'Hud'

Paul Newman died this year. Newman, it turns out, dealt with a lot of the same problem that Ray Charles did.

You see, when Newman died, everyone came out of the woodworks and started telling me just how great Newman was and how much of a genius actor and cool guy he was.

Mind you, the previous 20-odd years, no one's said a thing about Newman to me otherwise.

Same with Charles. The guy dies and suddenly I'm preached to about how great he was by people that hadn't mentioned him and who I would've guessed didn't give two bits for Newman or Charles.

I am enjoying these neo-westerns like "Giant," "The Last Picture Show," "Badlands" and "Hud." The music is great, the acting superb, loss of innocence. Generally, these films are about death, mostly the demise of the west and a simpler set of standards in terms of living. It's refreshing that this time existed and was so poignant to the point that we had to keep making movies about it.

'Pride and Prejudice'

I've never hidden my disdain for Jane Austen. There's the distinct possibility that my attitude toward the author is based on the fact that she's so regarded by people for the sole reason that she's a woman being successful during a day and age when women were used for baby making and social events.

Although this is true, I think it's more demeaning to rate her based on her ovaries rather than on her writing, which I don't think is all that great and her stories, is stinks of second-rate Shakespeare and romantic-comedy.

The most interesting theme in Austen's works is her treatment of the women in her stories. Most are well-educated and witty, not needing a man to justify their existence and yet they're emotional and wrought with a certain amount of conflict in their hearts as they battle what they feel and the societal constraints placed on them. The women think they're above love, marriage and whatnot, but they're just as much part of the machine as anyone else. Look at Elizabeth spurning the preacher man as if she holds some sway on her decisions and then going cuckoo over Darcy in a matter of days.

As if Austen is saying any inequality and lack of opportunity for women was as much the fault of the woman as it is the man. The woman that finally realizes that men are just penises will break the cycle.

'Modern Times'

Some fun facts:

1. Only three actors/actresses in this film have photos on their IMDB pages. Charles Chaplin, Paulette Goddard and Bobby Barber who played an uncredited worker. Barber has 181 film/TV credits, mostly bit parts. His most extended work came with Abbott and Costello who hired him to basically keep everyone happy, laughing and focused.

2. Chaplin produced, composed the music and co-edited "Modern Times."

3. Goddard is extremely interesting. She started in The Ziegfeld Follies, was a Goldwyn Girl and eventually got involved with Chaplin, who cast her in "Modern Times." The two were married the same year before separating in 1940.

4. Goddard apparently was the leading candidate for Scarlett O'Hara in "Gone with the Wing" but apparently couldn't provide a marriage license to prove her nuptials with Chaplin and then Vivien Leigh showed up and that's all she wrote.

5. Goddard left $20 million to NYU at her death.

6. She was married four times, no kids. One marriage was to Chaplin. Her third was to The Penguin, Burgess Meredith.

'The Bridge On The River Kwai'

My problem with older war movies is how the Allies were depicted compared to the Axis powers.

This is a slippery slope. You borderline compliment or excuse Nazis if you go a certain direction.

The truth is, for a majority of soliders fighting in wars, they're a bunch of kids that can barely shave thrown into trenches, formations and battlefields, scared shitless and having no real clue what they're heading towards. Which is destruction.

There's a gigantic difference between Goebbels and Himmler and the German 18 year olds freezing to death in Leningrad.

"The Bridge On The River Kwai" bothers me because it forces us the idea that the Allies were oh-so noble, good and smarter than their Japanese captors. If you really look at it, the Allies were extremely pretentious for a bunch of guys that were caught and the Japanese seems overly kind and willing to bend rules. I mean, all they wanted a was a stupid bridge.

Then to make the Japanese commander look like a total moron seemed like an unnecessary cheap shot. That guy wanted what every British or American soldier wanted: To just go home.

'Nevermind'

I searched long and hard for this album and I couldn't find it. I believe it was one of many stolen in college. Needless to say, I went right out to my used CD store and bought a copy.

It still holds up. How could I not own a copy of the album that changed a lot of things culturally and musically for my generation? For better or for worse, that stinkin' band and that stinkin' album defined my youth.

Ironically, I enjoy it more 18 years (!!!!) later.

My notes:

1. There's a lot that this album means to people, however, I think we'd be remiss if we didn't mention the musicianship. Dave Grohl was a late-comer, but he put them over the edge. Such a tight and brilliant drummer, much like what Ringo Starr did for the Beatles. We don't hear enough about the tone on Kurt Cobain's guitar. And Kris Novaselic on bass ... listen to his work on "On A Plain" sometime.

2. Cobain flipping off the camera on the linear notes seems so forced and arbitrary. I wonder how he felt about it afterwards.

3. In fact, I wonder how he felt about a lot things. He always seemed so listless. Add in the drugs, depression and everything else and it just amplified this scene. Could you imagine being an engineer in the recording studio going in and asking Cobain to re-do a vocal? It probably took an act of god to get the guy to do anything.

4. These basic responsibilities I think helped ruin Cobain. Add on the fact that millions of teenagers adored a guy that had such poor self-image problems and that he had bigwig music people expecting him to lead some sort of anti-hair metal revolution and it was too much. Brushing his own teeth probably wasn't high on Cobain's to-do list. More or less lead a bunch of bratty surburban kids toward hating their parents and listening to Korn. I might have blown my brains out too.

5. Best songs, in order, when I was 14: "Drain You," "Lithium," "Smells Like Teen Spirit," "Come As You Are," "In Bloom," "Polly," "Lounge Act," "Something in the Way," "Stay Away," "On A Plain," "Breed" and "Territorial Pissings."

6. Best songs, in order, now: "Breed," "On a Plain," "Territorial Pissings," "Drain You," "Polly," "Stay Away," "Lounge Act," "Smells Like Teen Spirit," "In Bloom," "Lithium," "Something in the Way," and "Come As You Are."

7. In all, "Nevermind" was a well-produced punk album.

8. How did Nirvana really change anything culturally. First and foremost I think it helped independent rock music (although I wouldn't categorize them as "indie") somewhere on a broader map. I think it was also responsible for a lot of punk labels and bands to make it on a largers stage, Warped Tour, ska and all that entails. "Nevermind" and Coban were very angry entities. Much more angrier than any Marilyn Manson, Korn or whatever. We think Manson's fucking nuts for some of his stunts ... well, let's see him blow his brains out wearing Converse One Stars.

9. The first time I heard any part of "Nevermind" was in 1992 and my brother-in-law had the album and had me listen to "Polly." Despite owning the coolest album of the past 25 years before 85 percent of everyone else, my brother-in-law has the worst taste in music.

'Are You Experienced'

Interestingly, Hendrix and Co. decided against the question mark.

I've never been a big Hendrix guy despite being a faithful reader of "Guitar World" and "Guitar" for about a 10-year period starting in the early 1990s. Every other teenager of my ilk loved Hendrix and for good reason.

I just don't feel his songs were very good. The writing was so-so to straight-up bleh and the musicianship wasn't tight enough for me.

Hendrix gets a ton of props for his guitar playing, but Hendrix -- at least on record -- didn't bust out face-melting solos or anything. Hendrix was best at his rhythym playing. It's probably the most understated facet of his writing as it's understated for 99 percent of every guitar player. Hendrix' chord progressions are amazing and completely unique.

For the record, my favorite Hendrix was the blues compilation released about a decade ago and the "Band of Gypsies" album.

'Tess of the d'Ubervilles'

In my senior level fiction writing class, my professor preached to us over and over about finding our own voice.

It's easy to say, but near impossible to actually define. Do you know when you've found your voice or does someone else tell you?

Thomas Hardy's formal education ended at age 16 due to his socio-economic standing. So he didn't have the opportunity to have a sandal-wearing college professor to tell him to find his own voice in his writing. He just wrote. Hardy probably never even thought about "voice" or "theme" but no writer of the last 200 years had such a singular and signature voice than Hardy.

If you read 10 books without knowing the author and three were Hardy, you could pick out the Hardy books easily.

It is interesting that Hardy lived until he was 87 and didn't write another novel for the final 25+ years of his life. It's also interesting that he died in 1928. His presence in this world isn't that far detached.