Zander’s Weblog

Terrific, in both the modern sense of the word and its original latin root. Yes, it can be a bit corny at times and you DO have to NOT think about the camera crew filming Chris’ solitude, but the piece as a whole is well-filmed, engrossing and satisfying. Totally captures the tumult of that time of life during one’s mid-twenties when the truth must be shaken from the tree–at all costs. And that truth is? We make it all up.

Excellent documentary about the Apollo space program. It focuses on a handful of the first astronauts to go to the moon, with lots of great interview footage and historical film from the program. The score doesn’t always work but that’s a small quibble.

Went to my first Rainieros gig last night at The Anchor, a seedy sailor’s bar near the waterfront in Everett, WA. To give you an idea of the ambiance, while standing at the bar ordering a Mac-and-Jack’s a drunk guy two seats down was cajoling the crusty character (visualize Jack Sparrow) sitting between us and eating his pizza with his Buck knife, saying “hey, he (meaning me) looks like a pirate…why don’t you stick him with your knife? Go ahead, stick him!” Fortunately Jack had more sense.The Rainieros were awesome! Their song list is huge and they crank out a well-crafted mix of country tunes.

The play uses a pretty standard set of bones on which to hang the action, so its quality leans on the production values and acting which were good. Since the play was “skinned” in the African American vernacular, it should have strong appeal in that community, although it’s easy to imagine other skins to this archetypal story.

Hollywood it wasn’t. Which, for a mafia film, kinda sucks. It was The Godfather on borscht, done BBC style with a cloying sound track. Viggo manages the Russian accent pretty well, but the moulage was bloody awful. Save your rubles for something better.