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General | Posted 11 years agoLA NOTTE by Ketil Bjørnstad (ECM 2300)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BUT5HTO....._new_dp_review
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00BUT5H....._new_dp_review
reviewed by Roochak
It's been at least twenty years since I last dozed through the Antonioni film that allegedly inspired this suite, so I'm just going to go ahead and say that this music strikes me as a more rhythmically adventurous version of one of pop composer Fox Amoore's imaginary movie soundtracks, by way of a Yo-Yo Ma crossover project (cellist Anja Lechner plays the lion's share of the solos in this all-star sextet).
The suite's eight sections, imaginatively titled with Roman numerals, begin with a stately prelude for piano, cello, and (eventually) bass; "II" is a swinging piece that overlays fiery solos for guitar, sax, and drums over a melody that wouldn't sound out of place under the closing credits of an anime action movie. The Nino Rota-like "III" is melancholy-tinged circus music for cello and soprano sax, while "IV" is a piano ballad that cries out for a set of wistful Japanese vocals, but gets a lovely trio with tenor sax and cello instead.
"V" is a slower, more melancholic ballad, at least until the drums kick in for the power outro. "VI" is a nocturne for cello and piano that ends, memorably, in a virtuoso cello/bass duet that segues into the most explicitly jazzy part of the suite, the uptempo "VII." Arild Andersen's driving bass, Eivind Aarset's freak-out guitar, and Andy Sheppard's soprano sax take their turns in the spotlight.
"VIII" is the postlude for piano, cello, and percussion that leads us into the dawn and out of LA NOTTE. Recorded live at Norway's Molde International Jazz Festival, there's not so much as a peep from the audience, which was either enraptured or absent.
Ketil Bjørnstad, piano/composer
Anja Lechner, cello
Andy Sheppard, tenor & soprano saxophone
Eivind Aarset, guitars, electronics
Arild Andersen, bass
Marilyn Mazur, drums & percussion
foxamoore
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BUT5HTO....._new_dp_review
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00BUT5H....._new_dp_review
reviewed by Roochak
It's been at least twenty years since I last dozed through the Antonioni film that allegedly inspired this suite, so I'm just going to go ahead and say that this music strikes me as a more rhythmically adventurous version of one of pop composer Fox Amoore's imaginary movie soundtracks, by way of a Yo-Yo Ma crossover project (cellist Anja Lechner plays the lion's share of the solos in this all-star sextet).
The suite's eight sections, imaginatively titled with Roman numerals, begin with a stately prelude for piano, cello, and (eventually) bass; "II" is a swinging piece that overlays fiery solos for guitar, sax, and drums over a melody that wouldn't sound out of place under the closing credits of an anime action movie. The Nino Rota-like "III" is melancholy-tinged circus music for cello and soprano sax, while "IV" is a piano ballad that cries out for a set of wistful Japanese vocals, but gets a lovely trio with tenor sax and cello instead.
"V" is a slower, more melancholic ballad, at least until the drums kick in for the power outro. "VI" is a nocturne for cello and piano that ends, memorably, in a virtuoso cello/bass duet that segues into the most explicitly jazzy part of the suite, the uptempo "VII." Arild Andersen's driving bass, Eivind Aarset's freak-out guitar, and Andy Sheppard's soprano sax take their turns in the spotlight.
"VIII" is the postlude for piano, cello, and percussion that leads us into the dawn and out of LA NOTTE. Recorded live at Norway's Molde International Jazz Festival, there's not so much as a peep from the audience, which was either enraptured or absent.
Ketil Bjørnstad, piano/composer
Anja Lechner, cello
Andy Sheppard, tenor & soprano saxophone
Eivind Aarset, guitars, electronics
Arild Andersen, bass
Marilyn Mazur, drums & percussion
foxamooreMy Popzara review of BLACKSAD: AMARILLO
General | Posted 11 years agoHoly mother of God, Batman! (world's 8 nerdiest religions)
General | Posted 11 years agohttp://www.toplessrobot.com/2010/10....._religions.php
This was posted awhile ago, but I only stumbled across it recently, while doing some "research" on suicide cults. While there's none of that eschatological shit here, this list does take theology in some pretty interesting directions.
This was posted awhile ago, but I only stumbled across it recently, while doing some "research" on suicide cults. While there's none of that eschatological shit here, this list does take theology in some pretty interesting directions.
James M. "Jim" Hardiman, 1972 - 2014
General | Posted 11 years agoThe Elvis of furry porn has left the building.
Pat Boone, Metalhead
General | Posted 11 years agoPAT BOONE IN A METAL MOOD: NO MORE MR. NICE GUY
http://www.amazon.com/In-Metal-Mood.....f=cm_cr-mr-img
enthusiastically reviewed by Roochak
I've had this album and Paul Anka's ROCK SWINGS in my ears for the last few days, and while both albums, recasting contemporary pop and rock songs for swinging big bands, are testaments to the art of the arranger, the contrasts are striking.
While Anka has reinvented himself as a Rat Pack era Vegas headliner with a single-minded devotion to 4/4 swing, Boone, I think, has more fun with his set list, playing to and against his own whitebread image, especially on his faux-reggae version of Alice Cooper's "No More Mr. Nice Guy" and a frighteningly sincere version of Metallica's "Enter Sandman."
Boone worked with a dozen different arrangers, and the album's stew of rock, jazz, and Latin rhythms wants to have something for everyone. "Smoke on the Water" (its asinine lyrics enunciated clearly, for once) is recast as a mambo, and Ritchie Blackmore shows up to play a guitar solo on his own 1969 hit. Van Halen's "Panama" is recast as a big band salsa number, with Sheila E. among the percussionists and Merry ("Gimme Shelter") Clayton wailing away on background vocals. "Stairway to Heaven" is done, mercifully, as a jazz waltz, and AC/DC's "It's a Long Way to the Top" sounds great as a roaring swinger with a down and dirty saxophone duet.
Unlike the Anka album, a crossover project that bridges the gap between '80s and '90s pop and big band swing with surprising ease, the Boone album is one of those polarizing musical artifacts that listeners will either love or hate; you'll hear it as a wonderfully open-minded experiment with its own built-in camp value, or you'll hear it as a personal insult. You won't be indifferent to it.
http://www.amazon.com/In-Metal-Mood.....f=cm_cr-mr-img
enthusiastically reviewed by Roochak
I've had this album and Paul Anka's ROCK SWINGS in my ears for the last few days, and while both albums, recasting contemporary pop and rock songs for swinging big bands, are testaments to the art of the arranger, the contrasts are striking.
While Anka has reinvented himself as a Rat Pack era Vegas headliner with a single-minded devotion to 4/4 swing, Boone, I think, has more fun with his set list, playing to and against his own whitebread image, especially on his faux-reggae version of Alice Cooper's "No More Mr. Nice Guy" and a frighteningly sincere version of Metallica's "Enter Sandman."
Boone worked with a dozen different arrangers, and the album's stew of rock, jazz, and Latin rhythms wants to have something for everyone. "Smoke on the Water" (its asinine lyrics enunciated clearly, for once) is recast as a mambo, and Ritchie Blackmore shows up to play a guitar solo on his own 1969 hit. Van Halen's "Panama" is recast as a big band salsa number, with Sheila E. among the percussionists and Merry ("Gimme Shelter") Clayton wailing away on background vocals. "Stairway to Heaven" is done, mercifully, as a jazz waltz, and AC/DC's "It's a Long Way to the Top" sounds great as a roaring swinger with a down and dirty saxophone duet.
Unlike the Anka album, a crossover project that bridges the gap between '80s and '90s pop and big band swing with surprising ease, the Boone album is one of those polarizing musical artifacts that listeners will either love or hate; you'll hear it as a wonderfully open-minded experiment with its own built-in camp value, or you'll hear it as a personal insult. You won't be indifferent to it.
Animation meme 2.0
General | Posted 11 years agoSwiped from 
gabriellavedier
Now with even more movies you've never heard of!
[+] means I love it!
[=] means I like it
[-] means I wasn't too crazy about it
[x] means I hate it
[ ] means I haven't seen it
CLASSIC DISNEY
[-] 101 Dalmatians (1961)
[x] Alice in Wonderland (1951)
[=] Bambi (1942)
[-] Cinderella (1950)
[-] Dumbo (1941) Best thing about this movie: Timothy Mouse.
[x] Fantasia (1940) This is why nobody listens to classical music.
[=] Lady and the Tramp (1955)
[ ] Mary Poppins (1964)
[x] Peter Pan (1953)
[-] Sleeping Beauty (1959)
[-] Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
[-] The Reluctant Dragon (1941)
[-] Song of the South (1946) I love the scene where Uncle Remus gets fired from the plantation.
[=] Pinocchio (1940)
[ ] Saludos Amigos (1942)
[ ] The Three Caballeros (1944)
[ ] Make Mine Music (1946)
[ ] Melody Time (1948)
[ ] The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949)
DISNEY'S DARK AGE
[-] The Aristocats (1970)
[ ] The Black Cauldron (1985)
[-] The Fox and the Hound (1981)
[=] The Great Mouse Detective (1986) Basil is a rat who's passing as a mouse. He and Rattigan may even be brothers.
[x] The Rescuers (1977) All but unwatchable.
[-] Robin Hood (1973) Has probably inspired more Rule 34 drawings and stories than all other Disney animated movies combined.
THE DISNEY RENAISSANCE
[=] Aladdin (1992)
[=] Beauty and the Beast (1991)
[+] A Goofy Movie (1995) A sometimes painfully accurate look at the tensions between fathers and sons.
[+] An Extremely Goofy Movie (2000) Goofy is a disco king, and teenage Max is totally hot.
[ ] Hercules (1997)
[x] The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) Yeah, thanks for the happy ending, Disney.
[=] The Lion King (1994)
[-] The Little Mermaid (1989)
[=] Mulan (1998)
[X] Pocahontas (1995) Have you ever heard the wolf cry at the blue corny moon?
[+] The Rescuers Down Under (1990) Blows the first "Rescuers" movie out of the water.
[x] Tarzan (1999) Rosie O'Donnell as an androgynous ape: "A role she was born to play," according to my friend Nicki.
DISNEY'S MODERN AGE
[x] Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)
[ ] Bolt (2008)
[x] Brother Bear (2003) The Moose Brothers were onscreen for all of five seconds before I shouted "GAAAAAAY!!"
[=] Chicken Little (2005)
[=] Dinosaur (2000)
[ ] The Emperor's New Groove (2000)
[=] Fantasia 2000 (2000) A helluva lot better than the first one.
[x] Home on the Range (2004) Singing cowgirls who are real cows.
[-] Lilo & Stitch (2002)
[x] Meet the Robinsons (2007)
[-] Treasure Planet (2002) In all fairness, Flatrat loves this movie.
[ ] The Princess and the Frog (2009)
[-] Tangled (2010)
[ ] Winnie the Pooh (2011)
[-] Wreck-it Ralph (2012)
PIXAR
[ ] A Bug's Life (1998)
[ ] Brave (2012)
[-] Cars (2006)
[X] Cars 2 (2011) Saddest excuse for a Pixar movie ever.
[=] Finding Nemo (2003)
[+] The Incredibles (2004)
[=] Monsters Inc. (2001)
[-] Monsters University (2013)
[+++] Ratatouille (2007) Pixar's out-and-out art film, about the challenge of becoming an artist.
[=] Toy Story (1995)
[=] Toy Story 2 (1999)
[=] Toy Story 3 (2010)
[=] Wall-E (2008)
[-] Up (2009)
DON BLUTH
[ ] All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989)
[ ] An American Tail (1986)
[ ] An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991)
[ ] Anastasia (1997)
[ ] The Land Before Time (1988)
[ ] The Pebble and the Penguin (1995)
[ ] Rock-a-Doodle (1991)
[-] The Secret of NIMH (1982) Great book, so-so movie.
[ ] Thumbelina (1994)
[ ] Titan AE (2000)
[ ] A Troll in Central Park (1994)
DREAMWORKS
[+] Antz (1998) Woody Allen & Sylvester Stallone co-star. 'Nuff said.
[ ] Bee Movie (2007)
[ ] The Croods (2013)
[xxxxxx] Flushed Away (2006) Ever wanted to file an assault charge against a comedy? This one grabs you by the shirtfront, leans in your face and screams "LAUGH, DAMMIT! IT'S FUNNY!!"
[ ] How to Train Your Dragon (2010)
[+] Kung Fu Panda (2008)
[+] Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011)
[x] Madagascar (2005)
[x] Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008)
[xxx] Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (2012) Will somebody please kill those unfunny penguins?
[=] Megamind (2010)
[-] Monsters vs. Aliens (2009)
[++] Mr. Peabody & Sherman (2014) Outstanding time travel comedy about an overprotective parent learning to let go.
[+++] Over the Hedge (2006) Even songwriter Ben Folds surpassed himself on this one.
[ ] Prince of Egypt (1998)
[-] Puss in Boots (2011)
[=] Rise of the Guardians (2012) The Easter Bunny is hot; the rest is passable.
[ ] Road to El Dorado (2000)
[ ] Shark Tale (2004)
[=] Shrek (2001)
[=] Shrek 2 (2004)
[=] Shrek the Third (2007)
[ ] Shrek Forever After (2010)
[ ] Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003)
[ ] Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002)
CLAYMATION / STOP MOTION
[ ] The Adventures of Mark Twain (1986)
[+] Alice (1988) Jan Svankmajer's nightmarish riff on Lewis Carroll, with the White Rabbit as the royal executioner.
[+] Chicken Run (2000)
[ ] Coraline (2009)
[x] Corpse Bride (2005)
[+++] Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) Who knew a children's book would spawn one of Wes Anderson's most satisfying adult comedies?
[+] Faust (1994) Another Jan Svankmajer film. If you thought his Alice was disturbing...
[ ] Frankenweenie (2012)
[ ] Gumby: The Movie (1995)
[ ] James and the Giant Peach (1996)
[-] The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
[-] ParaNorman (2012)
[ ] The Pirates! Band of Misfits (2012)
[ ] The Puppetoon Movie (1987)
[+++] Street of Crocodiles (1986) 21 minutes in a fantastic, alluring, but shabby dreamscape, much like furrydom. Or not.
[+++] Tale of Tales (1979) Non-chronological memory film about childhood, love, and hope, amidst the devastating losses of war. Russian animator Yuri Norstein's 29-minute masterpiece.
[=] Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)
CGI
[ ] The Adventures of Tintin (2011)
[+] Arthur Christmas (2011) Surprisingly funny.
[ ] Battle for Terra (2009)
[ ] Beowulf (2007)
[ ] A Christmas Carol (2009)
[ ] Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009)
[ ] Despicable Me (2010)
[-] Despicable Me 2 (2013)
[ ] Happy Feet (2006)
[ ] Happy Feet Two (2011)
[ ] Hop (2011)
[+] Horton Hears a Who! (2008)
[x] Hotel Transylvania (2012) Painful to sit through.
[+] Ice Age (2002)
[-] Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006)
[-] Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009)
[-] Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012)
[ ] The Lorax (2012)
[x] Monster House (2006) I was rooting against the annoying Spielberg kids, for all the good it did.
[ ] Open Season (2006)
[ ] Planet 51 (2009)
[ ] The Polar Express (2004)
[x] Rio (2011)
[ ] Robots (2005)
[-] Surf's Up (2007)
IMPORTS
[+] Appleseed (2004)
[+] Appleseed: Ex Machina (2007)
[+] Appleseed Alpha (2014) The best of the Appleseed movies to date, with spectacularly lifelike CGI.
[ ] Arabian Knight (aka The Thief and the Cobbler) (1995)
[ ] Back to Gaya (aka The Snurks) (2004)
[+] The Flight Before Christmas (2008) Finnish adventure story about the love child of one of Santa's flying reindeer.
[ ] The Last Unicorn (1982)
[ ] Light Years (1988)
[ ] The Triplets of Belleville (2003
[ ] Persepolis (2007)
[=] The Plague Dogs (1982) Not easy to watch, but necessary.
[ ] Waltz With Bashir (2008)
[=] Watership Down (1978)
[ ] When the Wind Blows (1988)
[+++] Yellow Submarine (1968) Classic kid-friendly psychedelic art. The boy band ain't bad, either.
[ ] Secret of Kells (2009)
[ ] L'Illusioniste (2010)
[ ] Felidae
[ ] A Monster in Paris (2011)
[ ] Toys In the Attic (2012)
STUDIO GHIBLI/MIYAZAKI
[ ] The Cat Returns (2002)
[ ] Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
[ ] Howl's Moving Castle (2004)
[ ] Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)
[=] Laputa: Castle in the Sky (1986)
[ ] Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro (1979)
[ ] My Neighbors The Yamadas (1999)
[ ] My Neighbor Totoro (1993)
[ ] Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)
[ ] Only Yesterday (1991)
[ ] Pom Poko (Tanuki War) (1994)
[ ] Ponyo on a Cliff by the Sea (2009)
[ ] Porco Rosso (1992)
[ ] Princess Mononoke (1999)
[ ] The Secret World of Arrietty (2012)
[-] Spirited Away (2002) Why can't I get into Miyazaki?
[ ] Whisper of the Heart (1995)
CARTOONS FOR GROWN-UPS
[ ] American Pop (1981)
[ ] The Animatrix (2003)
[=] Beavis & Butthead Do America (1996)
[ ] Cool World (1992)
[ ] Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001)
[ ] Final Fantasy: Advent Children (2005)
[ ] Fire & Ice (1983)
[xx] Fritz the Cat (1972) Worst animated movie ever.
[xxx] Heavy Metal (1981) No, THIS is the worst animated movie ever.
[ ] Heavy Metal 2000 (2000)
[ ] Heavy Traffic (1973)
[ ] Hey Good Lookin' (1982)
[ ] Lady Death (2004)
[ ] A Scanner Darkly (2006)
[-] South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999)
[ ] Street Fight (Coonskin) (1975)
[ ] Waking Life (2001)
OTHER ANIMATED MOVIES
[x] 9 (2009) One of those movies so predictable you can tell what's going to happen before it happens.
[ ] Animal Farm (1954)
[+] Animalympics (1980) Still funny, still satisfying.
[ ] Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon The Movie (2007)
[ ] Balto (1995)
[-] The Brave Little Toaster (1988)
[ ] Bravestarr: The Movie (1988)
[-] Cats Don't Dance (1997)
[ ] Care Bears: The Movie (1985)
[=] Charlotte's Web (1973)
[ ] FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992)
[++] Gay Purr-ee (1962) Judy Garland, Robert Goulet, and Red Buttons as feline country bumpkins who get into trouble in the big city. Wonderful songs by Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg.
[ ] G.I. Joe: The Movie (1987)
[ ] Gobots: Battle of the Rock Lords (1986)
[ ] He-Man & She-Ra: The Secret of the Sword (1985)
[ ] The Hobbit (1977)
[=] The Iron Giant (1999)
[x] Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003) Tries to be the late 1940s all over again. Fails miserably.
[ ] Lord of the Rings (1978)
[ ] Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland (1992)
[ ] My Little Pony: The Movie (1986)
[ ] The Phantom Tollbooth (1970)
[ ] Pink Floyd's The Wall (1982)
[ ] Powerpuff Girls: The Movie (2002)
[ ] Quest For Camelot (1999)
[-] Rango (2011) Did we really need an animated version of Chinatown?
[ ] Ringing Bell (1978)
[ ] Rock & Rule (1983)
[+] Shinbone Alley (1971) Prostitution, alcoholism, suicide, and attempted infanticide in a G-rated movie. They don't make 'em like that anymore.
[x] Space Jam (1996) It has Lola Bunny. Nothing else.
[ ] Starchaser: The Legend of Orin (1985)
[ ] The Swan Princess (1994)
[ ] Transformers: The Movie (1986)
[ ] Wizards (1977)
[=] Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) Time has not been kind to this movie.
DC ANIMATED MOVIES
[+] Batman: Assault on Arkham The Dirty Half-Dozen.
[+] Batman: Gotham Knight
[++] Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
[+] Batman: Son of Batman
[+] Batman: Under the Red Hood
[+] Batman: Year One
[+] Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker
[++] Green Lantern: First Flight A 'seventies cop show in outer space.
[+] Green Lantern: Emerald Knights
[+] Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths
[+] Justice League: Doom
[++] Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox "I didn't do this, Barry. You did."
[+] Justice League: The New Frontier
[+] Justice League: War
[+] Superman: Doomsday Better than it has any right to be.
[+] Superman: All-Star Superman
[+] Superman Unbound
[+] Superman vs. the Elite
[++] Superman/Batman: Public Enemies
[-] Superman/Batman: Apocalypse
[++] Wonder Woman Much better than I expected.
gabriellavedierNow with even more movies you've never heard of!
[+] means I love it!
[=] means I like it
[-] means I wasn't too crazy about it
[x] means I hate it
[ ] means I haven't seen it
CLASSIC DISNEY
[-] 101 Dalmatians (1961)
[x] Alice in Wonderland (1951)
[=] Bambi (1942)
[-] Cinderella (1950)
[-] Dumbo (1941) Best thing about this movie: Timothy Mouse.
[x] Fantasia (1940) This is why nobody listens to classical music.
[=] Lady and the Tramp (1955)
[ ] Mary Poppins (1964)
[x] Peter Pan (1953)
[-] Sleeping Beauty (1959)
[-] Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
[-] The Reluctant Dragon (1941)
[-] Song of the South (1946) I love the scene where Uncle Remus gets fired from the plantation.
[=] Pinocchio (1940)
[ ] Saludos Amigos (1942)
[ ] The Three Caballeros (1944)
[ ] Make Mine Music (1946)
[ ] Melody Time (1948)
[ ] The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949)
DISNEY'S DARK AGE
[-] The Aristocats (1970)
[ ] The Black Cauldron (1985)
[-] The Fox and the Hound (1981)
[=] The Great Mouse Detective (1986) Basil is a rat who's passing as a mouse. He and Rattigan may even be brothers.
[x] The Rescuers (1977) All but unwatchable.
[-] Robin Hood (1973) Has probably inspired more Rule 34 drawings and stories than all other Disney animated movies combined.
THE DISNEY RENAISSANCE
[=] Aladdin (1992)
[=] Beauty and the Beast (1991)
[+] A Goofy Movie (1995) A sometimes painfully accurate look at the tensions between fathers and sons.
[+] An Extremely Goofy Movie (2000) Goofy is a disco king, and teenage Max is totally hot.
[ ] Hercules (1997)
[x] The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) Yeah, thanks for the happy ending, Disney.
[=] The Lion King (1994)
[-] The Little Mermaid (1989)
[=] Mulan (1998)
[X] Pocahontas (1995) Have you ever heard the wolf cry at the blue corny moon?
[+] The Rescuers Down Under (1990) Blows the first "Rescuers" movie out of the water.
[x] Tarzan (1999) Rosie O'Donnell as an androgynous ape: "A role she was born to play," according to my friend Nicki.
DISNEY'S MODERN AGE
[x] Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)
[ ] Bolt (2008)
[x] Brother Bear (2003) The Moose Brothers were onscreen for all of five seconds before I shouted "GAAAAAAY!!"
[=] Chicken Little (2005)
[=] Dinosaur (2000)
[ ] The Emperor's New Groove (2000)
[=] Fantasia 2000 (2000) A helluva lot better than the first one.
[x] Home on the Range (2004) Singing cowgirls who are real cows.
[-] Lilo & Stitch (2002)
[x] Meet the Robinsons (2007)
[-] Treasure Planet (2002) In all fairness, Flatrat loves this movie.
[ ] The Princess and the Frog (2009)
[-] Tangled (2010)
[ ] Winnie the Pooh (2011)
[-] Wreck-it Ralph (2012)
PIXAR
[ ] A Bug's Life (1998)
[ ] Brave (2012)
[-] Cars (2006)
[X] Cars 2 (2011) Saddest excuse for a Pixar movie ever.
[=] Finding Nemo (2003)
[+] The Incredibles (2004)
[=] Monsters Inc. (2001)
[-] Monsters University (2013)
[+++] Ratatouille (2007) Pixar's out-and-out art film, about the challenge of becoming an artist.
[=] Toy Story (1995)
[=] Toy Story 2 (1999)
[=] Toy Story 3 (2010)
[=] Wall-E (2008)
[-] Up (2009)
DON BLUTH
[ ] All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989)
[ ] An American Tail (1986)
[ ] An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991)
[ ] Anastasia (1997)
[ ] The Land Before Time (1988)
[ ] The Pebble and the Penguin (1995)
[ ] Rock-a-Doodle (1991)
[-] The Secret of NIMH (1982) Great book, so-so movie.
[ ] Thumbelina (1994)
[ ] Titan AE (2000)
[ ] A Troll in Central Park (1994)
DREAMWORKS
[+] Antz (1998) Woody Allen & Sylvester Stallone co-star. 'Nuff said.
[ ] Bee Movie (2007)
[ ] The Croods (2013)
[xxxxxx] Flushed Away (2006) Ever wanted to file an assault charge against a comedy? This one grabs you by the shirtfront, leans in your face and screams "LAUGH, DAMMIT! IT'S FUNNY!!"
[ ] How to Train Your Dragon (2010)
[+] Kung Fu Panda (2008)
[+] Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011)
[x] Madagascar (2005)
[x] Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008)
[xxx] Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (2012) Will somebody please kill those unfunny penguins?
[=] Megamind (2010)
[-] Monsters vs. Aliens (2009)
[++] Mr. Peabody & Sherman (2014) Outstanding time travel comedy about an overprotective parent learning to let go.
[+++] Over the Hedge (2006) Even songwriter Ben Folds surpassed himself on this one.
[ ] Prince of Egypt (1998)
[-] Puss in Boots (2011)
[=] Rise of the Guardians (2012) The Easter Bunny is hot; the rest is passable.
[ ] Road to El Dorado (2000)
[ ] Shark Tale (2004)
[=] Shrek (2001)
[=] Shrek 2 (2004)
[=] Shrek the Third (2007)
[ ] Shrek Forever After (2010)
[ ] Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003)
[ ] Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002)
CLAYMATION / STOP MOTION
[ ] The Adventures of Mark Twain (1986)
[+] Alice (1988) Jan Svankmajer's nightmarish riff on Lewis Carroll, with the White Rabbit as the royal executioner.
[+] Chicken Run (2000)
[ ] Coraline (2009)
[x] Corpse Bride (2005)
[+++] Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) Who knew a children's book would spawn one of Wes Anderson's most satisfying adult comedies?
[+] Faust (1994) Another Jan Svankmajer film. If you thought his Alice was disturbing...
[ ] Frankenweenie (2012)
[ ] Gumby: The Movie (1995)
[ ] James and the Giant Peach (1996)
[-] The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
[-] ParaNorman (2012)
[ ] The Pirates! Band of Misfits (2012)
[ ] The Puppetoon Movie (1987)
[+++] Street of Crocodiles (1986) 21 minutes in a fantastic, alluring, but shabby dreamscape, much like furrydom. Or not.
[+++] Tale of Tales (1979) Non-chronological memory film about childhood, love, and hope, amidst the devastating losses of war. Russian animator Yuri Norstein's 29-minute masterpiece.
[=] Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)
CGI
[ ] The Adventures of Tintin (2011)
[+] Arthur Christmas (2011) Surprisingly funny.
[ ] Battle for Terra (2009)
[ ] Beowulf (2007)
[ ] A Christmas Carol (2009)
[ ] Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009)
[ ] Despicable Me (2010)
[-] Despicable Me 2 (2013)
[ ] Happy Feet (2006)
[ ] Happy Feet Two (2011)
[ ] Hop (2011)
[+] Horton Hears a Who! (2008)
[x] Hotel Transylvania (2012) Painful to sit through.
[+] Ice Age (2002)
[-] Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006)
[-] Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009)
[-] Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012)
[ ] The Lorax (2012)
[x] Monster House (2006) I was rooting against the annoying Spielberg kids, for all the good it did.
[ ] Open Season (2006)
[ ] Planet 51 (2009)
[ ] The Polar Express (2004)
[x] Rio (2011)
[ ] Robots (2005)
[-] Surf's Up (2007)
IMPORTS
[+] Appleseed (2004)
[+] Appleseed: Ex Machina (2007)
[+] Appleseed Alpha (2014) The best of the Appleseed movies to date, with spectacularly lifelike CGI.
[ ] Arabian Knight (aka The Thief and the Cobbler) (1995)
[ ] Back to Gaya (aka The Snurks) (2004)
[+] The Flight Before Christmas (2008) Finnish adventure story about the love child of one of Santa's flying reindeer.
[ ] The Last Unicorn (1982)
[ ] Light Years (1988)
[ ] The Triplets of Belleville (2003
[ ] Persepolis (2007)
[=] The Plague Dogs (1982) Not easy to watch, but necessary.
[ ] Waltz With Bashir (2008)
[=] Watership Down (1978)
[ ] When the Wind Blows (1988)
[+++] Yellow Submarine (1968) Classic kid-friendly psychedelic art. The boy band ain't bad, either.
[ ] Secret of Kells (2009)
[ ] L'Illusioniste (2010)
[ ] Felidae
[ ] A Monster in Paris (2011)
[ ] Toys In the Attic (2012)
STUDIO GHIBLI/MIYAZAKI
[ ] The Cat Returns (2002)
[ ] Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
[ ] Howl's Moving Castle (2004)
[ ] Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)
[=] Laputa: Castle in the Sky (1986)
[ ] Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro (1979)
[ ] My Neighbors The Yamadas (1999)
[ ] My Neighbor Totoro (1993)
[ ] Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)
[ ] Only Yesterday (1991)
[ ] Pom Poko (Tanuki War) (1994)
[ ] Ponyo on a Cliff by the Sea (2009)
[ ] Porco Rosso (1992)
[ ] Princess Mononoke (1999)
[ ] The Secret World of Arrietty (2012)
[-] Spirited Away (2002) Why can't I get into Miyazaki?
[ ] Whisper of the Heart (1995)
CARTOONS FOR GROWN-UPS
[ ] American Pop (1981)
[ ] The Animatrix (2003)
[=] Beavis & Butthead Do America (1996)
[ ] Cool World (1992)
[ ] Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001)
[ ] Final Fantasy: Advent Children (2005)
[ ] Fire & Ice (1983)
[xx] Fritz the Cat (1972) Worst animated movie ever.
[xxx] Heavy Metal (1981) No, THIS is the worst animated movie ever.
[ ] Heavy Metal 2000 (2000)
[ ] Heavy Traffic (1973)
[ ] Hey Good Lookin' (1982)
[ ] Lady Death (2004)
[ ] A Scanner Darkly (2006)
[-] South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999)
[ ] Street Fight (Coonskin) (1975)
[ ] Waking Life (2001)
OTHER ANIMATED MOVIES
[x] 9 (2009) One of those movies so predictable you can tell what's going to happen before it happens.
[ ] Animal Farm (1954)
[+] Animalympics (1980) Still funny, still satisfying.
[ ] Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon The Movie (2007)
[ ] Balto (1995)
[-] The Brave Little Toaster (1988)
[ ] Bravestarr: The Movie (1988)
[-] Cats Don't Dance (1997)
[ ] Care Bears: The Movie (1985)
[=] Charlotte's Web (1973)
[ ] FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992)
[++] Gay Purr-ee (1962) Judy Garland, Robert Goulet, and Red Buttons as feline country bumpkins who get into trouble in the big city. Wonderful songs by Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg.
[ ] G.I. Joe: The Movie (1987)
[ ] Gobots: Battle of the Rock Lords (1986)
[ ] He-Man & She-Ra: The Secret of the Sword (1985)
[ ] The Hobbit (1977)
[=] The Iron Giant (1999)
[x] Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003) Tries to be the late 1940s all over again. Fails miserably.
[ ] Lord of the Rings (1978)
[ ] Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland (1992)
[ ] My Little Pony: The Movie (1986)
[ ] The Phantom Tollbooth (1970)
[ ] Pink Floyd's The Wall (1982)
[ ] Powerpuff Girls: The Movie (2002)
[ ] Quest For Camelot (1999)
[-] Rango (2011) Did we really need an animated version of Chinatown?
[ ] Ringing Bell (1978)
[ ] Rock & Rule (1983)
[+] Shinbone Alley (1971) Prostitution, alcoholism, suicide, and attempted infanticide in a G-rated movie. They don't make 'em like that anymore.
[x] Space Jam (1996) It has Lola Bunny. Nothing else.
[ ] Starchaser: The Legend of Orin (1985)
[ ] The Swan Princess (1994)
[ ] Transformers: The Movie (1986)
[ ] Wizards (1977)
[=] Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) Time has not been kind to this movie.
DC ANIMATED MOVIES
[+] Batman: Assault on Arkham The Dirty Half-Dozen.
[+] Batman: Gotham Knight
[++] Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
[+] Batman: Son of Batman
[+] Batman: Under the Red Hood
[+] Batman: Year One
[+] Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker
[++] Green Lantern: First Flight A 'seventies cop show in outer space.
[+] Green Lantern: Emerald Knights
[+] Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths
[+] Justice League: Doom
[++] Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox "I didn't do this, Barry. You did."
[+] Justice League: The New Frontier
[+] Justice League: War
[+] Superman: Doomsday Better than it has any right to be.
[+] Superman: All-Star Superman
[+] Superman Unbound
[+] Superman vs. the Elite
[++] Superman/Batman: Public Enemies
[-] Superman/Batman: Apocalypse
[++] Wonder Woman Much better than I expected.
"Voulez-vous coucher avec moi (ce soir)?"
General | Posted 11 years agoWanna sleep with Jimmy Lee?
Sure you do. Thanks to the folks at Furry Dakimakura, the creole Mouserat Marmalade is ready, willing, and available right now! Check it out:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/13582707/
Sure you do. Thanks to the folks at Furry Dakimakura, the creole Mouserat Marmalade is ready, willing, and available right now! Check it out:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/13582707/
Roo's too busy reading about sitcoms to draw porn
General | Posted 11 years agoYeah, I gotta do something about that. In the meantime:
http://popzara.com/pages/3194/
I really liked this book. Austerlitz pinpoints exactly what made each of the 24 shows he discusses so important to television history (not always for the better; some of these comedies had a pretty baleful influence on the shows that followed), and why many of them are still funny to watch today.
He explains why the "heroic age" of sitcoms is over, and why so few people bother to watch such critically-hyped shows as 30 Rock and Arrested Development. Animated cartoons don't play much of a part in the author's history of television, simply because The Simpsons did everything first, and best. (The Flintstones doesn't count -- it was merely The Honeymooners in caveman drag.)
If you have any interest in television comedy, you should read this book.
http://popzara.com/pages/3194/
I really liked this book. Austerlitz pinpoints exactly what made each of the 24 shows he discusses so important to television history (not always for the better; some of these comedies had a pretty baleful influence on the shows that followed), and why many of them are still funny to watch today.
He explains why the "heroic age" of sitcoms is over, and why so few people bother to watch such critically-hyped shows as 30 Rock and Arrested Development. Animated cartoons don't play much of a part in the author's history of television, simply because The Simpsons did everything first, and best. (The Flintstones doesn't count -- it was merely The Honeymooners in caveman drag.)
If you have any interest in television comedy, you should read this book.
The Horse of a Different Color (That You Rode In On)
General | Posted 11 years agoBlue Collar Gay Porn
General | Posted 12 years agoLOOKING FOR TROUBLE: THE EROTIC FICTION by R.J. March (Alyson Books, 1999, 978-155583-4555)
http://www.amazon.com/Looking-Troub.....f=cm_cr-mr-img
R.J. March's boys -- the small town boys with military haircuts and well-worn boxer shorts, who prefer beer to cocktails and spit to lubricant, and who are irritated to find themselves so turned on by the sight of their friends' bare feet -- those boys are looking for all kinds of trouble. They usually find it.
The stories in this collection are pulp writing at its most obsessive. The same type of character -- a taciturn, slightly bemused jock, usually named Billy -- recurs from story to story, lusting after unattainable friends and neighbors. Or not so unattainable, as the case may be.
The 27 stories (not 25, as the back cover has it) are very consistent: they're hot as hell.
http://www.amazon.com/Looking-Troub.....f=cm_cr-mr-img
R.J. March's boys -- the small town boys with military haircuts and well-worn boxer shorts, who prefer beer to cocktails and spit to lubricant, and who are irritated to find themselves so turned on by the sight of their friends' bare feet -- those boys are looking for all kinds of trouble. They usually find it.
The stories in this collection are pulp writing at its most obsessive. The same type of character -- a taciturn, slightly bemused jock, usually named Billy -- recurs from story to story, lusting after unattainable friends and neighbors. Or not so unattainable, as the case may be.
The 27 stories (not 25, as the back cover has it) are very consistent: they're hot as hell.
Glamour, Sleaze, and Other People's Obsessions
General | Posted 12 years agoEROTIC COMICS: A GRAPHIC HISTORY FROM TIJUANA BIBLES TO UNDERGROUND COMIX [VOL. 1] by Tim Pilcher
http://www.amazon.com/Erotic-Comics.....ref=pd_sim_b_1
EROTIC COMICS 2: A GRAPHIC HISTORY FROM THE LIBERATED '70s TO THE INTERNET by Tim Pilcher
http://www.amazon.com/Erotic-Comics.....ref=pd_sim_b_1
reviewed by Roochak
EROTIC COMICS [VOL. 1]
"It makes me laugh to imagine anyone finding my comic work erotic," states Aline Kominsky Crumb, "and in general I can say the same thing about most Underground comic art." She's got a point. Other people's erotic fantasies and obsessions are ridiculous, unless they happen to turn you on, too.
If Sturgeon's Law is true, then ninety per cent of all the erotic comics drawn, then and now, are crap. Tim Pilcher's brief but informative history of the remaining ten per cent revels in the allure of that minority of comics, those drawn with a powerful personal style. What's weirdly consistent about powerful personal styles (and this is an observation Pilcher never quite manages to articulate, though he comes close) is that going public with one's sexual fantasies means going public with one's fascination with the grotesque as well. It's as if artists can't choose which boundaries not to cross in their work, not if they're being honest with themselves as well as dedicated to cartooning as a professional pursuit. That dedication, and society's expectations of us, however hypocritical, may explain why the history of erotic comics (at least up to this volume's cutoff date of the early 'seventies) is a history of artists getting screwed -- by their publishers, usually, but also by the police and the courts.
This is a picture book, and Pilcher's selection of images is very good indeed. The first of five chapters covers the prehistory of underground comics, from the bounty of the 18th century (Hogarth, Rowlandson, Japanese shunga prints, and illustrations for the Kama Sutra), through saucy postcards, Tijuana Bibles, pin-up paintings, and risque comic strips for servicemen. Chapter 2 covers the rise of Playboy magazine and its low rent competitors, but it's too bad Pilcher couldn't get the rights to reproduce any of Kurtzman and Elder's delicious "Little Annie Fanny" panels.
Chapter 3 focuses on bondage comics, followed by the underground comix of the 'sixties, dominated by the Picasso of the counterculture, R. Crumb. The final chapter is a brief survey of the rise of the French and Italian erotic comics industries, with their daunting standards of draftsmanship, as well as a glimpse of the Mexican sensacionale, which sells twenty million copies a month while satisfying what seems to be a national taste for erotica that's both gratuitous and moralistic -- rather like American sitcoms, now that I think of it.
EROTIC COMICS 2
The most intelligent question I've ever known anyone to ask about sexually explicit comics comes from writer Alan Moore, who's spent his professional career leading the way for his peers. "Is there a way," Moore asked in 1993, "of doing pornography that is sexually arousing, is not offensive politically, aesthetically, or in all those other ways, that can speak to women as well as men, that can have characters, meaning, and a story the same way as ordinary literature?" The answer is yes, but proving it in a finished comic is another matter entirely, which is why most artists don't try and most readers don't seem to care. (Moore and artist Melinda Gebbie may have accomplished that difficult task in their epic porn comic, LOST GIRLS, which I plan on reading now that it's in an affordable edition.)
The second volume of Tim Pilcher's history of erotic comics covers the mid 'seventies to the present, and the theme that emerges in this survey is that while depictions of hardcore sex have become commonplace, the average sex comic is as stupid and boring as the average porn video; only the fetishes have become increasingly fractured, and more extreme in their presentation.
Chapter one covers the USA from the deathblow that Stan Lee, with the backing of the Nixon administration, dealt to the Comics Code Authority, through the mid 'nineties, when competition from the internet made it increasingly difficult for erotic comics publishers to make a living. In those years, nothing was off limits, unless you made the mistake of drawing or selling porn comics in the Bible Belt, which necessitated the birth of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Elsewhere, things were going so well that even mainstream publisher DC Comics got into the act with such pioneering Vertigo titles as ENIGMA and THE EXTREMIST.
Chapter two covers the rise of gay and lesbian comics, from Howard Cruse and Tom of Finland to Alison Bechdel. The next chapter celebrates European erotica, a class act in terms of its draftsmanship, at least until we get to Spain: for some reason, Spanish porn comics look amateurish next to their French, Italian, and Argentinian competition.
Chapter four is Pilcher's ambivalent look at Japanese hentai, which he seems to find disgusting and/or boring in equal measure. (Curiously, the yaoi [gay male] panels are better drawn than anything else reproduced in this chapter.) [NOTE: Mr. Pilcher took the time to write me a message assuring me that he was neither disgusted nor bored with hentai, but that "there is a vast amount of 'rape fantasy' manga that I do find very dubious, verging on pernicious."]
The book concludes with a brief look at erotica online, a field in which we are all experts.
The front dust jacket illustration, a typically gorgeous nude by Giovanna Casotto, is worth the price of the book by itself.
http://www.amazon.com/Erotic-Comics.....ref=pd_sim_b_1
EROTIC COMICS 2: A GRAPHIC HISTORY FROM THE LIBERATED '70s TO THE INTERNET by Tim Pilcher
http://www.amazon.com/Erotic-Comics.....ref=pd_sim_b_1
reviewed by Roochak
EROTIC COMICS [VOL. 1]
"It makes me laugh to imagine anyone finding my comic work erotic," states Aline Kominsky Crumb, "and in general I can say the same thing about most Underground comic art." She's got a point. Other people's erotic fantasies and obsessions are ridiculous, unless they happen to turn you on, too.
If Sturgeon's Law is true, then ninety per cent of all the erotic comics drawn, then and now, are crap. Tim Pilcher's brief but informative history of the remaining ten per cent revels in the allure of that minority of comics, those drawn with a powerful personal style. What's weirdly consistent about powerful personal styles (and this is an observation Pilcher never quite manages to articulate, though he comes close) is that going public with one's sexual fantasies means going public with one's fascination with the grotesque as well. It's as if artists can't choose which boundaries not to cross in their work, not if they're being honest with themselves as well as dedicated to cartooning as a professional pursuit. That dedication, and society's expectations of us, however hypocritical, may explain why the history of erotic comics (at least up to this volume's cutoff date of the early 'seventies) is a history of artists getting screwed -- by their publishers, usually, but also by the police and the courts.
This is a picture book, and Pilcher's selection of images is very good indeed. The first of five chapters covers the prehistory of underground comics, from the bounty of the 18th century (Hogarth, Rowlandson, Japanese shunga prints, and illustrations for the Kama Sutra), through saucy postcards, Tijuana Bibles, pin-up paintings, and risque comic strips for servicemen. Chapter 2 covers the rise of Playboy magazine and its low rent competitors, but it's too bad Pilcher couldn't get the rights to reproduce any of Kurtzman and Elder's delicious "Little Annie Fanny" panels.
Chapter 3 focuses on bondage comics, followed by the underground comix of the 'sixties, dominated by the Picasso of the counterculture, R. Crumb. The final chapter is a brief survey of the rise of the French and Italian erotic comics industries, with their daunting standards of draftsmanship, as well as a glimpse of the Mexican sensacionale, which sells twenty million copies a month while satisfying what seems to be a national taste for erotica that's both gratuitous and moralistic -- rather like American sitcoms, now that I think of it.
EROTIC COMICS 2
The most intelligent question I've ever known anyone to ask about sexually explicit comics comes from writer Alan Moore, who's spent his professional career leading the way for his peers. "Is there a way," Moore asked in 1993, "of doing pornography that is sexually arousing, is not offensive politically, aesthetically, or in all those other ways, that can speak to women as well as men, that can have characters, meaning, and a story the same way as ordinary literature?" The answer is yes, but proving it in a finished comic is another matter entirely, which is why most artists don't try and most readers don't seem to care. (Moore and artist Melinda Gebbie may have accomplished that difficult task in their epic porn comic, LOST GIRLS, which I plan on reading now that it's in an affordable edition.)
The second volume of Tim Pilcher's history of erotic comics covers the mid 'seventies to the present, and the theme that emerges in this survey is that while depictions of hardcore sex have become commonplace, the average sex comic is as stupid and boring as the average porn video; only the fetishes have become increasingly fractured, and more extreme in their presentation.
Chapter one covers the USA from the deathblow that Stan Lee, with the backing of the Nixon administration, dealt to the Comics Code Authority, through the mid 'nineties, when competition from the internet made it increasingly difficult for erotic comics publishers to make a living. In those years, nothing was off limits, unless you made the mistake of drawing or selling porn comics in the Bible Belt, which necessitated the birth of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Elsewhere, things were going so well that even mainstream publisher DC Comics got into the act with such pioneering Vertigo titles as ENIGMA and THE EXTREMIST.
Chapter two covers the rise of gay and lesbian comics, from Howard Cruse and Tom of Finland to Alison Bechdel. The next chapter celebrates European erotica, a class act in terms of its draftsmanship, at least until we get to Spain: for some reason, Spanish porn comics look amateurish next to their French, Italian, and Argentinian competition.
Chapter four is Pilcher's ambivalent look at Japanese hentai, which he seems to find disgusting and/or boring in equal measure. (Curiously, the yaoi [gay male] panels are better drawn than anything else reproduced in this chapter.) [NOTE: Mr. Pilcher took the time to write me a message assuring me that he was neither disgusted nor bored with hentai, but that "there is a vast amount of 'rape fantasy' manga that I do find very dubious, verging on pernicious."]
The book concludes with a brief look at erotica online, a field in which we are all experts.
The front dust jacket illustration, a typically gorgeous nude by Giovanna Casotto, is worth the price of the book by itself.
The Best Writer You've Never Heard Of
General | Posted 12 years agoHOWARD WHO? by Howard Waldrop (Peapod Classics, 2006, 9781931520188)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/19....._new_dp_review
OTHER WORLDS, BETTER LIVES by Howard Waldrop (Old Earth Books, 2008, 9781882968381)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/18....._new_dp_review
reviewed by Roochak
HOWARD WHO?
Howard Waldrop is the best writer you've never heard of. Thing is, where other writers become specialists -- mining a particular vein of obsessions in a single, recognizable tone of voice -- no two Waldrop stories are alike.
His scope is staggering. These stories, written between 1974 and 1983, invite us into the quest of 18th-century natural philosophers to isolate the atomic substance "phlogiston"; into a proud Native American society based on auto theft and tractor pulls; into a band of time-traveling Jewish terrorists; into a tournament for telekinetic sumo wrestlers; into a reunion concert for two of the world's greatest jazz musicians, Louis Armstrong and Dwight Eisenhower. And I haven't even mentioned that there are cowboys gunning for vampires, Izaak Walton as a 17th-century Captain Quint, robot simulacra of Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy as the last survivors in a postapocalyptic landscape, and, of course, Groucho Marx as God.
If you love dazzlingly imaginative science fiction and fantasy writing, you must read this book.
OTHER WORLDS, BETTER LIVES
Writing novella-length science fiction isn't something that sane people do very often. Where do you sell it?
Fortunately for his readers, short story specialist Howard Waldrop likes to stretch out to 25,000 words or so every once in a while. His longer stories aren't always as action-packed as his shorter ones, but we get to spend a little more time in the various, richly-textured worlds he keeps dreaming up.
"A Dozen Tough Jobs" transplants the twelve labors of Hercules to rural Mississippi in the 1920s, and Waldrop's vernacular "translation" is a hoot: our hero from Mt. Oatie has a young, black sidekick named I.O. Lace, and the episodes are by turn funny as hell and scary as hell; the ending is poignant as hell.
"Fin de Cyclé" (a Waldropian joke: "cycle" in French has no acute accent, and refers to "a series of events") asks, "What if Méliès, Proust, Picasso, Satie, Jarry, and le Douanier Rousseau got together to make a movie about the Dreyfus affair?" The story is proof that Belle Époque Paris is as wild a science fictional settng as any alien planet.
In "You Could Go Home Again," novelist Thomas Wolfe lives to cross paths with Fats Waller, J.D. Salinger, T.E. Lawrence, and Nevil Shute on a zeppelin flight from Japan to Germany. Wolfe's books were always about bombastic young men in search of the real America; this story is about an older, sadder, and somewhat wiser man in search of himself. "Flatfeet!" is early 20th century world history as seen through the eyes of the Keystone Kops. "Major Spacer in the 21st Century!" takes us from live television drama and anti-Communist paranoia in 1950 to the Y2K technology crash of the new millenium (which actually happened in this story's world). What's the connection? Excessive government surveillance leads to a world that no one wants to live in? Could be. This one left me shrugging.
Ever wondered about the kid characters in The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951) and other 1950s sci-fi movies, and how their screwed-up lives might've gone on after the movie ended? Neither have I, but while "The Other Real World" has too many oblique movie and TV references for its own good, it's still one heck of a Cold War thrill ride.
In "A Better World's in Birth!" a spectre is haunting the Peoples' Federated States of Europe -- the spectre of Marx, and those of Engels and Wagner as well. A secret police investigator is assigned to find out who or what's behind these ghostly sightings. This is, without question, the best 19th century, hardboiled Communist detective story I've ever read.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/19....._new_dp_review
OTHER WORLDS, BETTER LIVES by Howard Waldrop (Old Earth Books, 2008, 9781882968381)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/18....._new_dp_review
reviewed by Roochak
HOWARD WHO?
Howard Waldrop is the best writer you've never heard of. Thing is, where other writers become specialists -- mining a particular vein of obsessions in a single, recognizable tone of voice -- no two Waldrop stories are alike.
His scope is staggering. These stories, written between 1974 and 1983, invite us into the quest of 18th-century natural philosophers to isolate the atomic substance "phlogiston"; into a proud Native American society based on auto theft and tractor pulls; into a band of time-traveling Jewish terrorists; into a tournament for telekinetic sumo wrestlers; into a reunion concert for two of the world's greatest jazz musicians, Louis Armstrong and Dwight Eisenhower. And I haven't even mentioned that there are cowboys gunning for vampires, Izaak Walton as a 17th-century Captain Quint, robot simulacra of Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy as the last survivors in a postapocalyptic landscape, and, of course, Groucho Marx as God.
If you love dazzlingly imaginative science fiction and fantasy writing, you must read this book.
OTHER WORLDS, BETTER LIVES
Writing novella-length science fiction isn't something that sane people do very often. Where do you sell it?
Fortunately for his readers, short story specialist Howard Waldrop likes to stretch out to 25,000 words or so every once in a while. His longer stories aren't always as action-packed as his shorter ones, but we get to spend a little more time in the various, richly-textured worlds he keeps dreaming up.
"A Dozen Tough Jobs" transplants the twelve labors of Hercules to rural Mississippi in the 1920s, and Waldrop's vernacular "translation" is a hoot: our hero from Mt. Oatie has a young, black sidekick named I.O. Lace, and the episodes are by turn funny as hell and scary as hell; the ending is poignant as hell.
"Fin de Cyclé" (a Waldropian joke: "cycle" in French has no acute accent, and refers to "a series of events") asks, "What if Méliès, Proust, Picasso, Satie, Jarry, and le Douanier Rousseau got together to make a movie about the Dreyfus affair?" The story is proof that Belle Époque Paris is as wild a science fictional settng as any alien planet.
In "You Could Go Home Again," novelist Thomas Wolfe lives to cross paths with Fats Waller, J.D. Salinger, T.E. Lawrence, and Nevil Shute on a zeppelin flight from Japan to Germany. Wolfe's books were always about bombastic young men in search of the real America; this story is about an older, sadder, and somewhat wiser man in search of himself. "Flatfeet!" is early 20th century world history as seen through the eyes of the Keystone Kops. "Major Spacer in the 21st Century!" takes us from live television drama and anti-Communist paranoia in 1950 to the Y2K technology crash of the new millenium (which actually happened in this story's world). What's the connection? Excessive government surveillance leads to a world that no one wants to live in? Could be. This one left me shrugging.
Ever wondered about the kid characters in The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951) and other 1950s sci-fi movies, and how their screwed-up lives might've gone on after the movie ended? Neither have I, but while "The Other Real World" has too many oblique movie and TV references for its own good, it's still one heck of a Cold War thrill ride.
In "A Better World's in Birth!" a spectre is haunting the Peoples' Federated States of Europe -- the spectre of Marx, and those of Engels and Wagner as well. A secret police investigator is assigned to find out who or what's behind these ghostly sightings. This is, without question, the best 19th century, hardboiled Communist detective story I've ever read.
Did I Miss Something?
General | Posted 12 years agoHmm...I see that everyone's leaving FA forever. Again.
So you wanna design a tabletop game?
General | Posted 12 years ago"...raw, entertaining, gripping, utterly delusive fantasies"
General | Posted 12 years agoSometimes I wonder what it would be like to watch episodic television in weekly installments, as I did growing up. In a way, it might be more efficient: I could get through more of the box sets piling up around here at a steady, reliable pace. I'm also starting to wonder if my perception of TV isn't being skewed towards thinking it's a quality medium. After all, I'm only watching shows that actually interest me, as opposed to the other 95% of what's on the air.
Take DAMAGES, starring Glenn Close as the most dangerous person in New York: a Machiavellian, high stakes litigator who wields the law like an instrument of murder. Her character, Patty Hewes, is brilliant, charismatic, ruthless, and deeply, horrifically twisted; she's Perry Mason as a charming psychopath.
BOSS, which ran only two seasons on Starz, stars Kelsey Grammer as Chicago Mayor Tom Kane, a white collar gangster who learns that he's living on borrowed time, thanks to a degenerative brain disease. Can he enforce his political legacy on the city in the time he has left?
MAD MEN is about characters living on the wrong side of history, and like millions of others, I can't stop watching it. What's in store for the partners and employees of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce as the 1960s spiral to a close and American society fractures into something drastically different from what they've always known?
SONS OF ANARCHY is a trashy crime dramedy awash in gallows humor. Hamlet, Gertrude, and Claudius are reinvented as the ruling family of an outlaw biker club, but the utopian dreams of the club's late founder were taken in a more violent direction after his death. What is justice when criminals enforce the law?
BOARDWALK EMPIRE is set at the beginning of the Prohibition era, when Congress effectively gave organized crime a license to print money. It's an American success story about big business and its charismatic leaders, although the businessmen in this series take the phrase "cutthroat competition" literally. And Steve Buscemi gets to play the best, most nuanced role of his career.
BREAKING BAD is probably the best show on television since THE SOPRANOS -- a bloodcurdling mix of satire and terror arguing that the American Dream is fundamentally murderous. Bryan Cranston may be identified with the Walter White role forever, but there are worse fates than creating an indelible character.
I'm still watching all of these shows, and I haven't even mentioned others I'm enjoying or want to get to, including HOUSE OF CARDS, SHERLOCK, HOMELAND, GENERATION KILL, OZ, THE WALKING DEAD, and the entire STAR TREK franchise. (Yes, I'm a late arrival to the TREK universe. So sue me.) Point is, there's a lotta crap on TV that I've never had to sit through, so I might be unduly optimistic about TV's status as a worthwhile artistic medium.
Take DAMAGES, starring Glenn Close as the most dangerous person in New York: a Machiavellian, high stakes litigator who wields the law like an instrument of murder. Her character, Patty Hewes, is brilliant, charismatic, ruthless, and deeply, horrifically twisted; she's Perry Mason as a charming psychopath.
BOSS, which ran only two seasons on Starz, stars Kelsey Grammer as Chicago Mayor Tom Kane, a white collar gangster who learns that he's living on borrowed time, thanks to a degenerative brain disease. Can he enforce his political legacy on the city in the time he has left?
MAD MEN is about characters living on the wrong side of history, and like millions of others, I can't stop watching it. What's in store for the partners and employees of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce as the 1960s spiral to a close and American society fractures into something drastically different from what they've always known?
SONS OF ANARCHY is a trashy crime dramedy awash in gallows humor. Hamlet, Gertrude, and Claudius are reinvented as the ruling family of an outlaw biker club, but the utopian dreams of the club's late founder were taken in a more violent direction after his death. What is justice when criminals enforce the law?
BOARDWALK EMPIRE is set at the beginning of the Prohibition era, when Congress effectively gave organized crime a license to print money. It's an American success story about big business and its charismatic leaders, although the businessmen in this series take the phrase "cutthroat competition" literally. And Steve Buscemi gets to play the best, most nuanced role of his career.
BREAKING BAD is probably the best show on television since THE SOPRANOS -- a bloodcurdling mix of satire and terror arguing that the American Dream is fundamentally murderous. Bryan Cranston may be identified with the Walter White role forever, but there are worse fates than creating an indelible character.
I'm still watching all of these shows, and I haven't even mentioned others I'm enjoying or want to get to, including HOUSE OF CARDS, SHERLOCK, HOMELAND, GENERATION KILL, OZ, THE WALKING DEAD, and the entire STAR TREK franchise. (Yes, I'm a late arrival to the TREK universe. So sue me.) Point is, there's a lotta crap on TV that I've never had to sit through, so I might be unduly optimistic about TV's status as a worthwhile artistic medium.
Bi-Curious George
General | Posted 12 years ago(If you're under 18, stop reading this right now, y'hear?)
Two horny dudes -- one average-looking but well hung gay guy, the other a bi-curious straight boy, a little on the skinny side but with a fantastic ass -- get naked in a hotel room. The straight boy -- Slim, we'll call him -- takes a look at his friend's equipment and starts having second thoughts, so his partner (who's keeping his dark curls tucked under a yellow wool hat for some reason) tries to relax him by sitting him down and crawling between his legs.
Slim's getting into it, placing his hands on the bobbing wool hat and imagining one of his favorite cartoon characters under it. Wool Hat pushes Slim back on the bed, straddles him, and slides down his friend's excitement to show him there's nothing to be afraid of. Afraid or not, this isn't quite what Slim imagined it would be like. There's something missing. Champagne? Candles? A vagina?
There is no point to this journal.
In the early morning, Slim finally gives in to Wool Hat's (is he still wearing that damn thing?!) teasing, foreplay, and whining, and offers himself on all fours. Slowly, and with a great deal of lube, Woolly works himself inside, just as a half-dozen of his friends show up to pound on the door and ask if he's coming to breakfast with them.
They know perfectly well what's going on -- he can hear them giggling in the hallway as they ask why he's not ready for breakfast. You guys go ahead, Woolly shouts, still pumping away at the boy beneath him. I'll meet you in the Dealers' Room.
Slim decides that while this isn't the worst thing that's ever happened to him, he doesn't want to repeat the experience. A few weeks later, Slim invites himself to spend a weekend at Woolly's, whom he still likes as a friend, but waits until he gets there to inform Woolly that he's now sexually off limits. The weekend doesn't end well.
The convention, however, was a roaring success.
Two horny dudes -- one average-looking but well hung gay guy, the other a bi-curious straight boy, a little on the skinny side but with a fantastic ass -- get naked in a hotel room. The straight boy -- Slim, we'll call him -- takes a look at his friend's equipment and starts having second thoughts, so his partner (who's keeping his dark curls tucked under a yellow wool hat for some reason) tries to relax him by sitting him down and crawling between his legs.
Slim's getting into it, placing his hands on the bobbing wool hat and imagining one of his favorite cartoon characters under it. Wool Hat pushes Slim back on the bed, straddles him, and slides down his friend's excitement to show him there's nothing to be afraid of. Afraid or not, this isn't quite what Slim imagined it would be like. There's something missing. Champagne? Candles? A vagina?
There is no point to this journal.
In the early morning, Slim finally gives in to Wool Hat's (is he still wearing that damn thing?!) teasing, foreplay, and whining, and offers himself on all fours. Slowly, and with a great deal of lube, Woolly works himself inside, just as a half-dozen of his friends show up to pound on the door and ask if he's coming to breakfast with them.
They know perfectly well what's going on -- he can hear them giggling in the hallway as they ask why he's not ready for breakfast. You guys go ahead, Woolly shouts, still pumping away at the boy beneath him. I'll meet you in the Dealers' Room.
Slim decides that while this isn't the worst thing that's ever happened to him, he doesn't want to repeat the experience. A few weeks later, Slim invites himself to spend a weekend at Woolly's, whom he still likes as a friend, but waits until he gets there to inform Woolly that he's now sexually off limits. The weekend doesn't end well.
The convention, however, was a roaring success.
My So-Called Courtroom Drama
General | Posted 12 years agoPeople get killed for stupid fucking reasons, but $350 worth of weed? It's the sort of sad, stupid drug murder that barely rates a paragraph in the local paper, but it's eaten up the last three weeks of my time. I was on the jury that found the murderer guilty two days ago.
There wasn't much in the way of physical evidence, just a shitload of circumstantial evidence to put the killer in the victim's car at the time of death. The victim had driven to buy some hydro (in his employer's car, no less) from an acquaintance. What he got was a bullet in the face, and then another that severed his jugular vein and killed him.
Nothing special, right? Just another lovely parting gift from the oh-so-effective war on drugs. What I can barely get my head around, even now, is that the victim was the younger brother of the killer's best friend. The man who shot him showed up at the funeral to pay his respects, to look the dead man's family in their faces and express his condolences.
What makes it even more appalling is that the victim was still alive after the first shot. He would've been fucked up for life, but he could've recovered. That is, he could've recovered if his killer hadn't taken the time to get out of the passenger seat, walk around to the driver's window, and deliver a second shot that turned what could've started out as a simple altercation -- who knows? -- into a deliberate execution.
So, two weeks of testimony and a week of deliberation later, we found the accused man guilty on six of eight charges, including first degree, premeditated murder. The verdict was unanimous, but one juror, who really didn't want to send anyone to prison for any reason, had a near-breakdown after the verdict was delivered and affirmed. "You're all wonderful people," I said as we gathered our things to leave, "but let's never do this again."
There wasn't much in the way of physical evidence, just a shitload of circumstantial evidence to put the killer in the victim's car at the time of death. The victim had driven to buy some hydro (in his employer's car, no less) from an acquaintance. What he got was a bullet in the face, and then another that severed his jugular vein and killed him.
Nothing special, right? Just another lovely parting gift from the oh-so-effective war on drugs. What I can barely get my head around, even now, is that the victim was the younger brother of the killer's best friend. The man who shot him showed up at the funeral to pay his respects, to look the dead man's family in their faces and express his condolences.
What makes it even more appalling is that the victim was still alive after the first shot. He would've been fucked up for life, but he could've recovered. That is, he could've recovered if his killer hadn't taken the time to get out of the passenger seat, walk around to the driver's window, and deliver a second shot that turned what could've started out as a simple altercation -- who knows? -- into a deliberate execution.
So, two weeks of testimony and a week of deliberation later, we found the accused man guilty on six of eight charges, including first degree, premeditated murder. The verdict was unanimous, but one juror, who really didn't want to send anyone to prison for any reason, had a near-breakdown after the verdict was delivered and affirmed. "You're all wonderful people," I said as we gathered our things to leave, "but let's never do this again."
'Cause I can't resist a movie meme
General | Posted 12 years agoGanked from 
rimou
1. Name a movie that you have seen more than 10 times:
Hmm. The Lord of the Rings. Sherlock Jr. Goodfellas. Gay Purr-ee. A Christmas Story. Uhh...
2. Name a movie that you've seen multiple times in a theater:
Citizen Kane, a movie I can't stand to watch anymore.
3. Name an actor that would make you more inclined to see a movie:
James Gandolfini. Bryan Cranston. Meryl Streep.
4. Name an actor that would make you less likely to see a movie:
Sorry, no one comes to mind.
5. Name a movie that you can quote from:
Monty Python and the Holy Grail, but jeez, EVERYONE can quote from that one.
6. Name a movie musical that you know all the lyrics to all the songs:
Swing Time. Ever heard Fred Astaire sing "Never Gonna Dance"? It'll break your heart.
7. Name a movie musical that you have been known to sing along with:
An American in Paris. Hey, it's Gershwin!
8. Name a movie that you would recommend everyone see:
So many choices...but let's start with Alfred Hitchcock's poisonous fairytale romance, Notorious.
9. Name an unusual movie that you own:
Define "unusual." I'm genuinely confused by this question.
10. Name an actor that launched his/her entertainment career in another medium.
Lessee...Fred Astaire was a professional dancer. Harry Connick Jr. was a jazz pianist. Bebop saxophonist Dexter Gordon got an Oscar nomination for his first and only acting role. Then there's...
11. Have you ever seen a movie in a drive-in?: Nope.
12. Ever made out in a movie?:
That would've distracted me from watching the movie, so no.
13. Name a movie that you keep meaning to see but just haven't gotten around to it:
Bitter Victory, but cult director Nicholas Ray. One o' these days...
14. Ever walked out of a movie?:
Oh yeah. Pasolini's sickening Salo, the 120 Days of Sodom. And Lynch's Wild at Heart, which was too over the top for me, though I really should give that one another try.
15. Name a movie that made you cry: They all do.
16. Popcorn?: Sorry, can't stand the stuff.
17. How often do you go to the movies?: During summer and winter blockbuster seasons, a lot. The rest of the year, not.
18. What's the last movie you saw in the theatre?: Man of Steel.
19. What is your favorite/preferred genre of movie?: All of them.
20. What was the first movie you remember seeing in the theatre?
Disney's Sleeping Beauty. Maleficent's transformation into a dragon scared the hell outta me.
rimou1. Name a movie that you have seen more than 10 times:
Hmm. The Lord of the Rings. Sherlock Jr. Goodfellas. Gay Purr-ee. A Christmas Story. Uhh...
2. Name a movie that you've seen multiple times in a theater:
Citizen Kane, a movie I can't stand to watch anymore.
3. Name an actor that would make you more inclined to see a movie:
James Gandolfini. Bryan Cranston. Meryl Streep.
4. Name an actor that would make you less likely to see a movie:
Sorry, no one comes to mind.
5. Name a movie that you can quote from:
Monty Python and the Holy Grail, but jeez, EVERYONE can quote from that one.
6. Name a movie musical that you know all the lyrics to all the songs:
Swing Time. Ever heard Fred Astaire sing "Never Gonna Dance"? It'll break your heart.
7. Name a movie musical that you have been known to sing along with:
An American in Paris. Hey, it's Gershwin!
8. Name a movie that you would recommend everyone see:
So many choices...but let's start with Alfred Hitchcock's poisonous fairytale romance, Notorious.
9. Name an unusual movie that you own:
Define "unusual." I'm genuinely confused by this question.
10. Name an actor that launched his/her entertainment career in another medium.
Lessee...Fred Astaire was a professional dancer. Harry Connick Jr. was a jazz pianist. Bebop saxophonist Dexter Gordon got an Oscar nomination for his first and only acting role. Then there's...
11. Have you ever seen a movie in a drive-in?: Nope.
12. Ever made out in a movie?:
That would've distracted me from watching the movie, so no.
13. Name a movie that you keep meaning to see but just haven't gotten around to it:
Bitter Victory, but cult director Nicholas Ray. One o' these days...
14. Ever walked out of a movie?:
Oh yeah. Pasolini's sickening Salo, the 120 Days of Sodom. And Lynch's Wild at Heart, which was too over the top for me, though I really should give that one another try.
15. Name a movie that made you cry: They all do.
16. Popcorn?: Sorry, can't stand the stuff.
17. How often do you go to the movies?: During summer and winter blockbuster seasons, a lot. The rest of the year, not.
18. What's the last movie you saw in the theatre?: Man of Steel.
19. What is your favorite/preferred genre of movie?: All of them.
20. What was the first movie you remember seeing in the theatre?
Disney's Sleeping Beauty. Maleficent's transformation into a dragon scared the hell outta me.
Maxims
General | Posted 12 years ago"It is more often pride than lack of enlightenment that makes us oppose so stubbornly the generally accepted view of something. We find the front seats already taken on the correct side, and we do not want any of the back ones."
"It is easier to seem worthy of positions you do not hold than of those you do."
"We often boast of never being bored by ourselves; we are so vainglorious that we never want to find our own company tedious."
"Great souls are not those with fewer passions and more virtues than common souls, but simply those that have greater plans."
"If we fail to notice that our friends' affection is cooling, it proves that we have little affection ourselves."
Thank you, La Rochefoucauld.
"It is easier to seem worthy of positions you do not hold than of those you do."
"We often boast of never being bored by ourselves; we are so vainglorious that we never want to find our own company tedious."
"Great souls are not those with fewer passions and more virtues than common souls, but simply those that have greater plans."
"If we fail to notice that our friends' affection is cooling, it proves that we have little affection ourselves."
Thank you, La Rochefoucauld.
Better Luck Next Time, Roo and 'Rat
General | Posted 12 years agoIt's a disappointment to both of us, but Flatrat and I can't make it to Anthrocon. Our plans fell through this month when car, refrigerator, and computer repairs/replacements all came down on us at once.
We were looking forward to seeing many of you again, and to making some new friends as well. So, to those of you who'll be there, have fun! I wish we could join you.
We were looking forward to seeing many of you again, and to making some new friends as well. So, to those of you who'll be there, have fun! I wish we could join you.
Popzara welcomes...uh, me.
General | Posted 12 years agoWell, my first book review on Popzara went up today. Alan Sepinwall's The Revolution Was Televised, a self-published success that was just reissued by the major publisher Touchstone, is the subject. The author has some very interesting things to say about the great TV dramas of the previous decade, two of which -- Mad Men and Breaking Bad -- are still on the air. You can check out my review at http://popzara.com/pages/2915/
...And to balance out the good news, I just thought I'd mention that my vintage Windows XP art computer crashed last week, and I'll need an all-new hardware bundle. I didn't lose any art files -- they're all backed up elsewhere -- but for now I've no way of scanning, editing, or uploading any new drawings. Oh, and Flatrat and I may or may not make it to AC next month. We'll see.
...And to balance out the good news, I just thought I'd mention that my vintage Windows XP art computer crashed last week, and I'll need an all-new hardware bundle. I didn't lose any art files -- they're all backed up elsewhere -- but for now I've no way of scanning, editing, or uploading any new drawings. Oh, and Flatrat and I may or may not make it to AC next month. We'll see.
Brevity as the Soul of Crit
General | Posted 12 years ago5001 NIGHTS AT THE MOVIES by Pauline Kael (Picador, 960pp, $35)
http://www.amazon.com/5001-Nights-M.....=cm_cr_pr_pb_t
For those who might think that Pauline Kael couldn't write anything of value without a 1,500 word running start, here, in its entirety, is her opinion of the 1936 Hollywood costume drama, THE GORGEOUS HUSSY:
"The title is deceptive. The film is about Andrew Jackson (Lionel Barrymore) and his Presidential problems. Specifically, it deals with his dissolving his Cabinet because the wives of the members had cut a certain Mrs. Eaton (Joan Crawford). Something like this actually happened, though the picture will never convince anyone of it. Beulah Bondi smokes a corncob with the assurance befitting a First Lady, Melvyn Douglas plays a dreary, gentlemanly John Randolph, and Robert Taylor and Franchot Tone are the handsome young men. Clarence Brown directed. M-G-M. b&w"
Consider the wit and skill that went into summarizing and dispatching this long-forgotten piece of A-list fluff in six sentences, and you'll agree that Kael was as insightful (and deadly) within the length of a paragraph as she was within her preferred review length of several pages. That she did most of it from memory is flabbergasting.
The 2,800 or so reviews included here are a mixture of original entries and ruthlessly edited -- or, as she called it, vandalized -- highlights from her ten collections I LOST IT AT THE MOVIES (1965) through MOVIE LOVE (1991). It's interesting that the bad and mediocre movies considered here seem to outnumber the good ones, but it's the various ways in which those movies fail that make this such a rich and instructive volume for browsing. You'll come across such wonderful observations as, "The picture's ponderousness doesn't keep it from affecting some people deeply...Essentially, this is a dating movie...but for darker times, for times of lower expectations." (THE ACCIDENTAL TOURIST, 1988) Or better yet, "People hadn't seen anything like it; that didn't mean they needed to." (LITTLE MISS MARKER, 1934)
I won't say that if you care about film you must have this book; that's going too far. On the other hand, if you've ever wondered how sharp your critical focus really is while you're watching a film -- or if you've ever been curious about the merits of THE MODEL AND THE MARRIAGE BROKER (1951) or MR. MOTO TAKES A VACATION (1939) -- you'll find this collection difficult to resist.
http://www.amazon.com/5001-Nights-M.....=cm_cr_pr_pb_t
For those who might think that Pauline Kael couldn't write anything of value without a 1,500 word running start, here, in its entirety, is her opinion of the 1936 Hollywood costume drama, THE GORGEOUS HUSSY:
"The title is deceptive. The film is about Andrew Jackson (Lionel Barrymore) and his Presidential problems. Specifically, it deals with his dissolving his Cabinet because the wives of the members had cut a certain Mrs. Eaton (Joan Crawford). Something like this actually happened, though the picture will never convince anyone of it. Beulah Bondi smokes a corncob with the assurance befitting a First Lady, Melvyn Douglas plays a dreary, gentlemanly John Randolph, and Robert Taylor and Franchot Tone are the handsome young men. Clarence Brown directed. M-G-M. b&w"
Consider the wit and skill that went into summarizing and dispatching this long-forgotten piece of A-list fluff in six sentences, and you'll agree that Kael was as insightful (and deadly) within the length of a paragraph as she was within her preferred review length of several pages. That she did most of it from memory is flabbergasting.
The 2,800 or so reviews included here are a mixture of original entries and ruthlessly edited -- or, as she called it, vandalized -- highlights from her ten collections I LOST IT AT THE MOVIES (1965) through MOVIE LOVE (1991). It's interesting that the bad and mediocre movies considered here seem to outnumber the good ones, but it's the various ways in which those movies fail that make this such a rich and instructive volume for browsing. You'll come across such wonderful observations as, "The picture's ponderousness doesn't keep it from affecting some people deeply...Essentially, this is a dating movie...but for darker times, for times of lower expectations." (THE ACCIDENTAL TOURIST, 1988) Or better yet, "People hadn't seen anything like it; that didn't mean they needed to." (LITTLE MISS MARKER, 1934)
I won't say that if you care about film you must have this book; that's going too far. On the other hand, if you've ever wondered how sharp your critical focus really is while you're watching a film -- or if you've ever been curious about the merits of THE MODEL AND THE MARRIAGE BROKER (1951) or MR. MOTO TAKES A VACATION (1939) -- you'll find this collection difficult to resist.
The Last Hurrah of the Rescue Rangers?
General | Posted 13 years agoCHIP 'N DALE RESCUE RANGERS: SLIPPIN' THROUGH THE CRACKS by Ian Brill, Leonel Castellani, etc. (KaBOOM!, $15) [released in 2011]
http://www.amazon.com/Chip-Dale-Rescue-Rangers-Slippin/dp/1608866688/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1363199662&sr=1-1&keywords=chip+%27n+dale+rescue+rangers
A criminal gang made up of the Rescue Rangers' evil mirror-opposites. Poison-quilled ninja porcupines. Fiendish deathtraps. The CNDRR comic book's last hurrah. I wish I liked this story more than I do.
Thing is, it's a terrific story, and the Danger Rangers, a cool, cruel, villainous quintet bent on the RR's destruction, are worth the price of the book by themselves. But the execution? Artist Leonel Castellani's departure from the title was disappointing; he drew only a few pages of the first and second chapters, and may have done layouts for substitute artists Ricardo Garcia and Morgan Luthi. Luthi was credited as the sole artist for chapters three and four, and his workmanlike style gets the job done, in a rather faceless manner. (There's a real howler in one panel near the end, when a character turns his head at a 180° angle.)
Writer Ian Brill had to say everything he wanted to say about the RR in this four-issue span prior to cancellation, and the results were interesting. He sees Dale not as a mere TV buffoon, but as the group's true co-leader, giving him a long, uncharacteristically articulate speech to emphasize the point. That speech, by the way, has been rewritten for this trade paperback; it's shorter, but now it sounds even less in character. Monty's almost bipolar behavior and his uncontrollable appetite nearly get his teammates killed...again. Gadget, facing off against her creepy arch-nemesis...well, let's just say that being tech savvy isn't everything.
Besides pruning Dale's valedictory speech, Brill (or his editor) has tinkered with the last few pages since their comic book publication, omitting some dialogue, adding a caption or two. The trade paperback has an intermittent problem with the color reproduction, too: a few pages throughout the book are noticeably less vivid than they were in comic book form.
If you're a Rescue Rangers fan, you're going to want this collection anyway. The group's 1980s iconography -- Indiana Jones, Magnum, P.I., Crocodile Dundee, the Jordan Cochran character from Real Genius -- is nostalgic/cool now, cooler than it was when Disney cancelled the first CNDRR comic book series in 1991. Maybe they'll relaunch the title a third time, through their subsidiary, Marvel Comics. One can always hope.
http://www.amazon.com/Chip-Dale-Rescue-Rangers-Slippin/dp/1608866688/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1363199662&sr=1-1&keywords=chip+%27n+dale+rescue+rangers
A criminal gang made up of the Rescue Rangers' evil mirror-opposites. Poison-quilled ninja porcupines. Fiendish deathtraps. The CNDRR comic book's last hurrah. I wish I liked this story more than I do.
Thing is, it's a terrific story, and the Danger Rangers, a cool, cruel, villainous quintet bent on the RR's destruction, are worth the price of the book by themselves. But the execution? Artist Leonel Castellani's departure from the title was disappointing; he drew only a few pages of the first and second chapters, and may have done layouts for substitute artists Ricardo Garcia and Morgan Luthi. Luthi was credited as the sole artist for chapters three and four, and his workmanlike style gets the job done, in a rather faceless manner. (There's a real howler in one panel near the end, when a character turns his head at a 180° angle.)
Writer Ian Brill had to say everything he wanted to say about the RR in this four-issue span prior to cancellation, and the results were interesting. He sees Dale not as a mere TV buffoon, but as the group's true co-leader, giving him a long, uncharacteristically articulate speech to emphasize the point. That speech, by the way, has been rewritten for this trade paperback; it's shorter, but now it sounds even less in character. Monty's almost bipolar behavior and his uncontrollable appetite nearly get his teammates killed...again. Gadget, facing off against her creepy arch-nemesis...well, let's just say that being tech savvy isn't everything.
Besides pruning Dale's valedictory speech, Brill (or his editor) has tinkered with the last few pages since their comic book publication, omitting some dialogue, adding a caption or two. The trade paperback has an intermittent problem with the color reproduction, too: a few pages throughout the book are noticeably less vivid than they were in comic book form.
If you're a Rescue Rangers fan, you're going to want this collection anyway. The group's 1980s iconography -- Indiana Jones, Magnum, P.I., Crocodile Dundee, the Jordan Cochran character from Real Genius -- is nostalgic/cool now, cooler than it was when Disney cancelled the first CNDRR comic book series in 1991. Maybe they'll relaunch the title a third time, through their subsidiary, Marvel Comics. One can always hope.
Love & Marriage -- the Reunion Tour
General | Posted 13 years agoStory by 
dotter at
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/9921977/
So yeah, after all these years together, Sheila Ann Lacy and Sandi (Sandra) Carter are making it official: they're getting married. First of all, I'm very happy for them.
The story spreads outwards from the couple to look at the reactions to a gay, interspecies marriage: support from their friends, opposition, some of it rabid, from their families, and near-mindless curiosity from the media, in a never-ending search for infotainment. The reactions are writ large -- the women are, after all, one of New York City's most famous power couples -- but it's hard not to feel that I have a stake in this story's outcome, too.
I'm in favor of marriage equality. I don't pretend to have any deep political thoughts on the issue, but marrying someone of my own gender is an option I'd like to take someday. To show him I love him enough to put a ring on it. To stop using all those awkward linguistic substitutes for "my husband." To be out -- truly out, finally. And then there's all that legal stuff that makes signing forms easier.
Anyway, D'Otter wrote a terrific story. You should check it out at the link above.
dotter athttp://www.furaffinity.net/view/9921977/
So yeah, after all these years together, Sheila Ann Lacy and Sandi (Sandra) Carter are making it official: they're getting married. First of all, I'm very happy for them.
The story spreads outwards from the couple to look at the reactions to a gay, interspecies marriage: support from their friends, opposition, some of it rabid, from their families, and near-mindless curiosity from the media, in a never-ending search for infotainment. The reactions are writ large -- the women are, after all, one of New York City's most famous power couples -- but it's hard not to feel that I have a stake in this story's outcome, too.
I'm in favor of marriage equality. I don't pretend to have any deep political thoughts on the issue, but marrying someone of my own gender is an option I'd like to take someday. To show him I love him enough to put a ring on it. To stop using all those awkward linguistic substitutes for "my husband." To be out -- truly out, finally. And then there's all that legal stuff that makes signing forms easier.
Anyway, D'Otter wrote a terrific story. You should check it out at the link above.
What are your characters drinking these days?
General | Posted 13 years agoSo I have a stupid theory that fictional characters are defined by what they drink. Lemme riff on this a bit. Jimmy Lee, apart from whatever else he used to ingest, strikes me as a guy who's never lost his taste for trashy cocktails like the Zombie, the Mudslide, and the Alabama Slammer. This is clearly a dude who's never spent an evening drinking alone, or ever worried about looking cool while placing an order at the bar. He's never had to.
Sandi Carter was an avid bourbon drinker in college, who's gone on to develop a rather butch taste for Scotch and Irish single malt whiskeys. I suspect that Sandi has flirted with alcoholism, especially in her younger years, but she's been lucky enough to have Sheila looking out for her and keeping her excesses in check.
Not that Sheila is against alcohol consumption, not by a long shot. She's been a member of the global cocktail party circuit practically since her eighteenth birthday, acquiring a taste for Caipirinhas long before anyone north of Oiapoque had ever heard of cachaça. If drinking is a necessary social lubricant in Sheila's world, a Ferrari or a French Connection in hand helps keep her smiling and schmoozing smoothly.
Genevieve, by contrast, is a beer gal. Not just a knowledgeable fan of Belgian ales and American microbrews, she makes her own home brew -- admittedly, with more enthusiasm than skill, but her friends don't complain. Much.
I don't see Ellie Van Halen as much of a drinker at all, apart from a glass of wine with dinner. Maybe she'll surprise me some day, but for now her lack of obvious vices makes her probably my most challenging character to imagine. One really can have too much of a good thing.
End of riff. What do you think? And what are your characters imbibing these days?
Sandi Carter was an avid bourbon drinker in college, who's gone on to develop a rather butch taste for Scotch and Irish single malt whiskeys. I suspect that Sandi has flirted with alcoholism, especially in her younger years, but she's been lucky enough to have Sheila looking out for her and keeping her excesses in check.
Not that Sheila is against alcohol consumption, not by a long shot. She's been a member of the global cocktail party circuit practically since her eighteenth birthday, acquiring a taste for Caipirinhas long before anyone north of Oiapoque had ever heard of cachaça. If drinking is a necessary social lubricant in Sheila's world, a Ferrari or a French Connection in hand helps keep her smiling and schmoozing smoothly.
Genevieve, by contrast, is a beer gal. Not just a knowledgeable fan of Belgian ales and American microbrews, she makes her own home brew -- admittedly, with more enthusiasm than skill, but her friends don't complain. Much.
I don't see Ellie Van Halen as much of a drinker at all, apart from a glass of wine with dinner. Maybe she'll surprise me some day, but for now her lack of obvious vices makes her probably my most challenging character to imagine. One really can have too much of a good thing.
End of riff. What do you think? And what are your characters imbibing these days?
