FuzzyCo

Hoot by Carl Hiaasen

I think the two things that mark this as a Hiaasen book for younger readers is that the cast isn't quite as huge as usual, there's no sex, and the ending is much more unambiguously happy.

Funny story -- a couple of years of ago I was involved with an improv show that was based around documentaries. Part of our rehearsal process was to watch regular documentaries. Watching all those docs, I half-remembered one I had heard about and got pretty obsessed about finding it. Two months later, I discovered that a VHS copy had been lying on Erica's coffee table the whole time. I converted the VHS to DVD and then... never watched it. All that effort, and I just... eh.

I had told this story to some friends and then a few days later ran into them again. They had just been to a live This American Life taping and the director of the new TAL TV show, Chris Wilcha, mentioned his first big project... The Target Shoots First.

And then I came across the digital files I had made in the process of creating the DVD. I ran them through Instant Handbrake to make a file that could play on my new video iPod. And, over the course of several train rides, I watched it.

In 1992, Christopher Wilcha was hired by the marketing department at Columbia House (the record club people) largely on the basis, it seems, that he was a Nirvana fan and the music industry giant has no idea how to market to the growing alternative music culture. He took a brand new Hi8 camera with him to work and began taping everything. The 200 hours of footage he shot became this 75 minute documentary. It's an inside look at Columbia House, but certainly not an expose. If anything, it's largely about office culture, and Wilcha's struggle to adapt to his new job. It's great, though, and if you can get your hands on a copy, please do.

Erica came to the show on Saturday night and snapped a few photos.

I should mention that we've extended the show by a week, so it now closes Saturday, March 17. So you still have 4 more chances to see me ham it up as a ninja. On closing night we'll be doing all of the optional scenes, if you're a completist.

Don't Go Where I Can't Follow is a spare and affecting work from Chicago comic book writer and artist Anders Nilsen. It's snapshots of his relationship with his girlfriend Cheryl Weaver, culminating in her sudden illness and death in the winter of 2005. By no means an exhaustive memoir of their life together, instead we get illustrative moments -- postcards they sent each other, a letter to his sister detailing a comically disastrous camping trip, a short list of Anders' faults as a fiancee. And almost before it's begun, the book is over -- returning from France, Cheryl is diagnosed with cancer and then treatments fail and then she dies. To the reader, it's devastating.

Cancer is something of a hot-button topic around our house these days, but I don't think that's a requirement to appreciate this book -- as Anders says in his afterword, "it's just love and loss. And everyone, for better or worse, can relate to that."

"The new graphic memoir, "Don't Go Where I Can't Follow," breaks a great many rules of form, concluding with what might be the most devastating 16 panels of artwork in Anders Nilsen's career." [LA Times]

"It's very difficult to deal with Don't Go Where I Can't Follow from any sort of objective or critical viewpoint: simply put, it's the best graphic novel to be released this year." [Tucker Stone]

I saw this great zombie short -- Birthday Call -- and so when I read that the filmmakers had expanded it into a feature film and that it was going to be shown on SciFi I immediately Tivoed it. And it sat on the Tivo for six months or so, until I got Toast's Tivo2Go working, and then moved it onto my iPod*.

Hide and Creep is a zombie movie that knows about other zombie movies -- the first scene is a great monologue by a video store clerk categorizing the great zombie movies of the past. And as such, I was a little disappointed. The movie never quite seemed to live up to the grand promise it showed in that beginning. There are some great moments, but overall the movie drags. And the one big addition the movie makes to modern zombie lore is revealed too late in the movie to really have any effect on the plot or the characters. A great first effort, but not a great movie.

* I mention these technical details to a) brag that I got all these crazy systems to work together and b) to be honest about the limitations under which I watch some movies. I'm never going to get the full effect of a great special effect on the iPod screen.

You loved them at our wedding, you'll love them playing stuff off their upcoming record at Hideout (1354 W Wabansia) next Thursday, March 15.

Sadly, Dan Foss is stuck downstate, and so can't be the Unfairy in this weekend's Rogue 8 shows. Happily, Dan Telfer, the author of the piece and the best penguin-performance-artist I know will be stepping into the role.

Don't Spit the Water will be doing their 100th show tomorrow tonight (I didn't realize it was after midnight), which is quite a milestone. They even got mentioned on the Comedy Central blog. Erica was Cutie Bumblesnatch for that first show and she'll be Cutie Bumblesnatch tomorrow for the 100th -- she's thinking of pulling out some of those ur-bits for the show. (Me, I'll be at Rogue 8 -- but I'll be meeting up with everyone after the show for some well-deserved drinks.)

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

This wasn't the most brilliant movie ever, but it was a pleasant lazy Sunday afternoon's entertainment. And Erica and I both loved the way that nonsensical comic phrases were heard and dealt with.

Speaking of R. Buzzy, a couple of weeks ago Erica and I met up with the guys at their rehearsal space in Superior St and took some new publicity shots with them. I've put up a small gallery of the ones I like -- the band may choose different ones for their site. I was happy to bust out the superfisheye my dad gave me for my birthday a few years ago -- rock band promo shots may be one of the few places I can get away with using it and having it feel at all appropriate.

The DV Rebel's Guide: An All-Digital Approach to Making Killer Action Movies on the Cheap by Stu Maschwitz

We've made some action movies before, but FuzzyCo has recently decided to film an action movie that takes longer than 24 hours to make -- we'll see if the quality goes up in any proportion to time spent. Reading this book was step 1 in the new process.

So since Dan (F) was stuck downstate this weekend, Dan (T) sat in on Rogue 8 as the Unfairy. He did quite a fine job, especially on such short notice.

It also brought me some surprising discoveries about my character. When I first started rehearsing this play after so many years of mainly improv performances I was a little uncertain about a) my ability to memorizing lines and b) how bored I might get doing the same show every night. But I've been pleased to discover that I'm having a lot of fun really trying to listen to my fellow actors each night and then have that provoke the lines (and actions) that I have to say (and do) anyway. So suddenly having Dan thrown into the mix really made me pay attention to him (especially since he didn't know any of the blocking that Dan and I have, so I actually had to watch out to make sure I wasn't running into him or anything) and that made me realize some things about my character -- nothing earth-shattering, but little things* that I think will let me make these last two weeks (well, one week, now) even just slightly better.

* The way I stand in one scene, for example. I'm sure you won't notice. I hope you won't notice. I hope you'll just think, "look out, a ninja!"

In the Blink of an Eye: A Perspective on Film Editing (Revised 2nd Edition) by Walter Murch

This book was recommended in an aside in the DV Rebel's Guide and since editing is the area of film-making (other than, say, scoring) I'm most insecure about, I thought it'd be worth a read.

The first part of the book is a long essay, adapted from a 1988 lecture, on the nature and philosophy of editing. The second half is a discussion of the difference between analog and digital editing -- Murch knows this terrority well, having won the first editing Oscar for a digitally edited film.

First person* who can guess why I had pieces of paper taped to the TV wins a DVD of Akira Kurosawa's Throne of Blood (his adaptation of Macbeth). Click the picture to view it larger at Flickr. Leave your guesses in the comments.

* Other than Erica, who was there helping.

Update: It's been sussed out. Rather quickly. But feel to make a ridiculous guess before you read the comments and then share your suppositions.

Chic-a-go-go is an awesome Chicago cable access show -- a crazy fusion of Soul Train and a puppet show, with plenty of corny jokes and punk DIY sensibility. A few weeks ago I got their periodic newsletter and Jake mentioned that they were taping the 500th episode and needed a photographer. I had to miss out on auditing the latest Don't Spit the Water auditions, but it was totally not to be missed. How great was it? DJ Casper was there and taught us the Cha-Cha Slide. Andre Williams ("Shake a Tail Feather") was there just being snazzy. People danced. We did the El Line and the Fantasy Dance. I took over 600 pictures. (Here's a smallish selection.) Yay!

You know, Tyler still dreams about Randy.

(via Hud Callahan)

Parker used to love this cat bed, but then it got buried behind a bunch of junk in the office. We recently moved it out to the living room and now she's rarely out of it. And check out that delicate paw action!

The Atrocity Archives by Charlie Stross

Charlie Stross mixes Cold War spy fiction with "nameless horrors" stories ala HP Lovecraft, with a healthy dose of Douglas Adams' Bureaucracy and modern computer geekiness mixed in, for an engaging read with a surprisingly sympathetic main character.

Mystery Science Theater 3000 - Mitchell

Erica and I got quite a bit done chose-wise yesterday and wanted to veg out with a movie a bit. She'd never seen a full MST and Mitchell is one that has influenced the way my brother and I both talk (the reciprocal movie for Erica and her brother is Wayne's World) and I persuaded her to give it a try. It lags a bit in the second half, but Erica still enjoyed it.

"Word on the street is you're a jerk."

I had my one month checkup today -- my doctor says that my flaps are fine, I'm seeing 20/20 (although not crisply - that should come with more healing), and that it's normal to still see halos at night (50% of people see halos at one month, he said, and 10% at 3 months). So again, more patience, use artificial tears, and blink completely.

Since I don't need my corrective lenses any more, I sent some of my glasses to my godkids, who were able to put them to good use.

I think I lost him in the lights...

Kate tagged me to disclose Six Weird Things about myself.

1. I have a stylized tattoo of a root vegetable on my ankle.

2. I don't speak Italian, but I usually say "thank you", especially to store clerks, by saying Grazie.

3. I can get pretty obsessed about finding a rare or obscure DVD, finally find it, and then never watch it.

4. As soon as I get home, whoosh, off come my pants. When people call and say they're coming over at night and I say, "Well, then I'll put on some pants" I'm not being cute -- I'm really not wearing pants.

5. My longest continuous, non-family relationship is with Latte, a cat who hates everyone.

6. When I'm walking, I put out my hand and drag it along whatever I'm walking next to -- the wall, fences, file cabinets, etc. At work, with lots of file cabinets everywhere, I'm sure it's annoying to people as I plonk-plonk-plonk past their offices. Sorry, can't help it.

====

Erica and Tricia have answered Kate's tag, and Steve answered Erica's tag. I hereby tag you. You're the weirdest person I know. Hoo-boyo. Lemme know in the comments where you post your response.

F.E.A.R. (or rather, F.E.A.R.: First Encounter Assault Recon, to use its rather histronic full name) is the first first-person-shooter I've played in quite a while, let alone finished. I liked the emphasis on mood and atmosphere over action -- I did my share of firing at shadows in the course of the game. And I certainly didn't miss a crazy final boss battle -- there are plenty of games I've 98% completed, except for some crazy final boss battle. My only complaint was that it seemed a bit short -- I finished it in 5 sessions, none of which was more than 4 hours.

Much has been written about 300, and I almost wish I hadn't read quite so much before I saw it. On a purely guys with swords level, it's pretty awesome.

These numbers are not that impressive (except for that Max Speed -- the Geko glitches like that every now and then), but it's my first ride of the year, and so I share so that it will be more impressive when I get my speed up in a few weeks.

I have this crazy idea to run a Marathon this year. I'm not sure why -- I don't really like running. But it seems like a such a iconic "life achievement" that I kind of feel like checking it off. Annnd, the Nike + iPod kit could make it all a giant numbers game, which I do totally love (see the photo above).

I think my usual Little Corner order is 8 points. Sometimes, at unfamiliar places, I do like to get my server's opinion, but I'm usually a pretty hard-qore orderer.

(via Outside Counsel)

EvilLabs.info

Why .info? Because it's the most evil TLD, of course.

I was really suprised that I enjoyed Crank as much as I did. The plot is ridiculous -- hitman Chev Chelios (Jason Statham) has been injected with a poison for which the only cure is his own adrenaline (I'm sure the elevator pitch was "it's just like Speed, only his own body is the bus!"). And I'm sure it would be pretty easy to hate the over-abundance of visual effects. But the action is, as Chev requires, non-stop and I came to sympathize with his likeable assholeishness, just trying to survive this terrible day.

C'mon people, name your zip or tar files with, at least, the same few characters as the name of the file or directory that it's going to expand into. My downloads folder has a bunch of junk in it, so if I have to go hunting for your files once I've double-clicked on that archive... well, I'll be annoyed, that's what.

We had some friends over last night specifically to watch Jackass - Number Two. It was the first time for them, but the 5th and 3rd times, respecively, for Erica and I. Jackass is such a specialized (which is to say, sophomoric) taste that I'm not sure what to say about this other than if you're a Jackass fan already, you'll love it. If you're not, you'll hate it. I could try to persuade you of its worth with lots of handwaving about 'transgressive humor' and so on, and then Steve-O would throw up or somebody would poop or something and you'd be grossed out and I couldn't blame you at all.

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart

What a great new children's novel this is (grades 5-9, says the publisher). It's a grand adventure story of four extraordinary children brought together by the mysterious Mr. Benedict to save the world from impending doom. Each of the children has different strengths -- Reynie is a hardworking puzzle solver, Kate is strong and acrobatic, Sticky remembers everything he reads, and Constance Contraire is... contrary. But mixed in are some fairly serious explorations of the notion of family, of how far you can go fighting evil without compromising your ideals, of bravery.

A great review by Jessie at What We're Reading Now.

(Disclosureville: Trenton Lee Stewart is my co-worker Kenner's brother-in-law Trent.)