Manifesto

.

I awoke and watched CBS This Morning, with its chef segment.  Some of John Tesar’s signature recipes include Ribeye – back to the pan, Avocado fries, Heirloom tomato salad, Johnny mac and cheese, and Sriracha pork belly in the style of Peking duck.  Jason Isbell was the musical guest.  I looked up the American Top 40 playlist for the weekend.  The Top 10 songs on June 29, 1974 were “Annie’s Song,” “Rock Your Baby,” “Band on the Run,” “Hollywood Swinging,” “Rock the Boat,” “If You Love Me (Let Me Know),” “Be Thankful for What You Got,” “Your Make Me Feel Brand New,” “Billy, Don’t Be a Hero,” and “Sundown.”  I had to go to work for five hours, and with one person calling in sick, the shift was a bit difficult.  I stopped for a burger on the way home, and I walked over to the theatre to see “Manifesto.”  It was Cate Blanchett playing 13 different characters delivered various manifestos by people such as Karl Marx, Claes Oldenburg, Jim Jarmusch, Werner Herzog, and Lars von Trier.  When Blanchett appears as a homeless man, it reminded me of Monty Python.  The movie had some humor in it, as the choreographer, news anchor and reporter, and teacher segments made some of us in the audience laugh a little bit.  It was too much talking, however, as we didn’t want to hear an endless discussion about art.  How can you convince anyone when you’re causing your listeners to tune out?  Some of these ideas are questionable, like the statement that nothing is original.  Some parts made me squirm restlessly in my seat.  I think that any film that quotes from Jean-Luc Godard is going to be in trouble.  This movie made me think back to a film of John Gielgud reading from Shakespeare.  “Manifesto” is not for most people.  I overheard people afterwards joking that it was weird and that they thought beforehand that since Cate Blanchett was in it, it was going to be good.  If you don’t mind sitting through boring stretches to get to some scattered jewels, there is something in this film for you.  I’ll give credit to Blanchett for attempting something different and meaningful, for taking a chance on something new.  I think the filmmakers have to consider the audience.  I don’t know how you can expect people to pay $8.50 or more for a ticket if you don’t try to be more engaging.  Watching this movie is like listening to someone, or maybe I should say 13 people, who don’t know when to stop talking.  I looked at the review on RogerEbert.com and was a bit surprised that it was so positive.  I thought about all the strange experiences I’ve had at the movies.  “Manifesto” was not one of the top ten, but it was certainly out of the ordinary.  It wasn’t Pirates of the Caribbean, Wonder Woman, Captain Underpants, or Transformers.  I went home and watched the end of a Giants game with the Mets.  The Giants lost their 50^th game of the season.  A front page story in the San Francisco Chronicle was about the declining prices of Giants tickets.  I thought the article was a warning to the A’s and their fans that the team has to win once they have a new stadium.  I saw on the news that Matt Olson, Jaycob Brugman, and Franklin Barreto all their first major league home run in the same game in Chicago.  I watched the Star Trek episode on Me TV and then the news.  It has been fifty years since The Beatles performed “All You Need is Love” via satellite to the world.  Some of the people who died on June 25 include Johnny Mercer (1976), Boudleaux Bryant (1987), Jacques Cousteau (1997), John Fiedler (2005), Farrah Fawcett (2009), Michael Jackson (2009), and Patrick Macnee (2015).  Today is a birthday for Ricky Gervais (56), Sonia Sotomayor (63), Jimmie Walker (70), Carly Simon (72), and June Lockhart (92).  According to the Brandon Brooks Rewind radio segment for June 25, The Beatles reached Number One on the singles chart in 1966 with “Paperback Writer.”  In 1976, “The Omen” was released in the United States.  In 1983, the “Flashdance” soundtrack album replaced Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” at the Number One position on the Billboard album chart.  In 2009, Farrah Fawcett died of cancer at age 62.