The Prodigal Daughter

Been on a Cronenberg kick. Enjoy:

I first discovered Douglas Coupland when I was a teenager in the Hunterdon County Library. I was browsing listlessly through the fiction and the title of one of his books caught my eye. It was Shampoo Planet. After reading it I was hooked and immediately read Generation X, Microserfs, Life After God, and Polaroids From the Dead. My obsession kind of drew to a close as I left my adolescence. I read some of his other books during my adult life and did enjoy them. His books are intelligent and humorous views of modern society. I wasn’t really aware that Doug has also made films and visual art, but it doesn’t surprise me.

I was delighted when I discovered his youtube channel that has shorts advertising his new book The Gum Thief. There are 9 shorts all together. 2 of them describe characters in the book and the third describes one of the characters’ attempt to write a book. They are all very entertaining and it seems to me like a brilliant way to promote a work of fiction. This is one of my favorites:

Look at the channel >here< .

It doesn’t hurt me.
You wanna feel how it feels?
You wanna know, know that it doesn’t hurt me?
You wanna hear about the deal I’m making?
You *be running up that hill*
You and me *be running up that hill*

And if I only could,
Make a deal with God,
And get him to swap our places,
Be running up that road,
Be running up that hill,
Be running up that building.
If I only could, oh…

You don’t want to hurt me,
But see how deep the bullet lies.
Unaware that I’m tearing you asunder.
There is thunder in our hearts, baby.
So much hate for the ones we love?
Tell me, we both matter, don’t we?

You, *be running up that hill*
You and me, *be running up that hill*
You and me won’t be unhappy.

And if I only could,
Make a deal with God,
And get him to swap our places,
Be running up that road,
Be running up that hill,
Be running up that building,
If I only could, oh…

‘C’mon, baby, c’mon, c’mon, darling,
Let me steal this moment from you now.
C’mon, angel, c’mon, c’mon, darling,
Let’s exchange the experience, oh…’

And if I only could,
Make a deal with God,
And get him to swap our places,
Be running up that road,
Be running up that hill,
With no problems. x2

‘If I only could, be running up that hill.’ x7

I want this dress for a wedding…can anyone buy it for me? I’ll pay you back. Swear! I love it so much.

I can’t! When that happens i am online and when i am online i am usually using the firefox plugin stumbleupon, that is if i amnot doing anything that’s of real use. sometimes it brings me to some really great sites like this one featuring audrey kawasaki’s art work. i have noticed a trend in art recently that pushes this kind of innosence erotica. similar to mark ryden. i like audrey’s work better for some reason. it might be because she is a woman and these images are somewhat less disturbing coming from her. i also think that ryden’s work is a little too political for me. here are some of my favorites by her:

So despite the fact that i hate job hunting i tried to make it fun today by taking my digital camera with me. This proved to be a good idea and i got some nice shots of old city and south street. On south i took pictures of the graffiti on the back of street signs and the mosaic area that anyone who has ever been there should know. i saw a man on the sidewalk of broad making a painting and i took some pictures of him. he didn’t seem to mind. i get in my own world with my headphones on and sometimes i forget to ask if it’s ok or not to take pictures when people are involved. These are some of my favorites from today:




Too look at some more cick here

this brought me to tears…

For that Evil Dead Smell:

I was pretty bored last night and my adventure to the frontier landed me on Sabrina and Levi’s sofa to watch The Plague with James Van Der Beek (yeah he spells it that way, i looked it up). During the film I dubbed him The Beek. It’s just easier that way. I haven’t really been a fan of Mr. Barker since Hellraiser, was there really anything else? Not to worry he only slapped his name on this little baby. It was a straight to the shelves and an On Demand release. Digital cable is so wonderful in this way.

The Plague is a tale about children that all go into comas and then 10 years later wake up and start eating people’s souls. Or at least that’s what I surmised from the terrible screenplay. This is one of those films that you want to talk through the whole time. Otherwise it is completely unbearable and hard to follow. The best jokes we made were concerning what all the adults would do if there were no children for ten years. I forgot to mention that any child that was born was also comatose. Brilliant! What would video games center around? Girls gymnastics would totally be fucked. Etc.

The best part is The Beek anyway. He is a really buff version of himself from Dawson’s Creek and someone finally told him to put his hair over that huge fucking forehead. He’s also grown out the facial hair to soften his chin up a bit. What The Beek does best in this movie is reactionary facial expressions. He furrows his brows just the way you would want a confused bar brawling ex con to. The Beek delivers. Other than him there’s really no one else mentionable in this film.

What it comes down to is drinking heavily or being under the influence of something while hanging out with a lot of people. There is no other way to watch this film. It is one of the bad baddies that everyone enjoys making jokes during. I suggest starting a drinking game that centers around when the group of you says “awwww” in unison because it will happen. Every time the book Grapes of Wrath is shown would be another suggestion. There’s really no point in making any kind of symbolic parallel or plot connection during this one. You have to wonder…how did someone sell this to Clive, and then, why can’t I write terrible schlock?

Some of you may be curious about the new Will Ferral film, Stranger Than Fiction. What you should first do is throw the idea that it’s a Will Ferral film out the window. I know a lot of people have prejudged this film on the star alone and that some of you don’t like the bulk of Ferral’s work. I personally love him, but this is not typical Talladega Nights or Anchorman fare. Just get it out of your head that it will be like any other movie you’ve seen him in or for that matter any other movie you’ve seen this year.

Stranger Than Fiction may be likened to the films I Heart Huckabees or Eternal Sunshine. It may remind you of when any comedic actor takes serious roles that then prove to an audience that, yes, they can act. These things aside the film stands on it’s own as a unique vision of what would happen if fiction could dictate reality. It’s not as much as mind fuck as it sounds though. The film uses some familiar devices to push it’s premise along and it is very funny. The reason why it is so funny is that Ferral is able to play the perfect straight man who is completely normal in almost everyway. As the film goes on his character becomes more layered as someone that an audience can relate to in many ways. Emma Thompson’s eccentric cigarette saving writer character is what alot of us can picture hermit writers to be like but at the same time she is so much more than that

That is what makes this movie so wonderful. All of the characters are so well drawn. I felt as if I knew each one of them and could connect to them. So many films today have characters that fall flat because they do exactly what their stereotypes dictate and in that way become campy. We may enjoy watching them because of their predictability, but they certainly do not feel human. The people in this film feel very human and also very real. It is amazing how they have been brought to life by such a talented cast.

This film is definitely ranked as one of the best things that I have seen this year. I refused to waste my money on Borat or Jackass II. This is the comedy to see. Ferral is brilliant and you should probably go see for yourself why it is so good. It is better than anything I could write here about it.