I’m around cable again these days and am watching Kubrick’s brilliant film right now (screw that remake shit, I’m not even gonna discuss it). Never mind how young many of we Gen X’ers were when we first saw it, it’s still delightfully horrific stuff - King’s novel too. I love how an underlying theme of the entre story is a writer struggling to deal with alcoholism and how it relates to his family. King was completely wrong in thinking this angle had been downplayed, and as far as criticizing the selection of Nicholson for the role…well, I think the history of films adapted from his horror work speaks for itself-
So Nicholson completely nails the role of Jack Torrence. Think for a moment of how many memorable lines have become iconic American injokes, and you realize much of this to do to his delivery. He and Scatman Crothers, who plays head chef Dick Hallorann in the film, were friends in real life and appeared in four films together before his death in ‘86. If anyone knows where I can obtain paintings similar to those in Halloran’s Miami hotel room, please let me know (they don’t even have to have lights embedded, like the amazing piece that hangs in Athens’ Manhattan Cafe…).
The idea that inspired my research: what ever happened to “Danny”, played by actor Danny Lloyd, age six at the time? He worked in only one other film, and Kubrick, due to the actor’s age, somewhat sheltered him from what he was working on during the shooting. Apparently Lloyd never even realized it was a horror film until years later.
And then there is Shelly Duvall’s amazing performance, perfectly capturing the vulnerability and panic of a woman being attacked by her devolving husband, but carries the Will and Stamina to survive, without it turning into some Hollywood “victimized, now vigilante hardass” cliche. However, cryptic remarks behind the scenes make one wonder to what extent Kubrick may have ‘extracted’ this performance from her. Anyway, her screams, eyes and panic are a big part of what make The Shining so terrifying. Check out this cool animation of Wendy running around and freaking out with the knife, a bit of limping Jack, as done by Saskia Panjii Sakti.



Other things: The Overlook Hotel location was Timberline lodge on Mt. Hood, Oregon (good luck getting so many snowy shots these days, but it was most likely augmented even then…), though the hedgemaze was actually somewhere in England and the illusion of their proximity is cinematic “magic”. The actor who plays Delbert Grady, meddlesome ghost butler, is Kubrick regular Philip Stone. And the music! The electronic stuff comes from Wendy Carlos (who also worked on Tron) and Rachel Elkind-Tourre, and pieces based on works of Hector Berlioz. Actually, look more into the soundtrack if you’re interested - it’s complicated. Licensing issues prevented from it even being released beyond vinyl - again, something I’d love to own, so contact me if you have a specific lead.

So I just caught another great PDX film op., though this one through less conventional sources. Norge’s girlfirend Summer is part of a PDX German society and they screen films outdoors on Sunday nights. Johnny Berlin passed word on to me, sort of, and I was able to decifer his cryptic email non-sequiters enough to figure out where I needed to be. The Adventures of Prince Achmed was completely amazing! The first animated feature, made by the great Lotte Reiniger and her husband. Turned out I also knew the projectionist, artist Dan Ness, who told me he got it from netflicks, so if you’re willing to queue, you too can get your chance to see this gem - but you’ll have to supply your own brats and Grolsh. I found this sample of a screening, not the best audience video or sound, but I happen to also be a fan of the Friends of Dean Martinez who are playing the soundtrack, and it’s clear enough to get a sample of the intricate, spindley style animation, actually more like photographed shadow puppets than drawings. By chance it’s includes the cool part when the evil African magician turns into a bat.

I was sent the link to this site, it’s all in Japanese but I’m trying to figure out translation software, at least for the text bits. You can see many trailers linked here, again, no english subtitles, but it’s really cool stuff. My education continues…

Ganime is also the name of a kaiju mutant stone crab, controlled by Space Amoeba.

A few weeks back, I was with a friend in Oxford Comics in ATL and got some small press stuff. I was really taken by Jeffrey Brown’s ‘Feeble Attempts’ and as there are various coincidences in his path and my own I decided to write him. Not only did he write back, but agreed to do an email interview, since the podcast isn’t feasible for now. Here’s the result:

-When you were younger, what were some titles, both hero and indie/small
press that you really loved?

I started off with X-Men and every X-related comic - Wolverine, X-Force,
Excalibur, New Mutants, etc - along with a healthy dose of other Marvel
titles like The Thing, Spider-Man, G.I.Joe…from there I moved on to a lot
of the European comics coming out of Heavy Metal, especially Moebius, and it
wasn’t long after that I got started on my first alternative comics,
Eightball and Dirty Plotte.

-What was your experience like working with McSweeny’s? How were you asked?
How has it gone so far in terms of your ideal expectations?

Chris Ware edited the McSweeney’s comics issue, and so invited me to
participate. Since then I’ve had the opportunity to meet and work with some
of the people there like Eli Horowitz, Ed Park, Andrew Leland…that issue
of McSweeney’s still manages to introduce people to my work, even though
it’s been a few years, so aside from having been a fan of McSweeney’s for
the past 7 or 8 years, it’s been a good experience that continues to pay
off.

-What was it like working with TAL (This American Life)?

That was another great experience, and my first introduction to really
working with an editor. Jonathan Goldstein was the producer worked with, who
happens to be a pretty good writer himself. We spent a few months working to
translate scenes from ‘Clumsy’ into prose that would read well on the radio.
It was actually a good way to somewhat deconstruct my writing style.

-In “Feeble Attempts” you reference working in a video store for a while.
Any other shlep jobs you’ve had to endure and would care to comment on?

I’ve had three jobs basically: a paper route in high school, working for
Barnes&Noble since I came to Chicago(managing the music department for about
five of those years), and in between I worked for the Wooden Shoe Factory &
Holland Bowl Mill in Holland, Michigan. My job there was to run the gift
shop while spending most of my time decorating Dutch wooden shoes and wooden
salad bowls, woodbruning windmills onto them and painting tulips on the
toes.

-Are you now able to maintain your lifestyle entirely on the fruits of your
own creative labor? If so, I think that’s completely amazing! If not, how
far are you from this?

In the past year or so I’ve made the transition to making my living from the
books. I guess it helps that I’ve got so many out…

-What was it like to come to Portland and do a reading for Powell’s? Other
impressions of Portland?

I actually did the reading for the Powell’s location here in Chicago, which
was a fun time actually, since I ended up improvising that after my original
plan to read something else got sidetracked by equipment problems. I did
sign at a store called Counter Media in Portland, and that was the last time
I’ve done a poetry reading. I had a good time in Portland, very laid back
and lots of nice people.

-Who do you think are some of the hottest indie comic makers today?

Anders Nilsen, Paul Hornschemeier, Gabrielle Bell, Kevin Huizenga are the
four that come to mind immediately, although there’s plenty more who maybe
aren’t as well known who are poised to make the move to the list, like Dan
Zettwoch, Dash Shaw, John Pham…

-Other than “Star Wars”, what are some films that turned you on?

David Lynch’s ‘Dune,’ everything from Terry Gilliam, ‘Evil Dead’, ‘Bottle
Rocket’…lately Michel Gondry’s films are among my favorites.

-What music are you currently loving? What is some music you’ve loved for a
long time, and maybe some stuff from your past that has fallen by the side?

Currently the new albums from Metric, Andrew Bird, Lavender Diamond,
Polyphonic Spree…old favorites would be Microphones(now called Mount
Eerie) and Neutral Milk Hotel. Fallen by the wayside would have to be
Fugazi, the one band from the distant past that made it on to my ipod if not
into heavy rotation.

-How did you get hooked up with Top Shelf, and what has been your experience
there?

Top Shelf initially passed on publishing ‘Clumsy’ but offered to distribute
for me. The book started selling too well and I didn’t have enough copies
left to meet demand, so Top Shelf took over publishing my books altogether
at that point. I’ve been pretty happy with Top Shelf…there’s been a couple
of times I’ve gotten a little upset with this or that, but in the end
they’ve really supported me and helped push my books a ton, leading back to
the ‘maintaining my lifestyle on the fruits of my labor’ issue…

Here’s a link to some other Jeffrey info and the Top Shelf site.

I often bitch about the ATL film scene (and Athens is even worse…) and people tend to not believe Portland’s to be superior when I try to explain this to them. That’s their problem: I definitely know better. Having seen some recently released powerful stuff before I left, I wasn’t surprised to find the same things playing here, plus various lingering gems now in Portland’s $3 theatre circut, but it’s really about the vast number of small but great films that also run here. TWO D+D documentaries have come out in recent months? WTF!
So I read about the Floating World Animation festival going on at the comic shop and headed down. I’m not sure exactly what I was expecting, but imagine my surprise when I found the event not only free and connected to another gallery full of illustrative art, but also with a free liquor bar! Goddamn, I love this town*

The program broke down into a first set of jewels under 10 minutes, then a retrospective on the influencial Adam Beckett, Hooliganship played live in front of a pseudo-Mario Bros. animated set, then another group of shorts put together by e*rock, but by then I was mostly tanked and talking with Pam Turner, Beckett’s biographer.
I can’t recreate the entire experience for you obviously, but here’s some info I was able to get on several of the animators presented: Joanna Priestly, Christophe Blanc, Howie Shia, Mariola Brillowska, Aidan Koch, Graham Annable, the supercool Rob Chiu, Vivian Wong and that’s all for now. You fuckers can do more research if you’d like from the FWC info provided, I’m too hungover…

I am pleased to report I believe I was among the first general admin. audience to view this film in ATL. Thanks CL. It’s not Miyazaki, but on par with that stuff: amazing plot with elements of childishness, quirky creativity, and all the tentacles and sacrine technopop you’d expect from quality SF anime. It also strangely links to my previous post, eveidence that I am either losing my mind, onto something, or both… See it!

I’m always interested in the “bread and circus” arguments. Do violent video games nuture psychotic behavior in game players, or allow them tension release? I can’t completely argue either side of this coin, but do recognize a serious division between free speech and action - one is guarenteed by the constitution and the other holds the individual to complete accountability.

Anyway, the UK and Ireland have banned what they see as an inappropriatey disturbing game from the envelope pushers at Rockstar, called Manhunt 2. Others are attempting to defend the game’s artistic merit and both sides end up looking sort of silly.
I can defenitely picture a future situation in which mental deviants are counciled through VR therapy, exploring darker recesses of their minds without anyone actually being injured. How long before America starts televising executions either through cable or online access?

A longtime favorite I could still watch 1,000 times more. But don’t let people tell you Wonderwall is an equal, it’s more like Magical Mystery Tour, i.e. not ‘all that’.