Cheshire Omnimedia

Today’s post has nothing at all to do with the music business. (Had to get that out the way, mea culpa)

I saw The Dark Knight last night for the second time. Everyone seems to be gushing about the film, but a few things occurred to me.

1) TDK is a better film then Batman Begins.

2) I enjoy Batman Begins more.

3) TDK is about 20 minutes too long.

To elaborate, as far as “art” is concerned, I think Nolan’s second outing with the bat-franchise is an improvment over the original. Not that the original is bad. To the contrary: I think that Nolan got as much mileage out of the story and characters as you can in a re-boot.

But why is it better artistically? All of the characters are developed further. The struggle of being Batman is brought to light in a way that hasn’t been done before. Ledger’s Joker is brilliant. The Harvey Dent character is great. Modern moral quandries are addressed without being too condescending (ie the cell phone eavesdropping.) The picture is sophisticated in a way that most blockbusters aren’t.

I just think I enjoy Batman Begins better.

I’d rather sit down after a long days work and put on BB. TDK is more of an event. Much the way the Lord of the Rings extended versions are. I’ll never put one of those on for shear kicks. I love them, but I wouldn’t. Starwars Episode 3: yes. The Return of the King: hell no.

The length is one of the major issues that I have with TDK. It’s about 20 minutes too long. Watching it the second time, I was hard pressed on what you could cut out of the film and yet still retain it’s greatness. Other then about 30 seconds of Bat-poddery the only other thing to do would have been to end the film at the capture of the Joker. Two Faces finale should have been saved for a third film. That’s perhaps the proverbial straw that broke the camels back.

Just a quick report: I’ve been away for the last few days because I’ve been on RAGBRAI. Will be back at it soon!

Today I’d like to take a look at a quote that gets bandied about quite a bit on the Internet. You see it as a signature in many of the online forums. Hell, even I had it printed out and posted on the main rack at the Dawghouse for all to see.

“The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There’s also a negative side.”
- Mis-attributed to Hunter S. Thompson

Now there’s a certain truth to it. We’ve all seen quite a few great artists get nowhere in the music business and quite a bit of mediocre talent get lauded for it’s genius. But that’s not the point that I’m hitting at right yet. It’s more-so the fact that Hunter S. Thompson never said it or wrote it. But that doesn’t mean it’s not true.

The actual quote: (According to Wikiqoute)

“The TV business is uglier than most things. It is normally perceived as some kind of cruel and shallow money trench through the heart of the journalism industry, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free and good men die like dogs, for no good reason.”
- San Francisco Examiner (4 November 1985) HST

Now I think we’ll all agree that the music business is a pretty rough place. Even when everyone acts in good faith the intersection of Art and Commerce is tenuous at best.

The live business can be unending and dreary. A hurry-up-and-wait game that repeats daily. Venues start to blur together. Fast food becomes a habit as good food becomes scarce. Playing pirate can take it’s toll on the staff and the talent. Long days. Long roads.

The studio business ain’t much better. We bill like lawyers. There’s no paid vacation or bennies save for the top 1% of jobs, unless you’re in post. (Kidding. Sort of.) You eat what you kill. The glut of “engineers” from 1 and 2 year programs has the business in a race to the bottom.

And yet we still do it. We put in more hours and heart then almost any other profession. Sure there are tougher jobs, that’s no lie. But they get paid for it. Well. So why do we do it? I could put forth a tenth of the effort and live way more comfortably.

Because we love it.

Even when the good men die like dogs.

(I’d recommend checking out About.com’s Urban Legend Guide for more info on the HST quote.)

One of the myths of the Muse is that while the Muse may inspire others to great works, she herself can not create.

I’ve been doing a bit of house cleaning (proverbially, as I’ve yet to actually spring clean my apartment) and it occurred to me that I’ve not done much in the way of my own music in the last few years. A few years ago my friend Matt Galek was lamenting the fact that he was so busy, he never had time to play or practice any more.

I agree with his sentiment completely.

So I guess that means I should start making music again.

Tomorrow. (I’m busy right now!)