the mockingbird

I can't quote it from memory, but Tom Robbins refers to the mockingbird as nature's first artist--I think it was in Skinny Legs and All. That's the one with the spoon and the dirty sock and the RV shaped like a giant turkey leg, right? No matter, I got to thinking about the mockingbird earlier tonight when I was thinking about professional chefs--the high end chefs who many consider to be artists. I suspect most of them cook to their own palate because how can you cook to anything else? To translate that to my own experience as an artist (if I really am an artist... but that's a topic for another blog), I have things which I find pleasant to my ear, certain styles and sounds which resonate deeply with me. Sure, I feel more comfortable when I'm working within those sounds, but I really stretch my legs and grow when I step out of that comfort zone and do something different. One of the best ways for me to do that is to imitate someone else; take someone else's style and apply it (to the best of my ability) to the work I'm doing today; be a mockingbird.

Driving me where?

Perhaps this is a case of expectations being too high, because I've been hearing nothing but glowing "you must see" reviews and recommendations for the movie Drive since before it came out and only ended up seeing it the other day. It's hard for any movie to live up to that lengthy a period of increased expectations, and I'm sad to say this one did not succeed completely. I did appreciate the movie very much: the acting is brilliant (Bryan Cranston and his relationship with Albert Brooks struck me as particularly great), the editing was great, the music weird and moody in a perfect kind of way, the sound design and mix downright brilliant--especially in the things we didn't hear and the use of silence. I just couldn't figure out why. In the end, it seemed to me to be a waste of impeccable production values, because the story didn't stand out in any way as being worthy of the polished effort of those involved.