Hey, It's That Lady!

Beth Grant.

This lady is everywhere. She seems to just randomly pop up in several movies and TV shows I've seen. It seems like she's been in just about everything. I bet nearly everyone has seen her in something. Despite her making an appearance in everything, I didn't even know her name (I had to look it up). She rarely has a role in a movie that brings on more than a couple of lines. You rarely remember her character's name -- that is, if she has one; sometimes she's the "lady in the diner". A lot of times her character doesn't have a last name. She's one of those actors that is so hard to describe to other people because you don't know her name and she mostly has small or obscure roles. People don't usually remember who played bit roles. But then if you show her picture, I imagine people will go, "Oh! Hey, it's that lady! She was in _____."

But, seriously, she pops up in everything. To name a few:

She was in Rain Man - She was the mother at the farmhouse that let Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman watch TV.

The Wizard - She was a worker at the diner.

Speed - One of the passengers. The hysterical one.

To Wong Foo - One of the townspeople. The drunk.

A Time to Kill - The mother of the racist that Samuel L. Jackson kills.

Donnie Darko - Conservative bitch/teacher

Six Feet Under - The evangelical lady that thinks rapture is coming and gets hit by a car

Little Miss Sunshine - The beauty pageant director

No Country for Old Men - Carla Jean's mom

The Office - Dwight's former babysitter/date at Michael and Jan's dinner party.

And then I just saw a trailer for Extract and she's in that movie as well.

She is omnipresent.

Big Fan

I was listening to Fresh Air on NPR a few weeks ago and Terry Gross was interviewing Robert Siegel and Patton Oswalt about their new movie Big Fan (which, of course, I'm planning on seeing). In the movie Patton plays an obsessed fan of the New York Giants. It was a great interview and here are some of my favorite parts:

Gross: Why did you think of Patton Oswalt for the role of the fan?

Siegel: Why did I think of him?

Gross: Yeah, I mean, he's best known as a comic and as an actor in comedies. This is not a comic film. It's not a comic performance.

Siegel: No, no. I didn't do it - you know, sometimes comedians are cast in dramatic roles in kind of - in ways that feel like stunt casting; you know, look at the funny clown, he's really sad inside... I just thought he was right. I just thought he felt right for the role. He looked right. He was the right age.

Gross: What does looking right mean?

Oswalt: Yeah, what DOES looking right mean, Robert?

Siegel: Can I let Patton take...

Oswalt: No, you can't.

Siegel: You know, I thought if he - we discussed it, and he said he was willing to bulk up for the role.

Oswalt: Yeah

Siegel: And stay out of the sun. He had a pretty healthy, glowing tan at the time, and he promised that he would go method and stay in a basement for a few months to kind of get rid of that.

Oswalt: Yeah, I laid off the mixed martial arts for about nine months. I really got doughy.

Siegel: I thought if he would go through a really advanced, aggressive anti-tanning process, and then, you know, then hit some Lucky Charms, we could get him in shape. No, I just thought - Patton, may I insult you?

Oswalt: Go right ahead.

Siegel: Okay. I just thought he looked like he could be an obsessive, you know, nerdy sports fan. Is that fair?

Oswalt: That's fair.

Siegel: Okay. Yeah, you know, and I also thought, honestly, on a practical level, you know, it was a very low-budget movie, and I didn't think that Philip Seymour Hoffman or Paul Giamatti would be willing to - I'd be getting reamed out by their managers every night when they found out that I didn't supply them with a chair to sit in, things like that. So I knew I couldn't get, you know, those two guys.

Oswalt: And plus, Paul Giamatti is a triathlete. He wears that shlubby suit. That's a fake thing he puts on for his roles. That guy has, like, I think he's at two percent body fat right now. He's so cut. So he puts on this Paul Giamatti suit, and that's why he gets all this indie crap, and it drives me crazy.

Gross: Patton Oswalt, now that we know you come cheap...

Oswalt: I come cheap.

Siegel: Not anymore...that will change now.

Oswalt: Thanks for jumping in, Robert.

Then Patton was discussing how he knows very little about sports:

Oswalt: A couple of scenes in the movie, when me and Kevin Corrigan, who plays my best friend, we're supposed to riff about sports, and Robert found out very early on that we don't have any sports knowledge. So we would start improvising, and I mean, I'm not exaggerating - five seconds into it, we would both just stop because we had nothing. Well, that's the extent of our sports knowledge.

Siegel: You would run out of sports terminology very quickly.

Osawlt: And then I would start - I would get scared and I would make stuff up that literally made no sense, like 'You think Broncos are going to go 500 on the blue level?' And - 'Cut! What? What did you say?' It just, it made no sense.

Siegel: He knows the terms touchdown and ball.

Oswalt: Which I'm pretty sure are golfing terms.

Music Videos

My friend Scott posted on his blog some music videos that he liked and asked what was everyone's top 5 music videos of all time. I gave my two cents on some of my favorites, and decided I might as well post it here as well:

It's really hard to say a Top 5, especially when I consider the number of years I've been watching music videos (those days are mostly gone, unfortunately), and all the music videos that have had a lasting impression on me.

So, just off the top of my head, here are some of my favs:

The Chemical Brothers - Star Guitar

I like a lot of Michel Gondry videos. I love the imagery of this video and how the landscape matches up with the beats. Very creative. My favorite sequence is 1:39-2:25

Fatboy Slim - Praise You

I also like a lot of Spike Jonze videos. I think this one is hilarious. Spike is great in it.

Death Cab for Cutie - A Movie Script Ending

I like all the still shots. And I like seeing their day unfold in the song. The ending gets me every time.

Bright Eyes- Bowl of Oranges

I like how it's all crafty and DIY.

Bjork - It's Oh So Quiet

I love the dancing. I love how it's like old musicals.

Smashing Pumpkins - 1979

I'm also a fan of a lot of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris videos. This video was so iconic for me as a young teenager. It so perfectly captured youth and what it was like to be a young teenager. I remember thinking the video was just so...cool.

Smashing Pumpkins - Tonight, Tonight

So beautiful. Come to find out I was being exposed to George Melies (it just doesn't look the same without the accents) in 6th grade and I didn't even know it!

Coldplay - The Scientist

The effects are cool and I like seeing the story unfold, and to see the end (beginning). It really took me by surprise.

Johnny Cash - Hurt

Beautiful video, makes me cry. A great montage of his life.

Weezer - Buddy Holly

This is a classic. I remember being so amazed, at the time, by the technology; to pull something like this off. I was easily impressed, I think.

Beastie Boys - Sabotage

Hilarious.

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Otherside (I couldn't find a good video on youtube, so here's the link for MTV, but there's an advertisement before)

Another really amazing looking video. The imagery reminds me of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris know their stuff. Also, I love what they use for their musical instruments in the video.

---

Since leaving my comment, I started thinking about how watching music videos was so huge when I was growing up. At least for me. I would sit there and watch music videos on MTV. I would record them onto a tape and then watch them some more. I used to stay up late, sneak downstairs, and watch 120 Minutes with Matt Pinfield. Watching music videos on MTV doesn't really seem to be a part of teenage culture anymore (maybe downloading videos on their iPhones...but it's not quite the same). Hell, MTV doesn't even play music videos anymore, really.

With this in mind, I thought of some more music videos that were "iconic" for me and had a lasting impression. These are some of the memorable music videos when I was growing up (when I was "coming-of-age" musically, so to speak, in the mid-90s). They're not all beautiful and artistic videos, necessarily (though some are); and not all of them are necessarily songs I love, but the music videos take me back to another time.

Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit, Nirvana - Heart Shaped Box, Foo Fighters - Big Me (the Mentos spoof!), Foo Fighters - Everlong, Nada Surf - Popular, Radiohead - Karma Police, Red Hot Chili Peppers - Give it Away, Michael Jackson - Thriller (this song is a little bit earlier than the music era I'm mostly referring to, but that video is so iconic), Pearl Jam - Jeremy, Soundgarden - Black Hole Sun (freaked me the hell out!), TLC - Waterfalls, Aerosmith - Crazy/Cryin'/Amazing (i.e., Alicia Silverstone videos), Bone Thugs-n-Harmony - Tha Crossroads, REM - Everybody Hurts, Alanis Morrisette - Ironic, Blind Melon - No Rain, Lisa Loeb - Stay, Beck - Loser, Green Day - Basketcase, Collective Soul - The World I Know, No Doubt - Don't Speak, Nine Inch Nails - Perfect Drug, Nine Inch Nails - Closer, Tool - Sober, Jamiroquai - Virtual Insanity, Smashing Pumpkins - Bullet with Butterfly Wings (Billy Corgan with hair!), Metallica - Until it Sleeps ("who threw the tomato at jesus?! who threw the tomato at jesus!?")

My Thoughts On People's Taste In Music

On a recent Pew Research survey there was a question on musical performers. A list of 20 musicians was given and people were asked whether they "like a lot", "like a little", "dislike, or "haven't heard of" these musical performers. The survey was given to people aged 16 to "65+"

These are the results for "like a lot":

1. The Beatles (49%)

2. The Eagles (42%)

3. Johnny Cash (39%)

4. Michael Jackson (39%)

5. Elvis Presley (38%)

6. The Rolling Stones (38%)

7. Aretha Franklin (38%)

8. Frank Sinatra (34%)

9. Carrie Underwood (34%)

10. Garth Brooks (33%)

11. Jimi Hendrix (32%)

12. Bruce Springsteen (29%)

13. Mariah Carey (27%)

14. Bob Dylan (24%)

15. Jefferson Airplane (20%)
16. Nirvana (20%)
17. Madonna (19%)

18. Coldplay (18%)

19. Kanye West (17%)

20. The Grateful Dead (15%)

Not too surprisingly, the band that was most liked was The Beatles -- with 49% of respondents saying they like them lot.

At the bottom of the list was The Grateful Dead -- only 15% of respondents said they like them a lot.

Carrie Underwood and Garth Brooks made it to the Top 10 for performers liked a lot...above Jimi Hendrix (#11), Bruce Springsteen (#12), Bob Dylan (#14), Nirvana (#16), Coldplay (#18)...

And The Eagles are good and all, but I don't know if I would say #2 good. Especially when you consider they're ahead of Johnny Cash, Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley, The Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin, etc. I was a little surprised by that.

However, these rankings are based on the number of people that said they "like a lot" a certain performer. I wanted to see what the list looked like when you combined "like a lot" and "like a little" to form the category "like". This gives a better sense of people that like a performer without necessarily being a huge fan. And this is the new list:

1. The Beatles (81% like)

2. Elvis Presley (79%)

3. Johnny Cash (76%)

4. Michael Jackson (75%)

5. The Rolling Stones (75%)

6. Aretha Franklin (74%)

7. Frank Sinatra (74%)
8. The Eagles (67%)

9. Bruce Springsteen (66%)

10. Mariah Carey (66%)

11. Garth Brooks (65%)

12. Jimi Hendrix (64%)

13. Carrie Underwood (63%)

14. Madonna (60%)

15. Bob Dylan (59%)

16. Jefferson Airplane (47%)

17. Nirvana (45%)

18. Kanye West (42%)

19. The Grateful Dead (41%)

20. Coldplay (39%)

That list seems better (though I still question some responses...). The Top 5 makes more sense. The Eagles are moved down to #8. Garth Brooks and Carrie Underwood get moved out of the Top 10 (though, how did Jimi Hendrix get sandwiched between them?). Interestingly, Mariah Carey got moved up into the Top 10. And poor Coldplay got moved to last place (probably because so few people have heard of them...).

More people dislike Madonna than those that like her a lot -- 19% like her a lot, 41% like her a little, 31% dislike her. Madonna received the highest percentage of "dislikes" than any other musical performer on the list. The next most-disliked performer was The Grateful Dead at 26%; then Mariah Carey and Garth Brooks both at 22%; then Michael Jackson at 19%.

Just like Madonna, Garth Brooks and Mariah Carey are very polarizing. With Garth Brooks, 33% like him a lot; 32% like him a little; 22% dislike him. With Mariah Carey, 27% like her a lot; 39% like her a little; 22% dislike her.

The band most unheard of was Coldplay -- 45% of respondents haven't heard of them. Next highest was Jefferson Airplane at 36%; then Kanye West at 33%; Nirvana at 29%; The Grateful Dead at 26%. All the other performers had percentages lower than 20%.

Surprisingly, 4% of respondents haven't heard of The Beatles; 1% haven't heard of Michael Jackson; 3% haven't heard of Elvis Presley. Who are these people? The survey was conducted over the telephone, so they're most likely not living in a shack up in the mountains or a nuclear bunker. I blame the really old and the really young for this. It's one thing to not like a musical performer, but to never have even heard of them? I mean, I can kind of see (if I squint really hard) people not knowing about groups like Jefferson Airplane and The Grateful Dead because they weren't as big or legendary or iconic as The Beatles or Michael Jackson, for example. Most people could name a Beatles song. I don't know how many could name a Grateful Dead song. And I can kind of understand people (old people) not hearing of "younger" bands like Nirvana and Coldplay. But we're talking about hugely iconic musical legends when it comes to The Beatles, Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley.

And I'm also personally offended 18% haven't heard of Bob Dylan and 11% haven't heard of Aretha Franklin.

I also liked when they broke down the "like a lot" answers by age group (I wish they would have done that with all the responses). Come to find out in the 50-64 age group, 9% likes Kanye West a lot; 10% like Nirvana a lot; 35% likes Michael Jackson a lot. In the 65+ age group, 1% likes Nirvana a lot; 4% like Kanye West a lot; 21% likes Michael Jackson a lot. Adorable!!

Kids These Days Have It So Easy: A Series

Back in my day people actually used pagers, and it wasn't just doctors.

Kids These Days Have It So Easy: A Series

Back in my day computer screens were black with green letters.

Edgewood Mural

Five artists and 40 apprentices recently spraypainted an amazing mural in the Edgewood neighborhood as part of a community art project. They call the piece "From Edgewood to the End of the World." The mural is on a retaining wall behind a shopping plaza. The mural is 20 feet high and 275 long.

Quest Skinner, one of the five artists contributing to the mural:

"People now stop in this area where typically they cut through. It changes your environment. Your environment can be luscious even in the darkest of times in the darkest of places."

Last weekend, the city sponsored a "Mural Jam" -- where graffiti artists and local amateurs spraypainted the remainder of the retaining wall, which extends another 700 feet.

I think the mural is absolutely gorgeous, and I love that the Red Line (my line) goes right past the mural.

I'm dying to get down there and take some pictures of my own. Until then, here are some pictures from the project:

Photo by Kevin H.

Photo by Kevin H.

Photo by Pati-G

Photo by Megan Rossman

Photo by Albus Cavus