I'm tired of being my own rival.

So you're saying I just missed a Broadway production of Anthony Burgess' translation of CYRANO DE BERGERAC starring Kevin Kline, Jennifer Garner, and Chris Sarandon as Comte de Guiche?

...

CURSE YOU, RICHARDS!!!!!!!

This is what I get for not following the Broadway and off-Broadway schedules. Between the increasing ticket prices, the long commute, and my limited free-from-work schedule, I've been increasingly hesitant to drive up to NYC for my usual biannual Broadway marathon.

But to have missed this... shit poop heck.

It's remarkable that I've seen four productions of this play (starring Jose Ferrer, Gérard Depardieu, and my favorite, Derek Jacobi on film, and Geraint Wyn Davies on stage) and I have yet to see a crappy CYRANO DE BERGERAC. That's bloody remarkable, that is. No doubt I could easily have counted the Kline production among that list. Gah.

Cyrano still tops my list as one of my all-time dream roles to play, by the way.

I'll be DOOM for Christmas!

When Santa Claus passes out in Latveria, who oh who will be able to take over and save Christmas? SANTA DOOM, of course!



Seriously, though this just sank in: this is the first Christmas I'll have spent with my mother since I was five. I always spent it with Dad, since he didn't have anyone else, and because I didn't want to ruin Christmas by provoking his fury.

Jesus. It's been nineteen years since I last spent Christmas with my own mother.

Christmas Catch-Up with Movies and Readin'

My Christmas was spent mostly watching movies, with a bit of reading in between to keep my brain alive. Actually, I was less watching/reading for the fun of it, but rather, more to right some grievious errors in my never having seen/read these things in the first place.



FIRST BLOOD, by David Morrell: My introduction to Rambo. The movie from Netflix should be waiting for me tonight. I'm guessing the Sheriff isn't the good guy in this one?



THE KING AND I: ... Gay for musicals as I am, I'm starting to seriously wonder if I draw the line at Rogers and Hammerstein. I mean, I adore Yul and his shiny head, but... man. Aside from the hot-as-hell dancing lesson, yipes, was this dry. I dunno, between this, SOUTH PACIFIC, and OKLAHOMA, R&H just aren't doing it for me. Maybe they need to be seen live, or I'm just being a plebeian again.



Akira Kurosawa's IKIRU (TO LIVE): I think ciretose lent to this me a year ago, and I only yesterday finally checked it out, as there was nothing else on TV. Yes, I am ashamed to admit that I only watched this out of desperation and boredom. Deeply ashamed. Because this proved not only to be my second favorite Kurosawa movie, but perhaps--with time and reflection--could well become one of my very favorite films of all time.



I mean, just seeing IKIRU alone was a treat, but the wonderful essay from the Criterion Collection really pushed the point home. IKIRU is as powerful in its purity, compassion, and touching humanity as RAN was in its brutally harrowing epic nature. Both are about old men realizing that they've misspent their lives, and with numbered days, struggle desperately to make things right. Unlike RAN's King Lear, Takashi Shimura (absolutely unrecognizable as the lead samurai from SEVEN SAMURAI; the Yul Brenner role, natch) might just succeed, even if he's the only one who knows it.

A masterpiece.



Now, masterpiece that IKIRU is, it's not exactly in the public consciousness as a film that everybody has seen and generally adores, the kind of film where anyone who hasn't seen it is an absolute weirdo and freak. And as the years go by, it gets harder and harder to finally watch such a film for the first time when expectations have been raised so high. Films so loved like that, they're often dated and adored by the people who saw them when they first came out, and don't hold up to newbies (I have no idea if I'd like STAR WARS if I saw it today for the first time).

That said, holy sweet merciful god did I ever bloody adore A CHRISTMAS STORY.

That's right, I'd never seen A CHRISTMAS STORY until yesterday, and with IKIRU, it was a double-whammy of shame. As far as Hefnerian movies go, this is right up there with ANNIE HALL (also playing on TV last night; it still rings painfully true each time). As I'm already late to this party, I have nothing else to add, other than to say that I think I need to track down the further work of Jean Shepherd.

Now I just need to finally see IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. Maybe next year.



Finally, I've been reading the old POPEYE comics by E.C. Sagar. Now, like most people, I kinda hate Popeye. That's because, like most people, I only know Popeye from the cartoons. And like most people... it turned out, I didn't know jack.



This is the comic strip equivalent of W.C. Fields and the Marx Brothers, and I say that with absolutely no bullshit. Everything here is above and beyond the quality of most comic strips from that or any era, and it's all set against the backdrop of a deeply cruel, amoral world (reflecting Depression-era America). This Popeye doesn't need no fucking spinach; this Popeye is the Wolverine of his day. In his first story, the guy gets shot sixteen times and still beats the crap out of the villain before collapsing.

Just like Rambo, Popeye has become a pop icon, but for reasons that are either totally wrong or just forgotten. It's amazing to finally see them in their true forms, even if most others won't. I'm totally buying the rest in the series.



Oh, I almost forgot the movie with which I ended my Christmas...

JOYEUX NOEL, about the WWI Christmas Truce between the Scottish, French, and German soldiers.



God, it's heartrending, but in a good way. Overly sentimental, perhaps, but the fact that this happened, and a couple times again after the original Truce (much to the disdain of the higher-ups) is just... it reaffirms faith in humanity, even in one of the lowest points in human history.



And now, Christmas is over, and I have a life again. Dang it. Back to work.