation of how one word can, with the right emphasis, mean a whole bunch of things. It's simple, and maybe, oddly, overdetermined, but the two actors sold it for me the first time I saw it. (Still haven't gone back to the show, clearly.)Ryland Walker Knighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09233954424885027837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8347718.post-25763533631289246342010-03-01T04:31:39.546-08:002010-03-01T04:31:39.546-08:00The first few episodes of WIRE S1 seemed problemat...The first few episodes of WIRE S1 seemed problematic to me, so it was almost a year before I started watching it in earnest. Unlike everyone I've talked to, I found the "fuck" scene annoying and mannered - in fact, it was the point where I decided to quit.Jaimehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07468421420936035366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8347718.post-50033424809090744892010-03-01T03:32:11.678-08:002010-03-01T03:32:11.678-08:00I just thought it had a cool title.
Gonna call my...I just thought it had a cool title.<br /><br />Gonna call my next blog American Dreams.Matthew Flanaganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17377516945046894253noreply@blogger.com