The first post of the year

Hello 2010.
So far, you look a lot like 2009. Yay.
I haven’t had much of a chance to write lately. I could make excuses about being busy, but the truth is that I just hadn’t wanted to. I was trying to hide a little bit. My head has paid a little bit of the price for it. Cluttered thoughts, bad dreams, feeling alone. So if this seems rambling, my apologies. But right now I just need to clear out the clutter. I promise, more geeky things will come soon. Just not tonight.
I started off the New Year with a bang. My best friend in town, enjoying the city and spending time with friends for the first time in a while. It was fantastic. Just what the doctor ordered. Good friends, good food, good times.
But of course all good times must end. She went home (I miss you, Caz). I went back to work. Reality creeped back in and in the end, the world felt a little sadder.
I think we all look forward to New Year’s because it promises renewal. A break from a bad year or a continuation of a good one. A chance to fix parts of us that we are unhappy about. A chance to start again.
It’s about hope. And I have hopes. I have many of them. Hopes to change so much of my life.
But hope is always a tricky thing. You can’t just hope for things. Life doesn’t work that way. You have to work to get what you hope for. They just never get handed to you, no matter how hard you wish them to. Because hopes and dreams are not the engine of change, they’re just the fuel.
I guess I am still struggling in finding the methods of change. Sometimes I think I have it, but it slips away like an already forgotten dream. But I am still trying.
I still have hopes. The year has only just begun. It’s time to begin.

He ran off and left us...

I can’t remember how old I was when I bought my first Vic Chesnutt album. 17? 18? It was Little, his first record, on vinyl. That was my vinyl phase.
All I remember is getting swept away by the first strum of “Isadora Duncan.” With that, a life long fan was born.
So it broke my heart to hear of his passing away over Christmas. On a day full of love and friendship, it cast a shadow.
There was just so much to love in his music. The craft of his songwriting. The dark humor and poetry of his lyrics. The nasal twang that could seem full of hope or longing or both. His songs were full of pain and love, tragedy and adventure, the past, the present and the future.
In short, they were full of life. And they enriched my own.
I could go on forever about the songs I love. But I want to keep this short, because I don’t want to spend forever mourning the man and the tragic circumstances of his passing. Instead I would rather just sit here and listen to the music; because that ultimately is the treasure he left us all with.
So I will sit here and sing "Isadora Duncan" to myself, as I have done before and I will do again and again. His life is over, but in his songs are eternal.

Sherlock Moans (thanks for the title Caz)

The holidays have been a busy time for me, so apologies for not posting on the blog the last couple of days. That said, it still wasn’t so busy that I couldn’t head into the theater to see the latest film version / interpretation of SHERLOCK HOLMES.
My hopes weren’t very high, to be honest. The trailer, while full of action and quick one liners, was enjoyable, but didn’t really scream Sherlock Holmes to me. It wasn’t the Arthur Conan Doyle stories, or the Basil Rathbone movies of the 30’s and 40’s, or the Jeremy Brett interpretation of the 80’s. No, this was Holmes for a new generation, one that can’t sit still for the detective that is more talk than action. Sad isn’t it that audiences today can’t handle a detective that was all about the power of the mind. Instead, we need a Holmes that is as quick with his fists as he is with his wits.
The movie itself is sort of enjoyable for what it is. It’s not the most difficult mystery in the world to solve, but its fun to watch the pieces fall into place. Jude Law does probably one of the most appealing performances I have seen from him. The action sequences are appropriately exciting. The jokes are funny (most of the time).So why was it ultimately so flat and disappointing?
Most people will probably throw the blame at director Guy Ritchie’s feet. And truthfully some of the faults are on his shoulders. His choice to show how Holmes mentally prepares to take down his opponents, followed by a faster repetition of the same scene, doesn’t really work cinematically. The central idea that there is something more than brotherly love between Holmes and Watson is a bit ham handed.
But the real fault is in Robert Downey Jr’s performance and in how the character Holmes is written. Classically Holmes is arrogant and intelligent, the guy who walks in the room knowing he is smarter than everyone in it and can prove it easily. He is confident and assured. Yet Holmes is played as a neurotic, torn apart by his friend’s decision to marry and leave him. His arrogance is played as almost a defense mechanism from his own insecurities. He is a sloppy self destructive, burying his pain in bouts of drunkenness and bare knuckle boxing matches.
In short, he isn’t Holmes.
It makes me think that this movie would have been better served by just jettisoning the whole Sherlock Holmes aspect of it. Why not just have created a different kind of detective and place him in the same story? With only minor tweaks, it would work much better.
I guess the studios hoped that the recognizable Sherlock Holmes name would peak people’s interest, yet they showed absolutely no faith in any of the core elements that make Sherlock Sherlock. It’s a strange piece of logic and the movie suffers for it.
In short, better than I thought, but no where near as good as it could have been.

Happy Holidays!

A Merry Christmas to All! We can all get along!!!

Merry Christmas

The winter night is cold, and the walk home left me a little frozen. A glass of wine later and my brain starts to feel a little more active. I am excited for tomorrow. My best friend Caz is coming over for the holidays and I can’t wait to see her and hang out with her. I know we will have an awesome time. I might not write as much over the next couple of weeks because of that.
And yet, it is the holidays, and tonight I am thinking about the people I can’t spend the holidays with. The people that for one reason or another can’t be here to share in the holiday joy. My thoughts and my heart are going out to them tonight. I hope they know that where ever they are, no matter what, they are loved and that they are being wished a Merry Christmas.
Merry Christmas to all.

This Week's Book Report

Now that my sales conference over, I can read a few books for myself.

BLANKETS by Craig Thompson – One of the finest graphic novels I have read in a long time. I know I am a little late to the game on this one. But better late than never. Thompson’s autobiographical novel is the story of teenager Craig, struggling with his family, his small town schoolmates, and his own Christian faith. At a religious camp, he meets Raina, and their slowly developing relationship is the core of the book. After the camp, the two correspond until Craig spends two weeks with her and her family. The two fall in love, but once Craig returns home, he is forced to grow up and choose his own path in life. Thompson’s tale avoids the usual trappings of many coming of age tales, focusing on the spiritual and emotional impact of their relationship on Craig. Craig’s search for understanding, for his own place in the world, connects to us all. Thompson’s art captures the tender realism of the relationship as well as the surreal qualities of Craig’s internal struggle. Simple, intelligent, and heartfelt, Blankets captures a universal tale with grace and honesty.

STORM FRONT by Jim Butcher – The first book in Butcher’s Dresden Files series, combining fantasy and hardboiled mystery. Harry Dresden is a wizard for hire in Chicago, solving cases for clients while also working as a consultant for the police. In Storm Front, he tries to solve the mystery of a missing husband while helping the police uncover who savagely murdered two people through magic. The problem is, Harry’s the only local wizard powerful enough to have committed the crime, putting himself in the crosshairs of the Wizard’s Council. Butcher balances the mystery and fantasy elements very well, but it’s Dresden that makes the book a worthwhile read. He is an appealing character, funny, compassionate, tough, and carrying a dark past. As the series progresses, Butcher throws in a longer conspiracy / fantasy war subplot that carries through much of the series, but in the first book, he lays the groundwork for a strong series that anyone can pick up and enjoy. I definitely will read the next installment.

For my friend

When I look back at this year, I can always say it started on a high note, when my best friend Caz came over from London to celebrate the New Year with me. Even now I can still sit here and smile at all the good memories.
We did a lot of the touristy things, visited the Museum, Chinatown, the park. We did New Year’s Eve at Motor City, so we could enjoy champagne and loud music. New Year’s Day we nursed our hangovers and just watched episodes of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. I gave her a bunch of free comics and took her to Midtown Comics and Forbidden Planet.
I think the best thing we did though was the Bob Dylan Walking Tour. Caz is a huge Dylan fan, so I found a website that showed various clubs and places Dylan played or stayed at. We spent a cold afternoon wandering the West Village, trying to find them all. Of course, in an effort to play tour guide, I felt the need to provide her with fascinating tidbits about Dylan’s life. The fact that I was making all of it up (did you know Blonde on Blonde was named because he wanted to know if some girl’s carpet matched the drapes? No?) didn’t take away from the enjoyment.
In a couple of days, Caz will be back on this side of the Atlantic to ring in 2010. We both had very rough years, hers especially. Through it all, our friendship was one of the few positive things we had in our lives and we offered each other support and guidance. Laughs when we needed to forget, advice when we needed to talk. So I am looking forward to her return so I can thank her properly for her friendship. I truly hope she knows how much it means to me.