Personalities

 I'm working my way through a couple of books that have been on my TBR (to be read) stack for a while.  Well, one has, the other is fairly new.  The first is "Apropos of Nothing", by Woody Allen, one of my favorite film makers.  His memoir came out a few years ago, at the height of the Me Too movement, and because of the accusations against Allen at the time, the book received little attention,  I finally got a chance to read it, and found it a fascinating story of a childhood in Brooklyn that resulted in one of New York City's greatest boosters.  Since I share an affinity for New York (is it a great city or THE Greatest city, I've not yet decided), I feel a basic kinship at the outset.  The book is a fast paced story of an indifferent student quickly making a life in show business, first as a joke writer, then standup comedian, and ultimately as a prolific film maker.  Almost by necessity, Woody drops a lot of names in his book.  One can hardly do otherwise when one's early life is as a staff writer on a tv show with co-writers like Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks.  Imagine the chatter in that room! But naturally, most attention will be drawn to Woody's account of the accusations against him.  To those who might have missed it, the gist is that he was accused by his former girlfriend Mia Farrow of molesting Farrow's young daughter who was seven years old at the time.  As the charges came out during a time when this sort of thing was a focus of national attention, and the philosophy of "always believe the woman" was prevalent, Allen suffered some severe consequences.  He lost the support of former friends, business deals were cancelled, and he became an artistic pariah.  My first instinct, too, is to believe the woman, but I am now convinced in this case such a policy is misguided.  After reading his account (in addition to other independent reporting), I am persuaded that Woody is innocent of the charges against him, and the censorious Hollywood groupthink community condemns him in error.  In short, two intensive official investigations have exonerated him.  Numerous witnesses corroborate his version of the story, and there is ample evidence of Mia Farrow being a vindictive and unstable individual.  Read Woody's full, detailed explanation and see what you think.

Next, I began the more recent memoir from Michael Richards, best known for his character "Cosmo Kramer" on the popular 1990s tv show "Seinfeld".  The show was a big part of my life in those years, and even today I frequently resort to quotes and references from the show.  Michael Richards reveals himself in this book to a degree I hadn't expected, and is a different sort of person than I'd always assumed.  Sure, he's not exactly the "hipster doofus" of his Kramer character, but they both share some perspectives.  Richards himself is much more classically oriented that I expected; his early life was full of classic acting and reading.  With some time spent in a Catholic school education, his reflections on the nature of life and our meaning in the universe are soul searching and deep.  No light and frivolous tv sitcom personality here.  After overcoming a difficult and chaotic early life, he landed fame and success with Seinfeld, for which he'll ever be known.  And yet, fame and fortune is no insurance against cruel twists of fate.  Richards is also known for the fateful outburst during his standup performance when he berated a heckler in racist terms.  I've not yet reached that part of his book, so I can't say how he explains or relates to the incident.  But recently he has seemed to be making a re-entry into public society after years out of the public eye following that night.  It's clear from the book so far that Richards is a deeply thoughtful person, and that one brief, sudden event has likely weighed heavily upon him.  Only the future will tell how and when he might be once again accepted by the public.

Supernova

 It was just a year ago that I bought Matthew Perry's memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing.  To this day, I'm not exactly sure why.  I never watched the TV show Friends.  I'm not one who has much fascination with celebrity news.  And "I-battled-substance-abuse" celebrity memoirs are seemingly a dime a dozen.  But for an unexplained reason, I was drawn to this particular book, and Perry's story.  It certainly was a grim one.  It'll take someone better versed in psychology than me to untangle Perry's story of a cold, unloved childhood.  His fight for real affection. His early decent into drug and alcohol use.  And the devastating effect the substances would ultimately take on his life.  But it was an absorbing book, and the time I spent reading it was not wasted.  Through the book, I finally felt a small sort of connection with the actor who I had not paid much attention to throughout his life or mine.  His ended yesterday, and that's given me some pensive moments.  A lot of fine people died yesterday, and no attention will be paid to their lives, while an inordinate amount will be paid to Perry's in consequence of his celebrity.  But in his short and chaotic life, he left a mark on the world.  Many will fondly miss him.  The star has died in a brilliant supernova. The rest of us could do worse.

Matthew Perry : a memoir

Post game wrapup

 I live in the Deep South, where college football is virtually a religion. From Labor Day to New Years Day, family events like weddings and reunions must be planned with caution, so as not to conflict with the Saturday priority of college football.  While I would otherwise not be a big fan of football, I do follow college games, if only to be conversant with friends and family this time of year.  But one of my legitimately favorite parts of the year has become the collection of humorous wrap-up videos that follow the weekend games.  There are three primary ones that I make a point to always view: Funny Maine, SEC Shorts, and Matt Mitchell's SEC Roll Call.  All of these video offerings had humble beginnings several years ago- think bored community theater actors and an iPhone. But they all have rapidly grown in sophistication and production values, to the point where they are now reasonably professional, and they all have linked merchandise and/or commercial sponsors.  Funny Maine is a solo act and rabid Crimson Tide fan who started as a simple reaction video, shot as if he was responding to game tv coverage in real time.  He has now grown his concept with costumes, themes and special effects.  SEC Shorts grew out of a Birmingham community theater - like group and now is sponsored and even has a traveling live stage show.  Matt Mitchell was once a member of another local video comedy group but has spun off to a solo act.  During college football season, he is a one-man show depicting a conference call of SEC teams after the weekend's contests.  Easily the most comedy-dense of the weekly videos, it requires a broad familiarity of all the league games to appreciate the rapid one-liners Mitchell reels off in his intensely edited videos.  So whether my preferred team wins or loses, the post game wrap up videos always bring a smile to my face.

SEC Roll Call: Matt Mitchell