I’m not a fan.\u00c2\u00a0 I bought "Metropolitan Life" but never read it.<\/p>\n
The hype for this film offended me, because it was just that.\u00c2\u00a0 But it was ultimately minimal, a few stories over the weekend, then nothing.<\/p>\n
But then began the word of mouth.<\/p>\n
First from my mother.<\/p>\n
Then from Jeff.<\/p>\n
Last night I pulled "Public Speaking" up On Demand and it was so personal, so special, so enlightening, I felt such solidarity that I’m almost unwilling to share.<\/p>\n
But I will.<\/p>\n
Because if you’re a creator, especially a writer, if you think about the cultural landscape, in this documentary you’ll get a truth that seems to elude the mainstream media.<\/p>\n
One, she’s an inveterate reader.\u00c2\u00a0 A terrible student, she often hid Thurber inside her textbooks.\u00c2\u00a0 Wanna know how to be a great musician?\u00c2\u00a0 LISTEN TO A LOT OF RECORDS! All kinds, all styles, good and shitty.\u00c2\u00a0 If you’re not lapping it up, chances are you’re never going to be any good.<\/p>\n
Although Fran did say a young ‘un can be good at music.\u00c2\u00a0 Whereas a writer’s got to live, has got to have a story to tell.\u00c2\u00a0 But she did say if a writer focused on youth, he’d have a brief career.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s what bugs me about so many of the classic rock artists.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re singing like they’re twenty four.\u00c2\u00a0 They get plastic surgery and go on about pulling girls and nascent relationships when in reality they’re pushing retirement age, have been divorced and are facing health issues.\u00c2\u00a0 I love John Batdorf’s "Old Man Dreamin’" because it’s a viewpoint of the world from someone pushing sixty who has kids and bills and is speaking like an adult instead of a child.<\/p>\n
And not every work can be a masterpiece.\u00c2\u00a0 If you’re shooting to get it perfect, you’re not gonna release anything.\u00c2\u00a0 In hindsight, some are winners and some are losers.\u00c2\u00a0 The major label strategy of working on an album until it has three or four hits is anti-art.\u00c2\u00a0 Art is about experimentation.\u00c2\u00a0 Success is so often about luck.\u00c2\u00a0 If you’re not taking chances, chances are what you’re doing is not that interesting, or won’t last for long.<\/p>\n
I wish Elton John would make a project record every year.\u00c2\u00a0 Scratch that, I wish Elton John would release four to six songs every six months.\u00c2\u00a0 If he worked with Ryan Adams and then an oldster and then a complete newbie, who knows what would come up.\u00c2\u00a0 Instead of ramping up the endless hype machine, ultimately for a second-rate album like "The Union", let the audience know you’re still producing, so when you do come up with something great, people will be paying attention and can spread the word.<\/p>\n
Fran does drive, she owns a Checker, but she does not own a cell phone or a computer. Complain she’s a Luddite, but she’s got an interesting take.\u00c2\u00a0 She is wherever she is.\u00c2\u00a0 You think you’re walking down the street, but really you’re punching the keys on your BlackBerry. You’re on your BlackBerry, in cyberspace, you’re not on the street.<\/p>\n
And unencumbered by distracting technology, Fran can observe.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s a key element of being an artist.\u00c2\u00a0 Getting out in the world and having experiences and weighing the meaning thereof.\u00c2\u00a0 And talking about it.<\/p>\n
Fran loves to talk.\u00c2\u00a0 She’ll listen, she loves the exchange of ideas.\u00c2\u00a0 Art can be created in a flash, but you think about it when you’re not making it.\u00c2\u00a0 And the more you think about it, the more you feel, the more you talk about it, the clearer your vision becomes, so when you sit down to create, the result is better defined and richer.<\/p>\n
And Fran is confident.\u00c2\u00a0 Everyone’s constantly apologizing these days.\u00c2\u00a0 They don’t want to offend anybody.\u00c2\u00a0 They sacrifice their beliefs in order to be a member of the group.\u00c2\u00a0 But an artist is separate from the group.\u00c2\u00a0 Chances are if the celebrity is busy hanging out at clubs, being part of the moveable celebrity feast, he’s a shitty artist.\u00c2\u00a0 Artists are square pegs who don’t fit in the round holes.\u00c2\u00a0 They get depressed.\u00c2\u00a0 But they survive by putting forth their insights, which so many of the silent multitude can relate to.<\/p>\n
Fran says AIDS killed not only the best artists, but the audience!<\/p>\n
Let’s start with the artists…\u00c2\u00a0 Those who died were the coolest.\u00c2\u00a0 How do we know?\u00c2\u00a0 THEY WERE GETTING LAID!\u00c2\u00a0 Only those who were not having sex survive.\u00c2\u00a0 Fran says if the dead came back to life, they’d be stunned who’s a star today, all the second-rate wannabes.<\/p>\n
And it used to be that the audience was critical, demanded excellence.\u00c2\u00a0 Now money trumps everything.\u00c2\u00a0 Sold a lot of tickets?\u00c2\u00a0 Then you must be good!\u00c2\u00a0 You can’t criticize anybody who’s rich.\u00c2\u00a0 Actually, Fran goes on about that.\u00c2\u00a0 People love the rich.\u00c2\u00a0 What they hate are the smart.<\/p>\n
Fran’s smart and confident.\u00c2\u00a0 People want her to be vulnerable and unsure.\u00c2\u00a0 You think you’re so smart?\u00c2\u00a0 YUP!\u00c2\u00a0 Confidence is everything.\u00c2\u00a0 And it sucks always being ahead of the masses. By time they catch up, you’re somewhere else.<\/p>\n
You’ve got to love someone who says they ruined New York City, by turning it into a tourist trap.\u00c2\u00a0 Sure, financially the city was saved, but at what cost?\u00c2\u00a0 We’ve got million sellers, but at what artistic cost?<\/p>\n
I’m not a big Scorsese fan.\u00c2\u00a0 He gets so wrapped up in look and feel that story becomes secondary.\u00c2\u00a0 And story is everything in film.\u00c2\u00a0 But in documentaries, Scorcese is a king.\u00c2\u00a0 He knocked it out of the park with the Dylan bio and does so again here.\u00c2\u00a0 He intersects classic footage to both set the mood and make a point.\u00c2\u00a0 Fran’s the star, all he’s got to do is set the vibe.\u00c2\u00a0 One in which an individual can be the center of his or her own universe.<\/p>\n
The mantra of today is to never judge.\u00c2\u00a0 Fran Lebowitz LOVES to judge!\u00c2\u00a0 What fun is life if you can’t separate the wheat from the chaff, say something sucks and laud that which you love.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s being fully alive.\u00c2\u00a0 But if you’ve got opinions, you’re gonna be attacked, it goes with the territory.<\/p>\n
So dial this up.\u00c2\u00a0 Doesn’t even matter if you know who Fran Lebowitz is.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ll be fascinated just by what she says, her opinions, her insights.\u00c2\u00a0 No dancing necessary.\u00c2\u00a0 No plastic surgery.\u00c2\u00a0 Just what comes out of her brain.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s enough.\u00c2\u00a0 Because that’s where art starts, in the brain.\u00c2\u00a0 And art is life.\u00c2\u00a0 And if you’re not willing to argue about art, you’re not willing to live.<\/p>\n