I actually realized that since lots of people don’t read these posts, it makes more sense to have a big post all at once where I profile all the movies in one big list. So, that’s what I am going to do with the rest of noir month, finishing off all of them in a single post at the end of the month.
If anyone actually reads these, and prefers the original format, comment or email me or something. Otherwise, enjoy not having your blog RSS feed clogged with a series of posts you skip past!
The other day, I was thinking about how foolish we NBA fans have been for this decade plus of speculation about who the next Michael Jordan would be. Sure, it’s died down of late, but for some time, every great player, especially those who were clearly the best in the game for a time, were compared to Jordan. Young players who seemed to have an extra special makeup were crowned as ‘The Air Apparent’ (not my wordplay). Truth is, there will never be another Jordan. Lebron will never be Jordan, Durant will never be Jordan, Kobe isn’t… no one will be. He is and was too singular, an isolated incidence. I will cut myself off now, because this post isn’t about Michael Jordan.
I mention Jordan’s singularity, because such is the case with Buster Keaton. No one will ever be what Buster Keaton was. He was the perfect storm of talent, born into the perfect moment in film history’s youth. His self-effacing charm, his daring stunts, the sweetness of his writing, his groundbreaking directing, his ability to act out hilarious physical comedy without ever changing that wonderfully melancholy facial expression… I could go on and on and on.
Sherlock Jr. is Keaton at his best. A pure joy. As a child of the late 20th century, I sometimes have trouble with silent film. Even some of the quintessential films from that era jar a bit with my talky sensibilities. That is never the case with Keaton’s silent films. They are too perfect, there wasn’t a single scene in Sherlock Jr. in which it feels like something could be added with audible dialogue.
Keaton was the master of his medium, and the pinnacle of pre-sound film. And come on, at only 45 minutes, it’s like watching a commercial free hour-long television show. You should watch it… again or for the first time.
Until a few moments ago, I’d never heard any rendition of Carly Rae Jepsen’s enormous hit song. I’ve heard of it, but never heard it. However, then the Roots became involved, and the Roots are irresistible.
She’s been hovering at #2 on the charts for a long time now, because Gotye is still in charge. Unless something has happened that I haven’t heard about (very likely), she may never crack #1. Yet, how many time has Gotye gotten to perform in a tiny room with The Legendary Roots Crew? Zero, thus, Carly Rae wins.
I spent most of today sick in bed, felt better for a while, and now I’m nosediving back into feeling sick again. One thing I did while wasting the day was watch Roman Polanski’s Cul-De-Sac.
I spent the whole movie partly distracted by how much Terry Francona looks like Donald Pleasance.
Sorry this didn’t go up yesterday. I was too busy.
How are there already two Anchorman 2 teasers? Granted, they clearly filmed it at the same time and just did the usual Line-O-Rama awesomeness. Still, after a long time without new Ron Burgundy & Co., it’s good to have them back.
At long last, the teaser for Daniel Craig’s third turn as James Bond in Skyfall. Yes, yes, yes.
I know this is late. I meant to post it last week, but never did. After watching it again with Brian, I decided it was time to throw it up.
It wasn’t news that Ashton Kutcher isn’t funny. I knew that already. Many people did. It probably is news that he’s a racist douchebag.
On the bright side, Kutcher’s Steve Jobs movie, Jobs, was probably made immediately irrelevant once Aaron Sorkin agreed to write the screenplay for a rival Steve Jobs project based on Walter Isaacson’s immensely successful biography. Ah, sweet justice.
There is perhaps no word in the English language more abused than the word ‘irony’. It is a remarkably important device in the worlds of language, literature, drama, and comedy. So, it is important to try and clear things up a bit. I’m going to try, and probably fail, to do that now.
There are many perpetrators of this misuse: both from those who have no idea what the word means and throw it around willy-nilly, and from those who think they know how to use it, and are woefully and terribly wrong.
I think the primary reason that the word is so often misused is because there is a great frequency of times when something can be ironic and something else. Many times something can be an example of irony, while also being an example of something like poetic justice, coincidence, an improbable occurrence, or sarcasm. Thus, people start confusing irony with the ‘something else.’ Often, poetic justice can be ironic, so people start confusing irony and poetic justice as if they are the same thing. Sarcasm is many times ironic, so people start using the words interchangeably. The result is that we wind up with the woeful misuse of the variations of the word irony.
The most infamous and much-maligned villain in this story is certainly Alanis Morissette, who wrote an entire song listing so called examples of irony, yet only accidentally touched on actual irony once or twice in the whole song. I’ve mused with friends that perhaps it is actually the purest example of irony ever, because she is attempting to sing a song all about irony, and is, ironically, doing nothing of the sort. She sings about “rain on your wedding day” (just unfortunate), “good advice that you just didn’t take” (simply poor judgment), and “a free ride when you’ve already paid” (What the fuck? That’s not possible, a ride can’t be free when you’ve already paid for it, that’s not even… I can’t… how is that ironic?!? It’s not even a thing!). Yet, while her lyrics may be infuriatingly stupid, I’ll stop wasting ones and zeroes on her song now, she’s suffered enough for her crime against the English language.
As a side note, while mentioning the song that represents the worst use of irony, I would also like to point out the best, from the song ‘Robots’ by Flight of the Conchords (these lyrics are from the live version, since they differ in the studio version).
Fellow robots, or ‘robros’, what we have done is wrong. By destroying the humans because of their destructive capabilities and tendencies, we too have been… well it was kind of ironic.
When it comes to misusing the word ‘irony’, Alanis may be the most famous offender, but she didn’t start the fire. She is just a symptom. The most common misuses of irony occur when people use it to refer to something that’s particularly unfortunate, or something that is a coincidence. Often, when something falls into Murphy’s Law (anything that can go wrong, will go wrong), people call it ironic. Also, as mentioned above, many times people refer to things that fall under the category of poetic justice as irony.
Examples of the misuses mentioned above:
Irony happens in life when you are attempting to achieve one result, and the opposite happens. Like, you take medication to reduce your cholesterol so you won’t have a heart attack, then it turns out the medication causes heart attacks, and you die from one. That’s ironic. You’re worried about the neighborhood you live in, it’s getting too dangerous. You move to the wealthy part of town, and the next day you are mugged by a neighbor. Ironic! In both cases, you were taking action to create or prevent a certain event, and somehow the opposite of what you were working toward is actually created by your action. That’s irony.
To put it in the example of the misuses I listed above, here is how each can be converted to actual irony:
“Henry Watson Fowler, in The King’s English, says “any definition of irony—though hundreds might be given, and very few of them would be accepted—must include this, that the surface meaning and the underlying meaning of what is said are not the same.” Also, Eric Partridge, in Usage and Abusage, writes that “Irony consists in stating the contrary of what is meant.” (via @ wikipedia)
Often, to be funny, we ironically say one thing when we obviously mean something else. Which leads us to one of the primary areas where people’s understanding of irony is mixed up with something else. What people often call sarcasm is actually irony. It’s funny, because most often, when people say irony, they are actually referring to something else. Then, when they could be saying irony correctly, instead they call it sarcasm.
The word sarcasm actually refers to a remark that is biting and taunting (it’s from Greek and Latin words which mean ‘to rend the flesh’). The reason it is often confused with irony is because it is usually ironic. When little kids are playing basketball, and someone shoots an air ball, and some other kid says, “Nice shot!”, that’s ironic sarcasm. It’s ironic because he says one thing and means the opposite, it’s sarcasm because he’s being a dick.
However, if I were to say “Wow, I really loved having that stomach virus all week!” Most people would refer to it as sarcasm. It’s actually not sarcasm at all, because it isn’t biting or taunting, no one is jeered by it. It is ironic, because I am saying one thing and meaning the opposite. Often, when someone says, “I was just being sarcastic,” they weren’t actually being sarcastic at all, unless they were actually attempting to belittle someone. What they were really being was ‘ironic.’
Let’s recap. Something is only an example of irony if, A. Someone attempted to accomplish or prevent something, and the opposite of what they intended occurs, or, B. Someone says one thing, but means the opposite. Don’t forget, almost every single time you hear someone say something is ironic, they are wrong. Sarcasm, poetic justice, improbable occurrence, funny coincidence, Murphy’s Law, and ‘things that suck’, often overlap with irony, but they are not irony. There is most certainly a big grey area where things get confusing, but most of the time people aren’t anywhere near the grey area, they’re just way out in the big wrong area. Be prepared, or the misuse of irony will happen to you, too.
There you have it. A brief overview of the proper use of irony. Now, go unto the world and preach the good news.
