- Ricky Fitts from American Beauty
It's been an interesting week for me as I completed another orbit around the sun on Saturday. I am now closing in on thirty years of existence which has given me pause for reflection and some interesting self-examination.
I, like 99% of people in my age group, am not where I envisioned myself to be ten or fifteen years ago. I don't say that in a bad way, as if my nineteen year old self would be disappointed by where I am. But I didn't plan on having my current occupation, which I enjoy quite a bit, and I didn't see myself living alone. These thoughts have been swirling around in my head as I celebrated my birthday with some great friends and family members. There was a brief moment when I arrived at my birthday party in which I thought there was a surprise party being thrown and I got nervous when I saw no cars in front of my friend Paul's house. However, when I walked inside it was just that only a couple of people had beat me there. The emotions I felt when I walked inside were simultaneous feelings of relief and disappointment. I was somewhat discouraged that several of my friends were unable to attend although most of them are the friends who have families of their own, so it was easy to understand. I made a conscious decision to focus on the positive and gravitate towards my friends who had set time aside to spend it with me on my birthday.
I had a busy weekend of birthday lunches and dinners, a concert by The Antlers and a Sunday matinee at the movies. My weekend was followed by an equally busy week at work as I- well, I won't bore you with that.
Two day ago, a stream of the new album from Bon Iver entitled 'Bon Iver, Bon Iver' was added to NPR Music and I could finally encourage those who weren't lucky enough to listen to the album when it leaked three weeks ago to check it out. It is a beautiful album that mixes and defies any traditional genre of music. Without hyperbole or exaggeration I can safely say that I've listened to the album more than once a day since I downloaded it and believe it to be music that distinguishes itself from an already prodigious musical landscape.
On the same day after sharing with some of my friends (virtual and personal) to check out the aforementioned album, I went straight from work to the AMC Covina 30 movie theater to see a screening of Super 8 one day before it's originally intended release date. Like many others, I had been eagerly anticipating the release of this film since the teaser trailer was released over a year ago.
When I wrote about my most anticipated films of the year, Super 8 was at the very top of my list. I strolled up to the box office window and paid my $15.50 (highway robbery, I know, but I recommend the IMAX experience in this instance). I sat in the darkened theater with only about twenty other strangers and a delay of a little over five minutes only raised my level of excitement.
I went into the movie theater with only the information that was released during the trailer and that is exactly the way the movie should be seen during your first viewing. If you're curious about writer/director J.J. Abrams and why the promotional campaign for Super 8 (much like his prior original work Cloverfield) has been so secretive, it was explained it a terrific New York Times article a couple weeks ago. I could write a couple thousand words on a summary/review about the movie but I'll simply tell you that when the film was over I knew I had experienced something special. There's something about your memory recall that puts a special stamp over events of true happiness or sadness. I can recall every detail of watching Explosions in the Sky at Grant Park in 2008 because it was the most awe-inspiring concert I have ever had the pleasure to witness.
When I came home from the movie I sent a tweet and a Facebook post encouraging my friends, family and followers to experience the film that I had just brought me such an enormous amount of joy. I took some time to decompress as I watched my beloved Dodgers twice blow a four-run lead then watched the Dallas Mavericks make a late surge against the Miami Heat to take a 3 games to 2 lead in the NBA Finals (the proverbial yin and yang of my sports watching experience). I decided to go clear some space from my DVR so I watched a couple of short programs including the most recent South Park episode 'You're Getting Old'.
I'll be the first to admit that South Park has not been appointment television for me in over a decade but it doesn't mean that they don't still make very funny and a sometimes even poignant television. The concept of the episode was that Stan turned ten years old and suddenly "tween wave" music sounded like shit. All of the parents in South Park realize the music sounds like shit (except for Stan's dad Randy who tries to fool himself) but Stan is the only one of his friends who begins to see the things his friend's are interested in as boring or lame and just plain shitty. He goes to a doctor who tries to diagnosis him by playing some "tween wave" followed by Bob Dylan but they both sound like shit to Stan and he is classified by the doctor as a "cynical asshole".
I won't lie. I've been accused of being a cynical asshole and I've made comments in jest that those who watch Jersey Shore should get AIDS and anyone who keeps up with the Kardashians should kill themselves. I've also been on the other side of the spectrum when I tell everyone within earshot that they should buy a particular album and as is human nature, they will almost always end up being underwhelmed. There are times when I feel like I enjoy too many albums, television programs or films and think I should be more critical but there's no point to being unnecessarily critical. I often catch flack for making bold statements like the new Bon Iver record is easily the album of the year and sometimes I will hear someone tell me that it is just my opinion. If I want to get a rise out of said person, I'll say "No, it's the correct opinion" but any kind of art is subjective and you reading this right now might not enjoy listening to Bon Iver or you might think Super 8 is overrated (particularly by your's truly) but that's your choice to make up your mind.
The bottom line is simple; Happiness is not a choice but your outlook on life and cynical nature certainly is. I see films and television on regular basis and listen to music (especially of the live variety) that makes me short of breath and sometimes even well up with tears. To paraphrase the quote from American Beauty, there really is so much beauty in the world, it feels like my heart might just cave in. And if I have to pick a side, I'd rather be gloating about the best album of the year than snickering about something that I don't enjoy.
