Monday, December 7, 2009

The Night That Music Died

This cold December night in the big city began quietly with a chubby man wearing thick glasses on the sidewalk outside of the Dakota building. Mark David Chapman. He had with him a copy of "The Catcher in the Rye". He read it to himself, as he sat in the shadows. He had met John Lennon earlier that morning and had gotten the Beatle's autograph. It was in one of his pockets, in the other pocket was a loaded gun.

The 40 year old rock star got out of the limo with Yoko ahead of him John turned back to thank the driver, letting his wife go on ahead. Yoko barely noticed the man standing on the corner, it was New York after all. She walked right by him. Mark David Chapman now stood in the shadows, breathing slowly and quietly. In his coat pocket he felt the cold of the gun against his fingertips. He waited. Finally the ex-beatle left the limo and began to catch up to Yoko, who was waiting for him the lobby. She watched as the stranger stepped from the shadow behind her husband. "Mr. Lennon," he yelled. But before John could turn around, a hot and stinging bullet pierced the left side of his back. BANG. Another shot, this time the bullet missed and hits the window of the apartment building. Yoko screamed. BANG. Another shot, this time hit slightly above the first. BANG. Another bullet ripped through John's jacket and into his shoulder. BANG. Yet another hot bullet hit below the last. BANG. The last of the gunshots ripped through John's aorta, the largest artery in the body.


Blood spilled out of his chest onto the frozen pavement. But he wasn't dead. John Lennon stumbled up the steps of the building, and into the lobby. "I'm shot," he muttered between deep breaths. The concierge took off his uniform and wrapped John in it. His signature round glasses were removed from his face.


The doorman ran to the murderer, who stood watching, emotionless. He shook the gun from the killer's hand and pushed it across the sidewalk. Chapman simply sat down and removed his hat. The doorman asked Chapman "Do you have any idea what you've just done?", to which the assassin responded, "Yes. I just killed John Lennon."

Yoko cradled her love, and wept.

As the cop car careened towards the hospital, Lennon rolled around the back seat. The officer asked, "Do you know who you are?" Lennon nodded weakly and tried to speak, but could only make a gurgling sound.

Lennon was pronounced dead on arrival to the ER at 11:15 PM on December 8, 1980.

Some say music died that night.

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Creation of TheMindGorilla (and Cop Land review)

Hello fellow-bloggers, friends, and creepers.

I decided today, on a whim, to create a blog space. I don't know anyone who has a blog, nor do really expect anyone to read this. But I guess this will be a way for me to express the things that bounce around in my mind.

Things that could pop up here at any given time:
Story ideas (safer here than on my faulty hard drive)
Movie Reviews
Random Thoughts
Movie News/Reaction to Movie News
Politics (So boring. I probably can't intrigue myself enough to write politics, but who knows.)

So, let's get the ball rolling!

Cop Land
(1997)
Director: James Mangold
This is the 3rd film from James Mangold that I've seen, ("Walk the Line"and "3:10 to Yuma") and I've loved them all. Stallone, De Niro, Ray Liotta, Harvey Kietel, and Robert Patrick all deliver memorable and perfect performances. Stallone is the hero of the picture and he is easily the most likable hero that I've seen in a movie in a long time. The best thing about Mangold's movies are his interesting characters, and this is no exception. The good guys are good, the bad guys are bad; but there's so much more than that. Stallone plays a small town Sheriff in a town filled with big city cops. The big cops live here because its quiet and just outside of the city, and they look down on Stallone because all he seems to do is give parking tickets. Stallone finds that the cops in his city are involved in some big city scandals, but how do you punish your fellow cops? This film is excellent. It is visually clear, not stunning, but its never confusing. The performances are top-notch. (Anyone who says Stallone can't act, needs to take a look at this!) The story is multi-faceted with interesting characters. Our hero has a clear goal, and clear obstacles preventing him from completing that goal. There are some ADR mistakes, and a couple other sound goofs, but overall its an excellent film. I was pleasantly surprised.