An addiction to outrage seems to afflict writers across the political spectrum. Opponents are castigated for being insufficiently scandalized by the atrocity of the hour, and authors of offending posts are roundly demonized and ridiculed. Silver linings are rarely sought in bad news, common ground with adversaries seldom found.
Delighted to see discussion of Zero Dark Thirty in this essay. I was so bummed out by the conversation around the movie last winter.
Star Trek Into Darkness. This one does not compare well to the other Star Trek movies. Fun, maybe, kinda, but there’s all kinds of narrative whiplash, and the non-Kirk, non-Spock characters aren’t quite there for me. Slapdash effort. Oh, well. I’ve still got my top 5 or 6 in the series to fall back on:
World War Z. Pretty stock adventure for most of its runtime, but the last act has some nice tension. I’d still take I Am Legend or 28 Days Later or Night of the Living Dead over this one any day.
SXSW, where only 15 percent of attendees make less than $50,000 per year.
I did not know that.
Gravity. It’s definitely worth seeing. Very stressful in an entertaining way. Gotta respect a movie with moments where just grabbing a rail feels like the most important thing in the universe. It’s a steady sequence of disasters and new problems. The special effects are just tremendous. I love the way Cuarón plays with the sound, changing with the environment or how the camera or the viewpoint would experience it. The score is omnipresent, for better or worse, depending on how you feel about that sort of thing, but I liked its spacy abstraction.
The writing is a real weakness I was willing to ignore in the moment, but made me sour a little bit when thinking back. The plotsplaining was a bit tedious at times (“But now we have to do X, but we have to look out for Y.”, or “It’s getting really hot in here!”), and there’s some backstory and associated melodrama that probably could have been excised, but it’s a popcorn genre film, sooooo whatever. Deal.
What I do wish is that we were in agreement on the basic question of what we think we’re doing when we interpret the Constitution. I mean, that’s sort of rudimentary. It’s sort of an embarrassment, really, that we’re not. But some people think our job is to keep it up to date, give new meaning to whatever phrases it has. And others think it’s to give it the meaning the people ratified when they adopted it. Those are quite different views.
Really enjoyed this interview. I need to keep an eye out for this Jennifer Senior character, as I just remembered her really good article on high school.
Beatlemania: ‘the screamers’ and other tales of fandom.
If anyone is likely to look kindly on the excesses of new generations of fans, it’s a former Beatlemaniac. “I understand when I see the One Direction kids going mad,” says Bridget Kelly. “People think they’re silly but they’re not. It’s the togetherness. We had this big communal thing that we all knew and loved and understood — something that was yours and nothing to do with your mum and dad. We were all in it together. It was lovely.”
Remember this old photo? Filed under: fandom.
gregorypecks-deactivated2014032:
Cary Grant is a gossipy teenage girl.
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Ah, remember that old argument to get your parents to buy you a Nintendo? “It’ll improve my hand-eye coordination, Mom!”
Lost to the Ages: Looking back on the game ‘Myst’ on its 20th anniversary
And just like that, four new books on my list.
Robin Sloan’s Book Bag: Five Science Fiction Books That Matter
GTA is basically the most elaborate asshole simulation system ever devised
Poison Tree: A letter to Niko Bellic about Grand Theft Auto V
A Perfect World. I didn’t realize it had been a year since my last Eastwood movie. Not many directors exploring violence so thoroughly and thoughtfully. The thematic priorities are pretty clear when you consider what is depicted and what takes place off-screen. Ties into the father-son/parent stuff. The kid’s personality is not the most interesting but neither are real kids, so fine. It actually helps the bond with Costner, as you really don’t know where these two are headed. A bigger weakness is that Eastwood and the other cops feel a bit superfluous. It’s not much of a manhunt/chase movie. There’s some story details that come out via the police, and they bring a variation in tone, but the heart is with Costner and the kid.
I’ve got so many Eastwood movie rankings that specific placement is getting silly, but not like it’s gonna stop me…
THE BEST: Nothing is more Larry Bird than this play
This is, by far, my favorite Larry Bird moment, and a Top 10 NBA Moment Ever in my opinion. The first time I saw this highlight, I gasped.
It’s one thing to know your shot is short. It’s another to know where the rebound’s headed. It’s a third to instinctually and immediately go for the ball, and just patently absurd to switch hands to get the shot off, and make it.
There are a lot of great plays in the NBA, but you will not find ten better than this. It really is breathtaking.
The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans. It’s an odd one, and that is enough sometimes. Unexpectedly dark/funny. No one measures up to Cage, so if you can ride along with his zaniness, you’ll probably like it.
In a World…. Loved it. The power of voice! And such a great a set of characters. No one is perfect; no one is irredeemable. I couldn’t help but think of Frances Ha, but this one, like its protagonist, is far more polished. A really fine piece of work. Also was reminded of writer/director/producer/star Lake Bell on screenwriting:
It’s so intimate, and it’s one of your best friends, this stupid script that you end up living with for seventeen drafts or twenty drafts. […] You’re like, ‘You’re still here?? Can you clean up your shit? You leave it everywhere!
The show out-noired noir by recognizing that the most extreme context for modern alienation was not the mean streets of the detective story but a white-collar bureaucracy that extended infinitely above the main protagonists — literally into space — and that threatened to control them without their knowing how or why.
In the Dark: Looking back at The X-Files on its 20th anniversary
Kanye West Loft, NYC 2007 – Claudio Silvestrin. Cf. Rick Rubin:
We talked a lot about minimalism. My house is basically an empty white box. When [Kanye] walked in, he was like, “My house is an empty white box, too!”
The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Had a few nice moments, but really not for me. Didn’t click. I think I disliked the book, too, but I can’t remember it at all. Shrug.
Mark Larson 