Examining the life of a father, husband, and geek via the media he consumes. Coffee essential, but not mandatory
A while back I wrote about CLOVERFIELD, and how great the orchestral score over the ending credits was, courtesy of Michael Giacchino.
Yesterday the full 12+ minute piece was released on iTunes. This morning I drove into work pretending Long Island was being destroyed by an enormous monster.
Awesome.
It would take a lot of coffee, thought, and patience to explain how I came about my love movies. It would probably take even longer to explain how that love grew to encompass the act of creating movies as well as watching them.
One day I'll crack that nut, but in the meantime let me leave you with this little nugget: If you love movies... if you're the type of person who listens to the audio commentary on DVDs... then you need to read Making Movies by legendary director Sidney Lumet.
Using his own incredible filmography as a launching pad, Lumet dissects and analyzes his own process for making films. From the choosing which projects to do, handling actors, screenwriters, editors, composers, and delivering a finished film only to be at the mercy of the studio system, Lumet shows that he's just at home on the page as on the screen. Words don't do it justice - Making Movies is an incredible love letter to film and a practical how-to for aspiring filmmakers. No one else could be more qualified to write this book. Who wouldn't want to hear anecdotes and film advice from the man who directed classics like 12 ANGRY MEN, THE FUGITIVE KIND, NETWORK, DOG DAY AFTERNOON and worked with such amazing people like Henry Fonda, Marlon Brando, Katherine Hepburn, Paul Newman and Al Pacino? Reading the book reminded me just how significant Lumet is in television and film, and the obvious love and joy he takes in his work is contagious. Be warned: you will probably want to run out and watch SERPICO or LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT immediately following the completion of this book. Maybe even before.
If you love film, this is one of the only books I would say is an "essential" read.
This is the first of a number of books I picked up on the recommendation of Io9's 20 Science Fiction Books That Will Change Your Life. And while Glasshouse by Charles Stross may not have changed my life, it justified it's inclusion on the list by having a wonderful idea at it's heart. What at first looks to be a generic "man with amnesia has people trying to kill him" plot becomes instead an exploration into our notions of gender roles, community and what constitutes the "greater good" against a backdrop of McCarthy-esque paranoia and virus wars that can wipe your thoughts of which side you're on.
In the future transportation, medical services, everything is conducted through the use of "gates" - think of the big ring in the movie STARGATE but smaller and capable of not only travel but disassembling, reassembling, and backing up matter - any type of matter. The "Glasshouse" of the title refers to a secret experiment focusing on reclaiming information about the planet's "Dark ages" - the period of time where mankind leaped forward with regards to technology - basically the mid-to-late 20th century. A group of people volunteer to be assigned a role in the Glasshouse where they will in effect live like the primitives of the 20th century for a minimum of three years. Robin, our "man with amnesia" hero uses the Glasshouse experiment to escape his pursuers only to be re-assigned as a woman and forced to engage in stereotypical 1950's activities - including marriage - in order to score points and thus increase the rewards given to his neighborhood.
It's this point system, and Robin's true reason for his amnesia and his being in the Glasshouse that propel the story forward. Stross emphasizes the fears and paranoia instead of fighting and action as Robin struggles to figure out the purpose of the Glasshouse experiment while at the same time understand what has happened to him. What could have been used for cheap humor instead is directed towards an honest examination of group dynamics and identification, and even the obligatory revolution at the end of the novel doesn't detract from an interesting concept well executed.
Didn't change my life, but a good read nonetheless.
Two days shy of his 11-month birthday I think it's safe to say Jack is more than ready to leave his old identity behind.
No more can "baby" or "infant" be applied to this evolving mass of opinion and preference. Gone are the days of quiet acquiesce and acceptance. Instead I am met each day I come home from work by this miniature little person, with his own ideas on where he should be and what he should or should not be doing at any given moment. Motor skills are advancing at a rapid pace, and the days of blindly waving hands in the direction of my face have been replaced with lightning fast weapons that reach for my glasses with laser precision. An infatuation with anything electronic or glowing has so far increased my phone bill (how he manages to call numbers I don't have stored in the phone is beyond me), run my remote batteries to the ground, and left a fine layer of slobber and cookie over my keyboard.
Admittedly, some of the cookie crumbs might be mine, but I'm 70% sure the slobber and drool aren't.
Okay, maybe 60% sure.
It's a truly amazing time, and the Missus and I marvel every day that so far it looks like not only have we managed not to break him or cause any serious malfunction, but that he appears to be thriving. Like a weed sometimes, to be sure, but thriving nonetheless.
However you have to take the bad with the good, and a growing intellect matched with growing motor skills has its own set of dangers and problems. We joke about his perpetual crown of bruises from repeated attempts to lunge from the television cabinet to his toy kitchen, or from his hilarious attempts to stand up by way of kicking his legs up like a mule. Getting him into high chairs and car seats has become an almost Olympian event. And last night we got to witness his first (to my knowledge) full blown nightmare, complete shaking, breathing in ragged gasps, and generally inconsolable for almost an hour. All the things that accompany someone growing up into a full blown person.
As for my own sanity, the amount of gray hair I have has tripled, while the physical amount of hair I have has halved. Sleep, if it comes at all, comes in spurts and never last longer than a few hours and the freedom to engage in any activities only come in the blessed moments of naps or once he's off to bed. My focus for anything other than watching to make sure Jack doesn't or put something in his mouth he should is practically nonexistent. Romance, you ask? Surely you jest...
But would I change anything?
Again, sirs and madams...surely you jest.
(well okay, maybe I'd ask for some of the hair back)
Press one wrong button and everything tumbles down the crapper. Before Blogger got all fancy with the customization I had taken the time to edit the HTML to allow me to put up a graphic header and some other format changes. Unfortunately yesterday I pressed what I thought was the Save Existing Template button turned out to be just a Save Template button, and it saved some random template. Completely unintentional, folks...sorry.
So for a while this is how the site will look. It's not ideal, but I do like the simplified font and titles. Eventually I'll get around to customizing the colors and fonts, and either re-size or change the header graphic altogether. I would have preferred to keep the original look, but maybe after the last entry it was time for a change, anyway.
Examining the life of a Father, Husband, and Geek - whatever that means in 2014. Coffee essential, but not mandatory...
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