CAN I STEAL A LITTLE LOVE?
THIS WEEK IN DVD REVIEWS...
* The Chocolate War, one of my favorite coming-of-age tales ever (I think I need to read the book again)
* Dreamgirls, last year's excellent musical gets even better on DVD
* Four Eyed Monsters, a pretentious film about a shallow internet relationship becoming a shallow real-life relationship
* Thieves Like Us, an excellent Robert Altman film from the mid-'70s following Depression-era bank robbers on their crime spree
* The Troube With Men & Women, anothjer indie yawner about couples that trades style and poses for real insight
It's always weird reviewing relationship movies. It makes my own anxieties about my work bubble up inside me. I can't help but wonder if my books are just as tepid as the films I'm criticizing. You know how people are so good about pointing out the flaws in others that are most pronounced in themselves. I am pretty proud of my performance on 12 Reasons Why I Love Her, The Everlasting, and the othes, though, so I remain confident that this is not true. I just want to point out that I'm aware of the possible contradiction. If nothing else, it keeps me honest.
Current Soundtrack: Patti Smith, Twelve
Current Mood: working 
e-mail = golightly at confessions123.com * The Website * Live Journal Syndication * My Corporate-Owned Space * ComicSpace * The Blog Roll * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon
All text (c) 2007 Jamie S. Rich
Manic Street Preachers - "Your Love Alone is Not Enough"
Featuring Nina Persson of the mighty Cardigans. Dig the blown-out back lighting at the end. It's like a mega '80s metal duet.
TEMPTATION GREETS YOU LIKE YOUR NAUGHTY FRIEND
A link has been going around today for Paul Gravett's profile of one of my favorite cartoonists, Francesca Gherhmandi. I have most of Francesca's work, even though a good portion of it I can't read because no one's ever published English versions. This includes photocopies of the bulk of Pop. 666, the serialized translation of which never finished (as far as I know; I'd love to be wrong, because my copies are in Italian). Look for the Pastil/Pastille
On the subject of comics, my boy Ian Shaughnessy's debut graphic novel, Shenanigans, is on sale this week. Drawn by Mike Holmes, published by Oni Press, it's a funny and touching pastiche of the Billy Wilder-style of storytelling. Part Irma La Douce, part The Apartment, yet all Ian.
Though, I must say, I don't want to be mean, but it has a cameo by me, and I may be the ugliest I've ever looked in any comic book:
That could just mean it's the most realistic I've ever been drawn, though. That's supposed to be Chynna in the middle, and allegedly that's Jenny Sireci on the right.
You may recall Ian and I discussed this book in the Missy Elliott entry of Permanent Records way back when. Well, now you can, and should, buy it.
Current Soundtrack: Arctic Monkeys, "Brianstorm" B-sides; Client, Heartland
Current Mood: chipper 
e-mail = golightly at confessions123.com * The Website * Live Journal Syndication * My Corporate-Owned Space * ComicSpace * The Blog Roll * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon
All text (c) 2007 Jamie S. Rich
MEMUS INTERRUPTUS: EVERYONE ELSE IS DOING IT, WHY CAN'T I?
I'm enjoying seeing this on other journals, so why not here? Let's see if anyone gets all 10 right off the bat. I could have been way more obscure than this, but I tried to pick stuff more commonly seen, than say, The Cranes Are Flying, which you should so totally see. I did make it hard, though. I'll be surprised if someone gets them all. First person that does, maybe I'll send you a burn of Cranes. (Never mind--the 10 are guessed. Answers in the comments section.)
"Head to IMDB.com (or imdbpro, if this is your career), and look up ten of your favorite movies. List three plot keywords for each movie, and then see which of your friends can guess what movie you're talkin' bout. NO cheating, now..."
1. Cracker Jack/Interior Decorator/Based on Novel
2. Bad Teeth/Lovers on the Lam/Evil Witch
3. Game Show/Nonlinear Timeline/Male Nudity
4. Writer/Android/Gambling
5. Face Slap/Homosexual Subtext/Statuette
6. Heart Disease/Ice Hockey/Baboon
7. 1920s/Irish American Politics/Hat
8. Famous Entrance/Temptress/Character Name In Title
9. Ballet/Subjective Camera/Jealousy
10. Atmospheric/Karaoke/Butt
If you want to try to guess without seeing what other people picked and what I've confirmed, make your list before going to the comments page. And if your name is Jennifer, I ask you to once again tell us which Jennifer you are when you comment, since no one listened last time. (Though, I think I only know one Jenny, so she's in the clear.)
Current Soundtrack: The In Crowd: Ultimate Mod Collection 1958-1967
Current Mood: michievous 
DON'T LET HER WASTE YOUR TIME
Sometimes a book or a movie can surprise you by making a story element or plot point out of an experience you've had, waking you up to the fact that you aren't alone, that whatever it was has happened to others.
Such is the case of this page from Adam Warren's awesome satirical comic book Empowered
I didn't go through the fabric store ritual with my mother, but I have been there more than once in my adult life. They are weird places, almost like some kind of cosmic anomaly. As soon as you step through the doors of a fabric store, time slows to a crawl. Everyone inside moves at a pace several times slower than people on the outside. It doesn't matter if the person you are with knows exactly what they are looking for, prepare to spend at least an hour lost in the land of cloth. As the accompanying boy, you can wander around on your own, but trust me, it's like one long chain of deja vu. Every bolt of fabric you stare at will suspiciously look like you've already seen it before. Far better that, though, than to keep wandering with the female who brought you there, because she will prompt you to feel each and ever swatch of cloth, oblivious to your blank stare that says, "It feels like cloth. They all feel like cloth. They aren't different. What am I missing?!?!"
I've actually discovered a worse-case-scenario for fabric shopping. I once went with comics writer Jen Van Meter on a fabric-acquiring mission. At the time her son was somewhere in his second year of life, if I remember correctly--still riding in a stroller, not yet talking. The only thing more unique and special to women than fabric samples are babies. The clerks in fabric stores, as you may have gathered from the above, need no distractions from their work, which is on its own comparable in speed to tar drying. As far as I can tell, these women have nowhere to go, nothing else to do, and the magical spell they are under means their bodily functions are actually decreasing. Eventually, they will move so slow, they will freeze in place, becoming living statues, idols to the sewing gods. Woe be to you, give them a baby to ogle, and you're screwed.
I'd also be remiss if I didn't warn my male readers about the trap of a girlfriend dragging you to one of these hideous places to pick out fabric for something they are going to make you. This will end up being the biggest tease you will encounter in your relationship. You'll be the good guy, you'll go and you will endure, and then you will receive no reward. Invariably, that thing you bought the fabric for will never be made. You'll have suffered for nothing.
(Strangely, knitting stores are the opposite of fabric stores. I've been sent on errands to buy yarn and needles, and knitting store clerks can't get rid of you fast enough. I don't know what kind of secret missions they are planning in there, but far be it from you to intrude. Or can they just sense I don't belong?)
Thinking about it all again, I'm filled with the fear, a shiver comparable to nothing else. There is comfort, though, in finally knowing I am not alone. Is there a support group somewhere, perhaps?
Current Soundtrack: My Chemical Romance, "Cancer (live);" Chemical Brothers, "Do It Again (extended);" Christina Aguilera & Andrea Bocelli, "Somos novios (It's Impossible);" The Concretes, "Reverberation/Postpone It;" Erasure, "I Like It/Sunday Girl"
Current Mood: scared 
e-mail = golightly at confessions123.com * The Website * Live Journal Syndication * My Corporate-Owned Space * ComicSpace * The Blog Roll * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon
All text (c) 2007 Jamie S. Rich
CAUGHT BY THE FUZZ
I hate the fact that my only two updates in the last seven days have been movie reviews, but I just haven't been up to much and haven't felt the compulsion to sit and type anything, at least not for the blog.
Actually, I uploaded my 200th review at DVD Talk this past week. It's been almost a year since I started writing for them, posting my first review, The Fuccons, on April 29th of last year. That's a lot of movies.
.jpg)
THIS WEEK AT THE THEATRE...
* Hot Fuzz, a hilarious send-up of the action genre by Edgar Wright & Simon Pegg
* The TV Set, another parody film, but this time a Jake Kasdan-helmed satire of the television industry
TV seems to be a theme this week, since I also reviewed...
THIS WEEK IN DVD REVIEWS...
* Not Just the Best of the Larry Sanders Show, a winning collection of Garry Shandling's blistering behind-the-scenes series about a fake talk show
* Black Emanuelle's Box, vol. 1, perhaps the most embarrassing thing I've ever reviewed. Am I really reduced to writing about softcore porn?!
* A Perfect Couple, Robert Altman's imperfect romantic comedy
* Siouxise: Dreamshow - Live at the Royal Festival Hall with the Millennia Ensemble, an awesome concert from 2004
Current Soundtrack: Arctic Monkeys, Favourite Worst Nightmare
Current Mood: in tune 
e-mail = golightly at confessions123.com * The Website * Live Journal Syndication * My Corporate-Owned Space * ComicSpace * The Blog Roll * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon
All text (c) 2007 Jamie S. Rich
TIME IS JUST THE SAME
THIS WEEK AT THE THEATRE...
* Red Road, a restrained British mystery
THIS WEEK IN DVD REVIEWS...
* Addiction, an overly complicated but interesting look at substance abuse from HBO
* Brute Force - Criterion Collection, in which Jules Dassin puts Burt Lancaster in prison with extraordinary results
* Children of Men, my chance to revisit one of the best films of 2006
* Overlord - Criterion Collection, Stuart Cooper's fascinating look inside the mind of a soldier heading for D-Day, mixing real footage and fictional filmmaking
And by way of another tribute to Kurt Vonnegut, a pertinent except from my book, The Everlasting:
I want to live in a world where time is at my disposal. Vonnegut-time. Moments linked on one long chain that I can retract or let loose as I see fit.
I envision a time-space where I can reach out, and by simply stabbing my fingers into it, the whole fabric of it ripples. Years melt away, bubbling like Caro syrup boiling in a pot. Once I’ve burned off the offending minutes, I can stick a wedge in and keep the bad things from ever occurring, stop time at the good parts. Kelley would never have broken up with me, Mandy wouldn’t marry Ken. I’d jump into Percy’s life and stop Iris from ever running that bath. I’d never stop being fifteen and the ability to feel would never slink through my grasp. I could always love in the purest sense of loving.
Current Soundtrack: Grinderman, Grinderman
Current Mood: hungry 
e-mail = golightly at confessions123.com * The Website * Live Journal Syndication * My Corporate-Owned Space * ComicSpace * The Blog Roll * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon
All text (c) 2007 Jamie S. Rich
YOUR LOVE WAS SMASHING
Love the Way You Love vol. 4 is done and being prepared for the printer.
The cover has been colored by Marc Ellerby this time around...
And one of my favorite pages, one of the chapter breaks...
Current Soundtrack: Brute Force: Criterion Collection with audio commentary
Current Mood: loving 
e-mail = golightly at confessions123.com * The Website * Live Journal Syndication * My Corporate-Owned Space * ComicSpace * The Blog Roll * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon
All text (c) 2007 Jamie S. Rich
"I don't know how to put this, but I'm kind of a big deal."
People know me.
That's right. Jamie has an agent.
They'll answer Jamie's scads of fan mail from now on.
Seriously, I'm pretty excited about this. It's time to step up my game, and so I went and found some people who hopefully understand sports metaphors, or at the very least can fake it like I can.
Smartly, they signed Joëlle Jones, as well. My guess is they just used me to get to her and Jamie will be dropped pretty shortly here.
Current Soundtrack: Arctic Monkeys, Favourite Worst Nightmare
Current Mood: superstar 
e-mail = golightly at confessions123.com * The Website * Live Journal Syndication * My Corporate-Owned Space * ComicSpace * The Blog Roll * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon
All text (c) 2007 Jamie S. Rich
SPEAK MY LANGUAGE
A long gestating thought that has been around over the years, but has itched at me since that horrendous Newsarama interview I did for Valentine's Day (let's not link to it), and it's now been pushed to be scratched by various message board discussions with Laurenn "When it Doubt, Double a Letter" McCubbin (who we will link) about Fun Home
I have a challenge for the comics community at large.
I want to banish the way we use the word "mainstream" in our industry. I vow to never refer to superhero comics, to Big Two comics, as "mainstream" ever again. I used to justify it by saying they were the mainstream within the direct market, but such qualfiers enables that aspect of the business to lord their status over the rest of us and make it like they are the most important part of our industry. I might be fine with it if they didn't turn the distinction around and ask the rest of us to justify our right to be here or act like moving over to that side of the industry is the true measure of success. (And by "they," I encompass fans, pros, and journos.)
This is not meant to denigrate superhero comics. I read them, I like them. (Yesterday I bought the new Danger Girl, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Adam Warren's Empowered
There is no "comic book mainstream." If we are to be part of the larger culture, there is only "mainstream." Superhero books are a genre. My books are often romance, and that's a genre. Fun Home is literary memoir. They all have their place. We need to stop with enforcing our own caste system via language. And until any of us can sell more than Naruto on a regular basis, we're all the alternative, none of us are the first choice.
I love comics. I want them to succeed and be loved by collective masses. But first, a little tough love in-house.
Currently Reading: DMZ, vol. 2: Body of a Journalist
Current Soundtrack: Kaiser Chiefs, Yours Truly, Angry Mob
Current Mood: dismissive 
e-mail = golightly at confessions123.com * The Website * Live Journal Syndication * My Corporate-Owned Space * ComicSpace * The Blog Roll * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon
All text (c) 2007 Jamie S. Rich
LUST IN THE MOVIES
Okay, there's not really much lust in these movies. Maybe a little. But it made a good title. It's my hoax on you!
THIS WEEK AT THE THEATRE...
* Black Book, in which Paul Verhoeven tries to make us think he's an artist, and only partially succeeds
* The Hoax, in which Richard Gere tries to makes us think he's an actor, and he made me believe. Could that be a bigger con than the one portrayed in this excellent movie?
* Grindhouse, in which many heads explode. My reaction may surprise longtime readers of this blog (you know, people who were here last week). Did Tarantino make it happen, or was my earlier post right?
You should also read David Walker's review of Grindhouse. Just like on 300, we fall on opposite sides in really interesting ways. He also has greater insight into the tradition the movie is referencing.
No DVD reviews this week. Such is life.
Current Soundtrack: The Long Blondes, Someone to Drive You Home
Current Mood: blank 
e-mail = golightly at confessions123.com * The Website * Live Journal Syndication * My Corporate-Owned Space * ComicSpace * The Blog Roll * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon
All text (c) 2007 Jamie S. Rich
SO HARD
Will someone buy me this rare and mysterious item from Amazon, the Love the Way You Love hardcover
I've never seen one. I didn't even know it existed! And so pricey.
Current Soundtrack: The Libertines, "Narcissist"
STARS OF EMERALD CITY COMIC CON, YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE
I bought no regular comics or anything at Emerald City, but some folks did share their minicomics with me, and I feel it's only right that I tell you about them.
Joëlle and I were lucky to be seated next to my old pal Steve Rolston, and he recently brought his 2004 24-hour comic, Lost Souls in Love, back into print. It's a well-told tale, expressive in its simplicity, about the first time two people meet, set up on a blind date. It has Steve's usual lovely artwork, but it also has one of my favorite pages I've seen in a good long while:
Just look at that. It's all body language, all gesture. That little bump in the middle panel: perfect.
You can read the unfinished version of Lost Souls in Love here at its own page, but maybe if you e-mail Steve, he'll be able to sell you one. I can't promise anything, though, because I'm not him.
Next is Short Notice by Susan Tardif, who lives here in Portland and has been working at Mercury Studios. I've been seeing Susan's work for several years now, and this cute mini has some elements in common with Steve. Namely, the simplicity of the cartooning and the notion of first dates. This is more of a comedy, however, as Susan's heroine struggles to get ready for an impromptu night out.
Short Notice is also online. Read it at ComicSpace.
Finally, a comic of a different stripe, Lars Brown's Cloud Story: A North World Tale. Lars does North World as a webcomic here, but this is a complete short story. It's a fantasy tale, and it actually wouldn't be out of place in one of the Flight anthologies, what with the flying airships and whatnot. In some ways, Lars' linework reminds me of old newspaper adventure strips, but with maybe a modern fantasy angle, like a Linda Medley, Hayao Miyazaki, or even a Jeff Smith influence. I could be way off, though. Influences are always just guesses.
Cloud Story is in the North-World.com store.
Note to Lars Brown: Put your name on the cover. Hell, put it anywhere other than the tiny copyright line on the inside back cover. I shouldn't have to work so hard to know who you are.
Ron Chan and Sara Ryan also hooked us up with a copy of the second issue of Flytrap, but Joëlle took it first, so I haven't had a chance to check it out.
Unrelated: Would you people stop posting that crappy Alanis Morrissette video where she covers "My Humps"? It's not that good, seriously. The joke runs its course by the first chorus, and then it just goes on forever. It's not even that original an idea. Are you that starved for entertainment? If you want to see Fergie get her due, just wait until Grindhouse. I saw it last night, and Robert Rodriguez takes care of business on that front. (And, yes, I liked it. Full review up soon.)
Currently Reading: Fun Home
Current Workload: proofing Love the Way You Love #4 (it's done!) and starting a new manwha.
Also, in comic shops today, the first issue of the only comic book series I currently have an editorial hand in:
Current Soundtrack: Timbaland, Presents: Shock Value
Current Mood: productive 
e-mail = golightly at confessions123.com * The Website * Live Journal Syndication * My Corporate-Owned Space * ComicSpace * The Blog Roll * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon
All text (c) 2007 Jamie S. Rich
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE ALL YOUR MONEY
Back from the Emerald City show, and working to meet a deadline to turn in all that I have for Project #3 for myself and Joëlle. I'm pretty exhausted, but that's the soldiering life for you. 55 consecutive pages of comic book script so far, and a handful of unplaced pages from the latter half of the book. It has a title, but for some reason, I don't feel like sharing that yet. It's a completely new thing and anticipated as a 2008/2009 publication.
The show went all right. Not really much to complain about. Going with Joëlle makes it fun. Any experience that you are personally sick of should almost always become interesting again when you are with someone to whom it is new. She still gets excited seeing people in costume, and though there were a few doozies this time around, it's all old hat to me. It's also interesting charting her popularity as more people are becoming aware of her work. There were fans talking to her who had only seen the Fables that came out last week and had no interest in the guy sitting next to her.
My mini book, "Chevelu," did pretty well. I purposely did a healthy print run, though, and so can offer them online now to those who want them. It's a Lance Scott short story that takes place after The Everlasting
If you would like to purchase a copy of "Chevelu," the price is $3.00 plus $1.00 postage. The way it's formatted, I'll just slap postage on the actual book and address it on the back and send it out. You can use the Paypal button below, or send me an e-mail to golightly(a)confessions123.com for where to send cash or check.
(If the button isn't working, you can just use my e-mail address to send money. I think I have it fixed now, though.)
Joëlle made far fewer of her sketchbooks and came back with hardly any. They cost $5 and had a color cover. If you are interested in getting this, as well, please inquire before making any payment. I will see what she wants to do once we know what level of demand there might be. I know she was thinking about making more before CAPE, and I will be bringing "Chevelu" with me there and to San Diego, as well.
Retailers who carry minicomics and other such things may also inquire regarding wholesale prices.
Current Soundtrack: LCD Sound System, Sound of Silver
Current Mood: beaten 
e-mail = golightly at confessions123.com * The Website * Live Journal Syndication * My Corporate-Owned Space * ComicSpace * The Blog Roll * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon
All text (c) 2007 Jamie S. Rich
