Swell Is Eux Autres

For those of you that don't know, Eux Autres (pronounced ewwwsss ahh-terrs, I believe) is a pretty terriffic little band. The duo put together an album called Hell Is Eux Autres that has been in rotation since Josh got me a copy a couple of months back. I've heard their sound described as everything from "indie-pop" to "an interesting blend of French Pop and Garage Rock." My buddy Ian said it reminded him of early Stereolab. Personally, I think it's just a great pop record. And when I say "pop," I'm not talking about about Britney Spears or Justin Timberlake, I'm talking Pet Sounds-era Beach Boys "pop." Y'know, the good kind. Regardless of how you classify it, it's good, so pick it up.

As a quick plug, I bought my current copy at Drastic Plastic for $7.99! That's cheaper than iTunes, where you can download it for $9.99. And if you haven't been to Drastic for a while, it's actually nice now. They have a pretty great selection and Mike Arnold is the buyer for the store.

And speaking of Mike Arnold, Eux Autres will be playing this Thursday night at 9:00 at the Goofy Foot. Zach is coming into town and we're going to the show. It should be a good time, so come on out.

Oh, and if you couldn't tell from the picture Eux Autres is comprised of brother and sister Nick and Heather Larimer. Nick is another in my increasingly long list of friends who are making outstanding music. Just wait until Ben and Max release their reggaeton album, Ojos De Los Banos, next spring. It's gonna be off the hook!

Words and Pictures

You ever notice how movies based on comics could be a lot better? I know that this isn't really a revelation here, but come on! How hard is it people? It should be the easiest literary source to adapt since comics are written and drawn in a cinematic style. The fact that comics are created in this manner has actually begun to be seen as hindrance by some, and artists such as Chris Ware are trying to push comics into different directions. So you would think that the makers of the movies would turn to the source material and basically use it as a storyboard, right? Nope. In fact, it seems like whoever is behind these movies either has never read the original comics, has disdain for them, or for some reason thinks that they can "improve" them in some way.

There are exceptions, I grant you. Sin City for example was taken straight from the comics. Every shot was a frame from Frank Miller's work. In fact, Robert Rodriguez used the comics so much, he gave Miller a co-director credit. And it looked great. As much as I liked it, though, I think that it went too far in the other direction and actually stayed too close to the source material. Therefore, a lot of the dialogue, which works great on the page, came across a bit cheesy in the movie.

What I'm asking for is a happy medium. Think of it as though you were adapting something else, like a play for instance. Certain things about plays make them great for adapting into movies, but plays are also limited in ways movies are not. For example, a play can't have close-ups or be edited to change a performance, whereas a movie can. So, in general, when adapting a play into a movie, the screenwriter and/or director will take the strengths of the film medium and essentially infuse them into the play (and before anyone brings it up, yes, I've seen Rope, and you know as well as I do it is the exception to the rule.) I just don't understand why comic book movies can't be made this way, taking what is good about both mediums and creating something that transcends both.

Now, before everyone starts saying that I hate comic book movies, I just want to say that that couldn't be farther from the truth. I really like several comic book movies. I greatly enjoyed Spider -Man I & II, X-Men I & II, Superman I & II, The Hulk, Sin City, and Batman Begins. Hell, I own most of them. But they're not great movies. Superman I comes the closest, but it's still not a great movie. As much as I like Batman Begins, does anyone want to argue that it's in same league with Nolan's previous two movies, Memento and Insomnia? Didn't think so. There is no reason that the filmmakers or the audience should feel that we should lower our expectations because it's based on a comic book. If a kung fu flick can grow up enough to be nominated for Best Picture, why not a comic book movie? Watch Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and tell me that their kung fu isn't essentially a super power.

There are seriously only two movies that came close to doing what I'm talking about. The first is actually one my all-time favorite movies, and that's American Splendor. It's really a great movie that uses the full potential of the film medium. The movie presents the protagonist, Harvey Pekar, to the audience through an actor, an animated version, and even documentary-style footage of the actual Harvey Pekar. Absolute genius. However, this movie doesn't count, because it's not really a comic book movie. The comic American Splendor is autobiographical, and therefore based on real life, which means that's what the movie is based on. This probably would have also disqualified From Hell, had that actually been a good movie.

The second movie is Sam Mendes' Road To Perdition. The movie looked great, had a couple of great performances, and was pretty well received. The problem is, it just didn't do it for me. And I'll have to make the same argument I did for Nolan, and say that as good as Perdition may have been, it's no American Beauty. And besides that, the movie almost tried to hide that it was based on a comic book, therefore lending no more respect or recognition to the art form.

My big fear with all of this is that there will never be a great comic book movie. Since there seems to be a new one coming out every week, there is bound to be a saturation point. And as they slowly take strides to be better movies, the clock is ticking. For every Batman Begins, which really took the subject matter seriously, there's a Fantastic Four, an Elektra, and a Daredevil.

But there is hope. A History of Violence comes out next month, and it was nominated for the Golden Palm at Cannes. Maybe, just maybe comic book movies are growing up. Now, if only we could get a Watchmen movie made...

It's A Dog's Life

I don't think that I've ever really understood that phrase, "It's a dog's life." People use it as a putdown. WTF? What is so bad about a dog's life? In the cases of the dogs that all my friends own, they all get food, shelter, and attention. And that's all provided. Dogs these days don't have to do squat. Seriously, Megan may take our border collie Jag out to herd sheep, but it's for fun. This may not sound like fun to you or me, but apparently Jag is pretty into it. Add all of that to the fact that dogs don't have to pay mortgages, pick up after themselves, or read instructions on how to set up a VCR, and I'd say that they have it pretty good.

However, being married to a Humane Society employee means that there is always someone there to remind me that not all dogs have it so good. I have heard absolute horror stories about what is done to animals. But, you know what? I get to hear about the triumphs, too. I know how hard the Shelter works to help every animal that comes into their care. Hell, they amputated the leg of one of cats, before we came to own her. She wouldn't have made it without their help, and I would have missed out having one of the most loving pets of all time (according to Guinness the most loving is some shetland pony in Arkansas, but we're appealing.) Megan and I are now cat-less, but we still own three dogs, all of whom we got through the shelter. I think that each of them is a testament to the good the shelter can do, since I can't imagine my life without our dogs.

Which brings me to this: the Nebraska Humane Society needs your money. Megan is helping raise money through Walk For The Animals. She has a website where you can make donations and find out more about what the whole thing is about. I know that money is tight all around in this craptacular economy, but every dollar will help spay a cat or provide vaccinations for a puppy. So, If you can spare even a couple of bucks, it'll help.

Book Baton

Since Max took the time to pass this thing to me, I thought that I would take the time to respond.

Disclaimer:
I decided not to count comics as books because, I have way too many to count and I don't think that is what the heart is all about since they don't actually sit on my bookshelves. However, I did include graphic novels because they actually sit on my bookshelves, but I only counted them for quantity not content. This will all make since as you read on, if you haven't by now gotten so bored that you've given up reading this, because lord knows, I wouldn't blame you.

Number of books on the shelves
Since I'm sure that this is not a scientific survey, I did a quick estimate by counting the books on two shelves, averaging the book count out for each shelf, then multiplying that by the number of shelves. By my half-assed calculations, Megan and I combine for a grand total of about 650 books. And when I say Megan and I, I mean mostly me. And Megan reads. She reads a lot. But she is better at giving things away after she reads them.

Since I'm a designer I have a fair amount of art and design books, but what really takes up most of the space on the shelves is graphic novels.

Last book purchased
The last book I bought was Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris. I haven't started it yet, because I'm busy and it turns out its a sequel of sorts to The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by the same author. So, I think that I should probably read that one first.

Books reading right now
As I mentioned before, no comics are included, so the quick and short answer is Make Love *The Bruce Campbell Way by Bruce Campbell. I absolutely loved his first book, but this one kind of sucks. My brother gave it to me, and was able to score me an autograph for it. So, of course, I have to finish it. But, if you like Bruce Campbell, stay away from this one and read If Chins Could Kill : Confessions of a B Movie Actor.

Last 5 books read
I'm not sure if this list is right, or in chronological order, but here it is:

5. Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell
Sarah Vowell's travelogue of her vacation visiting sites dedicated to assassinated presidents and their assassins. Hilarious, educational, and intriguing. It's because of this book that I have a renewed interest in presidential history and plan to read more about Theodore Roosevelt and U.S. Grant (even though neither were assassinated.) By the way, Sarah Vowell is awesome, and I thoroughly recommend all of her books, as well as the greatest radio program ever: This American Life, on which she is a regular contributor.

4. Bushworld: Enter At Your Own Risk by Maureen Dowd
A collection of five years worth of pulitzer prize winner Maureen Dowd's columns chronicling the fall of George H.W. Bush and the rise of G.W. Bush. Biased, yes, but she's an op-ed columnist. Still, it's a fascinating and informative look inside the Bush family.

3. The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America
by Erik Larson
One of the most fascinating non-fiction books I have ever read. Larson simultaneously recounts the tales of two men during the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. The first is Daniel H. Burnham, an architect who was largely responsible for putting the fair, and ultimately the city of Chicago itself, on the map. The second man is H. H. Holmes, a pharmacist who is credited with being the first serial killer in America. The dichotomy of Burnham raising Chicago to new heights and Holmes killing perhaps hundreds of women is astounding. Written in a novel-like format, it makes for a great read.

2. The Rising by Brian Keene
Quite possibly the worst book I have ever read. It's about zombies and has an interesting premise, but is written in such a way that makes you feel dirty for reading it...think really graphic pornography, but with gore in the place of sex. Why did I finish it? 'Cause mama didn't raise no quitter. Oh, and the sequel is out now for those of you interested.

1. Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris
Ah, David Sedaris. Quite possibly the funniest neurotic ever, and that includes Woody Allen. The book is simply another collection of stories from his life, which if told by anybody else, would probably be almost considered tragic. From Sedaris's pen, though, it's comedy gold. This book contains my favorite Sedaris story of all time entitled "Six to Eight Black Men," about Christmas in Holland. If you can read or listen to this story without laughing, well, you're probably dead.

Meaningful Books

I'm not really sure what this means. Is it books that meant a lot to you because of how much you enjoyed them, or "meaningful" as in the content was meaningful? I mean, I don't think that I've ever read a book that "changed my life," or whatever. I'm just not a Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus or Dianetics type of guy. I do, however, have a couple of books that have really stuck with me, or that I have read more than once, and if that makes them "meaningful" then I'll go ahead and share.

The White Mountains by John Christopher

I think that I read this in 4th grade. It's the first book in a series set in a dystopian future earth where tripods rule the world and after you turn 13 you lose your free will by having a cap attached to your head. This book follows the adventures of Will and two other young men in search of place where free will still exists. Interesting, allegorical youth fiction that creeped me out when I was a kid.

1984 by George Orwell

Yet another tale of a dystopian future. This story follows Winston Smith as he slogs through his miserable existence in world where Big Brother is always watching. Truly a terrifying book, especially since things like "Department of Homeland Security" are starting sound a lot like the "Ministry of Truth." In my opinion, this book should be required reading for any elected official.

A Farewell To Arms by Ernest Hemingway

The second book I ever read by Hemingway. Holds a special place in my heart for a couple of reasons. This first is that I didn't really like The Old Man and the Sea that much, so this was the book that sold me on Hemingway. The second is that I read this in class with one of my all-time favorite teachers, Jim Coulter. Mr. Coulter not only looked like Papa Hemingway, he taught his works with such enthusiasm, you couldn't help but fall in love with them.

For those that don't know, this is a semi-autobiographical account of a young man who is wounded during World War I and his subsequent romance with a young nurse. Truly a great study on the human condition, whether at war or in love.

And last, but not least, is The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon.

I included this book because I think that it is my favorite book of all time. It includes just about everything I think is cool in one book. It's got magic, comics, World War II, golems, escape artists, movie serials, and even a central character loosely based on comics legend Jim Steranko. I loved this book and would recommend it to anyone and everyone. Oh, and it won the Pulitzer Prize for literature, too.

Whew. That's it. Now it's up to a couple of other people to keep on carrying the baton. I hope that Bronson and/or Andrea, Ryan, and Zach will all pick it up and run with it.

Have fun guys!

Worst Vacation...Ever

I have had my share of shitty vacations. The one that springs to mind most often is the trip I took to Colorado in the summer of 1994. It had become a tradition in my family that either my father or my mother would accompany my brother and I to family camp at Sky Ranch. Sky Ranch was a church camp near the Estes Park area and sat at about 9,000 ft. I know that the term "church camp" sounds really lame, but it was actually really cool and run by a pretty liberal organization. And they didn't force the church aspect down anyone's throats, you could come and go as you pleased and basically make the whole experience as much or as little about God as you wanted. I myself have never been that into organized religion, but I have to say that being up in the mountains of Colorado with no smog, skies so clear at night you felt you could actually touch the stars, and no real intrusion by civilization for miles made me feel the closest to God I have ever felt. We loved it. Which made the trip in 94 all the more disappointing.

My brother and I had looked forward to this trip all year. A week of away from TV, traffic, and the hustle and bustle of the city. A week filled with hikes to Cirque Meadow, backpacking, communing with nature, and possibly even white water rafting on the Poudre River (which the following summer would try to kill us, but that's another story). So, imagine our disappointment when after driving all the way to Fort Collins, and staying in a hotel for the night, we are awakened by a phone call from my mom. For many other people this would probably not be that ominous, however, since my parents had divorced only a couple of years prior, well...let's just say my brother and were quickly exchanging worried glances. We could only hear my dad's side of the conversation, which basically consisted entirely of incredulous statements like "You're joking," disbelieving declarations of "No," and even I think at least one "Jerryl, stop kidding around." The fact that my father thought that my mom would call us on the morning we were supposed to go to Sky Ranch, just to play a practical joke on him really shows how far their relationship had fallen. Once my dad finally came to the realization that it was indeed not a joke my mother was playing, he ultimately thanked her for calling and hung up the phone.

There was an excruciatingly long silence. Finally, my dad looked up from where he had put the phone in it's cradle and told us the bad news. Sky Ranch was on fire. Maybe not the lodge, or even the camp itself, but there had been a lightning strike in the surrounding woods. The summer had been incredibly dry in Colorado and the strike had started a fire that was currently burning out of control. The camp had been evacuated and no one could make the trip up the mountain.

So, that should have spelled the end of our trip. Which, in all actuality, would have been fine with me. Yeah, I had been looking forward to this all year, but as far as I knew, the camp was gone. Nothing I could do about it. Besides, I had just started dating Megan that summer and if I wasn't going to Sky Ranch, I would much rather be hanging out with her.

Unfortunately, things didn't work out that way. My decided to 'salvage' the vacation by taking us to all the places he loved in Colorado. Which, to my dad's credit, in theory sounds like a worthy idea. However, keep in mind that my brother and I had just learned our favorite place in the whole world was being destroyed and I had a cute girlfriend waiting for me back home. So, in short, it would have taken a miracle to save our little family vacation.

There was no miracle. The resulting week became known as the "Trip from Hell." It basically consisted of long drives from Fort Collins to appealing destinations, which would ultimately be deemed unsuitable by my father, who would then immediately turn around an drive back. I'm not exaggerating either. We drove something like 3 hours to the Royal Gorge only to turn around after having just long enough to stretch our legs because it was now too expensive (to this day my dad still refers to it as "The Royal Gouge"). We drove even longer to Cripple Creek only to drive right through. That's right, we didn't even stop. It had added casinos and was now deemed "too commercial." The entire trip was like this. In fact, it was so bad, I could not keep the refrain from Sloop John B. out of my head. The words "This is the worst trip, I've ever been on" never seemed more appropriate.

That is until last week. Yes, my friends I actually had a worse vacation. And while it may not have been a trip, per se, it was a vacation. A vacation in the sense that I took 4 days off from work to, well...work. Yup, I busted my ass from Tuesday 'til Sunday doing various tasks that included moving everything from furniture to boxes, packing and unpacking, cutting carpet, and filling up a dumpster. It sucked. If before I felt like Sisyphus, then this last week I felt like Heracles with his 12 labors (Hey, at least I didn't have to kill a Hydra, that really would have sucked.)

The worst part is that I feel like I totally cheated myself out of good vacation days. I've really felt like I've needed a vacation for some time now. Just some time to relax and kind of clear my head for a couple of days after all of this nonstop working that I've been doing since we bought the house. And instead I spent my vacation working. On the house.

Sigh.

My dad pretty much summed it up when he called me at work yesterday "So, you're back at work. What, are you taking a break from your vacation?"

It's pretty sad when that's true.

Movers and Shakers

The moving continued this weekend and it led me to a couple of revelations. The first revelation is that Megan and I have a lot of shit. And by that I mostly mean me. So my advice to you my friends is this, never live in a big ass house for an extended period of time, because it allows you to fill it up with junk. I have a feeling a big purge is coming soon.

My second revelation is that I am almost surely in hell. What makes me say that? Well, I'm beginning to think that I pissed off the Greek gods somehow and they decided to do me like Sisyphus. It seriously feels like we're never going to finish moving. I just keep moving boxes from one house to the other, day in and day out, and there really appears to be no end in sight. If that's not definition of sisyphean, I don't know what is. The real clincher is that the floor in our bedroom is finally done being refinished today, but we still can't put in furniture on it for 2-3 more days. Which means that nothing that goes in our bedroom can go in there yet, which in turn means it's all over the rest of the house. Which is fine, until you have to go to three different rooms to get dressed.

And then there's the office. We finally have a place to put the computer and not have to worry about it being in the way, or using the room as a spare bedroom, or whatever. The room is just an office and it's great. There's just one teeny tiny little problem... all of the outlets are from 1950 and are therefore made for plugs with only 2 prongs. So, naturally, we can't plug anything in. It's not a huge deal, but it's just one more thing added to the list. That and I'm probably not going to be able to post again until we have the new outlets. So, if you want to continue reading someone bitching about how much work getting a new house is, you'll probably have to find another blog.