So I promised a while ago that I would discuss upcoming movie The Road. I know you were all on the edge of your seat with anticipation, so here we go.
Well, what can be said really? We haven't gotten a trailer yet, despite an initial release planned for November, and a move back to this May. Despite this, I feel I can make a relatively informed assumption from the photos that have been released and what I know about the director. Australian John Hillcoat has only one major credit under his belt, The Proposition, but its a brilliant piece of work. A dark, somewhat postmodern western, it's a logical precursor to The Road, a stark depressing future piece. If you haven't read Cormac McCarthy's novel, what is your excuse? His prose, short and staccato, is easy to read and if you're anything like me, you'd likely be able to finish it in an afternoon. Come back once you have.
Read it? Good. So having looked at the photos from the set, I can honestly say that the movie looks tupping brilliant. Viggo Mortensen is pretty much perfect as the unnamed father, and the actor playing the son, Kodi Smit-McPhee, looks to be good as well. Granted, until we see some actual footage, not much of a judgement can honestly be made. But the ashes and burnt out landscape look great, and I've got to say I'm pumped for this.
Recently, I'm reading an interesting sociological study called American Nerd by Ben Nugent. The author deals with the idea of a nerd and what drives that label. Various chapters deal with aspbergers, jocks, and the interests which result in the label. Its gotten me thinking about the different archetypal nerds we see out there. Since I've been listening to the soundtrack to Little Shop of Horrors lately, I thought I'd address what we'll refer to as the Seymour archetype.
Seymour is an underachiever with big dreams. He works at a flower shop in the city and has rapidly diminishing hopes for the future. However, through what seems to be divine intervention, he gets the girl of his dreams and all of his hopes start to become reality. He is then faced with a hard choice, whether to continue doing the evil that has gotten him to this point, or go back to the (self-described) pathetic lifestyle that he had before. He chooses the former, at least at first, because he believes it the only way to keep his beloved Audrey.
In reality, Audrey loves him unconditionally. And this brings us to the crux of the Seymour archetype. He is a supremely unconfident nerd, having no belief in himself. He prefers to continue to lean on the crutch his man-eating plant has become and in the end it costs him what he holds dear.
I know that I myself have at times been guilty of this. I've taken the easy way, believing that it will lead to what I really want. Each time, however, it seems to come back to bite me in the ass. Nerds are often unconfident by nature, having chosen intellectual pursuits over those which traditionally would be used to "get them the girl". I think because of this, I tend to go after women different from me, stronger and more confident. I am a nerd and I am learning.
Bit of a rambler today. Goodnight.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
Music Review: Offend Maggie by Deerhoof
There is music that you can play in a bookstore, there is music you can't play in a bookstore, and there is that which straddles the line. Deerhoof may have previously been firmly entrenched in that second category, but with Offend Maggie the band has crossed over into a more mainstream world. And while in Indie Rock mainstream is usually an epithet, here it is both a blessing and a compliment.
For the uninitiated, Deerhoof is a band based out of San Francisco who might best be described as Bjork meets J-Pop mixed together in a blender powered by chaos theory. Often, while the songs may move in a general direction, the path they take to reach their destination is chaotic and hard to map out. On Offend Maggie, however, the band seems to be making an effort to widen their audience. Vocalist Satsumi Matsuzaki can still be difficult to understand, but this is part of the charm here. You'll find yourself humming along, but its very rare that you'll sing along, not a problem when lyrics consist of seemingly random exclamations on the nature of basketball or stalking phone calls.
Where the album ultimately falls down is in the sameness. While there are standout moments of richness (the title track and Chandelier Searchlight spring to my mind), there are unfortunately times when you may find yourself skipping ahead to a different track, looking for something that sounds a little different.
Overall, though, the album succeeds admirably. Whether you've listened to Deerhoof for a while, or, like the gentleman who came to the information counter when I put the cd in at the store this evening, have never heard them before, Offend Maggie's positives far outweigh its negatives.
Rating: 4/5
For the uninitiated, Deerhoof is a band based out of San Francisco who might best be described as Bjork meets J-Pop mixed together in a blender powered by chaos theory. Often, while the songs may move in a general direction, the path they take to reach their destination is chaotic and hard to map out. On Offend Maggie, however, the band seems to be making an effort to widen their audience. Vocalist Satsumi Matsuzaki can still be difficult to understand, but this is part of the charm here. You'll find yourself humming along, but its very rare that you'll sing along, not a problem when lyrics consist of seemingly random exclamations on the nature of basketball or stalking phone calls.
Where the album ultimately falls down is in the sameness. While there are standout moments of richness (the title track and Chandelier Searchlight spring to my mind), there are unfortunately times when you may find yourself skipping ahead to a different track, looking for something that sounds a little different.
Overall, though, the album succeeds admirably. Whether you've listened to Deerhoof for a while, or, like the gentleman who came to the information counter when I put the cd in at the store this evening, have never heard them before, Offend Maggie's positives far outweigh its negatives.
Rating: 4/5
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
The Year Ahead, part 2
So it took me a few days, but I'm back and ready to go into those other movies I mentioned. However, a quick update on my life first: It is balls cold here in Michigan. I'm not sure I can remember the last time it was so cold. If I was into random sleeping with anonymous ladies, I would do so now just for the bloody body heat. That's how cold it is.
At work lately, we seem to be having an excess of events. Last night was a book on Buddhism and Japanese culture by an MSU professor. I was interested in it, but figured no one else would be. I'm pretty sure we were all extremely surprised when 39 people showed up, and 5 of them bought the 63 dollar book. Not a bad showing. Tonight was a true crime book. I'm a bit disturbed by this section and the readers of them in general. With horror and mysteries, you may be reading disturbing things but at least they remain within the realm of fantasy. However, I can't make the jump in my mind to a place where I wouldn't feel like a voyeur while reading a true crime novel. These are real tragedies or other horrible events that happened to real peole. A bit sick.
With that out of the way, on to the future of cinema.
Monsters Vs. Aliens looks brilliant. I said it. Not only does it appear to be more in the line of Dreamworks more recent Kung Fu Panda than the progressively unfunny Shrek series, it has a fantastic cast. If you're not familiar with the story, Reese Witherspoon voices a woman who gets hit with a meteor on her wedding day, growing to be 49 and 1/2 feet tall. She's taken into custody by a government agent and set to work with a group of other monsters (think a goofy Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense. Don't know what I'm talking about? Read or watch Hellboy) The rest of the cast is stellar as well, including Seth Rogen, Stephen Colbert, Hugh Laurie, Will Arnett and Kiefer Sutherland.
Here is a trailer for your pleasure.
Now on to 9.
9 actually started out as a short film which I'm also posting here (albeit in blurry form with random porn noises at the beginning):
Watched that? Good.
So the movie will follow that same basic plot, no humans, little voodoo doll looking guys, fighting big scary monster that is somehow stealing their souls. And before any fanboys out there start making comparisons to the game 'Little Big Planet' or any other such nonsense, this short has been around for a while. You don't have a monopoly on the burlap voodoo doll look. Deal with it. What stands out strongest to me about this film is the art direction. It's not just producer Tim Burton's influence, even. The original look for the film is made out perfectly in the original short and Acker appears to be fleshing out the steam/cyberpunk look a bit more in his final piece, if the trailer is any place to judge.
The movie stars Elijah Wood, John C. Reilly, Jennifer Connelly, Crispin Glover, Christopher Plummer and Martin Landau.
I think I'll do one more movie blog, coming up soon and this time I'll talk exclusively about one of my most anticipated films: the adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's The Road.
See you next time, true believers! (with apologies to Stan Lee)
At work lately, we seem to be having an excess of events. Last night was a book on Buddhism and Japanese culture by an MSU professor. I was interested in it, but figured no one else would be. I'm pretty sure we were all extremely surprised when 39 people showed up, and 5 of them bought the 63 dollar book. Not a bad showing. Tonight was a true crime book. I'm a bit disturbed by this section and the readers of them in general. With horror and mysteries, you may be reading disturbing things but at least they remain within the realm of fantasy. However, I can't make the jump in my mind to a place where I wouldn't feel like a voyeur while reading a true crime novel. These are real tragedies or other horrible events that happened to real peole. A bit sick.
With that out of the way, on to the future of cinema.
Monsters Vs. Aliens looks brilliant. I said it. Not only does it appear to be more in the line of Dreamworks more recent Kung Fu Panda than the progressively unfunny Shrek series, it has a fantastic cast. If you're not familiar with the story, Reese Witherspoon voices a woman who gets hit with a meteor on her wedding day, growing to be 49 and 1/2 feet tall. She's taken into custody by a government agent and set to work with a group of other monsters (think a goofy Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense. Don't know what I'm talking about? Read or watch Hellboy) The rest of the cast is stellar as well, including Seth Rogen, Stephen Colbert, Hugh Laurie, Will Arnett and Kiefer Sutherland.
Here is a trailer for your pleasure.
Now on to 9.
9 actually started out as a short film which I'm also posting here (albeit in blurry form with random porn noises at the beginning):
Watched that? Good.
So the movie will follow that same basic plot, no humans, little voodoo doll looking guys, fighting big scary monster that is somehow stealing their souls. And before any fanboys out there start making comparisons to the game 'Little Big Planet' or any other such nonsense, this short has been around for a while. You don't have a monopoly on the burlap voodoo doll look. Deal with it. What stands out strongest to me about this film is the art direction. It's not just producer Tim Burton's influence, even. The original look for the film is made out perfectly in the original short and Acker appears to be fleshing out the steam/cyberpunk look a bit more in his final piece, if the trailer is any place to judge.
The movie stars Elijah Wood, John C. Reilly, Jennifer Connelly, Crispin Glover, Christopher Plummer and Martin Landau.
I think I'll do one more movie blog, coming up soon and this time I'll talk exclusively about one of my most anticipated films: the adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's The Road.
See you next time, true believers! (with apologies to Stan Lee)
Sunday, January 11, 2009
The Year Ahead, part 1
So due to unforeseen video game and cartoon action in my world, I haven't really gotten around to writing an anticipatory blog about the coming year. For me, there have many things to look forward to, both in my personal life and the world around me. So lets get the love/hate train started.
First of all, on January 20th, the world is going to change a lot. I like to think that with the election of Barack Obama, we entered a new era, but on the 20th we're going to find out just how true that is. He's already confirmed that because of the dire economic situation, he probably won't be able to fulfill some of his campaign promises, but if he is able to follow through on a fraction of them, I'll consider it a success. What I can't understand, really, is the animosity from the right. Ok, I can understand it, they're sore at losing, but whatever happened to supporting the president no matter what? At work, I was looking through the new Ann Coulter book, and the woman has smoothly transitioned from full on vile attack, to full on disgusting defense, all within the course of several months. (On that note, would you put yourself on the cover of every one of your books if you looked like Skeletor? Her and Sylvia Browne, I swear...) In any case, I will be watching this inaugural with bated breath and a strong hope that it will start the year out right.
Something I've had a lot of trouble understanding is the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians. I guess I don't know enough history to be able to fully comprehend the implications of whats going on there. What I do see, though, is that both sides are doing horrific things to the other with civilians caught in the middle. I hope that maybe this year we can get things on track, and negotiate another cease-fire over there. Thats one thing to hope for, I guess.
This blog is going off the rails quickly.
The oscar season is coming! And....I don't really care. What I am interested in (wasn't that a smooth transition from current events to pop-culture?) is the rash of movies we're going to be getting in the upcoming year, quite a few tailor made for the nerd in all of us. This won't be in any particular order, so I guess I'll just start with the nerd holy grail: Watchmen.
This film has been in different stages of development for years, with the general consensus among both fans and hollywood being that it is 'unfilmable'. However, after the success of his 'Dawn of the Dead' remake and '300', Zack Snyder picked it up and from what I can see, it looks like he's going to do a pretty good job with it. Having first read the book sometime ago, I was pretty skeptical. There are moments, particularly the Under the Hood and Black Freighter asides, that would be extremely difficult to translate into film. But the trailers are fairly decent and all the buzz I've heard via the ever-lying internet is strong. The idea of an animated film telling the story of Tales of the Black Freighter is particularly intriguing. But this all seems to be overshadowed by the looming legal case involving who owns the distribution rights to the film. With Fox supposedly having some claim to them, we'll have to see how the looming court proceedings (at this writing, starting Monday the twelfth) turn out. There have been settlement talks already, and with a release date approaching swiftly, this all needs to get worked out quick. Here's hoping. And Dear Mr. Alan Moore, please, please keep up your writing, producing material that will be made into brilliant (and occasionally terrible) movies that you can disavow all involvement and make no money from. Sadly. You deserve your brilliance to be recognized. You and your snake god.
I've been reading Neil Gaiman for a long time now, and The Nightmare before Christmas has always been one of my favorite movies. When I heard that Gaiman was teaming up with director Henry Selick to bring his young adult novel Coraline to the big screen, I was pretty damn excited. When I saw the trailer in front of Beowulf, however, I became skeptical, especially with Little-Miss-Everywhere Dakota Fanning providing the title character's voice. But now, with more complete trailers being shown, I'm starting to get excited again. The movie looks beautiful, there's no doubt there, and the art direction is a bit more interesting than I was expected. It doesn't look like Nightmare, so thats a definite plus, but on the same level it doesn't seem like Gaiman. I kind of wish that Dave McKean was in some way involved, his original illustrations for the book being some of the most evocative I've seen in a while. So while the movie looks creepy as heck, I'm going to have to wait til I actually sit down and watch it before I pass final judgement.
This entry is turning out a bit longer than I was intending, so I'm going to call it a night. However, I will leave you with a preview of next time with a couple of movie titles:
Monsters vs Aliens
9
Look those up and prepare yourself.
First of all, on January 20th, the world is going to change a lot. I like to think that with the election of Barack Obama, we entered a new era, but on the 20th we're going to find out just how true that is. He's already confirmed that because of the dire economic situation, he probably won't be able to fulfill some of his campaign promises, but if he is able to follow through on a fraction of them, I'll consider it a success. What I can't understand, really, is the animosity from the right. Ok, I can understand it, they're sore at losing, but whatever happened to supporting the president no matter what? At work, I was looking through the new Ann Coulter book, and the woman has smoothly transitioned from full on vile attack, to full on disgusting defense, all within the course of several months. (On that note, would you put yourself on the cover of every one of your books if you looked like Skeletor? Her and Sylvia Browne, I swear...) In any case, I will be watching this inaugural with bated breath and a strong hope that it will start the year out right.
Something I've had a lot of trouble understanding is the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians. I guess I don't know enough history to be able to fully comprehend the implications of whats going on there. What I do see, though, is that both sides are doing horrific things to the other with civilians caught in the middle. I hope that maybe this year we can get things on track, and negotiate another cease-fire over there. Thats one thing to hope for, I guess.
This blog is going off the rails quickly.
The oscar season is coming! And....I don't really care. What I am interested in (wasn't that a smooth transition from current events to pop-culture?) is the rash of movies we're going to be getting in the upcoming year, quite a few tailor made for the nerd in all of us. This won't be in any particular order, so I guess I'll just start with the nerd holy grail: Watchmen.
This film has been in different stages of development for years, with the general consensus among both fans and hollywood being that it is 'unfilmable'. However, after the success of his 'Dawn of the Dead' remake and '300', Zack Snyder picked it up and from what I can see, it looks like he's going to do a pretty good job with it. Having first read the book sometime ago, I was pretty skeptical. There are moments, particularly the Under the Hood and Black Freighter asides, that would be extremely difficult to translate into film. But the trailers are fairly decent and all the buzz I've heard via the ever-lying internet is strong. The idea of an animated film telling the story of Tales of the Black Freighter is particularly intriguing. But this all seems to be overshadowed by the looming legal case involving who owns the distribution rights to the film. With Fox supposedly having some claim to them, we'll have to see how the looming court proceedings (at this writing, starting Monday the twelfth) turn out. There have been settlement talks already, and with a release date approaching swiftly, this all needs to get worked out quick. Here's hoping. And Dear Mr. Alan Moore, please, please keep up your writing, producing material that will be made into brilliant (and occasionally terrible) movies that you can disavow all involvement and make no money from. Sadly. You deserve your brilliance to be recognized. You and your snake god.
I've been reading Neil Gaiman for a long time now, and The Nightmare before Christmas has always been one of my favorite movies. When I heard that Gaiman was teaming up with director Henry Selick to bring his young adult novel Coraline to the big screen, I was pretty damn excited. When I saw the trailer in front of Beowulf, however, I became skeptical, especially with Little-Miss-Everywhere Dakota Fanning providing the title character's voice. But now, with more complete trailers being shown, I'm starting to get excited again. The movie looks beautiful, there's no doubt there, and the art direction is a bit more interesting than I was expected. It doesn't look like Nightmare, so thats a definite plus, but on the same level it doesn't seem like Gaiman. I kind of wish that Dave McKean was in some way involved, his original illustrations for the book being some of the most evocative I've seen in a while. So while the movie looks creepy as heck, I'm going to have to wait til I actually sit down and watch it before I pass final judgement.
This entry is turning out a bit longer than I was intending, so I'm going to call it a night. However, I will leave you with a preview of next time with a couple of movie titles:
Monsters vs Aliens
9
Look those up and prepare yourself.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Wash
I've been exceedingly frustrated lately with my writing. I've felt at times that at times it might just be time to hang it up and pursue something else, that I'm no good, that everything I have to say has been said before, and better. I'm sure 'Eddyone Else' is reading that sentence and rejoicing. Hell, he's probably not the only one. But then I try to find another reason to keep going.
Before I came over to my desk to type, I was on the couch, throwing a plastic mouse for one of my cats and letting the music of The Mountain Goats wash over me. I've been trying to write a music review as an sample to send out with submissions, but I keep banging up against walls. Picking up a recent album (what I'd prefer to write a review of) often leads me to the problem that I don't own any of the artists' previous work. This is what I'm finding with The Mountain Goats (the artist I finally settled on). I own Heretic Pride, their most recent, but its my initial introduction to their sound. Through the internet, I've listened to some previous songs, but I can't help but feel massively unprepared.
Does anyone have any suggestions on how to go about this? Do you just plow forward headfirst and let what happens happens?
I've decided to start allowing comments again, but any hateful or spam comments will be deleted without being read. Thanks.
Before I came over to my desk to type, I was on the couch, throwing a plastic mouse for one of my cats and letting the music of The Mountain Goats wash over me. I've been trying to write a music review as an sample to send out with submissions, but I keep banging up against walls. Picking up a recent album (what I'd prefer to write a review of) often leads me to the problem that I don't own any of the artists' previous work. This is what I'm finding with The Mountain Goats (the artist I finally settled on). I own Heretic Pride, their most recent, but its my initial introduction to their sound. Through the internet, I've listened to some previous songs, but I can't help but feel massively unprepared.
Does anyone have any suggestions on how to go about this? Do you just plow forward headfirst and let what happens happens?
I've decided to start allowing comments again, but any hateful or spam comments will be deleted without being read. Thanks.
Friday, January 2, 2009
Still Alive
I just finished up writing a ghost story. We'll see whether anyone cares for it. My other big writing project for the day was an essay contest entry to try and win a trip to the inauguration.
Beyond that, I've been thinking a bit about the nature of Video Games and whether or not we should be worried. I was at work today, and children are becoming more and more astonishing creatures to me by the day. The manga section is one of our most heavily browsed. Now, don't think I'm down on graphic novels or manga because I'm not. I still read, and adore, comic books. But a large number of what is in that section is recycling material that children have had presented to them elsewhere, be it television or in the case of today, video games.
I know, I know, I should just be happy that these kids are reading, but why not read something new? Something you haven't experienced before? Meet new characters; leave the world of video games behind.
There are some options that speak in favor of video games, mostly in the science fiction and fantasy section. Over there, our media-tie-in series are packed with Halo and Gears of War and Star Wars books. But at least, while you may be familiar with the characters, you're using your imagination. Manga shows you everything, using the bare minimum text, and oftentimes relying on splash pages to get across what would take multiple paragraphs to describe elsewhere.
Do I think manga and comic books are bad and should be banned? No. Do I think children should exist purely on a diet of them though? Hell no. At this rate, we're heading towards a generation that will be very visually inclined, but will have no imagination. Does that make sense? People who are used to being shown everything, they'll be unable to show others anything. I just hope that all those kids who ARE reading keep it up.
Beyond that, I've been thinking a bit about the nature of Video Games and whether or not we should be worried. I was at work today, and children are becoming more and more astonishing creatures to me by the day. The manga section is one of our most heavily browsed. Now, don't think I'm down on graphic novels or manga because I'm not. I still read, and adore, comic books. But a large number of what is in that section is recycling material that children have had presented to them elsewhere, be it television or in the case of today, video games.
I know, I know, I should just be happy that these kids are reading, but why not read something new? Something you haven't experienced before? Meet new characters; leave the world of video games behind.
There are some options that speak in favor of video games, mostly in the science fiction and fantasy section. Over there, our media-tie-in series are packed with Halo and Gears of War and Star Wars books. But at least, while you may be familiar with the characters, you're using your imagination. Manga shows you everything, using the bare minimum text, and oftentimes relying on splash pages to get across what would take multiple paragraphs to describe elsewhere.
Do I think manga and comic books are bad and should be banned? No. Do I think children should exist purely on a diet of them though? Hell no. At this rate, we're heading towards a generation that will be very visually inclined, but will have no imagination. Does that make sense? People who are used to being shown everything, they'll be unable to show others anything. I just hope that all those kids who ARE reading keep it up.
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