I had a most pleasant weekend. I hope you did too! Friday night, I met up with some friends from work at this bar on Damen Avenue called The Black Rock. Admittedly, an odd name for a tavern but it was very nice, typically Irish-y, but very low-key and not at all crowded for a Friday evening. They had a decent selection of beers on tap as well as bottles, though no Bells (not that Bells is Irish) and no McEwan's (which is Scottish) but both of which are favs of mine. Whatever! Anyway, I had a Guiness and an Oatmeal Irish Stout (which is a good alt for a Guiness). What the bar does have is a great jukebox with lots of old rock tunes (Metallica, Guns N Roses, Zepplin) and a very welcoming vibe.
On Saturday night, I saw Buster Keaton's silent classic The General for the first time. It was shown with a live musical accompaniment by Quasar Wut Wut who wrote an original score for the film. Both were brilliant. The film was hysterical! Keaton's ability to portray a wide variety of emotions with only his facial expressions was genius. I had never really had an appreciation for silent films but this experience makes me want to see more. So, there you go!
Sunday, of course, were the ever so dull Oscars. There were some highlights but you had to of stayed with it till the bitter end to catch them like Jaime Fox getting best actor for Ray. I was happy for Cate Blanchett receiving one for The Aviator, and for The Sea Inside for Best Foreign Language Film, and the ballad (performed by Antonio Banderes and Carlos Santana) from The Motorcycle Diaries for best song. Unfortunately, you had to wait through an endless variety of boredom to get to these rare moments. Do you realize that the telecast began a half hour earlier this year but still ran until almost 11:00! I don't think the problem is the acceptance speeches. I think its the number of awards given that just don't interest the general public. I know, I'll be critized cruelly for saying this but I think the network should limit the broadcast version of the telecast to just the actor, film, directing, cinematography, and song awards. Allow those recipients to have their say on stage (viewers want to hear that). We like the pre-show too! All those other awards for various technical skills (no matter all artistic the decisions may be) take up too much time for those of us watching at home. Look, for us at home this is entertainment and the length of the broadcast is killing us. If this format remains in the future, then I may have to tune out and just catch the highlights the following day.
