Partners in Crying

On an old episode of THE MONKEES, the boys were discussing the sensitivity of their fellow band mate Peter Tork when one of them declares,

"He cries at card tricks."

That's me all over these days, a living testament to the belief that men cry more as they get older. I own it. If there's anything that involves my grandkids, I'll blubber openly and be proud of it. The world can be a sad place, especially lately and my empathy will work overtime in reaction to horrible tragedy in the world. But it can also be therapeutic. I am not immune to its healing abilities even it involves welling up my tear ducts and letting the waterworks flow. I have found that my reactions as of late have become increasingly unpredictable.

Music is always a trigger. If Johnny Cash's rendition of "Hurt" plays, I'm an instant wreck especially with the lyric:
What I become, my sweetest friend
Everyone I know goes away in the end
The video for "Hurt" cuts to June Carter on "my sweetest friend" and my mind immediately goes to her passing just before Johnny's. He died four months later.

James Taylor's "Fire and Rain" conjures immediate images of 9/11 since I saw him play this at a benefit for First Responders following the tragedy.

There's hours of time on the telephone line to talk about things to come
Sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on the grounds.

I'm weeping as I type those words right now.

And something as innocuous as Rod Stewart's "Forever Young" or Donna Lewis' "I Love You Always Forever" hits me on a personal level, choking me up once again. Recently, little ditties like "Home" by Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros or Moonshine Willie's "Dig a Little Deeper", both of which remind me of the love of my life who is my wife who sometimes tells not to "get all weepy".

I like to think I'm above cheap sentimentality, but I guess I'm not. I hate obvious pulls at the heartstrings and I have a tendency to pull back. When something as well done as the recent WONDER movie comes along, I'll go all in willingly. Sometimes the power of joy moves me and seeing THE BOOK OF MORMON, not a tear jerker in the least, hit the "Wah!" button. That could have been the culmination of the whole experience since it was my first Broadway show in that magical New York summer. Hey, this summer, I even got a little misty eyed at this.

Olympian weightlifter Ryan Crouser's tribute to his grandpa 

What do you want from me? I'm a grandpa. It's in my contract.

I've always been sensitive, but as time rolls on, it's been rising to the surface on almost a daily basis. But I accept this and sometimes embrace it.

I'm not made of stone. I am not a rock. I am not an island.

Just don't mistake my weepiness for weakness.

Now pass the Kleenex or I'll slap the snot outta ya.

2012: Farewell to the Suck

It's too tempting to dismiss 2012 as nothing more than the Year of the Suck nothing could have been

more apropos. Maybe that's what the Mayans were trying to tell us. They foretold that last year was going to be chock full o' suck and just wanted to give mankind hope by assuring them it would all be temporary by way of an end of the world scenario.

"Yeah, brudda, times is tough, but it'll all be over before you know it. Party on, mon!"
(Because we all that Mayans were the first frat boys and spoke like Samoans)

They knew that the majority of us would just throw a series of big ass Apocalypse parties and, by the time we'd all sober up, hey, it's January!

But far be it for me to run down the horrible events of 2012. Because I'm shallower than a Kardashian gene pool (or is that a septic tank?), my purpose here is to focus on some of the better things that crossed my path. Here are some of my picks for the Best of 2012:

FILM
The amount of movies I saw in 2012 was the lowest since I've been keeping track, a measly 100 exactly. Too much television occupied my viewing time and hey, there are only so many hours in the day. As Alvy Singer says in ANNIE HALL  "And eventually you grow old and die."
1. BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD-Blissfully Oscar nominated for Best Picture, Director and Actress. Go Hush Puppy!

also: SKYFALL, THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, MOONRISE KINGDOM, THE AVENGERS and several not released in 2012 but make my list anyway: BEGINNERS, TAKE SHELTER, TIME CRIMES (these three from emerging filmmakers that give me hope for the future of cinema: Mike Mills, Jeff Nichols and Nacho Vigolnado), PROJECT ZIM a great doc from James Marsh, THE ARTIST, THE DECENDANTS, BUG (a crazy ass film from William Friedkin with Ashley Judd in an unjustly overlooked performance), Phillip Kaufman's HEMINGWAY AND GELLHORN, MARWENCOL and 3 w/James Cagney: 13 RUE MADELINE, G-MEN and CITY FOR CONQUEST.



TV

Living in what I call the Platinum Age of Television, there is a bountiful feast of superb programs at our disposal, more than ever before. Of course, we have to wade through shit swamp to get to them, but with a pair of blinders and a decent pair of nose plugs, you can find your way to the treasures before succumbing to the excrement around every corner. The best I saw this year were the usual suspects: MAD MEN, BREAKING BAD, THE WALKING DEAD, BOARDWALK EMPIRE, JUSTIFIED, LOUIE, HOMELAND and everything else except DOWNTON ABBEY which I've never seen. My list has to include THE BORGIAS (the show I like to call OH, THAT FUCKING POPE!), HELL ON WHEELS (a western I consider better than DEADWOOD and it has another unsung hero of mine, Colm Meaney) and my new favorite guilty pleasure, RESTAURANT STAKEOUT. And of course, 2012 will known as the year I totally gorged on DOCTOR WHO. That sentence is going to haunt me, I'm sure.

BOOKS

In 2011, my obsession was P.G. Wodehouse. This year it was Elmore Leonard. (I'm nothing if not diverse.) I particularly enjoyed ROAD DOGS and UP IN HONEY'S ROOM. But again, non-fiction ruled the roost, especially after discovering the works of Susan Orlean. Her RIN-TIN-TIN was my pick for best of the year, followed by two superb books about rock music Will Hermes' LOVE COMES TO BUILDINGS ON FIRE and FIRE AND RAIN by David Browne.

MUSIC

Not much to shout about with only one really stealing my heart, the Of Monsters and Men song "Little Talks". It's a perfect compliment to my DOCTOR WHO festival and the video is quite frigging spectacular.

So there are some of the better things I encountered last year. They served to sedate me, feed my spirit and otherwise distract me as I survived the suck, a tall order for what transpired in that painful calendar year. You can tell me that time is relative and I will wholeheartedly concur, but you have to admit, 2012 was your Uncle Sandusky coming over to babysit for 12 months. Let's just say hail and farewell to this Year of the Suck and please let the door hit you in the ass on the way out, 2012.

You totally deserve it.