No Longer Superman

Growing up, I had a wild notion that I was some kind of superman. I believe its a common misconception for kids to think that they’re invincible. They jump out of trees, off the swings, do flips on trampolines, leap their bikes or skateboards off of everything and anything, and often dare one another to eat things that a dog wouldn’t touch. When nothing appears to hurt them, they begin to feel that nothing can hurt them. They may not say that out loud, or even verbalize it in their minds, but it’s there in the subconscious, alive and well.

For someone like me, who really hasn’t had a lot of injuries in my life, it’s hard to think that something so trivial or stupid might be the cause of a crippling injury, or that death might be waiting for me if I do something careless.

Last week, while playing some “group date” games with friends, we decided that we’d make our way to the park and fool around on the playground equipment. We started playing a strange game of tag akin to the games of the schoolyard, and though I found myself wondering how a bunch of twenty-somethings could be acting like kindergarteners, I decided to play anyhow.

I’m pretty competitive. I try to do anything I can to win, doing my best to stay within the rules, but my friends often comment on how I don’t lose very often, and some of them can attest to the times when I take something trivial a little too seriously. (Like, say, a stupid football game, for example.)

With that in mind, we were playing these games, and I found myself trapped on a pretty high part of the playground, and almost got tagged. So, I looked around, and noticed the platform down below, and without a second thought to what was going to occur when I actually hit the ground, I jumped.

Now it’s been a few years since I was the spry, wiry youth who could leap out of a twenty-foot tree and be perfectly fine when I hit the ground. In the instant that I landed, and the pain shot through my ankle, I realized that I was superman no more.

I limped to the parking lot, and later made my way home, icing up my swelling ankle and wrapping it up, hoping against hope that it wasn’t broken or anything. I suspected that it might be a strain, especially because the bruising was so bad, but as I felt it, and realized that the only pain was coming from pressure on my heel, I decided it was probably a bruised heel. I went and had it checked just to be sure, and after x-rays and the like came back, they told me that my suspicious were right, and the heel was bruised.

It was a sobering time for me. How could I have done something so stupid, and for such a stupid reason? How could I have just jumped? Was winning such a trivial game so very important? No, not really. But the illusion of invincibility was completely shattered upon impact, and so I think that’s the best lesson to take away from this. I’m not unbreakable, and my foot tells me so, despite my head telling me otherwise.

- K

Interviewing Myself

I don’t know if this is just unique to me, or if it’s something that a lot of people experience, but I’ll throw out the line and see what kind of catch comes in. I have a tendency, especially when I’m by myself, to hold “mock interviews”, either just in my head, or if I’m at home, out loud. I’ll imagine a question about something that I’m working on, be it a movie project, a story that I’m writing, or even just a graphic idea. While I’m not as delusional to believe that everything I do carries this type of significance, I find myself doing it almost naturally.

I’ve found that this helps in a number of ways. Just by example, say I was in the middle of a writing project, be it a script or prose, and I was having a hard time trying to understand a part of the story, or the motivation of a certain character, or why a certain character even existed. So, I’d start having a dialogue with myself about it, pretending that I was being interviewed by someone about that specific situation, as if it were some special feature on the DVD or maybe a news special.

Going back to the way that I visualize situations, I would see the little movie poster behind me, the red wallpaper as a contrast against my shirt, even sometimes the interviewer, and the cut scenes that were used for overlay with my audio track. What this process brings out for me are the details of the story that I sometimes miss, and often helps me to look at characters or story situations from a different point of view.

I don’t think, though, that this process works exclusively for story-based projects. I use it in my life for a lot of things, be it a difficult decision, or a problem with school, or evaluating a relationship. I think about a lot of things, so it’s kind of hard to identify a) the actual problem or concern, and b) the answer or solution, even when I’ve already seen it.

I guess I just wanted to throw this out and see what you think. Try this out. Give yourself an interview. (By yourself, in private, so that if you think you feel silly, at least no one else is going to be watching.)

- Kyle

Alvin and the Chipmunks

I’ll explain something to the reader here that I’m addressed before, but have ultimately glossed over. I am fiercely cynical, and extremely critical, when it comes to film story. Techniques may change, film may be updated, it may be shot in digital, or a special effect may look old and/or cheesy, but it’s the story of a film that truly carries the project, and if the film doesn’t work, it isn’t because of a bad “effect” - it’s because of a sub-par story.

Don’t believe me? Take a look at the effects in Ghostbusters, and tell me if the somewhat “dated” effects hinder the movie. No. How about the effects in Raiders of the Lost Ark? Can you really think of any film that relies solely on the special effects? No. Those kind of films end up like The Chronicles of Riddick, X-Men 3, and even Alvin and the Chipmunks.

The story is loyal enough to it’s source: Dave Seville (Jason Lee) is a struggling songwriter who can’t seem to sell his work, until he rambunctiously encounters three little singing chipmunks, Alvin, Simon, and Theodore, fresh off a tree farm where their home was cut down to act as a Christmas tree for the very studio that Dave struck out at.

When they realize that with Dave and the chipmunks’ talents combined, they can have a promising singing career, they are finally able to sell the songs to “Uncle” Ian Hawke (David Cross), a wealthy record executive who sees only dollar signs in the innocent eyes of Alvin and company. What follows is a clichéd “growing up” story following the naive rock-star career of the chipmunks, with Dave being thrown completely out of their life, and then his “awakening” as he realizes that he needs to help them. Muddled into the script, or perhaps even just tacked-on at the last minute, is a romance with Dave’s old flame, Claire Wilson (Cameron Richardson), which really doesn’t go anywhere, and seemed more appropriate for Jon Arbuckle of Garfield fame than this already suffering tale.

There were a number of things that bothered me about Chipmunks. First off, no one but Dave seems to think that it’s strange that a trio of chipmunks can sing, dance, and carry on rather childish but intelligent conversations. The entire world seems to simply accept that talking, singing chipmunks are a part of everyday life, and that immediately pulled me out of the realm of believability.

The humor in the film is pretty much like watching any standard “kid” fare - plenty of bodily function jokes, big messes, loud noises, and a little “nudity.” It almost seemed like they were just throwing in every re-hashed version of a joke I’ve heard in either kid-themed movies like Daddy Day Care, or even toned-down versions of jokes from teen movies. The result - I felt like I was sitting there wasting my time for an hour and a half.

Chipmunks does have a story, of sorts, but it lacks any real depth, at least not enough to make you actually care one way or the other what’s going to happen. It’s absolutely possible to make an audience care about computer-generated characters - the work of Pixar and Dreamworks is more than testament to that. But you can’t just throw a bunch of random elements together to make a film. There’s the unnecessary romantic tangent, with no real reason to exist. When Dave loses the chipmunks, he just does it, not caring for the fact that he can’t possibly make a living on his own, and needs them if he’s ever going to make any kind of career in the industry. And there’s the fact that every time that he screams out the classic “Alvin!!”, Jason Lee looks like he’s just forcing out the line, because it doesn’t correspond at all with the hassle involved in any particular situation.

All in all, this isn’t the story of three little chipmunks, instead, it’s the story of a studio trying to make a buck on an old franchise, because they’re just scraping the barrel trying to find anything that’ll keep the money flowing in, no matter how sub-par of an effort it might be, and no matter how often, like Simon, we’re forced to swallow a load of crap.

- Kyle

Arrested Development

I remember back in the 90’s when there were a lot of memorable television shows, especially sitcoms. The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Family Matters, Full House, Home Improvement, Married… With Children, 3rd Rock From the Sun, and even Seinfeld all are practically legendary among the hallowed (yet non-existent) halls of sitcom hall of fame. But with the turn of century, I believe there’s been a decline in the quality and effort that’s been put into the writing and creativity of situation comedies. When I flip through the prime time channels, every sitcom just seems to be nothing but a clone, with no real depth to the characters, and nothing but ultra-cheap throw-away gags to keep the laugh track moving.

Amidst this massive deluge of television was lost an amazing gem of a show called Arrested Development. The brainchild of Mitchell Hurwitz, AD was a brilliant production, which relied not only of the standard cheap shots of comedy, but also on the sheer ludicrousness of each character’s unbelievable personality to push the show along.

The show’s premise is completely spelled out by the narrator (Ron Howard) at the beginning of each episode: “Now, the story of a wealthy family who lost everything, and the one son who had no choice but to keep them all together. It’s Arrested Development.”

Basically, we follow the extravagant and formerly wealthy Bluth family after the patriarch George Bluth, Sr. (Jeffrey Tambor), is arrested for fraud within his The Bluth Company, which deals chiefly with housing development projects. His second son, Michael Bluth (Jason Bateman) is eventually given the reins, as the mostly honorable one at the center of it all, who is tasked with keeping the company afloat and the family together, supported half-heartedly by his son, George-Michael (Michael Cera). This is complicated by the machinations of each member of the Bluth family: Michael’s manipulative mother, Lucille (Jessica Walter), his unsuccessful magician older brother, Gob (Will Arnett), his mother-obsessed younger brother, Buster (Tony Hale), his lazy sister Lindsay (Portia de Rossi) and her husband Tobias (David Cross), as well as their daughter Maeby (Alia Shawkat).

What strikes me most about this show is the comedic rewards to be had by loyal viewers who know the stories from the beginning. There are constant callbacks to previous episodes throughout the later episodes, and the more that you watch, the more that you’re going to enjoy it. The only drawback to this is that unfortunately, it’s hard for someone who just happens to flip on at a season two episode to actually pick up what’s going on. Immediately they’re going to be utterly and hopelessly confused, and won’t find the show funny at all. “Why is this idiot even attempting to be a magician? Why is there blue paint throughout the house? Why is that guy wearing jean shorts under his clothes?”

For me, I had to watch this show from the beginning, all on DVD. I got a hold of the first season, and it took me a couple episodes, but then I was hooked. A week after I got the second season, I was sick in bed for a couple of days, and so I just popped in the DVDs, and laughed myself to feeling better. I was laughing so hard that my sides hurt. Even now, when I talk to friends who know the show, it’s just a couple quotes back and forth and we’re absolutely dying.

In any case, I’m kind of rambling now. I recommend this show. Watch it, and make your way through the first couple of “groundwork” episodes, and you’ll find one of the most rewarding comedy experiences ever unleashed upon humanity.

- Kyle

The Soundtrack of Life

You know, I got myself a Sony MP3 player a couple of months ago, and since then I’ve really appreciated the vast amount of music that I’ve kind of collected over the years. It’s amazing the variety of music that you accumulate. I have everything from Smashmouth to Phantom of the Opera; YoungBloodz to Weezer to Vanilla Ice to Queen and Eve 6.

The thing is, I listen to a variety of music, all depending on either the mood that I’m in, or the mood that I want to be in. I’ve set up my playlists under certain themes or activities. I’ve got “Driving”, and “Dance” as well as “Slow” and “Fast”. In each of these is a bunch of songs with kind of the same rhythms, similar beats and tempos. It’s kind of like a hand-picked selection of Pandora™ related songs.

There are times when I want to be “pumped”, and so I start up the Workout mix. There are times when I want to calm myself down, and so I listen to my Smooth mix. I don’t know if I’m the only one who does this, but it works for me.

Music, to me, has a power to it. It’s got an ability to help you to see things in a different light. Imagine, if you will, a movie with no music whatsoever. No background music, no rise and fall of emotions. Just plain dialog and sound effects. You’d be missing out on some of the most powerful experiences ever.

There are some times when the music that I’m listening to almost becomes the soundtrack of my life. I can see in my mind’s eye the way that the camera would be viewing me driving down the road with a song like “Life is a Highway” playing. I can imagine myself some tough guy as I’m “pumping iron” while “I Am a Rock” is blaring through my headphones.

Maybe I’m just a little bit crazy, or perhaps I have an all-too overactive imagination. But music helps to define who I am at any certain moment. Music fills that silence in my mind, and can change a bad situation into something good. It can help me forget my troubles.

It could be that I’ve just seen way too many movies, but music is the soundtrack of life, and I can’t help but comment on the effects that it brings about.

- Kyle