Thursday, June 14, 2007

discurses, foiled again

The new News and Review is out. The editors letter makes no sense. They printed a bunch of letters slamming them for various stuff. For the record, I liked Kel Munger's essay on Jerry Falwell. She probably expected strong reactions to it, but I hope the hate mail isn't bumming her out. And I loved KW's slam of Tex Wasabi, although certain septugenarians with a love for Jack Daniels didn't agree. She reviews Pho Xe Lua this week, which I think is maybe the place kind of by Thrift Town with the crazy sign? The best thing in the whole damn rag, as usual, is the little blurb by DB. And he used the word "discursive" which I had to look up. It means digressive or rambling. What a great word, but I discurse.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

I read the DB blurb. Did you think it was really that good? I think that describing a film as "arty and cool as hell" is kind of phoning it in.

He also says that the film is "Cocteau-influenced." Cocteau worked on this film, and scenes were shot on Cocteau's property. The influence is there, but how could it not be?

-davis

Anonymous said...

My faves, of course, were the letters "Griffith's not funny..." and "...in fact, he sucks!" It's about time that mean-spirited prick got put in his place by us Dixieland jazz fans.

--Shakey Johnson's Moustache

beckler said...

No, I didn't think it was good, I just write the opposite of what I really think. That's why the blog is called "opposisac". It's hard to do much with a little blurb like that, and he always manages to pack in a good joke or two and to turn a good phrase. I appreciate that. I wish he had more space.

fft said...

DB is always informative, clever, fun and non-pretentious. They should hire him at SN&R (ahem!).

BTW, did anyone think that the head of the jazz jubilee was calling Jackson out with the whole "there were no pizza vendors" remark?

beckler said...

yeah, totally. it makes me laugh how she always tries to pretend that the jazz jubilee is young and hip. it's not, and there's nothing wrong with that!

Anonymous said...

Not hip? They had Zydeco this year, fer cryin' out loud. How much hipper can they get?
-biz

DB said...

Becks -

I have something to say: I believe that if famed character actor/ex-Senator Fred Dalton Thompson runs for President, his running mate should be M. Emmet Walsh. Thank you and God bless.

Anonymous said...

Hey, since we are learning words today, here is a few more.

I read the DB blurb. Did you think it was really that good?

rhetorical question -noun

a question asked solely to produce an effect or to make an assertion and not to elicit a reply, as “What is so rare as a day in June?"

No, I didn't think it was good, I just write the opposite of what I really think.

sarcasm -noun

Like an orgasm, but a lot meaner.

That's why the blog is called "opposisac".

neologism -noun

Psychiatry. a new word, often consisting of a combination of other words, that is understood only by the speaker: occurring most often in the speech of schizophrenics.

Anonymous said...

I'll have to agree with the Griifth not funny thing too because he isn't funny he is just an old curmudgeon. He writes the same stuff over and over again for now the last like 15 years. If he had any shred of self respectability he would let someone with something to say about local music use the space. Instead he just wanks and schmozes so he can pick up musician chics. Maybe someday he will find that his opinions are just like an asshole.

Anonymous said...

You forgot to define "anonymous".

-miller

Anonymous said...

Yeah, you're right. I'm not funny, and I write the same thing over and over. And I have nothing to say about local music, as opposed to, oh, you, oh courageous one who won't sign his or her name. C'mon. Who are you?

The weird thing about those two letters is that both writers were incensed about a lede graf that was plainly marked as "bullshitting." That column was written basically because I'd screwed up a couple of things, largely because I've been sick as a dog off and on for the past six or seven weeks with a nasty cold/flu/sinus infection, and the other night I even felt like I was going to die, and I'd instructed my roommate to make sure that someone would dress up in a Mountie uniform and read Robert W. Service's poem "The Cremation of Sam McGee" at my funeral, followed by the playing of Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass' Greatest Hits. Then I went to the emergency room.

Anyway, I'm not trolling for sympathy here, and I'll admit that sometimes I'm not as funny or smart or altogether wonderful as your average Heckasac poster (especially posters that don't sign their names to their posts), but I do try to bring something original to the table. And, yes, I may be slightly older than your average Olipom shopper, but I'm less a curmudgeon now than I was 10 or 15 years ago, even with a bunch of recent turmoil in my life.

Except for one thing: It's a maxim that people who are into Dixieland jazz music have absolutely no sense of humor. I'm pretty sure they're mutually exclusive.

Cheers,
Griffith,
Tahoe Park

ps: Dunno about "self respectability," but I do know about self-respect, because I have it.

beckler said...

wow! so the two anonymous posters are different people. the first one seems like someone who has never commented before, and i hope he/she never comments again, although do appreciate all the learnin' you just crammed into my head. i never knewed that i was schizomaphrenic before

the second person just used the anonymous forum to be way mean. it's easy to go off on someone like that without signing your name to it.

Jeff M. said...

Remember that you have the ultimate power over your comment thread. If you think someone is being too mean or being mean wihtout leaving a name (whatever your personal guidelines are), then delete his or her comment. To delete commetns, make sure you are signed on to your blogger account, then you should see a little trash can icon next to each comment. Click that to delete that comment.

Jeff M. said...

ps, also remember it is a somewhat of an honor to have lurkers and troll in your comment threads. It means you are in the big time. Sorta.

wburg said...

indeed...you know you've really arrived in the Internet community when an anonymous poster refers to you as being "worse than Hitler."

Which hasn't happened yet, so get to work on that!

Anonymous said...

Even worse than Hitler would be Chaplin. And if anyone compares Becks to Chaplain, we may have to call in the Un to un-nazi the place.

--bass player,
Sweet Bang Tube (new local buttrock band)