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November 9, 2003

Catching Up

I've had an eventful week hence the blog silence lately. The last few days have been devoted to revising and polishing off my paper on Sans Soleil, so I haven't really had the chance to write (or, more honestly, I've been too tired). Also, the power is out in half my apartment (some funky wiring up in the attic), so it's a little spooky in here right now.

There's something about a writing marathon that makes it impossible to concentrate on anything else, not to mention that writing tends to be a solitary activity, so my own tendencies toward solitude are magnified even further, but a few cool things have happened that I wanted to mention.

I had dinner with my family at Noodle, a tasty little restaurant here in Decatur, to celebrate my parents' birthdays (they were born exactly six days apart, which is pretty cool). The food was very good, although I'm still bummed that I forgot to order the basil roll appetizer.

I did rent a couple of cool movies in my spare time. I really enjoyed 28 Days Later..., a postmodern zombie flick filmed in DV by Trainspotting director, Danny Boyle. The film opens with a group of eco-terrorists attempting rescue caged monkeys from a Cambridge University lab. The monkeys are infected with a deadly virus that kills most of the people in Great Britain and transforming countless others into zombies. The self-conscious references to George Romero's Night of the Living Dead are lots of fun, and without giving too much away, Ireally enjoyed the critique of boys-will-be-boys masculinity at the end of the film. And an interesting comparison just occured to me: this film's treatment of eco-terrorists, caged monkeys, deadly viruses, and apocalypse narratives might offer an interesting comparison with 12 Monkeys (both films even have numbers in their titles). Lots of things to like about the film. Maybe soon I'll find an excuse to write a longer paper about it.

[Brief reminder: I've been noticing that I'm much more fascinated lately by horror films than science-fiction or time-travel films. Maybe that's a hint about where I should be taking my writing?]

I also The Quiet American, which I also liked quite a bit. Michael Caine is always fun to watch and Brendan Fraser is an underrated actor. I'm not sure I fully internalized this film, but it's a pretty powerful critique of America's involvement in Vietnam, focusing on the early, secretive attempts to support regimes that might challenge Ho Chi Minh. The film is based, of course, on a Graham Greene novel. I haven't read any of his books, but I've really liked both films I've seen that are based on his work. The Third Man, which I've been planning to watch again for weeks, uses Vienna beautifully, and Orson Welles has one of my favorite "entrances" in film history.

I saw another film this weekend (no, not that one), but it deserves its own entry....

Posted by chuck at November 9, 2003 11:48 PM

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Comments

oh wow - i've been all over horror movies lately - but they've been my favourite genre since the age of nine (!).

28 days later was cool - and the original ending (on DVD) pushes the critique of masculinity even further by having only the girls survive. very nice.

and ginger snaps - holding its own as a feminist horror flick. ya!

http://www.ginger-snaps.com

also tobe hooper's brilliant 1974 texas chainsaw massacre, and the remake. guess which is better?

http://www.houseofhorrors.com/texas.htm
http://www.texaschainsawmovie.com/

and willard - great! but i've had a crush on the creepy crispin glover since high school ...

http://www.willardmovie.com/

and although not strictly horror - alien re-released - one of the scariest movies ever!

Posted by: anne at November 11, 2003 11:15 AM

Thanks for the suggestions, Anne (especially Ginger Snaps, which I didn't know at all)! I watched, and enjoyed, the original "Texas" when I was reading Carol Clover's book a few years ago. Hopefuly I will see the new one soon (but I'm not expecting it to come close to the original).

I'll have to check out Willard sson. I saw Crispin Glover in "Bartleby" recently, and it's starting to grow on me (I didn't like it at first).

Posted by: chuck at November 11, 2003 11:30 AM