Fall/Winter - 2011/2012

Theatrical Reviews:

The French Connection (1971)  ****

Battle Royale (2000, Japan)  ****

The Terminator (1984)  ****

True Romance (1993)  ****

Poltergeist (1982)  ****

Manhattan (1979)  ****

Annie Hall (1977)  ****

Hugo (3D)  ****

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (USA)  ***1/2

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol  ***1/2

The Adventures of Tintin (3D)  ***1/2

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy  ***1/2

War Horse  ***1/2

Drive  ***1/2

The Rum Diary  ***

Real Steel  **1/2

The Thing (2011)  **

DVD/Home Video:

Until The End of the World: Director's Cut (1991)  ****

Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse  ****

Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987)  ****

American Graffiti (1972)  ****

Miller's Crossing (1990)  ****

Something Wild (1987)  ****

Harakiri (Japan, 1962)  ****

Ugetsu (Japan, 1953)  ****

Midnight Run (1988)  ****

1941 (1979)  ****

Enter The Void (France)  ***1/2

Kwaidan (Japan, 1965)  ***1/2

Onibaba (Japan, 1964)  ***1/2

Naked Lunch (1991)  ***1/2

High Fidelity (2005)  ***1/2

Beetlejuice (1988)  ***1/2

Insomnia (2002)  ***1/2

The American  ***1/2

Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame (HK)  ***

Timerider: The Adventure of Lyle Swann (1983)  ***

The Life and Legend of Buffalo Jones (1976)  ***

Space Battleship Yamoto (Japan)  ***

The Man From Nowhere (Korea)  ***

Hide In Plain Sight (1980)  ***

Snuff Box (UK, TV Series)  ***

Cyborg She (2008, Japan)  ***

Winnie The Pooh (2011)  ***

The Rain People (1969)  ***

Kuroneko (Japan, 1968)  ***

We're No Angels (1989)  ***

Promised Land (1987)  ***

The Town (2010)  ***

Shaolin (HK)  ***

Southland Tales: The Cannes Cut  **1/2

Ghostbusters 2 (1990)  **1/2

At the Sinatra Club  **12

Countdown (1968)  **1/2

Feeding Frenzy  **1/2

The Car (1977)  **1/2

Slither (1973)  **1/2

Woochi: The Taoist Wizard (Korea)  **

Lulu on the Bridge (1998)  **

Underworld (1997)  **

Drive Angry  **

Born To Raise Hell  *

The Films of Humphrey Bogart: 

The Petrified Forest (1936)  ****

Angels With Dirty Faces (1938)  ***

Dark Victory (1939)  ***1/2

High Sierra (1941)  ****

The Maltese Falcon (1941)  ****

Casablanca (1942)  ***

To Have and Have Not (1944)  ****

The Big Sleep (1946)  ***1/2

Dark Passage (1947)  ***

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)  ****

Key Largo (1948)  ****

In A Lonely Place (1950)  ***

The African Queen (1951)  ***1/2

Beat the Devil (1953)  **1/2

We're No Angels (1954)  ***

The Desperate Hours (1955)  ***1/2

Classic/Noir:

The Asphalt Jungle (1950)  ****

The Steel Helmet (1951)  ***1/2

Mystery Street (1950)  ***1/2

Pickup on South Street (1953)  ***

Satan Met A Lady (1936)  ***

Out of the Past (1947)  ***

Act of Violence (1948)  ***

The Hitch-Hiker (1953)  ***

Gun Crazy (1949)  ***

Murder, My Sweet (1945)  **1/2

Lady in the Lake (1947)  **1/2

The Maltese Falcon (1931)  **

Music/Spoken World:

Miles Davis: Elevator to the Gallows (soundtrack)  ****

Tom Waits: Bad As Me (Limited Edition)  ****

Scrooged: Danny Elfman (La La Land)  ****

Mitch Murder: Burning Chrome  ****

Blade Runner: EMS Recombination (soundtrack bootleg)  ***1/2

DJ Z-Trip & DJ P: Uneasy Listening, Volume 1 (2000)  ***1/2

The Adventures of Tintin (score by John Williams)  ***1/2

Beastie Boys: Hot Sauce Committee Part Two  ***1/2

Michael Ian Black: I Am A Wonderful Man  ***1/2

Die Hard: Michael Kamen (La La Land)  ***1/2

Explorers: Jerry Goldsmith (Intrada)  ***1/2

mc chris: Marshmellow Playground  ***1/2

Drive (original score/soundtrack)  ***1/2

Michael Ian Black: Very Famous  ***1/2

Dexter Gordon: Gotham City  ***1/2

Joe Bargar & the Soul Providers: Two Sides  ***

Isaac Hayes: Hot Buttered Soul (1969)  ***

The State: Comedy for Gracious Living  ***

Chrysta Bell & David Lynch: This Train  ***

David Lynch: Crazy Clown Time  ***

James Hyman: Pulp Mixin'  ***

mc chris: Race Wars  ***

Jeff Bridges (2011)  ***

Michael Showalter: Sandwiches & Cats  **1/2

Literature/Comics:

Frank Miller's Sin City: The Hard Goodbye  ****

Frank Miller's Sin City: A Dame to Kill For  ***

Frank Miller's Sin City: The Big Fat Kill  ***

Frank Miller's Sin City: That Yellow Bastard  ****

Frank Miller's Sin City: Family Values  ***1/2

Frank Miller's Sin City: Booze, Broads & Bullets  ***

Frank Miller's Sin City: To Hell and Back  ***1/2

Woody Allen on Woody Allen (Stig Bjorkman)  ***1/2

The Blade Runner Sketchbook (Blue Dolphin)  ***1/2

Art to Choke Hearts & Pissing in the Gene Pool (Henry Rollins)  ***

Ghostbusters Infestation: #1 & 2 (IDW, miniseries)  ***

Ghostbusters #1 & 2 (IDW, monthly)  ***

Wolverine Noir (Marvel)  ***1/2

X-Men Noir (Marvel)  ***

X-Men Noir: Mark of Cain (Marvel)  **

Dennis Hopper: A Madness to His Method (Elena Rodriguez)  **1/2

Dennis Hopper: Movie Top Ten (Jack Hunter)  **

100 Bullets: First Shot, Last Call (DC/Vertigo)  **

Internet:

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Review (Red Letter Media)  ***1/2

Star Wars Uncut: Director's Cut (on youtube)  ***1/2

David Wain's Wainy Days (wainydays.com)  ***1/2

Black Lodge: "Twin Peaks" Atari 2600 Game  ***

2011: The Year's Ten Best Films:

The Tree of Life

13 Assassins

Midnight in Paris

Blank City

Page One: Inside The New York Times

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part Two

Norwegian Wood

Drive

Hugo

The Booth at the End

Sky & Sea, Boston - August/September 2011

Theatrical Reviews:

The Shining (1980) ****

Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) ****

DVD/Home Video:

One False Move (1992) ****
Norwegian Wood (Japan) ***1/2
City of Hope (1991) ***1/2
The Killing (1956) ***1/2
Sexy Beast (2000) ***1/2
Out of the Blue (1980) ***
Dark Passage (1947) ***
Five Corners (1987) ***
Fear City (1984) **

Internet:

The Booth In The Corner (Hulu) ****
Half in the Bag (Red Letter Media) ***1/2

NYC (and a bonus) - August 2011

Style and Execution

July 17th, 2011

It's been a few beautiful, dry and cool days lately, during which I had to work. (Of course.) Now the 90 degree heat's come back again... and on my day off. (Naturally.) The humidity wasn't scheduled to arrive again until nightfall though, so I grabbed my notebook, Diet Coke & cookie and went to my spot at the Park. The swelter didn't phase me in the slightest as I started the outline for the story, proper. All the backstory work I'd been doing lately fell right into place. The story was originally going to be a real-time investigation sort of thing, but now I see the value of flashbacks and imagined realities in this particular story and they seem to flowing in their places pretty well. It has to do with what the Hero has grown up thinking is a particular truth or two about his past, only to have the actual truth given to him from two or three other people, even as we suspect that those people might be coloring their own particular meaning of the truth in their own way... Flashbacks and such really are the only way to make this come alive visually. I guess noir films use them for a reason, after all.

The key, if I'm allowed by fate to direct this film, is to differentiate between the actual/real past material and the imagined past material, visually. Soderbergh used color temperature in Traffic to split up his Washington/Mexico/Los Angeles based storyline. I'm thinking "locked-down camera" for the false/imagined past and "handheld but not shaky-cam" as the actual/real past. I've long felt that the great films of the 60's/70's always had that handheld you-are-there news camera sort of realism (Medium Cool, for one). Maybe this is a way to go. Or maybe the other way around would be more interesting, almost turning the convention on it's own ear. Will have to think about that...

At any rate: I felt the first, real sense of accomplishment today. It feels like I've planned out the entire film now, from the opening shot to the closing credits, on paper. After four-plus years, the story is now finally all laid out. The tough part's over. Next is the mostly-easy part. The actual writing of the first draft.

August 7, 2011

Spent my last few days off getting life stuff done. Finally relenting and putting the air conditioner in, paying bills, cleaning the room, seeing the occasional film, house and cat sitting. These all cut into my creativity time a little. I did get around to gathering all my little notes on scraps of paper and color-copying them to 8.5 by 11 inch sheets, so now I have fresh new versions to refer to, should I need them. Maybe I should digitize them and keep them on the laptop and iPod Touch, too. Having them available to me at any given moment sounds like a decent idea.

I've also decided to have another sort of back-up plan. The story I'm working on, you see, is sort of a remake. But not really. That is: there is a terrific old thriller that I've always enjoyed. To film-people it's a classic, however to most average audiences it's largely unknown, which is a tragedy since, at least in my opinion, it really should be as recognized as The Big Sleep, Cape Fear, White Heat and a host of others. The thing that always struck me about it was it's amazing opening scene. Not to give it away but it's a tough and sparse slow-burn of dramatic perfection. Beautifully written, directed, photographed and performed... and it's probably my favorite opening scene of all time.

Some time ago, I figured it would be a great idea to keep that amazing opening scene, line by line and shot by shot, exactly as it is in the original film, then veer off into uncharted and deeply personal (to me) territory, as a way of both paying homage to the classic original, while striking off on my own and telling a story that only I can tell.

Only recently did I consider this: What if I were not able to get the rights to the original material? That could be a huge problem, since I couldn't really start with the Scene Two and expect to have the same dramatic or emotional impact. If you can imagine, say, what Reservoir Dogs might be like without the pre-title sequence with the "Like A Virgin" conversation in the diner where we meet Keitel, Madsen, Buscemi and the rest, you might get the picture. The film would just start with Tim Roth crying in the backseat of a speeding car. You'd miss out on the impact of the moment, the shock and some of Tarantino's most well known dialogue. You'd just jump headlong into screaming and blood. It wouldn't work nearly as well. The same would happen with my story.

I then decided to write a back-up first scene. If I couldn't get the rights to the material I needed, I wanted to cover myself. I kept the same general idea but altered the setting, time of day, the players, moved some of the characters around like chess pieces. I brought in a character, someone who wasn't scheduled to show up for another ten or fifteen pages. I'm trying to keep the same slow-burn feel of the original but bringing it another, more shocking and possibly more contemporary place. The only difficulty is that I can think of at least two other movies that start in a similar way, yet different enough - I think - to be considered separate and unrelated pieces. In a genre story, it's surprisingly difficult not to repeat (or even unintentionally steal from) what you've seen and loved in film before. Tough guy dialogue, familiar settings... I'll have to keep a close eye on this. I'd really love for this to be something wholly original, emotional and special.

At any rate, now I'm on the fence in that I really like the new opening. The way I see it in my mind visually, the way that I imagine it lighted, edited and performed... I think it might actually suit the rest of the story better than that classic scene that inspired it. It seems more of the same world, more fitting. Maybe I'm deluded. Or, maybe that's a sign of some sort of artistic maturity. Something the makers of remakes and reboots should try to feel: that it's all wonderful to pay tribute to those who inspire you, but it takes more courage to go your own way...

I guess we'll see.

Theatrical Reviews
Blue Velvet (1985) ****
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part Two ***1/2
Rise of the Planet of the Apes ***
Captain America ***

DVD/Home Video
To Have and Have Not (1944) ****
High Sierra (1941) ****
Naked (UK, 1993) ****
Stanley Kubrick's Boxes (Documentary) ***1/2
Eyes Wide Shut (1999) ***1/2
SubUrbia (1997) ***1/2
Spartan (2004) ***1/2
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part One ***
It Came From Outer Space! - 3D (1953) ***
Outrage (Japan) ***
Blow Out (1981) ***
Judgment Night (1993) **1/2
Times Square (1980) **1/2

Getting Comfortable

July 9th, 2011

Yesterday was my birthday. Meh. Forty-one and precious little to show for it. The older I get, the less this stuff means to me. Maybe next year I'll manage to get myself a little something useful for my birthday: a screenplay sale for my current project. Another goal to strive for.

After being away for a few days visiting my Mom (which is always nice), I've come home to more heat n' humidity and am finding it impossible to get anything done, I had the suspicion that getting out of the apartment to get some work done might be a good idea. And in that instant, I had a flash: a complete vision, which included all the particulars of where and under what conditions. I felt that I needed to get my notebook -- and a Diet Coke and chocolate chip cookie for the proper caffeine and sugar regimen -- then travel down to this great Park off of Beacon Street, lay down in the grass on said hill and just let the creative spirit take me where it would.

I'd never really done that before, in terms of trying to write, and have typically felt a little awkward whenever I try to relax or "lay out" like "regular people." It's like, sometimes I see people just relaxing and enjoying the day, throwing their Frisbees back and forth and cavorting with their gorgeous friends and significant others, and sometimes I feel sort of uptight, in a way. Exposed or vulnerable or something, as if I were going to be attacked or made fun of for some odd reason. As if the Wolves walking by would see me as the Weak Sheep in the herd and therefore sum me up as an easy target.

Part of it comes from being a local resident working in retail; in that where ever you go, you typically end up seeing someone you know or have regular dealings with when all you really want is some space. Sometimes it's someone you like, someone you enjoy seeing and talking with... but sometimes it's the Douchebag Kid That Comes From Money who, for whatever reason, tried to shoplift from your store and now wants to screw with you to look like a big-shot in front of his friends. Or the Angry Drunk you had to kick out for being a public nuisance who you still see around town giving you the evil eye as if to say, "Someday it'll be your turn, buddy." It's also partially something I (dis)affectionately refer to as Fat Guy Syndrome. Comes from being made fun of a lot as a kid. If you grew up popular or well-adjusted, you probably wouldn't understand. (No worries, though. I came around, eventually.)

Most of the time I can let these feelings go. Between the heat of the previous few days, the feeling that I'd been squandering my vacation time and the hyper-personal nature of the story I'm working on, though, I was surprised that this vision of this particular where-and-when-to-write came to me in the way that it did. So, wanting to be creative no matter what, I got my things together (that is, my supplies and my head), packed my stuff and headed out there.

Turned out, the Park was a great idea. Two Dudes were in the spot on the hill that I wanted to be in, so I found a nearby bench. Not too comfortable, though. After about a half hour the Two Dudes left and I grabbed my things, went over to my originally preferred space and found what seemed like my Optimum Creation Zone. Stretching out on my stomach and facing the field, baseball diamond and tennis courts beneath, I went to work. It went perfectly. I cranked out about six pages of all-new material for the backstory, right on the fly; things I needed to really make the crime plot work. Nothing Earth-shattering in the screenwriting world sense but very valuable to me, personally, and my story structure. Between moments of brainstorming, I smiled as puppies played in the nearby grass. I watched those Frisbees flying between those gorgeous friends and significant others and all those things that gave me pause earlier that day became wondrous and beautiful.

I started to realize just how negative thoughts can kill one's creativity. I almost didn't go out there at all, I almost didn't do anything that day. But once I did and once I decided to let those concerns of mine go, and once the words started flowing, I was able to relax and make progress.

I'd forgotten how good that could feel.

July 14, 2011

My week's vacation ended a few days ago. "Back to the daily grind" means "less time to create." But then again, that makes the time that much more valuable. Today was a day off. Not wanting to waste it all, I decided to get more backstory done and set up how it progresses into the current timeline narrative. Couldn't go back to the park today, though, due to rain. I know now that it's much easier for me to work on the project away from my room. Far too many distractions here amongst the DVDs, vinyl LPs, books, Atari games and Internets. I figured I'd try the local (and air-conditioned!) Library instead, grabbed my notebook and umbrella and headed over.

I'd never looked for the best spot for writing in there before. I made a few laps around the halls, desks and hidden corners. Looking for the perfect combination of relative silence, lighting, solitude and a window view of the outdoors, I settled into a quiet corner near a soothingly-ticking grandfather clock and started in. After about an hour and a half, I'd gotten close to four more pages of the main outline completed. Next will be the real work. The narrative proper. I should get my notes together and Xerox them for easier travel. Might need them in the coming sessions.

Theatrical Reviews
Taxi Driver (1975, 2011 restoration) ****
Down By Law (1986) ****
The African Queen (1951, 2010 restoration) ***1/2
Page One: Inside The New York Times ****1/2
Hobo with a Shotgun **1/2
Jaws 3D (1983) **

DVD/Home Video
Coma (1978) ***
Firefox (1982) ***
Big Rig (Documentary) ***
The Gauntlet (1977) **1/2

Back To Business: Gaining Clarity and Focus and Keeping It

Some time ago, I was fairly creative.
Starting in 1984 until about 2001, I'd been involved with or dabbled in everything from cartooning, photography, high school newspaper journalism and film criticism, local cable access news and entertainment, film school, screenwriting in both personal study and formal classes and video production and linear video editing. I managed to cobble together two full-length scripts -- one, a silly Hollywood action-comedy; the other, a smaller independent crime comedy -- which gathered some kind words but failed to earn me local literary representation. Stepping up to the plate and prepping for something big, I penned a short forty-pager for a video-film that I'd written and planned to direct and perform in.
Sadly, the project failed to get off the ground due to the usual bad luck, poor planning and misunderstandings. Following that and the lamentation of my lack of personal wealth, I concentrated on the writing aspect of film making which made sense as it just doesn't get any cheaper than pens and paper. Then life got in the way, as it often does, and a combination of unpleasant life experiences, emotional depression, lack of personal belief -- and even general laziness -- kept me from creating anything more than than an occasional blog posting for the subsequent few years. But not completely...
About four years ago something clicked and I had the inklings of a new storyline. Something very... no, extremely... personal. It was far from fully-formed, and is still in fact taking shape. Over these recent years, I had to put a few things to bed, so to speak. Feelings, worries, misgivings... Call them what you will. But finally, one thing has led to another and it's pretty much all there in what could finally be considered a workable form. As of this moment, it exists only as fragments. Pieces of notebook paper, storyboard drawings and torn corners of napkins are tacked to a bulletin board above this laptop. MP3s of appropriate pieces of music, effects, photos and memories from my childhood and young adult past pepper my room, my hard drive and my mind. Just recently, a specific piece of information that I was given provided the true necessary spark to get moving again. And now it's time to take it to the next level.
Growth and maturity rarely come easily. And as no less than screenwriting guru William Goldman has said, "The easiest thing on Earth to do is not write." So, this note will hopefully serve as a method of keeping track of myself and the New Project. The goal is to finish at least a first draft by the 2011 holiday season. And they say that if a writer fears that they might not keep focused, they should tell others of their progress in an effort to keep a sort of goal; that the more people who know about it, the more likely the writer is to continue with it. Starting here and now, I'm doing just that. I thank you in-advance for your interest and any encouragements offered.
I'll try not to let any of us down.
-------------------------------------------------------------
2006-2011:
Concepts, theories, investigations and emotional preparations. Studying: in theory and practice, through reading and viewing the lives and works of those who have come to be spiritual and professional influences. These influences on the current project include, but are not limited to...
Akira Kurosawa, Martin Scorsese, Richard Siodmak, William Shakespeare, Humphrey Bogart, David Mamet, Clint Eastwood, Michael Mann, Kenny Rogers, Haruki Murakami, Kevin Weeks, Jack Kerouac, Andrew Vachss, Elmore Leonard, Carol Reed, Henry Rollins, Toshiro Mifune, Tom Waits, Ernest Hemingway... and my Nephew, Father and Mother.
July 4th, 2011:
Hammered out most of the main backstory at last, which is necessary to continue any further. The narrative is a crime mystery and a large element of the narrative lies in the past. Feels good to see how all these things that have just been concepts for so very long are flowing together in what appears, at least for now, to seem like a natural, organic and believable flow. The idea is to take a genre story and give it an emotional depth usually only seen in our most deep and personal everyday lives. Getting down the protagonists' pre-story lives is crucial and key. Laying the foundations. No fireworks tonight. There's work to be done.

Night & Day, Boston - May, June 2011

And oh, yeah... Reviews and stuff. It's been a while.

Theatrical
The Tree of Life ****
13 Assassins (Japan) ***1/2
Midnight in Paris ***1/2
Blank City ***1/2
X-Men: First Class ***
Super 8 ***
Thor ***

DVD/Home Video
The Deer Hunter (1978) ****
Unforgiven (1992) ****
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World ***1/2
The Thin Red Line: Criterion Collection ***
Youth of the Beast (1963, Japan) ***
Fort Apache, The Bronx (1981) ***
Another Stakeout (1993) ***
Night and the City (1992) ***
Under Fire (1983) ***
Kick Ass ***
Hero At Large (1978) **1/2
Monsters **1/2
Defendor **1/2

Films of the "1980's"
Smokey and the Bandit (1977) ***1/2
Smokey and the Bandit, Part 2 (1980) **1/2
Smokey and the Bandit, Part 3 (1983) **1/2
Police Academy (1984) ***1/2
Max Headroom: The Complete Series (TV) ***
Porky's (1981) ***
Porky's II: The Next Day (1983) **1/2
Porky's Revenge (1985) **1/2
Wanted: Dead Or Alive (1986) **1/2
American Drive-In (1985) **1/2
The Last Dragon (1985) **1/2
Action Jackson (1988) **1/2
Quicksilver (1986) **1/2
Zapped! (1982) **1/2
Scarface (1983) **1/2

Literature
The Man Who Saw The Future (Edmond Hamilton) ***
City Pier: Above and Below (Paul G. Tremblay) ***
They Live: Deep Focus (Jonathan Lethem) ***
Boy (Takeshi Kitano) ***

Video Games
Team Fortress 2 (PC) ***1/2

NYC - February 2011

This Is How Greatness Happens

Thursday
November 4, 2010
12:09 p.m.

Luke-at-work and I are at the store, receiving thirty-eight boxes of merchandise from the day's FedEx drop. We pass the moments, talking...


Me: So, last night I saw the coolest little horror movie I've seen in years.

Luke: What was that?

Me: The Mist.

Luke: Ahhh, that was awesome. Can you imagine setting all those people on a ship on fire?

(pause) People... on a ship...?

Am I thinking of the wrong movie?

Maybe The Fog?

Yeah, that's probably it.

Naaaaah, I'm talkin' 'bout The Mist.

You mean that one with the crazy Curse Lady telling everyone that the monsters are all, like, God's will and everybody splitting up into two factions before going totally sacrifice crazy?

Yeah, have you seen it?

No. I just know everything that happens in detail through osmosis and psychic powers.

Did you like it?

Yeah. (pause) Man, it would suck to be cursed.

I used to think I was cursed. I had this seven year stretch of shitty luck. Then I realized that's just the ebb and flow of my particular life. Seven years good, seven years bad...

Where are you in that cycle, now?

(thinking) Second year into cycle of good.

Hooray!

But yeah. Curses suck, probably.

Imagine being an eight year old... and cursing someone... for... stealing a cookie.

My cookie that I baked? Or my cookie that I plan to eat? Or give to someone?

Either. You're a little girl who curses someone.

Am I a witch?

Sure, maybe.

Am I a "good little witch?" Or an "I'm gonna eat your soul witch?"

Dude. You're eight!

It could happen. If her parents were also, like, soul eaters and stuff... and cared how they raised their child.

You're at a picnic and your little brother steals your cookie. So you curse him.

Right. I'm an evil little witch at a picnic at night in the rain. We're eating mice sandwiches... Is this a children's story? I think it has potential. We call it "My First Curse."

(laughs)

Maybe the witch is in her forties and has kids... and one of the kids misbehaves and starts cursing her little brother and the Witch Mom's like "Wait now, honey. Let mommy tell you about her first curse." The brother, like, steals her sandwich.

I thought it was a cookie.

Maybe. Maybe it's a cookie sandwich. Or, maybe it's an ice cream sandwich with cookies on the outside. And the ice cream is cookie ice cream! And the witch's name is Cookie! And she's wearing a Cookie Monster costume!!

That is so deep on so many levels.

Hey. I'm creative.

Coming soon to a theater or children's book shop near you.

Pseudo Review: "The Little Sleep" by Paul Tremblay

A couple of months back, I had the estimable pleasure of bouncing my wonderous self off the pavement of South Huntington Avenue. I'd been riding my bike for two hours per night after working a full day's shift and thought this might be a great, inexpensive way to both get to know the areas that I wasn't so familiar with and to lose a few pounds. Night One was along the Charles from Allston up to MGH and into Cambridge a little. Night Two took me down toward Boston College and around the Reservoir a few times. Night Three consisted the back streets of Cambridge along the Harvard area; lot of ins and outs and what-have-yous. And then, Night Four: along Jamaica Pond, through JP and down toward Huntington. That's when it happened.

Trying to move to the right side of South Huntington in order to let cars pass more safely, my front tire got stuck in a Green Line trolley track and I flipped over, head first, to the waiting rubberized street below. I remember velocity, the sudden and winded "HUNNPH!" as I hit the ground, and I recall coming to rest on my left side... almost as if I'd planned to go to sleep there. Three or four seconds later I was getting up onto my feet. I'm a fast recoverer, partially because I'm so damn tough (yeah, right) but moreso because I'm typically embarrassed of such a fall and somewhere, deep down, I want any possible witnesses to know that "I'm just fine, thank you, there's nothing to see here, so move along."

Though there wasn't any pain to speak of, I certainly looked the part of the banged-up bicyclist. Road-rashed knees, arms and face, bloody cuts, newly slightly-chipped tooth... This was nothing I couldn't handle. I've never thought much of my particular look anyway, so I was able to deal with what happened, mostly. I'd broken a wrist in three places but not known it; it was stiff, I felt, but not painful. In short (if it's not already too late to make such an attempt) I felt like a big, mangled dope who was supremely lucky not to have been killed. I limped my way home, having neither my cell phone on me nor enough money to call a cab. After being bandaged up and told to stay off my feet for a few days, I opened "The Little Sleep," a great detective novel with a rich and often tough local flavor by Paul Tremblay.

As a guy who's seen and loved probably a few too many Philip Marlowe and Sam Spade stories, myself, I fell right in with Tremblay's protagonist, Mark Genevich. A South Boston private investigator with a form of narcolepsy that flows from fatigue to hallucinations to full-on cataplexy, he eeks out his existence with a sizable helping of contempt for both others and himself. The novel's opening scene is a grabber: a local female television celebrity reveals her hand, which is missing a few fingers, and asks the dark Detective Genevich to find the people responsible. But soon Genevich "wakes up" and is wondering... Did this meeting just happen? Was anyone just here? And where did this mysterious note in my handwriting come from?

Genevich is referred to as being somewhat facially disfigured following the accident that brought on his narcolepsy in the first place. Though he covers his scars with a growth of beard and the requisite detective raincoat and hat combo, his spirit is just as shattered as his rumpled appearance, if not more so. Hiding in plain sight, he's an imposing figure masking a deeper soul. He's all-there in his interior world with a razor sharp humor that he wields like a weapon, yet often has great difficulty saying the right thing to the right person at the right time. He's the classic underdog hero; one that might seem like - and even consider himself - the perfect loser, but has an inner strength that can, and often does, serve as a sort of salvation.

Genevich's investigation takes him from the streets of Boston to the power offices of Local Government, through a hallucination or two and eventually into his own past. The narrative works brilliantly on its own, but it's the character himself that's the novel's ace in the hole. He's gruff, he's dark, he's often unpleasant. A moralist who's ready to believe the worst. He's the blue collar joe in the white collar corridors. The damaged hero that we love and want to succeed; to solve his crime and to find personal peace. As I mentioned above, I sympathized with this character to a dramatic extent. Not that Genevich would ever accept anyone's sympathy. And as I'd been feeling a little "off" that particular month due to my bicycle wreck, moving through the chapters of "The Little Sleep" I'd thought to myself, "I know this guy." And though I knew I'd be fine in a few days once the wrist healed up, I found myself hoping that Genevich's situation would turn itself around, too. Sometimes a character just clicks with you, you know?

A second novel featuring Genevich, "No Sleep Till Wonderland" is also available and it's quite a ride in its own right. I look forward to what I hope will be many more installments in this local gumshoe's life and times. He, and creator Paul Tremblay, have great things ahead of them.

More info:
http://thelittlesleep.wordpress.com/
http://www.paulgtremblay.com/paulgtremblay/index.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_G._Tremblay

Little Big Man: A True Story

Howdy, people. Not much news to report these days. Broke my wrist biking on South Huntington Avenue in Boston. (Healed now, but ligament surgery awaits.) Regressing to my younger days by recalling and playing a lot of classic 80's music and video games, as well as watching lots of 80's movies; wondering if they'd hold up as well as I hoped they might. Some did, some didn't. Got me one o' thems "iPod Touch" deals. Like it a lot, especially for listening to 80's music and playing 80's video games. Still perfecting my homemade chicken soup. Hopefully evolving as a person. And recently, I introduced someone new to this blog. She went all the way back to the first post and reminded me that I'd mentioned early-on that this report would include discussions of film criticism, love, honor and the occasional dirty joke. "But," this new reader commented, "I don't really see any dirty jokes yet."

Well, I hate to disappoint people. So it's time for a kinda-sorta dirty joke, one which some of you might have heard before... but what the hell? The following is a true story.















Back in my post college days, I had a lot of terrible and meaningless temp jobs. Manual labor, mostly. Organizing and moving warehouse merch around, conveyor belt and truck loading gigs. That sort of thing. One such job was at the local Georgia Pacific housewares storage facility, unloading 18-wheeler shipments of window-sashes and door accents and various adornments for McMansions all over the state. Ten hour days, five days a week, starting at 7 o'clock every morning. It wasn't the worst job I'd had in those days, but I have to admit that I would often fantasize about jumping a fork lift off the second story landing and knocking down the first wave of bay window storage shelving to see if I could wipe out row after row of the warehouse's entire capacity like a giant million-dollar set of dominoes... A man can dream.

Some of my coworkers were cool, but one just plain sucked. "Freddie" was about my age. About 24 or so; fairly young for this particular shop. But despite being about a foot shorter than I was and without any sort of education or apparent need or desire for one, you could still refer to him as a blowhard. Talking loudly at every moment, full of sound and fury while signifying nothing, this guy thought of himself as the big man on campus, while some of us enjoyed referring to him as suffering from what we called LGS: Little Guy Syndrome. That is, the affliction under which someone behaves like a loudmouthed braggard of total idiocy in order to make up for being so small in physical stature. Sometimes I find it a pleasure to take people like this down a peg. And just a couple of days after starting this job, I'd decided to test this lame's personal waters.

"Hey assholes," he'd called out. He'd considered "asshole" the group nickname for those of us that were just temps. "I don't care what anybody else says in this place, okay? I gotta lotta shit that's gotta get done around here. When it's quittin' time, I go. Fuck overtime. My nights are mine. So no matter what they give ya' to do in the office... If I need ya' to help me out, ya' help me out. Remember that, fellas. No matter what, I always come first."

I just laughed and joked, "No wonder your girlfriend always looks so disappointed."

Hiyooooooooooo! :)


Theatrical Reviews
Brazil: The Director's Cut (1985) ****
Predators **1/2
Red **1/2

The Films of Akira Kurosawa
Sanshiro Sugata II (1945) ****
Rhapsody in August (1991) ***1/2
Madadayo (1993) ****

Films of the "1980's"
Miracle Mile (1988) ****
Brainstorm (1983) ***1/2
D.A.R.Y.L. (1985) ***1/2
Big Shots (1987) ***
Outland (1981) ***
Young Sherlock Holmes (1985) **1/2
The Manhattan Project (1985) **1/2
Cloak & Dagger (1985) **1/2
Weird Science (1986) **1/2
Capricorn One (*1979) **1/2
Runaway (1984) **1/2
Cobra (1986) **1/2
The Philadelphia Experiment (1986) **
Silent Running (*1972) **
Dreamscape (1983) **
Spacecamp (1986) **
Firewalker (1986) *

DVD/Home Video
Twin Peaks: Definitive Gold Box Edition ****
Midnight Run (1988) ****
The Long Goodbye (1973) ***1/2
Michael Clayton (2008) ***1/2
New York, I Love You ***1/2
K-20 (Japan, 2008) ***1/2
Oleanna (1993) ***1/2
The Girlfriend Experience (2009) ***
Goemon (Japan, 2009) ***
Timeline (2003) ***
Next (2007) ***
The Bogey Man (UK, 1992) **1/2
My Name Is Bruce (2007) **1/2
Deja Vu (2006) **1/2
Bangkok Dangerous (2008, USA) **
Babylon A. D. *1/2
Angel of Death (2009) *

Literature
The Rum Diary (Hunter S. Thompson) ***1/2
No Sleep Till Wonderland (Paul Tremblay) ***
On The Road (Jack Kerouac) ***


Music/Spoken Word
The Social Network (score by Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross) ***1/2
The Runaways: Music from the Motion Picture ***1/2
Hal Hartley: Soon (Music from the Play) ***1/2
The Blue Note 7: Mosaic ***1/2
Juliana Hatfield: How To Walk Away ***
Edy (score by Nils Petter Molvaer) ***
Bob Dylan: Modern Times ***
Lisa Gerrard: Departum ***
Chris Isaak: Mr. Lucky ***
Eric Clapton: Clapton ***
Assault Girls (score by Kenji Kawai) **1/2
Chris Isaak: Live at the Filmore **1/2

Video Games
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (PS2) ***1/2

Board Games
Back To The Future: The Card Game (Looney Labs) ***
Rory's Story Cubes (Gamewright) ***
Pass The Popcorn ***

Internet
Star Trek (2009) Review (Red Letter Media) ***

Remembering

On September 11th, I was living outside Boston with my cousin for a brief time and working on Mass Ave & Newbury in the city. Somewhere on the 30 minute walk from my cousin's place to the Commuter Rail Station for work, Flight 11 collided with the North Tower. Everyone at the Station was silently huddled around the coffee & muffin window, where the clerk’s little black & white portable TV was playing the live video feed of the thick bellows of smoke pouring from the wreckage. Whispers of “What happened?” and “Oh my God” began echoing through the station every few moments as more people came in and were hit with the news…

The MBTA commuter rail train finally arrived and the stunned commuters boarded, saddened, but not yet in possession of the rest of the story. At this point only the first flight had hit. Listening to the live radio reports while on the train, I waited for more news. And then Flight 175 hit the South Tower.

I must have shouted something aloud. The others in my train car, without radios of their own to hear what was happening, turned and looked at me... I was the one to inform them that the country was now under attack.

Arriving in the city a few minutes later, everyone was looking up into the sky. Granted, we were hundreds of miles away from Ground Zero, but the news had by then been released that two of the planes had come from Boston and at this time nobody knew what to expect. It had also been released that the F.A.A. had issued a no-fly order across Boston… and it was with shock that as I passed through Copley that I heard a Jet in the sky moving over the city. Thankfully, it was nothing: maybe the last commuter plane to land at Logan or maybe a passing Military plane scrambling to action… But there was a brief moment of fear that the Prudential or John Hancock buildings, between which I happened to have been walking at that moment, could have been next. The next two planes fell, ending scores of lives and compounding fright everywhere... The fear of that morning hit nationwide. And nobody felt safe.

Nine years later, here we are. Last night, I actually had a dream regarding the work now beginning anew at Ground Zero. As often happens with dreams, I recall almost nothing. But I do remember standing on Trinity Place near Liberty Street, looking down to a sub-street level of ground, where a combination of grass and construction were visible. In the dream, there were no skyrise towers but a sort of combination of retail/office space and public parks with trees and fountains. The curious part, to me, was that it was sub-street leveled, the way it would seem now if you were there looking down into the foundation -- as if, in this dream, these new structures were purposefully built this way as a reminder that, although some tall glass-and-steel monolith could have been erected there, it was more important to remember that and those who once lied beneath.

I'll actually be visiting New York City tonight and most of tomorrow on one of the typical walking trips. I'm planning on crossing the Brooklyn Bridge at sunrise, walking the streets of Washington Square, the High Line, Central Park, the Strand, maybe Columbia University or Roosevelt Island. I'm not sure if I'll make it to Ground Zero. If I do, though, much of the aforementioned commuter rail trip will probably come back to me again. More so than last night's dream. Sometimes it goes that way, though. Sometimes we more clearly remember the nightmares.

May God, or who-and-whatever you happen to believe in, bless New York City, this whole world of ours… and all of you.

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things

Time to lighten up the blog a little, here. Instead of dwelling upon pasts, let's dive into our presents. It occurs to me that in these confusing times there are a few key sensations, objects, moments, concepts... Things that make the world a better place. Things that inhabit us, that drive us, that make us happy. What am I into, these days? Let's have a look...

















Music: In All Its Various Styles and Forms
I mentioned some time ago how I've been trying to pay more attention to music lately. Not just passively hearing but actively listening to every subtle lyric written, nuance played and note sung. A good set of headphones can be key, but nothing beats just lying back in a comfortable, outstretched position and hearing a low moaning saxophone, rumbling team of drums or angelic vocal tone. Be it Chicago blues, an orchestral film score, synth with spoken word or totally-awesome 80's, it's all food for the ears. Especially on vinyl. More on that, soon...

Good Readin'
Haruki Murakami (whom I've mentioned plenty, already), Jonathan Lethem, David Mamet, Paul Auster, Takeshi Kitano, Elmore Leonard, John Updike. These are a few of the authors whose work I've accumulated over the last year or so. Though the time of accumulating the above that was required is nothing compared to the time needed to actually complete the task of actually reading them, the work is always worth the wait and effort. No Sleep Till Wonderland by Boston author Paul Tremblay is currently inhabiting my consciousness. The story of Mark Genevich, a narcoleptic PI in South Boston is alternately sad, amusing, dark and experimental. This volume is the second in a series, following the wonderful The Little Sleep. I hope for many more.

Bed, Bath and Beyond
Yeah, yeah. Go ahead and giggle. I'm as surprised as you are. For a guy who has never actually owned a home and is starting to wonder if he ever will, I've become curiously interested in... well, for lack of a better term, "growing up." Tired of living like a college kid, the way I have for so long, I've become more interested in flow and design. From properly purchased clothes hangers (instead of stealing them from laundromats), new pillowcases and pillow covers (the idea of a "cover" under a "case" was new to me), to a magnetic reminder board, cedar blocks and what might be one of the greatest inventions of all-time: a self-frosting drink mug... every journey is a new step into a larger world. No longer embarrassed of my immediate environment (my room, that is), I am currently proud of its seamless organization and emotional comfort. And, as Henry Rollins has said about this very topic, I'm shocked to find that I might actually "have taste." Though I did have to ask my buddy Awesome Jen what the deal was with the skirts and sashes in the new bed set. I mean; pillows I don't necessarily use? Insanity.

omgposters.com
A terrific website, updated often, that offers great work by graphic artists around the world regarding an infinity of subjects. Many of them are short runs of a dozen or two and typically they all feature links to the personal sites of the individual artists. While I have yet to actually buy anything from the site, I consider it a daily necessity to visit this wondrous virtual gallery.

Trader Joe's
Chicken fried rice. Sushi party platters. Yellow corn chips and chunky salsa. Opera Cake. Even the effing ketchup is noticeably great. And it's a nine minute walk away. Awwww yeah.

"Nighthawks" by Edward Hopper
Though I'd unknowingly seen the image and its many parodies over the years, it wasn't until seeing the Todd Haynes film Far From Heaven some time ago that I'd heard the artist's name. Spectacularly designed and shot with his late-period aesthetic cited as a primary influence, the film led me to a marked-down coffee-table book of Hopper's life work. I'd always been in love with night scenes on city streets, both in my own photography and in my travels. Only recently did I reconnect with Nighthawks as I realized that the painting's greatness had permeated so many other facets of art, including the short story The Killers by Ernest Hemingway and the Tom Waits album Nighthawks at the Diner. Finally securing a decent print of the 1942 classic not one week ago, I've also picked up a little tome called Staying Up Much Too Late by Gordon Thiessen, which is said to be "a personal meditation on Hopper's most famous painting." Very much looking forward to losing some sleep with that one. On a related note: I'm also liking Georgia O'Keefe's paintings of New York City. Speaking of which...

Autumn in NYC
I'm counting the days. :)

What about you? What are you into, right now?


Theatrical Reviews
The Big Lebowski (1998) ****
Beverly Hills Cop (1984) ****
Die Hard (1988) ****
The Girl Who Played With Fire ***1/2
Inception ***1/2

DVD/Home Video
Twin Peaks: The Complete Series ****
Ghost in the Shell 2.0 (Japan) ****
Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence ****
The Fantastic Mr. Fox ****
Possible Films 2 (Hal Hartley) ***1/2
Wall-E ***1/2
Bitch Slap ***
Bad Guys **1/2
Assault Girls (Japan) **

Literature
The Little Sleep (Paul Tremblay) ***1/2

Music/Spoken Word
Stax: 50th Anniversary Celebration ****
Yoko Kanno: Space Bio Charge ****
Tom Waits: Nighthawks in the Studio (1976, Radio Broadcast) ***1/2
Darker Than Black (score by Yoko Kanno) ***1/2
Inception (score by Hans Zimmer) ***1/2
Henry Rollins: Everything ***1/2
Morphine: At Your Service ***1/2
The Last Airbender (score by James Newton Howard) ***
Bobby Byrd: On The Move ***