I've watched that movie many times, but not in the last 10 years. I should watch again. I think it might feel like scrolling in TikTok, which could elevate scrolling in TikTok and maybe explain why, on any given day, I'd rather scroll in TikTok than watch a movie on television. I like the fragmentation!
July 11, 2026
"Who’s ever written a great work about the immense effort required in order not to create? Could it be that in this passivity, I shall find my freedom?"
Says the character identified as "Dostoyevsky Wannabe" in the credits to the sublime 1991 film "Slacker," quoted in a Daily Texan article, "Linklater’s Austin, 35 Years Later."
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18 comments:
We are the pirates that don't do anything.
That was about the "Old Austin" that has since disappeared. My favorite scene from Slacker was the bookstore clerk pushing JFK assassination books.
Melville--Bartelby the Scrivener.
I'm a big fan of Linklater.
The other day I was in a bar drinking in a beer, and I got in a conversation with the guy next to me, from Austin. We talked about Keep Austin Weird, Joe Rogan, all that stuff. And we talked about Richard Linklater. He had not heard of him!
Linklater has two Austin movies (I think), Slacker and Waking Life. In the same style, except the latter is animated.
Another great Linklater movie is Boyhood. Linklater shot this in bits and pieces over a decade, with his actor aging and getting bigger throughout the movie. Kinda brilliant. Those three Linklater movies are my favorites of his. Waking Life is #518 on my all-time list (solid A). Boyhood (#804) and Slacker (#853) are also great films, both getting an A- from me.
Another Althouse fave, Mike White, wrote School of Rock and got Linklater to direct it. That's another big winner for me. It's #550, solid A. And Jack Black's best acting, by far. Very passionate performance.
That slacker is kidding himself. Not creating requires no effort at all. You may think that you have some great idea or story within you, but if you don't express it what did you really have? Sometimes, people have had the idea that their whole lives are art. They aren't. You have to distill something out of experience and give it form and substance.
That said, the days of masterpieces are over. Few have the patience to read them. Fewer still to write them.
I rather have a tic tac than TikTok.
I hated "School of Rock." Jack Black was "droll" or ironic. He was walking around like his character was inherently funny without any actual jokes or comedy. He wasn't.
P.S. Does the fatwa against italics also apply to bold? Striking out? Underlining?
I liked Waking Life a lot. I think I may have rented it via Netflix mail dvd. That time is fuzzy, a blur I was going into NYC every weekend. Willie Nelson’s Night Life and Tom Perry’s It’s good to be king were my personal anthems.
Lazarus, do you like rock music?
School of Rock is one of the all-time great kid movies. Kid movies aren't for everybody, of course. And rock music isn't for everybody. But if you like rock music, and you're a rebellious child at heart, it's a fun movie. Definitely light-hearted. I agree, it's not particularly laugh out loud funny. Mostly good vibes.
Art is entirely subjective, in my experience, so a lot of this is just a matter of taste and mood.
I, for one, will never forget the Madonna Pap smear.
The problem "Boyhood" gave me was that the great concept was dangerously close to a Hollywood home movie. And the result was every bit as tedious. Never completed the 2 hr 45.
"Who’s ever written a great work about the immense effort required in order not to create?“
I’ve always wanted to, but it seems like so much work.
…well worth the rewatches. Created something…
I like music well enough. I don't like Jack Black much. It takes more than wacky faces to make a comedy.
This guy liked it even less than I did:
Everything Wrong with School of Rock In 16 Minutes or Less
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9oe-qbfvSo
That Daily Texan article sucks blue whale. Great idea to have the then-and-now pics. But the POVs don't match. The movie shots are mostly zoomed in, while the present-day pics are from farther away. So there's no way to tell if today's buildings were there in 1991. Also for some reason the captions call him David Linklater.
I thought journalism was dying. You'd think on a college paper, the students would make everything perfect so they'd have a good portfolio for the few remaining jobs. CC, JSM
"Who’s ever written a great work about the immense effort required in order not to create? Could it be that in this passivity, I shall find my freedom?"
Sounds like an ex brother in law of mine, but learning not to earn a living was his fortè. Not learning how to not create.
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