Ugh, I feel like I’ve let some die-hard reader/listeners down. As I mentioned on Saturday, as if I should have even been doing a post that day in the first place, I took ill. A sore throat that rivals the feeling you get when you have your tonsils taken out. If you haven’t had that done, then you can’t possibly imagine how horrible that feeling is. I didn’t even think about it until today when someone asked will it affect my ability to sing. As much as my music revolves around my voice, I never considered myself a vocalist – is that weird?
My immediate answer was no, it shouldn’t. Though I can barely talk right now. I am starting to feel a little better physically (minus my throat) so I thought it would be best to at least tip-toe back into contact via the blog. I did see a doc friend of mine who couldn’t believe my throat when she saw it. She sent me to the pharmacy for something that should hopefully help kick this.
I did want to relate this post to the movie I saw friday night, Sunshine. If you haven’t heard of the movie it’s likely because you’re not in a metropolis or may not be in a movie centric part of the world. However, this should not stop you from seeing the movie. To get a small idea here is the Sunshine Trailer.
One genre of movie that I’ve always enjoyed is the eclectic space sci-fi. The penultimate of the genre is by Stanley Kubrick, it’s called 2001: A Space Odyssey. Being that I majored in film, there’s lots of movies that came out long before I was born that I was required to watch. The thing I noticed about this movie was that initially it was difficult to watch, but once I got through it and started to understand it it changed my world.
Since I’m a sucker for the genre now, I made it a point to put Sunshine in my calendar once I saw the trailer. I’m amazed it’s not getting a bigger push for marketing. It opened in a very limited release on friday (as I mentioned on saturday). Two theaters in all of Los Angeles, that’s about as limited as you can get. The show pretty much sold out. My buddy Mike and I had to wait an additional hour to see the final showing as the earlier ones were sold out. He knew nothing about the movie other than I told him it was about a space mission to kick start the sun. So now you know too. 🙂 I don’t want to give away much more than that in terms of the story.
Like all good space movies there are a series of events that test the might and the will of the crew. While I wouldn’t put Sunshine on the same level as 2001, I certainly would say that it really has elements that hit the same greatness. I’m sure I’ll think even more of it after I see it again and put further thought into it. There was one scene though, that made an instant connection for me between Sunshine and 2001. It has to do with a line that is uttered by Dave in 2001 “My God, it’s full of stars.” If you haven’t seen 2001 or even the sequel (that Kubrick had nothing to do with), I’m not going to explain it – so you’ll have rent it. Anyway, in Sunshine there is an a-ha moment happening around one of the central characters that actually creates the visual image of that statement from 2001. The interesting tie that I’d make between the two is that the Monolith from 2001 seems to have been expanded upon by the makers of Sunshine. Whether it was done intentionally or not is something I don’t know. Go see this movie.
As for Matthew Sweet, I’ll say the same thing as I would for Sunshine, he has moments of being on a level of pure genius. I wish it was 100% of the time. Either way, I’d say go get this song, or better yet the album it came from. There’s lots of great little musical moments on it.
(** Disclaimer: If Matthew’s label decides to try and force me to stare at the sun till I’m blind, then I’ll have get my magnifying glass to burn the audio off the server. The post will remain to show that I’m making an attempt to get well and that I believe we all need a Sunshine in our lives. **)