BS: Pretty Good

Subject: RE: BS: Pretty Good
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 28 Jan 07 - 12:33 PM

Hey, Kat:

I pulled out one of my movie books and was surprised at how many movies he made (and probably had such a small part that I don't rmember him.) Farnsworth, that is. Here are a few:

Lassie '94
Misery '90
The Two Jakes '90
Anne Of Green Gables '85
The Natural '84
Waltz Across Texas '83
The Grey Fox '83
Tom Horn '80

That's about one-third of the movies he made. I saw a few of these on the list, and I don't remember him being in them. He rarely played the lead.

One great thing about starting a thread. The originator never criticizes you for thread drift.

Kinda like real life.

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Pretty Good
From: katlaughing
Date: 28 Jan 07 - 11:11 AM

Farnsworth was one of my fav. actors. I think it is of interest that he committed suicide most likely because he had terminal cancer and was in terrible pain. Incredible that he managed to make a movie while in such a state.

Subject: RE: BS: Pretty Good
From: alanabit
Date: 28 Jan 07 - 10:23 AM

What hapened to the rest of my post? I meant to add, that the Jimmy Stewart film was about a man on the verge of suicide, because he perceived his life as a failure. All he really needed to keep going was to get some idea of the good he had done. In fact, it had indeed been a "wonderful life". I wonder how many folks there are out there, who have done "pretty good" and never even been aware of it?

Subject: RE: BS: Pretty Good
From: alanabit
Date: 28 Jan 07 - 08:49 AM

I was watching the old Jimmy Stewart film "It's A Wonderful Life" a couple of weeks back.

Subject: RE: BS: Pretty Good
From: Rapparee
Date: 27 Jan 07 - 10:06 PM

If you've done your best and helped others along the way do their best I think you've done more than "pretty good."

Subject: RE: BS: Pretty Good
From: frogprince
Date: 27 Jan 07 - 09:27 PM

Farnsworth was in a TV series, short lived I think, co-starring with (if I get the name right)Wilfred Bromely. Farnsworth was fine, but unfortunately the writing was so sub-standard that he was wasted.

Subject: RE: BS: Pretty Good
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 27 Jan 07 - 01:32 PM

Ron:

I love John Prine, and the song Pretty Good... one of an enormous number of great songs that he's written.

Kat: I like your story about the woman who is "pretty good." If theres any legacy that my father passed down to me, it's that. My Grandfather Rasmussen spent the last seven years of his life flat on his back in a nursing home, a frail, image of himself. Whenever anyone asked him how he was doing, his answer always was "Pretty good." My Father was the same. I hope that I have their courage and positive attitude to do the same and pass that perspective on to my sons.

Richard Farnsworth makes me think of another of my favorite actors: Robert Duvall. The great thing about both of them is that you can't see them "act." In these days when American Idols could over-sing the phone book, and actors "act" the crap out of everything, artists like Duvall and Farnsworth stand tall in my book.

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Pretty Good
From: KT
Date: 27 Jan 07 - 01:18 PM

Great thoughts, everyone!
"Pretty good" is all about perspective, isn't it? When it comes to music, the measure of worth can be seen from different angles. I play music regularly with a few friends. We're not great, by any measure. Pretty good might even be a stretch. But we keep playing and we keep trying and I don't think there's a band anywhere that has more fun than we do! I bought a card for us the other day that said, "We have WAY more fun than it really makes sense to be having!" Any "pretty good" that can bring happiness is great!

I know a woman in her 80's whose body is giving out on her. Every day, when I ask her how she's doin', she thinks for a moment, then responds, with a tiny hint of surprise in her voice, "Pretty good!"

Jerry, thanks for the info on Richard Farnsworth. I've seen him in a few movies and always loved the guy. (I've never said that about any Hollywood celebrity, by the way, but there was something special about that guy). I've been "looking" for some of his works lately, but didn't know his name, so didn't get very far. Much obliged.

Subject: RE: BS: Pretty Good
From: Ron Davies
Date: 27 Jan 07 - 01:08 PM

Jerry--

Have you heard John Prine's song "Pretty Good"? It's better than pretty good--especially the way he sings it.

Subject: RE: BS: Pretty Good
From: Janie
Date: 27 Jan 07 - 01:06 PM

Often I speculate that it can be very difficult to be truly great at something and walk in balance. It takes tremendous work, drive and singleness of purpose for even the most talented and gifted to fully actualize those gifts to the point of 'greatness.' It can become something of an obsession so that the individual's global functioning or sense of self apart from the gift and the obsession can become really distorted. One loses perperspective on ones place in the universe, so to speak.

I don't imply that this is always, even mostly true, but I think it is often true.

Subject: RE: BS: Pretty Good
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 27 Jan 07 - 12:20 PM

One of the most encouraging quotes know is Chesterton's remark that "If a thing is worth doing it's worth doing badly" - and that isn't to undervalue the importance of doing it well.

I tend to think think it's only people who do things the best we can who can really appreciate those people who do those same things superbly well.

People often tend to link tragic outcomes with quality of performance, as if the two are tied in together, stuff about people burning out too quickly because they are burninmg so brightly That may sometimes be the case, but I doubt if it's true much of the time. Mozart didn't die at 34 because he was a genius, and the fact than Verdi lived till be was nearly 90 didn't mean he was less than a genius.

The same goes for people who for one reason or another kill themselves. Stuff happens.

Subject: RE: BS: Pretty Good
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 27 Jan 07 - 12:12 PM

Good on you, John: I just try to be as good as I can be: not as good as someone else is. In the area of music, so much depends on honesty and emotion that technical brilliance isn't alway enough. I've heard people do the most complex guitar transcriptions of ragtime piano without missing a note. They just missed the song. Completely.

When I was in college, I had a roommate who really wanted to learn how to play guitar. He loved to sing, and he could tree every cat in the neighborhood after the first couple of notes. He asked me if I thought it was stupid for him to learn to play guitar and I told him, "If you will enjoy it, then it's not stupid at all." And I started giving him lessons. For him, "pretty good" would have been a dream come true. But, he became "pretty good" for the gift that he had, which was limited.

Do the absolute best you can with the gifts that you have.

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Pretty Good
From: Alec
Date: 27 Jan 07 - 10:45 AM

A little under a year ago I started teaching myself Guitar at a relatively late age (mid-forties). If the question were "How good a player are you?" The completely honest answer would have to be "Pretty bad". BUT if the question were "How does playing make you feel?" "Pretty Good!"

Subject: RE: BS: Pretty Good
From: John Hardly
Date: 27 Jan 07 - 10:24 AM

Well, I'm afraid I'm being overly picky. I understand perfectly well what you're saying and I agree with it to the extent of being content with what one has.

And I also concur that what often puts one "over the top" -- makes one stand out in the world of the arts -- is often a tough life that few would trade for in order to excel.

But I guess that I'm one who very profoundly measures myself only against those who have achieved more. And that measurement has resulted, more times than not, in my not participating -- as I could only conclude, "what's the point?". I've felt for a very long time -- especially musically -- that I had little to offer if all I had to offer was "pretty good".

I have slowly but surely been trying to unbury myself from that burden (the burden of my upward perspective) as I try to find more and more opportunities to share my music with others.

Subject: RE: BS: Pretty Good
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 27 Jan 07 - 10:13 AM

Interesting perspective, John. words always get in the way, but I think of "pretty good" as a noticeable notch above mediocrity. I suppose it depends on whether you think of yourself negatively because you're not "great," then "pretty good" is self-diminishing. If the emphasis is in on the "good" in pretty good, you can be thankful for the gifts that you have without measuring them against those who are more gifted. I agree completely that if you measure yourself against those who have more, "pretty good" is faint damnation. My father would always say that he was doing "pretty good" because he saw those around him who had far less, and he was thankful for what he had.

"Poor to great" is not only in the eye of the beholder, it's captive to the fashions of the moment.

Thanks for your response..

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Pretty Good
From: John Hardly
Date: 27 Jan 07 - 10:04 AM

I don't know. If it's a matter of living 80 years of mediocrity and the measure by which one attributes value is always applied to others it may not be worth it.

Safer to not measure the arts on a scale from poor to great.

Though you may live in town
You live so far away
When you've lived too long
--J Brel.

Subject: BS: Pretty Good
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 27 Jan 07 - 09:57 AM

A friend and I were talking yesterday about one of our favorite movies: The Straight Story, with Richard Farnsworth. I can only think of one other movie with him: The Gray Fox, and I enjoyed that movie thoroughly, too. Farnsworth had a career as a stuntman and in very minor roles, other than those two movies. Shortly after the release of The Straight Story, Farnsworth committed suicide: a tragic ending to a life that I admired. That got me to thinking of all the gifted, creative, wealthy, powerful, beautiful, charismatic people who died tragically. Some died from suicide, some from drug overdoses or when their bodies just shut down because of years of abuse. Some were murdered. If the "good die young" then I give thanks that I'm only "pretty good." Sometimes being pretty good ain't half bad. So often, being greated talented can be a curse. There are so many instances of people with a special gift who are thrust into positions that end up destroying them. So, here's to all of us who are pretty good. Not great.

"Pretty good" is a recognition of the glass half-full.

Jerry