Regarding the Superman/Siegel decision:
Shame on every stupid-ass, morally ignorant fan out there who has expressed even the slightest opinion that this course of legal action in any way reflects an agenda of greed on the part of people not directly involved in the act of creation, or worse, has articulated as their primary concern the potential interruption of their monthly four-color fantasy intake. Part of me wishes we lived in the might makes right moral universe that supports such a piggish outlook, because then I could quit my job and drive around on a motorcycle punching people in the face until they penned a formal apology to the Siegel family.
Pretty much the best news ever.
So I have just one week left at the Hollister Free Lance. Despite all my bitching and moaning, and the fact that I'm mostly thrilled and relieved to be getting out, I'm also going to miss the place like crazy. I've compared the work environment to a freshman dorm, and I think that's pretty apt - but as freshman dorms go, it was awesome.
So good-bye to a great first job, and to a beautiful, fucked-up small town.
Even though no one cares, it will amuse me to post my top 5 movies of the year. (And this may be the first year where I saw enough new movies that "top 5" doesn't just equal "movies I saw that were at least kind of good".) So:
1. Ratatouille
2. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
3. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
4. No Country for Old Men
5. Southland Tales
Honorable mention:
Juno, Sunshine
Yet to watch:
There Will be Blood, I'm Not There
Most disappointing
Transformers
(Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was incredibly stupid of me to expect anything.)
This interview with Kim Stanley Robinson makes me very happy. Yeah, it actually offers a pretty bleak take on contemporary society, but Robinson is smart and funny and draws connections in a way that makes me feel warm and fuzzy and also want to do more writing.
So on the BART ride home from San Francisco, I read Alice's story "The Night and Day War" in the latest issue of Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet, and it is awesome. Not in a "hey, one of my friends wrote something decent" way, but in the "hey, I'm not sure what the hell that story was about but I need to read it again NOW" kind of way.
Also, I've finished a big chunk of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and so far it feels like this insane, exaggerated version of my own adolescence. Except that I could never convince anyone to play Dungeons & Dragons with me.
Also, Tom Spurgeon's comics-related Christmas list is a great place to start your holiday shopping.
No, really, I had a bunch of nightmares after watching No Country for Old Men on Friday.
That movie is fucked up. It's also probably the best movie I've seen this year, and likely the most depressing I've seen, like, ever.
Any critic who doesn't say that Southland Tales is the best film of the year should be fired.
...
No, I'm just kidding. It's a mess. But it's a glorious mess, one that's funniest and most moving when it makes the least amount of sense.
Yes, the political discussions are mind-numbing. The "neo-Marxists" are often unbearable. There's heavy, heavy cribbing from David Lynch (and more!). And the time paradoxes make no damn sense at all.
But, but, but -- there's so much that's worthwhile, so much that's wonderful. The Rock's performance (as a schizophrenic, amnesiac action hero) alone is worth it.
I wish it was longer.
The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born is the best comic book of the year? Really? And the Buffy comic deserves to be in the top 10? Now, I love both the Dark Tower novels and the Buffy TV show (duh), but come on.
1. Ryan Hebert is a fucking fantastic actor.
2. I really, really like going to small plays. In the future, I want to be the guy you call when you hear about something and say, "Well, that'll probably suck, but mayyyybe. Anyway, I can probably drag Anthony along."
... for an excuse to use the phrase "transcendently awesome" in this journal.
Here it is.
Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit.
I just watched the finale of the first season of the Wire and goddamn that was amazing. It's one of those moments where you watch/read something and think, "Why do they even bother making TV shows (or whatever) anymore? Game over, man. Game over."
Incidentally, calling The Wire a "novel for television" is a useful shorthand, but also kind of dumb, because it ignores the ways in which the show exploits the hell out of television as a medium.
This post by Joss Whedon may be the best thing I've read about the writers' strike. Not that I'm biased or anything.
In related news, I learn from the San Francisco Chronicle that Terry Zwigoff, director of Crumb, Ghost World, and Art School Confidential, is "best known for 'Bad Santa'." Which may be true, but that only makes it more depressing.
Quote of the Day
"I just woke up and I'm going to lunch with my friend Robert Crumb. Then I will listen to records. It sure beats writing but doesn't pay as well, unfortunately. You can't get a health plan listening to old records."
- Terry Zwigoff, on his plans for the first day of the strike
Some days you wake up and realize that 1984 is actually happening.
In other news, a front-runner for the presidency of the United States thinks "freedom is about authority".
But people who do, and are registered to vote there, should read this article in the San Francisco Bay Guardian about Propositions A and H. It really changed my mind on H, which on the surface seemed to be a good idea (Q: Hey, who's against more parking?) but is actually incredibly probematic (A: People who realize it leads to more traffic).
Of course, I live in Hollister, so my opinion doesn't count.
By the way, the Bay Guardian has been on a pretty kick-ass run recently, running a bunch of compelling, thought-provoking stories that connect big-picture political issues with everyday urban life and politics. As goofy as its editorial positions can be, the paper is doing a great job of demonstrating that alt-weeklies are capable of a lot more than just "quirky" arts coverage and liberal bitching.
Quote of the Week
Co-worker 1: Hey, what are you doing for Halloween?
Co-worker 2: I'm coming to work dressed as Anthony Ha.
So on Thursday, we had an office fake-headline contest. I tied for first, but even more rewarding was one of the editors' comments after he saw my entries: "Jesus, Anthony, I didn't realize you were so mean. Behind that big smile is a lot of hate."
That may have gone to my head, because later in the day I thought it would be OK to make a death joke. About a real person. With cancer.
Yeah, that didn't go over so well.
I had three wisdom teeth removed this morning, an operation that I've been putting off for years.
Man, that really wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.
I was totally psyched about Amazon's new, DRM-free downloadable music store ... then I found out that I need Mac OS 10.4 to make it work.
Damn, something else to spend money on.
Today is the 1-year anniversary of my first day at the Hollister Free Lance!
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