The Inherent Vice Trailer. P.T. Anderson, Cohen Brothers and Reverse Psychology

For those of you more tuned into the world of cinema, you probably saw that Paul Thomas Anderson's upcoming film Inherent Vice based on the novel by the same name debuted its first trailer this morning.  Now, as someone who is admittedly not the world's biggest P.T. Anderson fan, I have to say, I'm intrigued.

How does Mr. Anderson draw in someone that, for years, has criticized his movies as being overlong, cluttered, and over indulgent?  By releasing the most cluttered, convoluted, over indulgent looking trailer ever known to man.

That's right.  Just take a look at the trailer below.  Its a cacophonous mess with more characters than you can count and set to a voice over that actually makes the whole thing more confusing.  In spite of the numerous characters and seemingly wandering plot there are some noticeably non-P.T. Anderson things going on in this trailer.

P.T. Anderson, at heart, has always been a rambler.  He may have started to evolve away from his epic ensemble yarns of his early career (Boogie Nights, Magnolia) but his stories have always remained open ended, never with a clear finish line in sight.  His heroes: crazed mad men trapped in a room without an exit (which sounds cool but isn't necessarily a compliment).  After watching the trailer for Inherent Vice it looks like the viewing public is in for more of the same... or not.

First, in spite of the cast size and numerous familiar faces, Inherent Vice doesn't appear to be an ensemble based feature.  The whole trailer follows Joaquin Phoenix's character, holding other characters to mostly one or two seconds of screen time.  Add in the fact that the novel centers strongly on Phoenix's "Doc" and we're getting away from the freewheelin' P.T. Anderson story style that can go on and on without actually going anywhere.

Second, the trailer is kind of clunky.  Regardless of what you think of P.T. Anderson's films you cannot deny the trailers for them have been universally, tight, intense and very compelling.  The most compelling thing about the trailer for Inherent Vice is that it looks, well, kind of terrible.  It is hard to follow and feels like its trying a little too hard to be witty.  The screwball-esque style peppered with dark comedic moments is more reminiscent of another pair of critically acclaimed film makers: the Cohen brothers.

Just look at this trailer for the Cohen brothers' 2008 Burn After Reading.

While Burn After Reading was one of the Cohen brothers' less successful efforts, the trailer perfectly exemplifies the dark screwball comedy that they've perfected over the years and Inherent Vice seems to contain.  Throwing strange yet lovable characters into surreal high stakes situations is exactly what produced classics like Raising Arizona, Fargo, and Big Lebowski.

Barton Fink, one of the Cohen Brothers' best and undoubtedly their most underrated, thrives on being a dark picture with moments of oddity that stick in your mind solely based on how brilliantly complex their irreverence is.  I'm not saying P.T. Anderson just made his own Barton Fink or even that we was trying to, but if that's the way he's walking, I'm willing to follow.

For me, after years of seeing great trailers for films like There Will Be Blood and The Master and then being disappointed upon seeing the full film, Inherent Vice's helter skelter attitude might be just what the doctor ordered for P.T. Anderson.  Where it appears incoherent, it will be tight.  Where it appears to be trying too hard, it will be smooth and effortless.  I don't really know, but after slowly drifting away from P.T. Anderson after There Will Be Blood (a pretty good film that too many people label as great), Inherent Vice is tugging at my shirt, trying to get me back in his corner.

Baby Metal

This article is probably a bit past due, as the first time I ever heard "Gimmie Chocolate!!" was way back on July 7th shortly after they played Sonisphere.

Who are Baby Metal?  A group combining some pretty legit metal riffs with J-pop cuteness.  Fronted by three pigtail wearing, Japanese pop-star types (one of whom looks like she's barely old enough to ride her bike to the end of the block) the group is also backed up by what seem to be actual metal musicians.

What do they do? Their much beloved by the internet act consits of the young ladies bopping around on stage in Danearys Targaryen-esque bridesmaid dresses dancing their little hearts out while the band (assumedly) plays live.

How does it come off?  Pretty well, actually.  The music is shockingly catchy and the sheer bizarre visual spectacle of a 15-year-old Japanese throwing up the devil horns is enough to make even the most jaded of internet troll smile.

The group has had a break-out summer thanks to their internet fame,  Their debut album is out now, and they even opened a string of shows for Lady Gaga.  In their own words they describe their sound as "Cute Metal", and while I do have to wonder who exactly the target audience of Baby Metal is (the metal scene isn't known for it's 9-16 year-old female fan base) they've found a home for now on the internet, hopefully they can turn it into some fun music before they all hit 18 and are cast aside for the next generation of J-Pop... Polka meets Beiber, anyone?

Why Derek Jeter is so Important

If you follow sports at all you probably saw something about Keith Olbermann's recent rant against Derek Jeter and baseball's celebration of his career.  Olbermann rails against the pomp and ceremony like a college freshman after two sociology classes and three beers going off on white collar crime.

Olbermann's primary argument is that Jeter was statistically not an impressive enough player to warrant such worship.  That might be true, if all of the praise was based solely on his statistical value.  What the statistics won't show is what Jeter means to the Yankees and to baseball as a figure.  I wouldn't expect a blowhard like Olbermann to bother diving into that (it'd get in the way of his pre-nap tantrum), but that is really what all of this pageantry is recognizing.

Stats

Olbermann, so obnoxious, of course he's a Yankees fan.

Now, I know I just opened with a big thing about how Jeter's stats don't matter, but lets take a minute and see just how undeserving he is.

Olbermann spends a lot of time making the point that Jeter was never the best player in the league any given year he played.  Essentially taking two minutes to say, "He never won an MVP".  This is true, but he did also finish in the top ten of MVP voting eight times and accrued four Silver Sluggers.  It is also true he has a lot of strike outs for a non-power hitter (I'd rather a guy strike out than ground into a double play like Cal Ripken Jr.  the all-time leader in that category), but if Olbermann wants to cherry pick stats why stop there?  Jeter is going to finish his career with a better OPS than Pete Rose, more runs scored than Carl Yastrzemski, a higher batting average than Hank Aaron, and more stolen bases and with a better stealing percentage than Willie Mays.  Not bad.

Olbermann finally closes out his assault by making the earth shattering observation that Jeter is still batting 2nd in an anemic Yankees line-up despite having crappy numbers.  Wow, Jeter isn't that good anymore and the Yankee's offense stinks this year.  Nice work, detective Olbermann.

*One final side note about Olbermann.  What is up with the intermittent chuckles from the crew?  Do you think his crew is instructed to laugh at his quips to stroke his ego?  I bet they are.

Now, that we've gotten that out of the way...

No One Like Him

I was recently talking with my dad and two of my siblings about Jeter and if there were any other baseball players in the league that could truly boast superstar status.  My sister, who spent some time living in St. Louis while Albert Pujols still played there, suggested Pujols, but my brother and father struggled to name anyone.

In the last decade, Major League Baseball has seen a mass exodus of the baseball superstars.  Fifteen years ago, MLB was overflowing with household names.  McGwire, Sosa, Ripken, Clemens, Arod, Bonds, Maddux.  Now, most of those players are not only gone but disgraced (they still have Arod, unfortunately for them).  The league has seen a steep drop in popularity over the last decade and Jeter very well could be the last true super star with nation wide recognizability for a while.

It isn't just how well he plays.  It's that he's a good-looking, clean cut, bi-racial, charismatic, five-time champion that plays in the biggest sports market in the country.  A player like that isn't easy to find.

Other big name ball players from the last 10 years have seen their profile's wane with team changes, dips in productivity and injuries because they don't have the persona Jeter has built for himself to fall back on.

Albert Pujols saw his popularity fade into a shell of itself the last few years thanks to injury and changing teams.  Even when he was one of the best players in the league he was famous for his lack of personality (his nickname was "The Machine").

Jeter has been healthy and on the field almost his entire career.  He's always been there and he's only gotten more popular as his career has gone on.

If there was a stat for intangible value, Jeter's would be among the all-time greats.  Even rivals and their fans acknowledge his leadership and otherworldly composure in high pressure situations.  

He has mastered the art of positive press like no other athlete of his generation.  All the time you hear people wonder just how popular super stars like Michael Jordan or Mickey Mantle might have been if they had to navigate the minefields of 24-hour news and social media today.  Jeter was just as popular as any of them and skated through his entire career unscathed by scandal.  A feat all the more impressive when you look at the very long list of starlets he's dated.

My boy is scandal PROOF.

The endless Derek Jeter admiration train is probably overkill and no one with an ounce of sense would ever claim he is the greatest ball player to ever wear pinstripes, but he is the most important person in baseball today by a very wide margin.

In a time where baseball could desperately use a profile boost, losing Derek Jeter is a very big deal.  In a couple of years a player like Mike Trout or Bryce Harper could take up the mantle, but neither of them are yet to establish much of an identity beyond "really good at baseball" (and in Harper's case, cocky) and neither play in New York City.

The Yankees have been a great team for the overwhelming majority of Jeter's career.  This season will mark only the second time he didn't play post season baseball.  He was never THE reason these teams were great, but one of the reasons.  Jeter's ability to recognize and accept that helped him to become the great leader he is so often lauded as.  He wasn't the best player on the Yankees every single or even most of the years he played, but he was always someone you could count on, someone you wanted to see come to the plate in a big moment.  To other teams and other fans he was someone you respected, no one has been the recipient of more begrudged ovations in my life time than Jeter.  He's a player that little kids could consistently look up to and one that embodied what a sports star is supposed to be.  Particularly in an era of idol slaying, Jeter exits as admirable as ever.  

Here in the home stretch, brace yourself for lots replays of fist pumps, back-handed tosses to home plate and crowd dives.

In this, the last week of Derek Jeter's playing career, the celebration is sure to be as excessive and gratuitous as ever.  With everything he means to the game and everything he's taking with him, even if you still believe all the praise is a bit much, you can at least admit it is understandable for a man like Derek Jeter.