Semi-Sequel to Once: The Swell Season

Now there’s a documentary doing the rounds called “The Swell Season” which chronicles the rise, fall and faded romance between the actor/musician duo.

Here’s the official synopsis for the film, followed by the trailer for what looks like a goosebump-evoking documentary :

In 2008, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova captivated audiences and earned two Academy Awards for their musical collaboration in the film Once, which reached $10 million at the box office and grew their popularity and fan base by tens of thousands in North America and throughout the world. As their fictional romance blurred with reality, they fell in love, recorded an album, and embarked on a world tour. Fueled by two years of exhilaration, performance, and psychological turmoil, The Swell Season is much more than a music documentary. It is a volatile and intimate portrait of a romance that fractures in the face of life on the road and personal tragedy. As Glen and Marketa’s relationship unhinges, ultimately music prevails as their enduring connection.

With incredible performances from around the world and an intimate seat on Glen and Marketa’s tour, The Swell Season will resonate with film fans and music fans alike.

If You Could Freeze Your Age, Which Age Would You Choose?

By Drew Magary
I recently wrote a novel called "The Postmortal" in which a scientist discovers a way to stop the human body from aging. You can still die after taking this cure. You can get shot or get AIDS or whatever. But your age stays the same. In the book, people freeze their age at various points. Old people still around when the cure is invented freeze their age and become the perma-elderly. Sex workers take it or are forced to take it at a relatively young age to appeal to clientele. But many people are allowed to freeze their age at any point they see fit (the main character does so at 29). Which got me wondering: What would be the BEST age for you to freeze yourself?

Keep in mind that maturity doesn't play a factor. If you freeze your age at 19, you don't stay as naive and stupid as a 19-year-old, you just look like one. I asked my parents this question and they didn't come to a mutual consensus. My dad said early thirties. My mom said forty, which I thought was crazy. Then again, I've never been forty, so I don't know how good it feels to be that age. I assumed turning forty felt like the Grim Reaper smacking you on the ass. But no! Apparently, some people are okay with it! Astounding.

Choosing an age to freeze yourself is shockingly difficult. You might choose age twenty, when you're young and fresh and wrinkle-free, and your ass hasn't started to sag and your tits still hold up. The problem is that, if you're frozen at twenty, you may mature but it doesn't APPEAR that you have. People may eternally think of you as an innocent waif who doesn't know anything, and that wouldn't be much fun. I'm 34 years old, and there's no way I'd ever choose to remain the 20-year-old me. I look like someone dropped me off in the city from a fucking cornfield. I don't want to look like that forever. And any younger would be out of the question as well. I was a fat child.

This question also cuts along gender lines as well. It's an old cliche that men age better than women, but I bet men would end up choosing to freeze themselves at an average older age than women if a cure for aging were ever found. George Clooney is fifty years old and I bet he considers himself in the prime of his life right now, this instant. He wouldn't go back very far to freeze his age. But society puts far more pressure on women to remain youthful-looking, and so you'd have a majority of ladies probably getting cured somewhere in their twenties. Of course, this is what I assume because I'm a horrible sexist pig.

It's also a difficult question to ponder if you've never experienced being every age. If you're 21 years old and someone offers to freeze your age, you might be stupid enough to be like, "HELL YES!" and do it without considering how you'll look and feel ten years hence. It's one of the things I realized when I was dicking around and writing this book. Each age is a step. Each age has its own unique value. And people have wildly different ideas of when they consider themselves to be in the prime of their existence. I think I'm in mine now. I think 34 sounds just about right. But maybe that's because I haven't been 44 yet. Or even 54. Maybe the best age to be is the one you are, to constantly be aging and changing and experiencing life as the person you've slowly become. I don't know. All I know is that freezing it at 65 would SUCK.

Joseph Gordon Levitt is a busy guy - New Trailer for "Premium Rush"

Aaron Sorkin is back with new HBO drama - More As This Story Develops

We have been guaranteed Jeff Daniels and Olivia Munn will appear on HBO, as Aaron Sorkin’s much talked about pilot has been picked up to series by the premium cable network. The drama, once known as More As This Story Develops, is without a title, but the names of the people involved more than make up for that. The show stars Daniels as a cable news anchor, as well as Emily Mortimer as the new executive producer. Sam Waterson appears as the big boss, while Olivia Munn, Alison Pill, John Gallagher Jr, Dev Patel, and Thomas Sadoski all play various staff members. They all hope to do good news despite commercial and corporate obstacles and their own personal issues. Deadline reports that there’s no set number of episodes that will be produce, though it’s probably safe to bet the number will be 10. I’ve been vaguely interested »

Fresh Air Interview: Jon Stewart

This little gem is from a Fresh Air interview back in Oct 2010. Really a great interview with Jon Stewart and about the depths of the Daily Show. If you have an hour to kill, listen to this.
PS: Go NPR for having a very well organized data base of interviews.