Weekend Update

A New Blog Order

Well, as you might have noticed, The Invisibles blog series has concluded. I think it was successful, I learned a lot about the series, and had a lot of fun reading it through again. I was looking up some Invisibles stuff on Google and kept finding my own posts, so hopefully it will stand as a long term resource for people reading through the series. I'm going to make an index page for easy linking. Along with the end of The Invisibles, we're approaching the end of another long term project, the Babylon 5 blog series. I've got two more on Crusade and then one on Legend of the Rangers, then that's over. And, for the first time since November, I'll have no long term blog project. What this means is I can write up more films and general stuff, get back to the way things were before 2007. I know I have some people who haven't read The Invisibles or watched B5, and all I can say is keep the RSS feed, we'll be getting some more stuff of general interest coming up.

Concerts

Part of that will be a lot more concerts. I'll be back in New York starting next week, and have a bunch of shows lined up for the next couple of weeks. I can get into a bunch of shows free due to my Blog Critics writing, so I'll be able to go to even more than I normally would. Here's my upcoming agenda...

5/31 - !!! @ Studio B
6/1 - Cansei de Ser Sexy @ Irving Plaza
6/5 - The Pipettes @ Highline Ballroom
7/1 - The Polyphonic Spree @ Warsaw
7/4 - The New Pornographers @ Battery Park
7/20 - DJ Tiesto @ Hammerstein
8/9 - Daft Punk @ Coney Island

And I'm sure there'll be a bunch more in there as stuff comes up.

Series Enders

Two series that I've blogged about here in the past have come to an end, Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars, both have fallen from my esteem this season. Veronica never actually had that much of my esteem, I watched the first two seasons on DVD, where they flowed smoothly and had enough momentum to bring me to the conclusion. But, this year I lost track of things and stopped watching around midseason. I have no particular desire to see the rest, and am not sad to see the show cancelled. Honestly, you can't say they didn't give a chance. Any show that makes it to three seasons and doesn't catch on can probably go. And, this isn't a case like Arrested Development where it got awful time slot shuffling. They put it after the highest rated show on the network and it still didn't make it.

As for Gilmore Girls, I've seen through episode 16 of the season, and will likely finish it soon. But, it just doesn't feel like the same show without the Palladinos, and as such, the show I knew ended last season. I'm one of the few people who loved season six of the show, and I'd have loved to see where the Palladinos planned to take things. Oh well, at least the show had a good run. When I do finish it up, I'll write up the last couple and give some reflections on the series as a whole.

Weekend Update

Future of the Blog

So, you may have noticed that The Invisibles is pretty much overwhelming the blog. That's due to the fact that the end of Volume II is just so good, I read the issues quickly and had to spend all my blogging time writing them up to keep up. But, I'm ten issues from the end of the series, and that will finally mark a return to normalcy for the blog. I'll be wrapping up Crusade as well, so the two properties that have consumed this site in 2007 will be over and we'll be back to more general stuff. To be honest, I haven't seen many film worth writing about, not in the theater, not on DVD, but perhaps that will change soon. Also, I'll be back in New York full time at the end of this month, and I'll be working in the city, so I'll be hitting up a lot of concerts and new films. So, we'll be on it as it happens, whatever it happens to be.

Upcoming Concerts

I'm heading into New York next Monday, and while there I'm going to tie in the Arcade Fire and The National show. I've been a big Arcade Fire fan since 2004, and I was angry I didn't get to see the now legendary Summerstage show with David Bowie because I was up at school. But, I'll finally get to see them on Monday. Of the top five bands I want to see live, but haven't seen, they'd be near the top of the list. Others include Sigur Ros, Daft Punk, Radiohead and United State of Electronica. I'll be seeing Daft Punk later this summer, and hopefully the others will circulate through soon. Later this month, I'll be going to a ridiculous week of concerts.

On May 30, I'm hoping to grab some cheap Craigslist tickets to Roger Waters at Madison Square Garden. It's not a full on Pink Floyd show, but probably as close as I'll get. I hate going to shows at a big venue like that, but I heard good things about his show the first time through here. Then on May 31, I'll be seeing !!! down in Brooklyn, followed up by another discopunk assault from Cansei de Ser Sexy the very next day. I may also see The Pipettes on June 5th, we'll see. Regardless, it'll be awesome to work in the city and easily be able to get to these shows.

Weekend Update

Oscars

I wasn't particularly caught up in this year's Oscar race. The acting races were pretty much set in advance, and the movies I really cared about weren't nominated. I was glad to see The Departed, and particularly Scorsese, get some recognition, but it wasn't a really important year to me. At least Little Miss Sunshine didn't win Best Picture, that would have invalidated the whole thing for me. Ultimately, I feel like there's just too many awards shows building up to it, I feel like I've been going over the best of 2006 for months now, and this is sort of an anticlimax.

Blog Critics

As I mentioned a while ago, I'm now doing some articles for Blog Critics. You can check out my articles here. There's only two so far, both adaptations of stuff I wrote for here, cleaned up and refined a bit. The advantage of writing for them is that I can get free stuff to review. Right now, I've got Amy Winehouse's 'Back to Black' and Sia's live album to review. I've got a bunch of other stuff on the way. I have to say, it's pretty cool to have access to stuff in advance, getting free copies just for writing about it. When I started this blog, it was primarily to process the works that mattered to me, now it's led to me getting free stuff. With my Blog Critics stuff, it's going to be less analysis, more traditional reviews, since they frown on spoilers. So, the two places will co-exist, and hopefully my Blog Critics writing will bring more people here. If nothing else, it's cool to get a Google News Alert with an article that I wrote.

Purple Rain

I'm listening to Prince's 'Purple Rain' right now. I'd always heard about Prince, lived through his journey from symbol to the artist back to Prince, but I hadn't really listened to his music. However, after seeing his fantastic Super Bowl performance, I decided to check out his body of work. I'm liking the whole album, but it's the title track that really gets me. There's a snippet of wordless vocals at the end of Tori Amos's 'Hey Jupiter' video that I've always loved, and it's apparently a quote from 'Purple Rain,' which features that same descending vocal pattern, an absolutely haunting line that just hangs in the atmosphere. It's a fantastic song and the rest of the album is great too. I've actually been listening to a lot of 80s stuff recently. I went through a serious classic rock stage back in high school, and I've always been up on 00s and 90s music, but the 80s sort of slipped away. However, I've been spinning a lot of New Order, and have been adding in Pet Shop Boys and now Prince.

The Future of Thoughts on Stuff

And, just a general note for everyone who reads the blog, but isn't interested in The Invisibles or Babylon 5. It's unfortunate that two huge review projects have to overlap, leaving me little time to write about anything else. But, after Babylon 5 wraps, I'll return to more general blogging, and after The Invisibles wraps, I'll probably take a break from these major series reviews. It's really helpful and enhances the work to write about it, but it's also quite time consuming. But, rest assured, more Morrison will be covered in the future, at some point I'll do an in depth look at New X-Men. But, probably not until the Summer.

Weekend Update

Technically it's not the weekend, but there's a bunch of random issues to address, so I shall cover them here.

Upcoming Concerts

Luckily, a bunch of interesting concerts are happening while I'm on break. On March 3rd, I'm going to see The Scissor Sisters at MSG. I've heard they're great live, and I'm a huge fan of both albums, so it should be cool. Then on March 10th and 12th I'm going to see The Raveonettes. I saw them back at Across the Narrows in October 2005 and they stole the show. While I'm less than thrilled with the prospect of a duo show, with no drummer, the chance to see them in a venue as small as Mercury Lounge is pretty lucky. The new songs on their MySpace are great, but I'm really looking forward to hearing stuff off Pretty in Black. And, I'm also hoping to get tickets to The Pipettes at Bowery Ballroom on March 13th. Those are going for a lot on Craigslist, but I feel like I can probably grab one at some point. After that, on March 20th, I'll probably go see Explosions in the Sky.

Oscar Race

I'm not too excited by this year's Oscar race, the acting categories are pretty much a foregone conclusion, and I just feel like we've had these same Best Picture candidates for months now. While I did love The Departed and Babel, I don't feel like I've got the personal stake in those films that I did in some others this year. When a movie is less successful, you can make it more your own. In the case of Miami Vice, I feel like it's been a personal mission to rehibilitate the film's reputation, you don't need to do that with Babel. I'm just hoping that Little Miss Sunshine doesn't win Best Picture, while it's an alright movie, it's just nowhere near The Departed or Babel.

Pan's Labyrinth

I finally saw this the other day and while I liked it, I think I saw it much too late in the hype cycle. With a movie, expectations play a huge role, after months of critical praise, I was expecting something so overwhelmingly good, I would leave the theater in awe. While the film was good, it just didn't come close to its reputation, not the 98% fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes nor the #68 all time ranking on the IMDB Top 250. If I had seen it before the hype, I probably would have enjoyed it more, but at this point, it just didn't match the expectations. It's similar to the experience I had with Children of Men, a film that, while good, couldn't quite live up to the hype. Note, this is a different hype than studio press, this is the critical and internet buzz that is more likely to indicate an actual great movie. But, I think they overplayed it with these two. Of the 'Three Amigos' films, I would consider Babel easily the best.

And stay here because shortly there will be a major blog announcement...that will change everything...forever!

Weekend Update

Six Years

In six years, it'll be December 22, 2012, the day that The Invisibles tells us is the end of the world. Will it be? I don't think it'll be the literal end of the world, no jump in the supercontext yet, but maybe it'll be the culmination of a wave of technological and thought advancement that will push us to some higher level of thought, as in Promethea 31. I plan to reread the entire Invisibles series on the day, and then go out and dance in the streets as flakes of reality drift down through the air. Issue 3.1 is my favorite single issue of any comic ever, the perfect culmination to the series.

And if you want a bit of Inivisbles reading to celebrate, check out my comments over here on Pah!, or the excerpts below:

It’s been a while, so I may be a bit hazy on the specifics, but the basic idea is that all time already exists, but that doesn’t mean that we’re reenacting something that has already happened. Rather, every moment is now, so when they go back to the Revolution time, they’re not changing history, they were already there in the past same with King Mob and Edith in the 20s. Yet, they are experiencing in for the first time in that moment.

When Robin goes in the time suit, she’s moving to a different point in the continuum, and she’s scared about whether she’ll do a good job. But, Jack tells her that she already did, because everything worked out in the future. So, no matter what she does, she’ll do the right thing. Her mission is already accomplished.

In terms of the fiction suit, I think his idea is that the fictional universe has its own agency, so from our perspective it might look like 2D ink on paper, but inside the world, it’s full and alive. The fiction suit is used as a metaphor for the writer, when Morrison writes he dons a fiction suit and is able to manipulate the characters in the world. John is essentially the writer, donning a number of guises to ensure that certain events occur that will bring about the end of the story.

We are all one in the supercontext, but we need to go through time to grow and mature and become one. When John goes into the timesuit he gets thrown outside of time and becomes aware of the nature of humanity, the way we’re all connected, so he can re-enter at different points in the time continuum and manipulate events to his will. Post volume two, Robin has the same experience, getting thrown outside of time into the supercontext. Then, she is aware of the fallacy of separation, but on her previous trip through time, she was not, and remained alone as a singular being.

The Invisibles is absolutely massive. I wasn’t blogging back when I read it, but I’d imagine if I had been, I’d have written about nothing else, because I was totally immersed in the series for months, dissecting stuff.

The difference between John’s time travel and Robin’s is that John leaves his own path through time to experience someone else’s. It’s definitely ambiguous territory, but the impression I got was John moved beyond 4-D space out into 5-D, where he was able to view all time at once and also become aware of the events that need to occur to ensure that humanity reaches the point where it can enter the supercontext. So, he enters the timestream in various guises to bring about desired results. He doesn’t have personal agency, he’s moved beyond that, become aware of himself as merely one piece of a much larger entity. He makes that leap before others do, and it’s that move beyond individual loyalties that allows him to work both sides of things.

So, you’re basically right, Robin is still experiencing time linearly, so she must write her own story, while John is aware of how everything will play out, and just performs the tasks he already knows are necessary to make it happen.

What were you referring to with Orlando, when he cuts off the faces and puts them on his own, essentially assuming the identity of those he’d attacked? That would be a more literal adoption of identity. Orlando was treated as something of a rogue force, preserving the division of humanity until Fanny destroys him. Of course, Orlando was wearing a white suit…

I would definitely agree that talking about the Star Wars universe diminishes the power to the text itself, but it is also the greatest testament to its power, the idea that it can inspire so much creation around it. Morrison was experimenting with a lot of extratextual context for The Invisibles, but ultimately it’s about what the individual reader brings to what’s in the book, and what they get out of it. I don’t think he’s interested in people messing around with fanfic and the like, he’d rather they write the fanfic as change in their own lives in the real world.

The ending Seven Soldiers stuff has a lot of interesting material. For me, the highlight was Zatanna, but the end of Bulleteer is great. Mister Miracle is interesting as a series that stands somewhat apart from the rest of the project, I didn’t much like it the first time through, but on the second read, I looked deeper and got a lot out of it. If you enjoyed the first two issues and the conclusion in one, you’ll probably love what happens in three and four. It’s full of really deep, layered thematic stuff.

I’d agree that The Filth is the deepest thing Morrison’s done since Invis, and almost functions as a fourth volume. I love the series, but Seven Soldiers had such fantastic moments, particularly in Zatanna and Guardian 4, I’ve got to give it the edge.

And, regarding mirror/anti-mirror and righteousness/wickedness, breaking down those barriers is what almost all Morrison’s work is devoted to, evolving beyond duality and embracing all of humanity.

Twin Peaks Season Two

This week we also finally got the official announcement that the second season of Twin Peaks is coming out on DVD in April next year. I haven't watched an episode since 2003, and I'm planning on going back for the rewatch when the season comes out. Twin Peaks was something special, a feeling more than a narrative, with moments of magic unparalleled in film. I'm really looking forward to finally seeing the final episode on something better than a grainy VHS tape.

Films to See

I went to see Babel earlier this week, on a Thursday afternoon, and inexplicably, the film was sold out! I don't know what's up there, but I've got to get to that before the end of the year, as well as Children of Men, Curse of the Golden Flower, Pan's Labyrinth and possibly Volver and Little Children. On top of that, I've got a stack of DVDs at home, including Brick, Inside Man, The King, The Proposition and Gabrielle. I'm trying to cover as many of 2006's essential movies before doing my top ten list, but regardless of what I see, it'll be out on New Year's Day. I've got some other top ten lists coming up this weekend though.

Weekend Update

Golden Globe Noms: Movies

I'm not thrilled with the Golden Globe nominations, I haven't even seen most of the films in the major categories. I haven't seen the film, but I seriously doubt The Queen is one of the best films of the year, there's a widely increasing gap between films that are actually good and the ones that receive the year end awards. That said, I really want to see Babel, Little Children and Volver. I'm back in New York tomorrow, the first screening will be a re-view of Inland Empire, and after that I'll hopefully get to some of these other films.

Golden Globe Noms: TV

24 definitely deserves its best series nomination, but The Sopranos and Battlestar Galactica are pretty grievously missing. Heroes is decent, but it doesn't come close to either of those shows, or Friday Night Lights. The acting nominations are pretty solid though.

The Year End Review

Starting in a week or so, I'll start posting my year end review stuff, top tens for TV, music and film. I've still got some screenings/listenings to get in, there's a lot of good stuff out there this year so it won't be easy to narrow things down. There's definitely going to be some different stuff on my lists than you'll see elsewhere, so stay tuned for that.

Weekend Update

Inland Empire Released

It came out in New York on Wednesday. If you haven't already read it, I reviewed the film back in October in non-spoiler and spoiler variety. If you have seen the film, I'd love to talk more about it, it's nice to see a Lynch film before the critical consesus about it has emerged, to invent the theories that will one day guide viewers. I'll be going back for a second viewing as soon I return to New York, which should be in a week or so. And, I just have to add that it's cool to be the top Google search result for "Inland Empire explanation."

Upcoming Viewing/Reading

I'm still reading through the second TPB of Ellis' Stormwatch. The series just isn't very good. Once that's done, I'll be reading, and reviewing, Alan Moore's Lost Girls. In terms of TV, I'm caught up on Friday Night Lights, next I'm going to watch season three of Rescue Me. I left my first season of Babylon 5 at home, so I can't start that again until next week, but after that I should go through it fairly quickly, and will be reviewing as I go. I've also got I'm Alan Partridge coming in. I haven't written about many films lately, largely because I haven't seen much worth writing about. But, when something comes along, it'll be on here.

Awards Buzz

The National Board of Review named Letters From Iwo Jima the best film of the year. I haven't seen it, but come on, the war movie was exhausted with Apocalypse Now, and Clint just isn't that good a filmmaker. Of all the best picture contenders, the only one I'm a big fan of is The Departed. But, I've still got to see Babel and I'll probably check out Dreamgirls when it drops.

Buffy Comic

I read this interview with Joss about the upcoming Buffy comic. I'd rather have seen the character movies he mentioned here, but at least the comic will be something. I'm not sure I like the idea that the Buffy seen in Angel's 'The Girl in Question' isn't the real Buffy, I liked the idea that she had left behind her responsibility and was just having fun for once. The Buffy in the comic seems to be an extension of season seven grim leader Buffy, the least interesting she ever was on the series. I hated the idea of the army of slayers then, and I don't think it's a good idea to put Buffy with a bunch of random people rather than her friends, the characters we've followed through the series. I'm going to be open minded, but it was the personal dynamic that interested me more than the big action stuff on the series, that's why season six was the show's best.

Weekend Update

History of Melody Nelson Videos

Yesterday I watched the TV special that Serge Gainsbourg did for his 'History of Melody Nelson' album. It's available in seven parts on Youtube. As I've already written about, I love the album and it was cool to see it visualized. There's not much of a narrative to the songs, but you get the basic idea of what happens through Serge's interactions with Jane Birkin as Melody. The visuals are very abstract, most of the songs feature our heroes superimposed over weird spinning patterns. My favorite video is the first, showing Serge driving along, passing through a bunch of lights and colors. The video for 'L'Hotel Particulier' is nice as well, following Serge and Jane through a variety of classic paintings. The only problematic one is the finale, 'Cargo Culte,' which focuses on African tribal imagery for some reason. But, it returns to Jane by the end and resolves nicely. I thought this was a great series of videos and I'd love to see a higher quality version on DVD. The album is still one of the all time greats, and if you haven't heard it, check out this video below.



Inland Empire Trailer

In other video news, the trailer for David Lynch's Inland Empire is up online. I saw the film and reviewed it back in October, but I'm looking forward to a second viewing when I return home in a couple of weeks. The trailer isn't exactly representative, I don't think anything could be, but it captures a lot of the film's mood. Also, I believe the vocals on that song are by Lynch himself, but I'm not positive on that one. This is a film where it's pretty safe to watch the trailer, there's so much in there, it's tough to spoil.



The Fountain Dries Up

It's been tough to see last weekend's box office report, and see The Fountain get so few viewers. I've followed this film for six years, and even though the film itself was great, I'd have liked to see it make more of a cultural impact than it did. Now, I'm sure this will be one that people will rediscover on DVD, but if you want to see more films like this get made, go see them in the theaters. If everyone who likes Eternal Sunshine now went to see it in the theater, it'd probably be a lot easier to get adventurous films like that made. But, I feel like people go to the movies that are most hyped, the ones that you need to see to be part of the cultural dialogue. And, outside of the internet, The Fountain is not a part of that dialogue.

Weeds Season Two

I finally finished watching the second season of Weeds earlier today. The last run of episodes was great, with an expertly constructed cliffhanger to top it off. I prefer the show when it's in dramatic mode rather than broad comedy mode, and this final arc, in which Peter turns on Nancy was the best thing the show's ever done. Plus, Nancy and Conrad are fantastic together, there's a chemistry there that makes all their scenes together great. Zooey Deschanel fits right in with the cast, hopefully she'll be back next season, and I like how they use her to help develop Andy a bit. The show grew a lot with the second season and I'll definitely be back to see how things are resolved next year.

More on the Preacher show

There's an interesting interview with Mark Steven Johnson here, in which he talks about his plans for the Preacher show. I like the idea of one episode an issue, the Grandma storyline will certainly provide a nice first season finale. I'll be curious to see how the show winds up, this isn't a series where the comics connection is instantly apparent, so it could wind up attracting a general, rather than fanboy audience. That's not to say that superhero films don't attract a general audience, it's just that they're usually ghettoized, where a show like Carnivale isn't. More generally, I'm curious about how people will adapt to watching a show where they already know what will happen. If the general viewer wants spoilers, they'll be readily available, and I'll be curious to see how many people get hooked on the series and wind up reading the comic because they need to know what will happen next. And, how will this show affect Alan Ball's upcoming vampire series, True Blood?

Weekend Update

This Week's Films

I just saw Casino Royale, but I've still got a bunch of films to get to. On Wednesday, The Fountain is finally released. I've been waiting for this film for over five years, and everything I've heard is encouraging. I'm just trying to keep expectations from getting too high. We've also got a new Richard Linklater out. Linklater's work for hire stuff isn't as exciting as an original script, but I'm sure it's still good, and I'll be seeing it next week when I'm back in New York. We've also got new Tony Scott, with Deja Vu. Reviews are indicating that this is a retreat from the insane style of Domino. I'm one of the few people who thinks this is a bad thing, but Domino and Man on Fire were so good, I'll give it a look. I also want to get to Babel, Little Children and Volver.

Uninspired Watching

I still haven't seen last week's Studio 60 or Veronica Mars. Both shows are drifting in my attention. I already dropped Nip/Tuck, though I was intrigued by word of a flash to the future episode. But, S60 and VM are right now at just good enough to keep watching, but a further decrease in quality could knock them out. In terms of retrospective viewing, I've got one more season of Rescue Me to go through, then I'm going to start watching Babylon 5. This is a series I've heard a lot about, and I'm hoping it will live up to the hype. I could really use something Buffy level, I haven't seen a truly great series in a while. I'm worried that I've seen so many the fresh novelty of a really long story is gone. Back with Buffy, I marvelled at the fact that they were able to develop lot threads consistently over so many episodes, but that wonder is gone and now I'm starting to see more patterns between series, the seams behind TV structure in the same way I can see the seams on three act film structure.

New Air Album

This week, Air announced that they've got a new album out in March and will be touring the US in May. I'm excited, I love all three of their previous albums, and I actually think they've gotten better with each one. I'm also really curious to see them live, I was just getting into them when they toured Talkie Walkie, so I've never seen them play. Next year, we'll also get the new Polyphonic Spree album. I'm really looking forward to the songs and to a new tour.

Window in the Skies

I downloaded the new U2 song, Window in the Skies, off their recent singles compilation and it's fantastic. While I loved their 90s experimental period, it's undeniable that they can put together a rock anthem better than anyone else, and this song matches right up with Beautiful Day, Walk On or City of Blinding Lights for anthemic greatness. The track quickly builds to a soaring chorus that's backed by a nice string line. That addition makes it more than the usual U2 song, where that role would be taken by guitars. The song ends with a great call and response song with Bono singing over the previous chorus. It's a really catchy, majestic song and boads well for their upcoming album.

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Weekend Update

Stormwatch

Now that I'm done with Seven Soldiers, I'm going to take some time off from Moore/Morrison stuff. Right now, I'm reading the first volume of Warren Ellis' run on Stormwatch. I know it picks up a little later, but it was jarring reading that first issue. Coming from the brilliance of Seven Soldiers, it was jarring to go to a book that has so many basic storytelling flaws. The cast is massive, and as a result, we're forced to endure a ton of expository dialogue like "Don't fuss Jackson. You know my energy absorption talent took the sting out of all that." Anytime you have a character say "As you know..." it's a sign of bad writing. There are some interesting ideas there, but Ellis, particularly Ellis circa 1996, doesn't even touch Morrison's superhero work. Reading the issue does give me a better idea of how big a deal The Authority was. Coming off this constant exposition, narrative caption Claremont X-Men style stuff, the widescreen superheroics were positively revolutionary. I think Claremont's work is fantastic, but the quality of his characters allowed him to get away with a lot of flaws that others couldn't pull off.

New Music Video

This week, I finally wrapped up my music video for Nepo's Yer Warpin' Me. It's a great song and I think the video turned out really well. The 35mm lens adaptor is just fantastic and I love the colors and quality you get from the DVX camera. Anyway, you can get more info here, which also has a download link. Or, just watch the Youtube below.



TV Reviews

I've fallen a bit behind on doing weekly reviews of Heroes, Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars. I'll be bringing those back with prompter reviews. The issue is that in ongoing series, a lot of episodes are designed solely to move the story forward and don't have as much to analyze. Shows that have been on longer usually have more to discuss, because you have the weight of the characters' background. That's part of why I always have so much to say about Battlestar Galactica, you're better able to position the developments within the existing story. That's true for some of Gilmore Girls, but in the case of Heroes, after most episodes I think that was pretty good, I want to see more. However, with a show like The Sopranos, there's so much quality already out there, even an episode where virtually nothing happens has a ton of material to analyze. Same for Six Feet Under last year. The closer a show gets to the end, the clearer it becomes what the overall story of the show is.

Lost Girls

Earlier this week, I bought Alan Moore's Lost Girls from Amazon. Normally I'd be all over a new Alan Moore book, but I was a bit uncertain about getting this one, due to its self professedly pornographic content, and its price. But, I decided that new Alan was worth it, no matter what subject matter he's tackling, he's interesting. So, I'll probably be reading that after Stormwatch.

Weekend Update

The American Office

I finished watching the first season of the American Office, and it's better, but still nowhere near the British. The show's much broader, the UK characters did some ridiculous stuff, but it all felt plausible within the office environment. However, Michael Scott's out of the office in half the episodes, and in something like the basketball episode, it feels more like a club than an actual workplace. I love the awkwardness of office social gatherings in the quiz episode of the UK one, but at least that one happened after work, so it was plausible. I'm definitely laughing at the show, but it feels sort of like late season Seinfeld, to the UK's early Seinfeld. Early Seinfeld is painfully attuned to the way that real people interact, and the humor is mixed with pain at knowing that you're just like this. The American one is more just a well written wacky comedy. That said, I did really like the final scene in thep arking lot at the end of the first season, where all the characters go their seperate ways, each jealous of the others in some way.

The Box Office

This week saw the virtual death of Marie Antoinette at the box office, with only $2.5 million gross in it second week. I don't think it was going to be a blockbuster, but I know it's not playing near me here at Wesleyan, and I've talked to a bunch of people who wanted to see it, but couldn't. Same thing with The Science of Sleep. These are films that people want to see, and need to be released to more theaters. And the saddest thing is that an utterly hollow enterprise like Saw III winds up at the top of the box office. If I was running a studio, I would make these crappy horror films too, just because it's the only thing that people will reliably go to.

Media Censorship

I think it's really ridiculous that people will refuse to run ads for 'Death of a President' and the Dixie Chicks documentary. For DoaP, it's a piece of fiction! People aren't going to see this and all of a sudden to decide to assassinate George Bush. Did Elephant cause a rash of school shootings? I think considering the effect of an assassination is a very valid intellectual question, and the fact that people are unwilling to even ponder it is going against the principles on which the country was founded. It's not free speech for people you agree with. And that's where the Dixie Chicks issue comes in. Now, I lost respect for her when she apologized for making the comments about Bush. That was cowardly, but it's even more ridiculous to criticize someone for stating their opinion. Dissent is the very essence of what America was founded on, and saying that we can't debate a war while it's going on is a travesty.

This is the same logic that led people to say that we shouldn't "play the blame game" about Hurricane Katrina. When someone gets murdered, you don't call an investigation into who did it "the blame game," and Bush's actions led to hundreds of deaths. Why shouldn't we call him out on that so it doesn't happen again?

Weekend Update

Seven Soldiers

This week, Grant Morrison's megaseries, Seven Soldiers, finally comes to its conclusion. I read all the books in June, and it's been a tough four month wait for the finale. I've started rereading the series and am loving it even more. Being familiar with the overall arc makes it easier to appreciate the progression of each series. On the first read, I was a detective, searching for connections. Now, I'm trying to sit back and take everything in. SS #0 stands up as one of the best things Morrison's ever written, as does the start of Zatanna. I'm only through four issues, so I'll have to speed up a bit, since I know once #1 is here, I'm not going to do anything else until I've finished the series.

More Morrison

This week also sees the debut of two new Morrison series, revamps of The Authority and Wildcats. Critical reaction isn't ecstatic, and I'll admit I'm not that thrilled to see Morrison taking on those two properties. I'd rather see him do some more creator owned work, hopefully his Vertigo series with J.H. Williams III will turn up soon. However, I don't think he could take on much more work now since he's got four ongoing series going right now. None of them have appeared in trade, so I haven't had a chance to read anything yet, but I'll certainly get them all eventually, and I'm especially looking forward to All Star Superman.

The U.S. Office

When the U.S. version of The Office first aired, I had just finished an incredible rewatch of its British counterpart. I watched the first two episodes, but it felt like a community theater group taking over for master actors. But, I keep hearing good things, so I decided to put my bias aside and take another look at it. I've seen those same first two episodes, and I was still not impressed. The thing that makes the British series work so well is its total realism. The characters and the actors playing them are indistinguishable, and the reality of the social situations is what makes the interactions so intensely awkward. I think the bulk of the people on the US show are pretty good, but Steve Carell just ruins it for me. Gervais as David Brent was not funny, but in a way you could laugh at. Carell is not funny in a way that's just annoying. Brent is a regular guy who tries too hard. Michael Scott's Hitler bit in the first episode is totally out of reality, he feels more like an actor playing a regular guy who's trying too hard. I'm going to watch some more, but so far, I'm not impressed. If you're going to be compared to a masterpiece, you've got to be better than alright.

Rescue Me

I wrapped up the first season of Rescue Me. I've mentioned before that I feel like today's TV world is like film in the 70s, and Rescue Me feels like one of those minor 70s classics. There's much better stuff out there, but this is totally reliable entertainment, hitting that balance of interpersonal drama played out against a larger canvas that's so popular for shows today. The supporting cast has gotten more fleshed out as the season progressed, and the addition of Laura to the firehouse did a great job of messing with the established dynamic. It's not quite gotten to greatness, but I was consistently entertained by every episode of the first year, and I've got the second on DVD, ready to watch.

New Film

On Friday, I start shooting on my senior thesis film. It's a twelve minute sci-fi piece about time travel, with a lot of crazy, Morrisonian stuff in there. It's the most planned out film I've done, and I'm hoping it will be the best. I'll hopefully have a trailer up online in a couple of weeks.

Weekend Update

More Inland

Many page views this week for people checking out the Inland Empire reviews. It's cool to see the film before a lot is written about it, I'm not sure how much my thoughts will resemble the critical consesus that eventually develops, but for me, they felt right on this viewing. The film that it most reminds me of, besides Lynch's own stuff, is Mike Figgis' Hotel. Both are shot on DV and explore the line between cinema and reality. I think Inland's much better than Hotel, but if you liked it, definitely give Hotel a look. And for the curious, here's my ranking of all Lynch's films:

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
Mulholland Dr.
Lost Highway
Inland Empire
Blue Velvet
Eraserhead
Dune
Wild at Heart
The Straight Story
The Elephant Man

Patti Smith

I've been listening to a lot of Patti Smith stuff to preprare for Sunday's show at CBGB's. I feel a bit bad taking a ticket since I'm not a huge fan, and don't have any particular connection to the club. However, I'm liking her stuff more and more, and I'm imagining she'll give it her all for the final show. I'm figuring it'll be at least a two hour set, probably closer to three. My favorite stuff is definitely her 70s work, Horses, Easter and Wave. But, I enjoyed 1997's Peace and Noise as well. I'm not sure where she draws most of her stuff from live, but I'd guess that she'll probably be playing more classics than she would at an average show.

Veronica Mars - 'My Big Fat Greek Rush Week' (3x02)

Mini review for the episode this week. I still find the Keith plot rather convoluted, and the difficulty of figuring out what's going on numbs any emotional impact. The problem is the Fitzpatricks were always treated as one entity, and it's difficult to follow a story that involves them doing seperate things. Veronica's plot was pretty fun, a bit of an Alias Jr. feel, and the show once again questions her moral authority. She sees the world in black and white, and that winds up causing problems when she realizes the sorority isn't all bad. I think a major arc should be really breaking Veronica down, and forcing her to confront the way she lives her life. But, the show doesn't seem to have any interest in exploring that, it comes up occasionally, but is never really developed. Also, I thought they outlawed prison experiments, but that was a pretty fun storyline. It was cool to see not only Samm Levine of Freaks and Geeks, but also Rider Strong of Boy Meets World. He was pretty good, and I could see him as a potential recurring.

I would say the episode was stronger than the first week, but there's still an issue with the fact that the show generally has a pretty light tone, but it's got to deal with this ongoing rape storyline, something you can't really quip about. More than that, I found it odd that Veronica felt so guilty about not checking in with Parker, considering there were no cries for help, what was she supposed to do, turn on the light and say "Everything going okay here?" I suppose it's more just general guilt, but still.

Studio 60 - 'The West Coast Delay' (1x04)

This was a pretty good episode, bringing back a lot of memories of Sportsnight. However, this show just embaresses Sportsnight in terms of visual scope, so I don't mind retreading stuff. I found it odd that Lucy Davis, who played Dawn in the original The Office is playing a character in the writers' room. There's nothing weird about her being on the show, but just the fact that she's such a minor character, and I hadn't heard anything about it at all. I'm hoping she'll get more material later, she's too talented an actress to waste in a really minor position.

Upcoming Dates of Note

10/14 - Marie Antoinette at NYFF
10/15 - Patti Smith at CBGB's
10/25 - Seven Soldiers #1 Released
10/27 - Babel Released
11/22 - The Fountain Released

Weekend Update

Inland Empire

Tomorrow I'll be seeing David Lynch's new film, Inland Empire. The buzz out of Venice wasn't great, but the reviews I've seen from New York are a lot more promising. I've got a vague idea of what it's about, but I'm glad I haven't seen a trailer or a lot of pictures, it'll be a truly fresh experience without any prior expectations. I saw Mulholland Dr. in the summer of 2003, and since then I've seen everything else Lynch has ever done, so I can't really say I've been waiting for this as long as some other people, but it's still much anticipated. I'll be going in depth on the film tomorrow night.

Brothers and Sisters

I watched the first episode of this show, largely because it starred Rachel Griffiths. Her work as Brenda on Six Feet Under was some of the best acting I've ever seen. For me, she was indistinguishable from the character, and it was jarring to hear her speak in an Australian accent on the behind the scenes stuff. The weird thing about this show is that it's got the same premise and setup as Six Feet Under. A prodigal child, in this case Calista Flockhart stands in for Nate, returns to their family and the father dies, throwing the family business into chaos. The pilot was alright, but the similarities to SFU only made it even more clear how lacking this show was next to Six Feet. After only one episode, I felt like I had a clear picture of who the Six Feet Under characters were, and I was eager to learn more about them. Here, there's a bunch of caricatures, and even Rachel was made subject to some weak soap operay storytelling. I wound up just remembering the good times with Brenda during the hour.

Dexter

A more successful series for an SFU alum is Dexter, starring Michael C. Hall. I was always a bigger fan of the Nate/Brenda stuff, so it's easier for me to accept Hall in another role. Occasionally I would be like, why isn't he gay, but generally speaking he sold me on this guy as a totally different character. Now, that's a lot easier for him to do because Dexter is a pretty distinct character. The basic premise is that he's a forensics profiler who does vigilante killings in his spare time. But, on a character level, the idea is that he's a hollow shell who doesn't feel anything and just fakes all the surface emotions that people present. The end of the first episode leads us to believe that the series' arc will revolve around him gradually developing emotions, throwing his world into chaos. Hall is great, and it's nice to see Julie Benz doing good work as well. I'm not sure if the series will work for the long term, but there's definitely a couple of good seasons in the premise. That said, it was a bit weird that they chose to have a bald, black cop be Hall's antagonist in this role, I kept thinking, Keith?

Studio 60 - Episode 3

I loved the first episode, wasn't huge on the second, but the third brought me back. This one had a bit more scope than two, and was just more fun to watch. I think the sketches worked better, though I doubt that a network executive's DUI eight years prior would be such a big story. I'll be back next week, though the show's ratings aren't too promising for a long run. At least Heroes got picked up for the full season.

State of TV

I really hope no one brings out the old, "There's nothing good on TV" now because this fall has to be one of the deepest TV seasons ever. I'm watching something like eight shows a week, and that's without sampling shows like The Nine and Friday Night Lights that received massive critical acclaim. We're at a point in the medium where people are taking risks and delivering better than film writing and direction on a weekly basis. And I've still got the Battlestar Galactica premiere waiting to be watched.

Phoenix - United

I listened to United a couple of days ago and it was my best listen to the album ever. I fell in love with Phoenix's Alphabetical, and United was always weaker for me. But I've given it some more attention lately and the two albums are now pretty equal for me. I think a lot of it was hearing the songs live, which made me really appreciate how good they are. 'Too Young' and 'If You Ever Feel Better' are perfectly constructed pop songs and 'Funky Squaredance' is an unparalleled house/rock/disco epic. I particularly like how the guitar in that songs sounds exactly like the guitars in Daft Punk's 'Digital Love.' Other lesser known tracks like 'City on Fire' and 'Embuscade' are equally engaging. I hope they bring it back to the warmer keyboard sound for their next album, 'It's Never Been Like That' was good, but not unique. I've never heard anything else like United or Alphabetical.

Upcoming Dates of Note

10/9 - Inland Empire at NYFF
10/14 - Marie Antoinette at NYFF
10/15 - Patti Smith at CBGB's
10/25 - Seven Soldiers #1 Released
10/27 - Babel Released
11/22 - The Fountain Released

Weekend Update

Patti Smith CBGB's Show

Tomorrow, I'm going to try to get tickets to the final show at CBGB's, a performance by Patti Smith. I love her stuff, I've only heard Horses and Easter, but those are two fantastic albums. I'm guessing tickets will go quick, but Ticketweb doesn't allow for scalping, which means it'll be a lot easier to get tickets for there than for a Ticketmaster show. The one time I was at CBGB's what struck me was how small it was. I couldn't see many big bands performing there, you're not going to sell many tickets.

In the Mix

I listened to the new Polyphonic Spree EP this week. The covers were nice, and the two new songs were great, a bit more streamlined than the ten minute epics from Together We're Heavy. I'm really excited to hear the new record and see them live again. It's been a year since I saw them at Across the Narrows, too long to be without Spree. I've also been listening more to the second Scissor Sisters album, which is growing on me. I think it might eventually surpass the first album for me, though it lacks the killer opening trio of songs that that album had.

The Departed

This week I'm excited to see The Departed on Friday. The Nicholson performance alone should be worth the price of admission. And then next Monday I'll get to see Inland Empire. We're getting into a really good time for films.

Weekend Update

Back in New York

I'm back in New York for the weekend. Tomorrow I'll be seeing Science of Sleep, and on Sunday I'll be seeing the Flaming Lips. I'm really excited for both events. Gondry is one of the most original, visually innovative directors working today and this film seems to be the purest expression of his aesthetic.

The Flaming Lips

I've heard a lot about The Flaming Lips' live show, it sounds like it should be quite a spectacle. I became a fan of the band with Yoshimi, one of the most exuberant records you'll ever hear. I still think it's their best, though The Soft Bulletin and their newest, At War With the Mystics, are both great. The early stuff is a bit more hit or miss, but most of what they've done is pretty solid. I got their video compilation DVD recently. I've watched most of the videos and with a few exceptions, they're not particularly notable. They stick way too much to just having the band playing somewhere and filming it. They're still entertaining, but if the same treatment was done for a song I didn't like, I wouldn't have much as much patience for it. Sofia Coppola's video for "This Here Giraffe" is pretty generic, and lacks the style of her later work. I do love the video for "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots," and the descriptions of the videos in the booklet are great, such as this one for "Do You Realise": 'Four bored farm girls lament about how nothing exciting ever happens to them...they get stoned and an apparition of a glowing singing man appears - he is accompanied by giant rabbits with sparkling spheres.' That pretty much sums it up. I do really like having a DVD of music videos around. Sure, you could just watch them on Youtube, but I find I've got a much better attention span if I sit down and put on the DVD, rather than sit at the computer and look at it on Youtube. Hopefully a new crop of director's series discs will pop up soon.

This Week in TV

It's a big premiere week. I'll be watching the season opener for Gilmore Girls, and definitely taking a look at Heroes. I'll also probably sample 'Brothers and Sisters,' if only to see Rachel Griffiths in another show. Her work as Brenda on Six Feet Under is some of the best acting of all time, so I figure her new show at least deserves one viewing. However, from the sound of things, it's got some issues. Look for reviews here.

DMZ

I read the first trade of Brian Wood's Vertigo series, DMZ. I feel like Vertigo is the HBO of comics publishers, they've got a great history of series, but sometimes their new series have trouble living up to the legacy of previous major critically acclaimed, popular works. But, generally speaking, you can trust them to deliver a quality product. I'll sample blind pretty much anything that either of them put out. DMZ has a killer premise, but the murky presentation means that you don't get a full sense of the reality he's trying to present. The art is very much in Wood's own aesthetic, and I can see the point he's going for, using the scratchy art to convey the messy world the characters find themselves in. However, I think clearer art might have allowed us to get a better picture of the world. Wood tells some interesting stories, but I didn't get a character hook. I have no particular reason to care about this main guy, and for most longform series, audience attachment to the character is your greatest crush. Look at Y: The Last Man, it's a glacially paced series that makes a ton of storytelling errors, but the characters are strong enough that I have to keep reading. Here, Wood's writing is competent and politcally charged, but when I finished the volume, I had no particular need to read on. There's no sense of a greater scope, etiher narrative or character wise, and that hurts an ongoing series. Channel Zero had similar issues, and I guess it ultimately comes down to the fact that Wood isn't telling the kind of stories that I might want to read. He's got some great points to make, but ultimately, he's got to be better at something to keep me reading.

Rescue Me

I've been watching more of Rescue Me and I'm definitely starting to get hooked. I've got a better sense of the characters, and I think the show does a great job of showing the difference between their public personas and the private hurt they carry around. And, I think the show does much less shocking for the sake of being shocking stuff than its channel neighbor, Nip/Tuck. There's some weird stuff, but it's better woven into the narrative. I'm through episode seven now, and it's starting to get to the place where I'm watching two episodes in a sitting instead of one. I could definitely see things speeding up as we move towards the end of the season.

Weekend Update

Blog Upgrade

Earlier today I upgraded to the new version of blogger. I don't think that'll make a big impact on the way it reads, but there are some new features that have potential cool. I'll try to put those to use.

INLAND EMPIRE

Last week I successfully got tickets for the October 9th screening of Inland Empire at the New York Film Festival. The film's gotten a mixed reception from its Venice screenings, it sounds like Lynch is taking the more subjective cinema he developed in Lost Highway and Mulholland Dr. and is pushing it even further. Watching Mulholland, I've always wondered what it would be like to have a film that was all like the post box chunk of that movie. Considering Inland is three hours, that could be too much of a good thing, but I trust Lynch. If Fire Walk With Me was outright booed at Cannes, while Wild at Heart won the Palm D'Or, you've clearly got to take festival audience reactions with a grain of salt. I think that's one of the big problems with the festival scene, one bad screening for a movie like Inland or The Fountain, with 500 people in attendance, can multiply into a lot of bad buzz before release. Luckily I'll be going in pretty much clean for this screening. I've only seen a couple of photos from the film, so the visual experience will be totally new.

The TV Season Begins

This week sees the debut of the new show I'm most looking forward to, Aaron Sorkin's Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. I'm also going to take a look at Jericho, a post apocalyptic drama. I want to try to see more shows from the beginning, recently I've been waiting for a show's buzz to build before sampling the first season on DVD, but I really enjoy the week to week viewing of a great show, and hopefully something this season will make it. I've already been watching Weeds and Nip/Tuck. Next week has the premiere I'm most looking forward to, the start of Gilmore Girls' seventh season.

Nip/Tuck

After two episodes of Nip/Tuck, I'm getting closer to dropping the show. I think this season is an improvement over last year's hyperabsurdity, but the show is really suffering from the fact that it's based on shock value rather than character development. There's not that much left that they can do to top what's already happened. I'll be surprised if the show is able to maintain even this quality through the season.

New Music

I listened to the Scissor Sisters' new album this week. The first single "Don't Feel Like Dancing" is classic, and there's a few other good tracks, but it had a bit too much semi-country flavor. I prefer the shiny club aesthetic of the first album, but admittedly, that's after one listen, it's always tough to follow up on a near perfect album like the Scissor Sisters' first. I also listened to Outkast's Idlewild album, which I was pretty impressed by. It got knocked around by the critics, and I would concede that it lacks the cohesion of Stankonia, but there's a lot of really good songs in there. That said, I would like to see them drop one more really good album together. And the album that's still impressing is Justin Timberlake's FutureSexLoveSound. The production is unbelievable, Timbaland and Timberlake are like Wong Kar-Wai and Tony Leung, the perfect match of creator and performer.

Toronto Film Festival

The TIFF seemed to have so many films playing, it's hard to keep track of major trends out of the festival. Reaction to The Fountain seems much the same as it was at Venice, but I'm still confident in the film. In certain art film circles, there seems to be a reluctance to engage with material that doesn't have a layer of irony over it. If Little Miss Sunshine got the most buzz out of Sundnace, it's pretty clear that festival audiences don't always have their priorities straight. Part of the problem is that seeing so many films means you're probably exhausted and will prefer a zippy comedy to a slower paced, challenging film. Buzz on Kim Ki-Duk's Time is mixed as well, it seems to be a return to the darkness of his earlier work. That should crop up on Region 3 DVD pretty soon. I've already got Pen-Ek Ratanaruang's Invisible Waves on the way. I was shocked to see that the star of that film, and his previous, Last Life in the Universe, is the same guy who was in Ichii the Killer, Vital and Funky Forest. He seems to dominating Japan. The other film that sounds really cool from Toronto is Miike's Big Bang Love: Juvenile A, which sounds really experimental. I've got some more Miike in the Netflix queue, he's a filmmaker I've really got to see more of.

Upcoming Dates of Note
9/22 - Science of Sleep Released
9/24 - The Flaming Lips at Hammerstein
10/9 - Inland Empire at NYFF
10/20 - Marie Antoinette Released
10/25 - Seven Soldiers #1 Released
11/22 - The Fountain Released

Weekend Update

New Music

I've listened to a few new albums this week. One is The Cocteau Twins' Victorialand. The Twins are a band I've heard mentioned a lot and have always been meaning to get around to listening to them. I finally did and I really enjoyed the album. It's very ethereal, a less rocky predecessor of Sigur Ros. It's one of those bands with a really unique sound, perfect for a film soundtrack. I also listened to Justin Timberlake's Future Sex/Love Sounds, an album that's really successful, if a bit long on the first listen. The album is so now, with a great dirty electronic vibe. Timbaland's production is fantastic and I think he and Justin succeed in pushing him beyond the territory of Justified. A lot of rock bands never get beyond making the same album over and over again, and I'm glad to see Justin experimenting and pushing things a bit.

Not Yet Rated

Last week saw the release of the documentary This Film is Not Yet Rated, which has drawn a lot of attention to the MPAA ratings system. I actually don't have a major problem with the ratings system, the issue I've got, that isn't mentioned in any of these articles, is the fact that the NC-17 rating just isn't commerically viable. The whole point of the rating was to try to separate artistic films with explicit content from pornography, yet, because so many people won't advertise/show the films, the NC-17 just isn't commercially viable. Rather than trying to change the MPAA, I think the best idea would be to force theaters to show NC-17s, and make it like the X originally was, back when Midnight Cowboy, an X rated film, was able to win the best picture Oscar. How can this be done? Well, a lot of it goes back to America's puritanical morality, and there's an implication that you shouldn't be watching NC-17s. But, if a studio put out a legitimately good film, that also had popular appeal, with an NC-17, perhaps an audience would show up. Personally, I'd love for the rating to catch on so I don't have to deal with kids at screenings. A major issue is the fact that studios always target kids, so the NC-17 can be market death.

Grant Morrison Quote

I was reading this fairly recent interview with Grant Morrison, fascinating as always. Anyway, the interview has a quote that I love:

And think about the emotional experience of reading comics. Nothing but ink on paper , right ? Yet people fall in love with Jean Grey and threaten to commit murder in her name! People cry when Ted Kord gets shot dead! As we all know, inert drawings and words on a page can produce an absorbing, often addictive, unfolding illusion of life, movement and even personality but surely the reader's 'experience' of the 'story' in a comic is actually a hologram - a virtual reality generated by the overlapping of multiple human consciousnesses - 'creator' consciousness interfacing with 'audience' consciousness through the medium of print.

This touches on a lot of the themes that I got out of his work back in 2003 after I read The Invisibles, the idea that fiction is just as real, if not more so, than our so called reality, because it can create actual emotional responses in people. I love that Morrison is thinking so much about the very nature of the medium, you just don't see this sort of examination in film, and where it is, it's bogged down in Academic babble. Morrison has ruined college for me in some respects because his pop! philosophy puts academic writing to shame. The Invisibles not only tells you about the nature of the universe, it also tells a great story. You're not going to get that from a traditional philosophical text.

Rome and Rescue Me

I recently watched the first episode of these two series. Rome was pretty good, certainly the production values were amazing, but it suffered from the same problems as a lot of period pieces, namely a lack of relatability to the characters. There was a lot of potential though and I could see this being quite good once they get the cast sorted out. Rescue Me felt very much like a typical 00s cable show pilot. It was really well made and easy to watch with strong character drive right from the start. My major issue was the too cliche dead cousin talking to the main character and the fact that I just don't usually like stuff set in those really macho all male environments. But, I'll give this one some more episodes too. Neither completely grabbed me, but they both feel totally watchable.

Upcoming Dates of Note
9/22 - Science of Sleep Releated
9/24 - The Flaming Lips at Hammerstein
10/8 - Inland Empire at NYFF
10/20 - Marie Antoinette Released
10/25 - Seven Soldiers #1 Released
11/22 - The Fountain Released

Weekend Update

New York Film Festival

The lineup for the New York Film Festival got released a couple of days ago, and it's quite impressive. There's some Cannes favorites, like Pan's Labyrinth and The Host, but the real highlight for me is David Lynch's INLAND EMPIRE. I became a Lynch fan back in 2002 and since then I've seen everything he's done. So, I'm really looking forward to a new David Lynch feature. I'm hoping they do at least one weekend screening, but even if it's only a week night, I'll make the trek down from Wesleyan to see it. It's supposedly a very unconventional film, so it could be a while before we see a regular theatrical release, making it all the more imperative that I see it at the festival. I'm hoping that I'll also be able to see Marie Antoinette there, Sofia Coppola's one of those directors who really understands how to make a compelling film, not just tell a good story. Even though Marie Antoinette got some harsh reviews, the critiques all made it sound like I'd like the film even more. A film that isn't worried about narrative and instead spends a lot of time in music sequences is great. Who cares that you don't see her head getting cut off, traditional biopics invariably suck.

Respect! Films Update

I've spent the past week cutting Out of This World, the film I did with the LMC-TV summer film workshop. This year's bunch of kids was not good, but the film turned out pretty well. We've definitely got a formula with these workshop films, but it's fun to be able to just focus on trying to make something entertaining and not worry about larger thematic significance. That film will be online next Monday, so check out www.respectfilms.com, and you can download it. We're debuting that one Monday, and on the same day I'll be debuting the trailer for my new film, All Good Things. That'll be up on the site as well, give it a look. The other project going forward now is the Nepo video, which is still in editing.

Film Surplus

I bought the Manderlay DVD a few days ago, but I haven't gotten a chance to watch it yet. That's in the docket along with the R2 version of Gregg Araki's Nowhere, which I just got in the mail yesterday. I've got to clear some time to watch those, I feel like a bad cinephile letting them sit unwatched. Oh well, I'll get to them soon.

End of Carnivale

I finished watching Carnivale yesterday. I'm going to do a review of the last couple of episodes, touching on the series as a whole, soon. I wouldn't call it a great series, but it had a lot of really good stuff and I feel like it might have really improved in later seasons. It was funny to watch the Museum of TV and Radio panel discussion they had on the DVD, where Daniel Knauf says something like "A lot of people are wary about getting into a major TV series because you wouldn't want to be at page 450 of a 900 page novel and have some clown in a suit grab the book and throw it away." Alas, that's exactly what happened.

Veronica Mars

So, with Carnivale over, I'll be moving on to the second season of Veronica Mars, which is out on DVD this Tuesday. I really enjoyed the first season, even though I don't think the show comes close to the rarefied level of something like Buffy or Six Feet Under. Still, not many shows do. The major issue is that I'm a huge fan of watching massively unfolding character arcs, so the show could reach Buffy level in later seasons, but it's still in the early stages. After one season of Six Feet Under, I really liked it, but it wasn't until the end of the third season that I saw the show as a masterpiece. Then, as everything came together in the final season, my love of the show went way up. So, hopefully Veronica will take a similar path. However, I don't think the show has as far reaching an emotional agenda as SFU.

Upcoming Dates of Notes

8/22 - Veronica Mars Season 2 on DVD
8/25 - Idlewild Released
8/29 - Arrested Development Season 3 on DVD
8/29 - Michel Gondry @ Apple Store
8/31 - North @ Trash Bar
9/22 - Science of Sleep Releated
9/24 - The Flaming Lips at Hammerstein
10/20 - Marie Antoinette Released
10/25 - Seven Soldiers #1 Released
11/22 - The Fountain Released

Weekend Update

Gregg Araki

There's a Gregg Araki blogathon going on over at Being Boring. A lot of interesting stuff covering someone who I'd consider one of the most underrated filmmakers working today. Very few people have the uniqueness of vision that Araki does. This is a guy who rarely makes a film that can make it to an R rating, let alone PG-13. So, clearly he's not concerned with commercial success, it's more about his vision. Inspired, I ordered Nowhere from Amazon UK. Once I watch it,, I'll put up a review.

Music Video Shoot

Earlier this week, I shot a video for the song "Yer Warpin' Me" by Nepo. It's a bit weirder than the last video I did, and a bit happier than most of my stuff. That one should be finished by the end of August. The film workshop I'm running also ended. The film we shot there has some potential, but I'm not sure if it'll top the insanity of last year's film, Extracurricular Activities.

Producer Autuers

Though I liked it on the first listen, Justin Timberlake's Sexy Back has been really growing on me. Lately, I've been liking more and more current pop songs, both this and Promiscuous are masterful singles. It's interesting to see the growth of the producer as auteur, Timbaland did both those tracks and the media genuinely gives him as much credit for their quality as they give the artists. It's becoming more a film situation, where the producer is like the writer/director and the artist is like the actor. Most people still go to see the actor's performance, but increasingly people are aware of who's behind the scenes. I know I'm always on the lookout for a new Neptunes track and especially anything from Dan the Automator, who's a clear example of a producer auteur.

Electropop

Along the same lines, I'm really excited by the crystalization of a new music genre for the 00s, eletropop. It's always existed but the success of a song like SexyBack, along with bands like CSS and and Ladytron are evolving this form of really poppy electro songs. Nine Inch Nails fused industrial with pop song structures, but what these songs are doing is making really pop stuff that is based around intense electro beats. Daft Punk are pioneers in this, with their constant use of vocoder. Their last album is full of tracks that foreshadow the hard driving electropop that's cropped up since. If you're looking for more, check out Does it Offend You, Yeah, an unsigned British band that makes tracks that sound like Daft Punk on a bender. I think the reason I like this stuff so much is that it feels new. Most of the rock bands I like today are in some way throwing back to something before, it's like rock as a genre has exhausted itself and can only look to the past for inspiration. But, this electro stuff feels fresher, uncovering new territory.