“Travel writers can be so afraid to make judgments. You end up with these gauzy tributes to the ‘magic’ of some far-off spot. But honestly, not every spot is magical for everyone. Sometimes you get somewhere, look around, and think, ‘Hey, this place is a squalid rat hole. I’d really rather be in the Netherlands.’ And that’s OK.” My friend Seth Stevenson tries to make his peace with India, backpacker culture, and extreme poverty. Sounds like the beaches are helping.
Month: September 2004
The Mojave Run (in less than 12 Parsecs).
Despite an unplanned and disconcerting series of barrel rolls on the way up, FlightTwo and TripOne for SpaceShipOne was a rousing success. Now, if they can repeat the feat within the next ten days, the elusive X Prize is theirs, and the business of space tourism will have reached a watershed moment. (Indeed, Richard Branson has already announced he’ll be leasing SS1 tech to kick off Virgin Galactic.) But first, they might want to figure out what’s causing that roll.
Philanderers of the Pleistocene.
“‘It is a pattern that has built up over time,’ said Dr Jason Wilder, from the University of Arizona in Tucson, USA. ‘The norm through human evolution is for more women to have…children than men. There are men around who aren’t able to have children, because they are being out-competed by more successful males.’” One of my high school roommates — now a biologist at Arizona — unearths genetic evidence that prehistoric Lotharios really got around, while Beta Cavemales have always had it bad. I dunno, I always thought Barney Rubble did pretty well for himself…
Feeling Rock, Seeing Spots.
In comic casting news, Laurie Holden (a.k.a. Marita Covarrubias of The X-Files) is rumored to have been cast as The Thing’s fiancee Debbie in Fantastic Four (Debbie? I take it she’s pre-Alicia Masters, who may be played by Kerry Washington of She Hate Me.) And Simon Pegg, whose praises I was just singing as Shaun of the Dead, may be up for Rorschach in The Watchmen. Ooh, that’s a great idea.
Courtiers to the King.
It seems Meryl Streep, Kate Winslet, and Mark Ruffalo may be joining Sean Penn (Willie Stark) and Jude Law (Jack Burden) in the forthcoming remake of All the King’s Men. Streep is apparently set to play Sadie, Willie’s long-suffering right-hand woman, which must make Winslet and Ruffalo Anne and Adam Stanton respectively.
No Brains Please, We’re British.
Not to beat a dead horse, but Shaun (Simon Pegg of Spaced) is having a bad go of it. He’s a working stiff killing time at a dead-end job. His relationship with his long-term girlfriend — who has decided he’s a deathly bore — has given up the ghost. His patience with his deadbeat flatmate is on its last legs. And, just as all his hopes for this world seem to have gone six feet under, the rest of the neighborhood starts acting rather strangely…
A friend of mine saw the trailer for Shaun of the Dead and noted it looked like a zombie movie written by The Kinks. That’s actually a pretty good shorthand for this wry, witty film, although it eschews Ray Davies-like bitterness for a romantic comedy sweet that, for the most part, fits quite well. In fact, for the first hour or so, Shaun of the Dead is a total gas, particularly as Shaun and his couch-potato roommate Ed (Nick Frost) verrry slowly get wise to the shambling undead amidst them.
The only missteps in Shaun of the Dead occur in the last thirty minutes or so, right about the time Queen blares on the Winchester’s jukebox and, soon thereafter, when our heroes find themselves embroiled in an unlikely Mexican Standoff. For one, the film’s tone falls off its comic-horror razor’s edge and veers a little too abruptly into the standard zombie tropes. More problematic, all of the characters we’ve been following start making stupid decisions which can’t be explained by the duress of their situation. (Fortunately, the film finds its footing again in the closing scenes.)
Despite these small lapses, though, Shaun of the Dead is a fall fanboy film treat, filled to the brim with quality dry Brit humour. Whatsmore, Shaun is particularly fun for both Romero fans (“We’re coming to get you, Barbara!”) and Anglophiles (As Shaun and Ed try to decide which records to use as Zombie Decapitators: “The Stone Roses?” “No!” “Second Coming?” “I liked it!”) In fact, I was previously thinking of picking up a grey hoodie and channeling Donnie Darko this Halloween, but perhaps a Shaun-like goatee and nametag might be the way to go…
Welcome to the Jungle.
“Cock-a-doodle-do, we’re a huge corporation. Cock-a-doodle-do, we can’t be stopped…” Rockstar continues its tantalizingly slow rollout of GTA: San Andreas with an interactive map of San Fierro (a.k.a. the Bay Area) and a spiffy new trailer (which reveals that G’n’R, at least, is on the game soundtrack.) As with Los Santos, the map is ripe for exploration. It already seems pretty clear this game is going to eat my life for a few weeks.
Rise up, worthy nation.
The voter boom continues, with Democratic precincts in swing states reporting record surges in registration. And, in Iowa, Democrat absentee ballots outnumber those of the GOP 3-to-1. Poll that.
What news of Gondor?
With the seal broken on the RotK:EE, news is starting to fly fast and furious. DVD Answers has posted a few screenshots which include Aragorn challenging Sauron in the palantir and the names of some of the 18 new chapters (Eowyn’s Dream, The Decline of Gondor, The Corsairs of Umbar, Merry’s Simple Courage). Meanwhile, USA Today shares a new shot of Saruman atop Orthanc, tiny images of the Mouth of Sauron and Faramir at the Houses of Healing pop up here, and E! News (and Elflady) share an extended Paths of the Dead sequence. Update: High-res images here.
Music to My Ears.
“Unlike a lot of political issues, this is literally life or death. Kerry understands how the world works, in a way that Bush does not. When Bush ran the first time, I realized something: I want my president to be smarter than I am. I don’t ask much, but I want him to be smarter than me.” Mike Mills of R.E.M. and several other musicians make the case for Kerry to Rolling Stone.