Goings on

I went to the final Dynamite Boy show last night, where they were joined by Cruiserweight. It's the first (and last) time I've seen Dynamite Boy play, and now that I've seen them I wish I'd come out to more of their shows before they broke up. They played the kind of punk pop I've really come to enjoy over the last few years, especially live. Stella, Cruiserweight's lead singer, joined them for a couple tunes, and she dances the robot with the best of them (although I can't say I'm sure that's not her normal dancing).

We've had a few people inquire about renting Phil's room for the summer, since he's going to be gone for three months, but no takers so far. I'm kind of curious to see what kind of roommate I'll end up with, if any. Hopefully someone who likes to hang out once in a while, doesn't stay up too late, and likes movies.

I saw a free advance screening of Sahara Thursday night, and was truly impressed. The acting was spot on, the story was convincing and fun, with a believable menace, and the best thing was how they took the secondary characters seriously. For a while there, every adventure movie had a stupid sidekick who cracked jokes, screwed things up, and had to be saved in the end by our hero. That's becoming less common, for good reason, as we've seen a lot more ensemble-type movies in the last five years or so. Steve Zahn's character in Sahara is not just a buddy, he's a fellow ex-soldier who served with Matthew McConaughey's Dirk Pitt, and he's a capable hero in his own right. In fact, a thought that occurred to me while watching the movie was that if it wasn't for Dirk Pitt, he could easily be the star of the movie.

The reason you don't see that very often, according to books I've read anyway, is the insecurity of stars, who almost always want to play characters that are a) noble, b) the best at everything their characters do, and c) the most likable role in the movie. If the sidekick threatens b) or c), the stars get nervous, and it's true that could sometimes pose a problem for audiences, who might get confused over who to identify with, but I think that's a pretty small problem. The ones it really poses a problem to are writers, who are looking for any way to create tension and drama. If neither the hero or his buddy is an idiot, that's one area they can't use. I'm happy to say Sahara, which I should note is based on a book by Clive Cussler, managed it well.