Fear & Loathing @ The Coldplay Show

To say I hate Coldplay would borderline hyperbole. But it wouldn't be THAT far removed from the truth. Somethings about the Brit pop stars rub me the wrong way. Last Friday, Josie emailed me, saying she was offered tickets in a Bell Center lodge, for the Coldplay show. Caught in a conundrum between committing audio suicide and looking extremely childish to my girlfriend, I decided to go. In good Hunter S. Thompson adventurer fashion, I told myself that if I had to crack, it would be amongst twenty-two thousand delirious Coldplay fans. Worst comes to worst, I could get drunk. For free. Here are my collected thoughts.

People in the lodge are normal (we're maybe twelve), but the people outside are fucking weird. There's a man, probably in his fifties, wearing a white turtle neck and swaying his hips like Ricky Martin. Is that what Coldplay fans are like? Is it their demographic?

My hatred of Coldplay is entirely based on the few songs they bombed the radio airwaves with. Audio Luftwaffe. I have to give them something though. They are one of the tightest band I've ever heard. The songs sound, note for note, like those on the record. Some bands butcher their hits live, not these guys. They only butcher music when they write it.

I need a beer.

YELLOW has been written by Satan or by an Ancient Sumerian Deity dark enough for H.P Lovecraft to write about. It was given to mankind in order to make them slow, mediocre and apathetic. It's probably responsible for 50% of my Coldplay hatred comes from this song. Fuck, it's so bad. When Chris Martin asks the crowd to sing the chorus one more time, my ears start bleeding and I see my own death.

You know what, Chris Martin? I'm on to your bullshit. I don't buy your "sophisticated rocker guy" act, with your pink shirt and your watered-down shoe-gazing music. I have culture too, man. You're not above me. I've read James Joyce and I still think The Stooges are a better band. Iggy Pop could bury your ass on stage and in a street fight. The 65 years old, modern day Iggy. 

THE SCIENTIST is an interesting song. It fails to give me strong emotions, but there is something about that song that there isn't in the others. Or maybe it's the irritating nature of the other songs that not in this one. It's more lyrics-oriented and it doesn't have all these long, drifting, useless rifts. What I'm trying to say here, is that it's more cost-effective.

I need another beer. Quick.

There is a couple, kissing in the bleachers right below the lodge. The girl wraps her legs around her man's waist and they look ready to do it. I've seen it happen before. At Lollapalooza, at the Iron Maiden show. Never at a Coldplay show. But what the fuck do I know? I've never been to one. Maybe people screw all the time, here.

I am trying hard to love this, but the music goes right through me like a gust of wind. Sometimes, it's like I'm not even there. The pyrotechnics at the beginning kept me hooked in (the confetti shower was beautiful), but now I'm just droning through the songs. I've heard most of them at least once before. They are like a very soft, accessible and life-loving spin on The Cure.

The songs of Coldplay make so much more sense live, with twenty-two thousand people singing along. Every one of their goddamn song is a singalong. Maybe that's why the studio versions suck so bad, with Chris Martin yawning his way through songs. PARADISE sounds like a movie-ending, roll-in-the-credits song. Not so bad live, but the last think I want is to listen to the studio version. Josie's happy, she's enjoying this. I don't care about the rest. This song may or may not make me feel this way. 

They're doing it now.

Time for another beer.

Movie Review : The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

Country:

USA

Starring:

Christian Bale
Tom Hardy
Gary Oldman
Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Anne Hathaway
Marion Cotillard
Morgan Freeman
Michael Caine
Ben Mendelsohn
Aidan Guillen
Nestor Carbonnell
Liam Neeson

Directed By:

Christopher Nolan

Synopsis:

Batman's abusive relationship with Gotham City seems to be over. It's been eight years since The Joker has turned the city upside down and nothing of similar magnitude happened ever since, thanks to the Harvey Dent act. Gotham City is good without Batman, but Batman is withering away in Wayne Manor without Gotham City. That's until Bane happens. The masked monster is unleashed on the unsuspecting city he plans to destroy. Absolute chaos ensues and Gotham finds itself in need of its caped crusader again. 

Christopher Nolan doesn't leave anybody indifferent. He's been standing under Hollywood's magnifying glass for many years and has shown grit, artistic drive and individuality in a world of yes-men and washed up, coked-out executives with ideas of grandeur. The movie MEMENTO brought him international recognition in 2000, but it's when he took over the Batman trilogy project in 2006 that he became a big gun. The first chapter, BATMAN BEGINS, was great. THE DARK KNIGHT, released in 2008, was by far the best superhero movie ever shot and featured a legendary performance from Heath Ledger as The Joker. Where could it go from there, really? How could Christopher Nolan could outdo himself, when he outdid everybody already? Well, he just did. How? By radically changing the structure , drawing inspiration from other, older art forms and working with a much better script.

First, let's clear the air and take care of the elephant in the room. There is no performance that comes even close to Heath Ledger's in THE DARK KNIGHT RISES. But it's fine.

THE DARK KNIGHT relied on Heath Ledger's a lot more than THE DARK KNIGHT RISES relies on any character. It's gripping and visceral whatever direction it goes in. Everybody chips in and up their game. Tom Hardy manages to be inhuman and terrifying with a mask covering most of his face. His eyes ooze the darkness and the cold hatred that Bane is made from. Anne Hathaway is a pleasant surprise as Selina Kyle, better known as Catwoman. Her game is very physical, lascivious. I never thought much about Anne Hathaway as an actress, but that character was a natural fit for her. Michael Caine is worth mention, also. He is dealt some overly emotional lines, but his British restraint makes it work beautifully. He makes Alfred into this broken, old companion. Christian Bale is also great, but that you already knew, I'm sure.

There were reviews that called out THE DARK KNIGHT RISES for "not living up to its Wagnerian ambitions" and after viewing the movie, I really wondered what the hell they were talking about. It is a movie best qualified as "Wagnerian". Forgot all the comparisons you want to make with the 20th century classics, because they are all unfair. THE DARK KNIGHT RISES was not created to rival THE GODFATHER or CITIZEN KANE. It doesn't care about psychological accuracy and narrative subtlety. It's crafted to be an emotional experience, like when you went to the play in Ancient Greece or when you went to the opera in the 19th century. In lit. speak, it's catharsis and not mimesis. Nolan's latest piece aims to make its viewer access exalted emotions their day-to-day life doesn't purvey them. It's been a long time cinema didn't aim there and it's refreshing and satisfying as all hell that THE DARK KNIGHT RISES does. 

Of course, it's not a hundred percent perfect. There are clunkier scenes. I'm thinking about Blake (Gordon-Levitt)'s first encounter with Bruce Wayne, where he pours his heart out thirty seconds into the conversation, goes into this long, emotional tirade and Wayne answers as if it were normal that cops bust into his living room to have male-bonding conversations. This is explainable by time constraints though. If the movie would've built every relationship properly, it would've lasted five hours. The first fight scene between Bane and Batman also had no music, which was an almost comical reminder that the scene is not supposed to inspire awe. There is also a bizarre right-wing political message to the movie, but it can be overlooked if you dismiss the scene where Bane delivers that clumsy discourse about "giving Gotham back to the people". But for all its minor flaws, THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, rises above them (pun fully intended). They are timid, almost endearing blunders scattered along a spectacular scenery.

I left the theater after THE DARK KNIGHT RISES with that typical feeling of hollowness that you have after seeing something so great and spectacular for three hours. It touched this wordless place of awe at the core of my being. It wasn't subtle at all, but it wasn't aiming at being subtle. Historically speaking, this could be a very important movie. A landmark film that sweeps cheap action and "shaky cam" techniques off Hollywood. THE DARK KNIGHT RISES will set new standards for action movies. Its material is treated with such respect and craftsmanship, it casts a new light on what is considered cheap entertainment. We deem forms of entertainment cheap. We dictate the course of action of the entertainment industry. THE DARK KNIGHT RISES was an empowering viewing as it showed the narrative possibility of an insular subculture such as comic books, when given the proper treatment. Chris Nolan hit a home run with THE DARK KNIGHT, but he hit a grand slam with THE DARK KNIGHT RISES.

SCORE: 95%

David Bowie - I'm Afraid of Americans

David Bowie gets to be in my musical Sunday post because this song is good, but mostly because the video owns. The British rocker went through this experimental phase in the nineties and really reinvented himself. I'M AFRAID OF AMERICANS is a great/hilarious product of his collaboration with his friend Trent Reznor (the mind behind Nine Inch Nails and the freaky American in this video). I love his it's absolutely a dramatic overkill. Everything is in slow motion, there are close ups of Trent Reznor's face slowly shifting like in a bad nightmare. If anything, it's a story narrated through a the eyes of a stressed out, OCD protagonist. Don't take it literally, this is a very sardonic video, made to poke fun at the globalization of American culture AND the American-o-phobia around the world. Just put that video on full screen and enjoy.

David Bowie - I'M AFRAID OF AMERICANS

Uh-uh-uh uh, uh, uh-uh uh-uh-uh
Johnny's in America
No tricks at the wheel
Uh-uh-uh uh, uh, uh-uh uh-uh-uh
Nobody needs anyone
They don't even just pretend
Uh-uh-uh uh, uh, uh-uh uh-uh-uh
Johnny's in America

[CHORUS]
I'm afraid of Americans
I'm afraid of the world
I'm afraid I can't help it
I'm afraid I can't
I'm afraid of Americans

Johnny's in America
Uh-uh-uh uh, uh, uh-uh uh-uh-uh
Johnny wants a plane
Johnny wants to suck on a Coke
Johnny wants a woman
Johnny wants to think of a joke
Uh-uh-uh uh, uh, uh-uh uh-uh-uh
Johnny's in America
Uh-uh-uh uh, uh, uh-uh uh-uh-uh

[CHORUS]

I'm afraid of Americans
Uh-uh-uh uh, uh, uh-uh uh-uh-uh

Johnny's in America
Johnny looks up at the stars
Johnny combs his hair
And Johnny wants pussy in cars
Johnny's in America, uh-uh-uh uh, uh, uh-uh uh-uh-uh
I'm afraid of Americans

God is an American
God is an American

[CHORUS]
Yeah, I'm afraid of Americans
I'm afraid of the words
I'm afraid I can't help it
I'm afraid I can't
I'm afraid of Americans

Johnny's an American
Johnny's an American
Johnny's an American, uh-uh-uh uh, uh, uh-uh uh-uh-uh

Angry Video Game Nerd - Schwarzenegger Games

He's back! James Rolfe has been radio silent for the last six months or so due to him shooting the AVGN movie, but he took time to shoot another episode to help us wait for the full feature...and to celebrate THE EXPENDABLES 2, the manly extravaganza of the summer. In this video, he reviews all the Arnold Schwarznegger related video games on the NES (except for the Terminator games, which he just hovers over, because he did them already). I'm not going to spoil which ones he does, but this is a very cool, brutal episode. Poor AVGN has to go through a lot of garbage for his viewers' enjoyment.

Andrez Bergen - Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat (2011)

Country: Australia/Japan

Genre: Neo-Noir/Science-Fiction

Pages: 234/540 kb

Synopsis:

There's this guys, Floyd Maquina. He works in Melbourne, the only city left in the world. Floyd is obsessed with mid-twentieth century pop culture and especially with Humphrey Bogart. He's a Seeker, which means he's hunting for Deviant people, whatever it means. The Seekers are not to sure themselves. Floyd finds a partner and a lover in Laurel, but she gets kidnapped, seemingly by the Deviants. What now? Well, now there's a purpose to Floyd's life. A direct path to the destiny of the movie characters he loves so much.

Buy It Here

 Don't go thinking that I'm out here in this dismal weather by choice. I told you it's my job, though I could argue that it's my prison sentence. I'll be doing this for the rest of my working life, however long or (more likely) abridged that stretch might happen to be.

Some people I know could kill for an original idea. Other people I know have originality broken down and streaming in their blood. Life's unfair. Andrez (really, Andrew) Bergen belongs to the second category. He has the Originality Gene in his DNA. TOBACCO-STAINED MOUNTAIN GOAT might be quoting and referencing about a hundred pop culture products, but all put together, it adds up to something you've never read before. A twentieth century obsessed law enforcement worker in a secluded city, in a distant and totalitarian future. Yeah, exactly. It's as crazy as the premise sounds. But beyond being crazy, it's a bold, borderline reckless experimentation with storytelling. 

It's funny, because at first, I thought Bergen was writing a story about nothing. I read and read and asked myself: "Where the hell is this going? Have I sped through the plot? Has Bergen sped through the plot?" But no. Patience was rewarding as I started understanding Andrez Bergen's master plan. It's no coincidence if the chapters of TOBACCO-STAINED MOUNTAIN GOAT all have titles. They literally could all be torn off from the book and would work as a standalone short story. Put together in a novel though, they all feed into each other and create a deeper, more layered meaning. Now, pardon my french but this is bold as fuck. Bergen constantly gambles with his reader's attention and relies on his patience and intelligence to persevere and see the bigger picture he's creating. Takes balls to pull off such a stunt.

I don't know how I felt about the whole reference thingie going on in TOBACCO-STAINED MOUNTAIN GOAT. Sure, it was quirky but it got tiring after a while. Good thing though, Bergen seems to have grown tired of it too and after maybe half of he novel, it zeroes in on Floyd's obsession with Humphrey Bogart. While he stretched the idea for a little too long, he knew when to stop it. There is a second layer to his references though, which I thought was the most interesting. There are winks withing the story. The paranoid vibe, the vaguely named agencies, this is all very Philip K. Dick like. Throw in a 100% original narrator who himself sees the world through the eyes of hardboiled characters and you got yourself an intoxicating mix. The detail-oriented craftsmanship of Andrez Bergen won me over and made me appreciate the complex nature of what he was really doing.

"There's an age old Japanese saying: 'Nana korobi ya oki', which means 'falls seven times, rise eight times'-which is an encouragement to persevere."

"You persevered?"

"Not intentionally. But I survived."

Innovators usually suffer a bleak fate. The sheer volume of new ideas Andrez Bergen proposes in TOBACCO-STAINED MOUNTAIN GOAT will turn off some people as much as it will suck some in. On a long enough time frame, it is destined to be a cult classic, I think. It feels a little loose as the plot elements are scattered through and Floyd is a tiny bit too broadly painted to carry the weight of the novel by himself, but I applause Andrez Bergen's bravado for putting out so many new ideas into the same narrative. Floyd Maquina might not be remembered for his wild adventures, but he's a stone in the legacy Bergen has started building for himself. It's refreshing to see an author not necessarily aiming for New York Times Best Seller list and just being happy to share his vision of literature through his work. Reading TOBACCO-STAINED MOUNTAIN GOAT makes it hard not to like Andrez Bergen as a person and a writer.

THREE STARS

LOST as an Existential Experience

From May to mid-July, Josie and me have sat through the 120 episodes of LOST. Throughout its six season run, it was one of the most polarizing things on television. People either loved it or hated it. Some also fell out of love as the show kept changing its tones. One season it was deeply philosophical, the other was a long, fictionalized episode of SURVIVOR, season five was cut straight out of a sixties men's adventure magazine, etc. I was in the "unconditional love" camp. It took me about two and a half season to make it irreversible, but the show worked its magic on me.

How?

Well, LOST is a show that's as endearing in its flaws that it is in its strengths. I don't think J.J Abrams and Damon Lindelof are particularly geniuses. In fact, I find it hilarious that they are treated as such and are constantly demanded to create deep in meaningful content. Lindelof in particular and he's been so focused on creating meaningful and moving stuff since then, he has yet to come up with another interesting character. He seems to have completely misunderstood what made him a wanted commodity in the first place. Many times, LOST reeked of the "what-are-we-going-to-make-them-do-now?" issue. Why didn't it turn me away from the show, then? That's where the magic operated. This is the first of a series of LOST posts, where I'll tackle different aspects of the show. But first, here are five ways it revealed me to myself.

Give me great characters and I will follow you on blood stumps through the snow. Seriously, what terrible humans care about plot more than they care about people? If you care about somebody, it's not important what they're going through, you just want them to survive and find a little sun in their lives. In LOST, I found myself gravitating towards Ben, Sayid and Sawyer the most. Sayid Jarrah is an ex-soldier in the Iraqi Republican Guard who did a LOT of bad stuff in his life. He's constantly looking to be better, but he's a soldier at heart. He doesn't like his cold warrior logic, but it keeps saving everybody's lives. Sawyer is a grifter who gradually starts fighting the survival instinct he lived by for all his life and Ben, my little Ben is about the most complex bad guy I've seen on TV along with Walter White. His story is a bit ludicrous, but his faith isn't. Maybe they are the three "noirest" characters in the cast, but hey, sue me. I like that.

I can't watch TV series on TV anymore. Especially with a larger cast like that. There could be what? Four, five weeks in between two episodes that feature a certain storyline? The magic of Netflix bridges this gap in a single evening. Maybe the "television series" should lose the word "television" in them. What happened to me? I used to be so patient. There are so many series out there and so many things to do beside watching television, it's a no brainer. I don't care about a series until I can watch at least a season without having to wait. Because time is no way to build anticipation. Cliffhangers are still a good way to get you to watch the next episode, but time has become the enemy. Suck it, TV executives.

I'm getting better as a storyteller. From watching great and bad storytelling. It's true the mysteries in LOST got a little tired over time. I think it's at the end of season 4 (the weakest season, in my opinion), that Ben, under the gun said something along the line of  "Don't kill me, because I know things that wish to know".  That resumes the intrigue of the last three seasons in a nutshell. People being deliberately vague, to haul the suspense a mile further down the road. Infuriating, yes but nothing's perfect. This would have been a lot more painful if the show wasn't punctuated by the absolutely wacky, fun and ridiculous season five where the zany science-fiction themes took all the place. A nuclear bomb, crazy science people, true believers and time travel on top of things? C'mon. It's hard to hate. The storytelling of LOST isn't always bad, it's just overambitious more often than not.

I can now spot sexism without a bikini or a cooking apron. Take that, Don Draper. The character I disliked the most in LOST was probably Kate Austen. No fault to Evangeline Lily who's a great actress, but her role had absolutely no point except to create conflict between her love interests Jack and Sawyer and to put the entire cast in danger. Her decisions are always 100% emotional and men listen to her because she makes sweet eyes before walking into traffic. She's a damsel tied to the train tracks who talks a big game, that's it. In many regards, she was the complete opposite to Sayid, who was my favorite character. Juliet Burke, despite being less physically appealing, was a better written character.She had an arc not unlike Ben, where she goes from being monstrous to being endearing.

The hype has lied to me one last time. The finale was hyped as the most disappointing final episode ever. Without spoiling anything, there are cheap decisions taken (like, you know. Confirming that hypothesis everyone had since day one). But there are gutsy decisions taken too and narrative choices that are everything but evident. We know the characters ultimate fate, but Abrams and Lindelof created huge gaps in time where other adventures could've happened. There is nothing I find more heartwarming than knowing the characters I spent over eighty hours loving and caring about, will go on and have crazy adventures that may or may not get written. I will not believe the hype anymore. So I'm telling myself.

What about you, dear readers? What have you learned about yourself watching LOST?

Movie Review : Alpha Dog (2006)

Country:

USA

Starring:

Emile Hirsch 
Justin Timberlake
Ben Foster
Anton Yelchin
Bruce Willis
Sharon Stone
Fernando Vargas
Harry Dean Stanton

Directed By:

Nick Cassavetes

Synopsis:

 Johnny Truelove (Hirsch) is a small town dope dealer. Business is going fine until he runs into trouble with local hoodlum,nutjob and Jewish white supremacist Jake Mazursky (Foster). Mazursky being extremely violent and all, Truelove and his friends kidnap his brother in other to keep him in check and refunding the money he owes. But kidnapping is a difficult business that involves major trust issues, paranoia and more often than not, a lack of communication in between all the parties. No matter how much you think you're on top of things, crime is a tough life to keep up with. Inspired by true events.

Here's a curve ball for you. Nick Cassavetes is the son of John Cassavetes, a mildly important American filmmaker, who shot movies like FACES and THE KILLING OF A CHINESE BOOKIE. His films were not box-office hits by any means (although he starred in some), but the man had his own ideas about filmmaking and he helped make movies an art form in his own way. His son will be remembered for user-friendly tear-jerkers such as THE NOTEBOOK and MY SISTER'S KEEPER. So, go figure. But in between his Nicholas Sparks adaptation and his mid-afternoon bawlfest, he made ALPHA DOG, a gritty true crime movie or at least an attempt at it. It draws a little more inspiration from his father's work and yet, ends up not looking like anything solid. It's not bad, but I can't really say it's good either.

Cassavetes wrote the screenplay for ALPHA DOG, which is by far the strangest aspect of the movie. While the scenes order reflect a perfectly coherent narrative, the scene construction itself is very loose. There is little information conveyed a lots of unnecessary profanity. I have nothing against profanity in itself and I love whenever it's used in a creative way, but here, it just piles up. Most scenes consists of Frank (Timberlake) waiting for a phone call from Truelove, telling him what to do with the Mazursky boy (Yelchin) or Frank, moving the Mazursky boy to a new location. In the meantime, they smoke week, harvest weed, play video games, have a good time with girls, etc. The crime of kidnapping Zack Mazursky in itself is just a sword of Damocles hanging over their head, which sure is an original way of presenting it. It's just that...it could have been a little more dramatic, maybe?

ALPHA DOG makes it very hard to judge the performance of its actors. Justin Timberlake looks like he's playing Friendly Justin Timberlake. Emile Hirsch understands very well what is having "a criminal mind" but doesn't show much more. The only member of the cast to truly wow the crowd here is Ben Foster. I often say over-the-cop characters are easy to play and even mediocre actors can play them, but Jake Mazursky required some thought process. He constantly tangles in between desperate rage, violence and insanity and Foster managers to pull off some surprising scenes (like yeah, that telephone scene). The more experienced actor look completely ridiculous and out of place here. Bruce Willis looks stupid with his wig. The street-smart mobster/dad thing is not his game. And that last scene with Sharon Stone? Ugh.

So what's ALPHA DOG's main thing? I don't know. I suppose it's Ben Foster. He's the only cast member who seem to realize he's in a dramatic movie. I can't say the direction is great either. The image has that bleak tint to it, which really clashes with the content. ALPHA DOG isn't a bleak movie. It's about young, misguided people loosing their innocence. Nick Cassavetes doesn't seem to know what he's doing or where he wants to take this movie. The scenes and sometimes even the shots thsemselves are way too long and pointless.

But the strange thing here is that it's not bad. It's badly presented but the events and the structure of the movie tell a captivating story and it has a very realistic take on murder. Nobody wants to acknowledge what they are really doing, but the horrific reality seeps in little by little.  I can't recommend ALPHA DOG, but I won't tell you to pass on it. If you like your crime movies done differently and thought outside the box, this is not perfect, but there is interesting material. It's one of those movies made for rainy afternoons and boring weeknight evenings. I'm still at loss to explain how Nick Cassavetes of all people could come up with it.

SCORE: 62%

 

Dead End Follies Book Club: THE LAST KIND WORDS

I have read about eighty books since last November (my reading year goes from November 1st to October 31st, Dead End Follies Awards oblige) and I have give a FIVE STARS rating to only four books. It's my hallmark of excellence. It means that not only I thought the book was far above average, but I also had a strong emotional response to it. Two of these selections were by Tom Piccirilli. EVERY SHALLOW CUT blew me away last winter and in Spring, THE LAST KIND WORDS redefined what "blowing one away" meant. If you read enough, some book will end up doing that to you. 

Wanna know something amazing? THE LAST KIND WORDS is brand new. It came out officially on June 12th. The Rand family are newcomers in the crime fiction landscape, but they are destined to achieve immortality. There are follow-up novels already rumored and the fans are demanding a movie adaptation. This sure has the potential to hit the silver screen hard. If you're looking for the best new fiction out there for your summer reads, this is the book you're looking for.

THREE REASONS TO READ: THE LAST KIND WORDS

1) The comparisons with Dennis Lehane are valid. Don't get me wrong, Tom Piccirilli has his own style and themes, but like MYSTIC RIVER, this is a novel that aims high. There is a crime, sure. But it's a novel about family, first and foremost.

2) It's incredibly layered. The Rand family is tight-knit, but every member has their own set of issues. Coming back to his loved ones after disappearing for long, Terrier Rand goes over each family member's own set of problems. It's a lot to handle, but I like my novels well layered like this.

3) Terrier Rand. Amazing protagonist who has a terrific set of skills that grand him great power, but he's very sensitive compared to his family members and damaged by the relationship he has with his brother. 

THREE TOPICS ABOUT: THE LAST KIND WORDS

1) Why do you think Terrier came back to his family? What is the real reason? Was it really because Collie asked or is there another reason implied?

2) Why isn't there any direct interaction between Terrier and his ex-girlfriend Kimmy? 

3) Where do you think THE LAST KIND WORDS stands in regards to Dennis Lehane's statement: "The social novel went into crime fiction?"

Book Review : Hilary Davidson - The Damage Done (2010)

Country: Canada

Genre: Crime

Pages: 352

Synopsis:

It's an understatement that Lily Moore, successful travel writer, comes from humble beginning. Her drive to achieve is fueled by the desire to leave her old life and all its drama behind. After losing her parents in tragic fashion, she's losing her sister little by little to heroin. So she leaves for Barcelona, hoping to seal herself from her sister's impending doom, but the news of her death brings her back to New York. But is Claudia really dead? The women found dead in her apartment sure isn't her, though. So where is she? Is she still playing game with her sister or did something bad happened to her?

Buy it Here

Claudia let go then, and I fell backward into the hallway."I hope you drop dead", she said, then she kicked my feet out the doorway and slammed the door. I lay there, staring at the ceiling for a minute before I'd gotten up and stumbled down the stairs. I'd run from the building, swearing to myself I'd never go back. Now, lying in Jesse's bathtub, I was sure that my sister has deliberately lured me back into her web. I was trapped as surely as if her hands were closing around my throat.

A long time ago, I heard a hip-hop song on MTV that sampled an off-key pan flute loop. I'm not sure where the sample came from, but it was beautiful. There was no doubt the instrument was played out of key, but by doing so, it accessed sounds that a pan flute can't usually access. Something more visceral, emotional. THE DAMAGE DONE, by Hilary Davidson, reminded me of this song. I knew from her short stories that Davidson is a pinpoint accurate writer, but her first full-length novel goes beyond simple accuracy. It taps into something unexplored, a point inside a continuum in between the lean prose of Lawrence Block, the elaborate mysteries of Rex Stout and the sophisticated settings of Arthur Conan Doyle. THE DAMAGE DONE is accurate, inspired and original.

The debut novel of Hilary Davidson features an impressive cast, but it's how they clash into each other that creates the beauty. Since the Moore sisters are both clinging to a better life, their bleak past and their sophisticated present meet in THE DAMAGE DONE. The past is represented by the cops Bruxton and Renfrew, as the present is seen through characters like Claudia's old boyfriend Tariq, Lily's old boyfriend Martin and ex-neighbor Sarah. The cops dig mercilessly  into Lily's past, hoping to find something to further their investigation and find out things she kept to herself for very long. Davidson does this with a lot of subtlety. There is a lot of hints and unsaid to Lily's behavior. It's a beauty to read how defensive she gets around people who spend their days amongst murderers, drug addicts and schemers, only because it makes bad memory resurface. 

Like a good mystery often does, THE DAMAGE DONE highlights the dark side in human nature. It doesn't care who you are, how much you do and what restaurants you eat at, everybody has one. Davidson exposes the flaws in her characters and makes them endearing. Tariq Lawrence for example, is a snob and a jealous boyfriend, but he loves Claudia so much it's hard to dislike him. He never says it out loud, but when Lily comes to him for help, he goes through great pains to make himself available to assist her and puts himself in harm's way without a second thought. He's visibly going back to painful places, but he does it with reckless abandon. He's a man on a mission. Detective Bruxton is a cast member that comes from a very different upbringing that Tariq, who's endearing side comes through like sun beams through wooden walls. Here's an example.

"Take a breath," said Bruxton. "These are new shoes. Don't get sick on them."

I stared at his feet. His shoes were scuffed black leather, of an indeterminate style that shouted discount outlet. "They don't look new."

"This is what new shoes look like when you're making support payments."

It's dark, begrudging, but it highlights that Bruxton is a responsibly family man who's going through a lot. It's that kind of small detail Davidson scatters through her novel that makes the interaction in between her characters so complex and engaging. THE DAMAGE DONE has a larger-than-life mystery for the reader to solve and yet, there is so much attention give to detail and to flesh out small aspects of the novel, it makes it layered and engaging. Great characters with extensive interactions will do that, at least to me. Give me somebody to root for and I will follow you on bloody stumps through the snow. Lily Moore, Tariq Lawrence, Jesse Rob, Martin Sklar and Detectives Bruxton and Renfrew are worth it.

If you read THE DAMAGE DONE and liked it as much as I did, rejoice. There are two other Lily Moore novels. THE NEXT ONE TO FALL, published in 2011 and EVIL IN ALL ITS DISGUISES, coming up next winter. Lily has the potential to be a superstar sleuth and have a long-winded series. I knew Hilary Davidson was very talented, but THE DAMAGE DONE is an engaging, cerebral and inspired. Chalk her up as another great lady of crime fiction along with Megan Abbott, Jennifer Hillier and Sara Gran. Count me up as a fan, too.

FOUR STARS

Kiss - Strutter (Live)

Kiss is a band I didn't "get" until I was way into my twenties. I was maye twelve when they released REVENGE, which had great songs on it like UNHOLY and DOMINO, but soon enough they became "not hard enough" for me. Testosterone flew through my young and confused body and bands like Pantera and Slayer onlyseemed to quench my thirst for rocking out. It's not until recently that I started "getting" the whole sexy rock vibe to their music. STRUTTER, one of their first hits (if not THE first) is a good example of what they do best. So here it is on this sunday for your enjoyment. Rock out!

Kiss - STRUTTER

I know a thing or two about her
I know she'll only make you cry
She'll let you walk the street beside her
But when she wants she'll pass you by
Everybody says she's lookin' good
And the lady knows it's understood
Strutter

She wears her satins like a lady
She gets her way just like a child
You take her home and she says "Maybe, baby"
She brings you down, drives you wild

Everybody says she's lookin' good
And the lady knows it's understood
Strutter

I know a thing or two about her
I know she'll only make you cry
She'll let you walk the street beside her
But when she wants, she'll pass you by

Everybody says she's lookin' good
And the lady knows it's understood
Strutter
Strutter
Strutter

Book Review : Don Winslow - Savages (2010)

Country: USA

Genre: Crime

Pages: 302

Synopsis: 

Ben, Chon and O. are best friends, sexual partners and dealers of the best weed on the American West Coast, maybe in the world. They are living the American Dream until the Baja Cartel makes a move on them. The proposition is simple. Work for them or die a brutal death. They refuse and since they are more valuable if they comply, the cartel leader Elena La Reina kidnaps O., thinking it will make the two loverboys docile. Well, this would have been convenient, except it's not really how it turns out...

Do not expand horizontally until you have achieved maximum vertical capacity.

Also: do not fuck with someone until you know exactly who the fuck you're fucking with.

And then don't do it.

I can tell you to stop doing whatever you're doing and go read SAVAGES now, but it wouldn't do it justice. I could tell you it's better than whatever you're reading right now, but still it wouldn't capture the scope, the boldness and the pure iconoclast bravado of the novel. I didn't believe it myself when people implored me to read Don Winslow. It took an impending movie adaptation to push him on my radar. But goddamn and I mean, goddamn. This is something entirely new. It's more potent than a dozen bricks of C4 and meaner than Al Quaïda on crystal meth. With SAVAGES, Don Winslow draws a line in the sand. It's a landmark novel for crime fiction. There is what came before and what came after it. It blew my mind, shook my beliefs and rocked my world. Sometimes it feels so good to be a reader.

Where do I begin? There are so many cool things about this book.

The style. It's absolutely stellar. It's a third person narration, but there is definitively a narrator to this story and he sounds like an old weed smoking hippie. There are 290 chapters for 302 pages and that's because the narrator keeps jumping from character to character and SAVAGES has a large cast. No character ever feels neglected because the chapters are so short. They go from three pages to..well...two words. It's not hard to read. It's lean as hell and fun. There are digressions and pop culture references scattered all along, keeping the pace frantic. The style itself make SAVAGES a quick read. It will probably take you three to four hours to complete, in one or two sittings.

SAVAGES isn't so much about plot as it is about characters. Winslow spends an enormous amount of time developing the relationship between Ben, Chon and O. It's capital to understand how much they mean to each other. The genuis of Don Winslow here is to move the plot forward at the same time. As he goes through the backstories of Ben, Chon and O., the cartel contacts them and start the blackmail. It's done with such precision that when they kidnap O., you're already firmly rooting for the loveable trio. There is always a lot going on the page and Winslow always stays on top of things. SAVAGES is a novel that never, ever stalls. I know it sounds far fetched, but you have to read it to believe it.

He would like to kill-

Hernan Lauter, and -

The fucking who was holding the chainsaw and-

Hernan Lauter again,

Chon would like to start every day by killing Hernan lauter and in a sense he does because he wakes up from what little sleep he gets by thinking about it. 

I've had difficult time choosing a favorite character. The obvious choice was Chon, the youngest retired Navy SEAL ever, who found the meaning of family in this bizarre love triangle he's in. But his partner Ben is as fascinating. Son of psychologists, he's used to be overanalyzed and therefore developed a strong knack for lying. He wants to do good and help the world, but his line of work doesn't tend towards that. O. is equally amazing. On the surface, she looks like the typical shallow O.C girl, but her spirit is sharp. Her feelings for Ben and Chon are very strong. She's not in it for herself. I'm not even going to go over the bad guys here, because they are equally fleshed out, complex and downright awesome. I'll leave you some surprise.

SAVAGES is a masterpiece. I don't like to use that word, but let's call a cat it for what it is. There was never anything like it before and it's going to inspire a new way to write crime fiction. Hell, a new way to write fiction, period. I have never seen anything like it before and strongly doubt there will be anything as well developed again. All the credit goes to Don Winslow. If you overlook the groundbreaking style, his character development and his breakneck pacing have made SAVAGES a perfect object. It's not the  proverbial "perfect novel", it's something perfect for what it is. It's a thoroughly original and it's solid on every aspect. It's a novel you will return to again and again and find new things to like about.

FIVE STARS

Movie Review : Legion (2009)

Country:

USA

Starring:

Paul Bettany
Tyrese Gibson
Adrianne Palicki
Charles S. Dutton
Kevin Durand
Dennis Quaid

Directed By:

Scott Stewart

Synopsis:

 Charlie's pregnant from nobody-knows-who and is about to give birth. Then, some nightmarish looking creatures that one could easily call demons just walk by the dinner where she works, wanting the child dead. But Archangel Michael is around to make sure it doesn't happen. God grew tired of humans and wants to wipe out mankind. So he sends the angels to Earth to do his dirty bidding. All they have to do is kill this baby. Easy, no? Not when your best warrior is not on your side. 

Last year, I watched this movie with Paul Bettany called PRIEST and thought it was pretty cool. Not many people shared my opinion, though and the movie gathered a whopping 17% on Rotten Tomatoes. I couldn't figure out why. It wasn't a classic, but it captured the essence of a graphic novel very well and the script was competent. The reason why PRIEST didn't have a fighting chance is probably this movie, LEGION. Sometimes, you want to like a movie very bad, because the premise is really cool and given that it is well handled, it could turn into a cult classic. But sometimes also, the said movie doesn't want to help itself and decide to suck, no matter how hard you try to love it. It's like that kid in high school that deliberately acts foolish, so he can justify not having any friends. Just look at this poster. You can almost see the dotted line of MS Paint around that gun.

There are many, many things wrong with LEGION and I don't know where to start. Maybe with how stereotyped this movie is? The two cops at the beginning are badly drawn parodies of the two worst L.A cops you've ever seen. They are as hateful and nihilistic as two drunken S.S. Tyrese Gibson is the token black guy who smokes weed and blasts hip-hop in his car. He talks in intense ebonics and has a gun. Of course, it's because he's the black guy. There is another black guy, Percy, played by Charles S. Dutton, who's a disabled war veteran with outspoken faith in God (you see where this is going, right?) There is the Good Girl (Adrianne Palicki), the Bad Girl (Willa Holland), the Easy Victims (Jon Tenney and Kate Walsh) and the drunken atheist dad (Dennis Quaid). 

Moving on.

I'm really looking for something positive to say. Paul Bettany's good fit for playing an angel? He is. His laconic game is very fitting to play an otherworldly creature. He injects the just the right amount of dread to play a fallen servant of God. But that's it. Really, there's nothing else to this movie. It would've have had charm if it could've kept up the high pace of its first thirty minutes, but it doesn't. It has comedic value in the beginning, but after the first major battle with angels *, things fall apart. There is nothing happening at all and characters painfully butt into each other. Only to give place to one final battle, which disavows everything the movie has been building up towards. As the credits roll, you'll be left wondering what the hell did you just saw.

Good idea, terrible script. That's the shortest way to describe LEGION. Visually, there are silly decisions made that don't make any sense with the storyline, but there are also beautiful shots. There is a shot of Jeep **(Lucas Black), contemplating a swarm cloud *** or another shot near the end where angels surround the dinner, which are really cool. There are a few of those, scattered through LEGION. There are many more flaws to discuss, but let's stop here. You got the point. Anyway, if you haven't watched it, don't bother and watch PRIEST instead. Scott Stewart has gotten better since filming this fiasco and he deserves a fair chance. He has a movie coming up next year called DARK SKIES and I'll probably give it a shot. So should you. But stay away from LEGION. It starts as a so-bad-it's-good movie, but it keeps sinking lower and lower by the minute. 

SCORE: 21%

*By the way, why are angels so scary looking? I thought they were the way of grace? Also, why can they possess people like demons?

** Yes, his name is Jeep. I know and let's not spread ourselves on that point. Let's be nice.

*** That's another thing. Nobody gives a shit about a two GIANT swarm clouds of flies. I don't know about you, but I'd freak out.

Book Review : Drunk on the Moon (2012)

Country: U.K/U.S/Canada

Genre: Hardboiled/Horror/Urban Fantasy

Pages: 232/393 kb

Synopsis:

Roman Dalton used to be a cop for The City. But shit happened and he resigned to become a private investigator. Classic, isn't it? Well, Roman's problem is that he's a werewolf and the further he goes into The City's underbelly, the more he realizes there isn't anything normal about it. DRUNK ON THE MOON is the chronicles of his adventures amongst the dark and the depraved.

Buy the eBook

Buy the paperback

I felt it. Like a thousand needles suddenly thrust into your body. Like electricity, millions of volts, searing across every nerve ending in a white heat of raw energy. Like an insatiable hunger overpowering you - blinding you - overwhelming you in an urgent, mindless, desire to feed.

 The easy thing to say about short stories is that they're on the way out. Better yet, that you don't read them. That you've never read them. Publishers don't want them, blah blah blah. That kind of defeatist talk doesn't reach Paul D. Brazill, who is to contemporary underground crime fiction what Dr. Who is to television. An original thinker and a lasting force. DRUNK ON THE MOON is a lot of fun and defies conventional ideas about the short story form. It literally could be the beginning of something new. The lost art of short stories are coming back to the masses, under a whole new concept.

Here's the thing. The haven of genre fiction today is television. Literature is all over YA, Hollywood is rehashing ideas that are decades old when they're not doing stupid action mashups shot in "shaky cam" style and television is airing genre fiction at prime time. BREAKING BAD (noir), THE WIRE (crime), THE SHIELD (noir), LOST (science-fiction), CSI (police procedural) and ONCE UPON A TIME (Urban Fantasy) are amongst the series that tapped into tremendous success since 2000. DRUNK ON THE MOON borrows from the television formula and offer a short, punchy and tremendously fun anthology that will please fans of Raymond Chandler,  David Lynch and Japanese anime.

My favorite story was INSATIABLE, by rugged indie veteran B.R Stateham, which also happen to be the longest story in the collection. Stateham's narrative flow and originality impressed the hell out of me. His story is structured in many segments and each segments feed into the other. He has a very good instinct for creating dramatic situations. Perennial favorite of Dead End Follies Richard Godwin also contributed to DRUNK ON THE MOON with a wild and perverted interlude called GETTING HIGH ON DAISY. It's the most "Lynchian" story of the collection and the most disconnected from the lot, but Godwin does things properly. The story could very well be a standalone work and reveals a side of Roman that the other stories don't. GETTING HIGH ON DAISY fleshes out an already interesting character, makes him deeper and scarier in many ways.

Walker leveled his stony cop gaze at me, obviously trying to make me uncomfortable, conveniently forgetting I had employed the same tactic thousands of times over the decades we worked together before my "accident". It he was trying to intimidate me, it wasn't going to stand a snowball's chance in hell of working.

There is no bad story in DRUNK ON THE MOON. No ordinary story either. They all range from good to amazing. I particularly liked the two stories Paul D. Brazill wrote himself and those by Allan Leverone, Julia Madeleine, Frank Duffy and Katherine Tomlinson. It's built in an episodic structure, a bit like CSI or LIE TO ME, so there is room for both continuity and originality, leaving a lot of creative room to the writers. That was maybe the most impressive part of DRUNK ON THE MOON. It was so cohesive. Every writer understood so well who Roman Dalton is and byzantine nightmare Paul D. Brazill created with The City. Each one of them add a layer of meaning and a drop of his/her personal style.

DRUNK ON THE MOON deserves all your attention. It's thoroughly original on a narrative aspect as well as an artistic creation. It captures the chaotic vibe of the golden years of pulp and offers tons of new ideas to its readers. Paul D. Brazill tapped into something special. It's with books like DRUNK ON THE MOON that reading is going back to the masses. The stories are short, it's easy to pick up and read one or two at the time and it's about a freakin' werewolf P.I. It doesn't get much more fun than that.

FOUR STARS

Feeding Kate - Be Entertained and Help Out

Who's Kate?

Her name is Sabrina Ogden and she reviews crime fiction on her blog MY FRIENDS CALL ME KATE. It's one of the few blogs I still read religiously. She's also a co-editor at SHOTGUN HONEY, who gave me my first chance at publishing and who are also the first ever magazine to feature me twice. She's an amazing woman and she needs a little help from her friends right now.

Why does Kate needs our help?

She's been battling a jaw condition since 1994. She totally has insurance for that, but you know how insurance companies are. They'll go out of their way to sell it to you if you don't need it, but if you do need their services, they press the "deny" button. The first time, it took three years and a legal battle to get her surgery. She experienced various hardships with that condition, but was clear of any trouble for about a decade. But now she needs surgery again and her insurance company doesn't want to pay.

What's FEEDING KATE?

It's a project on IndieGoGo, a short story anthology featuring major writers like Hilary Davidson, Chuck Wendig, Stephen Blackmoore, Joelle Charbonneau, Chris F. Holm and Josh Stallings, as well as a few of my underground favorites, such as Chad Eagleton, Steve Weddle, Kent Gowran, Linda Rodriguez, Chad Rohrbacher, Ron Earl Phillips and Thomas Pluck. This is a very impressive line-up by any anthology standards. All of this, from the initiative of Laura K. Curtis, who I don't know but I'm sure she's awesome.

How can I help?

You go to IndieGoGo web site and run a search for "Feeding Kate". It should bring you here. There are many formats available. For only five bucks, you can have the eBook in any format you goddamn want. For 18 dollars, you get a paperback copy (which is what I took). For 100 dollars you get a signed copy and for 500 bones you get a signed copy AND a year's subscription to CrimeSpree Magazine. Of course, the last two are symbolic donations, but if you have money to spare, this is a good occasion to do some real good.

Book Review : H.G Wells - The Island of Dr. Moreau (1896)

Country: U.K

Genre: Science-Fiction

Pages: 185

Synopsis:

Edward Prendick shipwrecked on an island where hideous misfits are living. The place belongs to Dr. Moreau, once an eminent physiologist in England, who disappeared after a his experiments were busted and exposed by the press. Prendick's time on the island is something of a surreal nightmare as he spends his time running from Moreau's experiments and uncovering the truth about the crazy doctor. 

And presently, with a positive effect of relief, came the pitiful moaning of the puma, the sound that had originally driven me out to explore the mysterious island. At that, though I was faint and horribly fatigued, I gathered together all my strength and began running again towards the light. It seemed to me a voice was calling me. 

H.G Wells is responsible for a lot of good things. Genre literature is indebted to him as he was one of the first writers of straight science-fiction. Like for many other writers of his time, Wells' approach is born out of Gothic imagery, but unlike writers like Edgar Allan Poe (Gothic/Crime) and H.P Lovecraft (Gothic/Horror), his stories weren't a mix of genres. Wells was fascinated by the unexplained and the mysteries of the world and crafted stories that not only reflected his interest in these questions, but sparked interest in those for many, many young readers. He wrote THE TIME MACHINE, THE INVISIBLE MAN, WAR OF THE WORLDS and the often overlooked THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU. Written when he was thirty years old, it's remembered as of today as one of his darkest, most disturbing novels.

Reading H.G Wells has a strange effect of me. His writings are so deeply entrenched into an era, I often have a harder time getting into his stories. It's a testimony to how much literature changed over the twentieth century. There is absolutely no moral ambiguity in THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU. Prendick is the good guy and the danger comes from everywhere around him. From Moreau, his assistant Montgomery, from most of the Beasts. Everybody takes a clear stance on want they want. It's rather disorienting for a fan of morally dubious writers like Jim Thompson and Anthony Neil Smith, such as myself. The enemy isn't within in THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU. Yet, the soul of Prendick is at stake. He is not shielded from the horrors he's facing, as it is mentioned in the metafictional foreword *. 

While I can't say there is any actuality to Wells' novel, there are groundbreaking elements to it. Written about forty years after Charles Darwin's ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES, it takes the evolution theory to its extreme. I'm pretty sure Wells didn't read the book, but THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU comments on the idea that men came from beasts (apes), which was obviously controversial back then. In all its demented colorfulness (Moreau works on making men out of animals such as a puma and a St-Bernard dog), questions about religion are raised. Does a creature has to always obey its maker? Is consciousness a gift or a curse? Very modern, complex stuff. The clash of this philosophical subtext with the wild, imaginative setting makes this novel thoroughly original.

"Who is that?" I said in a hoarse whisper, the revolver still pointed.

"I, Master."

"Who are you?"

"They say there is no Master now. But I know, I know. I carried the bodies into the sea, O Walker in the Sea, the bodies of those you slew. I am your slave, Master."

THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU was written in the midst of a controversy about animal vivisection in England. It's a gutsy take on the question, that asks even more difficult questions to a society who still was heavily influenced by Christianity back then. If we come from the beasts, do beasts have a soul? It doesn't look like much today, but back then, H.G Wells must have pissed off a LOT of people with this novel. He came to call it "an exercise in youthful blasphemy" by the way. I liked it. THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU is groundbreaking and extremely bold for its time. It epitomizes the 19th century very well, but it also foresees a fundamental change in society. It's an underrated science-fiction classic that prefigures the dark turn it will take over the following century.

THREE STARS

19th Century Classic

* Metafictional forewords were very hip, back then. Almost seems like viral marketing before its time. "Read the terrible true story of this guy, who faced horror on this island."

Bill Withers - Ain't No Sunshine

I love blues. There is so much soul in this musical style that sometimes it's hard to notice the hurt and the heartbreak behind the lyrics. It's a very soothing, healing muse. AIN'T NO SUNSHINE isn't like that, though. Its simplicity and its darkness weight on the listener's soul. Plus, there is this latent, abusive subtext to it. It's beautiful, subtle and it's been covered by about a gazillion artist. "Harlem" Bill Withers wrote it (or at least, according to Wikipedia) and I find this unplugged interpretation beautiful, so I am sharing it with you today.

Bill Withers - AIN'T NO SUNSHINE

Ain't no sunshine when she's gone.
It's not warm when she's away.
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone
And she's always gone too long anytime she goes away.

Wonder this time where she's gone,
Wonder if she's gone to stay
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone
And this house just ain't no home anytime she goes away.
And I know, I know, I know, I know, I know,
I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know,
I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know,
I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know

Hey, I ought to leave the young thing alone,
But ain't no sunshine when she's gone,
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone, only darkness everyday.
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone,
And this house just ain't no home anytime she goes away.

Anytime she goes away.
Anytime she goes away.
Anytime she goes away.
Anytime she goes away.

On Meeting Your Idols (Short Essay by Jason Lee Norman)

This is part of Jason Lee Norman's AMERICAS blog tour. I reviewed the book a few weeks ago and liked it a lot. Today, Jason comes in, to talk about the writers who inspired him to pick un a pen (well, keyboard) and write stories of his own. Go visit his web site and buy the book. It's very good and most important, it's unique and fun.

ON MEETING YOUR IDOLS

by: Jason Lee Norman

             With the exception of Dr. Seuss and J.R.R Tolkien, there are three writers who are responsible for me making the choice to try and become a writer: Ernest Hemingway, Salman Rushdie, and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. These three are at the top of the pyramid and there have been many others since then who have inspired me to keep going but these three were the first three and the path can be traced all the way back to them. One died before I was born, one is a socialite in New York City somewhere, and one is Gabriel Garcia Marquez who may or may not be a thousand year old magician responsible for unlocking the healing powers of the mango. So there are two left alive who I may be able to meet sometime in my life. What happens when you get to meet your idols?

                I finally watched Midnight in Paris last week and in it, Owen Wilson has the ability to interact with all of his creative influences and idols. He meets Hemingway and even gets him to read part of his manuscript. Terrifying. I don’t think I’d be able to handle giving Ernest Hemingway my work in progress. That would be too much for me to handle. I think the best I could do would be to tell him how much I loved his writing and maybe if we were in Michigan or something we could go fishing and get drunk and talk about the future. That might be all I need from Hemingway. Just to breathe the same air as him and share a conversation about whatever. Would most people just spend their time asking him about his secrets to great writing or would they not leave until he complimented their own work and say that it had strength and merit? I’m not sure.“Mr. Hemingway. I loved Old Man and the Sea and I loved A Moveable Feast and I love all of your short stories. Would you like to go fishing with me some time? Teach me how to fish like you. Please?”

                When I was eighteen I read The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie. I didn’t know much about the book except that awhile back it got Mr. Rushdie into some hot water with some Muslims. That fact alone excited me enough to want to read it. It was the most completely bonkers thing I’d ever read at the time and is still one of my favourite books ever. What would I say if I ever ran into Rushdie at a party? Maybe I’d say, Mr. Rushdie, your writing fills me up like a warm bowl of soup but you’re obviously a maniac. I’d probably be the first person to ever tell him something like that so it would definitely be a feather in my cap. What is there to really say to these people? Do you just say thank you and move on? Sometimes there’s even too much anxiety to say thank you. How do you even speak about something so close to you as literature? It’s best to avoid the subject altogether. “Mr. Rushdie, I hear that you are a supporter of the Totteham Hotspur Football Club. I am a supporter of Arsenal Football Club and although I think my team will destroy your team, I’d love it if we could go watch a match together some time.”

                And then there’s Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I’ll admit that I smile whenever somebody reads my book and says, “I can tell that you love Marquez so much”. I don’t mind that at all but I do know that I’ll never really come close to what he’s done. Not even if I live to be twice as old as he is now or discover that guava is the secret to longevity. In another Woody Allen movie, Sweet and Lowdown, the Sean Penn character is the second greatest guitar player in the world. Second only to his idol, Django Reinhardt. Penn’s character listens to Reinhardt’s music and weeps and the few times when he’s been in the same room as Reinhardt he either has a panic attack or he passes out completely. This would probably be me if I ever came within one hundred yards of Marquez. There’s no point in even trying to imagine what I’d ever say to him, it won’t happen. “Mr. Marquez. Gracias.”

                There’s only one real answer to the question of what to do when you meet your idols. You work hard and create something that maybe one day they come across and really love and then when they meet you, maybe they’ll be the ones to be a bit nervous and not quite know what to say. Inside they’ll just be a tiny bit jealous of your way with words. That’s really the only chance I have of ever coming in contact with my living idols. I just have to keep putting work out into the world that is good and maybe one day they’ll pick it up and they’ll like it and someday I’ll be able to tell them that I was able to write that because of them.

Book Review : Jim Thompson - Savage Night (1953)

Country: USA

Genre: Noir

Pages: 149

Synopsis:

Carl Bigelow is a student moving into a boarding house or so it seems. Charlie "Little" Bigger is a much badder man. In fact, he's one of the best hitmen in modern history.Could they be the same guy? They seem to be. Bigger has a contract to eliminate Jake Winroy, an employee of his boss that did some irreparable mistakes. Bigelow happens to live in the same boarding house. You know how these things go...

I was't an old man by a hell of a long ways, but I got to wondering whether the way I felt had anything to do with getting older. And that led into wondering how old I really was, anyway, because I didn't know. 

If there's a heaven for manly writers, Ernest Hemingway presides but Jim Thompson has a seat on the administration council. Nobody even comes close to the grit, aggression and all-around crazy vibe of his novels, except maybe contemporary madman Anthony Neil Smith, who seems to thrive on being the most violent writer alive. "Savage Night" is a term that comes back often in noir literature, in the stories of Smith himself and Allan Guthrie amongst other. But the term originated from Jim Thompson. I was curious to see the origin behind such a haunting term. Turns out the original SAVAGE NIGHT proudly wears its title. Especially the "Savage" part. Jim Thompson was in great writing shape in 1953, so blood pours and heads butt on the page.

The form is admirable. Ever watched Steven Soderbergh's THE LIMEY? Remember how weird the editing cuts were? You never knew exactly if you were in the future, the past or a fantasy? This is what SAVAGE NIGHT reminded me of. Thompson throws in very subtle clues throughout the narrative as to make you question whether Bigelow and Bigger are the same guy. The obvious answer is yes, but if you go deeper, it's not that obvious at all. At least not to the characters and Thompson takes pleasure in concealing the truth to his readers too. The Bigelow/Bigger parts are clearly cut and the protagonist acts very differently in both. Bigelow knows Bigger but the only thing bigger knows is killing. He's a savage with a pronounced taste for blood.

Reading SAVAGE NIGHT, I really was baffled by the fluidity with which Jim Thompson managed all the variables of his novel. The premise looks simple. It's a hit, a contracted killing. But the Bigelow/Bigger duality isn't. That's "psycho noir" for you and Jim Thompson understood and mastered this idiom and boiled it down to 149 pages of pure hell in SAVAGE NIGHT. He spares no brutality to his main protagonist, although he IS the main purveyor of brutality throughout the novel. I'm not going to spoil it, but the ending is absolutely brilliant. It was also in THE GETAWAY and Jim Thompson just has a knack for making abstract but relevant endings. It was surreal and cringe worthy. Rare are the endings who live up to their stories, but with Jim Thompson, this isn't a concern.

If you've been around the East much, you've seen a lot of houses like it. Two stories high but looking a lot taller because they're so narrow in depth; steep-roofed with a chimney at each end and a couple of gabled attic windows about halfway down. You could gold-plate them and they'd look like hell, but they're usually painted in colors that make them look twice as bas as they normally would. This one was crappy green with puke-brown trimming.

Not only SAVAGE NIGHT is an origin story for the follow-up titles that bore the same name, but it's an origin story of Bible-like proportions to psycho noir in general. It's a short novel, technically a novella, but Thompson's protagonist goes through hell from cover to cover. It's bleak, intense and doesn't have nearly enough credit in Jim Thompson's legacy (and it has some credit already). If you're looking for the purest noir experience you can have, put SAVAGE NIGHT on top of your list. It's very clear it's not your common crime fiction. It's as bleak and heartless as it gets. Not everybody's cup of tea, but if you're as into heartless fiction as I am, this will blow your socks off. SAVAGE NIGHT is my fourth Thompson novel and I'm only starting to understand how important he is to the genre.

FOUR STARS

Home

Patterson Island, Port-Cartier

Home.

I used to say I didn't have any. Those were my single, early twenties year. What an asshole I was. Single people mostly are and it's not really their fault. They don't have any bearings to evaluate their relevance in the world, so they think their little life is the stuff of Opera is written from. If you're single and you manage not to be a drama queen, you're a saint. 

I went back to Port-Cartier last week-end. It had been six years and ten years I hadn't seen the place in the summer. So I went back and took Josie with me. Showed her where I was born and all. Figured out that after five years, it was overdue.

The place was never kind to me, sure. It was nothing personal. Cities don't judge. I was just not cut out to live there. It's a place where men are outside, hunting, fishing and playing sports. Reading? Writing? Being an artist in general? Not so much. Maybe if you can twang a guitar at parties, but then again. It's a party thing, it's not serious. It's not personal, it's not a conservative town with a vendetta on intellectual and artists, it's just the way things are over there. 

Different logic, is all.

Long time ago, I was discussing with a friend about the process of moving on. He told me: "You have to embrace who you've been to move on. All of it. If you don't you'll spend years pining over who you were, instead of becoming somebody else." I went back to Port-Cartier with that in mind. I knew it was a part of who I was. More than I wanted it to. 

Yeah.

Josie and I walked to all my old favorite spots. The bay, Patterson Island, the river next to the camping grounds where I spent my last few summers. Places where I was left alone. There is an endearing vulnerability to a town that fits so well within the confine of one man's mind. Every street, every trail, every corner and shortcuts, I remembered. A day and a half later, we were back to my parents house. We had seen it all. No stones unturned. Was that it?

Home is where the heart is and it sure never was in Port-Cartier. But this town is a part of me. I grew up there and inherited its cold logic somehow. Also the flagship work ethic of its citizens. My upkeep is more emotional, psychological, artistic, but it's growing. I can feel it. I'm turning thirty soon. I have a home with people I love (yeah, my dog is a person. Screw you!) and I understand just a little better how I got there. There is nothing time can't crush and it's not always a bad thing.

Book Review : Chuck Wendig - Shotgun Gravy (2011)

Country: USA

Genre: YA/Crime

Pages: 530 kb  (eOriginal)

Synopsis:

Atlanta Burns is a little girl who grew up too fast. Fear and dreams have been beaten out of her at the same time. Atlanta is a survivor. She knows what you have to do to get through the day. Those who fuck with her pay the price with their health. Bullied kid Chris comes to her after being severely beaten and humiliated by an unlikely duo of tormentors. Will she accept the responsibility? To become a protector to other kids in need?

Buy It Here

Way he says  "shotgun", he knows. And it doesn't scare him. Which scares her. You're going to get hurt, she thinks. Maybe there's truth to what the worst of men say. Maybe you do this to yourself. Maybe you really are asking for it. You go fucking around with rattlesnakes, maybe you get bit.

It's no secret I'm very critical of YA literature. It's hip right now, so it's full of bizarre people trying to make money off writing for teenagers or even worse, seeking a purpose to their lives. But I'm also very high on Chuck Wendig, a writer who puts his money where his mouth is. The combination of Wendig and YA isn't as out there as it first seem. The man loves to teach, write and has an undeniable talent to do so. It's maybe not a natural fit, but it's an intriguing combination. If I understood properly, Atlanta Burns is supposed to be his hardboiled Nancy Drew. So did it worked? Damn right it did. It worked just fine and dandy. SHOTGUN GRAVY might not be as stellar as BLACKBIRDS was, but it's a rugged, in-your-face novella that deals with tough issues with great class.

There are several factors that make Atlanta Burns such a memorable character. Chuck Wendig understands very well the principle of creating great fiction through contrasting images. Atlanta's badass but her life is in shambles. She's violent and yet, she's always scared. She inspires respect and admiration and yet there's a burden on her shoulders. I know the novella is called SHOTGUN GRAVY, but the shotgun in question makes a very late apparition here. Better yet, there's a shroud of mystery around the weapon. Something happened involving a shotgun. Something horrible, altering Atlanta's life and to some extent, the life of everything gravitating around her. You feel it, it's everywhere and yet it's put into light very late into the book. This is real scarring, real trauma. It floats in the air. Not unlike what happens in Laurie Halse Anderson's SPEAK.

That brings me to a point I'm more torn about...

Bullying is an issue with tentacles. It has many forms, it's hard to define and it's even harder to bottle up. Chuck Wendig does a valiant effort at portraying it properly, but it's hit-and-miss. The kids get absolutely ZERO help from adults, which is realistic. Nobody thinks their kids are being bullied, nobody knows what to do about it. Kids are left to fend off for themselves and they end up dialoguing with violence because it's a clear language and both parties understand the consequences. But the bullies in this case are an easy target. Neo-Nazis * are an overused avatar of evil. They can do no good, no matter what they do, because what they believe in absurd and racist. ** Russians, Arabic people and zombies often receive the same treatment. It's not always black and white like this. Most bullies ignore they are bullies. They're bored, privileged kids with a bone to pick. Their apparent normality is unsettling. The reality of it hits them a lot later. I know SHOTGUN GRAVY's a DRAMATIZATION, but still. I thought it was an easy swipe to pull the Nazi card.

"Tornadoes in the heartland. Child soldiers in Somalia. Homeless people on the streets worldwide. Everybody's got problem. Everybody knows tragedy. Life is short and hard. Do the work. Don't make me fail you. Have a good day, Miss Burns."

The sky is blue for Atlanta Burns and the forecast is positive. Chuck Wendig is on the way up and he has plans for her. From what I understand, the follow-up novella BAIT DOG is coming soon and there are two others schedules after that. She's a character that allies the empowering aspect and the sense of responsibility of Harry Potter and the damaged coming-of-age aspect of "tortured teen" YA. There's a little thing for every YA lover in her. As Chuck Wendig's Myriam Black trilogy will bring him to celebrity, Atlanta Burns will follow up on her trail and rightfully so, for she is a hybrid of Nancy Drew and Batman. Yeah, I said that and I mean it.

FOUR STARS

* Don't worry, it's not a spoiler, it's written in the Amazon blurb.

** Although, I'll give thumbs up to Chuck Wendig for actually doing research on Neo-Nazi ideologies. I had the misfortune of meeting many skineheads in my life and this is exactly the speech they have.