Thursday, July 24, 2003
AMERICAN SPLENDOR
Saw a sneak preview of the new movie American Splendor Tuesday night. It was a packed house, and I really enjoyed this movie - then again, I've been a Harvey Pekar fan for a long time now.
For those who don't know, Pekar writes a comic book called American Splendor, and he's been putting it out every year since 1976. How I found out about him was on the David Letterman Show (back in the NBC days). Pekar was a guest several times and was a funny, cranky curmudgeon who was always starting fights with Dave. He was so funny that I had to check out his comics - which are pretty great. Basically, Pekar writes about everyday life and the highs and lows that make up his existence. No spandex, no funny animals. Just a man living his life, going to his job as a file clerk in a VA Hospital. Back in '76, Pekar collaborated with underground comics icon R. Crumb. Harvey writes the comics but doesn't draw them, so he gets other people to illustrate his stories. Crumb was the first one. Others artists who have worked with him include Gary Dumm and Frank Stack.
The movie follows Harvey from his early days when he had periods where he felt his life was lonely and pointless, up to his meeting Robert Crumb and subsequently starting American Splendor. For a long time he put out one issue a year (nowadays he's published by Dark Horse Comics and the issues come out a little more than that). The movie then follows Harvey through his Letterman appearances and then up through his bout with cancer (as told in his graphic novel, Our Cancer Year, written with his wife Joyce Brabner). The movie alternates between being a documentary (interviews with the real Harvey and his wife and adopted daughter, as well as co-workers such a self-declared "geniune nerd" Tobey Radloff - who had some minor celebrity status in his own right, starring in the low-budget horror films Killer Nerd and its sequel). Then there's a larger part of the movie with actors. Paul Giamatti plays Harvey (he was also Howard Stern's boss from Hell, Pig Virus in Private Parts), and while he's a little heavy for the role, he has Harvey's mannerisms down pretty well, and his scenes are often very funny.
The movie captures the feel of the comic pretty well and finally gives Harvey Pekar the attention he deserves. He was a comic book pioneer, exploring new territory with his autobiographical comics, and it's about time they turned his comics into a film. This one won the top prize in Sundance this year, too.
It should be coming to theaters in mid-August. But I'm glad I got a chance to see it early.
I don't think it's as good as the straight documentary, Crumb, but it's one of the better comic book movies I can think of. And I just think Harvey is the coolest. He even has his own blog these days (where he shares space with his wife Joyce and his daughter Danielle). Here's the link.
Life After Necon
Well, this year's Necon was another success. For those who aren't familiar with it, Necon is a convention for horror writers that takes place every year in Rhode Island. This year there was a talent show and me and some buddies from the HWA New England Chapter formed a musical group called the Sleepy Hollow Jug Band. I think we were channeling the spirit of that banjo-playing kid from Deliverence. The jug band was Peter Dudar on lead vocals, Dan Keohane backing him up, Jason Harris on tambourine, Steve Dorato on kazoo, Michael Arruda on the washboard and me on spoons. We won the "Audience Prize" and despite some nervousness beforehand, I think we did pretty damn good. If you wanna see some photos, here you go. I'm the fat, bald and bearded guy in the hillbilly hat and the Black Flag T-shirt. LOL.
Pete and Dan wrote the song, "Thank God I'm a Scary Boy!" sung to the tune of John Denver's "Thank God I'm a Country Boy!" It turned out really well.
Necon was a great time but it went by way too fast!
Wednesday, July 16, 2003
NECON BOUND
Well, not much news this week. I'm off to Necon this weekend. More blog fun next week. Same blog time, same blog channel.
In the meantime, check this site out if you're into really weird movies.
Wednesday, July 09, 2003
MY REVIEW OF WRONG TURN NOW UP ON WEIRD TIMES!
The esteemed Tim Emswiler has resurrected his 'zine WEIRD TIMES, and this time it can be found on the web. Check it out! It's a site devoted to reviews of all things horror - from movies to books to whatever else you can think of. I'm proud to say that my review of the movie Wrong Turn is one of the first reviews up on his new site.
There's a lot of shit to get to this week, so let's just dive right in....
28 DAYS LATER
Yeah, I saw it opening weekend, but I didn't have a chance to post anything here until now. I really liked it. It was an interesting hybrid of an art film and a horror film. Director Danny Boyle made some interesting movies early on in his career (Shallow Grave and the excellent Trainspotting), and then seemed to lose it. He made a dismal piece of shit called A Life Less Ordinary that I could barely sit through and I avoided The Beach since it was during the whole Leonardo-hype period. But 28 Days Later lives up to the potential Boyle showed early on and shows him back on track.
I really dug the use of digital video, something that doesn't always work, but in this case it created a dreamlike feel that added an extra dimension to everything - like I was watching a nightmare. The way the zombies moved was great too - all fast-motion and raking hands - very effective. And don't forget the violent projectile vomiting!
There was a lot of Omega Man (especially during the scenes where our hero wanders around a deserted London) and Day of the Dead (the second half) in it, and even a fun "Let's go shopping!" interlude a la Dawn of the Dead . (By the way, if you dig zombies, you'd probably love Brian Keene's novel, The Rising - what the hell are you waiting for? LOL).
Another derivative horror movie? Yeah. There sure are a lot of these suckers. But Boyle did such a good job that he made it all work. Good acting, decent script. Oh yeah, and it's not even technically a zombie movie because the people aren't dead; they're infected with a virus.
I couldn't think of one complaint afterwards. An all-around enjoyable flick.
MUSIC
Been way behind in letting you know about some new cd's worth checking out. In particular, the new ones by Liz Phair and Type O Negative. A lady and a band I've been following for quite some time.
I was fucking awestruck by Liz Phair's debut cd Exile to Guyville. It's an amazing piece of work even now. Her albums since might not have been up to its high standards, but I've enjoyed her music so far. She's a strong, sexual woman who is not afraid to tell it like it is. Her new one, simply called Liz Phair, has been stirring up some controversy, mainly because there have been claims that she "sold out." Not really sure what to think about this, because, despite Guyville being relegated to alternative music hell when it first came out, preventing it from reaching a wider audience, Ms. Phair has always been a pop singer. We're not talking the Sex Pistols here (that's another story entirely...), but if Liz is a pop star, she's one with brass balls. She has always been seeking the almighty hook, from her early singles "Fuck and Run" (amazing!) and her first indie hit, "Never Said" (not to mention the overlooked classic on Guyville, called "Stratford-on-Guy") to her other big indie hit, "Supernova." And the new album is no different. Sure, there are a couple of songs produced by the Matrix, the production team that worked on Avril Lavigne's album (don't get me started!), and that stinks of commercialism, but then again, the new Liz Phair album also has "HWC" a song about the skin care benefits of "hot white come." So it's kind of hard to say she's gone that far into Brainless Pop Land. On the whole, Liz Phair is a pretty solid album, and I'm still digging what Lizzie has to say. Oh and did I mention she's hot?! (LOL)
As for Type O, they're an acquired taste. Most people either love them or hate them. And their new album, Life Is Killing Me, probably won't get them that many converts. It sounds very distinctly like a Type O Negative album, though, and if you dig this band, you are going to enjoy the new one. The kings of goth metal haven't lost their touch. The killer song this time around is "I Don't Wanna Be Me," and every cd they do a cover song and this time it's "Angry Inch" from the play/movie "Hedwig and the Angry Inch." I gotta admit, this one took awhile to grow on me. Their past covers have been a mixed bag from the fucking amazing (their cover of Neil Young's "Cinnamon Girl") to the borderline campy (Seals and Croft's "Summer Breeze"). Not sure yet how "Angry Inch" fits in this group. I'm gonna have to listen a few more times. But on the whole, this album is solid TON. I don't think it's up there with their masterpieces, Bloody Kisses and October Rust, but if you're a fan, you should have this one already.
TELEVISION
I caught a few new shows worth mentioning. First off, we've got I'm With Busey, the latest entry in the washed-up-celebrity-reality-show sweepstakes. Except in this case we are dealing with a man who might just be clinically insane. Or he's putting on one helluva act. Unlike The Osbournes, which has gotten tiresome (we need more Ozzy and less of his kids), , and Anna Nicole Smith, who is boring and pretty pathetic, Gary Busey, Oscar-winning star of The Buddy Holly Story, is unlike anyone you have ever seen. So what's the premise? Some geek follows Gary around and watches as he pontificates about crazy theories, scares the living hell out of people, and makes you wonder every minute if he's still got his acting chops, or if he's just gone nuts. Either way, he's funny as hell, and his antics won't put you to sleep.
I also checked out the new "adult cartoons" on TNN (who I guess will be changing their name soon to SPIKE TV, now that they've won their lawsuit against Spike Lee), and I've got to admit, the first night, I was disappointed. First off is Ren and Stimpy, which was one of my all-time favorite cartoons, back when it debuted on Nickelodeon. This show was the brainchild of John K, who is to cartooning what Gary Busey is to reality shows, and it had the distinction of being very gross and very surreal. Then he left the show (problems with Nickelodeon that I never fully figured out), and the show lost its edge. There were some funny moments, but without John K, the magic was gone. Well, TNN has reunited John K with his most famous creations, and I was eagerly awaiting the result. And I was really bummed out! Sure, the gross-out stuff is still there, but where the fuck are the laughs?? Did Mr. K forget how to be funny? I am going to reserve judgment until I've seen more episodes. It just has to get better. The late hour and the "adult themes" amount to just more explicit bodily functions and the "outing" of Ren and Stimpy's gay relationship (big surprise there...not). But I actually found myself getting bored through the first one. It's gotta get better than this.
After that was Gary the Rat, which has the vocal "talents" of Kelsey Grammer. This one is about a lawyer who one day wakes up and finds he is a rat (how original! LOL). Despite the Kafka reference, I can't figure out what the point of this show is. It's not funny. It's not particularly smart. And it's going to take a lot more than Kelsey Grammer's smarmy voice to win me over. This was actually a step down after Ren & Stimpy, mostly because Gary the Rat just has no reason to exist. It's incredibly lame. Don't quit your day job, Kelsey! As Stan Lee would say, "'Nuff Said!"
And speaking of Stan Lee, we come to the final cartoon of the block, Striperella, which "stars" the voice and likeness of Pamela Anderson. Her character is a stripper who moonlights as a superheroine. I wasn't really impressed, but I have to admit, it was the best of the bunch so far, and even had a couple of laughs, which was more than the other two shows gave me. It's not a work of genius, but I'll give it a few more tries. The creators definitely went for an anime vibe here and at times I even felt like I was watching a rerun of that old MTV cartoon Aeon Flux. But the writing was actually kinda clever on this one, and Pam certainly is a lot more interesting as "source material" than ol' Kelsey. This isn't going to make anyone forget the brilliant characters Stan Lee created for Marvel back in the 60's, but for the TNN cartoon block, it's the least disappointing of the bunch.
Man, was that a lot of reviews. Since I skipped writing the blog last week, I hope this makes up for it. Like anyone is reading this fucking thing anyway! HA HA.
Stay free,
LLS
