Yesterday I did some cooking, some eating out, and some leftover re-purposing, and it was all good.
"The Thing" Prequel Starts Shooting in March
(ShockTillYouDrop.com)
"Universal's prequel to John Carpenter's classic thriller "The Thing," is due to begin filming March and continue till June in Toronto."
Directed by Matthijs van Heijningen, Jr. from a screenplay by "Battlestar Galactica" exec. producer Ronald D. Moore and Eric Heisserer (The Nightmare on Elm Street remake), the prequel is supposed to be an earlier story about the mutation that attacks the Norwegian base from Carpenter's movie.
One can expect cast will be announced in the next few weeks.
"TRANSFORMERS 2" The Highest Grossing Film of 2009 -- Total Gross: $402,111,870
(examiner.com) Proving that fans don't read reviews, "Transformers 2" embraced its "bigger is bigger" agenda with the kind of bravado that can only come from "A Michael Bay Film." It is now number nine on the Top 10 highest grossing films of all time.
Meanwhile, honorable mention must go to "Paranormal Activity." In terms of production cost ratio to box office revenue, this grassroots phenomenon was the year's most remarkable moneymaker. Do the math. It has become part of its legend that it cost just $15,000 to make, only to gross over $107 million at the box office this fall. Paranormal activity, indeed.
Full Press: http://www.examiner.com/x-1486-LA-Personalities-Examiner~y2009m12d29-One-for-the-record-books-Transformers-2-leads-the-Top-10-highest-grossing-films-of-2009
Joe Johnston Planning to Shoot "Captain America" Next June
(Fangoria) We haven't heard much from Marvel recently about The First Avenger: Captain America, which is still slated for release in July of 2011. What we do know, though, is that Joe Johnston (The Rocketeer, Jurassic Park III, The Wolfman) is directing and the screenplay is being written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (of all three Chronicles of Narnia movies). Fangoria (via ComingSoon) just published a teaser piece for their upcoming issue that has an interview with Joe Johnston talking about Wolfman. However, near the end of the article they drop a little tidbit about Johnston's plans to start shooting Captain America in June.
Here's the key quote: "… recalls Johnston, speaking from the art department of The First Avenger: Captain America, which he's readying for a June start." Marvel is preparing to start shooting Kenneth Branagh's Thor in January (as reported here), which I'm sure will shoot at least until April. Then they'll probably take a break to support Iron Man 2's release in May before prepping a June start for Captain America. It's great to hear that this is moving along smoothly, now we just need casting. Who will be playing Cap, that's what I want to know! So which of Marvel's 2011 movies are you more excited about - Thor or Captain America?
Avatar’s VFX Master: Weta Digital’s Joe Letteri
(blogs.indiewire.com) People in Hollywood tend to put film directors up on pedestals, and as far as Avatar is concerned, Jim Cameron deserves to be up there. I’m calling nine Oscar nominations for Avatar. But its one sure-shot win will be Peter Jackson and Joe Letteri’s Weta Digital team for Avatar‘s visual effects. What they accomplished in the The Lords of the Rings trilogy and King Kong changed the way movies are made. And so does Avatar, which will have a huge impact on movie FX to come, from Tintin to Gemini Man. Nothing, it seems, will be impossible to put on film anymore.
While I interviewed Letteri on the phone in Wellywood for my Popular Mechanics Avatar feature, Letteri blew into L.A. to see the movie for the first time. I grabbed him for this four-part flip cam interview, more on the jump.
Video Interviews: http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/2009/12/23/avatars_vfx_master_weta_digitals_joe_letteri/
Eric Brevig Goes To War With 3D
(koreatimes.co.kr) "Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D" helmer Eric Brevig will apparently direct a big-budget 3D film about the Korean War, specifically the Battle of Chosin Reservoir. Shooting begins in Korea and New Zealand in November next year for a 2012 release.
Star Trek 2: It's Happening Soon!
(comicbookmovie.com) Guess what Trekkies? We have news pertaining to the sequel to the recently revamped Star Trek franchise. Zoe Saldana, who played as Uhura in the 2009 Star Trek movie (and Avatar as Neytiri), revealed that J.J. Abrams is currently pooping out a plot and script for his next Trek.
Saldana told MTV:
"I spoke to J.J. and Bryan Burk, his producing partner at Bad Robot, and they are still in the middle of building the script with Alex Kurtzman and Bob Orci, and we'll probably be going into pre-production around this time next year."
So what does this mean? Well, nerds and fans alike could possibly see this movie around Christmas time in 2011, or as a summer smash hit in 2012. Looks like 2010 might be a busy year for Abrams, as he launches the Star Trek 2 project.
"Avatar" Fastest to Crack $1 Billion
(stuff.co.nz) Bullock top, Fox bottom in 2009 Film review: Sherlock Holmes Second Love Guru pirate to plead guilty Robert Pattinson's crush on Kristen Avatar recycles indigenous 'stereotypes' Aucklander nominated for Indian Oscars Extras sought for The Hobbit White Island a part of Narnia John Mayer backs Avatar director swearing at 'fan' Cool film heroes of the hot season
Giant blue aliens and out-of-this-world landscapes created in Wellington have helped make Avatar the fastest film to take US$1 billion in global ticket sales.
The 17-day record also makes James Cameron's 3D blockbuster the fourth-biggest earner in film history.
An earlier Cameron movie, Titanic, tops the list of big earners, but another Wellington film is in second spot, though it could yet be toppled by Avatar. Sir Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, took US$1.12b (NZ$1.55b) at the box office.
Up to 850 people at Wellington's Weta Digital studios worked on Avatar's visual effects for four years, while Sir Peter's Miramar studios were used for much of the film.
Marvel Stockholders Approve Disney Merger
(Marvel Entertainment) Marvel Entertainment, Inc. announced that at a special meeting held this morning, Marvel stockholders approved the adoption of the Agreement and Plan of Merger entered into by Marvel and The Walt Disney Company, which provides for a merger in which Marvel will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Disney.
Marvel anticipates that the merger, which, based on the closing price of Disney's common stock on December 30, 2009, has an estimated value of approximately $4.3 billion, will be completed today after the close of the market.
The completion of the merger is subject to satisfaction of remaining conditions disclosed in the definitive proxy statement/prospectus filed by Disney with the Securities and Exchange Commission pursuant to Rule 424 on December 2, 2009.
Cameron On The Future of New CGI Tech: Convincing Humans
(comicbookmovie.com) With his newly developed motion capture CGI, could we see the return of classic characters?
In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Avatar director James Cameron talked about what could be possible with his new motion-capture CGI technology. It's pretty juicy stuff. Take a look at this excerpt:
EW - From the beginning, you said your goal with Avatar was to figure
out a way to seamlessly translate an actor's performance into a
synthetic computer-generated character. Where did that come from?
Cameron - It evolved from a couple of things: growing up on a steady diet
of science fiction, imagining alien characters, and ultimately being
dissatisfied with what was possible with makeup and prosthetics, with an
actor having to be in the makeup chair for six hours a day. This technology
isn't about replacing or marginalizing actors. It's about allowing actors to
transform and empowering them to be as creative as they want to be.
And by the way, we did tall blue people with pointy ears here. But we could
easily have done a straight human look if we'd wanted to.
EW - Really? Motion capture has been great at creating creatures like
King Kong and Gollum but not as good at making convincing human faces.
Cameron - If we had put the same energy into creating a human as we put into
creating the Na'vi, it would have been 100% indistinguishable from reality. The
question is, why the hell would you do that? Why not just photograph the actor?
Well, let's say Clint Eastwood really wanted to do one last Dirty Harry movie,
looking the way he did in 1975. He could absolutely do it now. And that would be cool.
Seriously. If this is true, could this mean Star Wars episodes 7, 8 and 9 can be done with the original cast looking how they did in the early 80's? What about the return of the Joker for Batman 3? Whatever you think of Avatar as a movie, there is no denying what kind of impact this technology can have on the future of the movie industry.
TRON LEGACY COUNTDOWN: T-Minus 12 Months
(latinoreview.com) TRON LEGACY COUNTDOWN: T-Minus 12 Months We're just twelve months (actually 11 ½) away from the release of Tron Legacy, the highly anticipated sequel to the Disney sci-fi/fantasy film of the 80's that influenced a generation. The world was not ready for the concepts and ideas presented in the original Tron when it was released in 1982, with the personal computer and internet in stages of infancy. Today cyberspace has become a household word, though not as advanced as in the world of Tron. The sequel is perhaps the film I am most excited about seeing in 2010 not only because it has been nearly thirty years since the release of the original, but it looks to expand our horizons in the realm of 3D. Avatar may have been the 3D feature that broke new ground, but with it finally here, I now look towards Tron Legacy with great anticipation. I may have waited twelve years for James Cameron to make his film, but I've been wanting to return to the world of game grids and lightcycles for nearly thirty. This is the longest gap between a film and it's sequel and perhaps the first time that both star the same actor, Jeff Bridges. With one year to go I decided to take a look at the twelve reason's why next Christmas will be even better.
Peter Jackson Calls for New, Higher NZ Tax Incentives
(stuff.co.nz) New Zealand will lose blockbuster film projects to other countries unless it offers fresh incentives to film-makers, Peter Jackson says.
On the same day his latest film premiered in Wellington, Jackson said New Zealand's film industry was being squeezed by a high dollar, making movies more expensive to shoot, and increased competition from other countries offering better incentives – including Australia.
He was aware of rumours that Australia was set to implement new financial incentives to reboot its film industry, which has suffered from a dearth of big-budget films in recent years.
If that happens, New Zealand could lose out. "We all have to be very worried about [this]. All these big Hollywood movies that were supposed to be shooting in Australia have all walked away.
"I'm hearing rumours that the Australian Government are looking at getting very aggressive with their incentives. We are going to have real problems if our Government doesn't instantly react and match what the Australians are doing."
He said people thought New Zealand had "some magical quality" that attracted movies, "but it's going to come down to the dollars".
Jackson, who is leading a ministerial review of the Film Commission, also said the exchange rate had made The Hobbit, due to start shooting in April, "tens of millions of dollars" more expensive than it would have cost if made 18 months ago.
New Zealand had already lost two major productions to Australia – The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the third Narnia film, and Sea Shepherd, about anti-whaling campaigners.
Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister Chris Finlayson said New Zealand had never been positioned as the cheapest location for making movies, but it had a skilled workforce and a track record of quality work.
Ghostbusters 3 Arriving in 2011
(ShockTillYouDrop.com) More talk from the Ghostbusters 3 camp to put a production timeline in perspective.
Within the last year, there's been much speculation, fake fan videos that have been erroneously identified as pre-production FX and recent talk from Sigourney Weaver to keep us guessing as to where the story will take the characters next.
Harold Ramis recently spoke to Heeb and had this to say about the project:
Something's going to happen. Dan [Aykroyd] did write a spec GB3 screenplay a few years ago, but no one was motivated to pursue it. Now, 25 years after the original, there seems to be some willingness to proceed and apparently a substantial public appetite for a sequel. We'll introduce some new young Ghostbusters, and all the old guys will be in it, too. Think Christopher Lloyd in Back to the Future...GB3 is progressing with plans to shoot next summer and release in 2011.
This summer might be an exciting time to live in New York City, home of the Ghostbusters, especially if the production decides to set up shop there. Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky are penning the third film.
"Star Trek" Tops 2009's Piracy List
(darkhorizons.com) "Star Trek" Tops 2009's Piracy List
Not unsurprisingly, "Star Trek" topped the list of the most pirated movies of 2009 according to Torrent Freak. Bootlegs of J.J. Abrams' sci-fi epic pulled in 10.96 million downloads this year, easily beating last year's winner "The Dark Knight" with 7 million downloads.
Some expected blockbusters saw placings in the Top Ten like this year's "Harry Potter" and "Transformers" sequels, "The Hangover" and "Twilight". It was the odd ones out though that surprised.
Oregon Movies Making Bring $62 mil to State Economy
(katu.com) PORTLAND, Ore. – From Harrison Ford to Timothy Hutton, 2009 was a star-studded year for film-making in Oregon. At least these four major films were released with ties to Oregon:
* "Coraline," an animated box-office success when it opened at No. 3 with $16.3 million in ticket sales. This critically acclaimed film tells the story of a young girl, played by Dakota Fanning, who moves from Michigan to rural Oregon. It's the first stop-motion animated film to be conceived and shot in 3-D, and was crafted by Nike Chairman Phil Knight's Portland-based animation studio, Laika (formerly Vinton Studios of California Raisin fame). This movie went on to be nominated for numerous awards including a Golden Globe for best animated feature. (See Tony Robinson's DVD review of "Coraline".)
* "The Road," starring Robert Duvall, with its coastal scenes filmed in Oregon.
* "Burning Plain," with Charlize Theron and Kim Basinger, has exterior shots from Portland and other shots from Oregon's Depoe Bay.
* "The Twilight Saga: New Moon," which was filmed in the Columbia Gorge and in several Washington areas including Washougal, Wash. This film pulled down the No. 1 movie slot with a record Thanksgiving weekend.
In all, Oregon took down its biggest year yet from film, television and commercial production fees in 2009. Executive director of the Governor's Office of Film and Television, Vince Porter, estimates total spending in the state was $62 million.
Casting For ‘The Hobbit’ Open To All
(The Hobbit Header) Earlier this month we posted about the fact that the casting for the upcoming adaptation of The Hobbit was starting. Producer Peter Jackson said they were casting the net wide to find actors and actresses for the various different roles, including the key one of the titular hobbit, Bilbo Baggins.
Contrary to previous reports of Hugo Weaving and Andy Serkis being confirmed to return as Lord Elrond and Smeagol/Gollum respectively, apparently they aren’t offering ANY of the roles to anyone automatically until they’ve done a full casting search. The exception to that is Ian McKellen as Gandalf, who has officially been confirmed as coming back.
There’s still no word on casting beyond McKellen, but I imagine with the production start date of mid-2010 that’ll change quite quickly. And to move things along, it appears that casting for The Hobbit is turning to YOU, the average fan. Coming from TheOneRing.net and The Noldor Blog, applications are now being accepted to be an extra and there’s even an address given if you’re interested.
The Hobbit Films
But before you break out your hobbit, dwarf or elf costume and starting firing out an application of your own, there are a few rules:
* The first and probably the most important is you need to be able to work in New Zealand, meaning you need to have an NZ tax number. Now you can either be a registered citizen of the country, or have a temporary visa to work there which lasts through the entire shoot of The Hobbit. Also, NZ law states that local actors from within the country must be hired before oversees people are brought in unless the latter can perform some sort of task locals can’t (i.e. principal actors etc). Basically that means you’ve got a much better shot if you’re reading this as a citizen of New Zealand.
* Only physical mail is accepted, i.e. no fax or e-mail.
* You have to provide a full headshot as well as a full body shot, both with you facing forward (an obvious one, no?).
* You must include your return address with your application so that if they choose you they can send a followup application asking for more specifics e.g. height, weight, clothes size etc.
* Lastly, they do NOT want to hear which roles you think you would be best for or which one you’d like to play (e.g. an elf, dwarf, hobbit). If you follow the previous steps, they will have your photo and bodyshot and THEY will decide which extra role they want you for :P .
Sound good? Are you interested? Can you handle all that’s listed above? If the answer’s “yes” then here’s the postal address you need (remember, you need to send physical mail!) to apply for The Hobbit:
Hobbit Extras Application
3 Foot 7 Limited
PO Box 15104
Miramar
Wellington 6243
After that, all you can do is wait. Don’t be offended if you never hear back from them, it’s probably down to a) you’re too ugly or b) you’re not ugly enough… Depending on what role you have in mind you can lump yourself into one of those two camps :P .
Will you be applying to be an extra in The Hobbit? If so, just for discussion’s sake, which role would you hope to get?
As stated, shooting on The Hobbit is set to start sometime in mid-2010. Part 1 is set to be released in theaters in December 2011, with Part 2 following a year later in December 2012.
The PCRM has published The New Four Food Groups, and while it's all stuff I pretty much know, but I think it's helpful to have it laid out in this way, particularly with ratios of number of servings per group.
The day started with a #cookingfail, but ended with a simple cooking discovery that I will try to use again.
- The recipe called for cornmeal. Hence, the grit. After some tweeting around, I did notice that the cornmeal I bought was "medium grind", and apparently you can buy "fine grind" which might be more appropriate for something like pancakes
- Obviously, I could have had the heat too high, although I had it on Medium
- I mixed my dry ingredients together, and then I went to the the wet ingredients. Now, the recipe says: "In a separate large bowl, combine mashed banana, maple syrup, vinegar, and non-dairy milk", and I confess I just put the wet ingredients together than plopped banana pieces in there and tried to mash it in the bowl with everything else. Of course the liquid made it a little hard to see if I had successfully and thoroughly mashed the banana
- I used agave syrup instead of maple, and I chose to use soy milk as my non-dairy milk, although it said you could use either
- Finally, I probably started with too much batter when I started to make my pancakes
Yes, I know I'm already a vegan, but it's always good to start any resolution with a little outside support, guidance and structure, so I'm partaking in PCRM's 21-day Vegan Kickstart.The quizzes, videos and little tips about eschewing animal products aren't that meaningful to me, but I am trying to follow their menu plans.
Url: http://www.unarts.org
Sound: http://airplaydirect.com/music/stephenmichaelapatow/
2010 represents 20 years of work in the mission field for Country Music Association Artist Stephen Michael Apatow, Founder, Humanitarian Resource Institute:
-- 1990: NCADI Campaign opens the first toll free hotline providing access to the largest information bureau in the world for substance abuse information, materials and support. Largest touch outreach ever coordinated through the Office for Substance Abuse Prevention, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
-- 1993: National Community Service Campaign impacts 133 cities from Washington, DC to San Francisco, California. Backed by the U.S. House Select Committee on Hunger and supporters of the Medford Declaration to End Hunger in the United States.
-- 1994: Humanitarian Resource Institute established, moving from work on the front lines to U.S. and International Policy Development.
-- 2010: HRI United Nations Arts Initiative established to return operations to the front lines, "bridging unmet needs to untapped resources" on the grassroots level in every United Nations member country, with support of the arts and entertainment industry and logistical support of the medical, veterinary and legal professions.
Shortly after Humanitarian Resource Institute was formed, the following article entitled "The Ultimate Objective" outlined the scope of our mission:
Url: www.humanitarian.net/Omnia_vincit_amor
The weapons are active care, compassion, concern and focused efforts to confront the causes of violence, bigotry, hatred and depravity. The vehicle encompasses successful initiatives that address the ills of conflict, ignorance, poverty and disease.
In the context of The Ultimate Objective : "When campaigning, be swift as the wind; in leisurely march, majestic as the forest; in attack, like fire; in standing, firm as the mountains. As unfathomable as the clouds, move like a thunderbolt." -- Adapted from Sun Tzu. "The Art of War"
It'll be a full moon tonight, a Blue Moon on New Year's Eve. Once again I wonder where the year went. I can barely remember being off treatment, sometime in the summer. More vivid is the memory of the (painful) bone biopsy and making our first offer on a house the next day (I hobbled around with a cane). And more significant is the lingering feeling of having wasted that precious time house hunting! But anyway. Here we are.
"Thanks for actual food and the proverbial food for thought.
You have done very well with living your life being aware of the cancer and keeping it from being your primary focus.
You are an amazing person and our team recognizes how fortunate we are to work with you. We have learned from you as well.
Again, thanks for your many gifts. Best to your husband,
Happy Holidays and Happy New Year..."
Url: http://www.musicforfilmandtelevision.com/
Sound: http://www.djquestionmark.com/mp3s/soulspaceship_djquestionmark.mp3
Ventura, CA -- Music for Film and Television announces plethora of new music recently added to growing library of songs available for film and television music licensing. Well-produced independent music is ready for placement in film and television productions. Variety of genres include orchestral, jazz, piano, blues, indie rock, alt rock, pop, dance, smooth jazz, country, ambient, new age, electronic beats, hip hop instrumentals, industrial, singer songwriter, alt country, traditional, big band, rock instrumentals, punk, acoustic, and more.
New additions to the Music for Film and Television website include...
- Allan Soberman: Traditional Prayer Melodies in Beachboy/Queen style Choral
- Alex Bovicelli (AXBV): Dance, Trip hop, Downtempo, Progressive Rock
- Central Services: Upbeat Acoustic Indie Pop, Retro Rock, Singer Songwriter
- Collin Robinson: Ambient, Rock, Alt. Rock Inst
- Crying 4 Kafka: Punk Rock Heavy Alt Rock
- Dan Griffith: Celtic Instrumental, Classical, Country Rock
- Dave Klotz: Orchestral Score, Multi-Instrumental, Piano
- DJ QuestionMark: Hip Hop Funk Rock, Hip Hop Inst
- E.L. Mahon: Smooth Jazz, Orchestral Jazz, R&B Funk
- Eric Goetz: Score, Piano, String Instrumental
- James Shepard: Rock and Roll, 50s Rock, Rockabilly Blues
- Jukebox Serenade: Indie Rock, Female Vocals, Alt Rock, Power Pop
- Geoffrey Keezer: Jazz, Blues Piano, Ambient Score
- Kama Linden: Pop, Dance
- Lawrence Blatt: Acoustic Guitar New Age Jazz Inst
- Mark Allan Wolfe: Score Compositions, Rock Guitar Inst
- Mark Monwid: Electronic Beats, Score, Industrial, Ambient
- Michelle Katz: Indie Rock, Singer Songwriter, Alt Rock, Alt Country
- Midnight Moon Ensemble: New Age, World, Piano, Female Vocal
- Mike Goudreau: Traditional Jazz, Blues, Big Band
- Robin Munson: Country, Adult Contemporary Music
- Rob Johnson: Pop Rock
- Russell Chudnofsky: Ambient Guitar, Acoustic Slide Blues Inst
- Shannon Fayth: Adult Pop Contemporary Singer Songwriter Music
Music for Film and Television is a collective networking resource for film makers and musicians to combine talents through the art of placing music to film and TV. The MFTV website features an organized selection of quality independent music ready to license for television and film music usages including: scene music, background music, score compositions, source music, themes and trailers. Music is available for convenient stream and download, without any sign-ups or fees.
Located in Ventura, CA, Music for Film and Television works with Buzzard God Publishing (ASCAP) to market independent music for publishing opportunities in film music licensing and television music licensing. The official Music for Film and Television web address is http://www.musicforfilmandtelevision.com
Love in the Ruins--Walker Percy
Let's just pretend for
a minute that I have a rating system whereby I give each book I read a
score of 1-100 with the best books rating higher, etc. If I had such a
system, then Walker Percy's The Moviegoer would come it at about a 93. It is, after all, one of my favorite books. If The Moviegoer got a 93, then the same author's Love in the Ruins
would earn about a 37. If you subtract the 37 from the 93, then you
get a difference of 56. That 56 would be the biggest scoring variance
ever recorded between two books by the same author.
Of course, I don't have a rating system like that. Even if I did, I doubt I would go around subtracting an author's bad books from his good books to determine the largest difference between literary quality. That would be a complete waste of time.
The Walking Dead, Volume 10--Robert Kirkman
Speaking of wastes of time, The Walking Dead
series hasn't been good since about the fourth volume. The ludicrous
story plods along at a snail's pace and the art gets consistently worse
with each issue. I only buy them out of habit. If someone knows of a
better zombie-related comics series, I'll gladly make the switch.
Black Swan Green--David Mitchell
Wikipedia says Black Swan Green is a bildungsroman.
I think that's a fancypants word grad students use to let other people
know that they're grad students. Normal people would use the term
"coming-of-age" novel. Black Swan Green follows thirteen
months (one chapter for each month) in the life of a young British
schoolboy named Jason Taylor. The year is 1982. Jason is fascinated
with the war in the Falklands, pop music, and girls. He spends a lot
of his time trying to impress his schoolmates while avoiding the
roaming hordes of bullies that plague his existence. Jason does his
best to ignore the fact that his parents' marriage is falling apart
right in front of him.
Black Swan Green isn't nearly as complicated or rewarding as David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas, but it's definitely a good book worth reading. I would specifically recommend it to people who quit Cloud Atlas on page 17.
Suffer the Little Children--Donna Leon
This
is the sixteenth book in Leon's Commissario Guido Brunetti series, but
only the fourth one I've read. I read the first three in order and
then skipped ahead to Suffer the Little Children just because I
happened to find a sharp used copy. Jumping ahead in the series wasn't
as troublesome as I thought it might be, but this effort wasn't nearly
as good as the others I've read. There was far too much going on in
this one. Even worse, much of what was going on wasn't even properly
resolved by the end. I'm going to go back to the fourth book in the
series and continue on from there. If I come to another mess like Suffer the Little Children, I'll probably quit the series.
McSweeney's #32--Dave Eggers (editor)
This
issue had an cool premise: Send authors around the world and have them
write a story about what's going on in their destination in the year
2024. Very few of the stories lived up to the potential of the
premise, but I'm happy to say that there weren't any major duds in this
issue. I was particularly impressed with Chris Bachelder's "Eighth
Wonder". That's the one to read if you only have time for one.
Every Man Dies Alone--Hans Fallada
I saw a copy of Every Man Dies Alone at
Joseph-Beth Booksellers and ended up buying it because I liked the
cover and the story sounded interesting. I must say this seemingly random decision was a good one. Every Man Dies Alone
will stand as the best book I read this year. I might even add it to
my list of all-time favorites. I just couldn't put it down. I read
over 400 of the
book's 543 pages in one day, and stayed up until 4:30 in the morning to
finish it. I knew I
wouldn't be able to sleep until I got to the end.
Every Man Dies Alone tells the story of a German couple who lose faith in Hitler after their son is killed fighting in France. There's not a lot they can do to publicly protest against the Nazis without ending up in jail or a concentration camp. They hit upon the idea of leaving anti-Nazi postcards around Berlin. They hope the postcards will be found and passed around to ferment rebellion. In reality, most of the cards are turned in to the Gestapo. The book follows the couple's protest campaign along with the Gestapo's city-wide search for the agitators.
Hans Fallada wrote Every Man Dies Alone over the course of 24 days in 1947. He based it upon the Gestapo files of real-life postcard protesters, Otto and Elise Hampel. The author OD'd on morphine just prior to the book's publication, and it didn't receive its first English translation until 2009.
This is a Souvenir: The Songs of Spearmint & Shirley Lee--Eric Stephenson (editor)
This
LP-sized book features comics based upon the songs of Shirley Lee and
his criminally-neglected band, Spearmint. Unfortunately, the writers
and artists didn't get very inspired by their source material. The
songs are great, but the comics inspired by them are all kind of
disappointing. Even the biggest Spearmint fan out there should just
skip this book and spend their money and time tracking down whatever
rare Spearmint album is missing from their collection. I should've
bought Songs For the Colour Yellow.
CURRENTLY READING:
2666: Volume 1--Roberto Bolaño
If for no other reason, than to try some of the yummy must-eats found on this list of 10 Meals Every Vegan Needs to Eat in Los Angeles, courtesy of quarrygirl.
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