Call it a post-Super Bowl hangover, but I find myself without a lot to say about any one thing. Luckily, I have a little to say about several things…
Speaking of the game, it turns out my Super Bowl predictions were pretty accurate. The game, of course, was horrible — but just as Richard Sherman’s rant the other week turned me against the Seahawks, Russell Wilson’s post-game comments renewed my faith. You gotta love the sentiment behind the 5’11” quarterback’s “why not us” slogan. Wilson is such a consummate professional that he even attended the Super Bowl last year, in order to study the “rhythm of the day.” (This reminded me of tennis great Billie Jean King’s preparation before a big match.) Very smart, indeed — and a good lesson for us all.
Philip Seymour Hoffman’s tragic death spawned lots of interesting articles. Count me among the observers who consider him to be he greatest actor of our time. But aside from being tragic, I think his early death raises some questions about the kinds of demons that, perhaps, must haunt the supremely talented. “The great character actors,” writes Tom Junod, “are now the actors whose work has the element of ritual sacrifice once claimed by the [Robert] DeNiros of the world, as well as the element of danger— the actors who thrill us by going for broke. It should be no surprise when, occasionally, they break, or turn out to be broken.” Could a sober and utterly well-adjusted person have been as good an actor? I’d like to believe the answer is “yes,” but I’m not so sure.
The immigration reform “principles“ floated by House Republicans last week have been controversial. While I can understand that many simply don’t trust Republicans to do what they say (for example, secure the border), it’s hard for me to understand the intense opposition to these stated principles. Frankly, if this isn’t acceptable to you, I’m not sure how any immigration reform would be…
Woody Allen was also a topic of conversation. Over the weekend, Dylan Farrow penned a New York Times open letter accusing her father of sexually abusing her when she was seven years old. Public opinion naturally turned against Allen. Some observers like Jonathan Podhoretz revisited the 1979 film Manhattan, where Allen’s character (42) dates a 17-year-old played by Mariel Hemingway. Others circulated Joan Didion’s 1979 Letter from ‘Manhattan,’ which argued that “the message that large numbers of people are getting from [Allen’s films] is…that adolescence can now extend to middle age.” But the momentum against Allen seemed to slow after Robert B. Weide, who produced and directed a PBS documentary about Allen, penned a Daily Beast article raising some serious questions about the allegations.
Don’t read one take without reading the other.