I'm going to try to collect together a random assemblage of things I've been reading recently. As usual my interest falls on things I enjoyed rather than things I didn't. For the most part, reviews are for me a way to process what I'm experiencing for my own endeavors. That said, the world is full of movies, television shows, novels, songs, and short stories that I wager some have never heard of. For that reason, I hope you might find some value in these write-ups.
Joy as and Act of Resistance by IDLES. I bought the IDLES other album after seeing it still mentioned in music review sites months after its release. With acerbic, strangely jubliant song shards like Stendhal Syndrome and White Privilege, this album worked an unexpected magic upon me. I found my self growing increasingly taken by the juxtaposition of harsh art-punk songs overlaid by singer Joe Talbot's sing-shout anthems. Joy as an Act of Resistance is the same as Brutalism only more so (if that makes sense). There is something appealingly middle-brow about IDLES. They are not afraid to shout about food, dancing, and friends but at the same time you'll hear references to artistic movements, political causes, and emotions not typically lashed into service for punk songs. A bracing and compelling work of life-affirming noise.
The Fragment by Warren Fahey. This falls firmly into the realm of guilty pleasures. I like techno-thrillers and I especially enjoy techno-thrillers about interesting and plausible monsters in distant and unexpected locations. Think King Kong's Skull Island or Jurassic Park's Isla Nublar. The set up here is that the titular 'fragment' is a small forgotten island in the middle of the South Pacific which has retained a vestige of a radically different ecology from the rest of the planet. During the course of the novel, various scientists, media types, politicians, and military officers realize they will very quickly have to deal with the island or have what it contains destroy the rest of the planet. The characters here are thin in places, offensive in others. The plot is strangely structured and riddled with convenient contrivances. I found myself repeatedly tugged free of the narrative by nagging suspicions this book was even less than the sum of its parts suggested. And yet. And YET. I have to admit I had little trouble getting to the end of this story if for no other reason than the monsters it introduces and describes in vivid and appalling detail are so effortlessly inventive and wild. If you are a fan of Michael Crichton (and despite my best efforts I am), and enjoy descriptions of predatory, extravagantly weird creatures, this is the book for you.
The House of Small Spiders by Weston Ochse (Nightmare Magazine). This is a actually a pretty nasty piece of work but I found myself really getting into this tale of slaughter, haunted houses, and supernatural revenge.
Maria’s Children by Tobi Ogundiran (Dark Magazine). A short story I enjoyed for its continued development of the theme of place and sacrifice. In an astonishingly short amount of time, this story does a great job setting up a unique setting (a village on the coastline of an unspecified African country) and the Shirley Jackson-esque bargain the inhabitants make to ensure their wealth and prosperity.
Iron Fist 2 (Marvel on Netflix). Talk about improvement. It would be one thing if the second season of no-one's favorite martial arts super-hero merely trimmed away the excess and concentrated on adding more fight scenes. But to be honest, if THIS was the first season and there was nothing else available about Danny Rand, I'd rank Iron Fist as one of the more enjoyable Marvel TV properties. Danny Rand is still a bit of a pretentious creep but the first correct decision the show makes is giving plenty of reasons to care about Danny. We see that he has a genuine although troubled relationship with Wing. We see his effortlessly altruistic and committed to taking the difficult course in order to preserve peace and avoid bloodshed. This is all very, very welcome. But what really makes this show is the supporting cast. From Wing and Mysty Knight, to Davos' rise as the Steel Serpent, to the endlessly interesting sibling dynamics of Ward and Joy this is a show that establishes and commits fully to its own vision of the Marvel universe. And I have to say, if I could simply excise all that happened in the execrable first season, I might be even more effusive about this series. Sadly, that is not possible. The first season happened and watching it is sadly necessary for enjoying this season. Mediocrity has consequences.
Colette. Wasn't sure what to make of this movie as an English language movie about something superlatively French. I've told a few people about my seeing this movie and nearly all of them (and I guess this reveals a lot about the circles in which I travel) mentioned the tag line from a movie Jerry Seinfeld sees. And although the titular character never goes to Milan nor Minsk, she does have an arc within the movie that seems intensely "art house." It makes me sad to say that, because it would be nice if the exploration of a young woman's journey as an artist and an independent human being wasn't the sole dominion of movies shown at Kendall Theater. Because, well, this movie kicks some serious ass. Keira Knightly plays Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette who moves with her husband to turn of the century Paris. By ghost-writing up her own experiences as a young woman living in the French countryside, she creates a potent 'type,' a way of being and living in the male dominated society, that inspires millions of other women. The story is complicated by the fact Colette is married to Wily, an unapologetically boorish and endlessly fascinating Parisian character who alternately helps Colette and oppresses her. In forging her own path forward artistically, sexually, and socially, Colette must first confront the nature of her relationship with her husband.
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| Assemblage by Morgan Crooks (2018) |
The Fragment by Warren Fahey. This falls firmly into the realm of guilty pleasures. I like techno-thrillers and I especially enjoy techno-thrillers about interesting and plausible monsters in distant and unexpected locations. Think King Kong's Skull Island or Jurassic Park's Isla Nublar. The set up here is that the titular 'fragment' is a small forgotten island in the middle of the South Pacific which has retained a vestige of a radically different ecology from the rest of the planet. During the course of the novel, various scientists, media types, politicians, and military officers realize they will very quickly have to deal with the island or have what it contains destroy the rest of the planet. The characters here are thin in places, offensive in others. The plot is strangely structured and riddled with convenient contrivances. I found myself repeatedly tugged free of the narrative by nagging suspicions this book was even less than the sum of its parts suggested. And yet. And YET. I have to admit I had little trouble getting to the end of this story if for no other reason than the monsters it introduces and describes in vivid and appalling detail are so effortlessly inventive and wild. If you are a fan of Michael Crichton (and despite my best efforts I am), and enjoy descriptions of predatory, extravagantly weird creatures, this is the book for you.
The House of Small Spiders by Weston Ochse (Nightmare Magazine). This is a actually a pretty nasty piece of work but I found myself really getting into this tale of slaughter, haunted houses, and supernatural revenge.
Maria’s Children by Tobi Ogundiran (Dark Magazine). A short story I enjoyed for its continued development of the theme of place and sacrifice. In an astonishingly short amount of time, this story does a great job setting up a unique setting (a village on the coastline of an unspecified African country) and the Shirley Jackson-esque bargain the inhabitants make to ensure their wealth and prosperity.
Iron Fist 2 (Marvel on Netflix). Talk about improvement. It would be one thing if the second season of no-one's favorite martial arts super-hero merely trimmed away the excess and concentrated on adding more fight scenes. But to be honest, if THIS was the first season and there was nothing else available about Danny Rand, I'd rank Iron Fist as one of the more enjoyable Marvel TV properties. Danny Rand is still a bit of a pretentious creep but the first correct decision the show makes is giving plenty of reasons to care about Danny. We see that he has a genuine although troubled relationship with Wing. We see his effortlessly altruistic and committed to taking the difficult course in order to preserve peace and avoid bloodshed. This is all very, very welcome. But what really makes this show is the supporting cast. From Wing and Mysty Knight, to Davos' rise as the Steel Serpent, to the endlessly interesting sibling dynamics of Ward and Joy this is a show that establishes and commits fully to its own vision of the Marvel universe. And I have to say, if I could simply excise all that happened in the execrable first season, I might be even more effusive about this series. Sadly, that is not possible. The first season happened and watching it is sadly necessary for enjoying this season. Mediocrity has consequences.
Colette. Wasn't sure what to make of this movie as an English language movie about something superlatively French. I've told a few people about my seeing this movie and nearly all of them (and I guess this reveals a lot about the circles in which I travel) mentioned the tag line from a movie Jerry Seinfeld sees. And although the titular character never goes to Milan nor Minsk, she does have an arc within the movie that seems intensely "art house." It makes me sad to say that, because it would be nice if the exploration of a young woman's journey as an artist and an independent human being wasn't the sole dominion of movies shown at Kendall Theater. Because, well, this movie kicks some serious ass. Keira Knightly plays Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette who moves with her husband to turn of the century Paris. By ghost-writing up her own experiences as a young woman living in the French countryside, she creates a potent 'type,' a way of being and living in the male dominated society, that inspires millions of other women. The story is complicated by the fact Colette is married to Wily, an unapologetically boorish and endlessly fascinating Parisian character who alternately helps Colette and oppresses her. In forging her own path forward artistically, sexually, and socially, Colette must first confront the nature of her relationship with her husband.
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