Inspiration from the Woodstock Film Festival
1. A Beatles' work is never done. In fact, if he could have, John Lennon would have gone back and rerecorded all of the Beatles' records.
This was far from the point of the documentary "All Together Now," which explores the making of the Beatles and Cirque du Soleil's Vegas extravaganza "Love." Still, can you imagine?! (No pun intended.)
Producer George Martin told the story, citing his favorite Beatles song.
"Even 'Strawberry Fields?!'" he says he asked Lennon in disbelief. And, as Martin tells it, Lennon pushed his now iconic glasses down on his nose and, over them, he looked Martin in the eye and replied, "Especially Strawberry Fields."
2. Sexuality trumps spirituality. On the 40th anniversary of the unsolved murder of a former Civil Rights leader, a small town tries to cope with and overcome the ripple effect of racism. "Gospel Hill" stars Danny Glover, Angela Bassett, Samuel L. Jackson, Julia Stiles and first-time director Giancarlo Esposito, among others.
But it doesn't matter how poignant a film is or how amazing the acting is. If you cast Taylor Kitsch (better known in my mind as Riggins, cuz I love "Friday Night Lights) in a film -- especially if he's cast as a landscaper who mows lawns in the hot southern sun -- you are obligated (I believe under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights) to shoot him shirtless.
3. There is a ratings via controversy opportunity being tragically overlooked! I'm talking about a Super Bowl wardrobe malfunction/Madonna making out with Britney-caliber event.
Yeah, inviting Kevin Smith to screen a movie with the word "porno" in it ought to be warning enough that sitting next to your child is going to be uncomfortable. (Not like a VW Bug, either.) And everyone else should know what they're in for.
But even Woodstock couldn't know that honoring this master of disgusting dialogue with the Maverick Award would be the catalyst for a 15-minute foray into the deepest, darkest places in Smith's mind.
If YouTube required a motion picture association rating, this acceptance speech would earn the NC-17 rating Smith barely dodged with "Zack & Miri Make a Porno." The real lesson? Kevin Smith needs to win an Oscar so we can see that mofo of a (bleep)ing monologue.
... or should I say ... 
4. Women over a certain age are simply not rational. I know, guys, you think all women are irrational. But then there's this weird thing that happens when you tell a room full of these women that you believe Donovan is harboring a massive inferiority complex. Whew! They do not want to hear that their "Hurdy Gurdy Man" is at his most interesting when he's talking about who he used to know rather than who he used to be.
I mean, here's a guy, admittedly a great pop star back in his day, who was one of the Maharishi's posse along with the Beatles. He was buds with Bob Dylan. He recorded with John Paul Jones, John Bonham and Jimmy Page before Robert Plant came along and they turned into Led Zeppelin.
And yeah, he himself was huge! I hardly deny it. But the 120-minute self-narrated ode to self that is "Sunshine Superman: The Journey of Donovan" is epic... as in really long. And it's poetic... in that the person most interested in hearing about how important Donovan has been is not the crazy lady of a certain age. It's the person who never tires of hearing himself say it.
5. Johnny Cash could have won a presidential election. Not only that, he would have made a damn fine president.
Just look at who shows up to tell his incredible life story in "Johnny Cash's America." You've got his fam, of course -- sister Joanne and kids Roseanne, Cindy and John Carter. But then you've got Al Gore, Bob Dylan and Snoop Dogg.
Who didn't love the fabulous Johnny Cash? What axis of evil wouldn't walk a more righteous line if the leader of the free world was a man who saw prisons as concert halls? How much more efficient might FEMA have been if the writer of "Five Feet High and Rising" had been calling the shots? And how perfect would it have been to put the Man in Black into the White House?
