Kurt Vonnegut, the brilliant writer responsible for some of the most influential books of the 20th Century, died yesterday at the age of 84. This really has absolutely nothing to do with movies (even though a number of his books have been adapted into films), but this my website and I’ll post whatever the fuck I want. Vonnegut was my favorite author of all time, and surprisingly enough this loss has actually hit me with significant oomph (especially after discovering that he had been working on a new novel before his death). I not only devoured his books with an insatiable fervor unmatched by anything else, but I pretty much consumed anything I could find with his name attached to it. Essays, speeches, interviews, quotes, etc. I can say without the fear of hyperbole that his work changed my life and helped shaped my definition of literature and writing. Obviously SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE is going to be the book that most folks will know him by, but my personal favorites have always been PLAYER PIANO, BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS, and most of all, GALAPAGOS. I won’t bore with my interpretation of his many great works, or my love for his hilariously dark style of writing, or the beautifully human and scathing sardonicism that saturated the words he wrote. Instead I’ll just leave you with some of my favorite quotes from the man himself, as well as a link to one of his most recently published articles. In his last, and probably saddest interview, Vonnegut spoke with Rolling Stone magazine about how recent events in the world had finally broken him, leading to the apparent end of his latest novel (IF GOD WERE ALIVE TODAY):

“I’ve given up on it … It won’t happen. … The Army kept me on because I could type, so I was typing other people’s discharges and stuff. And my feeling was, ‘Please, I’ve done everything I was supposed to do. Can I go home now?’ That’s what I feel right now. I’ve written books. Lots of them. Please, I’ve done everything I’m supposed to do. Can I go home now?”

Here’s hoping that good old Kurt’s new journey “unstuck in time” is a lot more pleasant than the time he spent here…

COLD TURKEY By Kurt Vonnegut (2004)

“I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge, you see all kinds of things you can’t see from the center.”

“Humor is an almost physiological response to fear”

“Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterwards.”

“Being a Humanist means trying to behave decently without expectation of rewards or punishment after you are dead.”

“I was taught that the human brain was the crowning glory of evolution so far, but I think it’s a very poor scheme for survival.”

“The only difference between [George W.] Bush and [Adolf] Hitler is that Hitler was elected.”

“People hate it when they’re tickled because laughter is not pleasant, if it goes on too long. I think it’s a desperate sort of convulsion in desperate circumstances, which helps a little.”

“It strikes me as gruesome and comical that in our culture we have an expectation that man can always solve his problems. This is so untrue that it makes me want to cry— or laugh.”

“Say what you will about the sweet miracle of unquestioning faith. I consider the capacity for it terrifying.

“You realize, of course, that everything I say is horseshit.”

(Talking about when he tells his wife he’s going out to buy an envelope) “Oh, she says well, you’re not a poor man. You know, why don’t you go online and buy a hundred envelopes and put them in the closet? And so I pretend not to hear her. And go out to get an envelope because I’m going to have a hell of a good time in the process of buying one envelope. I meet a lot of people. And, see some great looking babes. And a fire engine goes by. And I give them the thumbs up. And, and ask a woman what kind of dog that is. And, and I don’t know. The moral of the story is, is we’re here on Earth to fart around. And, of course, the computers will do us out of that. And, what the computer people don’t realize, or they don’t care, is we’re dancing animals. You know, we love to move around. And, we’re not supposed to dance at all anymore.”

(Speaking at Isaac Asimov’s funeral) “Isaac is in heaven now, that was the funniest thing I could have said to a crowd of Humanists. God Forbid, Should I pass on sometime, may all of you say that Kurt is in Heaven too.”

“So it goes.”

- Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
1922 – 2007

Rocky Balboa is an American Icon, like it or not. In the late 70′s, he symbolized the Underdog and the fighting spirit of the Average Joe. But by the mid-to-late 80′s, he began to typify a tired and sequel-crazy Hollywood. Once the Italian Stallion entered the ring with ridiculously heinous fighters like Clubber Lang (“I pity the fool!”) and Ivan Drago (“If he dies…he dies.”), the ROCKY story ceased being about a man and his dream and turned into a Comic Book about larger-than-life Super Heroes and Villains exchanging blows. I mean, Rocky helped end the Cold War! It doesn’t get more bloated and preposterous than that. By 1990, Rocky creator Sylvester Stallone tried to pull it all together with a 5th and presumably final film that would bring the story full circle. Instead we got a street fighting Rocky with brain damage and living back in the poor house (essentially undoing everything the character had built up). Needless to say, the series seemed to had died an ugly and lackluster death.

But then all of a sudden, rumblings began surfacing that Sly wanted to make a sixth film. Many laughed off this idea as an aging star’s sad attempt to rekindle a dwindling career. The snickering and mockery continued unabated, until that first trailer was released, and that classic ROCKY theme was played anew after 15 years of silence. I don’t know about the rest of you, but he had me at “Yo, how you doin’?”…

Whodathunkit? Veritable has-been Sylvester Stallone dusting off the long-thought dried-up “cash cow” that made him (at one time) an international superstar, and not only rescuing the character from mediocrity but resurrecting him as the pure-of-heart champion he is. And who would’ve believed that one of the most tender and heart-felt films of 2006 would be a Boxing movie? The story picks up a number of years after ROCKY V, Rocky’s still living in a working class Philadelphia neighborhood, but Adrian’s gone (from “Her woman cancer” as he so eloquently puts it) and the former champ’s glory days seem long behind him. Unable to let go of his departed wife’s memory, Rocky visits the cemetery daily and annually revisits landmarks in his and Adrian’s courtship (like the pet store, or the ice rink), much to Paulie’s chagrin. But when a hypothetical computer fight between a younger version of himself and the current Heavyweight champ (Mason Dixon, played by pro boxer Antonio Carver) is broadcast on ESPN, a raging beast soon begins to manifest itself within Rocky. Along his journey back to the ring, Rocky reunites with a much older Little Marie (the young girl he tried to help in the original ROCKY), and reconnects with his less-than-enthusiastic son (ya know, “Hometeam”). The film’s conclusion is a winner and harkens back to the original’s message, but revised with the kind of wisdom that comes from 30 years of experience.

ROCKY BALBOA is a fitting and fond farewell to a character that many of us (like me) grew up watching and admiring. At some point, we all kind of forgot why we had at one time so identified with and rallied behind this dim-witted but lovable guy, but this flick accomplishes to remind us why. The movie can get pretty cornball and preachy, but it’s story and characters or so enduring and uplifting it’s really hard to fault it’s efforts.

A warning to all of you that are thinking about picking up the DVD, only do so knowing that a Director’s Cut may be in the not-so-distant future. Stallone mentions this alternative version of the film coming down the pike in his commentary for ROCKY BALBOA. The writer/director/actor provides an insightful and slightly nostalgic accompaniment to the film, emphasizing the parallels that exist between fact and fiction. He details the difficulties of getting the film made, to the feelings of closure that this last installment brought. The extras also feature deleted scenes (like I always, they’re deleted for a reason) and alternate ending (let’s just say that Stallone went the right choice). Next up is “Boxing Bloopers”, which is, yep you guessed it, boxing bloopers. The extras are rounded out by three featurettes: “Skill Vs. Will: The Making of Rocky Balboa”, “Reality in the Ring: Filming Rocky’s Final Fight”, and “Virtual Champion: Creating the Computer Fight”. Truth is, these featurettes felt incomplete and far too short. Sure, they into great depths describing the realistic fight choreography (Stallone and Tarver exchanges actual blows during the final fight), but I was a little more interested in the struggles in getting the flick made in the first place. Guess the comprehensive documentary will be on the Director’s Cut edition (blah).

I know it sounds like I’m pretty unhappy with this DVD edition, the truth of the matter is that I’m happy to get this movie on DVD anyway I can. When the Director’s Cut comes out, I’ll probably get that too. In the meantime, this is definitely worth picking up since the flick is so good. Until next time, keep those discs spinning.