The Conical Glass: Have a seat

Saturday, September 08, 2007

Have a seat

Back in October 2005, I complained about the new age, pan-flute-music-playing, frou-frou nature of spas, and indeed, I have stayed away from them since then. However, during the past few days, my old neck and shoulder problems have recurred, and I really wanted some relief. What to do?

I have finally discovered the perfect, no-frills solution: CHAIR MASSAGE. A nearby pharmacy, Elephant Pharm in North Berkeley, has devoted a corner to On the Spot Massage, and you can drop by and get a 10- or 20-minute rubdown. You keep all your clothes on, there are fluorescent overhead lights but no scented candles, and since it's right next to the pharmacy counter, you can overhear people ask questions about their prescriptions as you sit there. This lack of atmosphere might be a detriment to some folks, but I find it relaxing as can be. Plus, you can grab shampoo, cough drops, and a tub of organic yogurt on your way out. Now that I've found it, I just need to be careful, lest I become a chair massage addict.

Autumn means the activity calendar is back in full swing. On Wednesday, I caught the new movie by Tom DiCillo, "Delirious." DiCillo directed the cult hit "Living In Oblivion," which came out in 1995 -- it played all of one night at Baltimore's Charles Theater, and somehow, I managed to catch it (I seem to recall that my friend Neal suggested it) and I was blown away by how clever and entertaining it was. His last feature film, 2001's "Double Whammy," never even got a theatrical release; since then, he's been directing for TV. "Delirious" uses some of the same tropes as "Oblivion" (i.e., a scene that you think is "real" until a director yells "Cut" and you realize you've been watching a movie-within-the-movie), and stars the same actor, Steve Buscemi. He plays Les, a New York paparazzo who is stalking a blonde pop tart named K'Harma (Alison Lohman). One day, he meets up with a young homeless street kid, Toby Grace (Michael Pitt), who somehow manages to persuade the irascible photographer to take him on as a sort of unpaid assistant. "Delirious" rubs your nose in the ugliness of New York's grungiest back alleys, and Buscemi's apartment looks like it could be condemned at any moment; indeed, Buscemi himself gives a performance that lacks even a shred of vanity, showing us how pathetic and nakedly vulnerable this character is. The plot kind of meanders, but the acting and the filmmaking -- especially the contrast between loser Les's dirty, smelly, miserable existence and the luxe life of the pop star, which are exquisitely rendered -- are top notch. Oh, and if you see it, stay until the very end of the credits or you'll miss the last scene.

Thursday, Joe and I headed to Cobb's Comedy Club in San Francisco to one of its special 25th anniversary shows, featuring four comedians who got their start at the club back in the early 1990s. Blaine Capatch has written for numerous TV shows and hosted a program on VH1; Brian Posehn co-stars on Comedy Central's hit "The Sarah Silverman Program"; Greg Behrendt made a fortune from his smash self help book He's Not Just That Into You; and Patton Oswalt is the funniest human alive today, along with the voice of Remy the rat in Pixar's "Ratatouille." I've seen Posehn a couple times and was just not that into him, but at this show, for some reason, his giant (seriously -- he's six and a half feet tall) nerd persona just worked for me, and I thought he was hilarious. I saw Behrendt do stand-up here in town from time to time before he became the mega-successful author he is today, and I had forgotten about his almost Tourette's-level use of profanity. Seriously, I think he used the "F" word about ten thousand times in 30 minutes. At one point, he mentioned a friend who was "into f---ing animals" -- he didn't mean that the friend had sex with animals, he just inserts that word in between pretty much any given pair of words, the way teenage girls use "like." But it kind of threw me for a sec, because I was expecting a bestiality gag. Loved the bit about his wife's crush on "The Office" star John Krasinski, though. Patton, of course, was Patton; I've lost count of how many times I've seen him live and he is always gut-bustingly funny. Of course, he went on last, because no one wants to follow him.

Today, Cerrito Classics was showing "Out of the Past" as part of its September film noir series. Out of the five films being screened, "Past" is the only one I had never seen before. It is really, really bleak, but Robert Mitchum couldn't be more splendidly nonchalant as the hero who gets involved with a beautiful but deadly dame (Jane Greer). At the risk of sounding like I'm 90 years old, the classic noir films prove that it was possible to make a suspenseful crime drama without excessive violence or cursing. Of course, instead of blood & the "F" word, the directors of yesteryear had cigarettes. Mitchum eventually died of lung cancer and emphysema, which will come as a surprise to no one who sees how much he smokes during this movie. I hate to say it, but even as a lifelong nonsmoker, I've gotta admit -- when people smoke in those old black and white films, it does look sensationally cool.

posted by 125records @ 9:31 PM

1 Comments:

At 6:02 PM, neal said…

Maybe there is a market for massage places that cater to people like Sue. I can imagine a frou-frou massage studio that recreated the busy ambiance of a crowded pharmacy.

I love it when I get credit for things that I have absolutely no recollection of. According to my handy dandy computer brain, we did indeed go see that movie on 8/24/95. Did I like it?

I did see La Vie en Rose earlier this week. I can still remember that and thought it was excellent, though the non-linear storyline was occasionally excessive and unnecessarily confusing.