November 26th, 2009 Graig
The Lemmy
Support my friend GAK this Movember in raising funds for Prostate Cancer research.
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February 2nd, 2009 Graig
Legends of the DC Universe lasted about 4 years from 1998 through to 2001. It was a derivative of “Legends of the Dark Knight“, the anthology series where various creators could come aboard and muse over Batman in any incarnation past, present, or just-created. Continuity didn’t really matter, it was more about storytelling.
But what worked for the Batman, perhaps the richest (as in diverse, not weath) comic book character in existence, doesn’t necessarily work for everyone else, or anyone else. I found “LotDCU” to lack any sort of real purpose of being, and most of the stories in the first 18 months that I picked up the series, seemed sub par and uninteresting. I mean Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash… how about the rich diversity of characters in the DC Universe that don’t have their own titles please.
While unpacking and sorting, I realize I could easily dispense with most of my LotDCU collection, but the names and character attached to this story lured me in for another look. Issues 10-11 featured a Barbara Gordon Batgirl (hello!) story by Kelly Puckett, Terry Dodson and Kevin Nowlan. It’s a quiet retrospective covering Batgirl’s early days, from the death of her parents and her adoption by James Gordon, to forging out as Batgirl and training under Batman. The real impetus behind the story was that Jim Gordon figured out her daughter’s late-night derring-do activity and intended to confront her, were it not for a bank heist gone wrong with both of them trapped in the middle. Wholly non-linear, it is brief reading, with half of the story told in silent panels, but a sweet story nonetheless.
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January 28th, 2009 Graig
This is the time of year people hit the “culture” films in response to the Oscar buzz, and I can’t say that I’m exempt. Of course, many of the films that receive commendation I saw (or intended to see) in advance of any awards being won, but there’s still an attraction that the Oscars create. While I did always intend to see Frost/Nixon, it might have become one of those films on the “meant to but never did see” list, primarily because of it’s director.
I shouldn’t come down on Ron Howard, afterall he’s a decent (if not exactly groundbreaking) director, and one of the men responsible for getting Arrested Development on the air (for which I’m forever grateful). But at the same time, Opie is a generic director, making movies not quite for art but for the general populace. He’s got more than a few success stories under his belt (Apollo 13, The Da Vinci Code) so it’s not surprising that Frost/Nixon has also been well received.
While technically it’s not a remarkable movie (the camerawork and editing are adequate, the set design and costuming not bad), and its story is rather a simple one to tell (adapted from a book, retracing fairly recent history), what it all comes down to is acting. And while the supporting cast, including Kevin Bacon, Oliver Platt, Sam Rockwell, Rebecca Hall and Tobey Jones (and, of course, Clint Howard) is necessary to tell the story, the whole thing rests in the laps of Michael Sheen and Frank Langella in their respective titular roles.
Sheen’s Frost is a congenial, well-mannered, motivated individual, a playboy rife with charm but rarely letting his smile down. He’s a talk show host, a television presenter of banal triviality, and it’s only in his desire to hit the big time that he courts Richard Nixon, virtually hidden from public since his resignation. Langella’s Nixon, on the other hand, is a brilliant mind with no lack of charisma himself, he’s tortured by his failure and going stir-crazy in his retreat from the public eye. He seeks redemption, but on his own terms, and, incongruously, he also seeks a challenge. Frost’s proposal may be the soft journalism that he needs to put him back in a positive public eye, while at the same time, he hopes he can get a respectable challenge from the young Brit.
Villainized over the past three decades, I’m not sure most young people actually know much about Nixon. I didn’t. All we tend to know is Watergate and his legacy of suspicion that’s surrounded the Presidency since. The movie paints him in hardly a heroic manner, instead as a man defeated, with history already telling that there’s no hope for a resurgence. You almost feel sorry for him, until you understand his philosophy on life and people, on power and responsibility, at which point it’s hard to reconcile the friendly, aging man with the bulldog that bites.
Sheen handles Frost with mostly reactionary looks. It’s the facial gestures and body language that say so much more than the words out of his mouth. A man who has bitten off more than he can chew is basically Frost’s side of the story, and it’s the shift when it becomes not about money or good television but the truth, about reputation, about legacy that he starts taking it seriously.
Howard’s direction is perfunctory, it captures the story, but not so much the intimacy that the actual broadcast interviews had. It’s a behind the scenes, and it is compelling viewing. I wasn’t overly thrilled with the attempt to turn it into a documentary (with the supporting actors giving “talking head” “interviews” with the camera, telling small elements of the story in retrospect), but it’s so minor it could have been omitted.
Langella’s performance is great, completely Oscar worthy. The film, though enjoyable, not so much.
(Alternate Title - “Frosty Nixon: Who Can Thaw Out This Tricky Dick?”)
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January 27th, 2009 Graig
Some people are great at trivia because their brain retains knowledge. Some people have photographic memories and can remember nearly everything they’ve seen or heard. Some people have long memories and can remember precise events from childhood and other incidents from years past that others have long forgotten.
Me?
I have a referential brain. If I hear something interesting or see something, I don’t tend to store the knowledge in my brain, not in full anyway, but I know where I got the information from, or at least how I accessed it. I’m not saying it’s perfect but I learned - well after I was out of school, mind - that this is the way my brain works (not that it would have helped me in school unless every test was open book). I’m not great at trivia, mainly because I think “I know I’ve encountered this information before” and I’ll spend my time thinking of where I learned it rather than what I learned.
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January 27th, 2009 Graig
Tips for removing leeches include sprinkling salt on them, burning them with a match or scraping them off with a fingernail or credit card. According to the professional leech wranglers the latter is the most preferable as a) we all have fingernails which are easily transportalbe and b) burning them causes them to regurgitate into the wound. Erm, yuck.
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January 26th, 2009 Graig
Every chinese restaurant seems to have their own version of this dish, some calling it General Tao, or even General Tzu. I’ve had some truly awful version of this dish, and from Swatow on Spadina, the absolute best version. Today’s dealings weren’t as spicy (usually chili peppers providing the heat) but still the sweet was tempered nicely and the white chicken breast chunks were huge and excellently battered. I did notice the price was up from 10.95 to 12.50 since last I was there (the cost of everything has been going up over the past year, so no surprise there) but they actually provided more food for that value, which is awesome.
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