recommendations

film

The Fountain

When I first heard that Darren Arronovsky was putting this film together I got flashbacks to 'Requiem for a Dream'... which I'm still getting over. While his craft is undeniable, Requiem for a Dream affected me deeply and negatively with images I'll never shake. I knew he had the skill and ability to touch me as a viewer, I just didn't like what he put me through.

The Fountain was produced with a tie-in of sorts in the form of a graphic novel by Kent Williams. When I knew Williams was involved, it became clear that this was a movie I should see. The film is the purest example of a graphic novel. Emotive, moving and expressive... the film states its purpose in a way that could very easily miss you by a mile. With breathtaking visuals and brilliant performances, the movie takes the audience on a journey that, like Requiem for a Dream, we are reluctant to take. Yet unlike the former film, I was overjoyed that it asked me to come along.

From the trailers, I was expecting a time travelling love story mixed with some kind of Aztec Highlander thing. While there is the search for a Mayan temple, there is no time travel or a love that spans time in the Highlander sense. Instead, the film concerns Tomas (Hugh Jackman) a scientist experimenting on primates to discover a cure for cancer as his wife Izzi (played by the fantastic Rachel Weisz) slowly succumbs to her inevitable death from the same disease. Throughout the film she tries to pull him away from his work and enjoy her company, limited though it is. She also shares her novel, a work in progress about the search for the Tree of Life. As she comes closer to demise, she discovers that she has made her peace with death and views it much as the subjects in her fiction do, part of life. Without an ending to her work, she makes on request of her husband, to finish it for her.

Much as I was frustrated with the trailer's lack of involvement with the actual film, I sympathize. I have no idea what a relevant teaser for the movie would look like.

With a jarring juxtaposition of scenes ranging from a Conquistador expedition, a frustrated scientist's efforts to cure his wife's cancer alongside mysterious instances of a very nervous Hugh Jackman practicing Tai Chi in a transparent spaceship while begging phantoms to leave him alone... it will probably lose many of its viewers.

The story is seemingly complex yet if you look at it as a meditation, its message becomes clear. If you allow the images and the stunning soundtrack by Clint Mansell and the Kronos Quartet to flow through you... the message about life and death and the intertwined roles that they play will get through.

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book

Pulp Culture: The Art of Fiction Magazines
by Frank M. Robinson, Lawrence Davidson

Frank Robinson, one of the foremost collectors of pulp art, has been generous enough to share his recollections here. From the familiar peering images of the Shadow to the strange and absurd threats of science fiction monsters, this book belongs on your shelf.

The book follows the evolution of the pulps from gumshoes to rayguns. And Robinson should know better than most! As a veteran of the pulps as a writer and collector, including his time at Rogue Magazine (a contemporary of Playboy in sophisticated editorial content with the likes of columnists such as Robert Bloch, Alfred Bester, and Lenny Bruce), Frank Robinson has no shortage of material.

Finally in paperback for the budget shopper, the collection is easily found online or even in a physical bookstore. Next lunchbreak you have, take some time to flip through this tome and enjoy. With over 300 full-color plates to look at, you'll be late to your desk but glad you took the look.

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music

Bobby Conn

I fully admit that I am still investigating the phenomenon that IS Bobby Conn. All I'm sure of so far is that Bobby Conn is the son my mother always wanted.

Like an alien born of the planet Showtune and posessing lyrical skills unlike those of mortal men, Bobby Conn is an entertainer unlike any other and yet hauntingly familiar. Look here and you see David Bowie, there's Tom Jones and even a bit of Peter Allen or Jerry Jerry and the Sons of Rhythm Orchestra.

Yet it was while Bobby was in a Maryland prison for mail fraud that he discovered the "Continuous Ca$h Flow System." Through this system of freely emptying his wallet to fill up his soul, he would pass on his message, reaching the young people through the music they love so much. Fearing that he was born to be the anti-Christ, he decided to play against the odds. Even as an avid Bowie fan, I say forget Ziggy Stardust, this is the real deal... God help us.

Schooner
"You Forget About Your Heart"

I'm a lucky man. In moving to North Carolina this year, not only did I escape the winter storm season but I also got closer to some very good music. Last time I was here I visited Schoolkids Records and picked up the excellent self-titled Cities album put out by YepRoc. This time by I spotted the employee recommended 'Schooner.'

Part Strokes vocals, part Pixies guitar licks, the album rocks with a raw and fresh vibe that is hard to find nowadays. With songs like 'My Friend's Band' the album is a really fun listen. Don't let it pass you by... The Pixies were once a 'local band,' afterall.