I stole this from Jasonaut, but feel no guilt, as I’ve always been something of a word-nerd myself. Wordsmith.org has this Anagram generator. The following phrases all come from arrangement of the letters (but not all of them in many cases) of my full name.

A Mystical Prickle/ Space Talk Lyricism/ Misty Space Call/
Slimy Space Rack/ Kill My Space Racist/ Risky Space Cat/
Space Mail Trick/ Space Liar Cyst Milk/ My Slick Space Trail/
Slim Space Lark City/ Space Ark City Mill/ Icy Space Mall Skirt/
My Salty Space Lick/ Space Ram Kill City/ Space Arm Lily Trick/
Space Ram City Skill/ Space Army Licks It/ Icky Space Tsar/
Space Satyr Licks ‘im/ Slimy Space Rat/ Slick Space Art/
My Space Rack Till/ Track My Space/ My Sick Space Art/
Kill Creamy Spastic/ Slim Pastie Crack/ Kill Pastie Mac/
Typical Mescal Risk/ Lacy Pi Mescal Skirt/ Silk Pity Mescal Arc/
Silky Pit Mescal Car/ Piracy Mescal Talk/ Mescal Pal City/
Sickly Mescal Rap/ Sickly Rat Mescal/ Lily Mist Carp Cake/
Kill A Ecstasy Crimp/ Kill Camera Cyst/ Icy Sarcasm Kill Pet/
Ceramic Spa Kill/ Mass Kill Icecap/ My Icecap Tsar/
Kill My Icecap Rats/ Sitar Spy Kill Mecca/ Mecca Kill Party/
Mecca Kill Rats/ Ram Pity Kill Access/ Acme Kill Satyr/
Acme Crispy Kill/ Kill Racist Mace Spy/ Mace Kill Party/
Kill Spicy Mace Rats/ It’s Spacy Kill Cream!/ Pa City Kill Screams/
Creamy Kill Cat Piss/ Scary Mist Kill Pace/ Mass Recap Kill City/
Yam Carpet Kill/ Mars City Kill/ Icy Kill Aspects/
Mystic Kill Acre Spa/ Kill City Race Spasm/ Spicy Kill Races/
Amp City Kill Caress/ Icy Actress Kill Map/ Kill React Scam/
Car Imp Ecstacy Kill/ Ream Cyst Aspic Kill/ Spastic Ram Kill/
Pastie Kill Cam/ Epic Satyr Kill Cam/ Racy Kill Camp Site/
Airy Sects Kill Camp/ Campy Tsar Kill Ice/ Piracy Kill Scams/
Milk Piracy Castle/ Slick Piracy Metals/ Slack Piracy Melt/
Clam Silk Piracy/ Elks Piracy Cam/ Elk Slit Piracy Scam/
Mall Piracy Sect/ Sick Piracy Alms/ Lick Em Piracy Salts/
Mass Cell Piracy Kit/ Piracy Lick Ass Melt/ Satyr Claim Pickles/
Satyr Lisp Milk/ Satyr Lip Silk Mecca/ Satyr Lace Milk Pics/
Sick Satyr Place/ Slack Satyr Epic/ Slack Satyr Epic/
Satyr Smack Ice Pill/ Calm Satyr Lick Pies/ Silk Satyr Ice Clamp/
Epic Skill Satyr Cam/ Lick Isle Satyr Camp/ Lame Satyr Lick Clip/
Maple Satyr Lick/ Slick Satyr Ice Lamp/ Satyr Lice Map/
Sick Satyr Pie Call/ Mystical Ski Parcel/ Mystical prick Ale/
Slick Mystical Rape/ Mystical Splice Ark/ Mystical Silk Cap/
Milk Cyst Replica/ Sky Clam Replica/ Silt Sky Replica Cam/
A Mecca Kills Stripy/ A Scarce Milky Split/ A Catlike Sly Scrimp/
A Carsick Smelly Pit/ A Classic Perky Milt/ A Metallic Sick Spry/
A Metallic Cry Skips/ A Silk Malice Crypt/ A Campsite Cry Kills/
A Slackers City Limp/ A Caskets Crimp Lily/ A Caskets Lyric Limp/
A Scalpels Icky Trim/ A Callers Sticky Imp/ A Callers Mystic Kip/
A Camel Licks Stripy/ A Camels Tricky Lisp/ A Calmer Sickly Spit/
A Camels Crispy Kilt/ A Mescal Tricky Lisp/ A Calmest Lyric Skip/
A Mac Prick Let Is Sly/ Rack A Spicy Millets/ Track A Slice Simply/
Clip A Smiley Track/ Rack A Systemic Pill/ Stack A Spicy Miller/
Tacky Crime Pills/ Call A Mystic Picker/ A Calm Rye Lipstick/
Clamp A Silkier Cyst/ Sticky Calms Peril/ A Clams Tricky Spiel/
Clap A Tricky Smile/ Scalp A Sickly Timer/ Clasp A Milkier Cyst/
Crystal Lime Pickles/ Trick Plasma Ice/ A Classy Lick Permit/
A Scaly Tickle Prism/ Trick Salsa Mice/ Trick Llama pics/
Trick Llama pics/ Trick Ice Pals/ Trick Salsa Pals/
Trick Malice Spa/ Trick Lace Yams/ Play Mescal Trick/
Slay Trick Places/ Acme Trick Silly Spa/ Mass Trick Pace Lily/
Cape Slay Trick/

A new theory how Bob Pollard gets song titles… Also, possibly a good place to get passwords.

In no way do I mean to discredit global warming, or human influence on earth’s weather patterns in mentioning 1816, The Year Without a Summer. If anything, it calls attention to how relatively fragile the entire system is: volcanic activity in the South Pacific can have startling influence on Europe and North America. And makes you think further how weather effects humans - how a botched vacation could lead a young goth chick to get involved in a writing contest. Humanity is certain to enjoy many future innovations as the “the world outside” becomes less hospitable.

I just finished and am really excited about this novel Out from Japanese writer Natsuo Kirino. I’ll let the english translation speak for itself, but as a teaser, here are excerpts from a few interviews she’s given.

From Japanreview:

-Tokyo is a bleak and joyless place in your books. Is Japan doomed? Or is it a condemnation of suburban life in general? Is there such thing as redemption in this day and age?

I don’t this the situation is cause for despair. Rather, the suburbs are interesting in that human desires are transparent and in the forefront. In case of the suburb where Out was set, the small houses all in row are a product of what people desire. It can be seen as quite typically Japanese. I don’t think there is such thing as “society”. There is that much more freedom in that looseness.

In terms of redemption, the question is, redemption from what? I’m not quite sure what you are referring to, but if you return to the former question, the Japanese rarely recognize the sense of redemption because they lack the concept of the “society.” That’s to say, one doesn’t know how to be redeemed, and what you have to do to accept it, and how and who should accept it.

-What influences your work Japanese literature, western literature—or do you read other mystery writers? Are there any books of this genre you feel strongly about? Or are your influenced by other mediums—TV, movies, music, and news events? What current Japanese writers do you like?

When I was a child, I read magazines indiscriminately and I read a lot of foreign juvenile and children’s fiction—mostly books like Adrift in the Pacific, The Three Musketeers, and Little Women. I think that that they may have influenced the way I tell stories.

I don’t really like mysteries so I don’t read many of them of late. I quite like Patricia Highsmith, among others. As for Japanese authors, I would say Ryu Murakami and Fumiko Hayashi. I also read non-fiction. I love movies, especially Scorsese and Lynch. As for music, I am a fan of seventies soul.

From Metro.co.uk bookclub

The sexual violence in the book is very disturbing - did you ever have any qualms about writing those scenes?

It’s very disturbing to write about violence. However, as long as there is such violence in reality (that’s often beyond our imagination) I feel it is my responsibility as a writer to write about them. It’s unfortunate if anyone is disturbed or feels uncomfortable with these scenes (especially the ending), but I actually wrote the book in an effort to eliminate violence from society.

and Booksense.com

-What reaction surprised you the most?

Men were very shocked that a wife could kill her husband. That was really a provocative idea. Japanese men felt so threatened by it. They also never imagined that a woman could write such an aggressive novel. The most shocking part of Out for a lot of people is that it’s written by a married woman who has a family and a child. If the book was written by a man, people wouldn’t be as surprised, and they’d look at it as fiction. But because a woman wrote it and it’s realistic to a certain degree, people were surprised.

-Your novel and many Japanese films from the last few years depict contemporary Japan as an unsettled society whose outward calm masks an underlying current of severe physical and psychological violence. Is this the case?

The old family system is collapsing more and more. Although the division between men and women remains — men still go out and women still stay in — a man now cannot sustain the entire family. We have reached the point where women have to put the children into childcare so that they can work to help support the family, too. Then, the children themselves are under extreme educational pressure. So everybody is making the best effort to sustain him or herself. It is a very confusing time for our society. I have the feeling that people don’t know what to do to get out of their situations.

-Do you think this is creating a culture of violence?

Some of the violence depicted in the media is a metaphor for frustration, but there are more and more cruel crimes happening — and the people who commit these hideous crimes are getting younger and younger. A few years ago, there were a lot of crimes committed by young women. Now it’s kids murdering people. Japanese adults are completely astounded, and don’t know what to do. That’s the reality that we are getting into, and it is getting worse.

Also, thanks to mll3 for turning me on to this novel in the first place.

*There may be spoilers ahead…but I’m gonna try not to focus on that and remain appropriately vague*

So I’m sort of caught up in McCarthy fandom and decided I definitely had to read this novel before I saw the film. I have also been a serious fan of Cohen bros. dramas, as opposed to the comedies. Nothing wrong with their comedic quirkyness, but I would argue if you ask the average viewer to name a one of their films, they’ll give you ‘Raising Arizona’ or ‘OBWT’ before ‘Miller’s Crossing’ or ‘The Man Who Wasn’t There’, which I find disappointing. Anyway, from my first learning of this project, I had a strong inclination I was going to love it, and I essentially did.
Reading some sneak peak reviews, I quickly came across a complaint from blog reviewers who hadn’t read the book and are so weened on common suspense arcs that rely on over-the-top sensationalism to outdo one another: Tarrantino style, if you will. But this isn’t about that. Period. There is a very specific reason I have chosen the title of this post from the films tagline and a very specific reason I have chosen this image. Go watch a Tom Cruise, or Vin Diesel vehicle if you cant handle post modern tweaking of the thriller genre. This film comes from a pulp work from a literary mind. Yes, there is a “kick ass” psycho (and after being so compelled by ‘Before Night Falls’, I sensed Bardem was gonna nail this role - I think the fact that he is also the lead in the current Marquez classic speaks volumes about his power as an actor) and there are even over-the-top nifty devices you’ve never seen in a film before - straight from the mind of C McCarthy. So go see it. In a way it’s like getting to see another Peckinpah film, but much of that had to do with the period and location. Here are my two minor and one major beefs…

Because the locations and authenticity are so dead on, even while reading, I have to admit their authenticity stumped my imagination, despite the fact I can recall images of 1980 (OK, not central and west Texas…) I have to get finiky and picky. 1) I don’t remember the girlfriend mentioning she worked in a WalMart. It sort of struck me as a modern jab, and as a nomad, I don’t have my copy of the book here and now to reference, but a search reveals Walmart did hit Texas in ‘75, so it is plausible. It may very well come straight from the text, as so much of the dialogue does. 2) Having ridden lots of Greyhound buses, I’m doubting that semi-southwestern style with the bold blue through the other colors that still adorns the apolstry of many of the seats now, did so then. Total nitpicking I know, but the authenticity is dead on in every other way - I think it bears mentioning.

And the major thing I didn’t like: the young hitchhiker character is reduced to a poolside beerswiller with only a few lines of dialogue. I think there was a lot of revelation about Lwelyn’s character in those passages with her in the novel, as well as more of McCarthy’s foundation about what overtly changed about (our) culture at that time, which isn’t exactly what I mean to say but - the big picture stuff about society and individual. As the film is a bit long as is, I fully understand why the reduction stood, but I’d argue it also built suspense for the story, even though, as stated, that’s not the point. I further admit, I didn’t picture Lwelyn’s wife to be as attractive as the actress they picked, during my reading. I guess I was strung out then on the sexual suspense as well as violent suspense - i.e. semi-loner guy with a bunch of money has beat the devil once or twice, THEN runs into some hot free ass on the road. What now? And there is no sexual suspense at all in the film.

Other than that, every bit of acting worked or excelled. The Cohen bros. excerted their style without being “cliche Cohen bros”. The bleak beauty of the desert was perfectly captured. The moments of gallows humor blended seemlessly between the styles of novelist and filmakers. Was there even a single bit of music in this film? I can’t even think of a song on a radio right now, much less soundtrack…wait, there is a major instance of music I’m recalling, and it’s comedy. But a sort of “slap in the audience face” comedy: the audience wants to go ‘oh irony, ha, and we could use a laugh’, but as the scene lingers there is sort of a feeling of ‘yeah, this is unusual, but what the fuck is funny about it?’. More defiance of easy expectations-

David A Anderson directed this amazing animated short, written by Russell Hoban, that ran on BBC4 back in the early 90’s. The embedding has been disabled, but hopefully the title, and general love of animation, will get you to follow the link to watch. It’s a short tale of a psychopathic character that is actually a metaphor for WMD’s and war mania. Rather spooky subject matter, and done in a cool experimental style. Here’s the text. And a link to The Head of Orpheus, a Hoban fansite. Sorry about the lack of visuals here, follow the “animated short” link above!

I caught this great flick on IFC last night, and then was stunned to realize the main actor was the writer and director as well. Thus was my introduction to Larry Fessenden, and now I’m curious to learn more of his work. ‘Habit’, made over a decade ago, had some moments when the supporters acting sort of thinned and the script was a bit pedantic, surely there was more they would have loved to do with a larger effects budget - but overall, I think this is what Indie Film is supposed to be. I really liked the subtle approach to what the film turned out to be, a complexity of issues inferred by the title, and found the entire premise more plausible than some reviewers seemed to, but that might be more of a reflection on my lifestyle… Here’s and IFC interview where he’s discussing another project.

I haven’t gotten around to interviewing DJ yet for the podcast but meanwhile check out his blog from the frozen bottom of the earth. Is this the 3rd or 4th season he’s gone down now? Congratulations on the engagement as well!

*ed note: 8/08 Iceblog dropped from blogroll until such time that reports might resume from down under. Just trying to keep the blogroll with as fresh of stuff as possible*

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.