Hey, it’s already the end of May. I don’t remember too much about the last two weeks of the month except to say that I saw Spiderman 3 twice, and Shrek 3 once. It’s the year of the trilogies. I also had a business trip to Hong Kong, which was pretty fun – I bounced around town, did two interviews, then attended an awards ceremony. Coincidence – the person I sat next to was someone another person had mentioned to me a few weeks ago, as in “oh, I should get you in touch with my friend in Hong Kong, she edits an arts magazine and you should write for her.” Surreal moment of the evening – watching a purple Volkswagen Beetle pull up to the hotel and a woman step out in a purple dress and matching purple pumps. And it doesn’t stop there – I saw women in purple a few more times over the next few days. Weird. Another coincidence – I was talking to my colleague about the movie Purple Rain, and the character Appolonia, and then I walked past a shop called Appolonia! Weird, right?
I wrote a bunch of my novel, and now it’s at about 85,000 words. I can’t believe I’ve written nearly 20,000 words in 4 weeks or so. But it’s good to be back on track. The main part of it is nearly finished, with the final denouement all that’s left.
Zen’s doing really well in his swimming lessons, and he can putt around the water as much as he wants to, jumping in with confidence. Great. Tonight he also went to sleep by himself, rather than with one of us next to him rubbing his back, which we still do. But the times that he goes to sleep by himself are growing, and pretty soon he’ll have confidence to do that without whining that someone needs to be close to him or he can’t go to sleep. He’s picked up the habit of making up weak excuses and expecting them to stand…
Next up is the review section, where you will see that I see more movies than read books or buy CDs these days.
Book Review:
Ransom, by Jay McInerney – In some ways similar to the many books I’ve read about Japan – Angry Red Pajamas, Learning To Bow, the cretinous Pictures From The Water Trade, the equally cretinous the Lady and the Monk, and Thank you and Okay – this is a novel about a guy who comes to Japan to learn something that you can only get in Japan. He’s into karate, but unlike the protagonists of those other story he’s also one of these unhinged fugitive types running from something from back home. He’s had a difficult upper middle class childhood and he’s had a run-in with danger in the backlands of Pakistan. His life in Kyoto is about getting in and out of trouble, being disciplined, and overcoming the pain of the past. Ultimately, I didn’t think it was a great novel, since it has too many colossally dumb decisions (i.e. “there’s a killer stalking us, let’s split up”) for one story. But at least it starts off well… By the way, this Ransom has nothing to do with the Mel Gibson film, it’s just the name of the main character – Christopher Ransom.
DVD Reviews:
They Might Be Giants – Yes, the original TMBG movie is a 1971 movie starring George C. Scott and Joanne Woodward, mainly of interest to understand why the band chose that as a name (there are probably more bands named after movies than anything else – The Misfits, Faster Pussycat, Lisa Loeb and Nine Stories, Brighton Rock, etc.). And for anyone seeking more lunacy from the man who made famous the line/promise “no more than 20 to 30 million killed – tops!” The main critical blurb on the cover is Leonard Maltin’s not-so-promising three star rating. The premise is that George C. Scott’s character is a brilliant former judge who now thinks he’s Sherlock Holmes, Joanne Woodward is his shrink. Together they set out to find Moriarty. Not much to keep your interest after the first 30 minutes or so, although the scene where “Holmes” treats a man who has stopped talking by figuring out that he thinks he’s Rudolph Valentino (i.e. a silent film star). Three stars.
Sleeper - Probably Woody Allen’s worst movie, in my opinion, especially in its over-use of Dixieland jazz, which makes his slapstick/vaudeville scenes seem more of a ripoff of Buster Keaton than a tribute. Strange forecasting of the film “Demolition Man,” especially in that thing about using an orgasmatron to simulate sex, which has gone out of fashion in the meantime. Interesting sight gags, like the Gyro-Mirror (also ripped off/adapted from Keaton). Nice lines like “I got a Ph.D in oral sex.” Best moments come in the parodies, like when the people from the future try to recreate what a dinner in a Jewish family might have been like (“Stop whining and eat your shiksah”), to Diane Keaton’s unexplained mimicking of Stanley Kowalski to Woody Allen’s Blanche DuBois. Surreal. But still pretty much a waste of time.
Lords of Dogtown – I never thought I would be very interested in skateboarding, but this film brought it out in me. Excellent depiction of three kids who build skateboarding into a serious sport/artform, and some fantastic skateboarding shots from a crew of photographers/cameramen who have built up their skills of shooting skaters for decades. Great, great, great stuff. Nice to hear Black Sabbath in a soundtrack, although skating to “Iron Man” seems like a bit of a stretch. The extras to the film were interesting, and it was cool to see how the three guys in the film – Jay, Stacy, and Tony – interact with each other. And Heath Ledger was really good – hard to believe he’s the guy from “A Knight’s Tale.” Helluva lifestyle, though.
Gilligan’s Island – Nice, fun stuff. Get to see the pilot episode, which shows different castaways, namely a different Professor, who is not quite as “professorly” as Russel Johnson, and two crass girls who didn’t quite have the charm that Tina Louise and Dawn Wells had as Ginger and Marianne. Also, the opening theme song was a wacky samba of sorts. Quite painful to hear in a way. Watched a few of the episodes, but the goofy slapstick is a bit weird to take after all these years. I like the Howells a bit more, Jim Backus with his Mr. Magoo-ness, and the fact that he was in Rebel Without A Cause, giving him extra cred. Interesting trivia – Gilligan is the character’s family name; full name – Benny Gilligan. And Natalie Schafer, who was born in 1900, was 64 when she played Love Howell (Jim Backus was 13 years younger).
The Italian Job – Not a bad little film, although fairly misogenistic. Since most of it is about mini Coopers driving around Verona, about half of the film can be watched on high-speed scan. Good music, though.
Spiceworld – I also enjoyed this more than I thought I would. It talks about a cure for deja vu. It talks about a cure for deja-vu. Cross-dressing spice girls a nice touch – Posh going sporty, and Sporty going posh, etc. “Haven’t you ever heard the word ‘compromisation’?” The screenplay is actually a lot smarter than it should be, although there is the stupid “what should I wear?” “well you could wear your little black dress, or you could wear your little black dress, or you could wear your little black dress.” “oh, I know, I could wear my little black dress.” Cameos by Roger Moore, who spouts lines like “without something there is no nothing,” and Elton John are totally unnecessary, although having Meatloaf play the bus driver is a nice touch, although perhaps a bit of a slum for Meatloaf, who has been in the Rocky Horror Picture Show and in Fight Club. But Elvis Costello’s cameo is a bit more mysterious. Who else was in there…?
The Fallen Idol – A fantastic film, and the first of Graham Greene’s collaborations with director Carol Reed (the others are Our Man in Havana and the Third Man). This one is hammy melodrama, with a touch of farce, as the message of misplaced romance gets picked up, as well as lesson of what can become of spinning a web of lies. Sinister friends, and the ultra-creepy Mrs. Baines at the pillow. Nice scene of a hooker in the police station coming on to a 10-year-old. “Does your father work at the embssy?” “No, he’s the ambassador.” Snakes covered up, metaphors everywhere. May have had a tragic ending, but pulls back at the last minute. Strange tale that doesn’t feel like it should have a happy ending, but somehow does in spite of itself.
Battle of the Planets - Getting this from the library is part of my continuing mission of exposing my son to the kinds of things that I saw when I was growing up. As a bonus, this set shows the original Gatchaman episodes with English subtitles. This was the original Japanese TV series that became Battle of the Planets, but with some significant changes. The intro stuff with Seven-Zark-Seven and One-Rover-One, not to mention “Susan” on the intercom, were not part of Gatchaman, they were edited in. In the meantime, Gatchaman was actually a great deal more violent than Battle of the Planets, showing corpse-strewn helicopter crashes, or people burned to ash by the lethal rays of a giant cosmic jelly-fish lens. And in an odd way, the episodes were strangely better than I remembered. The odd presence of Zoltar (called Berg Katse in Gatchaman), and his interaction with the Luminous One (called the Chairman in Gatchaman), remind me in a strange way of Darth Vader and the Emperor. And Seven-Zark-Seven also looks curiously like R2-D2. Hmmm… another prototype for Star Wars besides Kurosawa films?
Shrek 3 – Reviews of the new film have not been very positive, citing the second film the best of the series, but I found this one a lot of fun and hardly the disappointment that Spider-man 3 was. You actually feel sorry for Prince Charming at the beginning of the film, and Shrek keeps his self-pitying “nobody could love an ogre” schtick to a minimum – the line’s getting old. Justin Timberlake enters the scene as Arthur Pendragon, who may or may not be out of place – was Arthur a fairy tale creature or simply a legend. Anyway, Captain Hook, the piano player who was singing “People Ain’t No Good” (i.e. he was Nick Cave) gets a bigger role here, and we see a lot of Pinocchio and the Gingerbread Man, which is nice and fun. Hip film references were to things like “It’s Alive” and “Being John Malkovich” rather than films that have been released in the last three years, which is nice for a change.
CD reviews:
Wu Bai and China Blue: “Pure Generation” – Somehow this album seems a little thin, coming after the lushness of his previous release “Two Face.” Songs are quite dull and nothing stands out, although the third song in, “Two Lonely People”, is a bit better. “Cherry Lover” is outright dull and not really in the Wu Bai class of cool rock, or even anywhere near his normally charming pop, or emotion-drenched lament. The keyboard sound on the album is also particularly bad. A lot of bands starting out would record albums as cheezy as this one. No standout songs on this album at all, unfortunately, perhaps a first for Wu Bai – usually at least half of the album would be phenomenal songwriting and performance. Odd how one of the gustier songs on the release sounds like Rod Stewart singing “Sailing,” albeit in Chinese. Naoko wonders if he’s gone in for plastic surgery – he does look a bit more like a Korean pretty boy these days than before when he had the beat-up puss of a rock and roll star. “Secret Love” is a bit better than the rest, but “You are My Flower” again starts with horrible 80s Euro-pop keyboard sounds (Modern Talking anyone?). “One Dream” is a decent fuzzed-out rocker.
Shirlyn: “Newfound Jealousy” – Shirlyn Tan is the lead singer of a bar band in Singapore called the UnXpected, they are a tight outfit that do great rock ‘n’ roll covers. When I request Black Sabbath they do a great version of “War Pigs,” they also do a great Pink Floyd set, “Zombie,” and some other good ones, as well as a funny version of “I Will Survive” that has lyrics about the horror of taking a guy home from a bar, only to find out that he’s poorly endowed. Shirlyn’s solo songs are a bit in the Avril Lavigne/Alanis Morissette vein, but generally very good. The title track, the third song on the disc, is quite a nice one and pretty mellow, with strings and other funky stuff to keep it juicy. It’s followed by another mellow song, “Snow,” probably the best on the album with the easy acoustic chords and sweet chorus. Great blues guitar on “You,” here she reminds me of someone, can’t place who. Most of the best songs are slow numbers, since the faster ones do seem a bit regular, they could do with a bit more screeching, howling, primal savagery, or in the absence of those extremes at least a bit of humour. Great stuff nonetheless, and great to hear Singapore producing good, gutsy musical talent. Hope her songs catch on and more people here start to realize what they have in their midst. There is a music scene here, don’t ya know?