I finally sat down to catch HBO’s “The Girl” and sat through it twice because I didn’t like it the first time and wanted to be sure it was the film and not me.  A second viewing didn’t change much, but it really had nothing much to do with what the director or actors did “wrong” at all. Sure, I knew of Hitchcock’s blonde ambitions and particularly peculiar proclivities from books and magazines I’d read, so that didn’t bother me one bit. I think it’s the general shorthand of the biopic or more precisely, those “based on (or worse, “inspired by”) a true story” films that condense certain elements of a person’s life to easily digestible cookies baked up from a Cliff Notes recipe that leaves the barest aroma of truth and the aftertaste of too many artificial ingredients and cooks in the kitchen…

Nevertheless, being a fan of the man’s films, I guess I’m going to see Hitchcock at some point (once it hits cable), but even then, I’m going in with a jaded eye because it’s yet another brief glimpse into the man’s life and work from the same period and not a more compelling look at his full body (no pun intended) of work. Then again, that’s what ACTUAL documentaries are for (well, in a perfect world), so I’d gather what’s already been done of that front as well as all the other books written about Hitch are fine for those who can tell the difference between Hollywood taking their spending money and filling their heads with fluff (and butter flavored oil).

Feh. Then again, this IS the era of the lazy but all too social butterfly who can’t be bothered to do actual research on any subject save for poking around the internet to confirm things they want to believe are true. That or instead of asking Mr. Owl, they’ll debate him and tell him he’s a damned liar because they have their own facts and that person who they got their facts from has a billion fans on Falsebook, so that makes them always right.Yeah, yeah – I complain too much. But hey, at least I believe in my own BS a lot less than too many others who don’t even know they’re dead wrong more often than they’re right. Oh, for the days where some people kept personal diaries with locks on them…

Oh yeah, the videos in this post? Well, I figure I may as well add something more fun to watch than any clips or trailers from either Hitch pic. That and I had Hyts “Backstabber” looping in my head for a while earlier this year for some crazy reason and I hadn’t heard the song nor seen the video for probably over 20 years. I still remember MTV running that hilarious video (it’s like a performance art piece gone tragically funny) and Landscape’s even more obscure song “My Name Is Norman Bates” back to back during one Halloween-themed block and figured you should see them if you haven’t. OK, enough pointless bitching (hey, everyone needs a hobby, right?) – I’ve got some games to play…