Shot these three awesome subjects for a Polaroid job back in May, which I was very very jazzed about.
The only constraint: I had to use their Polaroid Now+ camera…which is not My camera.
So in addition, I shot with MANY other cameras, just for me.
These were taken with a Polaroid 180, the finest camera of that generation, with some twenty year old peel apart film. I’d been saving it for a special occasion, and this fit the bill!
I knew better, let me get that out there. I watched this when it first aired, loathed it, hate-watched the season. I held out hope, until the very last episode, that it would somehow turn itself around.
It did not. I still remember that.
But I went and rewatched the first ep of this season again, anyway. Maybe it would be…it wasn’t going to be better than I remembered, but perhaps I’d find some part of it to enjoy. Some fresh perspective on it to be able to appreciate the parts that worked.
So I didn’t remember everything. I didn’t remember that only one part of this show worked: Colin Farrell. And that was really despite the material, he’s just that good. Rest of the cast, good actors! Not good enough to escape the gravitational pull of this season’s mistakes.
Dialogue? Oof. Plotting? Even worse. I went and read the episode descriptions…lord above, what a mess.
Back to reading books for me, this tv thing…nope, no thanks.
Writers strike = no work = excellent time to rewatch old shows now that Barry and Succession are finished.
This one? It holds up. The seams show more, the machismo is more laughable, the struggle for an ending more apparent, but it’s still a strong ride.
The performances are still great, the dark mood still hits, lots of great guest stars, show looks incredible.
I’m considering a rewatch of the second season, but masochism isn’t really my kink, so I’ll probably just go back and rewatch Barry from the beginning.
A quick reminder– During the last WGA strike the studios refused to negotiate, walked away from the table, and basically forced the writers into a strike. Then they did everything they could to make sure the WGA took the blame for crew members being out of work, even when the studios refused to go back to the table. Meanwhile during the strike studios bragged at trade shows about how much money they were making with streaming and two studio CEOs took raises that were more than the WGA’s wildest-dream-amount opening offers. Not their total salary, mind you. The amount of their raise was more than the WGA was asking for.
They’re already gearing up to do all the same things again. So no matter what you read or see in the days to come, there’s only one side to blame for this. And it’s not the folks walking the picket line.
Great time at the cinema, hooted and hollered, laughed a lot, so many thrills, the action was as good as ever…but nobody online is mentioning my favorite part, a repeated homage to The Warriors! They got a lady to be the DJ secretly telling the underworld figures that Wick was on the run and to chase him down, called ‘em all “boppers” on the air, JUST LIKE THE WARRIORS.
Which, not the greatest movie ever, but it’s…more I think about it, more it’s in a very similar vein to John Wick. There’s action, bit of melodrama, cartoonish villains, cartoonish heroes! A few iconic scenes, some lines everybody and their mother can repeat…very Wick-esque, if you will.
And John Wick knows it! Chapter 4 is a very self-aware film, making references both to its own earlier chapters and other well-known action movies. A blast, see it with friends, or make some friends, go see it with 'em.
People are passing around this other Ricky Jay story online, which is a pretty good one– I can’t knock it– but for myself, this story (from the Ricky Jay episode of American Masters) is the best and my favorite Ricky Jay story. (Setting aside Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Nevertheless” story, which is more about a story Ricky Jay told to him, than a story about Ricky Jay).
No no no, THIS is the best Ricky Jay Story:
She’s almost weeping, just from REMEMBERING THE TRICK.
Look…I’m pretty good at this photography thing. Ani, always a fun subject, she’s good at moving, she’s good at being comfortable in front of the camera, Rebekah, so good at the styling, my assistant Emily, she’s the one making sure the flash was working and aimed properly, whispering in my ear when a set-up is working (or not), she’s a good egg…but none of us made that divine sunset.
Sunset made the shot, I didn’t know the sunset was gonna look like that! We got lucky, luck made the shot…and I’d always rather be lucky than good.
Seems like a good time to mention this, me interviewing Daniels right before their first movie came out, several years before they ended up winning Best Original Screenplay, Best Director and Best Picture for their second film.
Do I recognize talent when I see it? I do. Do I know how to pick winners? Also yes.
Spent the morning looking through this shoot, twenty-four hours on an island paradise during one of the few days that year it didn’t have any sun, forcing us to wander around under grey skies and spend more time than expected in the giant suite we’d gotten for the weekend.
After taking a few years off (baby + covid + restaurant closing and then re-opening), Barbara is back at the job she really digs.
Lot of good memories at that place. Found a few models there, a friend used to be the manager, lots of late night dining, lots of post-surf session dining, it’s a place I first became comfortable with the idea of dining alone…in my 30s.
