Sammy Younan
Girth Radio Presents…
There’s this weird assumption that dudes are somehow supposed to make it through life intuitively knowing how to save money and treat women properly and you know…be a man. Like it’s some sort of obvious concept: that males would effortlessly mature and evolve as smoothly as you move from room to room in your home.
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Sammy Younan
Girth Radio Presents…
There’s a freshtastic Ron Artest documentary currently playing at Hot Docs: Quiet Storm. S’really well done like 30 for 30 well done…it covers all the hip hop that flows outta Ron’s Queensbridge projects right up to that HUGE 3 with the Lakers. Storm is directed by Johnny Sweet whose previous doc Vick was on another polarizing athlete: Michael Vick.
The basic premise of the Ron Arterst documentary?
“In the world of professional sports no American athlete ever came back from a mental health disorder….until Ron Artest, now known to the world as Metta World Peace.”
You know? There’s this thing we do; it’s not a particularly bright thing but we do it often enough that we have a pattern. We…as in us as a society.
Someone steps forward shares something with vulnerability and…is instantly vilified. However as the years unfold that uncredited and often unrecognized individual will be proven right.
About a year ago Kevin Love and DeMar DeRozan released statements about their mental health status and anxiety struggles. We all held hands, called them brave and established the bold narrative that this was the start of a significant revolution.
Thing is before Love and before DeRozan there was Kendall Gill…for some of you that’s a who? In 1995 Gill who played for Charlotte Hornets and Seattle SuperSonics openly talked about his mental health experiences following his diagnosis of clinical depression and was promptly…vilified. Sports reporters at the time label Gill as a malcontent.
And yet the mental health discussion Gill ignited culminated with the infamous Malice at the Palace where on November 19, 2004 Ron Artest climbed in the stands to begin punching Detroit Pistons fans.
Because after Gill and before Kevin Love and DeMar DeRozan there was Ron Artest. Quiet Storm is the aptly named and fascinating exploration of Ron Artest’s career and an examination of his character. For you can’t know somebody until you understand them.
The proliferation of quality sports documentaries has forced us to reexamine the narratives we associate with the players. All good documentaries just as all good lives are prompted by asking key questions and fueled by a dogged determination to get answers. It’s evolution in thinking, growth…maturity. It’s what narratives are not good at doing because they’re time-locked; maturity makes narratives like ill-fitting hand me down clothes.
If you don’t wanna put on pants or can’t come to Hot Docs…it’ll be on Showtime on May 31. Which is Mental Health Month.
Quiet Storm: The Ron Artest Story Trailer:
Is this good?
Will this be good?
Every movie trailer answers or challenges those 2 questions. The ham-fisted rebuttal comes swiftly however: no you don’t need to always see a movie to know it’s tank.
Do you really need to sit through a Michael Bay Transformers movie to know for sure? Tank is Tank. And Fresh…well Fresh is always Fresh. I’m down like I’m Brown for that.
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My Summer Lair Chapter #113: When Did The Xenomorph Come Into Your Life?
We’ll start with what it’s not rather than what it is. And I’m talking about Memory: The Origins of Alien Alexandre Philippe’s latest documentary screening during Hot Docs and not the Xenomorph. (It’s now streaming on Crave in Canada or on YouTube movies.)
Memory is not a behind the scenes DVD extra; rather is a dense and deft film essay that documents the fortuitous symbiotic relationship of Dan O’Bannon (screenwriter) and H.R. Giger (Alien designer) and Ridley Scott (director). Somehow these gentlemen were able to mind meld with each other and the universe or wherever creativity comes from and fashion a horror sci-fi movie that tapped into the collective unconscious to generate a significant pop culture conscious altering moment. Whew.
See why we needed 40 years to fully understand what’s happening and what we’ve seen? The feelings you have about your divorce evolve from the moment it begins to decades later right? You have a better sense of what you’ve experienced.
Another important question: Is 1979’s Alien horror sci-fi or sci-fi horror? hmmm.
So 40 years later we have Alex’s Memory a documentary that deconstructs how we got here because when we look back there is a clear path; often employing unseen materials like original story notes, rejected designs and storyboards even incorporating exclusive behind-the-scenes footage all reveal that path.
Beyond that is the mythology that potent mixture of highbrow and lowbrow culture including comic books and paintings that hang in the Tate.
Memory which’ll wrap up its Hot Docs run will be seen on screens throughout 2019 especially during San Diego Comic Con. It’s recently been acquired by Screen Media and Legion M so you will get a chance to see it and I highly recommend it.
One error in this episode: I said 1955 when talking about Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy (2004). The correct date and line is: “1958: the Occult Wars finally come to an end with the death of Adolf Hitler.” So fired!
Memory: The Origins of Alien trailer:
Recorded: Friday April 26, 2019 at 6:30pm at WeWork
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Is this good?
Will this be good?
Every movie trailer answers or challenges those 2 questions. The ham-fisted rebuttal comes swiftly however: no you don’t need to always see a movie to know it’s tank.
Do you really need to sit through a Michael Bay Transformers movie to know for sure? Tank is Tank. And Fresh…well Fresh is always Fresh. I’m down like I’m Brown for that.
Read the rest of this page »
You know the thing is I’ve slowly and intuitively figured out a lot of what Brené Brown is saying just from my interactions with people especially in business. She just has the research to back it up and prove it.
That’s the beauty of listening to your gut…you know something to be true; you just can’t explain it.
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