Movie Rundown - Jan 12 to Jan 18

I started watching movies again. Don't know why. The cycles continue on unabated, I suppose. I was helped by Sarah jump-starting my movie watching by giving me three films to watch (two of which will appear in this list) and the first time I've gone out to the movies in weeks.

So, without further delay, here we go.

Eastern Promises (***) - This movie had a lot of potential that I felt was partially squandered. the plot itself was horribly predictable and cliche, and the heroine was little more than a coat rack upon which was draped the progression of the story. That said, it was beautifully shot and Viggo Mortensen was spectacular. It also contained one of the most brutal fight scenes I've seen in years. It has faults, but it's also a great movie. A conflicted recommendation.

The Unborn (****) - Now, I've made no small show of my distaste for PG13 horror, but from the initial trailer I could have sworn this was rated R. Imagine my surprise when I showed up at the theater. There wasn't anything else showing at that time I cared about, so ... in we went. And came out very very surprised. This movie wasn't messing around, jumping right into the story without a bunch of subplots. It also borrowed heavily from surrealism and asian horror, blending into a pretty well-paced, well-textured movie that only fell apart in that the payoff was kind of weak. Also, it's nice to see a movie try some non-traditional folklore, and Jewish mysticism is rather unexplored territory, I think.

Son of Rambow (***) - This movie was at times charming and at other times infuriating. It had some of the best child actors I've ever seen being absolutely heartwarming as they interacted and explored both a love of film and the powers of imagination. But every time an adult showed up or the 'conflict' that was shoehorned into the movie reared their heads I wanted to turn it off. There's a very amazing movie in here hampered by an annoyance of a plot. That said, I still recommend it, as its strengths far outweigh its weaknesses.

Sukiyaki Western Django (*****) - Takashi Miike's take on the spaghetti western, this is a retelling of the Heiki Monogatari set in a fever-dream version of the American Southwest. Containing almost all Japanese actors (aside from one very notable cameo) speaking non-native English, this film just oozes class from every pore. There's a great disconnect in cultures when a gunslinger goes up against a samurai, and at the same time the entire thing feels both cohesive and transformative. Beautifully shot, well-scripted, both a comment on the genre and a respectable entry, this is both an ironic and deadly serious film that is at turns funny, heartbreaking, and thoughtful. Though, in the end, it's wall-to-wall cool.

Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie (**) - As a film this movie just doesn't work. It's a 90 minute anime movie that's built to be some well-made fan-service to Street Fighter fans. It's entertaining only so far as you enjoy the franchise it represents. Outside of that, it's just a mediocre plot that seems to take some extreme leaps without providing newcomers a sense of what's going on or why.

Resident Evil Extinction (****) - This is a thoroughly stupid movie that aspires to be stupid and entertaining. In doing so, it's hard to find fault with it. It's a nice step up from the second movie, it takes an interesting turn in terms of setting, and it's full of set pieces that feel both well in keeping with the series and worthwhile from a technical level. It's zombie outbreaks and genetic experimenting, and it only aspires to do its job well. With a genre movie like this, that's really all you can ask for (or want) sometimes. Well done, RE3. Now make a sequel, please. Ending on cliffhangers drives me up the WALL.

Man on Wire (*****) - This is a documentary about Philippe Petit's journey to high-wire across the World Trade Center towers in the 70s. I honestly went in with pretty high expectations, and was blown away. The movie is less about the fact (the details are pretty straightforward) and much more about Petit's absolute dedication to his goals and what that did to the people around him. The stories are moving and Petit himself radiates a kind of genius/madness that sweeps you up in the narrative. This is as much a story about people striving to achieve the extraordinary as it is about the event that takes center stage in the movie.

Aaaaaaand, that's a wrap. Not sure if I have anything planned for the bloggity blag over the next week, but I imagine I'll put something up here. Stay tuned!

Broken Extended Metaphors and Mental Explosions

So I finally started working on ITMeat again today. It's been a long time, since the end of November. I don't regret taking the time off, and I'm not sure how 'back' I am, but it's interesting getting back into the book writing thing.

Writing books is a snowball process. You start with the seed of an idea and you push it along and gather words and ideas and characters. It's a katamari of narrative. And like a katamari, as you push it up a hill, and it grows and grows, you keep having to push to maintain even a modicum of momentum.

Modicum, I say!

So, I stopped. And payed attention to doing something else very intently for a few months. I've been catching up on the crapton (this is 'as many as I have room for, plus four') of games I have lying about, and while I'm still doing that ( and will continue to do so for the forseeable future ) I also want to incorporate writing back into my life in a pretty significant way.

As an aside, I think that all+4 is a good way of signifying crapton. I think all+5 would probably be a fuckton and all+>5 would be a metric fuckton. I think these should be the universal standards. That way we all know. Metric fuckton. All that you can have + more than five. Just so you know. This is the official memo.

But yeah, so I decided today on a whim to keep pushing the katamari. And let me tell you, moving the fuggin thing after so long doing something else is just ridiculous. It's like trying to get scotch out of a bird. And let me tell you, birds have shitty taste in alcohol.

So yeah, I couldn't move the thing for the longest time. I've been analyzing my approach to building the katamari, and I realized that there were far too many cows and telephone poles. So I had to go around and knock them all off. So now I'm working with a book that's 16000 words lighter. But that bastard is rolling again.

So ... yeah. I'm writing again. It's interesting. I've been bashing my head against this one for months, so... let's see if I can't get my shit together finally.

Okay, done with this. Two blog posts in as many days is ridiculous.

So, I Swear I'm Not Dead

I've been really lax about updating this for a long time. Also, my writing has been stymied by an absolutely incredibly amount of apathy, illness, and general malaise.

But it's a new year. I had some movie updates from weeks ago that I was going to put up, and some top ten lists for the end of the year, but I decided that it wasn't worth bothering about. I don't think the number of people who care about my list of top films or games is high enough to bother with finishing them, especially since it's now nearly two weeks into the new year and I'm past the fashionably late stage.

Lately I've been suffering from cabin fever. Every time I make plans to go out, something happens and the plans dissolve and I don't go anywhere. I can't remember the last time I had a night out. It was some time ago, that's for sure. Before Christmas? Yeah, I think so.

I go through phases, though, and right now I'm in one of those phases where I'm not into the idea of a lot of company. I'm quite content to be on my own. But at the same time, there's a mental tension that happens when it's a long time between outings. And that tension has made me restless and a little detached from everything.

The sheen of unreality continues unabated with the winter weather. It seems like we're coming out of it early only to backslide. Today it was snowing and raining. It was pretty awful. Yet at the same time, now it's bright and warming up. It's getting lighter earlier and dark later, I've noticed, but the passage of time isn't really felt otherwise. I exist, the cycle continues, and time moves on without me.

Part of this problem is because of my detachment from my usual schedule. I have no books or movies. I haven't seen a movie in weeks, which is also sad. There were a lot of movies that looked good this season, but I just haven't been able to get to them for one reason or another.

Last winter was much colder, though. Probably because a large part of last winter was spent at diners at 3 in the morning, in the dead of the darkest part of the year. There's nothing quite like midnight diners. Everything was more intimate, but at the same time it was much more lonely. Colder and darker.

This winter's been kind of bright. I've been in a semi-normal sleep schedule, and I rarely stay up that late anymore (and never out and about). But it's been much more clinical. It's very clean and sterile for a messy season. And that's just really contributed. Winter during the day is stark and boring and standoffish. Nobody feels together. It's hard to be philosophical. You just want to scrape your car and get to where you're going.

I've been essentially done with writing since NaNo. Now that the year has begun, it's time to start thinking about it again. And I have been. I have a novel that's only about half finished, and I have other books that need to be edited. But between them, I barely have the motivation to open the documents before getting frustrated and closing the whole thing. I'm not sure what my problem is, but I am trying to build up a habit again. This is a part of it, even if this blog post is awful and rambling and as directionless as a blind man in a field.

Lately I've been in a position that a normal person would probably turn towards religion. But this is me, so I'm just grumpy and looking for something in my philosophies to help me get out of the quagmire I find myself. Apathy reigns, the spirit wanes, and I await something to catch flame.

I wonder which will come first, my mental thaw or the one around me?

Ode to the Two-Day Work Week

Tyr's heart was heavy one blustery day
for he had no source of merriment
the judge had ordered the war god pay
for six weeks of anger management.

Ever and always for battle he lusted
yet this was the world of well-fed
so lately his bow and sword, they had rusted,
all warriors he'd long since struck dead.

As he passed by a stall a voice cried out
a sound both ancient and clear
belonging to lips set in a full pout
and Tyr begrudgingly drew near.

Frijjo was spinning stories of lust
that she sold from her stall on the street
for the love-goddess knew that she must
pay the company to keep on her heat.

Tyr was awkward around her sex
for in ancient times they knew not war.
Women had always been able to perplex,
the war-god knew not what they were for.

"I see you also have had a bad fate,"
the woman said from her stall.
"The world is old and the hour is late,
and we no longer hold these people in thrall.

"The men battle pushing buttons in chairs
the genders stand in equality.
A god can succeed only if she dares
to sell her likeness for a royalty. "

"Times are hard all around," said Tyr,
"and I can't fault you for trying
but I cannot drown my sorrows in beer
and I produce nothing worth buying."

"My living is modest I will admit
and it's hardly a noble vocation
but I'm looking for help if you will submit
a valid employment application."

Tyr had no better idea that day
so he set down his sword and shield
and began to work for minimum pay
in a dead-end, hard-labor field.

But when Tyr does Frijjo's tasks
the week is almost through.
In that knowledge this poet can bask.
So a very Merry Christmas to you!

Meme: Giving and Getting Books

Penguin asked a bunch of their authors what books they're giving and what books they'd like to get this holiday season. Someone turned it into a meme. Someone tagged me. Soooooo, here we go. First, some initial rules:

1. Post a link to the original list from the Penguin Group.
2. Tell us what books you're planning (or would like to) give this holiday season.
3. Tell us what books you'd like to receive this holiday season.
4. Tag others, if you so choose.

GIVE

House of Leaves

Everyone should read this book. Not just fans of horror or of experimental fiction, but everyone. It should be handed out to literate people like candy to kids at Halloween. If I'm ever a millionaire, maybe I'll give this book out to people at Halloween instead of candy.

Dune

One of the classics of science fiction, this book changed the way I looked at the world, government, people, religion ... if ever there was a life-changing tome, this would be it for me. I always suggest it to friends, but aside from Tony, nobody I regularly talk to ever actually read it.

Postsecret

Postsecret is an ongoing art project that almost everyone already knows about. If you don't, go HERE and see what all the fuss is about. The site has a new batch every Sunday, but the older ones go offline. When looking through these printed archives, the amount of sharing and honesty and beauty and fear and everything else is ... very impressive. It's worth seeing and experiencing.

GET

Sandman

I really really really want to read these. Everything I've heard has made me want to read it more and more. But ... well, I'm not going to spend the money on them. They're expensive and there are a lot of them. The perfect gift is something I would never buy for myself, but want. This is the pristine example.

Only Revolutions

By the same man who wrote House of Leaves. I'm not sure why I haven't picked this up, but I'm pretty sure whoever was so kind as to get it for me would become my new favorite person.

Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness

This is kind of an odd-ball on the list. It's a nonfiction book about decision making and how our minds are influenced by an infinite variety of stimulus that we aren't even consciously aware of. I don't normally read nonfiction, but I read an article about the author in Esquire and wanted it ever since. I would have bought it, but for now it's only in hardback and as a rule I don't buy any book in hardback if I can help it.

And that's it. Short, but I haven't been in a reading mood these past few months and so it's hard to get particularly engaged in this meme. I think the only person I'll tag for this one is Morgetron, who will have to get off her bum and blog for once.

In Where Matt Unloads About NaNo and Not Writing

So I finished NaNo. This was despite blowing out my hands (I have chronic hand/wrist problems) by week two and running out of steam. I crossed a joyless, difficult 50k that made me question my choice of artistic endeavor. It was the worst of times, it was the worster of times.

But I did finish, and this year saw a pretty impressively high failure rate. I'm frustrated that I was so far from my own goal, but my own goal was obviously well beyond my abilities. But at the same time, I suppose I have to put up with it and be happy that I actually succeeded in writing 50k in a month. That is, of course, no small feat.

So I have a novel that's half finished. And thanksgiving break thankfully allowed me the down time necessary to become physically capable of typing properly again.

One of the major themes of my novel is my main character dealing with the mortality of her father. Which just came as a natural extension of the story, not due to me being particularly enamored by that particular aspect.

On Sunday, either through twisted serendipity or karmic irony, my father had what appears (at this time) to be a mini-stroke. He's mostly okay, it seems, though he sometimes have trouble speaking. I'm not quite sure the extent of the damage yet. We'll find out later this week.

So ... I don't know. It hit rather close to home, and sapped all of my enthusiasm for the project. I'm dealing with similar things in real life, and they're taking up most of my time and energy with concern and trying to coordinate everything. When my creative life and my real life overlap so strongly, I just can't muster the energy to throw myself at the problem at an entertaining way.

So I'm not writing. And right now I have no intentions of writing. Not on my novel, anyway. And maybe not on much of anything. I'm mentally stretched very thin, and by the time I get everything squared away each day all I'm concerned with is sitting there until I get sleepy with a minimum of fuss.

That said, I'll try to focus on the blog. I have two-ish weeks of Movie Roundup to do, a few features I have to write, a short story I promised Sarah for her birthday (which was a few weeks ago) and the one year anniversary of the blog to celebrate (don't get excited, it passed last week without notice).

So we'll see. I'll try, but no promises. Which is the best I can do until everything settles down a bit. Unfortunately, the real victim here is ITMeat, which might end up being shelved for a few months until it doesn't make me more than a little unsettled to even think about it.

First things first, though. Lunch!

Movie Rundown

I've been mostly playing Fallout 3 and NaNo has snuck up on me for the past three days, so my movie watching has been--in a word--dismal. However, I did go to the movies on Friday, and saw a movie! So that's a plus.

Zack and Miri Make a Porno [ **** ] I assume everyone knows the plot of this one. Boy and girl are just friends, but need cash so decide to make a porn film. Wacky hijinks ensue, and they realize they have feelings for one another. Now, you either like Kevin Smith films or hate them. I haven't seen many of them, but I think I fall on the 'like' side. The film hits almost every note of the most generic romantic comedy, but managed through raunch and clever casting to transcend (or epitomise in the best way) its genre trappings. It was funny, it was cute, and it was heartwarming. Also, mad props for giving Craig Robinson (Darryl from The Office) a great chance to shine.

Anyway, I'm balls deep in NaNo at this point, having pounded out 10k over the weekend. You can chart my progress over on the right, though I'm not sure I'll be updating the word count bar more than every week. Twitter will have my daily successes, though.

And now back to writing.