Continuing with "Part 2" of this letter: Before I forget, I wanted to mention a couple of films to you on your radar screen (although it's clear to me you don't miss much!):
>"SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK": came out on DVD today. That is, or course, the extremely strange & offbeat film by director Charlie Kaufman, who wrote "Being John Malkovich" & "Adaptation." I was able to read the amazingly glowing review by Manohla Dargis from the Times; but I also saw & heard numerous commentaries just ripping the film to shreds.
With its layer upon layer of complexity, it sounds like a film I might enjoy... but no one I know has actually seen it. So-like "PRIMER", ifyou are able to see it I would be very interested in your opinion. Thanks.
KK Ran across this mini-review ."Sunshine Cleaning": This film will inevitably draw comparisons to "Little Miss Sunshine" - for its cheery title, suicide jokes, dysfunctional family, and casting of Alan Arkin. But in place of children's pageants, "Cleaning" immerses us in the world of human-remains removal. It's the story of Rose Lorkowski [Amy Adams], who, with the help of her sister [Emily Blunt], trade in her maid-on-wheels gig for a more lucrative (and stomach-turning) job cleaning blood and guts from crime scenes. The morbid work helps the women wash way some emotional residue of their own family tragedies, but what's most memorable about the film is it's visceral joys: a surprisingly complex performance from Clifton Collins Jr. ["Capote"] as a one-armed store clerk and scenes about botched biohazard disposal and dried brain matter. There's a lot of heart to "Sunshine Cleaning", and luckily, plenty of blood to keep it beating." --David Walters
Now back to your letter & highly entertaining columns:
>Your first questions was about answering letters I receive. As mentioned when I first wrote back to you--only, a few. To be honest, I think lots of people in the e-mail, IM, text world of today have extreme difficulty trying to communicating via written or typed letters. Two relatives with whom I maintain regular [albeit fairly boring:-)] correspondence tell me that the only personal letters they receive are from me , and the only letters they write and mail are to me. One told me this way he could teach his son how to write letters when he's old enough, in case the technique & knowledge goes the way of the 8-Track and the Videotape!
However, the exception are the occasional academic requests for input on various topics. Since keeping one's mind, brain & memory operating at peak efficiency is always challenging under any circumstances,--but more particularly here--I always try to respond, whenever possible. [i.e.--a nursing graduate student writing a practicum paper on workplace conflict; a physician writing a book on tropical medicine.]
Anyway, there you have it, since you asked! Now back to your letter--with its wide range of interests many of which mirror my own...
One more comment on a show we both agree has some of the best writing on Television-"LOST". I mentioned that you see things on second viewing that suddenly make total sense based on the whole series. Example: Alpert [the "Other" who never ages] witnesses John Locke's birth in California in 1956, and returns to see him when he is 6 or 7. We have no idea precisely why. Then this season, with the Island's & Locke's time travel, we discover that Locke visited Alpert's camp on the island in 1954 when the H-bomb was leaking...as an adult...and he told Alpert that he was actually born in 1956. And then Locke vanished in a flash.
MICKEY ROURKE: I was also disappointed that he did not win the Oscar. I think Sean Penn's win was influenced by the unexpected defeat of Proposition 8 in California, and the current case before the California Supreme Court.
In any event--I hope this means many more roles for Mr. Rourke in future, serious films.
I have read some fantastic reviews of the film you mentioned: "TWO LOVERS"--sort of a minimalist romantic tragedy stripped of all the usual Hollywood claptrap. Paltrow tends to choose her roles carefully, so I am not surprised at her involvement in what sounds like a very good film. Tell me a bit more about it when you have the time. And if I do see it, I promise a full commentary!
Not sure if I mentioned that "The Graduate" was just shown again a few weeks ago. It has been years since I had watched it. "Lost in Translation" -- Agree. Fascinating film with Bill Murray, Scarlett Johannson. Only saw it once, however. Will watch again at some point.
"Pretty Woman"-- I did like the songs by Roxette!
As with "PRIMER", will be interested in your take on "SAVE THE TIGER" when you get a chance to see it.
And a final film note: Just last week saw "CHINATOWN" again--Polanski's masterpiece.
By now, you know I could talk about movies in detail with someone like you for hours & hours! "Mephisto", "The Servant", "Angels and Insects"... These and many more in future letters...
AFRICA & other places: I need to devote a full letter(s) to those details that really tell the story, and I promise I will--
>Egypt: Like a total eclipse of the sun, the pyramids are something that should be seen in person, if at all possible, by everyone. Pictures & film simply do not convey the staggering historical immensity and sense of endless enduring time that one receives when standing in the desert next to these 5,000 year old eternal monuments.
>I am astonished anew every day now by new details of the total disintegration of the nation of Zimbabwe. I was there in the mid-late 1990s--and it was a highly functioning, safe nation with infrastructure & living conditions the envy of most of Africa.
Much to talk about re Zimbabwe if you are interested, including the stunning underestimated prevalence of HIV/AIDS. Forget the triple cocktail or any hope of viable treatment.
>Djibouti--Along with Delhi, India, one of the hottest & most humid places on earth. But when you feel the brutally hot wind off the Red Sea, you know you are in Africa.
I still haven't finished everything in your letter! I have no problems discussing the reasons & misjudgments & misadventures that put me here, I just have to avoid certain areas due to ongoing legal procedures, etc.
But will comment on it. Not "touchy" at all :)
However: Running short of time again--so let me comment on your dating column "OUTSIDE THE BOX": So funny, a unique take on the old "it takes a guy/girl to get a guy/girl.":
(Trust me, KK, I am not one of "those type" of correspondents. There is nothing I haven't done or seen, especially overseas--and whenever the topic of sex does come up, it is usually the most clinical, anatomical, boring way possible!)
[Ed. note: I'm not sure what he is referring to. There was no discussion with him of any sex-related topic.]
>"It was either him, the homeless or the incarcerated." KK! I take that personally!
> The "ball-of-lint" to "The House" with no transition. Like Jackie Chiles said in the Seinfeld finale: "Girl--you have a nickname for everyone!
Sorry "HW" didn't work out. But clearly he wasn't your type!
Really must get this in the mail within minutes. Will tie up loose ends in my next letter. Hope I haven't rambled on too ADD-like for your tastes. Still have your third column "Calling All Kellys!" Very original--will have a few comments.
So--write when you can. Hope the business is staying above water in this economy and again, feel free to send me more columns on a continuing basis and any and all blogs that you grace with your comments. No problem with content--send whatever!
Take care and stay safe.
Michael
P.S. I see the Madoff mea culpa is Thursday (3-12) He will no t like MCC-Manhattan.
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