Category: Culture

Yep, I saw it. Chances are most people reading this will have seen it or will intend to see it (and for the rest, read on for a special offer). So instead of reviewing, I’ll ramble.

It’s a Michael Moore movie. From some comments I read previously, I expected it to be less of a polemic, and perhaps more objective. Nope — he’s narrating the thing and even if he doesn’t come out in front of the camera much, it’s still got a heaping helping of Moore sarcasm and innuendo. I think I could have done without mocking members of the Iraq War coalition; even if I don’t think Costa Rica made a significant contribution to the war, I still believe the country deserves the same respect as any other sovereign nation. And I noticed that Moore left out England and Spain when listing coalition members.

On the other hand, it’s also got some astoundingly effective moments and, yeah, a few things I didn’t know. Some of them angered me, and some reminded me that there was a time when Bush didn’t look like he could possibly be as bad as he’s turned out to be. The Lila Lipscomb segments reached brilliance. Specifically, her reaction to the woman who challenged her. Every Republican should watch the movie for that moment if nothing else: that’s the danger you face when you try to brush off criticism.

Which leads me to the special offer. I think people should see this movie, not because it is a magic wand which will convert the masses to frothing Kerry worship but because it shows things you wouldn’t otherwise see. It does not present a complete picture. It does present important elements of a complete picture. So if you weren’t going to see this movie because you think Moore is a pompous blowhard, I will happily purchase and read a political book of your choosing if you change your mind. Even if it’s by Ann Coulter.

(Offer invalid if you pick a book I’ve already read, so be careful — you’d be surprised.)

I’m only a few pages into the new Delta Green novel, Denied to the Enemy, and I will no doubt finish it. However, I am overwhelmed with a strange compulsion to rant. First I will quote.

Before he joined in 1938 he was frightened almost all of the time. Oh now, how he missed those innocent days. Since his induction into the group Bruning was in a constant state of paranoia and fear. The things he had seen! The way his world had changed in under one year! He had a skill you see, a talent with language which was necessary for the group to achieve its goals. Bruning had studied many ancient tongues and was lettered in three very difficult ones. In addition he had a skill with cyphers, something developed during a stint at Oxford and his study of the works of John Dee. If only he was not so clever! His mind, something he had considered a blessing in his murky past now was a terrible weapon at the disposal of the Reich, and although the intangible front he fought upon was won or lost through the study of words, of meanings and innuendoes and secrets, the casualties caused by such battles were real enough.

I, too, suffer from the affliction of the comma abuser. I, too, use commas to extend a sentence far past its healthy conclusion. But man. I think the problem here is as much the absence of commas in key locations as the overuse of them. This is disappointing, particularly insofar as the novel comes from a company known for meticulous editing and painstaking care.

After seeing Napoleon Dynamite, I am greatly heartened to know that should something happen to Wes Anderson we’ll still have someone to make Wes Anderson movies. Very minimalist, very charming if you don’t assume it’s intended as mockery of the title character. Dryer than the average Wes Anderson movie. I liked it.

The Chronicles of Riddick was not as good as I wanted it to be, but it was also not as bad as I feared it might be. It’s the perfect Warhammer 40K movie; there’s very little pure good in the world, the antagonists have psionic powers, and there’s lots of blood and guts. If you can’t take a guilty pleasure in spiky bitz, it’s not a good movie for you. If you can, then it’s worth the viewing.

As promised, David Twohy created a huge mythology to inform the movie. None of it is particularly explained, because the payoff needs to wait for the rest of the prospective trilogy, but you can tell there are bones beneath the musculature of the story. Sadly, the only real connection to Pitch Black is Riddick — while both movies are interested in questions of faith, I wasn’t ever really convinced they were taking place in the same universe. I kind of liked the non-supernatural universe better.

Vin Diesel is excellent. Alexa Davalos, who plays Jack from Pitch Black all grown up, is really good. Everyone else is pretty much OK.

I’m hoping this makes enough to greenlight the two sequels, but I’m kind of suspecting that it won’t.

I’m normally not much of a Harry Turtledove fan. I found the Worldwar series to be incredibly long and dull with poor characterization and fairly uninteresting aliens. He clearly knows his history, but he wasn’t so good at getting the story across. For some reason I took a plunge on American Front anyhow.

Surprise, it was remarkably readable. I think this is perhaps because there’s a whole lot of populism in it, and I’m a sucker for populism at the moment. So I went ahead and read the whole trilogy, and then the second trilogy set in the same timeline, and now I’m waiting for the next one.

It’s an alternate history timeline in which the Confederates won because Lee didn’t lose his battle plans. A few years later, the South won again. Lincoln went over to the Socialists, marginalizing the Republicans and putting the Democrats solidly in power. Marxism became popular among blacks in the South. Utah is grumpy and rebellious. Etc.

In 1914, the CSA is allied with France and England while the US is allied with Germany. Archduke Ferdinand is assassinated in Serbia. Things proceed as one might expect.

Now, I’m not going to say it was smooth writing or anything. For one thing, it’s a multiple POV book, a lot like George R. R. Martin’s Song of Fire and Ice. The POV segments are, oh, maybe four or five pages at a shot, so there’s no way it’s not going to get choppy here and there. Not all the characters are as interesting as one might like — but there’s good variation among them; he’s not writing the same character over and over again.

And, you know. Marxist rebellions in Georgia. Heated debate about the appropriate role of the Socialist Party with regard to those rebellions. Upton Sinclair, Presidential candidate. Custer as a should-be-retired general. Neither the CSA or the USA depicted as good guys. Mistakes made on all sides.

Half of me wants to lasershark it and use it as the setting for an Unknown Armies game. Or a Vampire game. Or something. Even if I don’t, though, it’s fun reading.