The Impossible Dream

With a nod to "The Man From La Mancha", last night I dreamed the impossible dream. I saw Dave Chappelle and Debra Winger in a Terence Malick film with source material by Thomas Pynchon and music by Sly Stone & Axl Rose.

When he was popular, I was not a Dave Chappelle fan nor was I that wild about Guns N' Roses in their heyday with Rose up front. I've struggled to crack the hallucinatory novels of Pynchon; some of Malick's films have left me a bit confused. So among this group, only the film work of Debra Winger and Sly Stone's music from the late 60's- early 70's has worked for me in a big way. But the disappearance of Chappelle and longtime absence of Winger as well as the legendary inaccessibility of both Malick & Pynchon, despite awards and massive critical acclaim, intrigues me. I know VH-1's "Behind the Music" has built its model around  musicians who publicly self-destruct. I included Stone & Rose here primarily because the film needed a soundtrack. And their rock-n-roll stories are arguably more interesting train wrecks. 

Several years ago a documentary called "Searching For Debra Winger" was released. Despite a spurious claim to be above it all, I was fascinated. If you're at all interested in what drives some people to turn away from their field, seemingly at the top of their game, I recommend it. Against my holier-than-thou better judgment, I freely admit that since seeing the film Dave Chappelle has crossed my mind a few times. Who has similarly crossed your mind?