Day: September 14, 2005

It’s All About ME

(I fret too much that this will be taken with the affected vainglorious tone.)

As Mr. Hembeck so acutely observed today, I find myself in the middle of the blogiverse. It even extends beyond the comic book folks.

I was looking at Steve Gerber’s blog the other day when there was noticed by ME something called Technorati. (Gordon’s page has it too, but I did not notice it before.) It shows blogs that are linked to his blog, such as MINE. Naturally, I checked to see who was linked to ME, and I found a bunch of these comic bloggers I’ve only met electronically, all of whom are in the Comic Blog section of MY blog, plus MY friend Lori.

But I also came across a Chris Black, a “Liberal Democrat Councillor” from Rayleigh, Essex, United Kingdom, who linked to something I wrote a couple weeks ago. I think he’s Lefty’s long-lost cousin across the pond (both named Chris, both with last names that are colors, both liberal). I think we should all write to him and say “Hi.”

Last Tuesday, I discovered that it was ME (or I, but let’s not get fussy here) who had won Logan’s contest. I don’t even know what the criteria were, but no matter.
But then Logan caused ME all sorts of distress by asking ME, who’s only recently re-entered the comic book word, and tentatively at that, to pick out what he should read from his enormous pile of unread items; and, lo, he actually took some of MY advice!

On Friday, Greg announced that one of the three winners of his contest was ME.

On Saturday, I went to Fred’s page and saw that he filled out the Five for Friday poll of the Comic Reporter, so I thought I’d fill out MY choices, which were:
1. Fred Hembeck (the cartoon, not the guy – the guy is WAY too serious)
2. Daffy Duck
3. Smilin’ Ed Smiley
4. Superchicken
5. the main character in the Groening “Hell” strips
Poultry, in general, are funny.
But then then, I realized the responses were attributted to Carol Green, because I was using her e-mail. But the responses were from ME.

Today, Lefty (finally) noted that the winner of his contest was…Greg. But Greg was congratulated by ME.

Anyway, I’m glad I got THAT out of my system. More entertainment next time.

ROG

MOVIE REVIEW: Broken Flowers


Carol and I got to go to a movie again! Even when the movie is not so good, this is an enjoyable time.

Let others make you wait to tell you what they thought of the thing they are reviewing; Broken Flowers is a wonderful movie. Poor Jim Jim Jarmusch seems practically traumatized that he has written and directed a “commercial” movie, after working on films such as Ghost Dog, and Coffee and Cigarettes.

This is a picture of reluctant discovery. Much has been made of Bill Murray’s expressive face, and it’s true that he conveys much in a haggard sigh. The film doesn’t work without his pained perseverance.
But the biggest surprise for me was Jeffrey Wright – he was occasionally laugh-out-loud FUNNY. I always associated him with heavier fare such as Angel in America (the play and the HBO production), Lackawanna Blues, and the remake of The Manchurian Candidate.
The women, Sharon Stone, Frances Conroy, Jessica Lange and an unrecognizable Tilda Swinton, and other supporting characters were all fine as well. And the ending!!

At some level, I may have enjoyed this film for three reasons that others may not share. Murray has a line about being a “stalker in a Taurus”; we have a Taurus. Murray was supposed to traveling all around the country, but the architecture and the roads suggest a more limited sojourn, much of which I recognized as from south of Albany and north of New York City. And a young woman had a neighing horse on a plane; that was Paco, and I have a Paco myself.

My friend Mary also saw the film, “liked it, but didn’t love it.” She said, “I could relate to Bill’s (fine) portrayal of depression and paralysis, but who needs it?” well, if he just stayed there, I’d agree, but there did seem to be some development in the character, in spite of himself. There was something else in the movie that she thought was “a bit much.” (If you see the film, I THINK you’ll figure out what she means.) I thought the point was that the character was in competition with another, and that she was taught to use whatever was at her disposal; it was so surprising that it worked for me.

Now, I must confess something: I didn’t much like Lost in Translation, the award-winning film of 2003, which also starred Murray. Perhaps, it was built up in my mind too much, with all of the very positive reviews, but it just left me cold. So, I was wary of reviews that suggested that Murray was as good in Broken Flowers as he was in Lost in Translation. For whatever reasons, the newer film resonated more.

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