While My Connection Works...

...I'll write something.

I went to see "Capote" yesterday. I've been wanting to see it for a while and i highly recommend it. I mean, come on, Philip Seymour Hoffman = can't go wrong. That man is ridiculously good. And his portrayal of Truman Capote is filled with the nuaunce and subtlety of an old time movie star. Then throw in the bonuses of Catherine Keener and Chris Cooper, a great script, and stunning direction and you got a movie.

Now that i'm done with my impression of a critic who knows what he's talking about i'll assume the role of the ass as i always do. Truman Capote was a great novelist, a interesting public figure and a member of an elite and fashionable circle of New York intellectuals that i don't think exist anymore (outside of comedians of course). Everyone knew who he was. He was a household name. He was an influential writer and thinker whose influence is still felt today.

I sat there watching and thought to myself "Who are we gonna be making these movies about in 10 - 30 years?" There is really no one around like that today not counting people who are already established themselves decades ago. Everyone knows there's been an influx in Biopics lately. From Ray to Walk the Line to Capote. There's a movie about Janis Joplin on the way and apparently Mike Epps is portraying Richard Pryor in the movie about his life. You'll notice, however, that these are people who peaked in the mid to late 70s. Pryor reached into the 80s, but his work in the 70s is very vivid in the minds of those that admire him.

Where are the current influential artists that are evolving the form in which they create? Why aren't they household names? Perhaps they don't exists. Maybe in 10 years we'll end up seeing Haley Joel Osment as Moby in "I Guess You Can Call This Music" Or Lindsey Lohan as Julia Roberts in "Neither Can Act" or Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen both play Paris Hilton in "Bewildered Whore." Only time will tell. All I know is that people like Truman Capote, Johnny Cash, Ray Charles, and Richard Pryor are Artists that more people saw as necessary to our way of life. Now, arts programs are the first thing from which the budget is cut cuz "Gee, we need some oil." Hey, there's an idea. Maybe we could get Michael Clarke Duncan to play the part of oil in "The Fall of the American Empire." I'd go to see that, if we're not all enslaved by then.