Lazy Thoughts From a Boomer: Ridley Scott

Friday, January 22, 2010

A Friday of Forgotten Movies, Books, and Music

As the southland looks forward to a rain-free weekend after the deluge of this week, that dry hope does lift the spirit when all you've seen since last Sunday is dark clouds and inundated roads. I know we here will not get much sympathy because our weather is relatively mild compared to most parts of the country during winter. Heck, even the sunny and tropical city of Miami, Florida turned frigid last week when the temperature went down into the high 20's (degrees you can only find around here in our local mountains). Nope, we're not even close to that cold. Just wet.

Of course when we turn soggy, things tend to get exciting, locally. Our drivers routinely forget how to drive in this weather (no kidding... many have the penchant to actually speed up in a downpour). I remember long ago, one of our local radio DJ's was quoted as saying 'that it rains psychedelic drugs' in our basin due to our proclivity for horrible driving in wet weather. Approximately 300 rain-related accidents were reported Wednesday... and 500 more only a day later. Plus, try driving through flooded streets like those in the low lying sections of L.A. County that will flood when the precipitation turns heavy (Carson and Long Beach are notorious for this). You'll know pretty quickly how water tight your car really is. And all of that doesn't include the sliding ground, that has a tendency to move anyway (earthquakes), when the mudslides start happening in our hills. This is especially true for the areas left bare when they suffered major brush-fires this past summer (our other annual event). Many areas are still under mandatory evacuations.

So, I look for a little cheer on this Friday. And, I find it in the sky that is trying to peek a little blue (now and then), and in the blogosphere.

Book blogger Jen alerted me this morning that our favorite Robert Crais novel, the great L.A. Requiem, was gathering attention once more. Author Ken Bruen cited it in his novel, The Dramatist (along with the Jolie Blonde Bounce by James Lee Burke). Additionally, author David White did the same with a Friday Forgotten Book post of his today:

And then came Crais. For a while I didn't notice anything different about him. He had the same thing... a witty PI, a crazy sidekick, some good characters. And then came REQUIEM.

Crais blew the whole genre up.

I don't say that lightly.

He blew it up.

If you haven't read the book, it is well worth your time. You can read as a standalone, but I (along with book blogger Corey and the nerdy one, Elyse) believe it is savored better once you have the first seven in the Cole - Pike series under your belt. The payoff is that much more sweeter when the reader crosses that boundary with a familiarity of Elvis and Joe to that point (and the maturity of Crais as an author).

Movie blogger J.D. gave out some well deserved kudos to some of the great film bloggers from that community with yesterday's My Favorite Posts/Blogs from 2009. From Midnight Run to Point Blank, Nightbreed to White Hunter, Black Heart, and from Che to Birth, there are some great (and forgotten) films reviewed and examined by a select group. All are listed here by an equally gracious and talented blogger who makes a habit of doing worthy film appraisals himself. I'm still working my way through the cited posts, but they are all worth the read (maybe even by that one guy who touched on an 80's film about a high school football game).

Author Tom Schreck put out one fun post this morning with his FRIDAY HAPPY HOUR: Greatest Album Cover EVER! The fact that he named my all-time favorite album cover surely had nothing to do with it ;-).

Christian highlighted Ridley Scott's forgotten film gem, Legend, with his Friday Song post with a music video by Roxy Music maestro Bryan Ferry. Some of the film's background is discussed and makes the trip over there well worth it.

Lastly, in keeping with this post's theme of forgotten, here are a couple of musical gems from the 70's that recently made it into my iPod library. These long overlooked tunes seem fitting for this week with their beautiful and moving laments (especially since it's started raining, again).