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Wednesday, November 30, 2005
It's that pesky personal responsibility thing...
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin on fire safety:
"You can always make sure to keep flammable materials away from open flames, but why should you have to?"
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin on child safety:
"You can always tell your children not to play in the street or accept rides in vans with darkened windows, but why should you have to?"
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin on consumer debt:
"You can always pay your bills on time and consolidate loans at a lower interest rate, but why should you have to?"
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin on safe driving:
"You can always obey the speed limit and all posted traffic regulations, but why should you have to?"
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin on dressing for a job interview:
"You could always make sure that your clothing is clean and professional looking, but why should you have to?"
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin on protecting your computer:
"You could always make sure to regularly run a virus scan and avoid downloading attachments with executable files, but why should you have to?"
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin on house-painting:
"You could always start at the top of the building and work your way down, and finish your work with a second coat of clear varnish, but why should you have to?"
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin on sex and violence on satellite and cable television:
Giant Monster #2 by Steve Niles and Nat Jones continues the comedy of destruction from the previous issue. In fact, in this issue much of the horror of the premise is jettisoned entirely and the entire enterprise becomes even more of an exercise in black comedy. The inclusion of a giant Nazi robot alone gives lie to any illusions that this material is meant to be taken seriously. It's all in good fun, if your idea of "good fun" includes massive carnage, and whose doesn't?
Hero Squared #3 by Giffen, DeMatteis and Abraham is the conclusion to the most recent mini-series. On that score it's slightly frustrating, as there's no sense of resolution to the story so far, just further complications. There's some engaging, snappy dialogue, and Sloat makes himself my favorite character, but I really wanted a more satisfying ending than "everyone's unhappy except the villain."
Zombie Tales: Oblivion is the follow-up to the previous Zombie Tales anthology. As such, there is a mix of new stories and continuing stories, by most of the same creators. Not being a terribly big fan of the zombie genre in the first place, I was a bit underwhelmed by this volume, after liking the first book a great deal. I think the core problem is, not being a great fan of the genre in the first place, there wasn't enough in this book to differentiate it from either the prior book or all those other zombie comics on the stands. In other words, it felt more like a return to the usual preoccupations of the genre, not fresh like the first book.
Colonia: On Into the Great Lands, by Jeff Nicholson is the second trade collecting his Colonia comic series. I bought the first trade some time back and enjoyed it immensely, as I have most of Nicholson's work, although it has been some time since I read it and very few of the details were fresh in my mind. There's a recap of events here, but it fails to capture the utterly baffling events that make up the charm of this series. Nicholson's art has an engaging, simple, cartoony line, and he paces the story out so that new clues as to how the protagonists wound up in this strange, altered world come in a leisurely manner, allowing the reader to enjoy the strange sights and twists for their own sake. Both Colonia trades are excellent, all-ages material which should appeal to fans of fantasy comics, with the setting giving an extra appeal to history and pirate fans.
Off Road, Sean Murphy's graphic novel for Oni, is very much a "guy" story. I generally have a low tolerance for the "male bonding" genre of fiction, but Murphy approaches the material with a sly humor and sense of self-mockery that makes it appealing and engaging. The story focuses on a series of epiphanies for lead character Trent, with just a touch of action, and a heavy dose of humor throughout, as through a series of macho misfortunes, Trent and his buddies end up trapped in a swamp with a tipped over jeep. Murphy's art is expressive, while retaining an attractive, uncluttered style that allows him to move from cartoony to detailed easily and without distracting from the story. It's a fun story, with great art, and is well worth a look.
Something that struck me today as I was watching a bit of Superman II...outside of flash-back and imaginary stories in thirty to forty year old comics, we don't hear a lot about Lara, do we? You remember Lara, Superman's biological mother, right?
She's got a "Marlon Brando wouldn't come back" cameo in Superman II, I don't think she's ever been mentioned at all on Smallville, and the comics mostly focus on "Jor-El did this, Jor-El did that" when talking about Krypton.
Now, I'm not terribly surprised that the film and television versions of Superman don't want to talk about his mother. I long ago came to the conclusion that the majority of screen-writers have serious daddy issues, hence the over-abundance of film and television characters with distant, disapproving or dead fathers and mothers who are either ineffective or never talked about. Superman seeking approval of his dead father is a more obvious hook for writers with those kinds of preoccupations.
But I'm vaguely unnerved by all this now. It's like a conspiracy of silence to keep the world in the dark about what, exactly, Lara ever did or thought.
Sexiest Men Alive (According to Popular Magazines)
My mother has a subscription to People magazine. I've been known to glance at it from time to time. Purely in a spirit of research, as People's core approach to "news" is "entertainment lite designed to assuage/promote the fears and obsessions of the largely suburban, largely conservative women who make up the bulk of the readership," so it's a useful gauge of what the culture at large is preoccupied with at any given time.
Also, once a year they put together a big photo-pictorial of good-looking men. And, though it may come as a surprise to many of you, I like looking at pictures of good-looking men. So, for the amusement of, well, myself, my responses to People magazine's 2005 list of Sexiest Men Alive.
Sexiest Man Alive: Matthew McConaughey Well, he's certainly pretty, I'll give you that. But "sexiest man alive?" No, not by a long shot, sorry. He's got a certain scruffy demeanor that puts him above most of the blond pretty boys out there, but he's still, basically, a blond pretty boy. And there's something both off-putting and vaguely nelly about the way he purses his lips. It's like he's trying to imitate Tony Curtis in Some Like it Hot, but is forgetting that Curtis was in drag for a big part of that film.
Most Wanted Men Jake Gyllenhall Now, this is more like it. Easily the most talented and charismatic actor of his generation. I don't much go for the big puppy-dog eyes in most cases, but I'll happily make an exception for him.
George Clooney At this point, he's simply a classic. He's gotten better looking with age, and seems to be happily settling into a niche as the inheritor of Cary Grant's charm and gravitas.
Matthew Fox I wasn't really aware of him until I started watching Lost a few months ago. Yeah, he's a bit of all right, isn't he.
Jamie Foxx Hrm, no. He just doesn't appeal to me at all.
Orlando Bloom Remember what I said earlier about not really getting into the blond pretty-boys. Yeah, I can understand in the abstract why some people find him attractive, but he does nothing at all for me.
Owen Wilson What's the only thing worse than a blond pretty-boy? A dumb blond pretty-boy. The sad thing is, his brother is more talented and better looking, but it's Owen I'm always hearing about, mostly from straight men who get very uncomfortable when it comes to talking about how attractive other men are. And that pursed lip thing I don't like about McConaughey is done by Wilson all the time as well.
Antonio Banderas Like Clooney, he's actually getting better looking as he ages. Plus, he played Zorro. That alone makes me all kinds of tingly.
Vince Vaughn Now, this is a sad case. He's not bad looking. And in normal circumstances he's much my type. And he has loads of charisma. But knowing that he makes out with Jennifer Aniston just destroys any and all appeal he might have once had for me.
Matt Damon Too pretty.
Brad Pitt Too pretty. See also: Vince Vaughn.
Viggo Mortensen He's a bit...intense. But damn good-looking. Don't bring up politics or any other controversial topic around him, and he's welcome to hang around.
Heath Ledger Another fellow I managed to remain unware of for some time. Not exactly my type, but I can see the appeal. Plus, before much longer I'll get to watch him make out with Jake Gyllenhaal, so I'm sure my appreciation of him will improve dramatically. Or, I'll hate him out of jealousy.
Patrick Dempsey He's been around forever, hasn't he? I certainly wouldn't throw him out of bed for eating crackers, so to speak, and I guess he's getting some attention lately because of some TV show I don't watch. He's all right.
Sexy at Every Age is a special feature featuring a bunch of attractive men broken down by decade of age. Most of the men are of varying talent and appeal, and there are a few guys here I'm sort of scratching my head at the inclusion of (Tyler Hilton? Constantine Maroulis? Are these people famous for anything other than being obscenely wealthy and having poor social skills?), but there are a couple of winners.
Dominic Monaghan I've thought he was bothersomely cute since I first saw him in Hettie Wainthrop Investigates. I don't do "cute." It’s not my thing. Yet I find him irresistable.
Kyle Secor He was brilliant on Homicide, and dead sexy to boot. I gather he's on that Geena Davis show now. He's good-looking, but I'm still not going to watch a Geena Davis show.
William L. Petersen C.S.I. was a show I'd occasionally watch if I was bored, had nothing else to do, and there wasn't anything else on. Then Petersen grew his beard. Now I make a point of trying to watch it when I can.
Men of Notes is a feature on sexy musicians. Yeah, I know, being good looking and being a good musician are usualy in conflict with one another.
Kanye West looks very angry in his photo. I'm not aware enough of him to know whether this is normal or not.
Franz Ferdinand is a very good band, but the guys are pretty goofy looking.
This Chayanne person looks like something I'd see in some sort of "Sexy Cowboy" calender. Too buffed, too pretty, too airbrushed.
Tim McGraw may be good-looking, but unfortunately most country singers look alike to me.
Nick Lachey is sort of cute, but he's married to Jessica Simpson, and that doesn't speak well for him.
Men of the Year appears to be a sort of catch-all article where they get to give "cute" labels to the men.
James Denton is apparently famous for frequently taking his shirt off on a show I don't watch. He's drop dead gorgeous, yes, but I still won't be watching the show he's on.
Daniel Dae Kim has got that intensely brooding thing down to a fine art. It's a very, very sexy skill. Just as an aside, the producers of Lost sure didn't shy away from casting plenty of beefcake for their series, did they?
Ian McShane doesn't belong anywhere near a "sexy men" list. Sorry.
This Terrance Howard fellow is kind of cute, but I don't really do cute. The same thing goes for Freddie Prinze Jr.
Denis Leary isn't bad-looking, but I don't understand how me made it onto this list. And again with Lance Armstrong, Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles, John O'Hurley and Neil Patrick Harris. Dermot Mulrooney I can sort of see, but his handsomeness is sort of bland.
Now, Bradley Cooper definitely belongs here. That's an exceptionally good-looking man.
Rounding up the rest of the magazine, and focusing just on the fellows who I think do deserve to be here:
Jeremy Piven: Short, stocky, balding and furry. I'm rather surprised that a magazine aimed at heterosexual women put him on the list. I know tons of gay men adore him, myself included, but you don't often think of him appealing to straight women.
Anderson Cooper: Smart is always sexy. Now, if only he didn't think he was fooling anyone about that other thing…
Johnny Knoxville: I feel vaguely dirty for admitting I find him attractive.
Steve Carell: It's an unconventional sexiness, but it's there.
Ken Watanabe: It's that intense, brooding thing that wins me over again.
Mark Valley: Before I opened up this magazine, I'd never even heard of him. Very good looking, however.
The "What The Hell Are They Doing On A List Of Sexy Men" Men
Bono: Since when is pretentiousness sexy?
Tommy Lee and Travis Barker: And since when are men who look like junkies considered good-looking?
Dmitri Hamlin and Brawley Nolte: Now, it may just be my knee-jerk aversion to blond pretty boys, or maybe it's my distaste for people who are famous only for being famous, but I fail to see how being the children of men who looked really good twenty to thirty years ago qualifies you to be on a list of "sexy men."
Criminally Left Out Paul Rudd: I mean, come on? He's funny, he's talented and he's very, very good-looking. And out of the huge list of men they compiled for this issue, he gets left out? What were they thinking?
I no longer work in comics retail, but I've been asked to continue to advise the store on manga-related matters. So, I went through Previews today.
Remarkably, other than the 1,000 or so titles that Tokyopop is pushing out, there were relatively few manga titles scheduled to ship in January. The second volumes of the very well-put together Go! Comi titles were listed (which reminds me, I really do need to go pick up a copy of Cantarella...), the first Kamikaze Girls book is listed from Viz's Shojo Beat line (though I was under the impression that it was a stand-alone book, not a Vol. 1), and Tokyopop seems to be following Marvel's lead on genre over-saturation (i.e., if one horror/western/war title sells, dozens of horror/western/war titles will sell even better ! see also: Spider-Man, X-Men), by pushing even more yaoi/bishonen/shonen ai titles out. Dark Horse has a Umezo Kazuo title coming out, which is a big deal if you're a fan of thirty year old Japanese horror comics. I've not been terribly impressed with the work of his that I've seen before, and it is terribly dated looking. And it's been my experience that older manga titles, while they do have a small cult audience in the states, tend not to interest the majority of contemporary manga fans.
I was vaguely under the impression that gay porn was scheduled to be shipping in January, but the only thing I found listed was Genus Male.
And I kept forgetting to mention up to this point Amazing Adventures of the Escapist #9, because I wanted everyone to know that it's slightly mind-boggling to come across a mention of someone you've known for years as a "hot new artist," namely my friend Jed, who is drawing a Luna Moth story written by Howard Chaykin. But he's extremely talented, so I expect you all to make sure to order this issue.
Rob Osborne's Sunset City is a complex book. I've read it over several times in the weeks since I bought it, trying to come to some sort of conclusive, definitive statement about it, but my goal eludes me. It is a book in which bad people do bad things, good people do bad things, and morally ambiguous people do bad things.
The focus of the story is Frank McDonald, a recent widower, recent retiree and recent resident at the Sunset City retirement community. Osborne does a brilliant job of characterizing the community and its people. He avoids any easy cliches and captures their humanity and their willing isolation from the larger world. These are people who have consciously made a decision to withdraw from the culture at large and live within their own self-made society. Osborne is particularly good at subtly portraying the hypocrisy of many of these people. They exhibit, to a large degree, an attitude that when the world doesn't fit into the neat little categories they want, it is the world that is wrong, but at the same time they show a disbelief in the idea that the "rules" of the culture at large should apply to them.
There are two stunning acts of violence that mark the book. The first, a convenience store robbery gone wrong, falls into that "morally ambiguous" area I mentioned earlier. At first we are drawn towards having some sympathy towards a man who defended his business from thieves, but the newspaper passages which punctuate chapters of the story paint a more complex portrait. The picture that emerges there is of a man with a casual disregard for violence and the deaths of others, suggestions of a history of violent over-reaction and intimations of racism. The second act of violence is taken by Frank himself, in a vigilante reaction to another tragic incident that intruded into the safe isolation of Sunset City. Frank's actions go beyond simple vigilante justice. They are actions born out of his sense of helplessness at the injustices of the world. He's unable to do anything about the casual, indifferent cruelties of the world, but he is able, and willing, to do something about this specific injustice, even if he understands intellectually that it is the "wrong" thing to do.
Sunset City is an accomplished, multi-layered work, and it's depth and skill is remarkable for being only Osborne's second comic. It's remarkable, and I'm at a loss to think of another recent comics work that has prompted so much thought and reflection on my part. I not only strongly recommend it, but would even suggest that a look at it is essential for anyone interested in comics as an art-form.
Quite a different beast entirely is Osborne's earlier book, 1000 Steps to World Domination. It's a surreal, absurdist humor book, that bounces from non-sequitur to non-sequitur in a winding, stream-of-consciousness ramble. Mixed in there is an amusing, if slight, portrait of the artist in mid-artistry. There's humor to be had in the book, but again it's slight work. And while I enjoy a good surreal joke as much as the next person (especially if the next person is Eugene Ionesco), in one big chunk of reading it is a bit much and becomes something of a distraction.
Both works also provide plenty of opportunities to enjoy Osborne's work as an artist. He has an engaging, rough-hewn style, occasionally vaguely suggestive of wood-block prints. In Sunset City in particular, the characters also have a bit of a "squiggly" look to them that helps to emphasize the ambiguity of the story.
Both works are good, though I find Sunset City to be much stronger of the two. The general impression I'm left with is that I'm looking at a promising talent with a strong debut, and that Rob Osborne is definitely a creator to keep an eye on and look out for future work from him.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that should Stanislav Ianevski choose to pursue a career in acting, rather than make the far more sensible decision of returning to his college studies, he will bring with him a sizeable gay following.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go watch some Bel Ami videos...
And Disneyland was fun, a good opportunity to see a friend I haven't seen in a long time and make a new friend, and spend time with Pete.
Though I did experience a "Barbarians at the Gate" moment while there, focused on the large number of children and teenagers who took some kind of portable video game system with them to Disneyland.
What, you're bored at Disneyland? Just the way the park is laid out and decorated isn't overstimulation enough, you have to have your nose in a pixel display your entire time in the park in order to keep yourself feeling a constant flow of sensory input?
I've been surprisingly harried lately, so posting has been erratic. Which makes me feel bad, as I now have a small pile of books and comics I really want to write up some reviews for.
And tomorrow I should have some, hopefully, surprising and interesting moblogging for you.
But I did want to say that, after watching the teaser trailer for Superman Returns last night, short of actually flashing the words "Superman=Jesus" across the screen, they couldn't have made their subtext any more overt.
Mostly what I've been doing in the mornings to wake myself up is watch movies. Most recently I've been on a "gay history" theme, with Thom Fitzgerald's Physique Pictorial docu-drama Beefcake and the film version of The Celluloid Closet being the most recent examples. Beefcake is an interesting film, as it manages to capture the innocence and playfulness of the Physique mag era, while not shying away from the seedier underbelly of that world (drugs, hustling, pederasty, prostitution...). The Celluloid Closet is also excellent, though far dryer, and both the book and film are essential for anyone interested in film or film history. What struck me most upon the most recent viewing was not only how the film ends on the advent of the New Queer Cinema, thus concluding on a far more hopeful note than the book, but also how the film is already extremely dated. The New Queer Cinema gave way, unfotunately, to the commodification of gay film, much as the gay literature movement gave way to a neatly delineated section for "gay books" in bookstores containing mediocre novels and "humor" books which only exist to fill a marketing niche. Now that "gay films" are a section in the chain video stores and online services such as Netflix, only the most middle-of-the-road works get made, in order to service the needs of those chain buyers who want non-threatening images of middle-class white homosexuality (and the occasional inter-racial romantic drama) to fill those shelves.
Another film I watched recently and enjoyed a great deal was The Whole Wide World. I thought it was fascinating not only as a portrait of Robert Howard, played by Vincent D'Onofrio, but as an examination of how pride can sabotage a loving relationship. This would also be the second film starring Renee Zellweger that I've liked. The other being Down With Love, my favorite Doris Day/Rock Hudson movie (which stars neither).
Today I actually took time to venture out to the bookstore. I've been frustrated by bookstores recently. It's become too hard to find things I'm actually interested in as the holiday book season starts to crowd out the new arrival racks, and as the culture starts to shift towards a kind of overly earnest literature that does nothing for me. The last time I was in a bookstore I couldn't find anything at all I felt like reading, and only managed to find something because I happened to walk past a display of "Self-Help" books on which someone had misfiled a book about Jack Parsons. My grand observation on this most recent trip was that the trend in books on mythology these days seems to be to write them as novels. Granted, it does make them more accessible and readable for an audience unfamiliar with the phrasings of classical language, but part of me still finds it slightly silly to read passages like: "Wait, my friend," Herakles said, grabbing Hylas by the arm. It was a strong grasp, and Hylas smiled at its familiarity. "You didn't want me to wait last night, my lord," and Hylas' grin in the moonlight was like a cat's. Which, I suppose, is still better than: "Give it to me, Herc! Give it to me hard!" Hylas gasped as he straddled the demi-god. Which is what I would fully expect to find in one of those by-the-numbers gay books I complained about earlier.
My rueful moment was spotting the movie tie-in edition of Brokeback Mountain. It's roughly the size of a mini-comic (for lack of a better comparison), with thick paper, huge margins, a large type-face, and something a little more than double-sized spacing of lines. And it's still only a few dozen pages long (I just looked it up, 64 pages to be precise). For ten dollars. See, this kind of pricing in the "real world" is why I roll my eyes at complaints that $2.99 is "too much" for a 32 page comic.
A pet peeve of mine is stealth albums. For example, if the store I went to hadn't happened to have put up a display of recent and upcoming films with indie rock soundtracks, I would never have known that the sound-track to Thumbsucker is performed by the Polyphonic Spree. It would never have occurred to me to look for a new Spree album in the soundtracks section.
Oh, and I also bought comics today. But those have been more of an afterthought recently.
The 3.5 Fundamental Differences Between DC and Archie Teen Humor Titles
One: DC's books are noticeably dirtier.
Hmmm...now what on Earth could two hormone addled teenagers possibly be going into a part of the woods that "nobody knows about" for?
Two: The male characters have actually experienced puberty and have facial hair.
Oh sure, I know that the real reason that Scooter's chubby comic-relief pal has a goatee is because he began as a hastily redrawn caricature of Maynard Krebs, but still, none of the guys in Riverdale even have long side-burns.
Two.Five: Malibu
No great observation here, I just wanted to point out that DC's knock-off of Sabrina is a sinister-looking guy. A vast improvement in my opinion.
Three: The artists knew they weren't exactly fooling anyone.
Uh, that's Betty. No way can you convince me that figure isn't intended to be Betty. That figure is so obviously intended to be Betty it appears to have distracted Scooter's chubby comic-relief side-kick from his conversation with Malibu.
All men who taught me important lessons about masculinity and male behavior through their films. To borrow a quote and mangle it liberally, James Dean taught me to dress, Cary Grant taught me manners and Errol Flynn taught me how to woo.
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Rob Osborne's Sunset City is a complex book. I've read it over several times in the weeks since I bought it, trying to come to some sort of conclusive, definitive statement about it, but my goal eludes me. It is a book in which bad people do bad things, good people do bad things, and morally ambiguous people do bad things.
Quite a different beast entirely is Osborne's earlier book, 1000 Steps to World Domination. It's a surreal, absurdist humor book, that bounces from non-sequitur to non-sequitur in a winding, stream-of-consciousness ramble. Mixed in there is an amusing, if slight, portrait of the artist in mid-artistry. There's humor to be had in the book, but again it's slight work. And while I enjoy a good surreal joke as much as the next person (especially if the next person is Eugene Ionesco), in one big chunk of reading it is a bit much and becomes something of a distraction.
