Raising Hell in Arizona (And Hell in General)

At the moment there are many, many, MANY reasons for which I could declare my anger to the universe, but I honestly am to tired to do so at the moment. So I'll talk about movies instead--that instant refuge wherein I may ensconce myself, hide away from reality, and feel comfortable.

So last weekend I saw "They Shoot Horses Don't They" at Norris Theater during my ever-brief visit to USC to try and take care of some apartment matters (at the moment all apartment matters seem to be in a shithole despite my best efforts, hence the anger at the universe, but never mind). While I thought the movie was well-executed and acted, it has done nothing to lift me out of the feelings of exhaustion and hopelessness that have settled over the last several days. The moral of the movie, as far as I could tell, was that life sucks and is tiring, and if you are born into a shitty position, there's no way you can beat the system. Charming! Thanks for uplifting my spirits Sydney!

The GOOD part about the movie was that director Sydney Pollack himself came out afterwards to answer questions. Luckily HE was a pretty chipper and cool guy, so that helped alleviate the mood just a tad.

Last night I also watched one of my all-time favs "Raising Arizona" with my friends for what must have been the zillionth time (for me, not them). However, I came to a totally new realization about what the movie is about.
(STOP NOW IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE GENIUS THAT IS "RAISING ARIZONA"!)
Anyone still with me? Sweet. So, remember the crazy "Lone Biker of the Apocalypse?" You know, the guy who blows up bunnies with grenades? I had always assumed that he was a manifestation of the devil whom H.I. conjured up through his kidnapping of Nathan Jr, and this is still true. To a point...

There's a part during the fight at the end where Nicholas Cage (aka H.I. McDunnough) discovers the Lone Biker Leonard Smalls has a Woody the Woodpecker tattoo. H.I. has the same tattoo, as revealed in the film's opening scenes. I always assumed this was Coen Bros. randomness, but now I realize that the Lone Biker in fact represents the dark side of H.I.'s own criminal natures, hence at the end H.I. is fighting the manifestation of his evil self. This is further emphasized when H.I. and Edwina (Holly Hunter) return Nathan Jr. to his daddy, and Nathan Arizona says, "You guys with Smalls?" H.I. replies, "No, that's who we saved him from...it's a long story."

Of course like all good movies this is open to interpretation and there is no REAL answer to who the Lone Biker is, but I felt like voicing this new "discovery" as proof that "Raising Arizona" is something that can be watched and enjoyed over and over again. I'm sure all this film analysis babble isn't very interesting to the reader, but since I love "Raising Arizona" so much I had to say something. In fact, I'm actually very surprised I never picked up on this idea earlier, seeing how much I adore the film.

Anyways, here's hoping I don't get my head ripped off tomorrow.

Oh yeah...and I got a new cell phone...with new ring tones...at least THAT'S kinda cool.