Welcome to Shedding Ink
Shedding Ink is a little-used euphemism for the act of writing. In this digital age we live in, one could also construe a double-meaning of casting off the pen for a computer. What you'll find here is an outlet for me to write about my interests: movies, sports and whatever else happens to be on my mind, as scary as that sounds. You'll find film reviews, a sports blog focusing on the Phillies and Eagles and, if you're in the market for a freelance writer, all the information you'll need to decide if I'm your kind of scribe. Thanks for stopping by.
News & Musings
November 27, 2008 – Movie reviews
written by an idiot
That would be me, because I wrote a few movie reviews a
while back and forgot to update anyone about it here on the home page.
First up, House
of Flying Daggers, a Hong Kong marital arts romance period
piece. If that seems like too much for a movie to be, that's because it
is. On a more positive note, I finally watched a film recommended to me
ages ago, and it turned out to be an esoteric joy. It's sort of a
documentary on forgery, it's the last film made by Orson Welles, and
it's called F
for Fake. Rent it pronto.
Oh, and for good measure, I've thrown in a review of the latest movie about a secret agent you may or may not have heard of—James Bond? Ring a bell? No? Well, read about him anyway. Finally, I get to add the letter 'Q' to my film review list.
November 4, 2008 – Go vote anyway
Because our government has been bought and sold by just
about every corporate and special interest in America (and even points
beyond), I'm not really sure that our votes count for anything anymore.
But it's still our responsibility as citizens of this Republic to show
up and pull the lever. Too many people have fought and died for that
privilege for us not to exercise that right. So get out to your local
precinct and vote for someone or something and try not to think about
the $1 billion spent on the presidential campaign alone. That's a lot
of favors the winner is going to have to repay. Too bad he won't owe
any of them to us.
October 31, 2008 – More than 1 million
turn out to celebrate Phillies triumph
Michele and I just finished watching a choppy feed of the
Phillies victory parade in Philadelphia this afternoon, and the scene
was just simply incredible. A sea of red 20 or 30 people deep
stretching more than three miles from 20th
& Market, down Broad
St. and into two stadiums in the sports complex. It helped erase the
dreamlike feeling that it hadn't really happened and let the reality of
moment completely sink in. The Philadelphia Phillies are indeed the
best baseball team in the world. No matter how I phrase it (or Chase
Utley f-bombs it), I get a huge smile on my face every time I type those words.
September
28, 2008 – WTF?
I've been looking forward to something original from the
Coen brothers for several years. Burn
After Reading
is hardly their best work, but even with a little rust,
their films are
better than most.
September 27, 2008 – Paul Newman
(1925-2008)
Paul
Newman, one of the last great classic American movie stars, died Friday
at age 83. When I heard the news this evening, I wandered over to my
DVD collection to find one of his films to watch and remember what a
remarkable actor he was, only to realize I don't own a single
film with
him in it.
After shaking my head in disbelief at such an
egregious
oversight, I started to think about why one of the greatest actors in
the history of cinema isn't to be found in any of my DVDs. I
immediately thought of The Hudsucker Proxy,
the Coen Brothers' tribute to the screwball comedies of
Capra,
Lubitsch, Sturges and Hawks. It's one of my favorite films
and a truly
underappreciated comedy which deserves a full-press treatment on DVD
and currently has nothing of the sort, which is why I don't
have it. So
that's one I would own, if a better version ever presented
itself, and
would watch in a heartbeat in fond remembrance of Newman, whose
forceful performance as a conniving corporate executive rules every one
of his scenes.
Since most of the films in my collection are
there based
on the directors I like so much, I started to think of the great
filmmakers he worked with and wondered why I don't have any
of those
films. It soon occurred to me that Newman didn't really work
with very
many cinema masters, and when he did, the results were often less than
perfect. Alfred Hitchcock's Torn Curtain
is a forgettable mess—one of Hitch's worst films. John
Huston's The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean
is all right, but it's Newman who carries that film, not the
director.
In fact, if you look back over the course of
his career, what you find
is a smorgasbord of really good films, few of them great, all featuring
Newman in a wide variety of roles and all being carried by his enormous
talent. In other words, we don't think of Paul Newman as
having been in
great films; we think of those films as being better because of Paul
Newman.
Consider his greatest performances for a
moment: The Hustler, Hud, Cool
Hand Luke, Absence of Malice, The
Verdict, Nobody's Fool and Road
to Perdition.
All of those films (again—good, not great) were helmed by
able
directors, some of them very well known. But would any of those movies
be a shadow of what they are had another actor filled those roles? Even
The Color of Money, for which he finally won a
Best Actor Oscar for in 1986, is really a Paul Newman picture, not a
Martin Scorsese film.
Ironically, perhaps Newman's two most
famous films, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
and The Sting,
speak to his talent more than any of these others. Great acting
isn't
about dominating the screen, as far too many movie stars fail to
realize; it's a collaborative effort. While I've
always thought Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
was overrated, his work with Robert Redford in both of these
George Roy Hill films is the epitome of how a great actor blends in
with the cast around him, even if he is the leading man (or co-leading
man). His chemistry with Redford is so good in fact, people often think
they made more films together than just these two.
That same generosity which created such
indelible film
roles spilled over into his private life—or perhaps it was
the other
way around. Newman's 50-year marriage to actress Joanne
Woodward was a
marvel in Hollywood terms. And his philanthropic efforts on behalf of
gravely ill children (his Hole-in-the-Wall Gang camps) and the arts,
and the proceeds for countless other charities generated by the
Newman's Own food brand, are well-documented.
No matter how many films he made better through
his
presence, it's the many other lives he made better in the
real world
that actually count. Obviously that's the best legacy Paul
Newman, or
any man, could hope to leave.
September
22, 2008 – Sigh of relief
There was a
lot to like about yesterday if you happen to be a
Philadelphia sports fan. The Phillies extended their division lead and
the Eagles defense used Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger as
their personal punching bag in a 15-6 win. But 50% of the Eagles
offense left the field with a bad ankle injury that had the entire
Delaware Valley holding its collective breath. Good news: It
looked
worse than it is. Brian Westbrook should be back by the October 5
matchup with the Redskins, if not sooner.