Rick Dakan

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January 14, 2008

Media Glutton Monday, Jan 14

So that was a nice long break! Happy New Year everyone. It's been a while, so I've probably lost whatever regular readers I might have had, but I'm back now and I'm going to try and really make a go at this regular blogging thing, especially now that I've wrapped up my contest/experiment with Rambam and can thus talk about whatever the hell I want.

I've also decided to try a new path and try and blog about specific themes on specific days, thus helping me to really to overcome that blogging paralysis that I get when I don't know what to write about (and so write about nothing). With that in mind I'm starting up my semi-regular Media Glutton theme and assigning that to Mondays. So let's get this party started.

Zodiac (Director's Cut)

I loved this movie when I saw it in theater, and I was really sad to see that it didn't do better business at the time. As the name suggests, it's about the Zodiac killer who terrorized the SF Bay Area in the 1970's, directed by David Fincher of Fight Club fame. I think this is maybe my favorite film of his - all the style and inventiveness of his other films but toned down and focused on telling this really compelling and weird true story. Listening to the commentary tracks and watching the bonus features, you come to really appreciate ho much they tried to get it right and why they made the changes or fictive additions that they did. It's a great, great crime movie and just a great movie as well. It's not the standard pace or story structure and the ending is anything but Hollywood. If any of this appeals to you, pick this baby up.

Absurdistan by Gary Shteyngart

I just finished reading this novel last night for my MFA program. It got incredible reviews and made lots of top lists and I can see why, although I'm not without my qualms about it. Absurdistan is the story of a grossly obese Russian dilettante named Misha who is banned from returning to his beloved USA because his oligarch dad murdered a guy from Oklahoman. But when his father is blown up by a rival oligarch, he decides to go to the former Soviet Republic of Absurdistan where there's a corrupt consul who'll set him up with Belgian citizenship. He ends up getting trapped there when a civil war breaks out and thus humor ensues. Yes it's a comedy, and there are lots of chuckles and smiles at the, well, absurd stuff that happens. It's all humor with a point, commenting on what it means to be Russian, the origins and ridiculousness of many ethnic conflicts, Halliburton and the new American imperialism and the spread of Western culture. Shteyngart does all this stuff well. What doesn't work as well is the story itself, or rather the plot. It just kind of rolls along at a nice pace, but it's all about things happening to Misha rather than him actually going out and doing anything. There are a few twists of a sort at the end, but ultimately this book is all about The Ride and less about the story from A to Z. Still a very good book, don't get me wrong, but at the same time it feels slightly unsatisfying.

The Wire Season Five

Come on! It's THE WIRE! TV doesn't get any better than this. I watched the first episode and watched it again the next morning. It's everything that television should be and everything that most television isn't. My only complaints are that this is the final season and there are only ten episodes! What's that about? In the past couple months I re-watched all 4 of the previous seasons and of course they remain amazing. If you haven't caught on to this show yet, I'm jealous - you've got a major treat ahead of you.

Posted by rdakan at January 14, 2008 03:04 PM

Comments

Posted by: Theresa at January 14, 2008 02:12 PM

Posted by: Rick Dakan at January 14, 2008 06:06 PM

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