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Book 6 and the Academy

McSweeney's Enchanted Chamber of Astonishing Stories, edited by Michael Chabon, claims the number 6 spot for the year. And what a book it was. A collection of stories in the tradition of Poe and Weird Tales, it was an absolute joy to read. In turns eerie, haunting, and moving, an amazing group of writers take turns telling stories of things that go bump in the night or places that look like our world except for those niggling little differences.

Usually a collection contains a few stories that don't really resonate with you as well as the others, and while there were certainly a couple pieces that I didn't like as much, I can truly say that every story included was a real gem. If you enjoy stories that evoke a Twilight Zone sort of feel, run out and pick up this collection, it's a great read. I frequently found myself trying to read faster just to find out how things were going to turn out. This is a book that I suspect I'll read many times just to enjoy the stories again.

And so the Oscars were given out. No real surprises. I'm glad to see The Incredibles walk away with Best Animated Feature. Was also glad to see Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind win Best Original Screenplay. Chris Rock was only moderately amusing. I think my favorite comedic bit was where he talked to people at the local movie theater to see what "regular" America was interested in. I can say that I haven't (and won't) seen White Chicks, but I know where they're coming from. And while I'm not terribly interested in Million Dollar Baby, way to go Clint. Put out another western.

And so the weekend says good night...

Weekend rambling

As a teaser, I will offer up the opinion that what I'm reading for book 6 is probably the best book I've read in a long time. I'm thoroughly enjoying it. And that will have to do for now.

I mentioned Dick's work in brief yesterday. I've rambled on about him before, but he's probably worth a brief re-visit. I've only read a few of his stories (to my great shame), but I've enjoyed just about all the ones I've read. I like his short fiction quite a bit (mostly because I feel the short story is just about the perfect medium) as it gives you an excellent boiled down version of what he's all about. And it's mostly drugs, insanity, paranoia and humanity. Well, ok, I'm being a little facetious, but only a little. His work does do an excellent job of looking at what it means to be human though. And he's one of those "sci-fi" writers that really helps show just what science fiction can do for literature. It's not the red headed step child that mainstream literati try and present it as.

But I digress. I shall kick the soapbox back over in the corner. If you haven't read anything by Dick, then you can probably start in a couple places. A lot of his work has been turned into film. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep is probably the most notable instance as it became Blade Runner. But there are short story to novella length pieces that morphed into Total Recall and Minority Report to name a few. So you can start with some of the collections of his short fiction (a good place) or you can try Electric Sheep.

If you want a look at something that hasn't been filmed yet, I can recommend Ubik as a wonderful little diversion. It's quite amusing and has that same feel as the rest of Dick's work. Most people will point to A Scanner Darkly as his best work in a lot of ways, although I still need to track down a copy and verify that.

I can't explain why, but his writings in a lot of ways remind me of William S. Burroughs and Hunter S. Thompson. And I don't think it's just the obvious drug connections. I keep meaning to track down Burroughs's Naked Lunch and give it a go, but Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is similar in some ways to Dick's work, just a different tune using some of the same notes (to try and cram it into an awkward musical metaphor). I don't believe I've mentioned the recent death of Thompson here, but I should have.

At any rate, I believe that's enough rambling about that. At this point I think I'll simply offer this link to a site about PK Dick and call it good.

PK Dick

This is the trailer for the upcoming Linklater adaptation of A Scanner Darkly. It looks like it will be quite amazing. I'm a fan of Dick's work and have enjoyed most of the movies based on his stories. (I even enjoyed Screamers for the most part... ^_^) Here's to hoping.

Of afternoons and coffee spoons

miranda,
originally uploaded by dkun.

Cute kid moment ahead. You have been warned...

So, the other day Miranda asks my wife what the smaller spoon she's using is called.

"A teaspoon."

"Oh, ok."

Then at dinner that evening we gave her a salad fork to eat with.

"Is this a tea fork?" Miranda asks.

"Why yes dear. Yes it is."

And they really are...

Movies worth seeing (or why the Oscars don't matter anymore)

Since the Oscars don't actually bother to celebrate that, here's a list of movies that should really win some awards (not in any particular order):

The Incredibles - This is probably my pick for Best Picture. It's a perfect mix of action and drama. If you've read Alan Moore's Watchmen, you'll understand where some of the inspiration for Brad Bird's wonderful film came from. I could have watched this movie all over again right after I saw it, it's that good.

National Treasure - This should win an award for being an action movie with a brain. Any movie that celebrates intelligence over physical prowess should be cherished.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - This one needs to win Best Original Screenplay. A long, hard look at romance and relationships, this movie is a treat on many levels. Visually stunning, Eternal Sunshine offers us a look into the mind of a man losing his memories of a failed relationship - only to discover that it wasn't really the failure he thought it was. Heartbreaking and heartwarming all at once.

Garden State - Zach Braff is a wonderful story teller. This is another one that should win a screenplay award. As well as a couple awards for its actors. And it's music. Look into a mind dulled by prescribed medication as it slowly becomes aware and alive again. A great piece with an absolutely wonderful soundtrack.

Shaun of the Dead - Any movie that can be a comedy and a zombie movie all at once needs to win something. I'd probably pick this for best horror film and best comedy both. Excellent casting and a truly wonderful script. And the editing is a treat too.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - My favorite Harry Potter movie so far. Excellent cinematography and direction. Cuaron really nailed the world that Harry and crew live in.

I'm sure there are others, but this is a good start...

Ah Americana

Superman covers... Just go and laugh.

And the work week rises from the grave...

So, like all good things (curse you only the good things dying young!) the three day weekend has come to a close and the work week is once more upon us. Alas.

Forced Coerced Lovingly bestowed Shaun of the Dead on my wife last night as the closer for the ZWoF. Now if only we could convince the kids that bedtime is more than just a word that passes in one ear and out the other... Any dramatic tension that might have been built up was pretty much ruined by the constant barrage of little voices and frequent interruptions. The best one had to be McKenna informing us that she had pulled her own tooth. Kids these days... I mean really, what kind of kid yanks their own tooth?

Caught the trailer for Dark Castle's remake of House of Wax. I've enjoyed the other remakes they've put out. But I may have to miss this one. They've cast Paris Hilton. And that really makes me weep for humanity. What bright bulb made that decision? It's bad enough that they constantly put her on tv in that ridiculous attempt at a "reality tv" show but to actually make us pay money to see her "act"? I don't think so... Although the prospect of seeing her meet some gruesome end is almost enough of a counterbalance.

So, upcoming movies to look forward to: Be Cool, Millions and The Cave. The Oscars are looming and I can't quite bring myself to care. Normally I enjoy watching them, but this year there's not much to look forward to in the candidates they've selected. I keep meaning to throw out my list of movies worthy of accolades. Maybe tomorrow. And with that good night.

What day is it again?

Three day weekends do that to me. Never mind weekends involving zombies and other undead creatures...

We watched 28 Days Later on Saturday night. I believe I've mentioned it before in passing. Great film if you haven't seen it. I wouldn't exactly call it scary, but it is a nice re-vamping of the zombie genre. Speedy zombies are quite nice. I find zombie movies to be ultimately frustrating because it seems like there is little a person can do to survive in a zombie infested world. Much like Invasion of the Body Snatchers. How are you supposed to fight something like that? Now, it can be fun to briefly visit a hopeless case scenario, but I'm certainly glad I don't have to live in one.

I suppose that pegs me as at least a partial optimist, but certainly only a partial one...

At any rate, Shaun of the Dead is up tonight and I couldn't be happier. Also a great film. And I suspect we'll play at least one round of Zombies!!! as well.

Anyway, enjoy your day off if you have one, and if not, you should. Take a day for some reason and relax a bit. Me, I could use another couple days to detox unwind, but I'll take what I can get.

Zombies!!!

Played the first game of Zombies!!!. It's quite a fun little game. This first game was just between the letter 'r' and myself. I suspect it might be a little more fun with a couple more people. In some ways the pace of the game matches its namesake, but it certainly has a lot of heart. You can tell the designers wanted to create a game that payed homage to the zombie genre and I say they succeeded admirably. The figures certainly help maintain the atmosphere and the cards are great. This is mostly an every man for themselves style game so it's fun to try and hinder the other players. Like several recent board games, it's tile based so the layout will change every time. There are expansions available that offer more cards and more locales. Something to look into I suspect.

And with that game we have kicked off the ZWoF. Long live the undead!

Small towns

Watched Napoleon Dynamite last night. It was an interesting movie. Definitely an accurate portrayal of small town high school life. While I didn't grow up in Idaho, I certainly knew people like that in the town where I spent a good chunk of my youth. If you've spent any time in small town America, you'll probably "get" this movie. If you're not, you'll probably wonder why it's popular at all. Oddly the movie is funnier to talk about afterwards than it is to watch. Mostly because it's full of little moments that are just amusing to bring up and remember. Much like Mystery Men...

The cast was all well chosen and performed admirably. In a funny "small world" coincidence, the woman I carpool grew up with the guy that played Kip. And as you'd suspect he was nothing like the character in the movie. Jon Heder did an amazing job as the titular Napoleon. It was interesting to see the little short, "Peluka" (I think was how it was spelled) included on the DVD. As I opted not to listen to the commentary on the short, I am left wondering if it was a character sketch they threw together before they made the movie that blossomed into the final theatrical version or something else.

In a cruel twist of fate, it is (predictably) difficult to track down a copy of Resident Evil 4 for the upcoming ZWoF. We may have to settle for renting the remake of Dawn of the Dead instead. Alas.

Retro Post

Took the van to work today so I could gas it up as gas is much cheaper up the road than it is here in town. One of the benefits to doing this is that the van includes a DVD player. So I throw something in for listening purposes on those rare instances that I find myself behind the wheel. Today I popped in the recent update of Akira.

Akira is considered one of the milestone pieces of anime. And rightfully so. When it came out over here the timing was such that the existing anime fans rejoiced at something new and a whole new generation of anime fans came into being. It's a little funny that you can somewhat date anime fans much like layers in rock by what they consider their introductory show.

Anyway, Akira is a stunning piece of work. One of the things that I always find amusing about the show is the fact that I forget just how violent it is in between viewings. For me Akira isn't about violence. It's about power and change and what happens to people when they receive power they aren't ready for. The original version of the show that came out over here in the 80s (I think) is, admittedly, something of an enigma. The dub wasn't the greatest (in terms of clarity) and the show itself was pretty long (for the time) - back then I'm not sure I'd ever seen a movie that clocked in over 2 hours, let alone an animated movie. But despite the murk that makes up the plot, it was something different. Something interesting.

The recent update that Pioneer released really allows Akira to shine. Sure, it's still a 2,000 page graphic novel condensed into a 2 hour movie, but the new script really does clear up some of the confusion as to what's going on. You get a little more of the motivations behind what's happening and things start to click. Plus it got a great graphical and aural update (minus the fact that they turned Kaneda's bike orange - it's red! RED you fools!)

If you're a fan of the show and you haven't tracked down the original comics, do yourself a favor and grab the recent Dark Horse re-release. You get the whole thing in six large collections. It's a great set and you'll gain a greater appreciation for the story. Characters that were relegated to cameos or ignored are fleshed out, people you thought were "bad guys" turn out to be far more human and the whole story takes on an even greater weight as political intrigue and personal strengths and weaknesses join the stage with the aforementioned study of power and evolution. It's a great example of what science fiction can show the world about itself.

So that's some of what makes Akira special. I do need to point out that the anime is actually rather violent. There are probably those of you out there wondering just how I can forget that fact when I haven't watched it in a while. To you I say, "eh..." To the rest of you, you probably understand.

Just a quickie

It's late. I should be in bed. In preparation for the Zombie Weekend O' Fun (ZWoF) I have acquired Zombies! the game. It looks like it will be quite fun. Any game with 100 plastic zombies can't be bad. This is the site for the game in addition to a bunch of fan submitted rules/decks etc. So go check it out.

My brain is no longer functioning so that's all you get.

Monday...

So, the last few updates have been comprised of my net meandering. Not really been a whole lot to pass on. But hey, wacky parrot. Hello Kitty crop circle. Truly the things that make the world go round.

I need to pass along Skinny Panda. Looks to be a truly great webcomic. If you have doubts about that, look no further than this sequence. So far the stick figure bits are my favorite, but the Skinny Panda continuity is pretty good too. Ah humor, you are my friend.

And it's once again Valentine's Day. Hope you survived. Such an odd little holiday. Any holiday that could spawn this Hi and Lois comic strip has to be a little warped. I think I've become a little emotionally scarred due to that. So of course I had to pass that scarring on to you.

Our Valentine's Day was fairly typical. Kids running amok. Dinner at a so-so restaurant. A couple little gifts exchanged. Chocolate. Not that I need an excuse for chocolate, but ah, the chocolate that becomes available for February. Easter comes close (which really just means all of spring is awash in chocolatey goodness) but Valentine's Day is a little classier.

Anyway, enough rambling on about comics and chocolate. It's time to begin the countdown to the Zombie Weekend O' Fun. Three days of Zombie goodness. Joy. ^_^

Hello Kitty Crop circle

This is what a crop circle should be.

Shoulda never gotten married

This is a wonderful list of names. Think Leno's headlines and go and laugh.

Polly wants a quiz show

Go watch the parrot. That's a good way to welcome the weekend...

More randomness

Ran across Lifehacker the other day. Seems to be an interesting blog. Covers things from answers to tough job interview questions to converting color photos to B&W. Go give it a looksee.

Polished off a couple more Kindaichi Case Files. Terribly enjoyable reads.

Loaned out The Grudge to one of my coworkers. She was suitably spooked by it as well. It's definitely one of the better horror films to come down the pike in a while. I tracked down an old review I'd read of the original the other day. Some of the plot points it covered helped clarify a couple of the events in the remake. Too bad they didn't leave some of them in. A good deal of the curse's origin in the original was quite disturbing and would have been right at home in the remake.

And Valentine's Day is lurking around the corner like the shady character it is. Just make sure you know what your significant other's real favorite candy is or you'll end up playing a depressing game of twenty quetions...

Screen Clean

Screen Clean. Heh heh... Just go check it out...

Edit: Link should work now.

Wonderfalls

Wonderfalls was just released on DVD. We watched the first couple episodes as well as the special features they threw on the discs. I enjoyed that show quite a bit and was rather cross with Fox for cancelling it. It would have been interesting to see where it went. In the little behind the scenes featurette they mentioned that in the third season Jaye was going to have been institutionalized. That would have been something to see. It will be fun to see the unaired episodes.

And that's about all I've got for tonight. Graeme is at that age where you can just sit and watch him. Little kids are fascinaing that way. They're always discovering something new and it's fun to watch it happen.

An Interview with Brian Evenson

Bookslut has an interview with Brian Evenson up.

I knew Brian Evenson. I was in one of his English classes the year he lost his job at the Y. I got him to autograph a copy of Altmann's Tongue before he left. I was deeply saddened by that turn of events despite understanding what was going on.

Brian's work is hard to take. I haven't read his newer books, but Altmann's Tongue was definitely something that made you stop and think. It is a deeply violent book. At the time, American culture had turned violence into entertainment. That's not to say we don't still see violence that way, but post 9/11 there are some subtle differences. He was writing in a manner that made the reader look at violence and be appropriately shocked and sickened by it. The short "stories" in the collection were really only partially narrative - the incompleteness of the stories is what made you see the violent acts as just that - violence. They were disturbing and uncomfortable and in some ways brilliant. He certainly achieved his goal of making an audience uneasy about violence.

So, go check out the interview. Pick up one of his books. They're not for everyone, but if you consider yourself a little callous to violence, his work will remind you that it's not something to slough off. It will remind you of what it means to be mortal and human. And for that reason alone it has some merit.

This is Jack's Blog Post Title

Ok, that was probably a little obscure, especially as this post has nothing to do with Fight Club. You'll just have to live with that, while I have to live with the fact that it's occasionally really hard to come up with titles.

My in-laws just sent out the illustrated Da Vinci Code. Very nice book. Whatever your opinion of the story, this edition is quite lovely. You get high quality paper with pictures of the artwork and architecture being discussed. Cool. Should make my next read through of the book a lot more enjoyable. If for no other reason than I can distract myself from some of the plot holes with pretty pictures. ^_^

Read the next Kindaichi graphic novel, The Mummy's Curse. This was one of the more gruesome mysteries, and yet still a delight to read. I'm not quite prepared to call it book 6, but if I only make it to 49 this year, you can bet I'll pull this one back out and say 50! ^_^

Both sets of parents have received their copies of the movie I threw together on Friday. iMovie and iDVD are fun. I took a bunch of pictures from the last year and half or so and a couple video clips taken with the digital camera and strung them together for my folks. Mom had requested one for a thing she's doing on keeping in touch with family over long distances. The only problem I had was the audio on a couple of the later video clips - the audio wasn't synching up with the video. It played fine on the computer, but every copy I burned to DVD was a little off there at the end. I have no idea why either...

Well, in keeping with the lack of a good title, I'll let you suffer with the lack of a good ending for this post as well. So there.

Book 5 and the Superbowl

Read The Opera House Murders, Book 1 in the Kindaichi Case Files by Kanari and Sato. This is a fun mystery series put out over here by TokyoPop. It follows Hajime Kindaichi, grandson of a famous detective, as he himself becomes one. The story is pretty clever and the art is nice with some good attention to detail. There are several volumes in the series, I believe about 10 of them are out at the moment with another couple due this year. It's easily one of my favorite manga series. This first volume involves a series of murders that mimic the plot of The Phantom of the Opera. Kindaichi's childhood friend Miyuki has invited him along on the theater club's trip to an island hotel. And one by one they start dying. Good stuff.

Watched the Superbowl. Best commercial goes to the FedEx/Kinko's commercial featuring Burt Reynolds. The game itself was for the most part boring (mostly due to there not being a team involved that I really cared about one way or the other), but the end picked up some. I hoped the Eagles would win, but alas it was not to be. There's always next year. Go Rams!

The Grudge

I forget exactly how I ran across The Ring. I know it was on the web, but the details are gone. I enjoy several aspects of Asian culture and the chance to see a Japanese horror film was truly welcome. The Ring in a lot of ways is simply a mixed media campfire tale. It's spooky and the story has some genuinely creepy bits. The central focus of the movie (the tape), however, means it really does need to be seen. Especially once the nature of the images on the tape starts to come clear. And like any good campfire tale, it ratchets the tension up from start to finish with the big payoff scare coming at the end. The American remake cleared a few things up for an audience not used to having to think a little more and unwilling to take some things for granted as simply being the way they are.

The Grudge is a different animal entirely. For one, it's a lot creepier than The Ring. A lot. And it doesn't let up over the course of the film. It starts off with a bang and then maintains the mood over the course of the film. A haunted house story at heart, The Grudge is perfect for film, especially because of the way they tell the tale. As the story unwinds, several threads come together to make a cohesive whole. And all the while they find ways to keep you on the edge of your seat. My wife tried to ban me from picking it up, but it's so rare to find a genuinely creepy movie that's fun to watch that I had to snag it.

The interesting thing about this version (also a remake of a Japanese horror film) is that they used the original Japanese director. They had him remake the movie for an American audience. As I haven't seen the original version yet, I'm unsure of some of the stylistic and story differences, but it seems to be a very nice meld of Asian cinema and American cinema. The story is certainly Asian, but there are allowances made for the way Americans are used to stories being told. If you like horror movies, this one is certainly worth your time. It's horribly creepy and lots of fun to watch. Especially with the lights out and the volume up.

It's Late

Got caught up making a DVD for the folks. So you'll have to wait until tomorrow for my thoughts on The Grudge. The Cliff Notes version can be summed up by the fact that I picked up my own copy on the way home from work today.

Applegeeks

Applegeeks is a webcomic that I enjoy quite a bit. It's got a great art style and it caters to the Mac fanatic in me. The current storyline, while not quite me, is pretty close. Today's strip in particular made me laugh as it dealt with the new iPod Shuffle. And I really want a power button t-shirt...

Tonight we'll be watching The Grudge, so there's the possibility of another post with some thoughts on that.

Shall We Dance?

Watched the recent update of Shall We Dance. Wonderful little film. Highly recommended. Even if it does make my wife want to watch Strictly Ballroom again. I haven't seen the original, but I'd like to. It's a nice little tale about a man simply caught up in life who takes a chance to learn to dance. And he finds that he likes it. It gives his life a little extra spark. The really nice thing about this movie is that it really is about the dancing and finding joy in life. If Hollywood had made this movie originally it would have been about an affair. But it's not, and that's great. Go see it.

Book #4

Finished off The Hidden City by David Eddings. Oddly, I've only ever read the Sparhawk books by Eddings - never got into any of the other series he's written. Not entirely sure what it is about the two trilogies featuring Sparhawk that I enjoy, but I find them a pleasant diversion. The characters are certainly nothing terribly original - they all fit they typical fantasy mold, but there are certain bits of life breathed into them that I find endearing. By the end of that first book, The Diamond Throne you felt like the characters were old friends and you wondered just what they'd get up to next.

Eddings doesn't spend too much time on battle sequences either. You had the siege of Chyrellos in the first trilogy and mostly random skirmishes in the second. I must admit that's one of the few tropes of fantasy lit that really grates on my nerves - endless battle sequences. Political intrigue is a little more the flavor of the day in the Sparhawk books. The one thing that really gets old in the Tamuli is Caalador's "accent" I hate it when people try and write colloquial speech... It can occasionally be done well, but mostly it's just annoying. Dorlin'. Anyway, if you haven't read either The Elenium or The Tamuli, they're worth flipping through as light reading.