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so a few friends have asked why i don’t use capitalization on this blog.
mostly it is an aesthetic choice…i just prefer the way lowercase letters look…especially “i”…why should it be capitalized? it doesn’t make sense…i guess I just don’t feel that important that I should be capitalized.
also, and this is a bit renegade of me, but who made up these capitalization rules in the first place? it seems a bit arbitrary to me. i’ve never been the greatest fan of “official grammar” and “perfect sentence structure” in writing (which i suppose is obvious if you’ve been reading this blog). i like to think that things can be beautiful and well written (and well spoken) without catering to the sometimes clausterphobic rules of “the man”
lastly, i like the more casual informal look that it gives to my (or anyone’s) writing…as if you are looking in on someone’s thoughts, or a private conversation, instead of something more formal and structured.
that said, again for largely personal reasons, i’ve decided to switch over and bow down to “the man”. As of this post…and this sentence…all posts on 1979 Semi-Finalist will be done with proper capitalization. As for proper grammar? I can’t promise anything there, but I’ll do my best.
one of my all-time favorite artists (if not my absolute favorite) is James Jean. i just received this week (finally) his book Process Recess 2. it is stunning. Jean does a lot of comic book cover work for fables and many other publications…
…look familiar? but he also does a lot of ad work for places from Target to Playboy to Men’s Health and it all has one thing in common…it’s all insanely beautiful. there is something somehow haunting and creepy yet beautifully rendered about everything Jean does. i cannot recommend his work or his book enough. go here to read more about Process Recess and to buy one now! below are some other favorite images of mine by Jean…
i was excited when i heard that they were doing a re-make of The Bionic Woman…i mean you would have to actually TRY REALLY REALLY HARD to make that lame and stupid…it’s the Bionic Woman for cyring out loud. yeah. right.
these people apparently tried REALLY REALLY HARD.
i cannot believe how bad this show is. the writing is terrible and cliched and the acting is just the most wooden and flat out bad acting i have seen…well maybe not ever…but certainly in a long time. also, while i blame this mostly on the writing and the acting something has to be said for the fact that there is not one interesting character in the whole show (except the ex-bionic woman played by Katee Sackhoff) and the relationships and chemistry are respectively, totally unbelieveable and totally non-existant.
a reason that i thought it would be fun to see a retelling of the Bionic Woman is obviously because our effects technology is so much better these days, but these effects sucked. i mean they were just awful…the “super fast running” being the worst of it. i admit that i’m not a fan of CGI i think it often looks fake and out of place, but some films and television shows dealing with superpowers or “enhanced humans” have found ways to use it to their advantage (X-Men and even better - X2; Heroes mostly does an excellent job, etc.) but this was just bad decision after bad decision on the CGI.
back to the wooden acting…Michelle Ryan was absolutely the worst part of this show i’m sorry to say. the writing and story certainly wasn’t doing her any favors, but she lacked the charisma and acting chops to make it better than it was. there are many actors out there that manage to turn crap into watchable stuff because they are skilled, not so here, she was unbearable to watch, and surrounded by almost as unbearable performances. the relationship between she and her boyfriend was downright laughable.
i’m sad to say that this episode was credited to a woman writer. i suspect with all the drama and rumors related to this show she got a thousand notes and changes, so perhaps it’s not her fault, but i was originally happy to see a woman writing the show, as i thought that would help the handling of some of the larger feminist issues but sometimes i guess it just doesn’t matter.
there was this moment last night while watching Bionic Woman when i stopped making sarcastic comments and sighing loudly and thought “maybe i’m totally off base. maybe i’ve become a complete pretensious snob that can’t see the forest for the trees…maybe this is actually not bad and i just can’t tell.” then i watched a little bit of the show following it, Life, which was pretty damn good, strong acting, strong writing…and as i was watching it i realized, “no. i know exactly what i’m seeing and this show Life is a perfect example of how good television can be (in a pilot even) and The Bionic Woman is a perfect example of everything being done wrong”. it’s good to realize you’re not crazy. thank you Life for cementing that fact, and i’ll be tuning in to you Life next week - Wednesday at 10pm NBC - to see if they can keep it up. interesting stuff.
one last thing about my dissappointment in Bionic Woman. this is such a minefield for cool stuff that has deeper meanings to go on. the idea of two cyborg women, one that is making herself more machine by the day so she has to be less “woman” and one who wishes she was back to being more “woman”. the feminist issues here are interesting and the idea of the badass cyborg (that is more cyborg than our lead character) sometimes getting her ass handed to her by a cyborg that’s got more “soul” left is all interesting stuff. i can tell from this first epsiode though, they won’t begin to scratch the surface of this and if they do, they’ll screw it up. and with crappy shows like this out there, the superhero bubble will burst all the more quickly, and so interest in my “hard to market” novel will wither and die.
that’s right, in the end, it’s all about me. 
charisma-less Bionic Woman Michelle Ryan, above.
cast of nbc’s Life, above.
last christmas while home visiting my wonderful family (they sometimes read this blog - so be nice) i was subjected to this very issue that Ebert goes on about here. i can’t agree with him more. it is a sin against artists, directors, writers, actors, and the very medium to so corrupt it by viewing anything at the wrong ratio and thus changing the very way in which it was INTENDED to be viewed.
you are slapping brilliant artists in the face by ignorantly complaining that you “want to fill your screen” or that you “hate those black bars” (sorry mom and dad). the thing i really don’t get is why this doesn’t just LOOK wrong to people. i understand wishing that everything was shot at an aspect ratio that will maximize your expensive new screen, but wishing doesn’t make it so…and neither does stretching programs to inhuman and abnormal proportions.
if you genuinely don’t see the difference (or don’t think you do) i beg you to try a little test next time you’re watching something “stretched”. wait for a good scene where this abnormality will be most obvious…a scene of a character or two walking down a street together would be a great example. pause your dvr/tivo/dvd/vcr whatever (or if it’s a long enough scene just let it keep playing) and switch from the way you have been viewing it to the other options available…and see how suddenly people don’t look so chunky, stretched, and abnormal. it’s a world of difference. if you can’t see it, well i guess i just don’t know what to say, there’s no way i can help you.
sidenote: don’t try to cheat and use the “zoom” feature that many screens have available, where you fix the aspect ratio so that nothing is stretched, but then to get it to fill in your screen you zoom it so that in close ups heads are cut off or other important things. you will never know what you might be missing if you do not view things they way they were intended by creators to be seen…you could be missing everything.
so i finally got around to watching my first episode of Tell Me You Love Me last night. it was okay. i liked it, but i wasn’t blown away - it certainly was no Big Love, but it was also miles better than Entourage, so take that as you will.
my biggest problem with Tell Me was not *gasp* the sex or *double gasp* the male nudity, but the therapy sessions.
last year at this time I doubt this would have occured to me, but having been in couples therapy this past year, i have a better perspective on it. it’s not that the counseling sessions seemed fake necessarily, it’s just that Tell Me has made me understand that i don’t (and likely never will) have the kind of money these “people” have, because couples counseling is extremely expensive. so if you’re going to go in there and lie…then you’re basically flushing lots and lots of money down the drain. i was an open book in couples counseling…how else was i going to justify $600/month that i don’t have? and that’s a reduced rate!
very frustrating to watch.
that said, i’ve got the rest of the episodes tivo’d and i’ll be giving it a shot. there were some things i really liked and that were worth coming back for. one thing i’m ashamed to admit i don’t want to come back for? the old people sex. i know i know, i’m a horrible person, but that was just really difficult to watch. i applaud the creators/writers/directors for trying to tell the story of couples at all different places in their lives, and i don’t necessarily want it to stop as i think it’s the right thing to do, just know that i will be fast forwarding through all those scenes.
these two people (foreground) didn’t say one true thing in their whole therapy session…which is like tearing up $200 and sprinkling it on your breakfast cereal and eating every last bitter bite.
go now and read this great short fiction piece about time travel called Troubleshooting Guide for TimeCorp’s VH3928-Model Time Machine today by Jonathan Baude & J. Alex Boyd on the McSweeney’s site…it’s hilarious. definitely worth the read, especially if you’re a fan of the idea of time travel and the all the crazy nonsense that must come with it.
there is also this completely awesome selection of very short fiction pieces by three authors (Eggers, Manguso, and Olin Unferth), as a promo for their book called One Hundred And Forty-Five Stories In a Small Box. number 49 by Sarah Manguso, which you can read here, is a measly 73 words, and completely blew my mind. i love it when someone can blow my mind in only 73 words. i’ll be picking up this book as soon as humanly possible.
you should too.
overall a very disappointing start. i’ll give the show a pass as you could see how much trouble they were having getting viewers caught up with such a large cast of characters (Niki, Michah, & D.L. were blissfully absent - the biggest upside of the whole episode).
[spoilers]
we got a few interesting threads to start us on our path (e.g. the mysterious killer of Hiro’s father) good stuff, and the last 10 minutes was pretty compelling, but overall there were too many chessy saccharine speeches and repetitive bits (if i had to hear Hiro say that Kensei was “supposed to be a hero” one more time i was going to pull my hair out). and the sad thing about that whole bit was that having Kensei the mythic Japanese legend turn out to be a white guy (and very much not a hero) was pretty funny, but everything that was interesting about that was worn away after seeing the same conversation between Kensei and Hiro twenty times.
the good: my boy Nathan Petrelli is back and with a badass grizzly beard - and what was up with his burned off face in his reflection in the mirror? one of the coolest things we saw all episode…can’t wait to see more of what is up with that - also cool was Nathan ripping his mother a well deserved new one. my boy Peter Petrelli is obviously not dead (as we all knew) and we finally got a peek at him at the end of the episode, with nice shorn off locks. I’m not a fan of amnesia as a plot device, but they’ve made Peter so powerful that i guess they will have to keep thinking of ways to hold him back…this season it will be amnesia i guess. my boy Parkman back in fighting form and seeming less whiny than before. my boy Suresh being smart (finally).
the bad: the saccharine sweet and too long awkward speeches by various characters (most notably HG…say it ain’t so). the cheesy over the top stuff e.g. dialogue between Claire and her new teen “love interest”; almost every word out of Molly’s mouth; HG’s “kinko’s” boss…played for laughs, but it was just….uncomfortable; and as mentioned before the repetitive speeches with Hiro and Kensei.
the ugly: what is Claire made of glass? why on earth would she suffer such a horrible break from a simple back tuck. i mean, i would probably suffer that break, but Claire? i don’t buy it, a weak device to get us to see her powers…i liked the scene overall the idea of highschool as the horror show we know it is and Claire being forced to hide her true awesome self was all good, but the scene would have played better if she had just done the back tuck and been fine…no reason for the badass leg break; also ugly were the horrendous accents and bad acting on our “Irish” guys in the final scenes…ugh what a horrible note to end on.
as a first episode i give this a: C-
if this had been the first look i’d ever gotten at Heroes i never would have come back for more. fortunately i know they can do better, so i’ll come back. maybe since my expectations are now down around my ankles i won’t have to worry about them “living up to anything” anymore…see…i can be a glass half full kind of person - i swear!
my officemate Gordon sent me this pretty cool music video (i never see music videos these days unless someone alerts me to one…no time!) by The Brunettes. the music is not necessarily my style, but the video, a combination of awesome comic book features and marionettes, is completely great.
it reminded me a lot of a video my good friend (and amazing artist) Rebecca Hahn did a couple years ago for a song called Stay.
i’m happy to report that someone found this blog with the search terms “BRETT RATNER HACK” (and all in caps). it’s good to know that other people have put these words together and are actively seeking out further information. go world!
here is a quick list of Ratner’s unforgivable directing sins against the people of the world (and is it any coincidence his last name has the word RAT in it? i think not:
Rush Hour, The Family Man, Rush Hour 2, Red Dragon, X-Men: The Last Stand (for this i could kill the man); and let’s not forget Rush Hour 3 (whoo-hooo!).
i mean are you kidding me? how is it this guy gets hired for anything? this is your list of credits? i gracefully left off Money Talks and After the Sunset as i have not seen enough of either to judge - but i’m confident they suck as well. how does one even go about destorying franchises already so carefully built? well okay, only one franchise, but whatever.
sidenote: as karmic payback for my HACK posts, when my book is no doubt optioned by hollywood someday (blessing or curse?) i’m sure Brett Ratner will direct my precious baby into Rush Hour 3 ridiculousness…oy.
Heroes season premiere is tonight (9pm on NBC)…also it’s my brother’s birthday (happy birthday Scott!).
i’m sure i will have many thoughts about the season premiere tomorrow, so feel free to check in and see.
my pre-viewing Heroes thoughts pretty much boil down to excitement and apprehension. the excitment bit is obvious i suppose, the apprehension comes from a general concern that the show cannot likely live up to the high bar it set for itself in the first season. in the tradition of shows that start off and kind of blow your mind right off the bat and then can’t live up to the standards they’ve set for themselves (first season of any of the following could apply: Alias; Lost; CSI; Grey’s Anatomy; and according to my officemates Desperate Housewives and The O.C. - which i have never seen - and would never admit to seeing). there are a lot of shows out there that just can’t follow up their first act…i hope Heroes will not be one of them.
also, while overall i loved the show and thought they did a good job, there were occasional serious mis-steps. the kind of dialogue or plot points (or deus ex machina) that i feel are warning signs in a show…of bad things to come. let’s hope it’s not true here.
below is a link to a teaser (posted on myspace last week). Also, if you feel like freshening up on how the season ended you can watch the finale here. if that’s not enough for you there are literally dozens of bits on you tube if you search for Heroes Premiere…from ads to 7 minute clips.
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=18301677
character i most hope will fall on a blade (and not be able to survive): Ali Larter’s Niki Sanders. i’m so very sick of her and all her whining.
character i most hope will return in a blaze (or no blaze) of glory: Christopher Eccleston’s Claude and my beloved Nathan Petrelli.
Less than 5 days after posting the Daniel Clowes NY Times Weekly Strip on my blog, I came across this blurb on Vulture about this article.
What is the world coming to? How did Americans…a people that should be like the revolutionary teenagers of the universe (making idiot rookie mistakes but being young and confident and full of ideas about change and pushing limits) become the fucking scared conservative old woman of the world? When did this happen? WHY?
Yesterday it is cover stories about genital cutting and today it is about censorship in schools, it’s too much. If the father of this girl (who is a complete ass) would read a book once in a while maybe they would realize that their daughter is actually better off being challenged by teachers that don’t have blinders on.
I have read the book in question and while I will concede that it is debatable as to whether it is definitely appropriate for a 14 year old (it really depends on the 14 year old I suspect) I can also say in no uncertain terms that I WISH I had been given something like this by a teacher. Something that actually was outside the box. Something that made me think and/or feel. One of the mother’s complaints is that the teacher asked the student “how does this make you feel?” she said it like that was an inappropriate (read: pornographic) question for a teacher to ask a student…are we really no longer even allowed to FEEL? Is it wrong to read something that causes you to feel something more than the crappy television shows that just wash right over you? Is it a crime to challenge a student to not just do the assignment but to be challenged to answer tough questions about it? I just can’t believe this. If I had been given things like this when I was kid, maybe I would have learned something about life and what else was out there much sooner…as is, I feel like I had to hunt down every single thing I have learned…if ONLY someone could have handed me something that would have challenged me…think what I could have been.
I’m so disappointed in this planet and especially my backwards fucking nation. Stop the planet, I’d like to get off please.
http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2007/09/daniel_clowes_pornographer.html
to lighten the mood after the genital cutting post, here is a quote from one of my favorite comedians, Jim Gaffigan. i lifted the quote from the Vulture Blog, and they lifted it from EW…
“I’ve been outside. It’s not that great. Outdoor activities always tend to interrupt my napping and watching of Law & Order marathons.” —Jim Gaffigan on why he’s glad summer is over [EW]
sidenote: i may actually BE Jim Gaffigan
i’ve been debating all day whether to write about this article i read in the New York Times today or not. i guess i decided to write about it. but i still feel conflicted.
here’s the problem, i’m a smart girl, i’m no genius but smart enough most days and while i’m more informed about worldly events than the average American (and apparently more educated considering i can point to not only North America but several other continents - not to mention actual countries too - on a map) i have been doing a piss poor job of keeping involved in current events, politics, world issues, etc. i get my news mostly from the internet, clicking on stories that interest me. i don’t regularly read any newspapers and i refuse to watch American news reports which we all know are really entertaiment news programs anyway. as such i feel like my information is a bit limited and part of this is deliberate. like many educated people i suffer from a strong desire to know these things and be involved, but also like many people i feel overwhelmed quickly. i can only read about a war that i have no interest in (and if it were up to me we would not have ever gotten involved in) so many times before i give up in frustration.
i think it’s a combination of things, but mostly there are not enough hours in the day for me to work my job, submit (and write) short fiction, submit my novel, re-write my novel, re-draw and re-tool my graphic novel, work out (which always seems to get lost in the shuffle), engage in my relationship, and also both care about and do something about things like female genital mutilation in Egypt (or anywhere else for that matter). so all i end up feeling is frustration.
on one hand it is my choice to not do anything about it, to instead focus my energy on becoming a “successful” writer. on the other hand if people like me don’t care (there seem to be so few of us out there) then who will do anything? *sigh* it’s depressing. in my mind there is always going to be ample time to care about such things when i quit my full time job and become a “full time writer” because then i will have all this magical free time that used to be used up on writing…but we all know that is a myth. there will never be any extra time. maybe this is why i get mad when people tell me they are bored. please, give me your extra time that you have to be bored, because there are plenty of things i’d like to do with your “i’m bored” time.
okay, enough of the rant. please read the article below, and if you’re a better person than me (i hope you are) consider getting involved. there must be something that can be done.
these men are cowards. they are afraid of change and more importantly they are afraid of the power of women. they hide behind religion because it is hard to attack religion without being called all sorts of things, but what they are too cowardly to realize is that they are hiding behind man’s interpretation of God’s word and man gets things wrong all the time, this is no exception.
and speaking of getting things wrong…how is female genital mutilation the same as circumcision? it’s not female circumcision it is female castration.
it is female castration and it has to stop.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/20/world/africa/20girls.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper&oref=slogin
this is a picture from the NY Times article of some of the men who defend the tradition of genital cutting with the words, “we support circumcision!” you are cowards. you are all cowards.
the first 14 minutes of the Bionic Woman have been posted online, click below to watch, but be warned, you will probably want to claw your eyes out, even if there are no bionic eyes with which to replace them. it is a pretty horrible 14 minutes. i don’t know how hard you have to try to write something this terrible. and it’s a real feat to get actors that are equally as terrible as the writing. whoo-hoo! the only bright spot seems to be Katee Sackhoff, but even that stuff is stiff and frustratingly stupid.
i promised myself i would sit through the hour long premiere…boy do i hate it when i promise myself stuff. yuck.
http://video.aol.com/video/tv-bionic-woman-2-acts/1970902
check out the cast shot below, how do you make even a simple cast shot look lame? the show is called the bionic woman for chrissake…i mean you actually have to work hard to make that boring…congrats guys.
UPDATE: looks like they have pulled the first 14 minutes of the net (could it be because it sucks?)…the link above no longer works and i can’t find a duplicate that is the same as the one i originally posted. interestingly enough there was an older 4 minute trailer on youtube that had very similar scenes but with a different “sister character” (pictured above actually) who is deaf (like in the original Bionic Woman). i think it’s a mistake that they changed this direction, at least it would have given something unique to the show. also, it’s annoying that they went with the “cuter, slimer, bitchier and more annoying” actress that is also not deaf as the sister. not that i’m shocked. it sounds about par for the course.
this show just keeps getting better and better. the last two episodes have been spot on and i can feel it just arcing it’s way into an intense closure. i can’t wait to see how the writers are going to wrap all this up, it’s all coming together beautifully…
if you haven’t been watching this show, it may be too late to join now (unless they do another marathon) you should definitely try to catch it on the flipside though (netflix, repeats, whatever)…it is wholly worth the tv time, well at least it is right now with Katie blissfully absent…
so i thought about spending all this time prefacing the strip, saying how this is not the style i hope this strip will turn into, that i am still experimenting with brush pens since my inking is so shitty in this one, that i would prefer to use a standard three panel strip but that more often than not my “gags” need more flexibility than that, that i have been sketching a lot to try to bring my drawing level back to what it was three years ago (which was still not great), that the only thing i draw worse than drawing myself is a big perspective shot, that i’ve always been and always will be a better writer than an artist - so hopefully the writing gags will rescue the pitiful art…whatever…it’s all just bs. here’s the strip and we’ll see what comes of it. enjoy - and thanks for reading. as always, your feedback is welcome…unless it’s about the shape of Adam’s head (Josh that means you!)
ps - i was trying to think of a good name for this strip, but everything i came up with was incredibly cheesy…so suggestions are welcome. if someone actually comes up with a great title that i can use maybe they could win a crappy original sketch…signed by yours truly…
the formatting of this blog is not great for comics as the column is too thin. i’m going to have to consider changing my format if comics are going to continue to be at the forefront on this blog. in the meantime, you need to click the thumbnail below to get a readable version.
you know who i really dislike, despite the fact that i have never met her and cannot give you one good reason for disliking her, except for the fact that i think she’s a shitty actress? that’s right, Sean Young.
i can’t put my finger on it, but she annoys the hell out of me, to a really insane degree. anyway, for some reason, despite the fact that she’s sort of a has been/never was, Entertainment Weekly is doing a cover story on her (why? i don’t know…i don’t ask these questions anymore…mostly because nobody answers me). so i am kind of loathe to give her the free press of my dozens and dozens of readers (that’s you!) but i posted the link to the full story below.
she’s so pathetic in the interview that i actual started to feel a little sorry for her, but then she just continued being whiny and annoying and fake and psycho and comparing herself to Julia Roberts (are you kidding?) and saying she has at least as much charisma as George Clooney (are you KIDDING?!) and so my ’sorry feelings’ evaporated like fine mist and i just went back to hating her again. this is one of those few times that Hollywood seems to agree with me and has forcibly kept her on the sidelines…it feels good when a powerhouse like Hollywood finally agrees with you. it feels like delicious satisfaction and let me tell you, i could get used to it.
as a sidenote, i’ve been compiling a list…you know how i love lists dear reader…of the “10 Most Overrated Actresses”…Sean Young would be #1 on it, but since she isn’t really “highly rated” i guess she’ll just have to get an honorable mention, as only women who are actually getting good roles in Hollywood (for no reasons understood by mankind…or, well, me.) should be on the list. anyway, here’s a link to the full story, in which you can feel writer Karen Valby’s palpable disdain for her, you can feel Valby trying to like her and Young just cutting her off at every pass:
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20056516,00.html
ps - no picture of Sean Young because i hate looking at her (even though she says “humor and beauty are two things that come naturally to her” yuck - i just threw up a little bit) and i don’t want her image posted on my blog…ever. it was painful enough to write her name and link to a story…
UPDATE: this is not a “cover story” in Entertainment Weekly, it is just “a regular story”…the cover i saw in the current article (but didn’t bother to read the caption on) was a cover story they did on her back in 1992…she didn’t warrant a cover story back then to my mind either, but at least she could have been considered “entertainment news” back then. sorry for the error!
Adam and i were very excited to learn that The New York Times would be running a weekly strip from Dan Clowes (awesome!). it was almost enough to get us to subscribe to the Times. unfortunately we are not only on a tight budget these days, but with a fourth floor walk up, the odds of the Times actually sitting there waiting for us when we woke up in the morning are like 10 to 1, so we’re going to hold off until we’re in a more Times delivery friendly building. Adam’s wonderful co-worker Reina however pulled the strip for Adam and he scanned it for me, and now i bring it to you as the comic of the week…!
of course my weekly strip (i’m not even going to address the fact that i haven’t posted my premiere stip yet) will NEVER be this good, let alone in color, but everyone should get to see Clowes beautiful work, so here it is (click the image to see it larger - and more “readable”).
thank you Reina!
i’ve been reading girl-wonder.org off an on for the last month or so and generally enjoy what she has to say over there, but never have i agreed with her more than in her post of September 9th 2007. check it out if you find yourself interseted in comics, feminism, or better yet, both.
#33. Famous Fathers And Other Stories. Short Fiction Collection. Pia Z. Ehrhardt. 4 stars.
this is the best short fiction collection that i have read in a long time. it almost felt like i wasn’t reading it. the stories just kind of washed over me and infected me with their bittersweet taste. all the stories were told from the perspective of interesting women, and all the stories, sans the title piece, dealt with infidelity (if you read this blog you know i’m having a lot of thoughts about that these days).
the funny thing about Ehrhardt’s take on infidelity, or at least, what i got from it after finishing, is that life just tramples through. people make these choices and do these things, and often infidelity is in the past or in the future for you and you already know it or you’re going to one day. we are all affected by it, we are influenced by it, yet it does not rule our lives. it’s just this fact in a series of facts, both good and bad in life.
i walked away from Famous Fathers feeling like life is very very big and you can have no idea what is going to happen, nor should you, because then what would be the point. having gone through infidelity in my life i have to say that i’m not a fan. i’m not in it enough or far enough away from it to be able to be like the women in Famous Fathers, the women who are either relishing it, or just over it. not to say that these women are all happy, the stories were incredibly bittersweet - and some were out and out sad - but the overall feeling was one of life washing over you as you read her strories - much like her book washed over me.
there were some beautiful passages and gorgeous language, but in general i suppose that the stories were so well crafted and edited that they just seemlessly happened and there wasn’t much time to sit back and be fascinated with this passage or that, because you were already onto the next thing. much like there wasn’t much time to be too concerned about the infidelity, because you were already onto the next thing.
i hope that Ehrhardt’s book is more non-fiction than fiction, because i know in my life i’d really like to be “onto the next thing”.
thanks to my co-worker Gordon, we at the office had a little too much fun with the orgasmic calculator this afternoon. it is truly great - our office laughed harder than we have in quite some time (for about five minutes).
please note, this is likely NOT work appropriate for wherever you may be…
i got this great link from Pop Candy for the “top 8 webcomics”…it’s a pretty good list.
http://www.cracked.com/index.php?name=News&sid=2376
guaranteed i’ll never be on this list (assuming i even ever actually post an actual webcomic. next week it’s gonna happen…i swear…does anyone believe me? no…i guess not). anyway, some of this stuff is hilarious, even when the art is terrible, which is a great reminder that the art does not have to be brilliant for the writing and art to work together to bring something brilliant to the masses.
for my money the best is Creased Comics
by the genius that brought you George Washington and Babycakes…hilarious off the wall stuff.
there’s some pretty great stuff there, but for straight humor factor Penny Arcade, Over-Compensating, and The Perry Bible Fellowship have my vote. thanks to Pop Candy for the article link.
below are a couple brilliant Creased Comics.
below is a link my co-worker sent me to what i think is a “faked video”, and if it is it’s hilarious. a great bit of past/future filmmaking.
if it is not fake and is in fact a real piece of “history”, then it’s pretty fascinating to see that while in 1966 they didn’t have the hardware quite right for 1999 they had all the basic ideas going on (email, online shopping, faxing, printing, etc.). it is disappointing however to see that “scientists” could have such great insight to the future of technology, yet zero insight into the future of our society and culture.
as evidenced here, little wifey can order clothing online in 1999 - but then big husband has to be sent the bill so he can pay for it. seriously? they can imagine something like email that didn’t exist at all, but they can’t imagine a woman paying her own way? jesus.
again, let’s hope it’s fake in which case it’s funny and not horrible.
so every couple months the anti-smoking lobby comes up with a couple horrible disgusting new commercials that i cannot un-see and i’m just sick of it.
is there some kind of “non-smoker block” that i can have put on my television, like a parental control so that i as a lifelong non-smoker don’t have to be subjected to these horrible visuals?
i almost threw up my corn chex the other night when i was accosted by the image of a foot being operated on because of gangrene apparently due to smoking.
i get that they are trying to educate and i guess i’m all for everyone having as much knowledge as possible, but i don’t smoke, never have, and never plan to, so do i really have to see this stuff too?
also, and i’m likely to get flak for this, but just leave people alone. i don’t understand the anti-smoking lobby…much like i don’t understand most of these things. i know smokers, i know non-smokers, and i know plenty of smokers that are always on a quest to become non-smokers and i don’t think one of these disgusting commercials has helped any of these people. i don’t think as a smoker you wake up every day and go “Yes! Today I will smoke and it will be awesome and good for me!”, no you just do your best every day like the rest of us. we all have devils i think and they just come in different shapes and sizes, for some people that devil is smoking. i’m not trying to justify it and it puts your health at risk obviously, but i think we can all look inward and find some shit about ourselves that is not healthy that we feel compelled to do. having a lobby that spends god knows how much money trying to stop you from doing something that you probably wish you weren’t doing in the first place, i don’t know, it just feels stupid. and actually kind of mean.
i can get behind the idea of putting this information out there for kids who are impressionable and might be wooed by the mystique of starting to smoke, and certainly the idea of making sure that the information is available and the facts generally known, but for people who are already immeshed smoking as a habit, i guess i feel like if they are already trying to stop, then being shown horrible images is unlikely to somehow miraculously help them stop. so why do we all have to suffer (and lose our lunch) if it’s not even helping?
i would certainly open this discussion to anyone that has any personal experience with this - especially if these horrible commercials have helped you stop smoking - because then at least i could feel okay about not being able to eat my corn chex - because someone is being helped. thoughts?
there is no image or link in this post because i don’t want that horrible nightmare inducing stuff on my blog. but if you wish to find any of this stuff just google it, or check out commercials on you tube.
i caught the tail end of AFI’s top 100 movies last night on Bravo. i have no idea if this was a first run or repeat, i expect it’s a repeat but i’m feeling too lazy today to find out. regardless i found their choices to be pretty good overall. as usual i felt strongly that some stuff was misplaced…even if it belonged in the top 100, it didn’t belong above or below such and such, which is i suppose how we all feel about lists.
it did make me think about my own lists though (fyi - i love lists - i suppose it makes me feel in control in a world of utter chaos). anyway, i think i’ll try to do a Kelly’s Top 100 sometime soon. i suspect that’s a much more difficult task than it sounds, but i’m going to give it a go. so keep an eye out, i’m sure my list will be much more controversial than AFI’s…for example Citizen Kane (AFI’s #1), will be on my list but certainly not at #1 and you know what else will be on my list? The Faculty. that’s right, i love that freaking movie…and this is MY list! Bwahahahahahahaahaha!
Here’s a link to an article about the AFI Top 100, which includes the full list, in case you’re as behind as i am…enjoy!
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/movies/320663_afi21.html
this article also has the 1998 top 100 list as a pretty nice comparison. it’s fascinating to see the stuff that has really jumped up or down on the list.
a still from The Faculty…tell me it doesn’t look awesome…c’mon!!!!!!!
normally i wouldn’t count a comic book, unless it was a really impressive graphic novel or a long collection or trade, as a “book” especially for my review/goal purposes, however i am both WAY behind on goal, and the quality of the books i read this weekend was so high, and also quite frankly i think i read almost 60 comic books on sunday and so, well, it took all day and i’m counting it.
feel free to call bullshit on this if you like in the comments (i’m sure Josh will).
this all started because i was at the always awesome Jim Hanley’s on Saturday (of course they did not have a copy of James Jeans’ Process Recess 2, so i’m disappointed, but whatever). anyway, here i am and as usual i somehow find myself in the X-Men section (why does this always happen? must be my childhood rearing it’s head). so i bought a copy of Astonishing X-Men #22 (the current issue). Astonishing X-Men is currently written by Joss Whedon and i am a huge Joss (therefore Buffy) fan and the art, by John Cassady, was impeccable. so i take it home Saturday night and read it. it was awesome. the best comic book (excepting The Walking Dead or the original run incarnation of Supreme Power) that i have read in an age.
so this began a quest to get and read the previous 21 issues, so i could actually know what the hell was going on. suffice to say that was done with much assistance from Adam (thank you!). and i absolutely loved the whole damn thing. every issue was beautiful and brilliant. a smaller cast (primarily Scott Summers/Cyclops, Dr. Hank McCoy/Beast, Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat, Emma Frost/White Queen, and Peter/Piotr Rasputin/Colossus, and Logan/James Howlett/Wolverine) made much more time for character work and beautiful art mixed flawlessly with Joss’ spot on dialogue - sparse when necessary - dense only when absolutely necessary. in a word, beautiful. and i’m officially back on the train. i’ll be buying this book until Marvel fucks it up and breaks up the dream team, which happens in comics more times than a fangirl like myself can count. Astonishing X-Men #1 - 22. Whedon/Cassady. 4.5 stars.
Update: after a little research i find out that the “dream team” of Whedon and Cassaday is pretty much already broken up. apparently this book has had problems being on time and Whedon had only committed for a certain amount of time. the book is scheduled to be taken over by Warren Ellis and Simone Bianchi. Warren Ellis is a huge talent so maybe that won’t be so bad, i’m going to try to stay positive. i’m not familiar with Bianchi, except for cover art, which is good. i can’t imagine anything being up to Cassaday’s work, but i’ll give it a try. the problem for me often with art is that even if the penciling is good, if the layouts are ridiculous it is pretty hard for me to enjoy it. that is one of the beautiful things about Cassaday’s work - those panel layouts are just gorgeous. i can’t tell exactly when this new arc starts, but i’ll be holding my breath until then i guess.
so maybe you’re wondering where i came up with 60 books, when i clearly only read 22 books…well after reading astonishing i had to go back and dig up the Grant Morrison run on The New X-Men as i felt astonishing borrowed heavily from that history (i.e. in Whedon’s Astonishing Jean Grey is dead…but i didn’t know how…and that felt wrong). i had picked up single issues here and there of Morrison’s amazing run on New X-Men, but never the whole thing. between Adam and i however we pretty much had issue #114 - #150, which was exactly the run i was looking for.
so after Astonishing i dug in to Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s take on The New X-Men. as i remembered, these issues were amazing. and the art? foget about it. Quitely is the master. his layouts are gorgeous and his pencils are sublime. i never can get into his women’s faces as much as i’d like (they always look a bit pinched and “older”) however he has a way of drawing that is so not the traditional plastic look of superheroes…you can almost feel the flesh, it’s beautiful. the only downside to the art is that with such a long run (114 - 150) there were times when guest pencillers had to step in and while there were a few stars in there, sometimes the quality really dropped considerably.
Morrison is a genius and it’s evidenced in where he took these characters that so many of us have seen everything already written about…i guess that’s the point really isn’t it? it’s not just what you’re doing to the characters, it’s how you’re constructing it and how everything bounces off of that construction. i felt the arc (ending with 150 and Jean Grey’s death) really lost me in the end. i somehow suspect Marvel and not Morrison as i remember there was a lot of controversy over this book - i believe it was getting critical but not commerical success, which can often drive a book into the ground and perhaps Morrison was getting pressure to make it more accessible. i’ll add an update if i find anything about that. regardless, overall it was a great run, one of the best (and most important) in the X-Men “history”. The New X-Men #114 - #150. Morrison/Quitely 3.5 stars.
since i’m making these two books share one spot (#32) on my books reviewed list i’m going to split the difference between them and give #32 an official 4 stars. fair enough?
okay, well maybe only for a fanboy/fangirl like me, but it is still a great site.
Adam sent it to me today: http://www.ifpthendirt.com/interviews.html
each envelope contains an interview with a great (truly great!) artist of the comics persuasion. Adam sent it to me because of my open love for Jeffrey Brown (second envelope down on the left) but also present here is Robert Crumb, Joe Matt, James Kochalka, and Adrian Tomine. all amazing, all favorites.
make sure to click on the page when you are ready to advance to the next page. what a great idea…such an organic and personal way to interview someone…i suppose it could be interpreted as ultimately impersonal since there is no actual meeting taking place, but because it is the writer/artist/creator actually responding exactly how they want to, with no filter from a magazine or reporter/writer it is actually incredibly personal. a great idea. the only thing i would suggest is adding a clear date on the pages as it is difficult to tell when the interview was returned to Dirt, unless you can read the envelope, which in most cases you can’t.
as a sidenote, Dirt has his own strip that he does and which can be found on his site. his stuff is funny and interesting, not necessarily up my alley, but you should check it out as it might be right up yours (for some reason that sounded dirty…sorry).
below is page one from Jeffrey Brown’s interview:
let’s be clear, the show is still good. the show is still better than 90% of what’s on television these days. that said, in my opinion they are dropping the ball a bit.
this stalker/plant woman (Lily i believe her name is), that is after Ellen’s fiance David is a completely ridiculous bit of television. here’s my argument: if she is a plant/set up by either Patty or Frobisher then she should not be spying on Ellen & David in their apartment looking all crazy and ready to boil their bunny…because she’s just doing her job…i don’t think she would take it so personally as to look that way (i.e. like he is cheating on her and she’s “super crazy i must have him” in love).
so, considering her crazy behavior, i have to assume that she is a legitimate stalker that has fallen for David (in about two minutes) and that has nothing to do with the larger picture of Patty v. Frobisher and that this storyline just happens to be occurring in David’s life (something very rare - when was the last time you or your partner had a bunny-boiling level stalker? yeah, me either) at the same time that major conspiracies and machinations that involve dogs being killed, and people being beat up and shot is happening. that is too much coincidence, i don’t buy it. so the writers/creators have either fucked up, or they are far smarter than i am and it will all fit together like a finely worked puzzle in the end and i’ll have to eat crow (i genuinely hope it is the latter).
more evidence that this is a fuck up and not a finely worked puzzle? the unnamed blonde woman that (oh so conveniently) hooked up with idiot Gregory a couple episodes ago and ran away when he got jumped on the street, was again conveniently hanging outside his apartment kind of casually hoping to run into him. are you kidding me? who believes this? women don’t hang around neighborhoods that aren’t their own hoping to run into guys that they drunkenly hooked up with and who got jumped in front of their eyes. the fact that Gregory doesn’t know she is a set up, while he is living inside a nightmarish conspiracy that is threatening his life is ridiculous. fortunately this charade was quickly ended because the blonde got shot by a stalker/assassin working for Patty. this whole fiasco makes me feel like the Damages team needs a female (or more female) writers (i’m available by the way). although this does not explain why Patty and Ellen are so well written (which they really are).
anyway, despite my complaints this is still a great show. the stuff with Ellen and Patty at the dinner party was fantastic. Patty is such a great character, she has the incredible ability to confide in Ellen and impart genuine knowledge which you can slowly see winning Ellen over, yet she has this side that is so hard and sharp that it is constantly taking Ellen by surprise. it is fascinating. Frobisher’s foray into having a book ghost written about himself, to show “the people” how wonderful he is was delightful and ended/advanced in a hilarious way. Fiske’s (Frobisher’s lawyer) dreams were telling and horrifying. great great stuff.
i had the unfortunate experience of catching the Entourage season finale on repeat last night. blech. it was just a terrible 34 minutes of television. this show is so in love with itself (for no real reason) that it has become a cesspool of self congratulation and narcissism. the characters, if they ever even were fully developed characters (which i’m not sure about) have turned into full-on characatures of themselves. Kevin Dillon, who on average i used to enjoy more than the others, literally shouted (in traditional borderline hoarse Drama voice) every single one of his lines, whether he was arguing with French hotel staff or just talking. it was terrible.
here’s the crux of the problem to my mind. Entourage used to be a good and funny show. it was smart and witty and often funny and always a bit slick for its own good, but that was okay, because it was also GOOD. now it is just super slick and there isn’t anything GOOD in sight. but i guess everyone will keep watching it because it is a fantasy show and everyone wants their life to be that good and easy, also because we as tv viewers don’t usually demand quality programming, i mean as lame as Entourage is these days it’s still better than most network sitcoms, which is just sad. i feel like HBO viewers do demand quality though, so i don’t know why this show is sliding by without someone calling bullshit on it.
Entourage was good when it was funny early on and the few times that you learned something about the characters and relationships, such as when their old jailbird friend got out and came to visit for about half a season and it completely changed the dynamic of the show and actually created some controversy - still easily solved at the end of the half hour, but there was an actual story arc, i swear!
[spoilers]
anyway, let’s get specific, things i hated in this episode were:
1. anything having to do with Drama and the fact that he shouted and over-emphasized every single line he was given.
2. the “take turtle downstairs and give him your best blowjob ever” bit, are you kidding me? gimme a break.
3. the fact that after the best scene in the whole episode (the negotiation with studio head Dana) Ari gets a phone call that undoes the whole deal and then instead of dealing with anything we cut directly from them toasting the deal to the red carpet at Cannes. are you kidding me? we resolved nothing here?
4. the ridiculousness of Drama having sex on the beach with his “true love” while maybe a hundred plus people look on, apparently unbeknownst to either Drama or his girl. c’mon. who is writing this crap and expecting us to believe it?
5. uh, everything that wasn’t the negotiation scene.
also, since i have given HBO props recently for keeping Big Love on the air (a show that is controversial and female centered despite its subject matter) i have to give them shit for having this show on the air, which basically denies the existence of any woman that is not super hot, and even the super hot ones aren’t good enough to garner more than two or three episodes, because in Entourage women are an afterthought, usually one involving some kind of denigration. i know they’re trying to do an “accurate” portrayal of hollywood here, and hollywood puts a very high value on looks, but i lived in LA from 2000 - 2005 and i saw plenty of successful and in the know people that were not models. so while this stereotype is partially true, it is not law and it would be nice of them to break free of it a bit. but i’m talking to air, because nobody cares.
you know what? the only good character on this show is Lloyd. the only way i would continue watching this show next season is if it was totally revamped and renamed Lloyd.
ZERO STARS. BOOOOOOOO.
this is Lloyd. go Lloyd.
for the record: in these panels and in everything i’ve sketched so far in gearing up for this strip i somehow manage to make myself look better than reality and adam look worse than reality. which i suppose is one of the reasons i’d like to make things more iconic, so it’s really just an idea of us and not really us. we’ll see. i’ve done a couple strips over the last couple weeks and come up with ideas for many more, however i’m just not happy yet with the style (which i expect will develop over time anyway) but it’s just not ready for release yet. hopefully next week i’ll bite the bullet. thanks to everyone for hanging in and being patient.
so sad to see you go.
it was also kind of a sad episode. with the boys spending time apart and then being made to feel like ultimate losers by being dumped by their new band members. the show ended on a bit of a bittersweet note, but at least they were together, and have yet to sell out to “the machine” that is hollywood/pop/everything that makes money but is soulless.
i cannot wait for the triumphant return of bret and jemaine. perhaps someone will buy me the series on dvd (that was a hint people).
ps - i didn’t even bother with the soulless Entourage, i’m sure i’ll catch it on repeats, i’m also sure there will be nothing of real note to report. *sigh*
i read two more books this weekend, both non-fiction, which is not usually my style, although one is probably considered self-help more than non-fiction (self-help being even less my style) and the other, though in no way considered self-help by the world at large i read largely for “self-help” reasons. my this got complicated fast.
both books came to me on recommendation of my therapist. yes, i have a therapist. in fact, i believe it is required by law that you start seeing a therapist within two years of entering the state of New York (i made it just under the wire). anyway, both books were good recommendations, which i hope means i’m getting the right kind of mental help…okay, onto the reviews…
#30. Susie Orbach On Eating. By Susie Orbach. Self Help/Non-Fiction. 3 stars.
i’m giving this 3 stars for now, with the option to re-evaluate it after i have the chance to embrace some of her “teachings” this month. if the shit works then i reserve the right to raise it to 4 stars (hell, if the shit REALLY works then 5 stars here we come). what is good about this book, regardless of whether what Orbach preaches works for me or not is that this is the non-diet diet book, and not in the way that still means there is “diet” inside. Orbach talks about no diet. she just talks about living, which is incredibly refreshing. there is no health bar or microwave meal tie in. there are no “real-life” stories of stars (or normal folks), it’s just some common freaking sense…which made A LOT of sense.
Orbach has five basic rules about food and life, that actually are pretty basic and are probably how people used to eat and live back before we all became obsessed with being thin and living up to unrealistic ideals and waif looks…when people were more concerned with real problems (survival?) than with the more vain (and i include myself here) problems of looking like the latest best looking bitch on the block.
Orbach does say that people’s bodies have a personal set point that our bodies are comfortable with. i’ve always believed this personally (depsite the fact that i know for a fact that my body’s set point is far lower than where i’ve put myself) but i have many beautiful female friends that live their lives unhappily, or who don’t quite live at all because of those final ten pounds they can’t manage to shake. i just want to shake them and say “Your body has a personal set point! You are at that set point! Just be happy and live damnit!” i somehow suspect this would not go over well.
anyway, i think everyone, or at least every woman should read this book, even if it doesn’t work (we’ll see) then at least it gives a person a different way about thinking about this life pbsession that has somehow grabbed us while we weren’t looking and overcome everything that life was supposed to be about.
#31. Lust In Translation: The Rules of Infidelity from Tokyo to Tennessee. Pamela Druckerman. Non-Fiction. 3.5 stars.
this is not my kind of book, but i enjoyed it enough to think about exploring some other non-fiction that i’ve been interested in lately. i read this for edification and to a lesser extent “self-help purposes”. i’ve been thinking a lot about infidelity this year (long story, don’t ask) and this book was both really helpful and also upsetting.
it’s hard for me to review non-fiction with any kind of intelligence, since i’m sadly so out of my depth in the field. suffice to say i learned a great deal from this book and i felt it was well pieced together and well researched. though the facts and percentages were necessary, they were certainly the least interesting aspects of the book, most riveting were the author’s personal stories and experiences, which were often fascinating.
on a personal note, i find infidelity infinitely depressing. i have to admit and accept that it is a reality in the world and more specifically in my life and the lives of people all around me. this is, as said, infinitely depressing. it also has created an issue with me and men (a group i BARELY trusted prior to this past year) and it has amped up my interest in militant feminism (which i have also had to accept i will never achieve, i’m just not the girl for it, i want to be, but i’m just not).
here’s the bottom line i guess for me at this point in my life: the person i am closest to in my life is a man. he is my best friend and just about my everything. yet i have learned that ultimately, no matter how much i want to trust him and give over everything to him in the pursuit of romantic love and a happy future together, i must keep part of myself removed, because ultimately i cannot trust him, not necessarily because of who he is, but just because of who people are. people belong only to themselves and as much as i want he and i to possess one another, it can just never be as complete as i’d like it to be. i doubt he would like hearing this (and he will i’m sure read it here and not like it) but i suspect that he does the same thing in our relationship, but perhaps with less deliberate intention, perhaps just with a more natural survival instinct. i suppose i just find it truly and heartbreakingly sad that someone wants to give so much of themselves, but has been hurt too badly to be able to do that in their lives. after reading this book i know that the one thing i am in the world, is not alone in being hurt.
maybe time heals it, i have no idea, although i guess i’ll find out.
suffice to say a tough read, but i’m glad i read it.
nyc was/is gorgeous this weekend. so adam and i took advantage and tried to get out a bit. i know going to a movie doesn’t exactly seem like “getting out” but it’s new york, so you end up walking a lot and doing other things as well. saturday we ended up in the park, which was gorgeous, and sunday we spent a lot of time walking in greenwich village and noho, since we saw a movie at the IFC Center (King Of Kong).
first things first, i give Superbad 3 stars. i expect this low rating was mostly due to too much hype. i had read and heard so much about how this was “the greatest movie of the summer” and even more, “the greatest movie EVER” …that my expectations were just too high. it was funny enough, but i thought Knocked Up was funnier. and while i enjoyed Jonah Hill so much in Knocked Up as a smaller “sidekick” roll, i found him so over the top in every scene here in Superbad that i couldn’t ever truly get on board. he was yelling (his voice completely hoarse at times) and over-reacting in literally every scene. i know, i know, it’s a raunchy teen comedy and that’s his character, i’m just saying, for me, it didn’t really work that well to begin with and got old really really fast. Michael Cera fares better, if only because his character is less obnoxious and very like his lovable failure from Arrested Development. many people said to me that Fogel (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) stole the show, and he was funny, but to me i guess, nobody stole anything. again, i suspect this is as much a case as over-hype as anything else, and i’m willing to admit that. i’m sure i’ll see it again on cable at some point (no doubt hbo will re-run it 6,000 times one month in a summer or something and i’ll end up seeing it at least 3,000 more times) and maybe it will play better. if so, i’ll make sure to upgrade my netflix score accordingly.
i finally saw Me And You And Everyone We Know, directed and written by Miranda July. 3.5 stars. already being a fan of July’s writing, i suspected this would work for me, and it did. it was equal parts beautiful, bizarre, and bittersweet. Adam complained that though he liked it, he found it a little too precious. i tend to agree with him, but it wasn’t enough to ruin the film for me. i thought it was one of the better independent films i have seen in a while and i’m sad i waited so long to get to it. the bad news is that someone told me Miranda July is a Scientologist. more on this later after i do some digging, but if true, i’m so very sad.
so here’s what we’re really here for. King Of Kong. go see it, NOW. it was great. 4 stars. Steve Weibe would totally make my list of 10 real life good guys - see: http://1979semifinalist.wordpress.com/2007/07/20/the-list/
[mild spoilers...maybe, it's debatable]
the documentary The King Of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, about the world record holders for the Donkey Kong video game and a very specific rivalry between a long time champ (circa 1982) who is also completely evil and cowardly (i’m not giving anything away here) Billy Mitchell and an honest and heartfelt challenger Steve Weibe. the story actually follows Weibe as he beats Mitchell’s long standing record and the controversy and battles that ensue.
basically the core issue, to my mind, is that the whole industry lead by Twin Galaxies creator Walter Day is pretty inbred in that it is a very small community and they all know each other (too well) and in this case have been kowtowing to Mitchell for years. To Day’s credit (and Twin Galaxies) when Weibe shows up and proves himself (time and again) they are pretty acknowledging of both his integrity and his skill. but it takes some time. to understand the innate corruptness, you only need to know that Weibe’s original world record (i.e. Mitchell beating) score, submitted via videotape, is judged by a panel that actually includes Mitchell. HELLO!?.
the funny thing is that when Weibe shows up, he wins these people over pretty quickly. he’s a good guy, and they’ve been operating under the “rule” of someone not much unlike satan reincarnated on earth as a pro USA mullet wearing son of a bitch (Mitchell) so it is pretty easy to convert them. even Steve Sanders, Mitchell’s disciple since Mitchell first handed Sanders his ass back in 1982 at a Donkey Kong challenge game, admits freely and in front of Mitchell that Weibe is the best kind of guy, that he trusts him and his integrity implicitly. Mitchell is visibly put off by this statement (and Sander’s obvious judas behavior), when Mitchell is asked by the filmmakers if he agrees with that assessment Mitchell claims that he doesn’t really know the guy, and while this is technically true, it is just the last in a series of cowardly responses and behaviors, since he has been given every opportunity to know Weibe, and chose to chicken out every time.
this is the best kind of story, it was incredibly interesting and often hilarious. special props to director Seth Gordon for both having the instincts to know what a great story he had stumbled upon and excellent handling of the material he was able to capture. additional props to whoever is responsible for the use of the song You’re The Best (Joe Esposito - who knew?), which fit this movie so perfectly i cannot even articulate it in a human language. go Steve Weibe, you are truly, the best around.
#29. Travels In The Scriptorium. Paul Auster. Fiction. 4 stars.
switched it up to a straight fiction novel, instead of a short fiction collection this week, and really enjoyed myself. i have previously only read Auster’s City of Glass and that was long ago (while in college which was shockingly long ago actually) and i feel i’ll have to give it another read. all i remember of City of Glass was feeling really really depressed. but i’m depressed these days whether reading a depressing book or not, so i suspect i’ll have a lot more intelligent thoughts about it on a second, more mature read.
i really enjoyed Travels In The Scriptorium, despite the fact that there is very little closure and i was left with more questions than answers by the time i finished. perhaps it bothered me less not to have closure here than in Beattie’s Follies because in Follies i knew it was going to happen to me over and over again, whereas in Auster’s novel i knew it was just going to be the one time. i’m not sure.
Travels was beautifully written and totally engaging from page one. i think the lack of closure might be frustrating for a lot of people as it really does leave you completely hanging about both what happened to the characters to bring them to this moment in the novel, and also what will happen to them in the future. you really learn very little and much is left to the imagination. would i prefer this book if Auster had spent another 150+ pages filling in the gaps? maybe. but there is a story within a story in Travels and that informs much of what i suspect Auster wants you to do on your own.
as said previously, i remember little of City of Glass, but i suspect this style (and how much is given and withheld) is vintage Auster, and so fans of his will likely not be disappointed. it was very interesting. beautifully executed. 4 stars.
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