Mystic Rivaaaah and a story
A car burns on Bennington St.
The old man and I went to see Mystic River Saturday night. It was wicked pissa. I especially enjoyed hearing all the culaful accents. Oh, those actors tried so haaaahd to mimic the Boston vernaculaah, so I shouldn't criticize them too much. But, man, were those brutal attempts. Laura Linney (Annabeth Markum) should win the academy award for worst accent. She sounded like she had just gotten off the boat from Cliched-Irish/Catholic-ville. (boy, that was funny....) Surprisingly, Boston.com said this of the accents: "The infamous accent varies from actor to actor, but there's nothing to match the horror that was Rob Morrow in ''Quiz Show.'' For the record: Linney nails it, Robbins comes close, and Penn's all over the map." Uhhh, if she "nails" it, then I must be out of touch with South Boston. whatever.
Oh, and I liked the little references for Boston audiences: the depressing Red Sox, Dunkin Donuts coffee, the WB56 newscast (huh? Nobody watches channel 56. I guess that's the whole "synergy" thing -- WB56 and Warner Brothers studios: both crap.), and of course the ubiquitous Catholic priest child molester (there must be thousands of those).
After the movie I drove around town a little and happened to come across the car fire above at about 12:45am. I spotted it before the fire department arrived and snapped a few mediocre pictures. Fumbling with changing film and the cold weather, that picture was the only decent one. At any rate, I talked to the car's owner, who claimed that some kids had set fire to his car and run away. The fire investigator confirmed that the fire was intentional but didn't make any other conclusions. With the rash of insurance scams throughout the city, I'm a little skeptical of the incident. The owner apparently witnessed the "kids" torching his car but couldn't identify or stop them. Also, it's odd that the headlights were on while the car burned.
Anyway, I left at about 1:30 and sped to the Tribune to report a potential news item. To my surprise and dismay, there weren't any reporters or photographers at work. There was one sports guy and a few cleaners in the newsroom. Since I don't know how to use the C41 processor, I went home with my film and waited until morning. Sunday, I tried to find a place to have my film developed then returned to work around 11am. Again, there was just one guy writing obituaries. What happens on the weekend or at night if something happens? (admittedly, a car arson isn't big news, but with such thin Monday editions, one would think they wouldn't mind some extra "filler") I scanned my few frames and left, and nobody read the email I sent until Monday. By that time, it would've been old news. Ah well. At least I learned a couple things:
Since I've developed a greater appreciation and interest in Lawrence as a photographic subject, maybe the interest will lead to a weekly "paper" of some sort in the future....
Ah! The wheels are turning!