A Complete Unknown was released on Christmas day 2024 and it’s getting four stars out of five across the internet. As a guitar player myself, naturally I’m interested in the evolution of Bob Dylan’s early days so here I sat in Calgary’s Chinook Theatre for the 4pm Tuesday cheap seat.
Imagine being tasked the role of an eccentric who plays guitar but you don’t play guitar. You go to work and this is exactly what Timothee Chalomet had done very well in my opinion. He would have looked to the charisma or lack thereof in Dylan while researching his character. This of course was the most intriguing aspect of the movie for me. If you are familiar with Bob Dylan, you know of his monotone raspy delivery while being succinct in words. Bob Dylan has not been awarded a Nobel Prize in literature because of unpurposeful rhetoric. It is because of a capacity for drawing meaning from few words.
Critics may claim that plot was lacking but the appeal is in the persona. That is, that character who sits in the back corner of a bar with sunglasses on hoping to catch a nugget of inspiration from a mysterious fellow musician he had just met.
The volume of work is extraordinary and young ones bred on rap and raves stand perplexed by the intrigue but weren’t exposed to the political and social rawness of summer ’68. Folk was culturally more relevant then when metaphors were moving and norms had been evolving. This movie provides an imaginative glimpse into what it might have been like when a creative young man questioned values and tradition through song.
Time well spent in my opinion….but heh – I play guitar.
Half of Canadians are $200 or less away from not being able to pay their bills. Accounting firm MNP has been watching an “insolvency” metric a claim that it is up 8 per cent in Q4 2024 vs Q3 2024.
Why is this? Let me postulate.
Acquiesce to desires of spouse despite financial condition.
Fly the world in faith. It’s one segment of society where statistically we’ve improved. It’s never been safer to fly partly because of absolute attention put on “internal controls” having learned lessons from past accidents. This isn’t to say that those controls can’t be compromised when parties have self interests to serve. I think the Tenerife disaster was monolithic in producing necessary regulation. If I recall from an episode of “Mayday” or something similar way back…..the attitude of the most senior pilot of one of the two planes and the circumstances surrounding events produced the kind of impatience and poor decision making which culminated with the collision. The thing about life is that nothing is for certain despite man’s good intention and effective execution. We can all look to recent events whereby expectations were met with far differing results.
Naturally, we go about our business and take a plane when the need or responsible desire arises. We are aware of the privilege and we play by necessary rules. There is a bigger chance of getting struck by a vehicle while walking to work than there is of dying on an airplane. Pilots have check and balances every time they walk into a cockpit. The driver of a 4×4 pick up truck unsettled by matters at home and potentially distracted by a phone is a much bigger risk.
However; at times like this when we learn of an air disaster, it gives us pause to reflect on the delicacy of life and how none of us are immune from one very bad move from another. Despite some obvious cocooning arising from the pandemic and otherwise, all of us look to adventure in some way, shape, or form as a means to elicit happiness. Unfortunately, a price can be paid via risk in the quest for adventure. It’s a price which keen happy hungry humans are rightfully willing to pay and we honor those lost in pursuit.
For those who know me well – you know that I initiate conversations with strangers. I like it. I like learning about people during my travels.
Today I spoke to a heart attack survivor in the gym. I first saw him on the track but then when noticing him on the nautilus equipment I felt compelled to know his health story. At first he was perplexed by my outreach but then he warmed up and spoke of the day of the incident. Despite all the drama, he said the one thing that stood out particularly was the look on his wife’s face as he was wheeled into the ambulance. At that moment in time he concluded that if he made it out of the situation alive, he was going to make big changes. Admittedly he was obese and never took care of himself.
He received four stints and morphene for the pain. While in recovery he had witnessed multiple medical professionals in the adjacent room deliver thumping blows on a 42 year old woman’s chest in order to revive her from her heart attack. She didn’t make it.
Every day we get to orchestrate how we spend our time. Not enough of us are caring for our heart by making it work vigorously and regularly by flowing blood through it with the kind of velocity applicable for cleansing arteries and veins. It is plaque deposits which accumulate over time which creates problems. If you are a week end warrior – look out because you may be at a higher risk than anyone else due to the irregularity of your work outs. Imagine that accumulation of plaque which potentially can become dislodged when your cardiovascular systems is suddenly taxed when it’s not accustomed.
If you want to start working out and you’ve been sedentary…you must begin at low intensity and preferably with the guidance of a doctor. You know what January means. Gym membership sales people will be at the ready but will you?
Much has changed during my fifteen years as a blogger. I look upon this period as dramatic in context of the influence of technology on human relationships and culture. Establishing and maintaining a blog (vlog) in 2009 was not as easy as it is now for example for anyone to pick up a phone and post a video to youtube expressing anything within a wide boundary of free speech acceptance. I’m reminded of this today via facebook post of an old friend quoting a philosopher. We are more cynical than we were in 2009. We doubt at every turn now but before we could count on sources more readily. We care less than we did then. We turn a blind eye to the helpless injecting Fentanyl because we’ve come to learn that politicians aren’t willing to tackle the problem with vigor. Still the mechanics of law and order subsist despite some contingent of police officers who are indifferent.
This year I had not written much due to a focus on my youtube channnel and improving my guitar in particular. I do wonder why my propensity to turn to the pen has been lightened and I think this has much to do with the zealousness of others so inclined. S’pose I’m in a digestive mode in contemplating how seriously incoherent some opinions can be but reticent to call out suggestions of policy which conflict with values which others and I supposedly should hold dear. It’s exhausting to debate with characters whose ideals are basic and exempt of consideration of a higher order of being. We are capable of so much but lately there has been a compelling force to drive only to the lowest common denominator of conduct between ourselves. Obviously, the disillusionment with ridiculous liberal policy has had much to do with this era of malaise and disenfranchisement. Angst is rampant and goodwill for cooperation is repressed in favor of political grandstanding. Our egos keep getting in the way of progress.
If you’ve ever had a chance to read one of my posts over the years – thanks for tuning in! I appreciate your interest!
