Media Consumed: March 2011

Books Read
Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?     By: Michael Benson
Suddenly In the Depths of the Forest     By:  Amos Oz
*+Something Under the Bed Is Drooling     By: Bill Watterson
The Adventures of Sir Gwain the True     By:  Gerald Morris
+The Dark Tower-The Gunslinger: The Journey Begins     By: Robin Furth, et al.
American Lightning     By:  Howard Blum
5 Very Good Reasons to Punch a Dolphin in the Mouth     By: The Oatmeal
+Asterios Polyp     By:  David Mazzucchelli
+The Walking Dead, Vol. 1: Days Gone By     By:  Robert Kirkman, Tom Moore, et al.
Just the Right Size     By:  Nicola Davis, et al.
I Will Make of Thee a Great Nation     By:  Val Greenwood
+The Walking Dead, Vol. 2: Miles Behind Us     By:  Robert Kirkman, Tom Moore, et al.
Danse Macabre     By:  Stephen King
Drive! Zits Sketchbook #14     By:  Jerry Scott & Jim Borgman

* = denotes a previously read worl
+ = denotes a graphic novel, TPB, or collection of comic strips

The two books I enjoyed reading most in March were both by Stephen King.  The Dark Tower-The Gunslinger: The Journey Begins is the next chapter in the series of graphic novels/TPBs being published that are adapted Stephen King's Dark Tower saga into an illustrated form. I really need to read the regular books and I intend to, but until then, I'll keep whetting my appetite with this series of graphic novels.

The other book I enjoyed most was King's Danse Macabre. It's basically a treatise on horror fiction in literature and film that King adapted from a series of lectures he delivered (in the 1970s I believe). King is just a great writer in general, but I've found that the stuff I enjoy most from him is his non-fiction and his non-horror writings. Danse Macabre is all about horror, but it's a massive tome of non-fiction. I learned a lot about the genre. I know a lot of it can by crap, but now I feel I have a more thorough sharper stick to help me wade through the crap and fight off the piranhas.

Other recommendations from this month are The Walking Dead, Vol. 1: Days Gone By and 5 Very Good Reasons to Punch a Dolphin in the Mouth.  I picked up Days Gone By after having previously watched the entire first season (6 episodes) of the tv show on AMC as it aired. Even though the show can be incredibly gory, the show was some amazing tv because it was a show about the characters and their journey to survive and not just about zombies and some cliche plot. The first couple episodes of the tv show seem to have used this first graphic novel in the series as a storyboard.  As for 5 Very Good Reasons to Punch a Dolphin in the Mouth, it's a book that's kind of gross, bizarre, outlandish, and naughty. But if you can scavenge through some of the garbage you'll find some amazing gems: such as some of the best grammar instruction guides I've ever seen or the reason you need to know more about Nikola Tesla.

Movies Watched
The Lost World: Jurassic Park
Piranha (1980)
The Forbidden Kingdom
Touching Home
Rango
Panic In Year Zero
Battle Los Angeles
Piranha 3-D
Romancing the Stone
The Maze
Paul
The Last Lovecraft
Titanic II
Limitless
The Expendables
Flash Gordon

Roger Corman's original Piranha was a joy to watch. Low budget and all, it's vastly superior to the 2010 remake.

Touching Home is a great little semi-autobiographical movie made by two twin brothers. It stars Ed Harris in one of the finer performances of his career.

Rango is a bizarre cartoon. It's a modern Western told with mostly animated lizards.

Battle Los Angeles was a thoroughly enjoyable, mind-candy action movie.

The Maze is a low-budget horror flick that I enjoyed because of the corn mazes my family and I used to visit.


Paul was a major disappointment.

The Last Lovecraft is another low-budget picture. It's an action comedy that is hilarious and is even more enjoyable if you know anything about H.P. Lovecraft.

A Word About THE MUPPETS Movie

I believe I've mentioned this before and I'm sure I'll mention it again at some point, but I was partially "raised" by The Muppets. What I mean by that is that I watched a lot of Muppets growing up: SESAME STREET (it used to actually be good tv), THE MUPPET SHOW, FRAGGLE ROCK, and THE STORYTELLER. All those shows had Muppets (and in most cases Jim Henson had a hand in designing them in some way). I think THE MUPPET SHOW was my favorite. It was this sweet show with a huge heart that never spoke down to kids. The humor of THE MUPPET SHOW was classic humor: it's the type of stuff they used to do on vaudeville, radio, and in the golden age of television. Sometimes the humor was subtle, sometimes it was corny, but it was humor that people from every age and walk of life could enjoy. You don't see that very much anymore. Jokes are beaten to the point they are dead and the humor isn't even humor anymore. In short, THE MUPPET SHOW was full of wit and in our current cultural landscape, wit has been forgotten.

THE MUPPETS is a movie all about bringing back wit in this forgotten age. It's about friends, family, and finding your place in the world. It's a movie that dares to threaten the void that is our cultural landscape and shout, "Hey, you think you're funny? You're not funny. This is funny!" At the same time, there is a thread of irony that runs through the film. All through the movie Kermit and the gang question themselves that, perhaps, they really aren't relevant anymore. As the villain of the film proudly boasts, the world has moved on since the Muppets last were popular (the last Muppet movie was MUPPETS IN SPACE released in the summer of 1999-I can tell you where I was when I saw it and even give you the location of the theatre). The world's a much more dark, sinister, and dangerous place. No planes had flown into skyscrapers when a Muppet movie last played in movie theatres. In 1999, unemployment in the U.S. hovered around 4%, the lowest it had been in 30 years and the longest war in U.S. history was still that conflict in Vietnam (Afghanistan, where's that?).

Yet, though this is a darker and more dangerous world, there still is goodness. The Muppets are good, they are joyful, and they are hopeful. We can all do with a lot more of that in our lives.

An Automobile Milestone

You don't get to see this happen very often in life.

I've really been places.

Book Review: THE EXTRAORDINARY CATALOG OF PECULIAR INVENTIONS

At the end of the 19^th Century and the beginning of the 20^th Century, three brothers named DeMoulin joined together to form the DeMoulin Brothers Company. The company they started is still in existence today and is the leading manufacture of band uniforms in the country. However, the DeMoulin Brothers didn’t make their fortune selling band uniforms. They made their fortune designing, creating, and manufacturing lodge initiation devices. Replicating such a success in today’s sue-happy society would be impossible. However, it did happen once upon a time in America. The story of the DeMoulin brothers is quite interesting and at times fascinating and this unique and particular American story is finally beginning to gain some of the attention it deserves.

Last year (2010) saw the publication of CATALOG 439 edited by Charles Schneider and published by Fantagraphic Books. That book was mostly a reprinting of Catalog 439, the most famous of the DeMoulin Brothers catalogs. Now there is THE EXTRAORDINARY CATALOG OF PECULIAR INVENTIONS by Julia Suits. Unlike CATALOG 439, this book isn’t a reprinting of one particular DeMoulin catalog. Instead it is a hodge-podge of selected items from several different DeMoulin catalogs, photos from the period, essays about lodges and lodge initiation devices, and random quotes. The subtitle of the book is “The Curious World of the DeMoulin Brothers and Their Fraternal Lodge Pranks Machines—from Human Centipedes and Revolving Goats to Electric Carpets and Smoking Camels” and several of the devices invented and manufactured by the DeMoulins are featured within. However, the book itself is more like an overview of lodge life in the early 1900s.  Chapters include “The Brothers DeMoulin”, “Fraternalism 101”, “Fun Work: The Side-Degree”, “Factory Goats”, “See You in Court”, “Zzzzzt! The Shockers”, “Bang! Crash! Splat!: The Mechanicals”, and “Wardrobe! The Wearables”. The book also includes a brief introduction by magician & illusionist David Copperfield (DeMoulin artifacts are highly collectible among magicians).

THE EXTRAORDINARY CATALOG OF PECULIAR INVENTIONS is an interesting book. However, the book lacks focus. The illustrations of the book fit the chapters, but the written text that accompanies the illustrations don’t always fit those chapters. Not only that, but there is also a lot of random bits thrown in. While I was reading the book, I felt like I was reading a literary equivalent of a pop-up video. In short, the material in THE EXTRAORDINARY CATALOG OF PECULIAR INVENTIONS is fascinating, but the way it’s edited make the book feel more like a reference or trivia book; it makes a create coffee table book and conversation piece.

How to Ride a Goat

Here's another one of those quirky little videos about the new DeMoulin-inspired book, THE EXTRAORDINARY CATALOG OF PECULIAR INVENTIONS.

Muppet T-Shirt I Designed

This summer I came across a link that was having a Muppet T-shirt design contest. The winner would receive not only some free T-shirts with his or her design on it, but a Muppet prize pack that included some cds and free passes to THE MUPPETS (which opens next week). Here's a look at process I went about creating the design for my shirt.

 

I began by free sketching this from some pictures of Fozzy, Kermit, and Gonzo that I found on the Internet.

 It took awhile, but using the scanner on my inexpensive printer and Paint, this was the design I came up with. It's very simple, cartoony, and childlike and that's the vibe I was wanting. The Muppets have never been about class and looking good.

The t-shirt people wanted a second background for each shirt, so this was the background color I chose for that option.

 The final product would have looked something like this.


Unfortunately, my T-shirt didn't even get the opportunity to be voted on. There was a deadline for the contest and I did get my entry in about three days before that deadline. However, a day after submitting my entry, I received an email informing me that my design wasn't even going to be put up for a vote because it didn't look "professional" enough and was too amateur.

I didn't have the tools, time, or capability of submitting something that was more professional and refined, so I didn't get to submit an entry.

Testing Your Lungs

Another strange device from those crazy DeMoulin Brothers. 

Movie lover rejoice! This just out, for the first time ever, Paramount Studios is going to be releasing the movie Wings on DVD and Blu-ray for the first time ever on January 24, 2012. WINGS was the first winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1929. It's a film I've always wanted to see, but have never been able to find. Now, I will.

A New DeMoulin Book and the Human Centipede

There's a new book out loosely based around the inventions and goods manufactured by the DeMoulin brothers in the late 1890s-1930s. In promotion of that book, The Extraordinary Catalog of Peculiar Inventions by Julia Suits, there's a series of short videos that have been released by the book's publisher, Perigree. Here's the first video. It's about the Human Centipede (no, not the horrific, disgusting movie).

A Few Laughs From Ziggy

The comic strip "Ziggy" is 40-years-old this year. As part of the anniversary, Tom Wilson (II) has released a book called Ziggy that collects some of his favorite strips over the run of the comic. Here are a few of my favorites that can be found in the book.

Oct. 23. 2001

Ziggy isn't my favorite comic strip, but the strip above is one of the reasons I do enjoy the little guy. I can really relate to his sentiments here.

Aug. 1, 2009

I love penguins, but I hate Winter. That's why I fond this strip so enjoyable.

April 10, 2010

I love Chaucer. I've read many of the Canterbury Tales in the original Middle English. Most of my senior high school students hated me when I had them recited the prologue the way it was written. I'm afraid the sentiments in this comic would have been the most positive things they would have said about the experience.

Proof That the Story of Jonah Could Be True?

Here's a video clip that illustrates that the story of Jonah and the Whale could possibly be true:

The Gospel and the World Series

Jonathan Parnell has an interesting article about World Series 2011 and the Gospel. You can read it here:

http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/the-cross-and-the-st-louis-cardinals

What Fans of STAR WARS Think of George Lucas's Revisionism

--"HijiNKS ENSUE" Monday, October 31, 2011

Book Review: A MILLION MILES IN A THOUSAND YEARS

During the summer of 2000, I was browsing through a bookstore and came across a book entitled PRAYER AND THE ART OF VOLKSWAGEN MAINTENANCE. The title really piqued my curiosity and I bought the book. I really enjoyed reading it and I was eager to read more from the author, Donald Miller. It would be several years later before another of his books was published, BLUE LIKE JAZZ. That book went on to become a huge international best-seller (though I’m glad to say I read it and knew about Miller long before that book went mega). I’ve read most of Miller’s other works and was eagerly looking forward to reading his latest book, A MILLION MILES IN A THOUSAND YEARS.

The book revolves around Miller’s attempt to adapt BLUE LIKE JAZZ into a movie screenplay with the help of a couple of filmmaking friends. In the process of editing and fictionalizing his memoir into a screenplay, Miller begins looking at his own life and realizes that he can take some of the elements of writing a great screenplay and adapt them into real life. He makes a decision that he wants to not just tell good stories, but wants his life to actually be a great story. He takes a writing course, begins working out, travels overseas, rides his bike across the country, and eventually meets his father, a man who abandoned his family to fend for themselves when they needed him most.

Miller is a great writer. He has a way with words; he is able to paint extremely vivid pictures with his writing. He has a very personal, almost folksy approach to the way he writes. His style is very conversational and when he writes about “big picture” ideas, he doesn’t speak down. Instead, when reading Miller you feel like you are having a long conversation with an old teacher that you’ve always admired.

The central struggle in the book is an existential conflict that all those who wish to live a worthwhile life have to face at some point in their life. Life is difficult. Bad things happen to good people. Sometimes the good guy loses. These things are true. Knowing this, how do you choose to live? Do you simply exist, choosing to go through life as a series of motions because humans are just animals anyway? Or, do you choose to actually live, pressing the best out of each moment? Existing is easy living, truly living is difficult. No one will fault you if you choose to exist. However, if you choose to live, your life will be so much more rewarding.

With that said, the only criticism I have with A MILLION MILES IN A THOUSAND YEARS is that even though it is a story about Miller editing his own life to write and live a better story, there is a slight lack of relatability in the story. It’s great that Miller was able to do some of the amazing things he did in the book, such as taking a trip to South America and hiking in the Andes and riding his bicycle across America. When reading these things and how Miller approached them, you’ll be challenged to examine your own life and want to start making choices that will make your own life story better. However, not everyone is capable or can do the grand things Miller writes about that he or the people he meets do. It makes for great reading, but some of the ideas raised seem out of reach and unattainable by normal, regular people.

Overall, I enjoyed A MILLION MILES IN A THOUSAND YEARS. It’s a good follow-up to BLUE LIKE JAZZ, SEARCHING FOR GOD KNOWS WHAT, and TO OWN A DRAGON. Live a better life and write your own great story.

Before "Good Grief."

Here's another "Peanuts"-themed strip from the middle of the summer. Snoopy reading The Five Stages of Grief is a nice touch.

--"Rhymes With Orange" Saturday, July 30, 2011

What Happened to the Peanuts

I know this comic is slightly morbid, but it really made me laugh.

--"The Argyle Sweater" Thursday, July 5, 2011

Happy Halloween from The Muppets!

Less than a month before THE MUPPETS is in theatres! It's the movie I've been looking forward to seeing the most all year.

Cardinals Win!

Last night the St. Louis Cardinals became the 2011 World Series Champions. At the start of September, they were 10 1/2 games out and just about everyone had written them off by that point. I was at what turned out to be pivotal game for the Cards on September 9, 2011. It was the start of a three game match-up with the Braves. The Braves had a very comfortable lead against the Cards for the NL Wild Card spot. However, the Braves ended up losing that game 4-3 in the bottom of the 10th. That was the game that things went downhill for the Braves and uphill for the Cards. Over the next 7 weeks, the Cardinals went on to have one of the biggest comebacks and turnarounds in baseball history.

Even if you're not a Cardinals fan, you have to admit that this World Series was a great series. There was some bad baseball, but there was also a lot of great baseball. Games 3 (all of those runs) and 6 (extra innings and there were two times the Cardinals were one strike away from loosing) were particularly memorable.

In post-season, all the talk is going to be about Pujols. He's a great player and if he sticks in St. Louis, he'll have a career even after he retires. They'll put him in the office, maybe even hire him as manager if he wants. He'll get a statue in front of Busch Stadium and will probably be even more adored in St. Louis than Stan Musial. His agent want a 10-year $300 million contract. Had the Cardinals not be idiots and signed Matt Holliday for such an extensive and expensive contract (7 years for $120 million) in 2009, they would have the money they needed to keep Pujols around. Holliday isn't a consistent player. He has moments of greatness, but they aren't reliable. Pujols is and has been. In the next 10 years, Pujols probably will be reliable for that time, but it's difficult to say. Ten years is a long time, particularly when a baseball player is reaching the twilight of his career. I'm not sure what I would do if I was in Pujols place. He'll make a great deal of money either way and his family should never have to worry about finances ever for at least three generations. He'll make a lot more money in the short term if he goes to New York (about the only team in baseball with a bottomless bank account). However, if I was in Pujols's shoes, I think I would stay. St. Louis has been his home his whole career and no matter where he goes, he'll never have "fans" who like him as much as they do in St. Louis. If he stays in St. Louis and he gets injured or his career ends abruptly, he'll still be adored. If he leaves, he'll be seen as a traitor who betrayed his hometown for more money; in the St. Louis area he'll be the Benedict Arnold of baseball. The true Cardinal fans'll resent him for awhile, but then welcome him back with open arms whenever he does come back to visit, but most of Cardinal Nation isn't composed of true baseball and Cardinal fans. There are only about 15% of "Cardinal Nation" that are true baseball and Cardinal fans. The rest of "Cardinal Nation" is composed of fairweather fans who care more about the spectacle than they do the game. In fact, most Cardinal fans don't even consider themselves to be a part of "Cardinal Nation" (I don't, for instance). That's a neat little marketing tool creating by the Cardinal advertisers to get people to come to the games and sell merchandise to people who normally couldn't care less about baseball.

I'm relatively young, but I'm pretty much and old foagie, fuddy-duddy in the way I view the world and see things. Pujols is a great player, but he's only a part of the Cardinals. For me, the players I've enjoyed watching the most this season have been guys like this:Lance Berkman

David Freese

Berkman is a classic old-school ball player. He's not really skinning or overtly muscular. He's built they way Babe Ruth and Joe Jackson and Ty Cobb were. He looks the way a baseball player (except for pitchers) is supposed to look in my mind. Not only that, but he plays with a pure love for the game. You can see it in his eyes every time he's up to bat and with every play that he makes (see picture above). He loves the game of baseball. This season he's had a comeback, too. The Braves and Yankees all wrote the guy off before the Cardinals signed him this year. Even though he wants to coach college baseball in Texas after he retires from the majors, I think he'd like to stick around St. Louis until then. I know I'd love watching him.

Then there's David Freese. David Freese is a St. Louis native. When you think about it, it's pretty amazing that a local boy goes into the majors and eventually becomes the hero and MVP of a World Series playing for his hometown team in the ballpark not far from where he grew up. Freese has had a good season, but it's one that got better in the post season. Freese saved the Cardinals several times not with just hits and homeruns, but with stellar plays. Other players did, too, but the other players aren't local boys like Freese. That's what makes his story that much more special.

Congratulations, St. Louis Cardinals on a job well done. 11 in 2011. I didn't think it was possible, but it's happened. My Dad and Grandpa always said the "Cardinals can never do things the easy way." I guess this season has shown that. But, even though they didn't do it the easy way, they ended up doing it the right way.

Book Review: YELLOW ROSE OF TEXAS

YELLOW ROSE OF TEXAS is a graphic novel that tells a variation of the story of Emily Morgan (aka Emily West). Not much is known about Emily Morgan, except that she was born in the East, was either a slave or indentured servant to a family that moved to Texas, and that she spent some time as a prostitute. Legend has it that Gen. Santa Anna was sleeping with Morgan when Gen. Sam Houston and the Texas army swept into the Mexican camp at the Battle of San Jacinto, catching Santa Anna and his army with their pants down. Emily Morgan is supposedly the woman whom the song “The Yellow Rose of Texas” was written about. This graphic novel weaves together some of the legends and facts about Morgan into a coherent whole that is a joy to read.

In YELLOW ROSE OF TEXAS, Emily Morgan is a slave to Ranse Morgan and his daughters Rosalie and Clementine. The book begins with the family being chased by outlaws as they attempt to cross the Guadalupe River. The Morgan’s are rescued by Erastus “Deaf” Smith. Smith and his friends escort the family to Gonzales, but before they arrive they are met by Santa Anna’s army and brought to his camp. What enfolds is part of the story of the Texas revolution interlaced and tied together by a love story between “Deaf” Smith and Emily Morgan.

Orsak’s artwork is well done. It’s not the computer-perfect imagery typical of comics today. Instead, it is reminiscent of old school comics. Some people like flashy computer generated art in their comics, but I prefer a more classical approach.

Overall, YELLOW ROSE OF TEXAS is a great graphic novel that tells a good story while teaching some Texas history. The story has appeal to both men and women. I also think it would make a solid basis for a movie. It was a wonderful read. It's another great book from McFarland Publishing (www.mcfarlandpub.com 800-253-2187).

Why Books Aren't Dead.

There's a lot of talk about the death of books. Though the popularity of ebooks rises, that doesn't mean that traditional books are dead. Here's an interesting post from a couple weeks ago that examines the subject in more detail.