Monday, December 26, 2011

"Sons of Anarchy" Christmas.

Of all things, we watched the first four episodes of this motorcycle gang saga.

You know how we're identifying with the bad guys in these shows? Meth and arms dealers. Or serial killer Dexter, or Gangster Nucky. Kind of a weird development.

I wanted to watch this show for some time, and with reruns going on, this was a good time to dive in. We have several seasons to catch up on. I thought I might have a hard time getting Linda to watch, but Ron Perlman is one of her favorite actors (ever since Beauty and the Beast) , so that's how I got her to watch the first episode...

"You know," she says. "He's getting better looking as he gets older."

"He's still ugly."

"Well, sure.... but better looking than before."

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"Exit through the Gift Shop."

The documentary by (about?) street artist Banksy.

I have a strange reaction to these art documentaries. These people all seem like raging egotists and preening narcissists.

Banksy's anonymity actually makes him seem even more of an egoist, somehow.

Maybe that's what it takes to get noticed in the art world.

As far as the documentary is concerned, if you like mind games, this was a good one. I don't think I liked it much -- I would have preferred a straight documentary about street art, with many more examples.

And yet, it makes its point.

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"Angry Bear" blog has a cute column about how Unitarians "saved" Christmas. (And the Puritans literally "outlawed" it.)

heh.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Charming"

Duncan McGeary said...

I'm thinking -- Redding? Too far north?

Duncan McGeary said...

I just checked the population, and Redding is about 6 times too big.

Andy Z said...

You should check out "Rivers and Tides," a documentary about artist Andy Goldsworthy. He creates often-temporary structures and arrangements in nature and photographs them. Great stuff, and not nearly as self-aware as so-called "street art."

Duncan McGeary said...

Cool. I've seen that on the offerings...so that's up next.

H. Bruce Miller said...

"You know how we're identifying with the bad guys in these shows? Meth and arms dealers. Or serial killer Dexter, or Gangster Nucky. Kind of a weird development."

Maybe it's a way of venting our frustration and/or vicariously lashing out at authority in these tough times. During the Depression people admired the likes of Bonnie and Clyde, Pretty Boy Floyd and Dillinger.

Luci & Loree said...

Hope u guys had a Merry, miss seeing you out and about. I watch "Sons" they are bad.. don't know how they get away with all the 'head count' they have :) And Clay is getting a REALLY dark side to him!!

Duncan McGeary said...

Robin Hood is alive and well.

There is an Emma Goldman quote in S.O.A.:

"Anarchism... stands for liberation of the human mind and the dominion of religion; the liberation of the human body from the dominion of property; liberation from shackles and restraint of government. It stands for social order based on the free grouping of individuals."

Duncan McGeary said...

Not to mention Oedipus is having a hell of resurgence, between S.O.A. and Boardwalk Empire.

And unless I'm mistaken, there is a very Hamlet-y setup in S.O.A. -- don't know if that's how it plays out, but that's how it looks in the first few episodes.

Anonymous said...

Sutter very explicitly cops to using the Hamlet structure and it continues to play out.

Jim

H. Bruce Miller said...

"Not to mention Oedipus is having a hell of resurgence, between S.O.A. and Boardwalk Empire."

Was Boardwalk Empire the first American TV show to depict mother-son incest? I sure as hell can't think of another one.