Culture

In the future, everyone in Boston will have parasols for fifteen minutes. There are many more vintage Boston postcards here (original), and I suppose some might want postcards from elsewhere.

Blah blah Tom Wolfe writes bad sex scenes (original) blah. Well… I Am Charlotte Simmons is not a great book. It’s not a lousy book either. In any case, though, there’s nothing wrong with the sex scene in context. It’s written as clinically and as awkwardly as it is because Wolfe is using Charlotte Simmons’ voice in that scene, and from the first time we meet her it’s exceedingly clear that she uses dry, clinical language to separate herself from aspects of her life which make her feel awkward. It’s not Tom Wolfe writing uncomfortably about sex, it’s Charlotte Simmons thinking uncomfortably about sex.

Happiness is 300 megabytes of cult, SF, fantasy, and horror movie posters thanks to, um, sources. Samples inside, cause I can’t resist the pretty pictures.

The Golden Globe nominees have been announced. Is The Passion of the Christ anywhere in there? Nope. Probably should have been; it’s a spectacular movie with a questionable message, but I don’t think I want award shows to be in the business of judging messages. That’s the kind of thing that leaves Crash without an Oscar. (It did, however, win Best Alternative Adult Feature Film in the Adult Video News Awards in 1998, despite being released in 1996. I don’t know how that works. For some reason the award wasn’t blurbed on the DVD box.) ...

Of interest to some: looks like Grimjack is coming back. Grimjack was John Ostrander’s first major work; he’d go on to write Suicide Squad and Spectre. It’s about a gritty cynical assassin/mercenary/detective living in a city where realities meet; Sigil and Nexus clearly owe the series a significant debt. (Via the Ghoul.)

What’s that, Lassie? There’s a trailer for Carnivale season 2? Well, go get it (original)! (Via Twitch (original).)

In the where are they now department: Lance Mungia, director of the excellent Six-String Samurai, just wrapped up The Crow: Wicked Prayer. It’s got a surprisingly good cast for something that looks like it’ll go straight to video: Edward Furlong isn’t bad, Dennis Hopper is good (and will appear in anything, granted), Danny Trejo is good… and there’s David Boreanaz and Tara Reid for eye candy. And Macy Grey! Hm, and Tito Ortiz (no holds barred martial arts fighter) is in it. But at that point we’re well past “surprisingly good cast,” I think. Still, that’s a lot of fairly real people. ...

Zombie cognoscenti will wish to know that Enter Zombie King just came out on DVD. For some incomprehensible reason, this was released by the anime distributor ADV Films. I guess they’re branching out a little. Anyhow, I’m just glad I can get my hands on it.

Any Given Sunday Stormy Monday Once Upon a Time in America The Addams Family Fort Apache The Long Good Friday Saturday Night Fever Material for those middle days is a little thin on the ground.

What can I say?