Equal Rights for the Living Dead

follow me across town...

2009-09-09T12:40:00.003-05:00

Unfortunately, this will be my last post on "Equal Rights for the Living Dead." Fortunately, my reasons for leaving this blog are technical, not personal, so I'm continuing my ranting over at Wordpress. (Here.) So, follow me, if you like. There won't be many changes to content; mostly just more of the same.

-TPF

2009-09-01T14:53:00.003-05:00

The chick-singer-rockabilly that I gave you last time just wasn't enough. So, here's another helping...

...And because I'm just in the mood for some good fucking music, here's a little "Nervous Tic Motion..."

-TPF

'Lil Chilly for August

2009-08-30T09:52:00.004-05:00

Two weeks down the line of earning my MA, thus far, and my outlook remains positive. In two days, I'll be stepping to the front of a classroom and influencing the rhetorical education of a small cadre of scared freshman. Hard to keep the big-picture stuff out of my head, which I guess is just how I deal with being/not being anxious about the experience. It does feel good to be grounded on familiar soil, though, and I've found plenty of places that serve good food. Always a plus. Met some great people in TA boot camp as well, people that I'll likely be working next to for two more years.

Few weeks ago, I picked up Jonathan Littell's The Kindly Ones (in English, not French, because I'm just handicapped that way). I was drawn to it by a few articles I read, most of them having to do with the (gasp) controversy (exhale) concerning a 900+ page novel that is told from the perspective of an SS officer, one of the many human cogs responsible for the running of the holocaust machine. It should be known -- if it isn't already -- that I read fiction primarily for compelling reasons having to do with character, voice, and story. The critical, retrospective aspects of of what contemporary lit offers aren't a major concern until I've finished the piece in question. In other words, my concern with The Kindly Ones lies less with what it may or may not add to the canon of WWII fiction -- specifically Nazi and holocaust fiction -- and more with how believable, engrossing, and involving of a story the author has managed to create. Now, I've only made it about 200 pages into this monster, and the progress will slow to even more of a crawl with all the responsibilities that are barreling towards me, but I have to say that Jonathan Littell has done a fine job thus far. Some may argue that the protagonist is too much of a detail-automaton to be believable as a human. At first glance, maybe so; the novel's length is due to the narrator's at times overwhelming attention to detail. I would argue, though, that it's what Aue doesn't see that makes him human; it's all in the things that he doesn't see, or sees but does not expound upon. I would urge potential critics to give the novel a try. It's unflinching. It's a compelling read that doesn't need to beg for your sympathies in order to be engrossing.

On the to-do list that I might be popping back to talk about Inglourious Basterds, District 9, more from The Kindly Ones, and first-year MA/TA experience.

Until then, here's Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall in To Have and Have Not, when mystery was still a valuable commodity in Hollywood filmmaking...

...And a little bit of Irish-born rockabilly...

-TPF

Plots With Guns #7, Summer '09 is GO

2009-08-20T09:40:00.001-05:00

More to come later, but PWG #7, Summer Issue '09 is posted and ready for your viewing pleasure.

Hell of a day

2009-07-21T17:23:00.002-05:00

Today: took a train from Durango to Silverton, CO, then drove the 20-something miles of the "Million Dollar Highway" to Ouray, CO. Some of the most beautiful country that I've ever seen.

The train, which is more than a century old, took us through absolute wilderness, from 7000-some feet to 11,000-some feet. Brilliant!

Pictures will follow. The hot tubs at The Box Canyon Lodge -- linked up to the areas renowned natural hot springs -- are at a pleasant 106 degrees. There are mountains on every side of me. Right now, this is the place to be.

How Was It That I Forgot?

2009-07-19T13:57:00.004-05:00

Recently finished watching the first season of True Blood on DVD. For the first half of it, my response was a mixed bag. Bits of it seemed a little too soap-opera-y. The latter half, though, really picked up, and I enjoyed the hell out of it. It was refreshing to see vampires, their mythology, and the laws by which they govern themselves, portrayed with such a gritty, violent edge. It allows the vampire characters in the series to still exist as monsters, but human monsters, which is the way it should be, if you ask me. The show had a nice juxtaposition of vampires that want to be more human, and humans that want to be more monstrous. I haven't touched the novels, so I've no idea how closely they're related, but the TV show was left fairly open-ended, with tons of room to explore a well-established mythos. Just thought I'd weigh in on some damned enjoyable TV, and without going into a rant, I have to say that it's one of the few enjoyable, dramatic shows on TV anymore.

Dry Heat in Colorado

2009-07-19T13:21:00.002-05:00

The inherent terror of stepping in front of a classroom-full of college freshman for the first time -- as a teacher -- is finally settling upon me. I'm still not sure what to think of it. Even though "TA Camp" starts in less than a month, it still feels an entire season away. Leave it to paranoid me to dwell on nothing else until then.

Was able to catch the new Harry Potter this previous week, and it took a few days of digestion for me to fully figure out how I feel about it. It was all right, I suppose. Probably one of the weaker entries in the series of movies. I didn't really find myself caring as much about what happened to any of the characters, this time around. In this one, more so than the other Potter movies -- I felt like a lot of the sympathy I was supposed to have for the characters depended upon me being overly familiar with Rowling's book. Kind of a bummer, as the previous film, Order of the Phoenix, was under the care of the same director as this one, yet Phoenix was much, much better.

Finally have the founding ideas of a novel pretty well arranged in my head, which is exciting, because the novel is something I haven't given too much attention to, recently. Before college, I tried starting a few, but never made it more than about 60 pages or so. A little more confident this time around, so once I'm done working on a few more short pieces, that's likely the direction I'll be heading. This time, I'll have four years of extremely affecting influence tearing at me.

For the rest of the week, I'm in Colorado, on vacation, trying to pack in as much reading, relaxation, and writing as I can before school starts. It's nice, for a while, anyway, to exchange the humidity of the Midwest summer for the dry dessert heat.

oh, the horror

2009-06-14T11:13:00.002-05:00

Been away from here a bit. Been busy-busy with work, too, but when I haven't been working, I've been reading, and what I've been reading has been dragging me all too gleefully back to my favorite genre of fiction: horror.

At the urging of my special friend, I finally blew threw Matthew Lewis' gothic-horror epic, ,The Monk. Man, what a blast. Admittedly, despite my living the academic life for the past four years, I've been severely lacking in classic literature exposure, and the extent to which I enjoyed this novel makes me think I should've spent more time in the genre. The monk of the novel, himself, Ambrosio (what a great fucking name, too) reminded me a little of Doctor Faustus, from Marlowe's old play, which I also liked.

I also just got done with another novel by one of my quickly-becoming-favorite-authors, Brian Evenson. Man, this guy knows how to work his themes. My own fears of dismemberment-y stuff aside, his novel Last Days, was outright disturbing, but funny as hell at times, too. About a detective with a freshly amutated appendage being drug into a conflict between two different cults, both with a pious obsession with dismemberment and mutiliation. Scary stuff. The other book I've read by this guy, The Open Curtain, was equally fascinating. Not to mention extremely well-written. So if you're looking for something truly chilling horror stuff (which, in good quality, seems to be harder and harder to find these days) look this guy up.

So Much Has Happened, So Why the Lazy Blog?

2009-05-21T14:20:00.003-05:00

For starters, busy, busy, busy. All done here at Southwest State, but for some reason, it still hasn't sunk in. I've even toured USD @ Vermillion, am all set to register for classes there, and I still can't get past the mental roadblock that keeps detouring me to "Fall Semester SMSU." Strange. Not sure what it will take to get me past that.

Went to Duluth, too, which was amazing, despite every attempt by the weather to make it not amazing. Pretty cold, pretty windy most of the time I was there. Even snowed the morning that I left. Lots of binge-eating (see: Amazing Grace and Hell's Kitchen) and lake-walking, though, to make up for the brisk.

The new issue of Plots with (Ray)Guns is looking abso-fucking-lutely great. Really impressed with the graphics, layout, stories, etc. of this issue. Best of all, it ought to be up in the next couple of days, so look forward to all the gritty, futury, noirish delight it will have to offer.

So, Star Trek...

2009-05-12T10:26:00.005-05:00

First off, it needs to be said that I'm not much of a Trekkie (sp?)

Beyond The Next Generation, a ragtag couple of episodes of the original show, and Star Trek: First Contact, I haven't experienced much of the phenomenon. Never thought myself above it, or anything, with my Star Wars obsession, just didn't really exist within it.

Nevertheless, I was more than a little excited for the new movie. Because it's from J. J. Abrams, and I generally like the projects he's helming.

So, the verdict? Way better than I expected it to be.

To get criticisms out of the way first, there were a few points (one in particular) where the plot seemed forced. Like, "no way in hell can this be explained away as just a coincidence," forced. Also, the antagonist that is set up in the introduction, the Romulan, Nero, isn't much of an antagonist. His intentions are never fully realized.

This last criticism is hardly a problem, however, because the primary struggle of this movie takes place between Kirk and Spock. And it doesn't get boring or redundant for one second. Along with the excellent casting (that I hope returns for the inevitable sequel), this is what the entire success of the movie floats upon.

Yeah, I said it. A summer-ish action movie (popcorn or no popcorn) that relies on CHARACTER for its success. Damn was I ever surprised. Not that the special effects weren't good -- they were -- but character is this movie's focus the entire way through. Hopefully, maybe, but probably not, studios will take this as a HINT. Most big-budget action flicks these days tend to rely on their elaborate set-pieces, ridiculous franchise exploitations (yeah, fuck you Transformers, and fuck you G.I. Joe) for their box office success. Not like it's a new trend, but it would be nice to see things swing a different way for a while.

All in all, Star Trek was a great movie. Not a Trekkie? Decades of memorabilia-spawning fandom is unnecessary. See it anyway. Likely to be one of the (if not the) best big-budget movie of the summer. (Ignoring, of course, that it was bumped into Spring.)

BRR #8, Now Online

2009-05-04T00:18:00.002-05:00

Issue 8 of Bare Root Review, the Southwest Minnesota e-zine that I've been co-editor of for the past year, is now online. My greatest thanks to those that put together such a kick ass layout.

Check us out!

2009-04-24T09:04:00.003-05:00

Usually, I leave it up to people to watch whatever they want online. Not big on spreading youtube clips, and the like, but this was too good not to pass it on.

Shouldn't we be doing more to reduce the graphic violence in our dreams?

In Space, No One Can Hear You Scream...

2009-04-22T09:20:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, I had the worst goddamn headache I've had in a while. In order to cheer me up, my girlfriend made this. Absolutely adorable.

1 down, ?? to go

2009-04-20T00:56:00.003-05:00

Made a big, tasty dent in my to-read list this weekend. The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death, by Charlie Huston.

Fucking amazing book. Every blurb I've read about the guy's work commends the snappy, smart dialogue (read a lot of it, and it's true) but this one topped 'em all. Over the past three years, I've been introduced to some good stuff in the hardboiled genre. This, I have to say, was one of the best. The characters were some of the most real I've read in a long time. The author's fascination with such a weird-ass profession (crime-scene cleanup) comes across in how well it's portrayed here; I didn't doubt it for a second.

Been a long time since I've had the time/motivation/interest to pull late-late nights on a weekend just to plow through such a damn good book. Makes it worth mentioning, definitely worth reading.

2009-04-01T11:10:00.001-05:00

"How Billy Hanson Destroyed the Planet Earth, and Everyone On It"
Great story by a favorite writer, Mr. Stephen Graham Jones, is available for your reading pleasure over on Juked. So get your fuckin' ass over there and read it.

2009-03-07T23:47:00.004-06:00

Yeah, I saw it. Yeah, I fucking liked it. A lot. A hell of a lot. Two days before I saw it, I finished Alan Moore and and Dave Gibbons's graphic novel, too. Liked that even more. But to be brief...

No, I'm not going to be brief. I'm gonna go on, and on, and on, because I've got shit on my mind. First, a brief review of the comic. It was just as engrossing, aware, and fucking cool as I'd been hearing for years. However, this is not to say it's perfect, as I've heard so many pent up fanboys preaching as the movie drew nearer. It's got flaws. Big, distracting wounds in the narrative that make me step back and say, "No, I don't buy it," which from my experience, is an effect no writer wants to invoke in his readership. So while the comic was good, it wasn't perfect. It was just, plain good.

Warning: I have no intention of discussing ways in which the movie differed from the comic. I don't care that the movie was (obviously) forced to ditch some of the character complexity that Moore's writing was so known for. It was inevitable. Even with a running time somewhere in the mark of two and a half hours, there's just not enough time to cover the amount of background and motivation that the comic did. It's how adaptations work. Any transfer between such distinct mediums must result in significant change.

Last thing, before I go into how much fun I had at this movie. This movie is not Alan Moore's. It's Zack Snyder's (and Patrick Wilson's, and Jackie Earl Haley's, and Malin Akerman's, and maybe even a little Dave Gibbons's...but you get my point.) It is not Alan Moore's, for reason at least that he chose to have no association with it. When I read the comic, I was reading his work. When I watched the movie, I was seeing the work of someone else, albeit, someone who paid very close attention to Moore's work. It's obvious that Snyder (especially if you've seen any of his storyboards) wanted to emulate the feelings evoked by Watchmen, the comic. I'm definitely not the first person to acknowledge that he pulled it off, either.

The point of all that? In all honesty, judging Snyder's Watchmen as an extension, or an attempt to "copy" Moore's Watchmen, is just plain fucking unfair. They're two, seperate endeavours. Alan Moore wrote a comic that he did, and continues to, from what I read, feel very strongly for. Zack Snyder directed a movie out of fascination with a very good comic book. You see where this leads? Two, seperate works. I hope people can keep this in mind as they see this movie.

Rorschach was the fucking madman. Hands down, out of all the well-balanced protagonists, he was playing center. He just oozes badass, even in the face of Dan Dreiberg's believably conflicted Nite Owl and Billy Crudup's monotone Doc Manhatten. Best of all, Jackie Earl Haley delivers a Rorschach that we absolutely can, and want to, connect with.

Another bonus to having Snyder at the helm of this? The fights. They put the likes of The Dark Knight and the Bourne movies to shame. Yeah, the slo-mo is very trademark Snyder (300, anyone?) but at least we can see who's throwing punches and who's taking 'em. The fast-cut editing of above-mentioned action flicks is becoming too much of an annoying trend, and I was happy to see that Snyder didn't give in to it.

The movie's not perfect, though. Far from it. For all the well-engineered exploration of the characters during the first two-thirds of the movie, the last portion feels very rushed. So much, in fact, that I would worry about folks unfamiliar with the comic that it's based off of getting lost. My prediction? Cut footage. Snyder's original run-time (and, likely, the final run-time come Director's Cut DVD) was somewhere around 3 hours and 10 minutes. Holy shit-and-shinola, long movie, hmm? If that extra 30 minutes or so stands up as well as this movie, though, I'll be happy to sit through every minute of it.

Watchmen was the most fun I've had at the movies in a very long time. It's not without its flaws. It probably doesn't deserve any awards. Fanboys will cry. Alan Moore will continue to shun it. And of course, y'all are free to join whichever party you want to. Before you decide to cheer/cry/shun, though, consider why you're doing it.

New PWG. Fuck yeah.

2009-03-01T20:01:00.001-06:00

Plots With Guns #5 is now live! Enjoy!

In the months since I was last in...

2009-02-21T10:33:00.002-06:00

Wow, so much going on. Just got back from AWP Chicago where I had a blast with ten other students. Heard some cool stuff, read even better stuff on the 8-hour-there / 8-hour-back train ride.

Finally got around to Joe Meno's How the Hula Girl Sings. Not quite as tight of writing as his other novels, but still a great read. While in Chicago, I picked up Demons in the Spring, which I'm very much looking forward to.

Also read Pyres, by Derek Nikitas, which was just amazing. Very much a suspense / thriller, which I'm usually happy to read, and to top it off, the writing elevates it above the rest of the genre. Definitely an author to seek out from now on.

As of now, I'm making my way through The Open Curtain by Brian Evenson. This guy was recommended to me as a writer that's too literary to be a horror writer, but too much of a horror writer to be literary. Somewhere in between. No matter where you place him, his writing is absolutely top-notch, and the story he's telling is absolutely grounded in reality.

Couple days ago, my dearest and I rented Zack and Miri Make a Porno. Silly me, letting critics lead me into thinking that this would be genuinely funny. To keep this quick rant from ruining the story of it (which is the most predictable that I've seen in any movie in a long time), let me just sum it up: Seth Rogen swears a lot. Elizabeth Banks fades into a 2D character 15 minutes into the movie, and Jason Mewes fucks someone on the counter of a coffeeshop. Trust me. Skip it.

More to come later. And you won't have to wait another 4 months. I promise.

So many books I'd love to get ahold of...

2008-09-23T08:54:00.002-05:00

Demons in the Spring by Joe Meno
Ledfeather and The Long Trial of Nolan Dugatti, both by Stephen Graham Jones
Snuff by Chuck Palahniuk
The Monk by Matthew Lewis

This list will probably be updated occasionally, 'cause it's for me too, so I can remember what I ought to be looking for next time I'm in a bookstore.

Know what else is kind of "awww endearing?" The fact that my club wanted to start a fuckin' book club/reading group-ish sort of thing. We'll be reading Watchmen and The Boy Detective Fails, which I've already read, and it's probably one of my favorite books I've ever read. So there you have it. College folks actually enjoying some "reading for fun" amidst a busy semester.

So, what's up in the last couple months?

2008-09-09T22:54:00.003-05:00

Freakin' the fuck out, maaaaaan, about everything! Not so much, no, but I do got shit on my mind.

1. A full plate. (And I mean full, like, trailer-trash-trip-through-the-buffet full).
2. Grad school...way too close, not close enough, right?
3. An e-mail inbox full of oh-so-inspiring rejection notices.

On a much more upbeat note, because I'm actually way more upbeat than I just made myself sound, I gave myself a Living Dead marathon the other night. You know what I discovered from that? (Because I sure as shit don't remember the history reading I was supposed to be plowing through...) Day of the Dead is a much better movie than I ever gave it credit for. Yes, the soldiers are cheesy, no, it's not action-packed, and of course, the gore maybe goes a little too far in too short a time, but damn if it isn't way more entertaining than I gave it credit for after my one single, previous viewing.

Here's another biggie: it's called the Bare Root Review, and I'll be co-editing the Fall '08 and Spring '09 issues of it. So, if you think your writing is up to snuff (why wouldn't it be?) then submit, and face my judgemental, awful wrath!

Last thing, then I'll shut up. Writing has been tough for me, but I've been getting it out page by page. After a dream I had, I came up with, "Not a person in the bar knew what she was floating on, and we sure as hell didn't know her, but we took her home anyway." Yeah, that's sleazy, but that's the opening line of the story I'm working on.

2008-08-31T21:02:00.001-05:00

PLOTS WITH GUNS #3 NOW POSTED!

More later, but that's the biggest thing that's new right now.

There Will Be Blood...

2008-06-26T11:14:00.004-05:00

No idea where this happened or how it happened, but it's fucking fantastic.

And we all remember Mortal Kombat, right? How many times did we chuck the SEGA Genesis controller against the wall trying to figure out all the fucking fatalities in Mortal Kombat II? I thought I had most of them, but this Youtube post proved me wrong....

Summer of Movies

2008-06-26T09:25:00.003-05:00

First things first, I was able to pick up In Bruges the day at came out, and watch it as soon as I got home, and I loved every minute of it. Funny as hell, while still managing to pull some really great stuff out of Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell. Even Ralph fucking Fiennes was pretty fucking awesome, I've got to fucking admit. Might even be the best movie I've seen this year. Maybe the best I will see this year.

But we'll have to wait for Hellboy II and The Dark Knight before I know for sure. What's that? The two movies to be most excited about are comic-based? No shit, I was pretty surprised when I realized this. Guillermo Del Toro's first Hellboy movie was pretty fucking awesome, despite the too-low-of-a-budget side effects (obvious wire-fu, blatant, distracting differences between live-action and CG). This one looks to be much better, though, and the advance review at Ain't It Cool has me pretty fucking excited.

The Dark Knight, on the other hand, I'm going to have to see to believe. Nolan and crew impressed me with how real-looking they made Batman Begins, but I know they've got the potential to disappoint the hell out of me, too. (The Prestige, fucking terrible movie.) Fingers are crossed, though, because I really want to like this one. More than the first, hopefully.

Last, I've felt the need to tell absolutely everyone I know about Jack O'Connell's The Resurrectionist, because it's one hell of a novel. Best I've read all year. It is so hard to pigeonhole into a single genre; it's too horror for noir, too literary for horror, and it goes on and on. Daddy's girl doctors, femme fatals, and a biker-gang tied together by a near-spiritual belief that stems from a comic book, which is really the heart of the entire novel. Just get your hands on a copy and fucking read it.

This Just Rocks

2008-06-21T19:23:00.000-05:00

I was in the Sioux Falls Barnes and Noble tonight, and I saw something that absolutely must be passed on (if you can't see it yourself.)

Near the entrance of the store, in the middle of an aisle, was a book display island titled "Zombies: Life with the Living Dead." Featuring Max Brooks' Zombie books, and a nice little hardcover piece that detailed different ways to kill more than 20 magical creatures. Since when in the hell is Barnes and Noble that cool?

What I do.

2008-06-10T15:08:00.002-05:00

Here's issue number 2 of Plots with Guns, which I care a great deal about, and am proud as hell to have worked on. Looks fucking sweet in my opinion. Check it out.

Working backwards.

2008-05-27T16:35:00.002-05:00

Okay, just a few days ago, I saw the new Indiana Jones movie. Lots of hype. Lots of expectation. I saw the original three as a kid, loved them, and still like seeing them from time to time. This new one? Fucking sucks! (Probably for many more reasons than I'll get into here.) It reeks of George Lucas' influence. The abundance of crappy-looking, unnecessary CGI immediately made me think "Star Wars prequels." And because CGI was involved, you can bet your ass that most of the action taking place was totally unbelievable, almost Looney Tunes-esque. Some of the cheesiest shit I've actually paid to see. Shia, however-the-fuck-you-spell-his-last-name wasn't anything to talk about either. A lame performance, and another example that he is unable to hold his own in the spotlight. Never seen a character of his that isn't horribly 2-dimensional. I could go on and on. Huge disappointment.

It gets better as we go further back, though. My Special Friend Amanda and I spent a good few days up north in Duluth, and it was time well spent. I gained weight. Good weight. Food weight. Places we went? Hell's Kitchen, of course. If you're in the Twin Cities or Duluth area, you've gotta stop here. Fucking GREAT huevos rancheros, and the best burger I've had in my entire life. No kidding. Also hit Va Bene, this cool little Italian restaurant that makes a good toasted sando and also has good-looking gelato (which I'm kicking myself in the ass for not getting this time.) Also, Little Angie's, which is part of the Grandma's chain of restaurants, which makes it a little less kitschy, I guess, but totally quenched my burning desire for fish tacos. Really gooooood mahi-mahi fish tacos. Spent more time at the Blue Note Cafe this time, which was cool, but found an even cooler coffee house called Amazing Grace. Stuffed into a basement, tiny windows and everything. Very tasty espresso beverages and cream-cheese brownies. Then we ate at Taste of Saigon, this Vietnamese place that's also on Canal Park. Curry chicken with coconut milk is really goooood.

So much I'm not writing about here, but really, food is what's on my mind, and my Special Friend and I had a fucking good time eating that food.

More awesomer than I thought it'd be.

2008-05-16T16:00:00.002-05:00

I've been getting expectation blown out of the water left and right, lately. I just got done playing through Dark Sector on the 360, and it was the most fun I've had with a game in a long time. (Again, haven't gotten ahold of GTA IV. Yet.) The story wasn't alway there, but when it was, it was all right, and when it wasn't, the gameplay is just so damn fun that it doesn't matter.

Picture: You throw your triple-bladed boomering thingy through a bad-guy's neck a hundred yards away. Immediately you gain bullet-time control of the weapon and turn it a few degress to slice through the leg of the guy behind him. As it returns to your outstretched hand, it cuts in half the unassuming fool that was rushing you with a lead pipe.

That's what this beauty is made of, and it never got old, even once. Toss in a control scheme that's ripped straight from Gears of War, the ability to add elements to your whirling blade thingy (I think they termed it a "Glaive," but that doesn't seem right) and you've got one hell of a ride. It's cake sometimes, but after the first run-through you get a higher difficulty. Also, the boss battles are the most fun I've had in a non-RPG since I don't know when. Thumbs and toes up to this killer. Anyone with a 360 should give it a spin.

Decent trailer.
IGN's Video Review.

Are You Excited? You Should Be.

2008-05-10T14:44:00.002-05:00

Yeah, so what if IGN says that Grand Theft Auto IV is the best game since Ocarina of Time. I'm not sure it's that good, but I've yet to play it, so I can't judge. Yet. Soon.

What you should be excited about, though, is this. Yes, boys and girls, Gears 2 looks FUCKIN' SWEET! How can you not agree? November can't come soon enough...

Why am I reading this?

2008-05-02T23:30:00.002-05:00

Usually, I don't make a big deal about the books I read. (Unless you're around me for a couple days after I finish a good one.) Hell, I'm not even done with this one yet, and I'm writing about it.

I'm writing about it because I can't remember the last time I actually stopped reading a book and asked myself, "What in the hell am I reading, and why am I reading it?" To call "Child of God" disturbing is to make light of it. If it weren't Cormac McCarthy, a fucking literary genius, I would feel bad about reading some of the stuff in this book. So, why am I reading it?

I read it because somehow, McCarthy has managed to hook me with a protagonist (if you can call Lester Ballard a protagonist) that has no outwardly redeeming qualities. None. He's a murdering, raping, bastard. Yet, I'm following him around the hills of Tennessee for 200+ pages. McCarthy has managed to write a novel about love, lust, and fuck all if it's not a little bit coming-of-age, all delivered in a character so comically horrific, that I can't help but feel a little dirty when I read about him.

I guess I'm writing this because it's been a long time since a book has affected me this much. That's all, maybe, just getting my fascination out instead of in.

Also, if you haven't already...

...and if that tickled your shit...

Apologies Owed for a Couple Good Monster Movies

2008-04-29T09:27:00.005-05:00

Two pretty good movies that'll wipe this wanker from your mind...

Who would've thought I'd be so damn entertained by two of the recent B-grade, big-budget monster-fests in theaters recently, AvP - Requiem and Cloverfield.

I'll start with the lesser of the two, the new Alien vs Predator movie. For the sake of setting things straight, I've got to lay it out that this movie is pure entertainment, and only that if you've enjoyed the Alien and Predator series of films. There is little to no believable character development. B-grade acting is abundant, and as a result, you're not going to give two fucks about the people running around trying to stay alive. That's not what made this movie a winner for me. What it does is deliver scene after scene of bloody, sci-fi/horror ass-kicking between two of the most fearsome monsters to ever tear up the silver screen. This is exactly what I was looking for, and exactly what the first AvP was missing (along with a lot of other things that I won't bitch about now.) The mood and the creature effects in AvP2 are fantastic. If you're looking for sheer, mind-melting entertainment before summer hits, this is where to find it.

Cloverfield, though, was a whole different surprise for me. I actually owe quite a few apologies to people over this one. For weeks before I saw it, I trashed it. Endlessly. I thought it looked gimmicky, fake, and poorly acted. How wrong was I? Pretty damn wrong. Even most of the acting was all right in this piece. What truly rocked, though, was how fresh this seemed. It made me realize how long it's been since I'd seen a truly good monster movie. The shaky-cam thing, sure, maybe a little gimmicky and a little unbelievable, but damn it, I think it worked well enough. And the monster, man, it pretty much saved U.S. filmmakers from having to think about that shitty, awful Godzilla movie released years ago. (Seriously, that's a really bad memory, and I was into Godzilla when I saw that.) If you're doubting the hype over Cloverfield, swallow your fucking pride and rent it.

/endrant.

...And yeah, to all those people I trashed Cloverfield in front of, oops.

2008-03-24T21:15:00.003-05:00

Never had a day flash by quite as fast as this one.

The club I'm a part of got to play host to three fantastic writers tonight.
Kelly Link
Alan DeNiro
David J. Schwartz

All were amazing. It felt great to shake hands with them, chat, and listen. I've been a fan of Kelly Link's fiction for a long time; she writes amazing, fantastical, true fiction. Alan I've just recently been hooked on. I just started his collection of stories, Skinny Dipping in the Lake of the Dead, and it's really got some kickass stuff inside. The title story alone was worth the purchase. Dave Schwartz was a surprise, but the more the merrier! And it's especially merrier with a preview of a novel that features Wisconsineers that gain superpowers from a night of drinking homebrew (I hope I got that right.) Anyway, amazing night, amazing writers, amazing reading.

Gonna quit my babbling and gibbering and try to sleep.

first one up

2008-02-29T23:51:00.005-06:00

All right, first post up. Not much to say. I'm reading this. It's eerie, disturbing, fantastic all at once. Also, I was given a great opportunity to work on a crime/noir fiction journal (see link-list). Got to read some cool stuff, even though most of the work I did was only proofreading. Still great to see my name out there.

A few things I'm excited about?
First news on Gears 2. First one rocked, and the shit that Epic will be able to pull off with the latest update of Unreal Engine III makes me drool a little. Oh yeah, and the gun with the fucking chainsaw is back.

A couple movies I'm looking forward to... In Bruges and Doomsday. In Bruges is from Martin McDonagh, the guy who did a really cool short, "Six Shooter." As usual, Colin Farrel looks much better in this low-key movie than he does in most anything else. Doomsday is from Neil Marshall, the guy who did the best horror movie I've seen in a long ass time, The Descent.

Of course, the local theater is going to ensure that I have to drive at least 3 hours to see either of these. Bummer.