The Blog That Time Forgot

I watched Rachel Getting Married with my wife a few nights ago, and I have to say, that with the exception of a very few moments where I wasn't really feeling like Anne Hathaway had totally lost herself in her character yet, and one inexplicably long Wedding Reception/Dance scene, the movie was incredible. The movie has some surprises that it slowly unveils to the viewer, and in some ways, these revelations felt strangely relevant to me and my experiences, and were something I felt I could relate to. Other parts were less so, but all in all, this was a great, great movie, and I think I really want to see it again sometime soon, after my brain is done processing the first viewing. It gave a really fascinating family dynamic that is not often seen in big Hollywood, and there were some brutal examinations of what near-apocalyptic sibling rivalry can be like in the face of a lot of various personal traumas. Unflinchingly human, but in both the ugly and beautiful sense.



I also watched Land of the Lost a while back, and it could not be a more different film than the above, but smart and funny in its own ways, even though it's pretty much been universally panned by everyone, with a very few exceptions that I couldn't agree more with. This movie plays a lot like Harold and Kumar go to Jurassic Park with the Men in Black. It is a bizarre stoner-comedy/kid-show nostalgia mash-up, that obviously didn't work form the majority of the viewing audience. But I really, really had a good time watching this. I'm a huge Anna Friel fan, even though she isn't given much to do in this film except react to, and inspire, the actions of others. Danny McBride can sometimes be hit or miss with me, and this time around he definitely hit it, holding his own very well comedically with Will Ferrell. Of course, I also thought that Mr. Ferrell didn't put in the highest quality performance of his career here, so Mr. McBride didn't have a high benchmark to achieve, but still. The film made me laugh out loud more than once. It had the same hyper-real trippy feel to it that made H&K go to Whitecastle feel much smarter than it actualy was, and mixed with the trippy feel of the nostalgia of the old kid's show, I felt it really achieved an interesting blend of high concepts and pure stupidity that made for a derivative yet strangely unique experience. Not picture of the year, but a good, dumb-funny movie.



I'm also looking forward to reading "I'm Perfect, You're Doomed: Tales from a Jehovah's Witness Upbringing" by Kyria Abrahams, which my wife is currently reading. My wife was also raised in a Witness household, but left that way of life back when she started high school. As she reads this book she keeps telling me how the book is equal parts hilarious and an eerily exact description of her childhood. As someone outside that life, looking in, I don't think I'll get the same experience out of reading it, but I'll let you know what I think.

I've literally flooded myself with writing work as of late. I am starting a weekly column for a toy collecting web-site which I will officially announce when it comes out. I am just jumping back on board writing poetry for a lovely sculptress who is putting together a themed book of work. I have begun writing a comic book with an old friend of mine who will be the artist. I would love to get my macabre-poetry-for-mature-children project back up off the ground, but in order to do this I may need to seek out a new artist. We'll see. I'm thinking any illustrated works I collaborate on in the future will be digitally published, to help get my work out where it can be seen. I'll have to research this, as I am completely lost on how to go about beginning that process. I'm also considering the idea of going back to comic book review, or at least TPB/OGN reviews, since I don't buy single issues any more. But I'll need to find a site that gives a rat's ass about my opinion. I do love putting it out there though. Oh... and I'm blogging again. Not excellent blogging, but blogging nonetheless.

I'm hoping that if I force myself into doing as much writing work as I can, I can polish my craft and actually do something with it.

Don't Call it a Comeback. Really. (It ain't even that important.)

It has been very nearly three years since my last post on this blog, and so much has changed.

I'm much less cocky these days to begin with, and much less impressed with my own wit. My wife and I have not forgotten the miscarriage that I talked about below, but we have since put it behind us, and in December of 2008, my son was born, and now he's a toddler. So... we remember the past and are thankful for our present, and all wounds scar over with time.

It's funny, coming back to this blog after so many years. My voice has changed, my face and family have changed. My thoughts have changed. I get a genuine kick in going back over the thoughts I posted here so long ago. I hope they don't date me, or embarass me, or...

I don't really care. I love the me I used to be. I really do. We have to forgive our old selves their tresspasses. And as I write that, I realize it's really true. We really do. At some point you have to sit down with yourself and forgive some of the really bad decisions you made in the past.

But it's fun seeing the links I posted to, and seeing if they still link to what they're supposed to instead of some raunchy-yet-ill-named porn site. What I find even more hilarious than old, lapsed links to things I used to find relevant are the numerous apologies that pepper the blog, for starting and stopping things sporadically. It's as if I were being followed by a massive audience that hung on every word. Well, no more of that. If I blog, fine. If I don't fine. I'm doing it for myself anyway, as I type this into the void. It's mental vomit. A diary for-all-to-read... and hopefully a tool just to make me write and keep my sanity. But no more guilt.

In the last few years I've lost my grandmother, had a second child, watched my daughter grow into a nine year old, survived swine-flu, ... and not much else. I haven't achieved much. I am not where I imagined I would be thre long years ago when I dreamed of the future. I'm pretty much still right where I was back then, but thre years more old, three years more tired, three years more around my waist. But then there is my family, which has given me three more years of love and hope and wonder (and some of them haven't been around long enough to give me three years, but they are quickly catching up ahead of the game). I connected with my Dad for the first time in a very long time, which has been great. I talk to him and his awesome wife on Facebook, and I'm happy that he's with someone so incredibly cool, and that his kids, my half-siblings, seem to be too. I'm also trying to get myself writing again on a regular basis for the first time in... well a very long hiatus.

But enough wistful crap.

I watched Zombieland tonight and really liked it. There were a few pacing problems here and there, but there are some intensely excellent moments. Nobody seems to have worked out all the bugs yet for a completely perfect Zom/Com mash-up, not even the holy-of-all-holy, near-perfect Shaun of the Dead got it completely right with absolute zero hiccups. But Zombieland has tons going for it. The leads were all excellent, and the narrative style was spot on. I loved that whenever one of the rules of survival that have been invented by the lead character, Columbus, are observed throughout the film, we are treated to a visual reminder of said rule. The only really violently disctractive hiccup of the movie is the guest-celebrity-cameo-in-the-middle sequence, which could have maybe worked if played a little differently, but... it just ended up completely pulling me out of the film due to the timing, and the way the lead characters responded to said celebrity (I won't spoil the surprise of who it is, in case it still is one for you, as it was for me, and as much as I worship and adore the man, I was disappointed) and especially the celebrity's response to the situation at hand. It didn't mesh well with the rest of the film and felt like the whole thing was supposed to be some sort of extra-feature that accidentally got left in by mistake. But, save for that one really big nit-pick, I was in love with this movie. I will definitely be picking up a copy, and can't wait to rewatch it in the future to see how my opinions change.

That's it for tonight folks. I'm just impressed enough with myself that I even remembered how to get back into my blog account after all this time, and now this old 31-year-old needs his sleep. I'll check back in with you soon.