Sequart of Life.

-  I had this thought today that I would watch a movie while writing and doing other things on my computer… then I picked The Tree of Life and now I can’t look away.  It almost reminds me more of an Iñárritu movie than a Terence Malick one.  The imagery, the narrative nature, even the loud/quiet/loud sound dynamics.  It’s beautiful to look at, if anything.  And this isn’t a review, cause I’m in the middle of the damn thing.  The shots of the Universe and volcanoes erupting and cellular structure are really fucking cool; reminds me a bit of 2001.  Also, some of the most realistic portrayals of dinosaurs ever on film.

-  Did George Lucas honestly say that Empire Strikes Back is the worst Star Wars flick??  Wow.  Now, the context might point in the direction of a joke.  So it should be taken with a grain of salt.  Or it could be one of those things where somebody makes a joke to cover up the fact that it’s actually a sore subject.  Either way, it’s far and away the best Star Wars movie and Lucas didn’t direct it.  Thought this was a cool Hitchcockian type poster for Empire, found it on DeviantArt:

-  Cody Walker at Sequart.org has some brilliant comics articles (as do other writers at the site).  A lot of them are particularly of interest for me, being a massive fan of Grant Morrison’s years-spanning Batman epic.  Walker has three part articles on the passive aggressive (eventually turning plain old aggressive) feud between Joker and Dr. Hurt.  That series is very interesting to read because he delves into the history of Morrison’s writing of the Joker, including the deconstruction of his personality way back in 1989′s Arkham Asylum (Dave Mckean’s art still messes with my brain every time I open that book).  He also writes extensively about the transformation of Bruce Wayne’s son Damien, from his initial appearance in “Batman & Son” to his heroic turn in GM’s Batman & Robin.  His character arc was plotted wonderfully: Morrison deliberately wanted him to be hated when he first appeared, the wrote him more and more likeable as the issues and years passed by.

-  Ravens remember relationships they have had with other ravens.

-  Warren Ellis has a new e-mail newsletter he’s launching soon.  It’ll be free, and most likely fascinating.

-Sonny

Julian Callos Prints.

SuperPunch informed me this morning of an artist named Julian Callos.  He does clean, surreal stuff that is (according to him) influenced by “comics, cartoons, and pop culture“.  He seems to have had most of his exhibitions at Gallery 1988; a Los Angeles gallery that I know I’ve seen on around the net (particularly on SuperPunch) quite a bit.  Here’s a few examples of his stuff:

(“What Develops”; prints on sale starting at $20 HERE)

(“Death, or a Murder of Crows”; again, prints on sale starting at $20 HERE)

(“Quiver II”; prints starting at $20 on sale HERE)

And this is Julian Callos’ Official Site.

Here is his Blogspot Site.

-Sonny

White Winter CPU.

I went for a pretty long walk yesterday (the sidewalks were so damn icy) and when I got home the snow looked like white-crystallized quicksand.  It was flowing down down down into the ground and pumping to the rhythm of the winter birds.  It kinda reminded me of the visualizations of music that come with something like Windows Media Player.  Each grain of snow — snow as sand, now — was a byte in the frozen landscape of a digital outside.  That big mound next to the spare parking spot: PhotoShop or PictureProject.  The long, stretched out walls along the streets: Help and Support or maybe the Search function.  Gigs worth of snow.  I shook my head and looked into the ground underfoot again; it wouldn’t go away.  I unlocked the door and got inside before I was swallowed whole into the program (or maybe it’s the “operating system”).  I grabbed a half glass of ice water and sat down with 2666.  The frost on the windows peered over my shoulder into “The Part About FATE”.  Some writer from Detroit was going on at great length about 5 topics: danger, money, food, stars, and usefulness.  He was addressing a congregation of Preachers and Believers, and something about it all didn’t feel right.  Then again, I was looking from the outside in.  The plant looked a whole lot better after a near death experience, but I still fed it some more water.  I laid down to gather everything around me I felt good about, it helped.  I couldn’t stop thinking of my family.  Everything came to a head when I started day-dreaming of indescribable experiences and raw information.  I drank more water and counted the minutes until my love came home.  It was weird.

-Sonny

2/24 AP Pics.

-Sonny

2-D Spring Golf Is Here.

Wow. Could spring finally be here? It’s still relatively early in the morning, and it looks gorgeous outside. But I think a coat is still in order. I don’t see a cloud in the sky right now. Beautiful. The bird numbers are growing; they’re getting louder. I could hear them clear as day when I woke up. I had some strange dreams last night. One involved some sort-of mass evacuation of the major city I lived in, a garage full of equipment, Kurdt C, and me playing the drums. It’s almost time to invade the golf courses again. With comic-book shirts, skate shoes, cigarettes, and the like. Golf’s an amazing game, but lots of golfers who suck-ass take it too seriously; not only the game, but the apparel, etiquette, and the lingo. Take it seriously if you’re a scratch golfer, by all means; but if you’re hitting a weak-ass slice for 180 off the tee, then lose the Tiger Woods shirt. Because it isn’t helping. Everyone and their brother’s raving about REM’s new disc “Accelerate”. I wonder if there’s any merit to this… I’m not a big REM fan, but they’re way better than U2. At least Micheal Stipe doesn’t ham it up. When are we going to see a resurgence of 2-D fighters (something I’ve always loved, but never been good at)? For real, 90% of gamers would pound me in a 2-D fighter-off. We need a new Mega Man too. But not like the PS version they did, which attempted to make Mega Man 3-D. No, keep the gameplay 2-D, but with nice 3-D graphics. THAT’S the way to re-make the classics. Of course if I had my choice, developers wouldn’t even be allowed to green-light remakes. We’re getting to the point in popular culture (that comes up once or twice every 15-20 years) where nostalgia is actually destroying ideas. Newly pressed “vintage” t-shirts, television and movie remakes, fucking Regeanitis. Giraffes tonight. Noise and booze. Did you SEE the size of that Sperm Whale??

-Sonny

Fog [gy Nelson].

I’m not sure why I tend to alienate people from myself. Maybe I reek of brandy, pizza, and quarters. It’s possible. Continuing work on a short story. It involves an alien hominid named Sorrin, and his homo-sapien girlfriend. Mid-terms hit me next Monday. I need to do well. Hope I’ll do well. I can’t work on any music this week, that room is currently occupied. But I do have some ideas. Reverb on the kick, echoing explosions of bass. Powerful, pounding. Visibility low. The mist outside my window creeps around, like the ‘Thriller’ video. Birds still chirp outside, they’re not totally gone yet. Some of them must be holding out, thinking of rays of hope and sun. But they will be gone, soon enough. Winter bears down upon us, but I like Winter. Snow should come sooner rather than later. I ran last night, barely could handle it. The rain and cold hit my face like tiny fists, especially while sprinting. But its good for me. Stay sharp.

-Sonny