Bill Murray's agent did have him voice Garfield, but my theory is that that was actually done by Murray's character from Lost in Translation.
Martin collects modern art. I imagine that could get as bad as a drug habit.
Except for the $$, I don't know why he's bothering with the acting. It's obvious from interviews and articles that he doesn't give a damn and is much more into his writing. I really enjoyed Shopgirl (the book, not the movie) and a play he adapted Off-Broadway a few seasons back called The Underpants.
See, I thought Shopgirl was gross. I've pretty much given up on SM.
Love Steve Martin. Loved, all those years ago, Roxanne. I haven't seen Lost in Translation, but I did see Life Aquatic and Broken Flowers. Both blew. I still love Bill Murray. His best recent work is Rushmore.
I saw Picasso at the Lapin Agile when it was on Broadway. It was frickin' wonderful. Here's my theory of Steve Martin psychology:
1. He hates himself.
2. He hates us.
3. When he hates himself more than he hates us, he does wonderful dark material like Spanish Prisoner.
4. When he hates us more than he hates himself, he does things like Cheaper by the Dozen.
5. Only when 1 and 2 are in balance (or abeyance) does he produce an LA Story or Picasso.
By the way, this is all totally bogus armchair analysis, and you should factor that into your reliance on it.
Oooh...I forgot about The Spanish Prisoner. That was an excellent movie. I might have to go rent that.
That movie where he was a dentist was pretty good.
6, Yeah, there's no denying he's got talent, even genius. But sometimes, man, he's the poster child for Light Under Bushel.
All of Me was one of the most impressive pieces of physical comedy I've ever seen.
Bill Murray doesn't have an agent or a manager. He's very unusual in that regard. (I'm not kidding.)
9, absolutely. And I'm still amused by Let's Get Small.
10- then obviously Martin should hire Murray as *his* agent!
Life Aquatic did not blow. It would be reasonable to describe it as underwhelming, but no worse. And I know some people who find it extremely funny. Has anyone seen the segment from Coffee & Cigarettes with Bill Murrary, the RZA, and the JZA? It's genius itself.
Ack. Coffee and Cigarrettes. Teh unwatchably boring. The Bill Murray bit was the only thing that approached teh funny.
I don't have a high opinion of it overall, but I thought the Tom Waits/Iggy Pop and the Jack & Meg White segments were both good as well.
14: It had a few nice moments, but it was basically unwatchable. At best, it was wildly self-indulgent. The should have titled it, "Springtime for Hitler - The Sequel!"
The Bill Murray bit was the only thing that approached teh funny.
You didn't like the last sequence, or the one with Steve Coogan and Alfred Molina?
I didn't watch all of it. I couldn't. I skipped around to people I thought I would be interested in, so I watched Cate Blanchett; I think I would have watched Alfred Molina--what happened in the sequence?
Holy shit. I thought that was just going to be a typical "Gary Busey is crazy"-link. I should have known to expect the unexpected from our Alameida.
Maybe he has a crush on Hillary Duff?
Or maybe he has taste and has a crush on Bonnie Hunt like I do?
I liked most of Coffee and Cigarettes, haven't seen Broken Flowers or Life Aquatic. But starring in Jim Jarmusch and Wes Anderson movies is at least an interesting way to suck, if it is a way to suck at all. If Steve Martin were to join Vincent Gallo's repertory cast it would be possible to respect him still.
Um, maybe.
If Steve Martin were to join Vincent Gallo's repertory cast it would be possible to respect him still.
People who are committed to making Art and only Art are to be avoided. He took a few paycheck jobs. So what? He's still doing interesting work - or so say the people who like the book and play previously referenced.
As always, the lesson to be learned is, "Don't hate the player, hate the game."
In Turkish Movie, Americans Kill Innocents
That sounds like a twisted Yakov Smirnoff joke.
People who are committed to making Art and only Art are to be avoided.
On what grounds?
Moreover, it's silly to argue that *anyone* who is making films for commercial distribution is taking a radical "art is inimical to commerce" position.
On what grounds?
First principles! Besides, such people are likely to buy into Romantic fiddle-faddle concerning genius and Artists and are only paving the way for fascism.
Bitch questions the possibility of synthetic judgments a priori. I refer her to the Critique of Pure Reason and request that this debate be held in abeyance until such time as she can demonstrate that she has studied it thoroughly.
Whoa! Crazy Busey link!
Oddly, my first reaction upon reading it was "Wouldn't it be awesome if Stephen Baldwin was in that?!"
I've read the goddamn Critique, Adam. Back when you were still in high school.
I agree with Ben's argument about Romantic fiddle-faddle, though. However, the fact that he makes that argument shows that SCMT's judgment is *not* a priori, but requires support.
Really? Can you tell me about it? I've never read it.
So, B, can you tell me how synthetic a priori cognitions from concepts are possible, and clear up some difficulty I've been having with the threefold synthesis in the A Transcendental Deduction?
Just saw the new Pink Panther and Steve Martin as Clouseau is ...
.. oh I can't go on. I didn't see the movie. The previews alone put the fear in me. Same WTF reaction.
Odd, I can envision Kevin Kline (who is in the flick) pulling it off.
Someday, God willing, they will have (a) a dark-skinned black woman as the love interest in a (b) non-shitty movie.
Maybe these guys who act in unfunny funny movies THINK they're going to to be funny before they start, and they're as disappointed as we are.
Bill Murray may pick better movies than Steve Martin just because he's luckier.
#33: No.
Bill Murray may pick better movies than Steve Martin because he is smarter and more talented.
Did Steve Martin's hair turn white when he was 15 or what?
Bill Murray doesn't write funny articles for The New Yorker like Steve Martin does, so I don't know about smarter.
Steve Martin writes *funny* articles for the New Yorker? Huh.
I laugh when I read Steve Martin's pieces in The New Yorker, so I assume they're funny.
Steve Martin's hair turned white when his pet goldfish died.
Hey anybody seen that NY Times article today where the Missouri HS Drama Club performs "Grease" causing community unrest, and then the superintendent cancels their planned springtime performance of "The Crucible"? One of the plays they were considering for next year, which they have now withdrawn as potentially too controversial (it gets to where you can't even honestly use scare quotes anymore), is "Little Shop of Horrors". It emerges in the article, that "Grease" and "The Crucible" are respectively the second-most frequently performed musical and second-most frequently performed drama among HS Drama Clubs nationwide -- the most frequently performed are "Seussical" and "A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy Dream", which the club in question is now producing in lieue of "The Crucible" -- note that it features our own T(itan)ia and B(ottom) w-lfs-n. Laffs galore.
45. Canceling the Crucible. The story wrote itself.
Replacing Grease with Shakespeare's homage to bestiality, evil magic, and deviant sexuality: priceless.
BTW, are any movie versions of MND worth viewing?
"Seussical" is the most frequently performed musical? How is that possible?
46 -- No, no, they replaced The Crucible with Shakespeare's homage to etc.
47 -- I had the same reaction. I think this is probably just a thing of the moment, soon it will be Oklahoma! or whatever again.
I guess what really gets to me is to compare the two most frequently performed "dramas", "Crucible" and "MSND", both fine plays, with the two mos frequently performed musicals, which don't seem to me to stand out as great works in the same way. Note: I have not seen "Seussical" so am talking a bit out my ass. But "Grease" I know, and it is not a great musical.
It's hard to make a musical great, in the same way that a play can be. At least musicals that a high school would perform.
Hi! (That's a link; maybe it's clearer on your browser than mine that that is so.)
As it happens, Life Aquatic is sitting in my computer DVD drive at the moment, where I'm not watching it yet because I'm reading the stupid internets. (Will make manly-type manful effort to Change This momentarily.)
"But "Grease" I know, and it is not a great musical."
It is, however, filthy and obscene.
Most recent Wes Anderson post here. (Had a few more comments in my comments; may yet sometime do an obsessively long post on the film, and how badly about half the reviewers Didn't Get It (although many of the other half did, thankfully), or I may not; who knows?; not me; but there's an awful lot I can say.)
Bottle Rocket comes up on my Netflix queue about 4 down. I'd have seen it sooner, except for the whole "only getting the Netflix subscription donation" thing a couple of of months ago.
Of course, the last time I was able to stop obsessive internets reading long enough to watch an entire movie was... I forget. Some weeks ago. It took me more than a week to finally do the neo-Battlestar Galactica 2.0 disks, although I did finally finish those a couple of nights ago.
Loved Rushmore when I saw it a couple of years ago; not as much as RT, but still lots.
The Kevin Kline Midsummer Night's Dream is worth seeing, if only because Kline manages to turn in a good performance in everything, even rubbish.
From Gary's first link:
"It looks like it will come to this: First they invade Iraq, then maybe Iran and Syria. Eventually, Turkey. So rather than waiting for it, I'd rather go and fight now in Iraq," Oflaz said.
Wow, doesn't this sound just like Sully's correspondent?
As I have mentioned, we did The Search For Signs of Intelligent Life In The Universe as my high school production. Makes Grease look like The Music Man.
Don't look now, but the "Innocence" comments are about to send the blog into a Hobbesian state of nature.
Not quite! Rather than all against all, it'll just be bloggers against each other, and devil take the commenters.
Also, I have undone my foolish action of not long ago and foreswear further participation in the thread.
We all pledge that, w-lfs-n, and we all backslide. In the end, none can resist innocence.
#33--I've also read the first Critique and not long ago, which is why I suggest that if you have any acquaintence with ObWi's hilzoy, you talk with her about Kant: she's quite the apostle.
Really, who hasn't read the first Critique? It's old hat. These days, An Attempt at a Critique of All Revelation is in.
Suppose you're unlikely to read any of the Critiques in the next few years, but want to know more about Kant. What would you read?
Not as if I'm at all acquainted with the secondary literature, except as occasionally mentioned in classes.
Well, I read that Roger Scruton Past Masters book a few weeks ago, so I guess that's an overview, but I'm curious about Kant's thought as it relates to history, geography, politics. Or something like that.
Maybe Towards Perpetual Peace? There's a volume of the Cambridge edition of Kant's works called Anthropology, History, and Education.
What would you read?
The Logic seminars? (It's next on my Kant reading list.)
No, not logic! I'll look into Perpetual Peace and that Cambridge volume sounds pretty good.
Kant's logic isn't exactly like modern logic, eb.
Steve Martin has definitely participated in the crap. But I still Love. Him. Super funny, charming enough, richer and smarter than me. Mmm perfect man for me.
Also: The Pleasure of My Company is maybe even a better novella than Shopgirl. At the least, it's about twenty times funnier. Agoraphobic guy with curb issues and whatnot.
68: I'm sure it's not, but I had a flashback to the one logic class I took. Although I guess the class wasn't all bad: the TA had quite a distinctive manner of speaking. Once, when someone couldn't make out what he'd written on the board, rather than say something like "sorry about my bad handwriting" he said: "My penmanship is abysmal."
The latest shocker is that Kant may actually have had a sex life.
Emerson, being old and having a beard does not make you Kant.
eb, have you read the Grounding/work for the Metaphysics of Morals? It's much shorter than the Critiques, contains some of his best-known ideas (like the categorical imperative), and has some comprehensible passages. We are told to avoid the Ellington translation.
Wow, he did translations of german metaphysics in addition to the big-band stuff? A true polymath.
SCMT, I don't think Kant had a beard. In fact I'm pretty sure he was unmarried.
I can't decide which is better, logic or music. Or peanut butter. Wait, avocado! If you put the four of them right next to each other, you could (at your discretion) either rule the world or have an unorthodox snack.
But first you would have to find the material, lumpiform embodiments of logic and music; whose whereabouts, according to family legend, are recorded in code in the margins of the National Treasure shooting script.
Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics is a good introduction to Kant. I think. So I was told, and it seemed to be, iirc.
I don't know whether this web page is up to date, but I'm sure her book on "cosmopolitanism and patriotism in late 18th-century German thought" will focus heavily on Kant.
If figures that the work whose title looks most like what I'm looking for is written in German (from w/d's link). I'll look into the Grounding/work or Prolegomena. Thanks for all the suggestions.
coffee and cigarettes is a great movie! hurray for coffee and cigarettes! "The best thing about quitting is that you can have one once in a while." Broken Flowers and Lost in Translation: also excellent!
Never thought I would see a thread with Steve Martin and Kant duking it out over which is the main topic, but here we are.
I'm totally talking out my ass, but I wonder if Steve Martin is doing the crap he is doing just to pay the bills and stay in the media eye in the hopes that he can do what he really wants to do, which is write. I wonder if he can't get produced what he wants so he does what he can.
Or maybe he's turned into a lamo, which would be too bad cuz once, he ruled.