"A Prairie Home Companion" Movie Review

"A Prairie Home Companion" (October 14,2006).

For years my family occasionally tuned in to public radio on Saturday nights to catch snippets of Garison Keiler's radio show "A Prairie Home Companion." It's a variety show with musical guests, usually folk or blues; sketch comedy with imaginary characters like Guy Noir, Private Eye and Dusty and Lefty, the old trailhands; advertisements for fake products like Powder Milk Biscuits, the American Duck Tape Council, and Ahoowa Hot Sauce; some jokes; and a bit of story telling about a tiny fictional town in Minnesota called Lake Woebegone.

Growing up, I enjoyed the show and loved listening to the News from Lake Woebegone, told in Garrison Keiler's quiet baritone voice, and a love for the show's music which has enhanced the pleasure of watching movies like "O Brother Where Art Thou," where the folk/gospel tradition was a key story-telling device, making it to date one of my favorite movies.

For these reasons I thought I would really enjoy the movie "A Prairie Home Companion," directed by Robert Altman. The movie gives a fictional look behind the scenes of the show, where the show's reality is intricately and imaginitively interwoven with the fictional sketches its actors perform, so that Guy Noir and Dusty and Lefty become real contributors to the radio show, not just characters in a sketch. Paired with the movie's dynamite cast, which included Woody Harrelson (Dusty), Tommy Lee Jones (Axeman), Kevin Kline (Guy Noir), Meryl Streep (Yolanda Johnson), and Lindsay Lohan (Lola Johnson), not to mention Garrison Keilor as himself, this movie looked like it would soar into the heart of any fan of the show.

The plot, according to the movie's official web page, is the story of a fictitious radio variety show that has survived into the television era. Set on a rainy night in St. Paul, the movie features near the beginning the radio show's live audience filing into the Fitzgerald Theater, unaware that, since the show's station WLT had been bought by a conglommerate from Texas, this was to be the show's last broadcast.

It was an inventive plot with a strong beginning as Guy Noir sets the scene and brings the viewer backstage to see what is occurring while the radio show begins its broadcast. Yet, somewhere along the way the movie stalled out and toward the end, it crashed and burned, leaving me quite disappointed.

For me, the movie's biggest flaw was the interactions between what was occurring offstage and what was occurring in the broadcast of the radio show. There were a few times when the two worlds intermingled. One such instance occurred when the stage manager begs Dusty and Lefty to go out with class and not play a lewd song. Instead the two singing cowboys go out on stage and perform a song that includes a number of jokes, just clean enough to be broadcast over the radio. Another occurs when Yolanda Johnson hints at a love affair between herself and Keilor that ended badly. For the most part, though, the two worlds remain unattached with little to no interaction.

Such interactions would have saved the broadcast show portion of the movie from being little more than a series of mediocre, and at times boring, singing performances (even by Meryl Streep and Lindsay Lohan) and the show's fake advertisements, which for the most part turned out to be more singing performances. But what was missing most from the movie was a segment of the News from Lake Woebegone. Every time Garrison Keillor walked onto the broadcast show's stage I was expecting his next words to be, "It's been a quiet week in Lake Woebegone, my home town" with which he starts every one of his stories. The absence of the story left a large hole in the radio broadcast portion of the movie and in the entire movie itself. The inclusion of the News from Lake Woebegone would have offered an excellent opportunity for Keilor's character to address what was occurring behind the scenes in a way that was meaningful for the movie's audience and the cast of the radio show while presenting a bit of dramatic irony by alluding to things in the monologue about which the radio show's live audience has no knowledge.

So if you're a fan of "A Prairie Home Companion," it's worth a rental to hear Dusty and Lefty's jokes and to see Guy Noir fumbling around back stage, but on the whole prepare to be disappointed.

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars.

Just a little something on Barimetric Dynamics

Though we were told when we moved here that Wenatchee has about 300 days of sunshine a year, it seems to get cloudy and rainy here each fall. It's a pretty time of year, especially after an oven-hot summer where the sun is constantly shining. Come fall, it's darker in the mornings, and on some days the clouds rake across the mountains like the sky's anchors.

What I love most about this weather, though, is that it's a change from the status quo. Don't get me wrong. This isn't Seattle. It doesn't rain here every day during the fall. In fact, even though it's cloudy this time of year, it seems that rain rarely falls here in the valley.

But even though it's bright and cheerful, day after day after day of sunshine from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. can become monotonous. So it's a nice feeling when the wind blows in some clouds and the rain begins its inconstant drum roll on the windows.

Some friends of mine from Tacoma think I'm crazy to miss the rain, since they have so much of it. And it's true that I miss the rain, but it's more that I miss the change, the dynamics, the give/take, yin/yang, etc. Like summer needs its winter, the sun needs the rain.

Washington Apple Taste Test

Jen and I bought about 25 pounds of apples the other day at a place in Peshastin WA called Smallwood's Harvest. The price dropped from $1.20 a pound if you bought less than 10 pounds to $.69 a pound if you bought more than 25 pounds. There were tons of different varieties, each one stacked in a bin about the size of a cubic yard.

So we bought about 6 different varieties of apples for baking and eating. Right now I'm enjoying a wonderful apple crisp that Jen made with Granny Smith and Pink Lady apples.

Since we have all of these different kinds of apples, I'm doing a taste test to see which ones I like the best.

Overall Scores in the order of Brad's favorites:
Cameo: 9 This one may be my favorite, though it's probably a toss up between this one and Fujis. In my opinion, though Cameos are sweeter and crispier than Fujis.

Fuji Apples: 9 Good taste, sweet and crisp.

Gala: 7 Still crisp but not quite as crisp as the Fujis or Cameos and kind of sweet.

Granny Smith: 6.5 Pretty crisp with a nice mixture of sourness and sweetness. It's a little sour for my tastes, but if you like the sour apple flavor Granny Smiths are the way to go.

Rome: 6 This one reminds me of the poison apple in Snow White. It's a deep red color. It tastes really sweet, however, it's the softest of the apples.

Pink Ladies: 3 Really crisp but too sour and tart to eat. Great for baking.

Apples in order of Crispness:
Pink Ladies
Granny Smith
Cameo
Fuji
Gala
Rome

Apples in order of sweetness:
Rome
Gala
Cameo
Fuji
Granny Smith
Pink Ladies

How to Avoid Work by Blogging

I'm avoiding working. That's why two posts in two days. I have to do this thing as a vocational rehabilitation consultant intern called a labor market survey. It's to see whether there is a labor market in a given area for a certain occupation. So what's involved is cold calling companies and asking about their business. For instance, I have to ask the following questions in one way or another:

• How many people to do you employ in the occupation I am calling about?
• Have you hired anyone recently?
• Are you looking to hire anyone in the near future?
• How much does the position pay?
• What are the physical requirements of the job?
• What skills or qualifications would make someone employable for this position?

There is a positive labor market in an area when you find a healthy number of positions for a given occupation. For instance, Wenatchee most likely has a positive labor market for forklift drivers, office clerks, cashiers, carpenters, most other trades, etc. However, Wenatchee would have a negative labor market for say a tattooist (only two shops here in town) or a shoe repairer (only one shop as far as I know).

And of course, when you call companies and ask for this information, the companies get a little defensive. A lot of them think you're trying to sell them something or are trying to place someone in a job at their company, others don't understand why you want this information or wonder how you're going to use this information, others just have too much stuff to do to talk to you. It's a struggle to find information, and it makes this job just a little more difficult.

In fact, I think I'm developing a little bit of a phobia for calling people. I get nervous. My blood pressure goes up, and I use all sorts of avoidance tactics, like posting this blog for one thing. It's wierd. I don't mind talking to people on the phone if I have some reason for calling that impacts their company. But when it comes to imposing on people for information that they are not all that willing to share, it gets uncomfortable for me.

Well, I guess I should get back to it, then. I've got five businesses listed here that I'm planning to call this afternoon. Wish me luck.

A Little Freewriting is good for the Soul

It's an exercise that I love doing--freewriting. I try to do it from time to time, and I try to pass that same exercise on to my students. Today in class we did some freewriting, in preparation for our next writing assignment. I wrote along with them, as I try to do as often as I can, and I came up with the following freewrite, presented to you unedited:

It's really nice out today, kinda cloudy, kinda rainy, kinda cool. But it's nice because its a change for Wenatchee. Usually it's sunny and clear, hot as hell, like an oven, and dry. It hasn't rained here for months. And I miss rain and cloudy days when you wake up and it's still a little dark out, when the rain plops on your roof and you can hear it snug in bed. I miss thunder, which you can hardly ever hear out here, the slow rumble of a storm off in the distance.

Played soccer last night. It was muggy and humid. People were tripping on the ball because they're not used to the way it feels on your boot when it's humid. It sticks slightly and you have to be careful about how you make contact with the ball. I didn't have any problems with that, I guess because I've had experience with it in the past. In fact, I would have liked the ball to be a little stickier, if it could've been.

So here I sit in class freewriting. It's going well. For the most part people are still writing--a powerful exercise if done right. My hand hurts. Time to stop, I think.