Comics Are for Everyone: Less Capitalism, More Telepathy Please

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Comics Are for Everyone: Less Capitalism, More Telepathy Please

Recently, I dived back into reading comics (thereby neglecting my movie watching) and my collection of comic examples has become crazy huge, so today I’ll celebrate my 300th blog post (seriously, 300! 280,000 words! But who’s counting?) with an extra-long comic edition. And if you think “I can skip this one, I don’t care about comics”, please give it try anyway, maybe you’ll see that it doesn’t always have to be about superheroes.

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Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)

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Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)

(some minor spoilers)

Inside Llewyn Davis is a somewhat perfect movie for what it is doing. It stars Oscar Isaac in an amazing performance as Llewyn Davis, a musician, and his struggles. The Coen brother turn this story into something so bigger than this, with their talented eye for interesting and weird characters, their skill for filmmaking and, maybe most of all, their ability as great writers. Their dialogue is so brilliant here, so thought-out, the structure of the story seems so random but makes perfect sense if you think about for a little bit and that alone, their knack for activating your brain, is what makes a good Coen movie like this one so special. And Oscar Isaac is so very good, incredibly good. And Carey Mulligan in her unusual but too short role. Oh well, and everyone else.

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Why the State of the Union Doesn't Matter

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Why the State of the Union Doesn't Matter

I’m not a fan of President Obama, but I’m not a fan of any American president (or any president, I guess). So when his State of the Union address hits the news, I’m somewhat baffled. Even before I have heard or read it, I know it contains nothing newsworthy. Why would it? Politicians aren’t out to accomplish anything, to see change or only occasionally. And what does it matter, if Obama says the U.S. is still great and will only be better? (which I’ll assume will be the message because it always is). None of what he says will make any difference. It will be cheered by his fans, attacked by his political enemies (but not for content but out of principle) and everyone else will have forgotten it instantly. Still, because it is considered newsworthy, I thought I could take a look at it to see what kinds of things Obama (or whoever wrote the speech) actually is saying. You can read the whole speech here or watch it here. But I’ll work with quotes, so you don’t have to.

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Music Box: Gang of Four's "Entertainment!"

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Music Box: Gang of Four's "Entertainment!"

After Marie Antoinette I couldn’t help but wonder, why I haven’t written anything about Gang of Four’s Entertainment! before. This is one of my most influential albums that is so bold in deconstructing our society and goes beyond the “everything sucks” ideology of many punk albums. This is post-punk, of course, and while there are other political albums in music’s history, at least for me nothing achieves what this album achieves. It’s angry without being loud, it’s intelligent and challenges the listener because it doesn’t provide easy answers. It’s simply brilliant, lyrically and musically. If I ever need inspiration for change, for doing something, I put this one on and get going.

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American Psycho (2000)

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American Psycho (2000)

(spoilers ahead)

American Psycho is one of those impossible book adaptations that you wouldn’t anyone who knows the book expect to even consider. That book is insane! Mostly in a good way and in a very disturbing way for the rest of the time. But Bret Easton Ellis knows how to write. The movie is relatively harmless in comparison and while it might not be completely successful, it is a worthy attempt that captures some of the spirit of the book. The direction by Mary Harron (a woman!) is excellent and the use of excerpts from the book works well. And Christian Bale of course, he completely sells the movie by his extraordinary performance. But the movie drags for a while in the middle because it doesn’t know what to do after the main jokes are made but the mayhem is not about to start yet, which bored me. Still, the movie, like the book (which I admire but never want to read again) made some great points about society and capitalism we can look at here.

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