Misunderstood

It ain’t easy being…a rock and roll legend. There’s so much pressure to be on top of your game all the time. You have to be your own boss while everyone around you is trying to undercut you and steal your creative babies.

Plus there are all the sides to the crazy diamond…the performing, the touring, and the writing…Heaven help us…the WRITING.

What’s worse is once you’ve written something, people can misunderstand what meaning you intended to convey with your musical genius. How can the audience get it so wrong?

Or did they?

Some songs may be misunderstood by the listeners, and others…well, the others are clearly misunderstood by the songwriter.

Take the song “The One I Love” by R.E.M. The band claims they wrote a song about stalking. The listener is supposed to catch on to the feeling of stalking by the line, “Fire.” The repeated line about “the one I love” is supposed to be taken as ambiguous. Hmmm, yeah, obviously. We all should have made that assumption. The band R.E.M. should’ve waited a few years for the Toadies to write “Possum Kingdom.” No question about that song. It’s creepy enough to not be misunderstood.

Another song about stalking is “Every Breath You Take” by the Police. Like “The One I Love” it sounds so pleasant it really is a love song. If the writer wanted it to be creepy they should have put in some creepy tones, offbeat moments or something to clue us all in, because otherwise it was the writer who misunderstood.

Now that I have you thinking of “Creep” by Radiohead, you probably already knew it’s a song about not fitting in anywhere. The writer thought he was writing a stalker song. And now you’re probably wondering why there are so many stalker songs. Fortunately, not all songs are about unwanted advances and spying.

Semisonic wrote a song they say is about birth. They called it “Closing Time” and though some of the lyrics support the idea of new life, they certainly bring to mind a bar or pub closing also. It works either way.

Third Eye Blind wrote a song which is upbeat and playful called “Semi-Charmed Life” which they claim is regarding meth use and addiction. We’ll have to take their word.

As far as misunderstandings go, the title “Psycho Killer” is one which could mean a killer of psychos or a psycho who kills. I challenge anyone to make sense of the lyrics either way. The Talking Heads may not know the meaning. How can you?

Lastly, because it may be the most original parody of all time, “Song 2” by Blur, was meant to be a parody of grunge. Really? Regardless of whether it has any of the elements of grunge, or not, the boys of Blur made an incredible song. Nothing changed after they told us what they meant for it to be.

Keep shredding, rockers. And leave the definitions for those of us with ears.

Up In The Sky

The only way to go is up. There’s madness down below. Madness and selfishness.

There are drivers who think that lane they’re in is their birthright, who think the Queen gave it to them, who think the masses must make room, move aside, fall behind and worship. “Worship me because I drive a ____________ .” (Fill in the blank with whatever they think is a prestigious machine.)

Down there is the chaos of those who think laws are fantastic when everyone else is obeying them. Down there is the chaos of anger fueled by exhaust and propelled by burnt rubber, frustrated by tint and confounded by chrome.

Let the dungeon dwellers live in their own mess. Let them have their well-earned turmoil. You can go farther faster by flying out of the bottom like a nymph off a pond.

Travel beyond the lowest levels. Travel up and find the peace birds have always known.

What It’s Not and What It Is

It’s not a hoverboard.

It’s a gyro-steadied person truck.

It’s not energy.

Though it is a drink.

It’s not a strangely-shaped cactus.

It’s a yoga pose.

Also not a hoverboard.

It’s a gyro-steadied unicycle.

It’s not only a tool.

It’s a pocketful of possibilities.

It’s not fun to watch.

It is fun to play.

It’s not a way to catch up with your high school friends.

It’s a way to catch up with Elon Musk.

It’s not a chain.

But it is a collection of Links.

It’s not a gummy horse.

It’s a horse of the sea.

It’s not an eye.

It’s a stairwell.

It’s not the running of the salmon.

It’s a triathlon.

It’s not your next Uber ride.

It’s your last Uber ride.

Superior Technic

J. K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson

Sam Raimi’s Spiderman movies were more in tune with the Cinematic Universe of Marvel than Jon Watts’ Spiderman movies. Here’s why:

  1. Casting. Aunt May as portrayed by Rosemary Harris was not only visually more like the comic books, but her acting is the high bar, the standard for everyone, who might ever play the character, to try to reach. Her acting is superior. J. Jonah Jameson will forever be etched in my mind by the performance of J. K. Simmons. His acting was masterful. His character was as lovable as he was tyrranical. Green Goblin likewise will never be anyone else but Willem Dafoe. His acting was that amazing. As far as villains go, Thomas Haden Church (Sandman) and Alfred Molina (Doctor Octopus) are both captivating in their roles. They were cast perfectly. Maybe you could trade Tom Holland and Tobey Maguire in any of the films, they both did equally well with the role of Peter Parker, but there are others whose performances could not be substituted. Bonesaw for instance, could not be played by anyone but Randy Savage. Sadly, he will not reprise the role anytime soon, since he passed away in 2011. It was also fun to see Bruce Campbell in a variety of parts.
  2. Camera-work. Sam Raimi employs a snap-to technic mastered by few. This is only one reason his movies are so entertaining. He also does well with camera angles, close-ups, zoom technics, and more, to get the story told with cinematic proficiency and artistic integrity.
  3. Stan Lee cameos. Though there will be many Marvel movies now without Stan Lee cameos, it can be argued that the Sam Raimi Spiderman films started the tradition.
  4. Tension-relieving humor. I’m not even saying Jon Watts did a terrible job on the newer films. He just didn’t reach the level of Sam Raimi. The area of humor is one in which the difference is in-your-face obvious. Sam Raimi is able to produce the correct timing for jokes made during tense moments. Also, the appropriate levels of humor are sprinkled throughout Raimi’s films. Some of the humor in Jon Watts’ films was trite and predictable, though this may be attributable to the writers more than the director.
  5. Venom made Peter Parker dance. In another “non-MCU” movie called Spiderman: Into The Spiderverse they poke fun at this moment in the Sam Raimi Spiderman movie, yet there are just as strange scenes in the Jon Watts-directed films which can’t be blamed on an alien life form. Take the scene where Tom Holland as Spiderman is slowly changing in an alley. Awkward!

All of these points are made even more concrete by the fact that in No Way Home, many of the superior actors mentioned were employed to raise the artistic level of the movie.