National Banned Books Week started this Monday, and the obligatory list of recommended banned books can be found here. The 100 most challenged books of 1990-2000, which contains many books I enjoy, can be found here.
Many of the readers, the vast multitude of them there are, know that I have a dirty little secret. I play role-playing games. Given the PMRC's and BADD's attack against this hobby in the 1980s, nevermind the attacks against comics in the 50s, I would be remiss if I didn't have a post mentioning Banned Book Week.
The column which brought this subject to mind, oddly enough since it isn't about book banning at all, is Cathy Seipp's column at the National Review about Author Signatures. Just to give you an idea of how tangential my mind is, she mentions Lost in Place in the column. This got me to thinking about Iron and Silk which got me thinking of the movie of the same name. This in turn got me thinking of Kung Fu action, which brought to mind the D&D monk class and there you have it.
Of course, now that I have mentioned Lost in Place, I must discuss this wonderful novel. To give a hollywood pitch version of the novel, it is Karate Kid meets That 70s Show meets Less than Zero. Sound interesting? It is. This memoir felt so real to me. As I read the pages learning of Mark Salzman's love of kung fu movies and his slightly disaffected youth, I saw parallels into my own childhood. His mild sense of humor and ability to weave a tale are quite magnificent. Reading this book felt like having a conversation with an old friend about our childhood escapades. But the kicker in this book, the part that was most real, was the way it dealt with death. I read this book shortly after my mother died, and it (along with Lewis' A Grief Observed)let me know that I was not alone in my empty sunken feeling. As Lewis says, "No one ever told me that grief felt so much like fear." (quoting from memory so any error is my own). And Salzman shows a magnificent ability to focus his narrative eye on past sorrow. Immediately leave the house and buy this book!
Now, if only my interest in Martial Arts films led me to teach myself Mandarin or become as proficient in Kung Fu as Mr. Salzman. Well...then my plans to take over the world would be more successful than they currently are.
Thursday, September 30, 2004
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
Tony Scott Commits a Crime!
I am as big a fan of Tony Scott as the next guy. Most of his films, with the exception of Days of Thunder force the wandering remote to stop in place and the films compel me to sit my buttocks in front of the TV. But now Tony Scott is attacking the very fiber of reality, those things that I value most. That is right...Tony Scott is remaking The Warriors. For those of you who don't know, The Warriors is a 1979 Walter Hill masterpiece. It combines the late 70's fear of riot in New York (post "Summer of Sam" 1977) with Xenophon's Anabasis (or Ten Thousand). So here we have the journey of a small band of warriors roaming through hostile territory after the death of a charismatic leader. In the one case, Greeks in Persia (The Anabasis) and in the other a gang framed with the murder of a gang leader trying to make it back to Coney Island. The film is a masterpiece of '70s style filmaking. As odd as the description of the film sounds, and as over the top as some of the acting is, this film works on many levels.
Those of you who are Escape from New York fans will really appreciate this film. It pre-dates the Carpenter film by two years and Escape seems like a natural sequel to some of the action/tensions in this film.
Can you dig it?!
Those of you who are Escape from New York fans will really appreciate this film. It pre-dates the Carpenter film by two years and Escape seems like a natural sequel to some of the action/tensions in this film.
Can you dig it?!
Automobiles etc.
My wife and I were talking the other day about hybrid cars and the advantages and disadvatages of such a vehicle. The primary two advantages are, naturally, lower pollutive emissions and the ability to drive in what East Coasters call HOV lanes (we just call them Car Pool Lanes or Diamond Lanes out West). The chief disadvantage seems to be that a stiff wind can blow them off the road and cause an accident. Anecdotally, this happened to a coworker of my wife's not to long ago. Though to be honest it was a mild bump from another car. I am certain that this disadvantage will be dealt with by better handling systems and internal safety devices and maybe more powerful hybrid engines that are able to move heavier vehicles more efficiently.
Anyway, combining this discussion with this discovery, I can now see that we may have to bring in discussions of Frankenfood as well. After all, we might be able to "breed" a Spinach plant which transforms solar energy into electrical energy even more efficiently.
Needless to say, instead of a Prius my wife and I may end up buying a "Popeye" some day.
Anyway, combining this discussion with this discovery, I can now see that we may have to bring in discussions of Frankenfood as well. After all, we might be able to "breed" a Spinach plant which transforms solar energy into electrical energy even more efficiently.
Needless to say, instead of a Prius my wife and I may end up buying a "Popeye" some day.
Friday, September 24, 2004
Russ Meyer In Memoriam
Those of you who know me, know that I love movies. Those of you who know me well, know that my friend Jay is in my opinion the world's greatest source of B-Movie information. Jay is a veritable imdb in his own right. I think his parents were wise in naming him John Ford, his knowledge of film deserves the title. Were he a member of this small community, I am certain he would have written some wonderfully droll prose regarding the life and films of Russ Meyer. Alas, he is a busy man and has yet to join our community of friends, and it is up to me to fill his all to proficient shoes.
Loving movies is easy, loving bad movies is not. This is not because of any difficulty in watching the films themselves, they are often products of sophisticated (even sometimes brilliant) talent. The skill level of bad movies often surpasses what some consider worth watching. No what makes loving bad movies hard is your friends. Most of my friends have a hard time understanding my enjoyment of AIP or Hammer films. And God save me when I venture into Sexploitation territory. I very much enjoy, but as the above caveat should make clear have nowhere near the sophistication of Jay when it comes to the genre, watching a good Sexploitation film. "Why?" you ask, "After all, Christian you are a Graduate Student in Political Theory. Surely you are more intelligent than to enjoy such sexist trash!" Why? To be honest, it is the innocence of such films that continually brings me back. When these films are being exploitative, they are often making fun of exploitation at the same time. When they aren't, it is still usually in the name of farce or satire (I can't remember which is appropriate in this case). In Sexploitation, nowhere to be seen is the grim reality of a Taxi Driver Jodi Foster prostitute. These films are meant to be fun...dammit.
Which brings me to Russ Meyer, who died last Saturday at the age of 82 suffering from dementia and succumbing to pneumonia. The internet movie database describes his career as follows:
My friend Jay introduced me to Meyer with Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! a fun and sexy version of anIn Cold Blood story (after all these are killers for a thrill) with a twist that the "victims" aren't as helpless as they otherwise might be. I loved the film and found it funny, sophisticated, and in an over-the-top way appropriate for the genre well acted. Today, if Tarantino were doing the project, it would be graphic and cold and missing something (much like his Bride is less appealling than the women in Switchblade Sisters). But how does Meyer-friend and screenwriter Roger Ebert describe the women in this film?
Tura Satana's character is the "Bride" of her day, bad kung fu and all.
It is no mistake that a majority of the discussion here is about Meyer's Pussycat it was one of his most popular films, along with the Roger Ebert scripted Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. Meyer made many other films, including an awkward version of Fanny Hill. Of course the "master" of the Sexploitation film would attempt that piece, but as the IMDB article points out his work was not pornographic in its eroticism and at it's best the women were intimidating rather than desirable. In his Fanny, the narrative isn't as expicit as the source, nor is the lead as intimidating as his usual female fair. Thus the awkwardness.
I don't think that it was an accident that one of his last films, though not his last, had a title combining two of his cult classics Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens. and was once again a partnership with Roger Ebert. It always seemed to me that Meyer made films because he liked it and I wish more filmmakers made movies just for the fun of it.
Loving movies is easy, loving bad movies is not. This is not because of any difficulty in watching the films themselves, they are often products of sophisticated (even sometimes brilliant) talent. The skill level of bad movies often surpasses what some consider worth watching. No what makes loving bad movies hard is your friends. Most of my friends have a hard time understanding my enjoyment of AIP or Hammer films. And God save me when I venture into Sexploitation territory. I very much enjoy, but as the above caveat should make clear have nowhere near the sophistication of Jay when it comes to the genre, watching a good Sexploitation film. "Why?" you ask, "After all, Christian you are a Graduate Student in Political Theory. Surely you are more intelligent than to enjoy such sexist trash!" Why? To be honest, it is the innocence of such films that continually brings me back. When these films are being exploitative, they are often making fun of exploitation at the same time. When they aren't, it is still usually in the name of farce or satire (I can't remember which is appropriate in this case). In Sexploitation, nowhere to be seen is the grim reality of a Taxi Driver Jodi Foster prostitute. These films are meant to be fun...dammit.
Which brings me to Russ Meyer, who died last Saturday at the age of 82 suffering from dementia and succumbing to pneumonia. The internet movie database describes his career as follows:
Meyer found fame with his 1959 filmmaking debut The Immortal Mr. Teas, a movie that changed the standard "nudie film" format by working in an actual plot – as well as the amazingly endowed women that would become his trademark. In essence creating a new film genre, Meyer cemented his reputation (and his legacy) in the 60s with cult classics like Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! And Vixen, which poured on violence as well as healthy doses of sex antics. It was the latter film's success that attracted the interest of 20th Century Fox, which signed him to helm the 1970 major studio release Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, which was scripted by film critic Roger Ebert ; a year later he made his most mainstream film, The Seven Minutes, which featured then-wife Edy Williams . With the advent of hard-core pornography (Meyer's films were titillating but never explicit) and the demise of drive-ins, Meyer found his career success waning...
My friend Jay introduced me to Meyer with Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! a fun and sexy version of anIn Cold Blood story (after all these are killers for a thrill) with a twist that the "victims" aren't as helpless as they otherwise might be. I loved the film and found it funny, sophisticated, and in an over-the-top way appropriate for the genre well acted. Today, if Tarantino were doing the project, it would be graphic and cold and missing something (much like his Bride is less appealling than the women in Switchblade Sisters). But how does Meyer-friend and screenwriter Roger Ebert describe the women in this film?
Meyer's extraordinary women are of course fascinating to those with breast fetishes, but look a little longer and you will notice that the breasts are not always presented as centers of desire. Instead, they're weapons used to intimidate men.
Tura Satana's character is the "Bride" of her day, bad kung fu and all.
It is no mistake that a majority of the discussion here is about Meyer's Pussycat it was one of his most popular films, along with the Roger Ebert scripted Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. Meyer made many other films, including an awkward version of Fanny Hill. Of course the "master" of the Sexploitation film would attempt that piece, but as the IMDB article points out his work was not pornographic in its eroticism and at it's best the women were intimidating rather than desirable. In his Fanny, the narrative isn't as expicit as the source, nor is the lead as intimidating as his usual female fair. Thus the awkwardness.
I don't think that it was an accident that one of his last films, though not his last, had a title combining two of his cult classics Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens. and was once again a partnership with Roger Ebert. It always seemed to me that Meyer made films because he liked it and I wish more filmmakers made movies just for the fun of it.
Something of Interest
See, www.politicalcompass.org interesting, but I am not sure if the test is telling or not.
Re: The Dodgers
I am not sure if the N.L. deserves credit for being first, it has been a hundred years. I believe the Red Sox won the first World Series in about 1901.
I have to give credit to Shawn Green for his conviction. In the days of money ball I am pleased to see an athlete take the stance that some things are more important than sports. This is not the first time he has missed time under similar circumstances. As to Sandy Kofax, I believe that Don Drysdale started in his place on that day ... Not a bad replacement. Additionally, this bit about Shawn Green wouldn't even be news if the Dodgers had just taken care of business and not let 6 games drop off their lead.
As to the NL East: Bobby Cox is the best manager in baseball. It doesn't matter who plays for him he just wins. Of course, he has a good eye for latent talent, a good trait for a manager. In short, he is remarkable. The Milwood for Estrada deal looked great for the Phillies at the time but now it looks like the Braves were touched with genius.
I have to give credit to Shawn Green for his conviction. In the days of money ball I am pleased to see an athlete take the stance that some things are more important than sports. This is not the first time he has missed time under similar circumstances. As to Sandy Kofax, I believe that Don Drysdale started in his place on that day ... Not a bad replacement. Additionally, this bit about Shawn Green wouldn't even be news if the Dodgers had just taken care of business and not let 6 games drop off their lead.
As to the NL East: Bobby Cox is the best manager in baseball. It doesn't matter who plays for him he just wins. Of course, he has a good eye for latent talent, a good trait for a manager. In short, he is remarkable. The Milwood for Estrada deal looked great for the Phillies at the time but now it looks like the Braves were touched with genius.
Thursday, September 23, 2004
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