Friday, February 07, 2003

yet another mexican restaurant

not quite. but taqueria nayarit on Boulevard has some fine food and great prices, despite the rundown daunting neighbourhood it seems housed in. I tried out their Cuban sandwich (so I could have something to compare the marvel available at Kool Korners Grocery). Very filling and tasty, especially the cheese that acquired some great taste thanks to the mix of the other ingredients. Chips and salsa on the side, needless to say. The television and the jukebox churned out latino entertainment that seemed to bear a very strong resemblance to conventional Indian tele-soaps and mushy melodies respectively.

They'll talk to ya and talk to ya and talk to ya about individual freedom. But they see a free individual, it's gonna scare 'em

Caught the remastered version of Easy Rider on DVD yesterday, and the film is as (perhaps more) glorious as the first time I caught it in a film class. Being mostly a film about the times, trials, tribulations and political ideologies of the 60s, the film does seem to sag in portions, but all in being very faithful to the decade it stands as a testament for. At the highest level, this is a film about a journey of discovery, a bike movie with two friends heading out to make it big, with the sexual revolution of Mardi Gras and money from a drug deal to settle down in Florida. The fatalistic voyage in reverse (from west to east, instead of 'go west') also works as a western (Wyatt [Earp] and Billy[the Kid] on their bikes [horses] passing through Monument Valley) and as a parable about religion and self (the film is peppered with references and allusions). All this is accompanied by a great soundtrack that underscores the "true to life" performances from the leads (including Dennis Hopper's patent-pending hippie take and a pre-cliche Jack Nicholson) and some innovative editing (jump cuts that serve to foreshadow events of the future). The DVD also has commentary by Dennis Hopper and Shaking the Cage, an enlightening documentary of reminiscences about a movie that got made purely out of intention and chance, rather than informed calculation.

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