Friday Floetry X 11/9/07

This week’s Floetry comes from Jay-Z’s (Hov’s) new album, American Gangster. The album is not the official soundtrack for the movie by the same name, but it is inspired by the movie. By the way, American Gangster beat out Jerry “Don’t you know who I am?” Seinfeld’s Bee Movie for the top movie spot last weekend despite American Gangster playing in about 1,000 less theaters (according to Jud). Jay-Z spent some of his youth as a drug dealer (or trapper) in Brooklyn so he felt a connection to the movie, which is based on the real life story of Frank Lucas.

Lucas went from being a small time criminal, to driver for a bigger time drug dealer, to one of the most “successful” dealers of all time. Lucas still brags that he and his “organization” (the Country Boys) sold about $1 million dollars worth of heroin a day in the Harlem streets. The movie claims that Lucas had $250 million at the “end” -- and that’s $$$ in 1970’s dollars, not whatever crazy amount it would be today with inflation etc. Lucas also claims that the cops stole almost $10 million in cash from him in one day (the cops claim there was "only" about $585,000 in cash which they properly processed at their offices).

Anyway, I’m getting beyond the point for today, which is to present some Floetry. For more on the Lucas story, check out the movie and also this link. The link is to a New York Magazine article that helped turn Lucas’ story into a film which in turn inspired Hov to make his second album after his return from his “retirement”.


Floetry:


this is not for commercial usage
please dont catagorize this is music
please dont compare me to other rappers
compare me to trappers im more Frank Lucas than Ludacris
and Luda's my dude i aint trying to diss
like Frank Lucas is cool but i aint trying to snitch
imma follow the rules no matter how much time imma get
imma live and die with the decisions that imma pick
so f**k the haven for cave in, thats why we dont speak
made men aint supposed to make statements
end of the story i followed the code cracked the safe
other ni**as aint in the game so they practice hate
leave that boy Hov alone why dont ya
you dont have to if you dont want to but dont say i didnt warn ya


Taken from No Hook by Jay-Z from the album American Gangster

American Gangster

This was a fantastic movie, but unfortunately, doesn't quite reach the elite status of other gangster movies, namely Goodfellas and the Godfather. I would put this on the level of Casino, a movie that was really enjoyable, but just seemed to be missing something. The one thing that does separate American Gangster from the others of its ilk is that Ridley Scott made this more into a docudrama more closely related to films like Ray and Walk the Line, rather than a new Scarface. Scott really keyed us in on who the main players were and gave us a great character-driven story. Denzel Washington was simply amazing as Frank Lucas, being able to switch from cold-blooded killer to generous family man in the blink of an eye. Russell Crowe, once again, proved his acting chops playing the lead detective that brings Lucas down. The supporting actors were great as well and served as good foils for our lead characters, especially Chiwetel Ejiofor (playing Lucas' brother - also great in Inside Man with Denzel) and Armand Assante (as Dominic Cattano, the mafioso that worked with Lucas). Also, it was nice seeing Cuba Gooding Jr. back in a non-embarrassing movie role along with rappers turned actors, RZA, T.I. and Common turning in solid performances. The one great thing about this flick was that it was not overly violent, which can be a problem for movies dealing with this subject matter (not to say that there wasn't some violence, along with a little gratuitous nudity).

The movie did run a tad too long at about 2 hours and 40 minutes, but it definitely didn't feel like it was that long. I think Scott could have removed a good 25-30 minutes of the runtime, especially the scenes with Crowe's character's divorce proceedings. We understand he is a broken man and we feel sympathy for him, but at the same time, it just seemed unnecessary. On the other hand, the scenes provided us with Carla Gugino and I am not one to ask for her to ever be cut out of a movie. Further, Ridley Scott, along with his brother Tony (Domino, Man on Fire, Deja Vu) is known for his sylistic touches on his movies. Sometimes it can be over the top, especially the club scene in this film that gave me a little bit of a headache, but some of these added touches helped give the movie the feel of being in late 60s, early 70s Harlem. One small thing was towards the end, I believe I saw the boom mike at the top of the frame in a few scenes. Minor quibbles, but nonetheless important to a review.

Overall, this was one of the better movies this year and Denzel and Russell could be up for some hardware come Oscar time.

5.5 out of 6 beers

Quick Thought

Hey Don Shula. Go suck an egg. There will be no asterik. If the Patriots are going to finish 19-0, they will do it because they were tattled on by a former employee. I am suuure that there was nothing illegal going on back in the early 1970s. You are just worried that you and your geezers with the champagne will become irrelevant if the Patriots go 19-0 because they will have performed a feat much much greater than your 1972 Dolphins. First, they will have to win more games than your Dolphins did. Second, considering the salary cap and the parity in the league, what the Patriots are doing is simply amazing. Go back to owning your steakhouse (which is very good by the way). We should put an asterik on that '72 team because they only went 17-0 and the Patriots will have to win 19 in order to fully go undefeated. It only seems fair.

Also, you a**holes stole that song from the Oilers.

Houston Oilers, Houston Oilers, Houston Oilers Number One!

WGA Strike

As many of you know, I watch a lot of television, so news today that the Writers Guild of America went on strike today and many are picketing in Rockefeller Plaza in NYC. The main deal points at issue have to do with DVD sales and potential internet broadcasting of television shows. I am not here to discuss what I think of this, mostly because I am not involved in the industry, but I wanted to keep my readers updated of happenings in the entertainment world. To keep up with the goings-on, I would suggest checking out a new blog over at tvguide.com here.

What does this mean for the shows many of us watch? Not a whole lot yet, but the two biggest shows that may be impacted the greatest are 24 and Lost. Since both shows are set to run straight through from January-May without reruns, the producers do not want to only show a few episodes, then all of a sudden have to wait months for new episodes. Also, Heroes has apparently filmed a new ending to an episode that could serve as the season finale if it is deemed necessary. The main consequence of this strike for the viewing public is that come December/January, we can expect to see a helluva lot more reality tv and game shows than I know all of us would prefer. We finally have a good group of scripted shows for the first time since the late 90s/early 00s instead of the reality schlock that has plagued the airways for the past few years that this strike comes at a terrible time for viewers.

I will be updating the blog every so often to discuss any new developments in this arena.

The Fifth of November

Remember, remember, the Fifth of November, the Gunpowder Treason and Plot. I know of no reason why the Gunpowder Treason should ever be forgot... But what of the man? I know his name was Guy Fawkes and I know, in 1605, he attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament. But who was he really? What was he like? We are told to remember the idea, not the man, because a man can fail. He can be caught, he can be killed and forgotten, but 400 years later, an idea can still change the world. I've witnessed first hand the power of ideas, I've seen people kill in the name of them, and die defending them... but you cannot kiss an idea, cannot touch it, or hold it... ideas do not bleed, they do not feel pain, they do not love... And it is not an idea that I miss, it is a man... A man that made me remember the Fifth of November. A man that I will never forget.

- Evey Hammond, V For Vendetta

Quick Rant

Can anybody please tell why every week at 2:30pm, I am stuck watching a Big 12 game on ABCHD, but the game is not in high definition? I don't mind watching Big 12 games at that time as ABC has picked some good games, but why is every other conference game on ABC in HD, but not the Big 12? I watched the Nebraska-Kansas game on FSNHD and it looked beautiful (especially with the Huskers getting their collective arses handed to them), but the UT-Oklahoma State looked dark and just awful for a marquee game on a flagship station for a flagship conference. This same thing has happened for all Big 12 games on ABC and it is getting frustrating. I would rather watch a matchup between lowly ACC teams than have to suffer through another non-HD broadcast of the Big 12. If I didn't want HD, I would not have a badass tv.