Movie Rundown - Jan 19 to Feb 1

So, it's been a while, I decided that for some reason to not write a Movie Rundown for last week. So this week is gonna be pulling double duty. Sorry about that, but I'm pretty sure that you won't mind. It's not like I watched a TON of stuff.

Django (***) - This one's a very cult Spaghetti Western from the 60s. It also has the most infectious main theme I've ever heard. Seriously, that song is just ... terrifyingly catch. The movie itself was pretty solid, the typical tale of mysterious gunfighters, double- and triple-crosses, and blood soaked revenge. Not quite Leone-quality, but solid.

Dan in Real Life (****) - I'm fast developing a great appreciation for Steve Carrell. This movie is very solid, though it seems to meander in the third act and derail pretty hard right at the end. That said, the characters are very sweet, the humor low-key and grounded, and the movie has Dane Cook not being terrible. That's worth something.

Day of the Dead (*) - I don't believe in giving zeroes, but ... dammit, I wish I did. This film is TERRIBLE. There isn't a redeeming feature to it. It's a straight to DVD remake (remake being used VERY loosely) of Romero's best zombie movie, and it's ... a mess. In every way. I've never been bored watching a zombie rampage before. But I'll be honest, I didn't even finish this one. Stay away.

Tokyo Gore Police (*****)
This one get's special consideration. Let me explain. It's schlock. It's trash. It's full of craziness. But it's pretty easy to know if you're gonna like it or not. Just look at three pictures that I'll show you. Just think to yourself, do I want to see more of that? If yes, watch Tokyo Gore Police.

THIS THING IS AMAZING. JUST WAIT UNTIL YOU SEE HER MOVE!

THIS IS THE BAD GUY. HIS EYES SHOOT EYEBALLS!

THIS MAN HAS A GUN THAT SHOOTS SEVERED FISTS.
SEVERED FUCKING FISTS!

The Wrestler (*****) - I don't need to tell you this movie is good. Just ask just about anyone who's seen it. But this movie is a great look at both the world of professional wrestling, and about people who can't give up their dream, even when their dream has given up on them. It's not a happy film, it's not a nice or fuzzy film. But it's true and cold and somehow touching all at the same time. And Mickey Rourke is absolutely amazing in it.

In Bruges (****) - I honestly wasn't sure if I liked this movie or not. It's really kind of ... crazy. the tone is all over the place, and the jokes meld seamlessly into pretty serious drama. In the end, though, it's a whirlpool of comedy and drama, but they never blend into typical dramedy. Instead, they're just layered. More than once I would just kind of stare agape at the film and go "What the hell?" But ... in the end, I'm left thinking it was brilliant. Go figure.

Robot Stories (***) - This is a collection of very very independant short stories about how humanity might have to cope with the advances of technology. I only knew about this because NPR interviewed the director in a show, and I finally got to it in my queue. It was ... interesting enough, I suppose. the first two stories were rather uneventful, but the second two were worth it, I think. I don't know. I've never seen a movie where the lack of budget actually hurt the quality of the film (in my assessment) anyway, but I think the material required actors outside the director's budget. I dunno.

Anyway, that's it for this week. Sorry for the delay. I took the day off of work and everything kind of got pushed back because of it. Next week is Coraline, at least. I'm excited for that. Not sure what else is going to be on the docket.

Also, Watchmen comes out in little more than a month. You should be excited.

Calling all writers and language lovers--I need a new word!

So, everyone who's reading this. I've come to the conclusion that the english language is lacking a verb. What verb, you ask? Well, let me explain the action, and then I'll let you decide.

The action is what fellow writer Dan Faust called the 'ew-ew' arm wave. It's when someone (typically a small child or a teenage girl) is grossed out. The hands come up, almost as if they want to cover the mouth. Instead, they stay in front of the face/chest, palms facing each other or the chest, and wave back and forth fitfully.

Just sit there and try it. Scrunch your face up, and go "Ewwwwwww!" You'll know exactly the move I'm talking about.

So, that action? Doesn't have a word. Writer friend Sarah said that recoil worked, but recoil simply indicated a backwards action. Nothing about waving your arms. You don't need to go backwards to do this action. You just do it.

This is where you come in. This action, I think, needs a verb. What if you come across it in a book? Are you going to write "She waved her arms around while going 'ew-ew'"? No, that's inelegant. It'd be easier to just say "She ed".

So, writers, language-lovers, enjoyers of the obscure and strange, I want everyone to put their heads together and suggest what this word could be. I don't care what's eventually decided on, but there needs to be something, just for the sake of proper evolution of the language.

If you see this and think it deserves a proper verb for it, feel free to repost it, reword it, put it on twitter, run a poll, think of suggestions, anything. Maybe toss it back to me so I know what's going on with your circle of friends. The more people inputting on this one, the more likely we are to finally get a word that catches.

If anyone wants to offer me up suggestions, feel free to post them here, in your own blog, or on twitter. Tag it #newword or perhaps send me an @. I can be found at twitter.com/litrock

A very strange meme.

I don't particularly do the meme thing, but this one interested me. From Lisa, who I won't link to because it's a more private journal (not that I think I have the readers for that to matter).

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me!

My choice. For you.

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

* I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
* What I create will be with you in mind.
* It'll be done sometime this year (2009)
* You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be something written, some physical thing made, could be anything at all, but I will make it myself. It's entirely my choice what it is. No quibbles, no refunds--because you never paid me in the first place. :p

Most of these things will probably be IRL items, but I won't ask for addresses until later--if I need them at all.

The catch?

Oh, the catch is that you put this in your journal as well. If you don't, you don't get anything.

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!