MARCH MADNESS, MARS BLACKMAN, BLACK MARCHES

MARCH MADNESS

I'm not ready to give you all my picks yet so that you can win thousands in the local office pool. You'll just have to wait until selection Sunday this week. And I will say one more time....please hold your breath for the University of Arizona. If they don't get in, there goes the longest streak of consecutive years in the tournament down the toilet and the start of basketball misery will suddenly consume all of us Wildcat fans - for the first time EVER. And since I'm not giving out men's NCAA tournament picks yet, how about some props to the UCONN Huskies ladies team. Are you kidding me...undefeated? What have they lost about 3 games in the past 10 years. Where is the University of Connecticut anyway? Someone told me that since the men's and women's basketball teams are so good, that they found out that the university might be in Connecticut. I'm still not sure. Do they offer any courses there?

MOVIE OF THE DAY SELECTION

HE GOT GAME.....yeah I said it and I'll say it again ....HE GOT GAME......by one of my all time favorite directors Spike Lee......that's right.....I'll say it again......Spike freakin Lee. If this blog does nothing else for you in the arena of movie viewing, please allow me to let you in on a little secret.....Spike has written and directed a number of great movies. Now I know some may be alarmed that there is a limited number of white actors and actresses in these movies and therefore the potential emotional depth and beauty of these movies is somehow compromised due to this fact. Are you f^&*ing insane????? Really? Can you not see the greatness of someone at the top of their profession? Can you not see an artist in their prime? Oh...was I suppose to review "He Got Game"? Long story short (as you know I like to give little info about the movie).....yes, a basketball story...more of a life story about boy's relationship with his dad and starring Denzel Washington and current NBA superstar Ray Allen who Spike Lee picked because he wanted a good basketball player that was pretty much unknown. Allen was not known at all at the time and had not acted a day in his life. It takes a great director to make this work and it's a great film.....oh, did I mention genius?......entire soundtrack is music by Aaron Copland...funny, Basketball = American Invention...Aaron Copland = perhaps America's greatest composer.

BLACK MARCHES

That's what I would call all those cute little sarcastic yet bitterly intense marches that can easily be found prancing their way through any one of Shostakovich's major works. But just for kicks...if you're sitting around someday and want to enjoy and fun march....and one that should have gotten the composer shot on the spot...listen to Shostakovich's 9th symphony. Listen as Stalin listened....all sittin' proud surrounded by his possy looking forward to hearing a great heroic work that would yet again solidify the Soviet state as the great power and provider of excellence and nobility in the arts. Be proud when you prepare to listen...prepare for boldness...prepare for intensity and drama.....now .....go ahead...go ahead...hit the play button and sit back. I would do anything to go back in time and have Stalin's pulse and blood pressure monitored as he hears the opening cartoonish circus march. What a great moment in the history of music.