Where pop culture meets geek culture and they make out a little.
Archive for October, 2009
The Staying Power of a Never-Ending Story
Oct 24th
A person’s memories are powerful things. The naturality of aging and maturing forces us into a constant state of change. I read something once about how close to an illusion all of life (as we know it) is. It stated that since the past and the future are not things we are experiencing, and that the present is not a stationary thing, it is very difficult to grasp things that we perceive as important in our lives. Memories are all we have. Being things of the past, memories seem like landmarks for the people we were at those times. Buoys drifting in a vast ocean of forgotten hours, days, and weeks. Memories alone tend to be rather static though. Physical inputs are what really electrifies memories. Movies, books, photos, and songs are some of the most common and easily accessible of these sensory inputs.
Though I remember events that happened in my childhood, what is difficult to remember is exactly how I felt at any given time. A fragment of it might return though, with the right physical input. A good example is the He-Man theme song. I used to watch that show all the time when I was 4 or 5 years old. One day, the show vanished. I didn’t hear or see anything of the original show for about 20 years. Then one day, I looked it up on Youtube and the opening theme was there. It felt weird to see and hear it (to say the least). Even now, just the “Filmation” sound effect at the beginning is like someone poking around in my brain with a popsicle stick. But above all the weirdness, it reminded me of simpler times.
I am not completely mature. I hope I never will be. And I find it unsettling when I see evidence that other people are. I find kids to be the most interesting, genuine, and creative people that exist. To lose all of that by growing is one of the most depressing things I can imagine, but some people can’t seem to help it. This is not to say that adults cannot be these things, but these are aspects commonly sacrificed to better conform to the adult world. They let their inner children die, or lock them away in the forgotten chambers of their hearts, often times becoming perpetual sourpusses.
I didn’t read much as a kid. I suppose I just wasn’t raised that way. I remember reading being encouraged in elementary school, but in a vague, disconnected way. No one told me about a specific book or why reading was a good thing, they just told me that reading was GOOD and reading a LOT was BETTER. So I mostly watched movies. One of the movies I loved the most as a kid was The NeverEnding Story. My family rented it a ton of times and I never got sick of it. So when I was in high school and had finally taken to reading, it was an obvious choice.
Something about watching the movie when I was little and reading the book when I was in high school really intensified the power of the story for me. Since the end of the movie is only the halfway point of the book, I got the opportunity to pick up where I left off with all of these characters I had already loved for years. It was an opportunity that is rarely afforded. It all reminded me of those nights watching the old vhs tape long before the many stress of high school and growing up. And I enjoyed it. On top of the obvious anti-stress memories attached to the story for me, it was really good. I have such a passion for intensely imaginative things, and the book is definitely of that category.
Bastian is a kid that likes to read and finds himself uncharacteristically swiping a book from an old bookstore owner. You read about Bastian, and as he reads The NeverEnding Story, you do too. Atreyu is the book’s protagonist. He is called upon to find a cure for the Childlike Empress, though he doesn’t know what he’s looking for. All he knows is he is to travel in one direction with no weapons and find the answer for himself. As Bastian reads the story, he realizes that certain characters in the book are aware of him, and eventually call upon him to help their world and become a part of the story. It is stated to Bastian that as he has shared the experiences of the characters in his book, others have shared his experiences in their book, and so on. Hence, “NeverEnding Story”.
In the sequel to the movie, Mr. Coreander (the bookstore owner) suggests something that had intrigued me. When Bastian scoffs and says that he has already read the NeverEnding Story, Mr. Coreander smiles and says “Ah, but have you ever read a book twice? Books change each time you read them” When I first saw this, I figured it was just a plot gimmick. I didn’t think about it much at first. Later on though, I understood that it isn’t the book that changes (like it does in the movie) it’s the reader that has changed. Everything seems different because of the changing way that you understand things. It took me a while to really understand how growing and learning changes your perception. Sometimes this can really kill a good sensory input for nostalgia, but it really depends on the amount you have learned and changed. I’ve found that even though I’m a bit different now, I can still remember how I perceived something when I was little.
As much as I enjoyed the book, I don’t remember a great deal of it now. I did begin to read it again though. I can only hope that reading it will continue to reawaken all the old memories. And so far, it has.
This Week In Normality – Zombies VS. Vampires
Oct 16th
I suppose it’s a matter of preference when you ask which is better: the Zombie or the Vampire. Both have origins in superstitions and folklore, and both have seen their respective mythologies evolve with the needs of storytellers. The original zombie stories originated in Vodou stories, where witch doctors or priests known as bokors would revive and control the dead. Some of the old vampiric folktales involve bloated corpses visiting their old neighborhoods. Zombies now eat flesh, or brains, or what else? And Vampires dress in leather and vinyl and drink blood?
But who would win in an all out battle between the two? Many would say the Vampire. This makes sense. They have sentience and therefore may understand themselves, thus possessing the ability to influence their enviroment. Zombies as they stand now, well, they are rather one track-minded, aren’t they? Brains, or flesh. The movie “Interview With The Vampire” utilizes conversation for its frame story. Ever sat and listened to a zombie in a movie reflect about themselves? Or sunsets?
Sentience makes the monster. The only zombies that I’ve come across that retain their intelligence are the Marvel Zombies, with guilt-ridden Peter Parker carrying even more angst now that he’s eaten his aunt and wife. Will other storytellers take a note from this cue and explore the possibilities of sentient flesh eaters? I’d like to think so.
In the meantime, who would win between the mindless zombies and the sentient vampires? There are factors to consider here. First, is the battle being decided on who wins supremacy over the food supply? (yes, that’s us folks, being thrown under the bus by yours truly) In a practical perspective, this should be the only battle worth fighting. Which leads me the next scenario: who would win in a world with either an exhausted food supply? (yup, we’re not there anymore, folks)
Zombies, let’s face it, you are the underdog. Your lack of self-awareness and your inability to communicate with one another and thus cooperate in a sustained group effort might be sending you the way of extinction as the Vampires coordinate your demise. Of course, whether or not vampires are successful is irrelevant, as they’ll be starving. See, your bad meat with very contaminated blood, dear zombie. I suppose both of you will lose in the end, since eventually there won’t be any food for either one of you. Yet, therein lies your victory, zombie. Your lack of intelligence will make you unaware of this, while the vampire will get to reflect on every last spasm of hunger pains in their bodies.
For those who have seen Zombieland, which rule was it that said you should always enjoy the little things?
With that, Killian offers us a series of confessions which I guarantee you, folks, I will personally ensure he does not forget the error of admitting this to anyone.
D. Composition meditates on both the vampire and the zombie in pop culture.
And while I might have something else to add later on, I now turn the discussion over to you, the Normalinauts. I’ve briefly explored one Zombie VS. Vampire scenario, but I say let’s open this up for discussion. As a matter of fact, I say let’s have a contest.
Versatility in Flesh Eating and Blood Sucking
Oct 16th
In most things that become horror genres, specific rules tend to crop up. Werewolves can be killed with a silver bullet. Zombies die if you destroy the brain. Sunlight, crosses, holy water, and garlic are the bane of vampires everywhere. If you stay awake, Freddy can’t get you. These rules and how they are utilized, bent, and broken are what makes for the versatility of a genre. But can one genre be more versatile than another?
It can be tough to classify, because if a movie bends or breaks too many of the rules, does it still belong to the seeming genre? For instance, Return of the Living Dead has what most would consider “zombies”, but many of the normal zombie rules don’t apply. These zombies (first and foremost) are runners (the older rule of stiff shambling zombies gets broken most of the time these days, as anyone who has been to the theaters to see a zombie movie in the last 10 years knows). They don’t die by destruction of the brain, severing of limbs, or anything else except complete destruction of tissue by way of a crematorium. So are they zombies? Sure, why not. They still want to eat human flesh (the brains to be specific) and are the dead returned to some form of life. The broadest idea of the genre gets a little broader and more lenient on the rules to be inclusive of similar ideas. I think ROTLD might have even started the whole eating of brains thing.
The vampire rules have been bent numerous times too. I’m sure before “Twilight” came out, Count Dracula was the first thing to come to the average person’s mind when thinking of vampires. The classic, smooth, black cape-wearin’, widow’s peak havin’, menacing hand-extendin’, lady-charmin’, blood-suckin’ Count Dracula. But since the likes of he and Nosferatu, we’ve gone through tons of variations.
The first that comes to mind is a favorite of mine, and probably because it plays out more like a zombie movie than your average vampire movie. It’s From Dusk Till Dawn. While this film doesn’t really break any of the rules (maybe a couple bent), it is far different from “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” or “Interview With the Vampire”. None of the vampires in the movie have the dignified nature of the average Victorian child of the night. With the exception (maybe) of a couple of the strippers (before they get ugly), there is no sense of style or overwhelming influence here. Surely there’s the seduction by the strippers of the bar patrons, but that’s hardly comparable to a “proper” vampire’s powers of persuasion. So it’s more dirty and the dignified nature of the vamps is nowhere to be seen. Otherwise though, everything seems to apply. Crosses, holy water, stakes to the heart, and sunlight all prove useful against the majority of these beasts.
Zombies were always funny to begin with, even as far back as the original Night of the Living Dead. But now we’ve got Shaun of the Dead and Zombieland making good cases for future zomcoms. Vampires have proved their comedic value by way of Buffy, Mel Brooks, Matt Groening, and well, Count Chocula.
I think one thing that zombies have in their favor is the one variable that seems to be a constant through every zombie movie I’ve ever seen. The cause. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a definitive cause of a zombie outbreak in any movie (unless it’s some random chemical leak or something). The characters never seem to get the exact information because there is mass hysteria and confusion. This is one element that could create a lot of elbow room in the genre without stretching too far from the canon. I suppose the cause of vampirism has never been dealt with either (unless I’m mistaken, which I very well may be), but vampires seem to just be accepted immediately as monsters, whereas it’s harder to accept with zombies because they’re often people that the characters know. Also, it’s usually a recent phenomenon.
Vampires have personality though. And as Jules Winnfield said, personality goes a long way. There hasn’t been a zombie yet to match a Count Dracula (or a Jason Voorhees, Wolfman, Mummy, Freddy, or Candyman for that matter). It’s almost always the collective of zombies that matters, not the individual. There has been decent evidence of zombie personality though, mainly in Fido and Day of the Dead. But for the time being, vampires totally own the aspect of personality.
It doesn’t look like vampires or zombies can really surpass one another in versatility. There are rules that the genres are held to, but still so much that could be done with both without having to really break the rules (but even if a couple were broken, no big deal). I definitely prefer zombies, at least at the moment. This is mostly due to the fact that there is no zombie romance series that takes itself way too seriously (that and zombies are way funnier). But even if there was a zombie romance novel, it’s probable it could only work is if it was hilarious (unless someone took the misunderstood monster (King Kong) route).
Sordid Confessions Continue, or The Vampire Diaries
Oct 16th
I have made a habit of admitting on this website many things that I am ashamed of…or things that I think I should have some amount of shame attached. I am, by nature, one who is not prone to shame and/or embarrassment. That said, I admit the following with a serious amount of trepidation.
My favorite television show, so far, this season is The Vampire Diaries.
Yes, you read that right.
We’ve spent no small amount of energy here at the ol’ NR decrying the phenomena known as the “Twilight.” So I understand if, after confessing my enjoyment of Vampire Diaries, I am called a hypocrite.
I will start by saying that I have not read the books, nor do I have any intention to do so. I enjoy vampires as much as the next guy, but I don’t need them in every damn piece of entertainment I consume.
Every once in a while a teen show comes along that I get sucked into and I am powerless against its pull. The last time this occurred was with a little show known as Dawson’s Creek. Damnit if Tengu and I didn’t spend many a college weeknight mooning over a young and impressionable Joey Potter. What I’m saying is that, even though I generally despise entertainment geared toward teens, I am sometimes inextricably drawn to it.
There are, however, two distinct aspects of the show that makes Vampire Diaries different than your average teen high school drama (aside from the vampires).
1. The actors are actually good. Look, I’m not saying it’s Olivier doing Othello, but compared to other teen shows, the folks on Vampire Diaries (particularly the main female, Elena, played by Nina Dobrev are pretty solid and, at least three episodes in, function very well as an ensemble).
2. Ian Somerhalder, whom you might remember as Boone on Lost (or, if you’re like me, as Hamilton from the short lived Young Americans), is the villain. And god damn does he play one well! Even if the rest of the show was absolute crap, I’d watch it just for his portrayal of Damon.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the objections of my wife. The show does air on the CW, so it’s not like it portrays sex in such a…frank…manner as, say, True Blood. But the show does air at 8, and is geared toward the teens (and tweens). In three episodes, however, I’ve already seen multiple sex scenes, one girl take off her shirt, and a full ass shot of another. If you know an 11 year old who is watching the show, I’d get him/her to watch something else is all I’m saying.
This most recent episode really did a lot to open up the storyline. I don’t want to ruin it for you…you can watch full episodes here, in fact…so I’ll just say that, while the budding romance between a high school girl and a 150 year old vampire is the focus of the show, there is so much more developing.
So if you don’t have anything else going on Thursday nights, you might check out Vampire Diaries…and, if you do hate, try not to judge me too harshly.
3/5 - Might be worth a try...
Zombies VS Vampires $5 AMAZON GIFT CARD Throwdown!
Oct 16th
That’s right, ladies and gentlemen. Post your best Zombie VS. Vampire scenarios in the comments of this page between now through October 31, and a winner, chosen by the crew here at NR, will receive a $5.00 Amazon Gift Card in their e-mail. Unfortunately, the contest isn’t open to any of the NR staff.
There we go, now let’s have it! Give us your best!
The Exposure Whine
Oct 14th
As I sit here at my computer, thinking about this weeks subject, “overblown”, a number of recent occurrences come to mind. One of which is the recent release of a few cubic feet of Beatles merchandise. I like the Beatles. I feel that they live up to their colossal, perpetual hype and adoration. But after hearing all of their albums enough times to develop the ability to mentally play most of them back Andy Dufresne style, there’s only so much of the Fab Four I wish to hear, or hear about. Their legacy paired with the continuation of human reproduction will afford them an eternity of remastering, redigitizing, recompiling, merchandising, and whatever else can be done to make the music sound better, honor them, and please their fans (or generate money). But that’s all I really have to say about the subject.
Another recent thing I could talk about is Kanye West and his overblown ego. But this subject is so overblown, I’m sure the sight of the word “Kanye” causes various instant ocular diseases. So nevermind.
I suppose amongst all current things overblown, I have the strongest opinion about one relating to the new Guitar Hero game, “Guitar Hero 5”.
After hearing that Kurt Cobain would be a “playable character” in GH5 (and later hearing that Courtney Love was upset about it. Surprise surprise!) I went over to Wikipedia to check out the song list for the game. Lo and behold, one of my favorite artists, Elliott Smith was amongst the artists on the new roster. (If you haven’t heard of Elliott Smith, you’re probably in the majority. He was, more or less, an under-the-radar singer-songwriter on the indie “Killrockstars” label. He is probably most well known for his song “Miss Misery” on the Good Will Hunting soundtrack and for “Needle In the Hay” on the Royal Tenenbaums soundtrack.)
My first reaction to something like this is almost always a positive one. I love Elliott Smith and I’ve enjoyed Guitar Hero to a fair degree, so this is a good thing to me.
The song in question is called “L.A.”. Since Elliott Smith has about one billionth of the exposure that the Beatles have, I don’t know every song name and melody like the back of my hand. So to refresh me on exactly which song “L.A.” was, I went over to Youtube to check it out. Ah, that one. Okay, awesome… but then I scroll down to the comments.
Every other post seems to be about how all the little snot-nosed 15 year olds are going to start liking Elliott Smith now, talking about how they can “5-star” his song, thus “ruining” him for all of us old fans. Us old proud fans that found Mr. Smith when so many others didn’t and it was so special that he was ours and he was sacred and beautiful and blah blah blah. This is such a common overreaction of people in a billion other similar circumstances. “Their” underground or unknown band, movie, hangout, book, or whatever has become endangered by exposure, and more other people are going to start liking it and talking about it. If I can quote Dr. Evil: “Boo frickety-hoo!”.
Are those things any less entertaining after other people have gained knowledge of them? Really? It just seems to me that if you really like something enough to complain about its exposure on a website, the subsequent media and peer blatherings shouldn’t affect your love of that something (unless of course, you’re being inundated with it).
P.S. I can sympathize with the fear of a band going mainstream and becoming mundane pop, because it’s happened with some bands that were the ideal for an underground love. But Elliott Smith is dead. It’s not going to happen this time. (Some might argue that it did happen before he died. These people are musical elitists. Don’t tell them who your favorite band is.)
The Magic & Mystery of Miss A.K.
Oct 1st
Frank Portman has a thing for names. In his first released book, the delightful “King Dork”, the protagonist is a teen named Tom Henderson, although I don’t think he is called this even once in the whole book. Tom’s one-of-a-kind personality coupled with a hellish and hostile day-to-day experience known as “high school” afford him many a creative moniker. A couple of which are: Hender-fag, Chi-Mo, and Sheepie (among numerous others).
Another sweet running joke in “KD” is the continual re-naming of Hender-mo’s band, based on either something related to his current situation, or perhaps from nothing more than a vivid imagination and sense of humor on Portman and Henderson’s part. A couple of these gems include: “The Underpants Machine, The Stoned Marmadukes, Oxford English, and Balls Deep.”
I read KD abot a year ago, and recall it being a rather simple, enjoyable read with a sharp wit. There was some kind of blurb on the book about Portman’s next book, entitled “Andromeda Klein” and even a few pages of the beginning of it in the back of KD. I remember reading the sample, but not getting any concrete idea on what it would be like. I read “Andromeda Klein” recently, and it is like KD, except instead of having a high school-loser-punk-rock-mystery theme, It has a high school-loser-occultist-mystery theme, and if you haven’t already guessed, it’s about a girl named Andromeda Klein.
The first thing that comes to mind about the book is how very dense it is on the prominent subject matter of the occult. Andromeda surrounds herself with old and musty books written by the likes of Aleister Crowley and A.E. Waite. AK’s knowledge of tons of kinds of spells (of which I’ve already forgotten all of the names) really hits you in the face for the first quarter (or so) of the book. You can tell Portman did extensive research for this book, and he shows it. It’s a little overwhelming, but for the most part, remembering everything isn’t necessary.
When you couple the deluge of mystic names and rituals and books and spells (etc) with Portman’s humor and seemingly endless plays on words, it gets rather fun.
AK gets her fair share of alternate names, such as Man-dromeda and No-ass, but another lovely little play-on-words device is that AK can’t hear so well. And it leads to instances of people saying things like “bagel worm agony” (naked girl magazine), and her enemies calling her a “toe-ass butter sucking fish” ( fairly obvious). Atop all of this, there is AAK or “alternate Andromeda Klein”, better known as AK’s more confident and sarcastic inner monologue, which later becomes a full fledged character named “Huggy” (I think). And then there are the dreams, self induced and otherwise.
As complex as minor details in the story are, the major elements stay rather simple. AK is a misunderstood girl who is (very) into her own unique interests, and she’s trying to figure out reasons for things happening to her by utilizing those interests (tarot cards and various other mystical means). And she must attempt all this amongst a mom who is a chronic barger, an absent-for-no-clear-reason-ex?-boyfriend, a friend that continuously tries to set her up on dates, an evil book-abducting organization, a deceased best friend’s psychotic mom, and numerous other perilous entities and situations.
I read another review that said the book takes hold after the initial quarter or so. I agree with this. With the mystic info avalanche safely behind you, you might well become riveted by this slickly-written YA high school occult mystery.
4/5 - Nearly classic!
