Two Things at Once
Well, I had an eventful day yesterday. In the morning Aimey and I went hiking with a friend in the marin headlands. It sprinkled almost the entire time, but the scenery was amazing. It was along the coast where we saw two beautiful lakes and a waterfall that falls onto the beach sand and out to sea. Marin is just amazing for hiking. Every place we have gone up there for hiking has been quite stunning.
After an hour of driving each way and 5 and a half hours of hiking, I went to see Metallica: Some Kind of Monster at the SF Int'l Film Fest. The documentary was a very inside look into the lives, turmoil, therapy, and egos during the development of the most recent album St. Anger. I know it sounds like a bad VH1 episode of Behind the Music. But is was very good and revealing. The project started as just a documentation of the process of creating of a record, but turned into a fully naked exposure of their lives. This all occured during the period in which, Jason Newsted quits, Hetfield goes into substance abuse rehab, and the near collapse of Metallica, mid 2001 to mid 2003). Even for someone not knowing or caring about Metallica, this movie is worth seeing for its no holds barred view of a rock group torn from within and the development process of a big name record. What was really cool about the event is that Metallica was there with the director/producers for Q and A after the movie. It was very obvious that they were weary of the movie. They paid for it. They are scared of it. They poured their hearts out on tape and now the whole world will have access to that. They all seemed to have their own reservations about it, but they all seemed to think it was the right thing to do. As a review in the SF Guardian said, "It is probably the least vain musician vainty films ever." Anyway, it will be released in the theatres in August I think. Obviously it wont be a general release, but limited to theatres that play indie cinema. ANyway I highly enjoyed it. If you have the chance your should see it.
Huzzah