Buys
Grant Morrison - The Early Years by Timothy Callahan. When I heard about Teenagers from the Future, essays on the Legion of Super-Heroes from the Sequart Research & Literacy Organization, which has a number of articles by bloggers I read all the time, I looked Sequart up. Teenagers wasn't available, but this treatise on Grant Morrison's early work (from Zenith to Doom Patrol) sounded right up my alley.
"Accomplishments"
DVD flippage... I started a small Mamet-o-thon recently and so started with Edmond, starring William H. Macey and based on Mamet's play. A powerful, if difficult to watch, story about a man (Macey) sent on the road to perdition. He is racist and violent, but Macey's humanity still makes you want to like him. As shocking and original as it was 20+ years ago on stage, I dare say. The film's innovations are mostly to open up the locations, but also plays with Tarot symbols to good effect, turning this into a fevered dream. Two commentary tracks and a few interviews complete the package. The first features the director and the producer and is full of good stories about the play and the film. Mamet's commentary however is just terrible: He seems to be watching it for the first time and has very little to say.
I followed this up with House of Games, Mamet's directorial debut, starring the wonderful Joe Mantegna and Mamet's first wife, Lindsay Crouse. It's the story of a psychologist who gets interested in the world of con men and gets taken for a ride herself. An 80s film noir thriller that is actually very fresh and difficult to get ahead of. Crouse is a major distraction, in my opinion. I can see the reasoning behind a female character who is "plain" to the point of being "mannish", but she exudes a kind of anti-charisma and has a robotic delivery I find off-putting. Still, good flick, and this time Mamet's commentary (accompanied by con expert Ricky Jay) is highly entertaining. His rants on psychology and therapy are worth the price of admission alone! Criterion also offers some interesting interviews and a booklet with a couple of essays. I don't like the latter much as a DVD extra, but it's certainly better than reading essays on screen.
Getting away from Mamet for a bit, I went to Korea for Chan-wook Park's Oldboy. Based on a manga I've never heard of, it's the story of a man who gets mysteriously imprisoned for 15 years, then released and given 5 days to find out why. Its comic book roots are visible in the clever editing and camera work I've come to expect from Asian cinema, but it's the story more than the style that really gripped me. Oldboy features some very shocking images and plot twists, and I never quite knew where it was going. I'm as impressed with it visually as anything. Whether showing something pretty or ugly, the screen drips with lusciousness. The commentary track in Korean features both the director and director of photography, and there's a nice, humorous banter between the two. I liked it, but was disappointed that they never discussed the manga.
Role-played on our regular night, and this week it was a space opera to end all space operas, with mysterious aliens, precursor-type technology and hyperspace being destroyed forever, stranding the characters in the outer reaches. Best bits: My computer voices. It got enough traction that we're thinking of doing a GURPS Space mini-series with a similar set-up (small ship, very alien aliens, and yes, computer voice humor).
Cards? The Unauthorized Doctor Who CCG grew by 29 cards this week, finishing work on Love and Monsters, and just doing "pick-ups" after that. There are even cards based on Attack of the Graske.
Someone Else's Post of the Week
The Absorbascon is a frequent winner of this category, but if you want to be ready for Final Crisis, I've got to send you there again. For Final Crisis, Morrison is resurrecting an old nobody from the Silver Age as principal villain, and Scipio has done the research. Check out the Story of the Human Flame. (Part 2)
Runner up was Scip again in any case. I liked him calling bullshit on the Guardians of the Universe.
Grant Morrison - The Early Years by Timothy Callahan. When I heard about Teenagers from the Future, essays on the Legion of Super-Heroes from the Sequart Research & Literacy Organization, which has a number of articles by bloggers I read all the time, I looked Sequart up. Teenagers wasn't available, but this treatise on Grant Morrison's early work (from Zenith to Doom Patrol) sounded right up my alley.
"Accomplishments"
DVD flippage... I started a small Mamet-o-thon recently and so started with Edmond, starring William H. Macey and based on Mamet's play. A powerful, if difficult to watch, story about a man (Macey) sent on the road to perdition. He is racist and violent, but Macey's humanity still makes you want to like him. As shocking and original as it was 20+ years ago on stage, I dare say. The film's innovations are mostly to open up the locations, but also plays with Tarot symbols to good effect, turning this into a fevered dream. Two commentary tracks and a few interviews complete the package. The first features the director and the producer and is full of good stories about the play and the film. Mamet's commentary however is just terrible: He seems to be watching it for the first time and has very little to say.
I followed this up with House of Games, Mamet's directorial debut, starring the wonderful Joe Mantegna and Mamet's first wife, Lindsay Crouse. It's the story of a psychologist who gets interested in the world of con men and gets taken for a ride herself. An 80s film noir thriller that is actually very fresh and difficult to get ahead of. Crouse is a major distraction, in my opinion. I can see the reasoning behind a female character who is "plain" to the point of being "mannish", but she exudes a kind of anti-charisma and has a robotic delivery I find off-putting. Still, good flick, and this time Mamet's commentary (accompanied by con expert Ricky Jay) is highly entertaining. His rants on psychology and therapy are worth the price of admission alone! Criterion also offers some interesting interviews and a booklet with a couple of essays. I don't like the latter much as a DVD extra, but it's certainly better than reading essays on screen.
Getting away from Mamet for a bit, I went to Korea for Chan-wook Park's Oldboy. Based on a manga I've never heard of, it's the story of a man who gets mysteriously imprisoned for 15 years, then released and given 5 days to find out why. Its comic book roots are visible in the clever editing and camera work I've come to expect from Asian cinema, but it's the story more than the style that really gripped me. Oldboy features some very shocking images and plot twists, and I never quite knew where it was going. I'm as impressed with it visually as anything. Whether showing something pretty or ugly, the screen drips with lusciousness. The commentary track in Korean features both the director and director of photography, and there's a nice, humorous banter between the two. I liked it, but was disappointed that they never discussed the manga.Role-played on our regular night, and this week it was a space opera to end all space operas, with mysterious aliens, precursor-type technology and hyperspace being destroyed forever, stranding the characters in the outer reaches. Best bits: My computer voices. It got enough traction that we're thinking of doing a GURPS Space mini-series with a similar set-up (small ship, very alien aliens, and yes, computer voice humor).
Cards? The Unauthorized Doctor Who CCG grew by 29 cards this week, finishing work on Love and Monsters, and just doing "pick-ups" after that. There are even cards based on Attack of the Graske.Someone Else's Post of the Week
The Absorbascon is a frequent winner of this category, but if you want to be ready for Final Crisis, I've got to send you there again. For Final Crisis, Morrison is resurrecting an old nobody from the Silver Age as principal villain, and Scipio has done the research. Check out the Story of the Human Flame. (Part 2)Runner up was Scip again in any case. I liked him calling bullshit on the Guardians of the Universe.
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