No thank you for not smoking

The New York Times ran an article on the rather absurd smoking restrictions that are permeating into the theater. Theaters in Colorado, Wales, and Scotland are no longer allowed to have their actors smoke in theaters, and in New York, unless you smoke an herbal cigarette, you need to get a waiver from the city in a highly bureaucratic process.

I'm glad the article referenced Hair, because the whole premise of the argument in this case is absurd. You can do a lot of things in the theater that you can't do in public: be naked, carry concealed weapons (even if not loaded), threaten someone's life. I understand and support the public smoking restrictions in place in most cities, but the theater merits an artistic license that goes beyond the minimal health restrictions from one or two lit cigarettes.

The article points out the complaint-based method Chicago uses, where patrons report if there is improper smoking in the theater (even if the theaters emphasize that smoking occurs in the play multiple times). As expected, the number of complaints is as minimal as the health concerns from two lit cigarettes where the second smoke diludes over an entire theater.

If this model works, why can't other cities adopt it too?

No award for the fat man? Hardly.

I'm normally a big fan of Slate, but but on Tuesday they published an argument that simply holds no water (pun absolutely intended). Timothy Noah, angered by the lack of nomination for Richard Griffiths for The History Boys, argues that the Academy has a fat bias. He argues that the best actor field was lackluster this year, which is blatantly incorrect (who they actually nominated is another story), and that the Academy has not nominated a fat man for Best Actor since 1933, which is even more blatanly incorrect.

It shows that Noah lacks a clear understanding of film history, as two of the most celebrated performances of the past 50 years, Marlon Brando in The Godfather and Robert DeNiro in Raging Bull, both involved extremely fat men who won the Best Actor award. Granted DeNiro gained weight for the movie, but Brando was a vehicle for fat jokes on late night T.V. for decades. Furthermore, he forgets that Hollywood is quite good as disguising male fat. John Travolta, for instance, weighed well over 250 pounds while filming Pulp Fiction. That didn't stop him from dancing his fat ass to an Oscar nomination.

It seems that Noah is only counting fat men where their obesity plays a large part into their performance. There have been plenty of fat nominees, who Noah tries to call "somewhat beefy." In a sense, his argument shows more prejudice, as he views the performance of fat actors as something of a freak show act, rather than as actors portraying a character. Say what you will about the nominating process (really, Will fucking Smith over Sacha Baron Cohen?), but this argument is the definition of a straw man (on that note, Ray Bolger wasn't nominated for The Wizard of Oz; clearly the Academy has a brain bias).

Why the Oscars matter

The Oscar nominations were just released, and there were a lot of surprises, and a lot of things that angered me. It's too convoluted to go into here, but instead I will discuss why I am an Oscars obsessee. Intellectually, I know that assesing the quality of a movie by its result in the Oscars is useless. Everyone knows the awards are about Hollywood patting itself on the back and fashion, that past awards and nepotism play a larger part in determining the awards than actual merit (see for instance, this year's best director nominees, a field that seems designed primarily to get Scorsese an Oscar). Most people I've talked to at Fire Escape don't even watch the Oscars, and care more about awards like Best Editing and Best Art Direction than best picture.

I, however, agonize the nominations, speculation and politics up until the trophy is in the winner's hand. I do this not because I have respect for the awards, but because the Oscars define the state of the union of Hollywood regardless of who wins. Often, what doesn't win says more about the times than what does; An American in Paris won the Best Picture Award over A Streetcar Named Desire because Kazan had at that point refused to testify before HUAC, and Ordinairy People's victory over Raging Bull marked the end of Hollywood's Second Golden Age.

In terms of their role in American life, the Oscars seems to trump all other problems of the world on February's second Super Sunday. What drives a person to obsess over Eastwood vs. Scorsese, Cruz vs. Mirren, or Borat vs. The Departed (no joke), when another State of the Union gets a fraction of the ratings? I find it rather fitting, then, that a comedy about a hopeless dream to win a beauty pageant beat out a movie about the definitive political moment of our era for the last Best Picture Nomination.

Music, neuroscience and Vietnam syndrome: I am SO there

The Washington Post ran a story on the neuroscience of music and memory, and goes through a history of songs that affected and continue effect veterans of the Vietnam War. This article was tailor-made to fascinate me, a music snob who studies the history of science and posseses a shirt that says music + science = sexy.

The article talked about how when people are given fMRI's while asked to remember songs that send chills down their spine, the same networks are activated as those activated for food, water, and sex. Harvard scientist Mark Jude Tramo gave the following explanation:

Tramo argued that the sounds and grunts widespread in the animal kingdom set the stage for the human brain to appreciate music. If music grew out of nonverbal communication, and nonverbal communication is essential to survival in much of the animal world, it would make sense that music should hook deep into the brain. For social species such as humans, Tramo said music can bind groups together.

Normally I'm skeptical of such evolutionary psychology arguments, but in this case I feel it holds water. There's something visceral about music that no other art form can attain. For instance, filmmakers know that no matter how their images are, the score will dictate the viewers emotions. I'd make the argument that music is as old as the auditory system itself. This case study of Vietnam veterans sounds fascinating, and I fully intend to read the book.

A good week in the arts

This has been an excellent 8 days for seeing the arts and exploring Chicago. There were many high points, and in some cases, so-low-they're-high points.

Last Sunday, I saw Pan's Labyrinth. It's a shame that it's too late to change my Top 5 of 2006; not only was it by far the best movie I've seen this year, but it was one of the best movies I've seen premiere in my lifetime. Apparently the critics agree (more on the top rated later).

On Monday, I saw an excellent production of Faith Healer in Wicker Park. I wrote a review for Friday, but it got pushed to Tuesday. Expect nothing but glowing remarks.

On Tuesday, I went out on a school night to see Joe Lally, (former?) bassist for Fugazi, perform at Subterranean. The acoustics and opening acts were horrendous, but Lally maintained his extremly sophisticated basslines while adding more personal and political lyrics. As a big Fugazi fan, it was excellent to see, even if I expected MacKaye and Picciotto guitars with the bass.

On Saturday I saw Army of Shadows at Doc. Eric had told me about the excellence of Jean-Pierre Melville, but I finally saw it in action, and it was fantastic. It definitely requires repeated viewing, as the editing, while extremely creative, is a bit inscrutable at the beginning.

On Sunday the "ironic" high points happened in rapid succession. The first was Bob Saget's performance at Mandel Hall. While shockingly obscene and tasteless, it was exactly what I expected: incest and bestiality jokes from the comedian formerly known as Danny Tanner.

Right afterwards, however, in the traditional weekly bad movie, they showed Left Behind. As a godless hedonistic New York Jew, I had not even heard of the Left Behind franchise until this summer, where I read about it (in typical godless New York Jew fashion) in Chuck Klosterman's Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs. I normally shun such typical ironic generation events, but as a connosieur of crackpot religious practices, I was fascinated. The movie at first seemed hilarious, until my ex-girlfriend told me about people in her family who have read every book and repeatedly give her the books as presents.

That's all for now. Expect a pleasant suprise in the next two days. Involving podcasting and the comic formerly known as Danny Tanner. Oh yeah, the complete interview.

Bogus IMDB Filters

IMDB, you were doing so well! The provider of ungodly amounts of hard-to-find film information has become one of the top hits for film fans across the country. Matt, I'm sure, will be sorry to hear what Cinematical reported on Tuesday. Apparently they have content filters that make it harder to find pornography and films with explicit sexual content.

While it may seem to make sense to prevent children from easily finding porn titles (I suppose), the filters also block out a lot of art-house and queer films. For instance, try searching on IMDB for LA Plays Itself, the movie that played at Doc on Tuesday which featured quite a bit of gay sex. You'll find Los Angeles Plays Itself, another movie featured in Doc's LA series, but no LA Plays Itself. Then search for Fred Halsted, the director. You will clearly see LA Plays Itself on his page.

What's interesting is that when Cinematical posted the item on Tuesday, they mentioned Shortbus, Matt's top film pick for 2007, as one of the films caught by the filter. Now, however, it's quite easy to find. Apparently there responding to the criticism being raised.

It's evocative of another recent decision in film censorship. The next day, Cinematical reported on Wednesday that the MPAA is reforming its standards in order to make the movie rating process more fair and accesible. This move was largely due to the success of the documentary This Film is Not Yet Rated, and yesterday, the filmmakers lashed back, pointing out how the reforms proposed by the MPAA really don't change their policy all that much.

Meryl Streep: Greatest Actress Ever?

An interesting article came over the PopWire today that argued a case for Meryl Streep as America's greatest ever film actress. Streep will quietly win a Golden Globe for The Devil Wears Prada on Monday, and she has the most Oscar nominations of any actor, male or female, with 13.

There is a case to be made here. The fact that my favorite three Meryl Streep performances, Silkwood, The River Wild, and Adaptation, span three decades is a testament to the enduring, versatile skill as an actress. She has done schlock just as much as high art, and brings an equal enthusiasm to both.

The main competition for the all time status is Bette Davis and Katherine Hepburn, admittedly stiff competition. At this point, I don't think Streep has the resume to trump either, even though she's probably more versatile than both those two. However, she has plenty of time to prove herself. Arguably Davis' best role, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, came when she was around Streep's age, and Hepburn was three years older when she acted in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner.

Both those actresses largely faded after they hit 60, but I don't think that will happen with Streep. And though she almost certainly won't win the best actress Oscar (and may not even get nominated), she has had given nothing but fantastic performances throughout her career. It almost makes me forgive her for signing up for Mamma Mia. Streep is signed up for a slew of interesting performances in the next couple of years, and it only looks like her resume will grow more impressive.

Canadian actor's strike

ACTRA, the Canadian equivalent of the Screen Actor's Guild, is currently striking. This will not affect American productions in Canada, but what's interesting about the strike is the main grievance: that actors are not paid for performances shown on cellphones and the internet.

Its times like these that you realize just how powerful actors are in Hollywood. The prospect of seeing American screen actors strike is absurd, especially for an issue like this. I'm sure Hollywood actors are paid exorbitant amounts based on cellphone and internet appearances. Still, this is another interesting offshoot of the so-called Internet 2.0 that made you (and me) Time magazine's Person of the Year.

Finally, a followup to my prediction, the number of people who list the Knife under favorite music after Pitchfork gave them album of the year as of January 9? 14, or a net change of zero. I really should not let my pretension get the best of me like that.