Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Grahame are… In A Lonely Place (1950). Superb noir-ish romance/suspenser with some stunning imagery.
Monthly Archives: May 2018
Ric Ocasek and Paulina Porizkova break up…
Yeah, I know, this is stuff that unless you’re at all familiar with the two individuals I’ve noted above, you probably don’t care.
But if you’re an old fart like me, you know Ric Ocasek was a member of the very popular (and, while they were around, fantastic) band The Cars and he and the then very successful supermodel Ms. Porizkova first met when they made the video to the 1984 song Drive, one of The Cars’ most popular releases:
Sung by Benjamin Orr (while Ric Ocasek is often presented as the “face” of The Cars and was the primary songwriter, it was Mr. Orr who sang most -but certainly not all!- the best of their songs. He passed away in the year 2000 at the age of 52 of pancreatic cancer), Drive was a big hit and Mr. Ocasek and Ms. Porizkova married a few years later and have been together for 29 years.
However, this article by Ron Dicker and presented on HuffingtonPost.com notes…
Paulina Porizkova and Ric Ocasek are “Peacefully separated”
The reason I point out this article is not to titillate or spread gossip or wallow in nostalgia.
The reason I point out the article is because of this line from it, a bit that blew me away (and which is presented in bold):
Porizkova, 53, and Ocasek, 74, met during a music-video shoot for The Cars’ song “Drive” in 1984 and wed in 1989, according to People.
I’m just… speechless.
Rick Ocasek is 74 years old?!?!
He’s a grand total of 5 years younger than my… father?!?!
He’s three years older than David Bowie?!
I was so flabbergasted I had to investigate this a little further. How old was Mr. Ocasek when the self-titled first (and, IMHO, best) Cars album was released in 1978?
The answer? He was 34 years old at that time. He was 40 years old when he met Ms. Porizkova in 1984.
Incredible!
The point I’m making is this: Mr. Ocasek -and The Cars- bloomed rather late considering the business they were so successful at -the music business- that tends to cater to two audiences: The young and the very young.
Good on ya, Mr. Ocasek!
Apple troubles…?
Interesting article by Seth Fiegerman and presented on CNN.com:
Apple faces Wall Street ‘panic’ over iPhone
The key line from the article is this one:
Apple stock fell this month after one of its key chip suppliers warned of “continued weak demand” (for the iPhone).
Which, of course, brings me back to something I’ve talked about several times: The silly need for tech companies to look successful by selling “new” versions of their products when they get to the point that their current product is so good that people no longer need to make that upgrade.
Once again: I lived through the rise of the desktop/personal computer golden age. We went from the 8086 processors to the 286 processors to the 386 to the 486 to the Pentiums and, for the most part, each new iteration was much, MUCH better than the previous one, and if you were into using your desktop computer, it made plenty of sense to toss the old version away and buy the newer one.
It was that good.
A very similar thing, IMHO, happened with the iPhone. Each new version was a hell of a lot better in ways both large and small to the previous version.
But…
There came a point, perhaps with the 6th version or so, that the iPhone seemed to hit the same wall the desktop/personal computer folks did: The phone had reached something of a peak, and subsequent versions merely tweaked things here and there and the changed were nowhere near as “exciting” as previous changes.
Thus, people were suddenly not quite as eager to line up around the block (remember when that happened?) to get the latest version of the iPhone.
So when with much fanfare Apple releases their iPhone X, and its priced extremely high and its features are a little better than the previous phone yet people don’t feel this difference is worth pursuing, especially for $999, it shouldn’t be too big a surprise.
Yet that’s the stuff that makes people in the business community suddenly think a company is in “trouble”.
No, people probably still love their Apple iPhones. The problem lies in the fact that the company has refined the product to the point where people don’t need to toss their last version to get a new one.
A little more on Avengers: Infinity War
$258.1 million dollars.
That’s what the film made in its opening “week” (though its really a weekend), which means that the movie has had the strongest opening ever.
I’ve said it before and I’ll repeat it here: I’m certain the film is quite good, exciting, fun, etc. etc.
And I’ll repeat what I said before: I don’t care to see the film.
Every week new films/TV shows/books, etc. etc. are released and the fact of the matter is that one can’t see/read/hear ’em all. Further, those you do spend some time on may wind up thrilling you while others might wind up seriously disappointing you.
It’s the nature of the beast.
With regard to Avengers: Infinity War, I feel like I’ve had my fill of Avengers films. With the current film’s release, we’ve had four so far: Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War (though a “Captain America” film, it was essentially an Avengers film), and now Avengers: Infinity War.
I’ve seen the first three and I know I’m in the minority here (at least with two of them), but I didn’t think all that much of the three.
I felt the original Avengers film was “ok”. Didn’t hate it, but didn’t understand the fangasms. Avengers: Age of Ultron is the film that may get the least amount of love from the fans and I won’t dispute the fact. The film did feel more than a little confusing (the whole Thor going away -even with the extra/cut scenes- made little sense). Captain America: Civil War had a well realized fight scene at an airport and involving almost all the characters in the Marvel Universe… but the rest of the film was something of confusing mess as well, to me anyway.
So here’s the thing: If I didn’t really like the previous three Avengers movies all that much, what incentive do I have to see the latest one, especially given all the many, many spoilers which make me feel like the film is trying to create excitement/suspense/sadness out of something that is temporary at best?
I’ll repeat for the thousandth time: I know I’m in the very small minority here.
But it is what it is.
I’m glad people -and most critics!- seem to like the film and I’m glad you feel, at the very least, you’ve gotten your money’s worth seeing the film.
For me, its a pass, alas.