richardhowe

A few days too late, the fog is rolling in. My backyard is a beautiful, creepy place right now, full of silhouetted trees and diffuse orange light. It's the sort of thing you'd see in a particularly well-shot horror movie, or a CW show with a budget. I wish we had had this on Halloween, a perfect setting for a fun, fearful night.

Halloween is, after all, my favorite holiday.* No, you don't get the day off from school, nor do you get presents as such. It doesn't celebrate togetherness nor family nor some vague judeo-christian ethic. It celebrates fear, and our ability to triumph over fear. Think about it — when you're a kid, ghosts and goblins and darkness scare you. Things that are not familiar to you — things with which you cannot identify — scare you. Things about yourself scare you.** So, on Halloween, you dress up as some hidden part of yourself, or something completely not-you, and you venture out into the night, claiming it as your own. You go to haunted houses and intentionally terrify yourself, and then you laugh and smile and wonder why any of this stuff ever seemed frightening.

Oh, and you score candy.

Halloween is a holiday about being alive, about being strong and brave and all of that stuff that seems so glamorous when you're seven and seems so essential when you're thirty-eight. As much as we need to give thanks for our blessings, as much as we need to celebrate our loves and our independence and our families and our heritage and our faiths, we need to conquer our fears. If we don't, we jeopardize all of those other things.

 *I am not disparaging the other holidays, merely stating a preference. I will still happily accept presents on Christmas and free pints of Guinness on Saint Patty's Day. In fact, bring 'em on.

**Kids, of course, are not the only ones scared by this stuff.

In less than a month, the Ultimate Collector's Edition for National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation — designed by yours truly — streets. It is available for pre-order at many fine online locations, including the WB Shop (SD http://tinyurl.com/yc8hso6 and BD http://tinyurl.com/ybgq8p9) and Amazon.com (SD http://tinyurl.com/yb7zqc5 and BD http://tinyurl.com/ycfxsow). I'm very proud of the packaging, and of how the contents turned out, so I highly suggest you check it out. Here's what the sets look like:


 

And I can tell you that, underneath the tip-on on the back of the tin, is an image I never thought I'd see on a finished product. So, y'know, there's that.

So check it out and let me know what you think. As long as you think nice things, that is…

So, yeah, I had a birthday. I am now way closer to forty than I ever thought I would be, and I'm still not sure what I want to be when I grow up. I have an overwhelming compulsion to write, and an almost equally overwhelming fear of a blank page. Once I get started writing, there's no problem. Getting started, however, is a huuuuge problem. It probably doesn't help that I suffer from an immense lack of self-discipline. This blog was really intended to serve as a warm-up for writing, a place where I could sneak past that fear I mentioned and then get on to writing the scripts & such I mean to be writing. It has ended up being a stalling tactic more than anything else. That has to change.

Don't worry, though — I don't think that means I'm giving up on the blog. I'd hate to disappoint the handful of people who actually read this thing. I just have to get my ass in gear and my head back in the game and whatever other tortured metaphor or saying seems appropriate.

Highlights from this birthday:

• Getting to pick Ethan up from school twice and hang out with him. Slurpees on a warm afternoon with my boy are alchemy for the soul.
• A really great drawing of my son's newest superhero idea, "Bolt-Man". Apparently this stuff is genetic.
• Toy Story & Toy Story 2 in 3D at the El Capitan. Definitely worth seeing.
• Blueberry pie from Susina Bakery on Beverly. Yummy.
• The smile Veronica gave me when I finally convinced her to try some. Truly magical.
• Steak, marinated in lots of lime juice, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, oregano, and pepper, cooked to perfection on the grill. So good.
• News that my best friend will be within driving distance this coming weekend for the first time in over a year. I don't see him — or any of my friends — often enough.
• A sneak preview of some really great music from Mr. Sensitive. That'll make sense to exactly one person.
• Great comics in the form of The Umbrella Academy: Dallas and Zuda's High Moon.
• Fall finally showing up, just in time. I actually had to turn on the heat tonight. (The kids refuse to sleep with blankets over them.)

     Okay, I watched Cougar Town and enjoyed it, although I find the premise — Courteney Cox finds it hard to get a date — fairly laughable. But it was funny and went places I certainly didn't expect it to. I'll watch it another episode.
     Oh, and the second episode of Heroes was surprisingly watchable. I did not see the two-hour season premiere, but, judging from its ratings, nobody else did, either. The cast was nicely paired down — are they really just going with Claire, Noah, Peter, Matt & some newbies? If so, awesome, because that smaller cast allowed the show a focus, pace and sense of purpose it hasn't had since the first season. There was actual believable human characterization in this episode, something else that has been somewhat lacking. (Although I am hoping that Peter's co-workers turning on him is some sort of ploy by the new bad guy, or some sort of induced paranoia. Even discounting the fact that I missed the first episode of the season, this seems too early for such a thing to believably happen.)
     Tried watching Trauma out of loyalty to my old friend Sean but just couldn't get into it. I'm not remotely certain of why; it just failed to grab me. Sorry, Sean.
     Haven't caught Fast Forward yet, but it is getting good-ish reviews and seems like it might be intriguing. We'll see.
     No, I still haven't watched Glee. It's like a thing with me now. Don't ask.
     Also, no, have not watched an episode of Dollhouse ever, despite being a huge fan of Joss Whedon and massively in lust with Eliza Dushku. I do think that this season's key art is pretty great, though.
     The funny thing about writing these posts is the realization that, despite everything, my primetime viewing is still pretty NBC-centric. Oh, sure, the only show that is remotely appointment viewing for me is on AMC (and how killer was this week's Mad Men, huh?), but the majority of my sporadic viewing is NBC programming. I guess being a child in the 80s — when Thursday night really was Must-See-TV — imprinted me for life. Either that, or they're the only major network that has programming that is remotely interesting to me available on On Demand.

     This morning, the BBC did a story on Roman Polanski's recent arrest on a thirty-one year old warrant. In the story, they interviewed people on the street in Los Angeles and in Zurich. With one exception, all the Californians were happy that Polanski had been arrested and might finally face justice. Without exception, all of the Swiss (and the one kiwi there for the film festival) thought it was atrocious. More than one expressed shame, feeling their government had committed an unpardonable breach by participating in the arrest.
     I had an immediate, undeniable reaction to this, a reaction that was the polar opposite of my response to the news of the arrest: Fuck you, Switzerland. He raped a little girl, admitted it under oath, and ran away and hid. There are no nuances here, no shades of grey — he drugged a thirteen year old and had non-consensual sex with her.
     This.
     Is.
     Evil.
     The man had certainly gone through something no one ever should have to go through. His wife's death was probably enough to drive him around the bend. I'm perfectly willing to believe that Roman Polanski was insane at the time. Then again, so were Manson and his killers, and nobody seems eager to let them off the hook.*
     Listen, if he was genuinely insane, he needed help, he needed counseling, and he still needed to serve his goddamn time. Being criminally insane gets you locked up, too, just in a different place.
     The man certainly has talent — Chinatown is an amazing film, one of my favorites, and it is obvious from its sequel, The Two Jakes, that Polanski deserves a good deal of that credit. His other films range from mere oddities to solid, entertaining pieces for the most part. So, yeah, he has talent — but that doesn't excuse shit.
     Neither does the length of time that has passed since the crime. Thirty-two years is a long time, but it doesn't change the fact that the man committed a heinous crime and then committed another crime in running away to France. Has he shown remorse? Has he worked tirelessly to educate the public, pass or enforce laws that would prevent such things from happening again, or just been man enough to publicly admit that he was fucking wrong? Not that I've seen. Polanski continued his career — and didn't address the issue in his chosen art form, btw — got married, had kids… Yup. he lived his life as if nothing had fucking happened. Maybe he led a tormented inner life, I don't know, but he certainly did nothing to make things right.
     Am I happy with the way that the case has been handled throughout the years? No. Pretty much everybody agrees that mistakes have been made. As for how he was caught… that I've got no problem with. Was it an unfair bait-and-switch? Sure. But, y'know, when you're a fugitive from justice, you kind of give up your right to be offended by that kind of thing. Nothing illegal seems to have been done in his capture, and he seems to be treated well by his captors. So everybody can just shut the Hell up about the way he was caught.
     So, again, fuck the Swiss. Not the Swiss government which did their fucking duty and arrested the child molesting bastard, but the people,** who seem to think that it either wasn't a big deal or is excusable on morally repugnant grounds. And, y'know, fuck anybody else who thinks the bastard should get away with it.***

* Well, with the exception of John Waters, who is campaigning on behalf of Leslie Van Houten. I'm not sure what to think with regards to Van Houten, but she has at least served time for her crime.

** Okay, not everybody in Switzerland. Just the ones who are upset that a criminal might actually get what he deserves.

*** Yeah, I know that the victim has publicly forgiven him and wishes the whole goddamn thing would go away. For her sake, I wish this thing had gone down quietly. That said, he still needed to get arrested, and he still needs to stand trial and undergo sentencing. The world needs to know that being wealthy and/or famous is not always enough to let you get away with heinous crimes.

Okay, I have to say that I'm trying to avoid too much television right now. Leverage is off the air until January. Burn Notice, Royal Pains and Psych have lost their charm for me. Battlestar Galactica is no more. Lost is… well, due to return, but not until next year I think. Mad Men is the only appointment viewing I have right now, and I'm happy with that. It gives me more time to catch up on all the DVDs I've purchased over the years, read a little, write the freaking grim-ass comic I'm working on and pine to get back to my more cheerful, optimistic little superhero thing. Oh, and sleep. That, too.

All of that said, it is fall launch, and the old TV worker bee part of my brain affords that some importance. I know that that's twentieth century thinking — just looking at that list of TV shows above shows how antiquated fall launch and big networks are. But the reptile portion of my brain that didn't evolve further than my years doing CBS shows persists, and I end up paying a little bit of attention despite myself. Here are my immediate impressions:

1) The Jay Leno Show needs to die a swift death. Besides being painfully unfunny and kind of stupid, it is hurtful to the industry. Programming this turd for an hour every week night means that at least four other shows don't get produced, and all the writers, grips, actors, etc. that would have worked on that show end up scrounging for work. Way to go, NBC and Jay Leno. You guys deserve the plummeting ratings like no one else this side of Glenn Beck.

2) The Office has been delightful so far this season. They seem to have mastered the whole "illusion of change" thing and are milking things for all that they're worth. Let's hope that Jim's new situation is actually funny.

3) Community is kind of charming, but it hasn't captivated me yet. That said, I'm crushing pretty heavily on Gillian Jacobs, so I'll probably be back next week.

4) Re: Glee. I've had that pilot since May and I haven't gotten around to watching it yet. I hear it is wonderful, but I cannot comment. Nice to see a somewhat unusual show get this much love, though, and I love the fact that Jane Lynch has steady employment. She's a great actress, wonderful comedian, and a nice person to boot. Oh, and I think she uses a Mac.

5) Today at lunch I was going to watch Cougar Town. I know, I know… but it's Courteney Cox, and I've loved her since Misfits of Science. That crush is embedded in my DNA now. That said, I didn't watch it.* I ended up watching Modern Family instead. Not a perfect show by any means — the characters are a bit too broadly stereotyped,** for one thing, and the faux documentary style is unnecessary and just serves to remind us that Ty Burrell is doing a Steve Carrell/Michael Scott impersonation — but it has a lot of promise and was pretty funny. I'll be back next week, at least on Hulu.

6) NBC: More colorful. Really? Who thought that was a good idea.

7) I'll probably check out Trauma when it premieres, if only because an old co-worker did an amazing set of key art for the show.

So, are there any shows I'm missing out on that are worth a look? Anything that's so bad it deserves public ridicule? Let me know.

*I'll watch it. I'd be watching it right now, if not for Time Warner's speed being so slow it was like watching a slide show with mismatched sound.

**Of course, Ed O'Neill is playing my dad on the show. I mean, he sounds like my dad, he looks like my dad, he's playing my dad. It's spooky.

Wow. There are sixty blog entries on this thing, more or less. That's not prolific by any means, but this thing has lasted way longer than I thought it would.

Okay, I'm trying to be nice. My parents are Republicans. Some of my friends are Republicans. Some people I admire are Republicans. But I have to say this to the current public faces of the Republican Party:

KNOCK THIS SHIT OFF.*

Heckling the President is a new low. Bad enough that you're propagating lies and half-truths about everything from health care to global warming — you're politicians, lies and half-truths are to you what Photoshop and Illustrator are to me, and you're hardly the only side to be spreading them — but at least pretend to respect the office of the President and your own offices. Have some decorum, act like a grown-up, and respond like a professional. Right now you're coming off as spoiled children still pouting over losing the election.* Or worse, you're coming off like those cable TV gas-bags you employ to spread the above-mentioned lies and half-truths.

So, y'know, get a grip, man up, and try telling the American public the truth so that we can actually try to make things better for everybody, not just you.**

*I know, this sort of contradicts my point, but Jesus this is frustrating.

**The most public exception to this, btw, is somewhat ironic. Senator John McCain has returned to being an exemplary statesman after his deplorable presidential campaign.

***This goes for the Democrats, too, actually.

Pulpier than I remember it being, but it is a Stephen J. Cannell show. Worth the $10, even if it hasn't quite lived up to the rosy twenty year old memories. And, hey, it paved the way for The Sopranos, The Shield, The Wire, etc.

Dear God, I was sixteen when this show started…

Back when I ordered Mad Men and Leverage — back when Los Angeles' sunlight wasn't orange — I also ordered the first season of Wiseguy on DVD. The story of Vinnie Terranova (Ken Wahl), an undercover agent for the FBI's Organized Crime Bureau, it was a show I loved back when it first aired twenty-odd years ago. Then it was trailblazing: It was a cop show that dealt explicitly with grey areas of morality. It maintained a strict episode-to-episode continuity, and it worked in explicit story arcs. (How explicit? Well, the DVDs are labeled according to which arc they contain, for one thing.) The show's second arc helped launch Kevin Spacey's career (he was über-crazy villain Mel Profitt), and it could've propelled Wahl to stardom if he hadn't bought into his own press and decided he was a movie star. Wiseguy was my favorite TV show at the time and a high-water mark for TV in my mind.

Now, time has not been kind to many shows that I loved in my youth. For every Rockford Files success story, there are a dozen Family Ties* — shows whose appeal has faded dramatically over the intervening years. I mean, why in God's name did I like Night Court so much? This weighed on my mind quite a bit when I decided to order Wiseguy. What if it didn't measure up? What if I soiled a perfectly good broadcast memory? What if — waitaminute… it's only ten bucks. Hell with it, let's see if ol' Vinnie still has the goods.**

Flash-forward a month-and-a-half and the boxed set shows up. Well, it isn't a boxed set; it's a super-thick amaray that mysteriously has no disc trays inside. Instead it has lips which hold the paper disc envelopes in place. This is not the wave of the future, DVD-packaging-wise. The design isn't great by any means, though it isn't the clusterfuck that Leverage is. A little rough, a bit unpolished, but it is from a previously-unknown manufacturer. The menus aren't great, the transfer to dvd isn't great, but the show…

Well, the show actually holds up. I've only watched the first half of the two-hour pilot, but that first hour of a show is usually pretty telling.*** The writing wasn't subtle, nor surprising, and the acting wasn't elevating things at all. That said, it was still pretty entertaining, and I remember the show getting better as it went on. I certainly didn't recoil and wonder what the Hell I was thinking the way I do when I run across, say, Murphy Brown or Twin Peaks.ª The plan is to watch an episode a night on the nights one of my other shows isn't on. Given that I'm only watching Leverage and Mad Men right now, that means I should be through the whole season within a month.† I'll let you know how it goes.

* While I now find Family Ties shrill and unfunny, my affection for Michael J. Fox is undimmed.
** Why not just catch it online or on reruns? 'Cause it isn't out there. It did well, but it wasn't a ratings sensation, and its serialized nature made it next to impossible to syndicate.
*** This is not always the case. Frequently pilots are among the worst episodes of a given show. I do find, though, that, if you like a pilot, you'll probably like the show.
ª Comedies suffer more from age and repeat viewings than dramas. Sorry.
† I am currently refusing to give any more than an hour per night over to television unless there is a special reason to do so. I have things to write (which I'm skipping, apparently, to write this).

I was going to write a long, angry post about the current healthcare "debate," but then I decided that it just isn't worth it. All of my points have been made before by people who aren't best known for making snarky comments and trying to sell people Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles DVDs. The latest Newsweek has several articles on the subject hidden behind its bait-and-switch "search for aliens" cover.* NPR has exhumed facts, made comparisons and exhausted analysis for weeks. Even the effin' networks have done their part, boiling everything down to sixty-second-long, soundbite-filled nuggets. And people are still arguing over non-existent "death panels," fearing socialism as if we're still in 1956, and showing up to town hall meetings to scream at elected officials.**

Now, I could get snarky here and rhetorically ask when people got so stupid, but I won't. Some people fear change. And it is very easy to create a climate of fear when you have the resources multi-billion dollar companies have. Hell, this decade has seen more fear-mongering than any I can think of since perhaps the 1950s (and the '50s at least had the fear of The Bomb to backstop all the other, smaller fears). This is just more of the same.***

So I want to ask those of you who do not want even the watered-down public-health option that is being proposed: Assuming you do not work for an insurance company, are you really happy with the services they provide to you? Do you feel like you get your money's worth from your insurance dollars? Could the government really do that much worse of a job?

Okay, I'm stopping here, because I can feel the screaming and the snark rising and they're counter-productive. Back soon to resume our usual programming of Leverage reviews, Mad Men admiration and comic book silliness.



* Pertinent pull-quotes include "It's not in any of the bills, but the rationing lie sticks because people who know better keep repeating it." Oh, and "…according to a study by the Commonwealth Fund, Americans wait longer to see primary-care physicians than patients in Britain, Germany, Australia, or New Zealand—all countries with strong public-health systems." Oh, and for all that this issue's misleading cover was frustrating, the previous issue's articles on true crime and the American fascination with it were actually fascinating.

** Because none of those screamers are paid or otherwise sponsored by industries who feel threatened by the public health option. [Insert eye-roll here.]

*** For the record, I am frequently scared of change myself. I am just as frequently terrified that everything will stay exactly the same and not get any better. C'mon — do any of us believe that this is the best of all possible worlds?

Go see Ponyo. It's lyrical and strange and beautiful and will make you smile. Miyazaki does it again. (If anybody has seen the non-translated version, please let me know. I have some questions. There are a few oddities that crop up that seem as though they could be translation artifacts or very intentional decisions. I mean, just the name of one of the characters in the American version opens up different interpretations of the film.)


PS: Very happy with the Mad Men season three opener.

For those of you who don't know, DC Comics is experimenting this summer with a weekly newspaper-style publication called Wednesday Comics. Each of the 15 pages (page 16 being the cover) features a different strip by a different creator. Spearheaded by editor Mark Chiarello, Wednesday Comics has, overall, been a success. The individual strips range from sheer genius (Dave Gibbons & Ryan Sook's Prince Valiant-style take on Kamandi, Paul Pope's Edgar Rice Burroughs-esque Adam Strange story, Strange Adventures) to pretty good (Karl Kerschl's Flash/Iris Allen, Dave Bullock's Deadman) to what-were-they-thinking misfires (Eddie Berganza & Sean Galloway's Teen Titans, Adam & Joe Kubert's Sergeant Rock). There's talk of doing it again next year, something that I would definitely like to see happen.

If it does, though, I'd love to see it expanded to 23 pages of content and run for six months instead of three so we can get a full length story from the serialized strips. A wider range of subject matter would be nice, too. DC has a rich history and a vast inventory of properties to draw from. In fact, here are my requests and the reason behind them.


1) Superman by Garth Ennis & Chris Sprouse
Garth Ennis has always been upfront about his love for Superman, and he has done excellently with the character the two times he's written him (both in Hitman-related projects). I doubt DC will ever give him a chance at the regular book, but here's an opportunity for them to get an Ennis Superman strip and for him to write the man of steel free of the chains of continuity. Throw in Chris Sprouse's beautiful, clean art and you have a winner.
2) Batman by Matt Wagner
Few people do the caped crusader better than Matt Wagner, and the man loves to experiment with formats.
3) Wonder Woman by Jeff Parker & Colleen Coover
Jeff Parker has proven that he can write mythology, women, and charming adventures. Colleen Coover has a jaunty, kid-friendly style. The two together could provide an awesome amazon.
4) Sugar & Spike by Art Baltazar & Franco
Oddly, no humor strips made it into Wednesday Comics this year. (Metal Men doesn't count.) Adding this perennial favorite by the amazing Tiny Titans team would go a long way towards making up for that.
5) Shazam! by Jeff Smith
Smith's Monster Society of Evil mini was much beloved by my son and his friends, while Captain Marvel is my favorite character of all time. Smith cannot handle the book on a monthly basis (and probably doesn't want to do so), but a total of twelve pages in one year? He can probably handle that just fine.
6) The Challengers of the Unknown by Darwyn Cooke
Have you read New Frontier? How can you not want to see this?
7) The House of Mystery/The House of Secrets by Mike Carey & Scott Hampton
Mike Carey's good with the scary. So is Scott Hampton (The Upturned Stone is a favorite of mine). The two of them bouncing back and forth each week between these two properties, telling one-page horror vignettes and I'm a happy man.
8) Kamandi by Dave Gibbons & Ryan Sook
This is awesome. It must continue.
9) Strange Adventures by Paul Pope
See my comment for Kamandi.
10) The Black Pirate by James Robinson & Tony Harris
Is there anybody who doesn't want to see the creators of Starman reunited? And on a character integral to their run? Amazing high seas adventure awaits!
11) Slam Bradley by Ed Brubaker & Michael Lark
Brubaker's got a history with the character, and Lark is amazing at illustrating noir. Get this hardboiled strip going, please.
12) Bat Lash by Sergio Aragonés & Kevin Maguire
A humorous western? Written by the character's creator and drawn by a guy known for both his comedic storytelling and drawing the best expressions in comics? Done.
13) Plastic Man by Gail Simone & Ethan Van Sciver
These two have talked about doing Plas in his own book, but nothing seems to have come of it. I'd love to see them scratch that itch with a humorous weekly strip.
14) Superman's Girlfriend, Lois Lane by Kurt Busiek & José Luis Garcia Lopez
Busiek does a period Green Lantern story in the current run of Wednesday Comics that hasn't quite gelled for me. That said, he's a great creator, and I'd love to see him do a period romance comic — and who better to star in it than Lois Lane? Throw in Garcia Lopez on art and it's a definite winner.
15) Mademoiselle Marie by Greg Rucka & Steve Leiber
Rucka did great things with this obscure war/espionage character in the pages of Checkmate. I'd like to see what he and his Whiteout co-creator could do with it in this format.
16) I, Frankenstein by Grant Morrison & Doug Mahnke
For a different style of horror, I'd love to see a continuation of this Seven Soldiers reinvention in Wednesday Comics by his creators.
17) Stars & STRIPES by Geoff Johns & Amanda Conner
This would be a great place to see the return of this strip by its creator, Geoff Johns, and the artist born to draw it, Amanda Conner.
18) Johnny Double by John Rogers & Joe Quinones
This San Francisco-based detective strip would be perfect for John Rogers & his Rockford Files fetish. Quinones' talent for period detail would compound the stylishness.
19) The Losers by Brian Azarello & Lee Bermejo
I can't think of an Azarello-penned war story off the top of my head, but it would seem to be right up his alley… as would these damaged goods characters. Bermejo's realistic art would be the icing on the cake
20) Genius Jones by Chris Eliopoulos
Eliopoulos does my son's favorite book, Franklin Richards, for Marvel, and he would be perfect for this know-it-all kid and his amusing adventures. If Sugar & Spike is Peanuts, then this is Calvin & Hobbes.
21) Prez by Kyle Baker
Kyle Baker could make Prez into an amazing political satire. Just sayin'.
22) Flash/Iris Allen by Karl Kerschl & Brendan Fletcher
Breaking the page in half and treating The Flash as an adventure strip and Iris Allen as a romance strip was brilliant. Using them both to tell the same story from differing points of view was genius. This should continue. (Though without the time travel stuff. That's getting kind of confusing.)
23) Green Lantern by Dave Bullock
Honestly, his Deadman is beautiful, but I'd love to see what Bullock could do with Hal and company more than I'd like to see another go around with Boston Brand.


So, that's my wish list for next year's Wednesday Comics. What's yours?

Anybody remember my reaction when Michael Jackson died and all those people were weeping and wailing? Well, I'd be a hypocrite if I didn't let all of you sneer at me now that John Hughes has died.

I did not know the man. I never met him, nor wrote to him, nor worked with him. The closest I've come is my work on Christmas Vacation this year, work which I'm pretty sure he never saw. I know no personal facts about him that you guys don't. I have nothing really to offer on the subject other than this:

At a point in my life when I took everything way too seriously, John Hughes was there for me. Or, rather, his movies were. National Lampoon's Vacation, Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, Pretty In Pink, Some Kind of Wonderful, Ferris Bueller's Day Off… they helped see me through it all, helped me see the universality of it all, helped me feel not quite so isolated, and, most importantly, helped me laugh at everything going on around me. I had some serious shit going on in my life back then, and I would hardly describe my teenaged self as "sane" or "normal". It's all kind of embarrassing to look back upon now. Like I said, I was fairly crazy and crazily melodramatic. Mostly I think I was just bored and disappointed in my life. Having some cinematic points of reference — seeing fragments of my life up on screen — made it more bearable. And for that I'll always be grateful to John Hughes.

And it wasn't just me. In addition to all the normal teenage craziness we had to deal with, my generation had to deal with the goddamn baby boomers. They cast a long shadow and refused to let go of the spotlight. Everything in the mid-to-late eighties became about their youth, their rebellions and indiscretions and music and… Gah! It still drives me fucking crazy just to think about it. Everywhere you looked it was balding guys with ponytails, Vietnam, Woodstock, and Jimi fucking Hendrix. Whatever the individual merits of these things, whatever the merits of the movies and music, it was just an overpowering, obnoxious wave of nostalgia. Our damn parents (well, not mine, mine were too old for that stuff, but still) would not stop begging for the culture's attention, would not stop demanding that their greatness continue to be acknowledged. Hell, there were even articles in Newsweek and Time about how my generation was a bunch of slackers who couldn't measure up to the boomers' greatness, much less garner any attention on our own.

In the middle of all of this, John Hughes made movies about us. That mattered to us probably more than he knew, and almost certainly more than we were consciously aware of. He gave us all common ground, reference points that we knew and loved. He gave us a universal parlance and described our caste system amusingly. He told us, through his films, that we shouldn't give up on who we are because of peer pressure or parental indifference. Sure, it's a trite message, but to a mopey teenager it is an important one.

Don't believe me that his work was important to my generation? I offer this beloved memory as proof: One day we screened The Breakfast Club in one of my college classes. As people walked down the hall and heard that wonderful Hughes dialogue, they stopped and looked in and did not leave. By the end of the movie, the room was packed, just wall-to-wall people, and all of them applauded when "Don't You (Forget About Me)" closed the film out. This was our movie, our Big Chill, and it was worth hanging around for it. Everybody — every single person — sang along with Simple Minds and did not feel self-conscious about it at all. We all left that screening smiling and talking. It was great.

Another, more personal anecdote about the man's work: It was a Saturday during my sophomore year in college. As usual, my parents and I weren't really getting along, but neither were we talking about it. A silent detente ruled the house, and I was sitting in the front room watching Ferris Bueller, wishing that they'd do a sequel and that Mia Sara would turn up at my door and want to fool around. My aunt Shirley came into the room to get something, caught sight of the movie and got hooked. My mom entered soon after to ask why Shirley wasn't doing the thing that she had asked her to do. She didn't get a complete sentence out before Ferris turned to the camera, said something that made her laugh out loud, and convinced her to sit down on the couch. My dad walked in a bit later, wondering where we all were and why everybody was laughing so hard. A minute later, he was sitting on the couch beside my mother and me, laughing hard and admitting that he wished he had seen the movie from the beginning. The movie eventually ended, and we all talked about it, laughing and smiling, feeling like a happy family for the only time that month. It didn't last — these things are always ephemeral, especially in my family — but it was there, a bright spot in an otherwise dark period, and I owe John Hughes for that.

So, yeah, Hughes meant and means a lot to me. No, I don't own any of his movies on DVD, but I watch them every time I stumble across them on cable. I still listen to the soundtracks. I still think fondly of Molly Ringwald. John Hughes was an important part of my life, and I hope he rests in peace.

PS:  I've come to realize just how deeply Hughes shaped my sense of humor this year. Working on Christmas Vacation, trying to think of amusing things to include in the art and the package, I've discovered the impact and lasting influence the man had upon me in this department. So, for those of you sick of my smart-ass comments, cast some dirty glances his way.

As I try to face my fear of the blank page and get started on something very different, I find myself revisiting past projects. About nine years ago, I wrote and drew a little eight-page story for a publication. It ended up going unused for a variety of reasons. It was called "Shadow of a Doubt" for reasons that escape me at this point, and I was very proud of it. It was a little noir-ish horror story, a tale of murder and deepening paranoia, and at least one person whose opinion I respected quite a bit found it "engrossing". So, I thought, let me re-read the thing. See if it can inspire me.

It should be noted, by the way, that revisiting past projects very rarely ends well for me.

Well, the story still holds up, but, yeesh, the art is just embarrassing. I mean, I haven't wanted to draw comics professionally in 15 years, but still… And, while the story still holds up, it could definitely use some tweaking.

I think, before I launch into the project I should be working on, the one with the ships and savages and children (or is that redundant?), it might be time to revise "Shadow of a Doubt". It is most certainly time to give it a better title.

Before you ask: No, I won't be posting it here in its current form. Did I not describe the art as "embarrassing"? Maybe as a companion to the finished, revised version, which would most surely be drawn by somebody else. Someone who could, say, hold a likeness from page to page…

I finally got to see Duncan Jones' Moon tonight at the Arclight. It hung upon an outstanding performance by the great Sam Rockwell, augmented by a somewhat chilling, somewhat comforting performance by Kevin Spacey. Without the talents of these two gentlemen, it would have been an overly long episode of The Outer Limits. Instead, it is an entertaining, somewhat engrossing character study, the sort of science fiction film that rarely gets made anymore.

Which, of course, is the whole point of the movie.

(It gets spoiler-y here, so, really, if you don't want to know what happens, stop reading.

No, really. Go see the movie, then come back and read on. I'll wait. Hmm-hmm-hmmm-hmm.

Back? Okay. Great. Here we go.)

While Moon was promoted as a mystery (it isn't; well, not much of one, anyway) and is, on the surface, a movie about a man discovering a rather harsh truth about himself and his world, I would put forth this hypothesis: On a certain level, it is really a science fiction movie about the state of science fiction movies. It didn't really hit me until the scene in the under decks, when Sam discovered the vast stores of clones. Up until that point I had thought it odd that the sets and technology were so reminiscent of 2001: A Space Odyssey. I mean, even the keyboards Sam used were less advanced than the one I use everyday at work. The communications equipment was less impressive than an iPhone. It was mise-en-scène by way of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. Then Sam went below decks. Suddenly it was a different world. Instead of the clean white-and-metal walls, the padding and the HAL-like companion robot,  Sam was confronted by a vast, dark stretch that was extremely reminiscent of the Death Star's hallways. I do mean extremely, by the way. It was even down to those weird capsule-shaped cut-outs on the walls. Darth Vader could have popped out and it would not have been a surprise to anybody but Lucasfilm's lawyers.

But it isn't just the set design. It's what Sam says in that scene. "There are so many of them. They're all the same." Combined with the sudden shift from "classical" science fiction set design to a set reminiscent of the movie that changed the direction of science fiction films from ponderous, thoughtful, distant pieces (2001, Solaris, etc.) to more consumer-friendly, action-packed fantasies, that dialogue drives the point home.

There's more. There's the fact that the new Sam has a worse temper and is more prone to violence than the old Sam. There's the fact that the company doesn't want anybody to find out about what's really going on and is preventing the classical science fiction set-up from communicating with the Earth. There's the whole subtext of Gerty's involvement. As I said above, he's extremely HAL-like, and he continually reinforces the fact that he's there to make sure Sam is happy and cared for, while at the same time he participates in the cover-up and facilitates the cloning scheme. What does that have to do with my point? Simple. That's basically the same role that HAL has played in the history of the science fiction movie. Within the story of 2001, HAL is there to provide a helping hand to Dave and to foreshadow Bowman's transformation. HAL starts to evolve, to become self-aware, just as Bowman will evolve into the starchild after encountering the monolith — an encounter that would not happen if not for HAL. Outside of the story, if you ask most people what 2001 is about, they'll tell you that it is about a computer/robot going crazy and trying to kill humans in outer space. You know, the same plot that has launched a thousand SciFi Original Movies.

Okay. Enough. Bedtime for me. Discuss amongst yourselves. But here are some photos to help illustrate the point. (All images © their respective owners.)

Before I get started, I should state explicitly that these are my opinions alone. I don't mean to offend anybody, but I probably will. Sorry in advance.

Waiting for me upon my return home this evening was a little amazon.com care package. Contained within were season one of Leverage and season two of Mad Men, both on standard def DVD. (No, I haven't upgraded to blu-ray yet. The wife won't let me. Seriously. If anybody wishes to send me a blu-ray player for my birthday, Christmas or freakin' Labor Day, I promise to include you in the will. Okay, so maybe that isn't much of an incentive…) 

My opinions on Leverage are well known here at the blog. I enjoy the show quite a bit. It is appointment viewing for me in a way that very few other shows are. It isn't perfect by any means, but I enjoy the Hell out of it most of the time. My opinion of Mad Men might not be as well known, but it goes something like this: It is my favorite show on television, possibly ever. I'm not going to get into an analysis of its strengths or my feelings about the show. That's not the point of this post. Boiled down to its essence, I got two box sets whose content will be treasured. They look like this:



Quite a difference in packaging. True, they're very different shows, but… whoof.

You'll note that I said that the content of both sets will be treasured. The shows, the extras, etc. I'm specifically excluding the packaging, something which is odd for me, since I, y'know, do precisely that for a living. I exclude the packaging because, well, one of these isn't very good, and it makes me quite sad.

When I see DVD packaging that doesn't work, I usually don't blame the designer. A lot of people weigh in on packaging designs: the internal creative directors and account people, the client-side creatives, the marketing guys, the parking attendants, the VP's masseuse, sometimes even the actors, directors and producers. It's design by committee, and many times that results in packaging that the designer wishes wasn't attributed to him or herself. It has happened to me and to everybody I know in the industry. It can't be helped. And, hey, it's their money and their product, so as much as it kills you, you have to just suck it up and let them make their mistakes.

But sometimes the designer has to take responsibility. I mean, in this case, the money falling from the sky in the Leverage key art is bigger than the characters' heads… and it is behind them. "Oh," you say, "it's in a separate reality. They're not meant to be grounded that scene." Really? Then why is there money at their feet? Now that you mention it, though… what the Hell are they standing on? Is that ice? Are they on a rooftop? I would guess they'd have to be in order to be that close to those buildings' tops. And what's with the different angles on the characters? Some are shot from below, some from straight on, and one maybe from above? I have some quibbles with the characters' arrangement, but let's assume that was dictated. And the type… uggh.

If it were just the key art sucking, I'd probably let it go, but the back is… well, it's just as bad. An initial drop cap that has zero weight; type that should have been force justified or at least ragged better in order to accommodate the odd space; the blurry shots that show the entire cast looking off the page and in a direction opposite to the flow of information; the inconsistent color palette; the uninspired font choices; two cast members appearing twice for no really good reason… Look, I get it, you didn't want to work on the title, but put a little bit of effort into it, will you?

I don't even want to talk about the interior liner.

Mad Men, on the other hand, is sublime. You can't really tell from that picture, but it is designed to be an old-fashioned shirt box, the sort of thing Don Draper would keep in his drawer at work. It's dimensional; the shirt and tie you see are actually the cover to the digipak held within. The box top, which open like a shirt box, is matte black with an acetate window with the title printed upon it. The digi is simple and classically designed. It's nothing startling, but it is well done and looks like some thought went into it. I could do without the honking big, bright red special features box, but it doesn't ruin the thing. I even love the coupon for Clorox that is included, which depicts a white shirt collar with a lipstick smudge upon it.

Okay, so poor packaging doesn't detract from the viewing experience any more than good packaging enhances it, but I tend to think of these things as art objects. The two seasons of Mad Men, The Dark Knight mask packaging, some of the other cool things floating around out there, they're art. Maybe not high art, but they're worthy of attention. And, while they don't enhance the quality of the shows or movies, they do leave an impression… and help move product. I may not love the movie, but that Transformers box that transforms into Optimus Prime way so cool that it sticks in my mind and helps me remember that the film is out there.

So, that's my rant. Maybe I'm too sensitive to these things. Maybe the guys who designed this feel the same way about my stuff. Maybe… I don't know. Maybe we'll just have to agree to disagree and get back to work.

I'd have to check, but I think I reviewed every episode of Leverage season one here on the blog. I doubt that I'll be doing that again this season given my schedule, but it should in no way be taken as a lack of interest. The last three hours of season one were amazing and tonight's season premiere picked right up from there, continuing the quality.

I haven't really had time to digest the episode, except to wonder two things: One, why the Hell doesn't TNT let people know how funny the show is, and two, if you missed the first season, would you understand what was going on between the characters tonight? My guess on that first thought is that marketing can't figure out a way to sell something that's both light-hearted and crime-ridden. It's a shame — and an epic failure — because, y'know George Clooney had a couple or three hit movies that used that exact same formula.* I also guess that there were enough clues within the episode for the characters' relationships to make sense. People aren't stupid, and the clues weren't what you would call subtle. That said, seeing the first season did add quite a bit to tonight's episode.

Okay, I'm done.

*Cary Grant also knew a thing or two about light-hearted, crime-ridden films, it should be noted.

Spent the night doing laundry and watching Let The Right One In. Beautiful film -- touching, suspenseful, well-crafted, but definitely not "the greatest vampire film ever made" (as the DVD cover proclaims). Why? Because calling this a vampire movie is like calling Casablanca a romance or Citizen Kane a film about a sled. Technically, yes, there is a vampire in the movie, but that really isn't what the thing is about. Calling it "the greatest vampire film ever made" might move a few extra units, but it does the film no justice. It's a quiet, eerie movie about two people who are very alone and the bond they form as their worlds crumble around them. My favorite things about the film:

1) The kids, especially the girl, who do amazing jobs with the material.
2) The framing, which is uncomfortably but not obtrusively tight throughout the film.
3) The sense you get that this has happened to Eli at least once before, and that her friendship might just be a different form of predation.
4) That creepy damn scene at the dad's house. I love that they left it up to viewers to infer what's going on there, exactly the same way Oskar must.
5) The sound. Most scenes are so quiet that when you hear something -- regardless of what it is -- it makes an impact.
6) The swimming pool scene. Delightfully underplayed, both in the violence and in the joy. I love that we don't see Eli smile, but you can certainly tell she is.
7) And my absolute favorite thing about this film -- the scene in which Oskar goads Eli into coming in uninvited. I will say no more for fear of ruining it, except to say that that felt like one of the most honest depictions of pre-teens I've ever seen.

Rent it if you haven't seen it yet. Rent it before the American version (Let Me In) hits theaters. Even if it is good, you won't be able to experience this movie the same way.