A personal diary keeping people abreast of what I am working on writing-wise.
Friday, December 31, 2010
POW POW: HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Antonio Mercer isn't having very much fun on his date, hope you're having fun on yours!
Joëlle surprised me throwing this on Twitter yesterday, one of her Daily Doodles. I was stoked to see the old boy again.
And, yes, Mercer is coming back.
Current Soundtrack: LCD Soundsystem, London Sessions
BOXES & LISTS: MUSIC 2010
Release dates feel so amorphous in the digital age, and since I am also extremely lazy, I am not going to dig through my music collection and figure out what actually came out last year. Rather, I'll let someone else's statistical tracking of my listening habits create a picture of 2010.
According to my LastFm account, the top 15 artists I listened to the most in the last 12 months are:
1. Christina Aguilera - 1,055 individual song plays 2. Gorillaz - 722 3. Brett Anderson - 614 4 Janelle Monáe - 577 5. The Trash Can Sinatras - 547 6. Brian Eno - 434 7. Rihanna - 378 8. Massive Attack - 377 9. Suede - 360 10. Charlotte Gainsbourg - 354 11. M.I.A. - 334 12. Paul Weller - 327 13. Ash - 321 14. Broken Bells - 303 15. The Roots - 300
To be fair, I should also note some of the most prolific listens from the last 3 months, accounting for late year releases who had to do some catching up:
Belle & Sebastian - 245 Nicki Minaj - 202 Bruno Mars - 197 Duffy - 164 Bryan Ferry - 154
As far as individual songs are concerned, the picture is cloudier, dominated by the artists who ruled the overall charts. Out of the top 15, four are Christina Aguilera, one is by Broken Bells, and the rest are Brett Anderson.
Top of the list is Christina's "Lift Me Up" at 59 plays, followed by "Not Myself Tonight" at 43, "You Lost Me" at 42, and a few slots down, "Birds of Prey" at 39.
Brett Anderson's "The Hunted" dominated at 40, and the rest of his Slow Attack album was right behind with plays in the 30s.
Broken Bells' "The High Road" had 37 plays.
Other big ones: M.I.A. - "XXXO" - 35 Metric - "Black Sheep" - 26 Bruno Mars - "Grenade" - 21 Duffy - "Well, Well, Well" and "Endlessly" - both at 18 Belle & Sebastian - "I Want the World to Stop" - 15 Christina Aguilera - "Express" - 15 Rihanna – "Only Girl (In The World)" - 14 Nicki Minaj - "Right Thru Me" - 14 My Chemical Romance – "Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)" - 12
Most of those had the cuts from their albums hovering at numbers just below their main hit entry. Metric is really the only individual song that pushed through, and that is off a pretty killer soundtrack; there is no great one-off single lurking around, sadly enough.
I wish I had thought to record what my total play count was at this time 12 months ago so I could see how many songs I listened to this year. For posterity, in case we try again in 365 days, Last FM says I have listened to 165,017 songs in some digital format or other since June 18, 2007.
Current Soundtrack: Lily Allen, It's Not You, It's Me (I woke up with "Not Fair" stuck in my head)
Thursday, December 30, 2010
HEAD IN THE CLOUDS AND A MOUTHFUL OF PIE
NEW IN THEATRES...
* Made in Dagenham, starring Sally Hawkins as feminist strike leader in 1960s England. A feel-good movie you don't have to feel bad for liking. Plus, a great soundtrack.
* Tiny Furniture, a whiny indie comedy about being bored with privileges in upper class New York. Writer/director/star Lena Dunham shows promise, but this one is tough to sit through.
UPDATED TO CRITERION CONFESSIONS...
* The Cranes are Flying, a sweeping romance picture from 1950s Russia. One of my very favorite Criterion releases.
THIS WEEK IN DVD/BD REVIEWS...
* The Black Pirate, an entertaining silent adventure with Douglas Fairbanks. Relased in 1926, this is the oldest color film available on Blu-Ray.
* The Mission, Roland Joffé's 1986 drama is kind of a stick in the mud despite fine performances from Robert DeNiro and Jeremy Irons as monks trying to bring Christianity to the rainforest.
* Soul Kitchen, intense German director Faith Akin tries his hand at comedy, yielding mixed results.
My pal Emi Lenox has her first book out today, collecting a year of her sketch diary, and named for that very comic strip: EmiTown. It's a gorgeous book, hovering in the vicinity of 400 pages, printed in two colors and then some. I wrote the introduction, Brandon Graham wrote the afterword. I think both of us also show up in more than one diary strip.
Neon Monster has it as their pick of the week. Find more info in the link.
Emi has been selling copies directly via her Etsy store.
Take a look at some of Emi's posted strips online to get an idea of what she's about, and bookmark it so you can read the strips that have been posted after the date where the book stops (last spring, essentially). Also, check out this awesome intro strip she did for the Portland Mercury:
My favorite comic book shop, Floating World, is also hosting an Emi art show for January's First Thursday. That's next week, folks, January 9. Check the details.
LISTING INFORMATION: WHO: Emi Lenox WHAT: Emitown book release and art exhibit WHEN: Thursday, Jan. 6th, 6-10pm WHERE: Floating World Comics 20 NW 5th Ave #101 Portland, OR 97209 (503)241-0227
Artwork on display until Jan. 31st.
And next year, watch for Emi in the next big Madman special, doing an eight-page story alongside other guest stars Tonci Zonjic and Matt Kindt.
Current Soundtrack: Eminem, Recovery; B.o.B, B.o.B Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray
DREAMT FOR LIGHT YEARS IN THE BELLY OF A MOUNTAIN: Cinema in 2010
"But I hate all that fucking listing of greatest films/greatest albums; Nick Hornby really has let the male species down. I’m a fucking man; I don’t go around making lists. A list is something you take to the supermarket." - Luke Haines
And yet, here I am making lists.
I'm actually a participant in three different lists this year. The DVD Talk Top Releases are still being compiled, so I can't link to that, but today the Portland Mercury put out their issue where myself and a bunch of other locals picked three films from the year that we felt all should see. You can read all the picks on their site. Of course, I went long, so Erik Henriksen had to edit me down, but here is my full text just for the hell of it:
* SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD Much of the best cinema of 2010 was about nerds triumphant, and though I can count myself amongst their geeky numbers, Scott Pilgrim was about nerds so different from me, it was almost like watching a Natural Geographic documentary. Fun, witty, stylish, and emotionally honest--Edgar Wright’s adaptation of the Byran Lee O’Malley comic was more movie than all other movies this year combined.
* BLACK SWAN In my DVDTalk.com review, I suggested The Black Swan was The Red Shoes as directed by Roman Polanski. It’s also a little Hitchcock by way of the Dardennes. Darren Aronofsky manages to synthesize whatever influences he began with into something singularly his own: a gonzo metaphor for artistic obsession, and I’m a little obsessed with how it all turned out.
* MOTHER Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-Ho never steps in the same cinematic river twice, and though his latest has some genre similarities to his breakthrough Memories of Murder, his choice to follow the mom of the accused killer rather than the cops makes for an unexpected, suspenseful drama. Kim Hye-Ja’s lead performance should be in the top actress category at every awards show in the coming months. Should be, but likely won’t.
I don't subscribe to the idea that this was any crappier a year for film than any others. I had no problem coming up with a good list of movies I liked. I would, however, maybe cotton to the notion that it's a year where the choices for the top slots were far too obvious, making most voting predictable.
Take, for instance, the final voting ballot for Online Film Critics Society. We all got to vote for our top five choices in the various categories, and the picks were compiled and, well, there aren't many surprises. Nor would I even argue that there were really any underdogs to be championed or even anything left out, even when my picks were different than the final results. (Okay, I would argue that Hailee Steinfeld was a lead actress in True Grit, not a supporting player, but that's different.)
Our final voting results will be out next week, but in the meantime, here are my picks in each category. Look at this like if I were to make the Oscar ballot. These are actually in order of preference, so the head of each list is my #1 (and bolded for easy identification). I will also link to my reviews of the movie the first time the title appears.
Update 1/10/11: Having finally seen The Fighter, I would amend this to join the chorus of putting Christian Bale in the top slot. He is amazing. It's particularly remarkable once you see the footage of the real person he plays; he's dead on the money.
Edgar Wright - Scott Pilgrim David Fincher - Social Network Darren Aronofsky - Black Swan Coen Bros. - True Grit Christopher Nolan - Inception
Honorable Mentions Joon-ho Bong - Mother Mike Leigh - Another Year Noah Baumbach - Greenberg Anton Corbijn - The American Sofia Coppola - Somewhere
Best Film
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World Social Network True Grit Inception Black Swan
Honorable Mentions Mother The American Greenberg Another Year The Town
Had I not put Mother in both film categories, Toy Story 3 would have probably nestled in that last slot. I didn't actually see enough of the animated movies this year to vote, oddly enough. I also wish I had seen more documentaries.
Claire Denis' 35 Shots of Rum is on the Best Foreign list, and I still haven't seen White Material, otherwise that would have likely had to fight it out for top Denis.
By the way, as I close here, the music I am listening to now was picked by Brett Anderson as his favorite album of 2010. Worth a listen.
My Christmas present from Terry Blas, creator of the Briar Hollow comic, was an awesome color drawing of Audrey Hepburn and her pet deer.
I love that he drew it in the Briar Hollow style, and it's the first time anyone has done a piece for me with Pippin in it. Thanks, Terry!
In other Christmas art news, Joëlle Jones surprised me with her own cover design for The Great Gatsby. (Note: This is a photo, not a scan; the art is too big for my little scanner.)
"Building to a stark and bizarre conclusion, the team of Rich (Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Food Chain) and Jones (Fables) have clearly learned from the noir genre, both filmic and pulp based, and have crafted a riveting successor.
Tense and intriguing from start to finish, this is a solid piece of detective fiction coupled with a wholly appropriate and stark visual style that evokes the bygone days of Sam Spade and Mike Hammer."
Thanks, Mr. Bishop! (Come to think of it, "Paul Bishop" would make a great name for a noir character...)
Current Soundtrack: Kanye West
Thursday, December 16, 2010
YOU'RE THE STORM
The new Tron may be terrible, but check out these awesome Eric Tan posters (more info here).
Over at Mulholland Books, Brian Lindenmuth has a fantastic article rounding-up crime comics from the last several years. Among them are books I edited, such as Queen & Country and Union Station, but also, of course, You Have Killed Me, by myself and the incredible Joëlle Jones. The blurb Brian gives us is fantastic! He knows who the powerhouse in this team is.
"You Have Killed Me by Jamie Rich and Joelle Jones is like a classic noir movie in comic form. This book hits all the right notes in creating a great overall atmosphere. From the cold noir opening with our confused and bloodied protagonist ,on through the jazz clubs, back-room poker games, and fringes of high society, it exudes a high comfort level and provides a great setting to tell the story. Joelle Jones’s art eschews the blocky thrust of Frank Miller–inspired crime art and comes away with an elegance of style. She also places the characters in a prominent place so they aren’t overshadowed by stylized flourishes. The art is, quite frankly, so damn good here that she has set the benchmark for all future crime artists to beat."
Current Soundtrack: Best Coast, Crazy for You
Friday, December 10, 2010
YOUR MIND IS ON VACATION
It's been quiet around these parts, I know. Never let it be said that I'm a man that speaks even when he has nothing to say. I mean, I do do that, just don't you say it.
NEW IN THEATRES...
* The Tourist, in which pretty people have a pretty boring vacation. And I type Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck as many times as I can.
UPDATED TO CRITERION CONFESSIONS...
* America Lost & Found: The BBS Story, seven films from the early 1970s from the innovative creative team of Bob Rafelson, Bert Schneider, and Steve Blauner. Featuring the Monkees, Jack Nicholson, Peter Bogdanovich, Orson Welles, Jeff Bridges, Dennis Hopper, and more. [Also at DVDTalk.]
* Louie Bluie, Terry Zwigoff's lively portrait of blues musician Howard Armstrong.
THIS WEEK IN DVD/BD REVIEWS...
* The Sicilian Girl, a true-story drama about a Mafia daughter going against the family. A smart movie with an amazing lead performance.
* Walt & El Grupo, in which we go back to the vacation jokes: Walt Disney went to South America, and all I got was this lousy documentary.
Current Soundtrack: Suede, Live in London - 07.12.2010 (download here)
Author of prose novels and comic books like Cut My Hair, It Girl & the Atomics, You Have Killed Me, and 12 Reasons Why I Love Her. Jamie's most recent novel is the serialized book Bobby Pins and Mary Janes, and his most recent graphic novels are the sci-fi romance A Boy and a Girl with Natalie Nourigat; Madame Frankenstein with Megan Levens; and the weird crime comic Archer Coe & the Thousand Natural Shocks with Dan Christensen. He also co-created Lady Killer with Joëlle Jones.
