My 100 Favourite Movies: Prelude

A long time ago, when I was a different person, I was goaded into making a list of every movie I'd ever seen. I've told the story before, so if you know me you've probably heard it, and if you haven't, sorry, the re-telling will dredge up unhappy memories. And when that list was compiled, I thought, "Finally! I have completed this time-intensive project with little-to-no value to the world! And now...I'm bored." So I decided to make a list of my top 100 favourite movies.

That was just over five years ago. And in five years, yours truly can rack up a LOT of new movie-watching experiences. So I decided to re-vamp the list back in December, and due to some procrastinating, some life stuff, and some repeated fiddling with the order, I finally completed it. It took quite a while to do; I whittled my master list (over 2000 distinct movies) into a shortlist of about 250, then whittled that down to a shorterlist of about 140, and then viciously cut the last 40 out. Then, in a process that took WAY too many steps to recount here, I finally ordered them into some semblance of an order. Due to the nature of this task, and the nature of ordering in general, if I was to do it another month from now, things might shift around a little bit, but generally everything's where it should be, plus or minus five slots. And I'm very happy with the top 20, and have almost nothing to change about those ones.

But I'm not here to talk about the new list. I'm here, for a moment, to talk about the old one. Some of the entries are a little embarassing now, but a number of them are still classics, and some of them are unfortunate but necessary casualties on a list where I've likely seen over eight hundred new movies since I first started it. So take a look. It's both a reminder of someone that I used to be and, when compared to the list I'll be posting over the next few weeks (few months?), an indication of someone that I may become.

My 100 Favourite Movies: 2006 Edition
100. Casino Royale (2006)

99. Edward Scissorhands

98. Shall We Dance?

97. To Kill A Mockingbird

96. King Kong (1933)

95. The African Queen

94. Babe: Pig in the City

93. The Killer

92. Die Hard

91. The Man Who Would Be King

90. Men With Brooms

89. The Shop Around The Corner

88. High Fidelity

87. The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari

86. Vertigo

85. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

84. Hellboy

83. Out of Sight

82. Dead Ringers

81. Hallowe'en

80. The Producers

79. Monty Python's Life of Brian

78. X: The Man With X-Ray Eyes

77. Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

76. This Is Spinal Tap

75. The 40 Year Old Virgin

74. It's A Wonderful Life

73. Star Wars

72. True Lies

71. From Russia With Love

70. Spider-Man

69. Brazil

68. Kill Bill, Vol. 2

67. Alien

66. The Wild Bunch

65. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

64. The Great Dictator

63. Seconds

62. The Iron Giant

61. L.A. Story

60. Psycho

59. A Fish Called Wanda

58. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

57. Some Like It Hot

56. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

55. Man Bites Dog

54. Mrs. Brown

53. The Muppet Movie

52. Wings of Desire

51. Casablanca

50. Grand Illusion

49. Rushmore

48. Duck Soup

47. American Beauty

46. The Matrix

45. L.A. Confidential

44. The Manchurian Candidate

43. The Princess Bride

42. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

41. Fargo

40. When Harry Met Sally….

39. Leon

38. The Wizard of Oz

37. Frankenstein

36. Blade Runner

35. Pirates of the Carribean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

34. Miller's Crossing

33. Dark City

32. M*A*S*H

31. Rashomon

30. A Hard Day's Night

29. Maltese Falcon

28. The Kid

27. Battleship Potemkin

26. Touch of Evil

25. Raiders of the Lost Ark

24. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

23. Bride of Frankenstein

22. Roxanne

21. Snow White and the Seven Dwarves

20. Apocalypse Now

19. Monty Python and the Holy Grail

18. Pulp Fiction

17. The Usual Suspects

16. The Empire Strikes Back

15. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

14. Life is Beautiful

13. Mallrats

12. Unforgiven

11. The Last Temptation of Christ

10. Singin' In The Rain

9. The Searchers

8. It Happened One Night

7. The Rules of the Game

6. The Godfather

5. Dr. Strangelove

4. City Lights

3. The Godfather, Part II

2. Citizen Kane

1. Seven Samurai

Day 13 - A Song That Is A Guilty Pleasure

I try not to have guilty pleasures. If I enjoy something, I rarely feel guilty about it. But I suppose, if I had to try to embarass myself, I really do enjoy "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race" by Fall Out Boy. I know, conceptually, that Fall Out Boy is not a band that I should like. But that song is a lot of fun, despite some unfortunate lyrical issues for radio play. It's surprisingly smartly-written and catchy, okay?

Day 12 - A Song From A Band You Hate

"Burn It To The Ground" by Nickelback. Awful song, awful band. That's all I have to say.

(I wrote this yesterday but didn't publish it. So sue me, me.)

Day 11 - A Song From My Favourite Band

My favourite band, even more than The Beatles (which is just a hair’s breadth away at number two), is NoMeansNo, a fantastic Canadian punk rock band with jazz and funk influences. I don’t know what the best song would be that would best represent them to other people, but “Now” is a pretty good choice. It’s got a lot of the loud angry energy that they portray so well, as well as some really creative musical choices that you wouldn’t expect from a punk rock band but come so naturally to NoMeansNo. I love it.

Day 10 - A Song I Fall Asleep To

I haven't fallen asleep listening to music in a really long time. It's mostly been Old Time Radio shows, standup comedy, or Bob Ross for the past few years. But if I had to I think one song that might be fairly nice to fall asleep to would be "Blue in Green" by Miles Davis. It's a soft little ballad and while Miles' trumpet can be a little loud to drift off to, Bill Evans' piano work is really beautiful and soothing, a lovely cloud to sink into.  I don't really know, but you can judge for yourself. Whether you could fall asleep to it or not, it's a beautiful song.

What's Up Wednesday - October 5, 2011

So did you know that since the reign of Queen Victoria, the last Wednesday in September has been given the name "Second Tuesday"? That's because it's not true. I missed a week. Oh well! Let's see what I found interesting in the past two weeks.

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Music
I love The Muppets and am a big fan of off-beat covers, so when I saw The Green Album I knew I would eventually have to give it a spin. It starts off really promising: OK Go!'s cover of "The Muppet Show Theme" is weird and groovy, although it goes on a little too long. Things pick up with Weezer & Hayley Williams's cover of The Rainbow Connection, which gives us a harp doing the traditional banjo riff and a beautiful two-part harmony for the last verse. The Fray's "Manah-Manah" sounds nearly the same as the TV version, which is okay but nothing special. And then there's the Alkaline Trio's version of "Movin' Right Along" which could be my favourite song on the album: it's a fusion of the band's sound with the spirit of the original, where the band plays with it just enough to make it interesting without completely destroying the song. My Morning Jacket's version of "Our World," a song I've never heard before, is a nice little song that would be easily performed by both Muppets and rock stars.

And then...things start going downhill. Amy Lee does a creepy version of "Halfway Down The Stairs," which needs that kind of interpretation like Archie Andrews needs a goth-style makeover. Another lowlight is a really awkward version of one of my favourite Muppet songs ever, "I Hope That Something Better Comes Along" - a human should not sing lyrics like "What could be better than a saucy Irish Setter" straightforwardly. An adequate version of "It's Not Easy Being Green" almost pulls us out of the nose-dive, but then the album closes with Rachael Yamagata's version of "I'm Going To Go Back There Someday" which seems weirdly-orchestrated just for the sake of being weird, and is truly unfortunately mixed (I don't need to hear the soft tisues of your mouth sliding against each other when you're singing). I like about half the album and the rest either underhwlmes me or makes me frustrated thinking about how much better it could have been.

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Comics
I have been curious about Matt Wagner's Grendel comics for a few years, so last week I got off my ass and took Grendel: Behold The Devil out of the library. If I had done my research I would have discovered that this was one of the last books in the series, but I decided to try it anyhow, figuring every comic is someone's first and that it might hook me hard enough to want to seek out the other comics. And boy, did it. In this volume Grendel is Hunter Rose, bestselling author by day and brutal crime kingpin by night. Behold The Devil is an examination of a "lost" episode in his life, and if this is anything like the earlier comics then I am in. Beautifully illustrated, perfectly paced, this tale of violence unfolds step by glorious step until the surprise (to me) ending. The violence is absolutely exq$uisite; the first five pages of Chapter One completely blew me away. I will be back for more, definitely, and will re-read this one with relish when I get back to its spot in publishing continuity.

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Movies
I saw Drive yesterday and it is GOOOOOOOD. It's not the big dumb action movie they're trying to sell it as, although sharp-eyed viewers would probably have figured that out by the use of pink font on the posters and trailers. It's a thoughtful, suspenseful action film, more along the lines of a Point Blank or To Live& Die In L.A. than a Fast & The Furious. I've heard a few people say the 70s & 80s homage is slap-dash and unsatisfying, but I really feel there's a lot to like. There are a number of very quiet moments, nearly TOO quiet, and there are a lot of very subtle performances that would have been completely extinguished in a lesser film. And when things go bad, they go really bad. Shocking, grotesque violence, with one scene that had me squirming in my seat. And the cast is great, too. Ryan Gosling's stoic performance may go a little too far towards stone-faced at times, but Carey Mulligan is note-perfect, Ron Perlman is fun and intimidating, Bryan Cranston is great as usual, and Albert Brooks is TERRIFYING as a crime boss. No seriously. I was shocked too. If you like film in general and action films in particular, then you need to make a trip to see Drive, and soon.

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Books
After months of struggling to read, I broke into Grant Morrison's Supergods for Nerd Book Club and it is a really fun and fast (but uneven) book. I enjoyed his (admittedly skewed) examination of the Golden and Silver ages of superhero comic books, with a little bit of examination of how these books represent spiritual archetypes that have been with us for centuries, but these analogies didn't really going anywhere other than "Did you notice that? I did, it's amazing." Which is okay, I guess, and I enjoy seeing someone else's perspective on these familiar characters. And then about halfway through, it became less about an exploration of the character archetypes & how they could inform us about human nature and became part-history, part-memoir. I understood why: Morrison felt he needs to explain his motivations for writing, which are based on his life experiences, including his metaphysical ones. And while that fits into the theme of the book, which I won't completely reveal because I think finding that theme is part of the journey,

I think the memoir aspects could have been toned down and the thematic aspects given more direction and follow-through. The book is in some pretty desperate need of an editor, as things get a little meandery about halfway through and almost spiral completely out of control towards the end. (There are also some pretty obvious typos and things being mentioned out of sequence.) For me, though, being familiar with Morrison's style, I find the lack of direction is a trap he sometimes finds himself in, and I was able to climb out of it with him and bring something worthwhile along with me. So I ended up liking it and will probably re-read it in the next couple of years, but  I would be really interested in a non-fan's perspective on the book.  I don't know if it would be easy to follow or impactful for someone who doesn't have strong connections to the characters or the writer like I do.

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DVDs/Blu-Rays
Two weekends ago I went to visit a friend and we had a marathon of all 25 episodes of the first season of Community Season 1. That marks the seventh time I've gone through the first season in under 12 months. Which probably sounds silly but it really is that good. I noticed jokes and references this seventh time that had completely passed me by the first time, which means that either a) I am not very observant or b) these are some amazingly great episodes. I would like to think that the answer is b). Regardless: if you haven't seen Community, you really should. It is one of only a handful of shows that represent the pinnacle of television comedy, and I have no doubt that it will be remembered very fondly in the coming decades.

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TV
This "week," I would like to take a moment to talk about...The Playboy Club. When I first heard that there was going to be a prime-time drama about The Playboy Club, I was dubious. I thought that it was just a lame way to grab ratings by cashing in on the Mad-Men-60s-style-chic and parading beautiful women around in Bunny costumes and their underwear. And I will admit: it was partly that. But honestly, only partly. By the end of the first episode I thought, despite myself, that there was something more there. They introduced a lot of characters, and involved a lot of interesting themes: politics, race relations, organized crime, sexual orientation, gender roles, and a handful of interesting mysteries. And there were musical numbers! And did I mention a half-dozen beautiful women? Sure, some of the characterizations were groaningly broad, and the "Hugh Hefner in the shadows" bits were pretty awful, but I thought there were things to grow on. I felt even more positive about the show after the second episode, where things felt a little rushed and some plots were given more time to breathe. And that meant, of course, that it would be cancelled. I just didn't think it would have been by episode three! I thought for sure I'd get a half-season out of it at least, where they could wrap at least a couple of plot threads up. Instead I got three episodes of what was a pretty promising show. I guess most viewers didn't see it the way I did, but I really think that The Playboy Club is up there with American Gothic as one of those promising shows cancelled way too early.

* * * *

Life
Last Monday my brother got me royally drunk, tied some training wheels on me, and set me up in his hockey draft. I apparently did okay, stealing some players out from under some of the other guys, and I walked away thinking I did okay. And then three days later he sent me a text saying I had drafted someone who had already retired. And nobody noticed. So I have a lot more to learn, I guess.

* * * *

And that's it. More song updates to follow, for sure, but now it's time for me to get on the exercise bike. Curse you, bike.

Day 9 - A Song I Can Dance To

I am putting this song on because it is a newly-discovered song and it is incredibly dance-able while also being funny, creative, and a surprisingly good pop song. That song is "(Rockin') All Nite Long" by the folks at Bad Lip Reading. They took a Taylor Swift song that I have never heard, watched the video, figured out other lyrics she could have been singing by watching her lips, and then wrote an entire new song about it. And then added a rap by doing the same thing to a Wiz Khalifa song. And the funny thing is? It's actually a really well-crafted pop song and you can dance to it to boot. So yeah. I was surprised too, but really, you have to check it out. (And then find Gang Fight on YouTube by the same folks.)

Here it is. Marvel at its majesty.

Day 08 - A Song You Know All The Words To

So, so many songs fit into this category. But I think that I will cheat and pick a song I sing in my a cappella group, Apocalypse Kow. And my favourite song to sing lead with them is "Uniform Grey" by Sarah Harmer. It's a sweet, beautiful little song that I think everyone should hear, and it makes me happy and sad at the same time.

Here's Sarah's (superior) version. You could find ours if you looked really hard.

Day 07 - A Song That Reminds You Of A Certain Event

Took me a second (again, all the stuff that immediately comes to mind is either negative or makes me more depressed) but R.E.M.'s "Begin The Begin" reminds me of the happiness EXPLOSION that poured out of my lungs and throat when I finally got to see my favourite rock band play live for the very first time. I was in Thunderbird Stadium in Vancouver with my then-future-ex-wife and when the opening guitar riff started the crowd and I roared as one, and I just felt the relief and joy flood out of me as I prepared myself for an amazing concert. I still remember that feeling when I hear the album version. (Don't know if it's cheating if the event is a rock concert or not but I'm going with it.)

Couldn't find video of the Thunderbird stadium show but here's the album version:

Day 06 - A Song That Reminds You of Somewhere

John Denver's "Rocky Mountain High" always reminds me of the highway into Jasper just as you make it into the mountains. My parents loved John Denver (and I did too when I was a kid) and my mom loved singing along to that song on our road trips to the mountains during summer vacation. Just thinking of the chorus invokes the giant snow-capped peaks and the highway winding in between them.

Not much to say about this song: it's cheesy and not everyone's taste - it even grates on my nerves at times - but there are times that I find it almost transcendent. Weird how nostalgia and memory works like that.

Day 5 - A Song That Reminds You of Someone

There are a lot of songs that could fall into this category. And after a while, I actually came up with a positive one! "Bring The Noise" by Public Enemy always reminds me of my good buddy @worstninjaever. Not just because it is our karaoke song (and we ROCK THE HELL out of that song live). But it's part of the reason we're friends, I think we really started becoming better friends when we found out we were both PE fans, and that happened when we both started singing that song at a party once. It was a big deal in my life. And also: we are AMAZING. I am the Chuck D to his "Flava Flav and dude from Anthrax."

While he prefers the Public Enemy w/ Anthrax version, I prefer the original (although I do like the guitars on the remake). A little slower delivery makes for a better song. I'm presenting this live version (starts at about 2:00 on this video) because he and I were actually both at this show. Me at the front of the stage, him sitting way at the back at a table. Because he's a gimp. And if you check REALLY closely, you can see me in the crowd. Just look for awesome sideburns.

Day 04 - A Song That Makes You Sad

“You Were Here” by Sarah Harmer. Nearly the entire album is about the end of relationships and every song is some variation of sad, but this one is hauntingly beautiful and makes me bittersweetly sad. Partly because it’s sad on it’s own and partly because it reminds me of the two breakups that define my life. So yeah. It’s a beautiful song and I love it, but it makes me very sad. Not “crying while driving the car and trying to hold it together so as not to crash” sad, the good kind.

Day 03 - A Song That Makes You Happy

Definitely one of the best songs that fits this criteria is "Move On Up" by Curtis Mayfield. That song is over eight solid minutes of happy. The killer drum riff (boom-boom-CHACK-ba-boom-ba-boom-CHAK), with a beautiful layer of guitar and a cool quasi-funk bass line. Hell, it has both a horn section AND a string section! And Curtis Mayfield’s smooth amazing voice singing those uplifting lyrics (Hush now child/And don’t you cry/Your folks might understand you/Bye and bye). Just thinking about the opening section (DRUMS! HORNS! GO!) makes me smile and sets my toes to tapping. A good antidote to a foul mood.

Here’s the full length song, a solid eight minutes and forty-nine seconds of funk soul goodness. There are radio edits out there you can search for, but for me this is the version.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 02

Your Least Favourite Song

Not many songs can make the bile rise in my throat like “You Were Meant For Me” by Jewel. Insipid lyrics, inane delivery, inexplicably popular when I was in my youth and hearing it sets my teeth on edge. Even thinking about the lyrics hurts me. “I crack the eggs and make a smiley face…” I am literally shuddering with frustration as I type this.

(Also: my What's Up Wednesday will be delayed as I wrote a very long entry for it that promptly got erased. Because I am dumb. It'll be up tomorrow for sure.)

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 01

Decided to do something CRAZY and do a two-year-old internet meme to try to improve my writing ability and frequency. Look at me keeping up with the times.

Your Favourite Song

As a man with over 700 physical albums and even more downloads, "My Favourite Song" is really, REALLY goddamned hard to think of. A number of them come to mind right off the top of my head, all battling it out. However, I think at this very moment, the only one that is coming out as the king of the hill is "If I Had A Boat" by Lyle Lovett. When I first heard the chorus of this song, I groaned aloud at how stupid I thought it was. And then less than three minutes later when I heard it the last reprise of that same chorus, it gave me chills. It's a poignant, whimsical, slightly cheesy song about the desire to be free that breaks my heart and makes me choke up just thinking about it. Ask me tomorrow and it might be "Maggot Brain" by Funkadelic or "A Kiss To Build A Dream On" by Louis Armstrong or "Coffee Stain" by Sarah Harmer or "Swan Swan H" by R.E.M. or "The Graveyard Shift" by NoMeansNo or "Move On Up" by Curtis Mayfield or any number of other songs. But today it's "If I Had A Boat." And I have no problem with that.

(Here's a live performance of this song. The mix isn’t perfect - some of the instruments are a little loud - but it’s the best version of it I can find.)

What's Up Wednesday - September 21, 2011

Just a short one this week. Why? Good question!

* * * *

Life
My weekend was full of wedding-related things. My good friend's bachelor party was on Saturday, and then Apocalypse Kow sang at a wedding of two very nice and appreciative gentlemen on Sunday night. I am surprised I made it through Sunday though, because I was feeling kind of sick, and when I got home after the wedding I turned into VERY sick. So sick that I missed work Monday, Tuesday, and today, although stuff finally turned around today and I'm feeling well enough to go in to work tomorrow. But yeah. Watched a lot of TV and read some comics, so that was an okay way to spend my sick days I suppose...

* * *

Comics
Read a lot of these this weekend but the best of the bunch was probably one I read today: Batman #1. Scott Snyder & Greg Capullo put out a first issue that has EVERYTHING I want from a Batman book: villains, fight scenes, skulking, detective work, sidekicks, plot twists, and a ton of style. It doesn't skimp on the alternate identities, either: by the looks of this issue, Bruce Wayne will be playing important roles both as the billionaire and the bat. As much as I liked Action Comics last week, I think I liked Batman even more.

(And yes, I know that the past 2 weeks have been nothing but new DC books. I promise to do something different next week, both for variety's sake and to stretch my own reading & writing habits.)

* * *

TV
The only premiere I caught last week was Ringer, and whoah BABY was that a flawed episode. Even with some pretty great actors (Buffy AND Batmanuel!?!) I can't overlook the absurd script and blatantly awful special effects. I mean, when the twin Sarah Michelle Gellars were on the boat together I almost vomited, not because I was sick but because I cannot BELIEVE that made it on television. It's a mildly interesting premise, with a few cool plot twists, and I am of the opinion that one mediocre episode doesn't doom a series, but really, that show needs to seriously pick up in the next few episodes or it is getting cancelled and fast.

* * *

Scotch
At the aforementioned bachelor party a handful of us went out to The Bothy, a local wine & whisky bar, to do some Scotch tasting. I got myself a sampler of three one-ounce selections from the Glenrothes distillery, and they were TOP. NOTCH. I was particularly fond of the Glenrothes Select Reserve, my Twitter review of which was: "Glenrothes Select Reserve: sweet, vanilla, spice. A Scotch you could give anyone, especially your awesome Grandma."

(For the record, I do have an awesome Grandma who drinks whisky, but she is a Nana and generally prefers rye to Scotch. I might just be able to convince her to try this, though.)

If you like Scotch, or even if you just like whisky and aren't 100% sold on Scotch, this is one to try. I am going to get a bottle of it very, very soon.

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DVDs/Blu-Rays
Watched a LOT of these in the past few days. Finished up Castle Season 2 (still a lightweight show but packed full to the brim with charisma) and Community Season 2, which would make that my sixth time through that season. But only the first time through with commentaries! And a few interesting movies, including the fascinating Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, which is pretty much mandatory watching if you are interested in standup comedy. However, the thing I want to take more than one sentence to talk about is Ichi The Killer.

I'd heard about this movie, obviously, but my interest in seeing it turned *way* up after I saw another film by Takashi Miike, Zebraman. (And yes, you need to see Zebraman. But that's slightly off-topic.) Ichi The Killer is based on a manga series and it is bloody, disgusting, and hard to watch. I don't know if I liked it, in fact, I'm pretty sure I didn't. If there's one thing that I learned from watching Ichi The Killer it's that splatter movies aren't really my thing. If there's a particularly good one I'll probably watch it, but the level of violence and gore in Ichi The Killer was enough to make me want to turn off the movie. I finished it, though, and I'm glad, because there are some fantastic performances and...let's say interesting themes. In the future, though, I'm going to try and make sure my Miike films are more Zebraman than Ichi.


And that's it for now. I might be feeling better but I'm not feeling great. Hopefully next week I'll have more links, more reviews, and more wellness.

The Return of What's Up Wednesday: September 14, 2011

Hello! In efforts to find more ways to distract myself that aren't "sit on couch and eat too much while watching movies," I'm pulling out the What's Up Wednesday semi-feature I tried about a year back. This should get me writing more regularly, and should provide me with a "deadline" and reason to dedicate some blog time every week. This week's update is going to be long, as I figured I should dive in headfirst, so let's see what struck me as interesting, fun, and or important about the previous week!

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Movies

I got to see Contagion with @Morgoid last night. The trailer had me mildly interested until I saw that it was directed by Steven Soderbergh, and then I knew I had to see it. Soderbergh's one of my favourite modern directors, and although he's helmed a few clunkers he's also put together two of my favourite movies: Out of Sight and The Limey. And since he is apparently retiring from the movies to paint, I thought I should see what might be his last movie in the theater.

Overall, I thought Contagion was a good film. First of all, it's a hell of a cast: Lawrence Fishburne, Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, Marion Cotillard, Enrico Colantoni, Chin Han, Elliott Gould, Jude Law, Jennifer Ehle, and Bryan Cranston all do remarkable work. I thought it would be distracting having so many recognizable faces because the presence of so many stars might pull you out of the story, but ultimately having so many names helped because they were all really good performances. Each character was given moments of weakness and of strength, so the characters weren't all paragons or villains, but people with varying degrees of greed, hope, selfishness, passion, and fear.

The pacing, sparse score, and naturalistic dialogue help the film to be very matter-of-fact without being boring: it really does feel like this is what would happen if there was a worlwide outbreak of a devastating disease, which makes the horror very real. You get to see the impact of the outbreak from varying levels: international tensions, national political issues, state and family emergencies. It's a very thoughtful and well-researched film that some others might find cold and unengaging but I appreciated the lack of sensation and sentimentality that you might find in a lesser "Hollywood-style" thriller.

* * * *

Books

Still finding it really hard to read lately - apparently stress plays havoc on my concentration - but I am trying to finish The Lost City of Z that I started reading for Nerd Book Club. It's adventure non-fiction, the story of explorer Percy Fawcett and his doomed trip into the South American jungle in search of a fabled lost civilization. I'm enjoying it but I don't like the author putting words and thoughts in the character's mouth: it's one thing if you're quoting from journal entries and letters, but inventing dialogue whole-cloth is where I draw the line in my non-fiction. Your mileage may vary, but if you enjoy exciting and interesting non-fiction then I think this is up your alley.

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DVD/Blu-Ray

Speaking of Elliott Gould: I watched a lot of DVDs this week (including the fascinating I Knew It Was You: Rediscovering John Cazale which is a must-see documentary for people who love acting and/or movies, and the entire first season of Castle which was just as fun as I remembered), but the DVD I really want to rave about is The Long Goodbye. I read Raymond Chandler's novel when I was in University and really liked it, and was a little hesitant to watch a re-imagining of the story directed by Robert Altman, who I knew had taken a number of liberties with the story and the setting (updating it to the early 1970s, contemporary for the time). Finally sitting down to watch it, though, I was really pleased: although it does feel like an Altman film in the same vein as M*A*S*H or McCabe & Mrs. Miller (meandering storyline, chunks of improvisation, moments of unintelligible dialogue, constantly moving cameras), it works as a movie in its own right.

Elliott Gould's Marlowe is really terrific, and it's because he doesn't do a version of Humphrey Bogart, although there are similarities in the characterizations. I love the contrast between Marlowe's 1950s aesthetic and the rest of the characters "contemporary" attitudes and styles; his straightforward hard-boiled nature and older-cut suits play beautifully off the ambiguous characters and sometimes outrageous outfits. Gould is funny and wry when he needs to be and tough and cold when the situation calls for it, and another awesome standout is Sterling Hayden, sporting a Hemingwayesque beard, as a troubled writer that Marlowe is hired to find. Plus: Arnold Schwarzenegger in a non-speaking role sporting a moustache. Yeah. That happened. I can't stop thinking about it since I watched it three days ago, which to me is the mark of a good movie. Watch it: you just might be surprised.

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Podcasts

I'm going to shine a spotlight on what is not just one of my favourite comedy podcasts but one of my favourite podcasts period: Doug Loves Movies. (Fun Fact: I saw a taping of Doug Loves Movies when I went to California in July and if you listen to this episode you can hear me laughing in the background and catching a monkey.) The premise is that comedian Doug Benson sits around a table with a bunch of his friends, ostensibly talk about movies, then play movie-themed games such as "Build a Title" (where you add movie titles together to make things like "Wait Until Dark City of Angels in the Out-Field of Dreams" and "The Leonard Maltin Game" (think "Name That Tune" but with movies and actors). In the past two days I've listened to five episodes and they're all very funny; three of the most recent episodes were recorded live from the Bumbershoot festival and feature great guests such as Scott Aukerman, Kyle Kinane, Eugene Mirman, and Paul F. Tompkins. I think the Bumbershoot episodes are a good intro to the show because you get a lot of content and a lot of great guests without a lot of self-promotion (which, let's face it, is why people do the podcasts). If you like movies, standup comedy, and tangents: Doug Loves Movies is for you.

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TV

On Monday the last episode of So You Think You Can Dance Canada aired and while the show itself felt kind of like filler, Mary Murphy's breasts shocked and terrified, and Leah Miller's special brand of anti-charisma threatened to break my spirit, I enjoyed it. Not only did the "right" dancer win (in both my and @DanicaHere's opinions), it featured some of my favourite routines. If you're curious as to what I thought, or what you can expect, here are four of my favourite routines of the season in glorious low-fi YouTube quality! (You can skip through the judges at the end, I usually do.)

Melissa & Shane in a Hip-Hop routine (choreographed by Luther Brown; the music is awful but the dance is really fun; starts at about 0:50)

Jordan & Joey in a Jazz routine (choreographed by the great Sean Cheeseman; starts at 1:16)

Shane & Lindsey in a REALLY fun disco routine (choreographed by Melissa Williams; starts at about 3:08)

And because I want EVERYONE to see this last one, embedded video! Jordan & Christian in a breathtaking Jazz number (again by the brilliant Sean Cheeseman):

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Comics

I read quite a few comics last week, but the ones I'm going to focus on are the ones from the DC relaunch. For those non-comics people who read my blog, DC Comics (they who make Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, etc.) decided to revamp/relaunch their line of superhero comics by streamlining continuity, making the characters younger and more modern, and releasing 52 new titles starting all over at #1. It's an attempt to bring in new and lapsed readers, and as someone who is neither of those two things I'm still excited to see what they do with their titles. The four titles I liked best from last week were:

Swamp Thing: The list of talented creators who've worked on this title in the past is about as long as my arm, and this first issue lives up to those expectations. This is more of a supernatural thriller than a superhero book, but it's definitely grounded in the shared universe thanks to featured appearances by a number of recognizable DC characters. Swamp Thing features really lush art from Yanick Paquette, which is some of my favourite art of the books I read. I've never read anything by Scott Snyder but he has sold me on this Swamp Thing and I will be going back to pick up some of his Detective Comics run as well.

Animal Man: I have a soft spot for Animal Man; I have almost the entire run of single issues from 1-89, and even when it got really weird and sloppy it was still interesting. Writer Jeff Lemire does a good job of holding the tradition of the title while still breaking new ground, and while I wasn't always affected by Travel Foreman's art there were a number of sequences that blew my mind. Definitely a companion book with Swamp Thing, bringing supernatural and horror elements into the superpowered DC Universe, and despite a few reservations I'm looking forward to seeing where this goes.

OMAC: Something I thought would be disposable and easy to pass up ended up being my favourite book of the week! I love 70s Jack Kirby and OMAC is some of the best stuff he did in my opinion, and Dan DiDio, Keith Giffen, and Scott Koblish make this new iteration SING. Part of the reason I love it so much is that it reminds me of those old Kirby books, with many tips of the hat to the King's legends, but the other part is because it is BIG LOUD FUN which is sometimes all I want out of a superhero book. Evacuate your expectations because OMAC is going to destroy them!

Action Comics: The new origin of Superman from writer Grant Morrison, penciler Rags Morales & inker Rick Bryant is probably the most new-reader-friendly of the bunch, and despite some online brouhaha is a very good comic. This new Superman feels like he's going back to his 1930s roots: a working class hero with a sense of social justice. He doesn't fly: he leaps tall buildings in a single bound. He's faster than a speeding bullet. As for the locomotive...well, you just have to read the issue. It tells a complete story but ends on a cliffhanger, daring you not to pick up the next issue.

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Life

Is about as positive as a Morrissey song. I'm not getting into it. But the possibility of more #yegprov (a Twitter-enhanced improv experiment) is an exciting development. And I hope to have a new creative project to ignore starting on Monday, so keep your eye on this space.

How I Am Doing

(Note: this was written on Thursday evening before I went to see Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows Parts 1&2. I wrote it because I was trying to make some sense of what I was thinking, feeling and doing in my life. And I put it up here because I need to try to be accountable, and also because I am getting really sick and tired of answering the question "How are you?" If you're interested: this is how I'm doing. If you're not, just wait a couple of days/weeks and something better will be up here. Probably about comics or vacations or both.)



"I don't get what I want. I get to pretend things are going to be fine because people tell me they are going to be."

It’s been two weeks since my wife left. And since then life has kind of ground to a halt for me. I’m still making it to (almost) all my appointments, generally keeping up with my responsibilities, and seeing my friends and family. But if I had the choice I would be doing as close to nothing as I possibly could. Most days I can barely hold myself together.

Physically: I’m falling apart. I have stopped exercising entirely, and I have been putting absolutely no effort into eating well. Which means that I’m eating stuff with lots of cheese melted on top, and my diet has become about 35% take-out or delivery. I’ve gained 5 pounds since she decided to leave (the end of May), and probably another 10 pounds since the beginning of July. My lower back, which was feeling okay in May and the beginning of June, is starting to ache again. I know I should be more active and conscious of what I eat, I just don’t have any motivation to do so. (Also, I don’t have anyone to hold me accountable and provide me with healthy dinners, which was a big part of my progress in the first place.) And no matter how much sleep I get, four or seven or ten hours, it never feels like enough.

Mentally: I can’t concentrate. I can barely focus my attention on a single episode of 30 Rock let alone a movie of 90 minutes or more. And considering I am spending almost all of my downtime (when I'm not packing) watching movies…I get tired pretty quickly. Let’s repeat that for emphasis. I get tired. Because I need to focus. On watching a movie. That is just horrible. I can’t read any complicated prose, although I did manage to get through 50 pages of a new book at breakfast time. Usually the most reading I do in a day is when I absent-mindedly check my Twitter feed. This is the guy who used to read about 5 books and 15 comics collections in a month.

Emotionally: I am numb. The most powerful emotions I feel are sadness and anger, and since I don’t really have any solid person to blame for anything I am just spewing them into the void. I try to keep those under control whenever I can, although sometimes I can’t. And those are the days that seeing a scrap of paper with her writing on it, or a bottle of her favourite drink in the fridge, or a piece of mail addressed to the both of us, will set me off on a crying binge. I wake up from dreams where we're still together and I can barely bring myself to get out of bed. Dozens of times a day I forget that no, she won’t be home when I get back, and I won’t be able to tell her the good/bad/indifferent news of my day, and then I feel like I lose her all over again.

And when I’m not actively trying to deaden my emotions, I am passively numbed by exhaustion. I barely get excited to see my friends and family. After spending an hour with people I generally want to crawl into a corner and die, but often I soldier on. I can think of exactly three times in the past fourteen days that I felt real happiness, and that was all in the same weekend.

In two hours I will be going to see a group of my friends to watch movies. Normally that would be something I would be very excited about. But I am going to be surrounded by people who love me, in various forms, and the best I can muster is “attendance.” In five days I will be going to San Diego for Comic Con, something I have wanted to attend since I first found out about it over ten years ago. I am objectively looking forward to it, but that is in danger of being smothered by a startling amount of dread. And I can’t live the rest of my life, even if it’s only half a life, underneath a curtain of fear.

So I will try. I will make a list of things that I need to do in order to live, only pick a couple of them so I don’t get overwhelmed, and take it from there. And most importantly I will try REALLY hard not to beat myself up if I don’t succeed. I have a feeling that this upcoming chapter of my life will be dominated by failure. That’s something I don’t deal with very well when I’m at my prime. Hopefully it’s a short chapter. Hopefully it is big on character development and low on whining. And hopefully in the next chapter I get a jetpack.

Project 365: A Photo A Day Keeps The Doldrums Away

Lots of changes lately. Lots of things to think about. Ideas for creative projects are popping up and I'm trying to throw myself into a lot of them and see what sticks. Hopefully one or two will.

Something I've decided to sign myself up for is the 365 Challenge. Basically, you take a picture every day for 365 days, which sounds easy until you are like me and sometimes go through long inspiration droughts. It's supposed to be helpful at getting over the fear of photography, help you compose shots, unlock some creativity. And even though I have only my tiny iPhone camera, I will do my very best to be interesting, at least once out of every four photos. On average. I think that's a reasonable goal.

If you're interested, the link to my profile page is here. And my favourite photo so far is just below. So that's all for now. Until next time, where I will likely either dissect the Green Lantern movie or talk about Batgirl comics (oh yes, I am actually feeling the urge to write about something), enjoy the photos and let me know what you think.


This one actually impresses me a little.

Last Night A Mixtape Saved My Life

So you may be wondering to yourself, "I wonder what kind of music Devin likes to listen to when he's ignoring his blog?" Well, aside from Sloan, I mean. Wonder no further, friends. Because through the magic of the internet, I am going to make a mixtape...for YOU. (That's right, other people might listen to it. But that mixtape is yours alone, gentle reader.)

In the old days, back when cars had cassette decks and people knew who David Schwimmer was, I would make mixtapes all the time, because I was excited to share music with my friends. Mixtapes with collage covers made from my mom's old celebrity & decorating magazines and liner notes that were pages long. But as technology expanded the mixtape fell out of fashion, and I never really caught up to making mp3 playlists or anything like that. Until now!

I currently have 3 mixes on 8tracks, and I keep wanting to get inspiration for more. So I am seeking suggestions from YOU. The reading public. If you want to hear a sampling of my music library, have a suggestion for a theme mix, or just want to throw down a mixtape challenge, please leave me a comment telling me just what you're looking for and I will do my damnedest to put together a mix tailor-made just for you. If you're interested in the kind of thing I've come up with so far, you can play the mix below for a little sample. When I have enough I will probably put up an 8tracks "Mix of the Moment" in the left-hand side of the blog. (I am thinking about giving the entire site an overhaul, but I think actually getting up content would be a good idea first.)

So check out the site, leave me a message, and enjoy the music. I will talk to you...eventually.