"A Love Song for Bobby Long"

This is a really good film. I just saw it yesterday and it blew me away. This film is based on the novel, Off Magazine Street, by R.E. Capps (Ronald Everett). I haven’t read the novel, but the film was wonderfully lyrical. It's set in New Orleans, but not the touristy New Orleans, but the New Orleans where the "invisible" people live. It's beautifully literary, with a gentle sensibility that pulls you into the emotional world of all the characters, even the "minor" ones.
The film stars John Travolta as “Bobby Long,” a washed-up alcoholic literature professor (he no longer teaches) who sort of self-destructing on screen. I was just discussing with my sister’s boyfriend how much of a loser we think Travolta is, or at least how much we think he should be writing a thank you note to Quentin Tarantino ever day, but Travolta was great in this film. He plays someone who is both charismatic and menacing at the same time, tough and tender. Thought the ending was a little over the top, I really liked the film.
Scarlett Johanssen was fabulous. She is really establishing herself as an actress with a lot of depth.
The film also stars Gabriel Macht, who was also incredible.
In other words, this is an actor’s film, but it was also very well-written and beautifully shot. This is definitely worth your $7.

I realize probably nobody is going to read this because I haven’t written in so long. I’ve been . . . gone . . . sick . . . unbelievably preoccupied and depressed. My good friend Dave’s mother died. I’ve got some kind of virus. I’ve been on an emotional roller coaster that I will probably not describe here. Instead, I will just say . . . I’m wrung out and sad and feeling as empty as I’ve ever felt.

I need to get back to some serious work now. UCI starts tomorrow, and I’m really not ready for this. The students all want to get “A’s” but very few of them are actually “A” students. What am I to do?

It’s been really rainy here in SoCal, which I love, but this means I can’t go surfing, which I probably shouldn’t do anyway, since I’m practically coughing up a lung every 90 seconds.

I’ll just say I also saw “Closer” a couple of weeks ago . . . and it is awesome. My friend, Susan, had already turned me on to Damien Rice, but if you haven’t listened to him, you have to listen to him.

I’ve also been reading Louise Gluck’s Vita Nova. She kills me. She really does. Well, I supposed I need to get home and get on with my evening, so this is all. I’ll just say that I’m back, and I’m going to try to ignore the voices of my harshest critics (and you know who you are) and just keep writing this blog and see where it takes me.