Be seeing you

Be seeing you
- The Prisoner

It is upon us. This Sunday AMC's remake of the classic and iconic cult television show The Prisoner premieres. I feel a surprising amount of hatred toward this show I haven't even seen. It's a combination of factors. First, it's a remake, which automatically deducts 50 points. Second, it's a remake of a show that should not be remade. The original is certainly not for everyone, but it is very much a product of it's age. The themes and context of the original will be lost on modern audiences. That's if they are even kept. Indications indicate they will not.

I read an article about the remake, which can be found here. Okay. Okay. Let's at least try to keep an open mind. Hmmm, they've got Ian Mckellan playing Number 2, that's a good sign, he's a good actor. I like the change in venue from Wales to a playland village in Nambia. The idea of the idyllic village being surrounded by desert is actually pretty cool. And they are keeping the Rovers, though I fear not in quite the same incarnation. Patrick Mcgoohan even indicated he was interested in playing Number 2 in this series shortly before his death.

But even as my hopes were building just slightly, they crashed. First, not only will they have the same Number 2 throughout the entire series, but they are giving him a wife and a "troubled teenage son". They even hint that some people will consider him the hero! The guy they got playing Number 6 refused to watch the original series "for fear of absorbing too much of McGoohan’s bravura performance." And it turns out Ian Mckellan doesn't even like the original series. He thinks it's crap. How can you have someone in a remake that doesn't even respect the source material? They are making Number 6 part of a "love triangle"? Oh come ON, that's just cheap. And as a final crushing blow, they are changing the main message from one of individualism to one embracing "community". Taken together, these facts indicate a remake that doesn't even embrace its source material, but instead stole the gimmick to support its own cheap, bankrupt "storytelling" (read: moneymaking).

AMC has been making a name for itself with original television series of late with the critical success of Mad Men. Frankly, any station that supports Christina Hendricks and her...ahem...assetts is ok in my book. But this project doesn't look like a way of modernizing a taut psychological thriller. It's look like a project stealing a conceit, hoping to draw in viewers based on name recognition of a source material it so blatantly disregards, and substituting cheap nighttime drama plotlines (troubled teenage son?) instead of pschological questions and discussions on the nature of reality, personal will and personal morality. Perhaps I'm wrong. I'm basing my assumptions on little actual input, I admit. But all the evidence so far is less than encouraging. Time will tell. But in a world where National Treasure is considered gold while films like Children of Men are overlooked, I harbor little hope for taste in general.

Top 5: Boogie of the Top 5

Top 5 songs that make me dance even though I hate dancing

5. Better Not Look Down - BB King

4. Shake a Tail Feather - Ray Charles

3. Hook, Line and Sinker - Chris Smither

2. Chicago - Ramsay Midwood

1. Superstition - Stevie Wonder

I'll be damned

I'll be damned if I let some foreign, graffiti writin', soul suckin', son of a bitch in an oversized cowboy hat and boots take my friend's souls and shit 'em down the visitors toilet!
- Bubba Hot-ep

I like graffiti. Now, I'm not talking about your standard spray paint scrawl you see covering every surface in urban areas. I find it an eyesore. I know some people call it an art form, personally I don't. However, I realize that's just my opinion and it's clearly open for debate. No, I'm talking about writing or at least actual artistic intent. I like the graffiti they found in Pompeii. I like the art of Banksy. On a condemned building in town someone did a Banksy style graffiti, a stencil of a naked woman holding her breasts. It was really quite beautiful. This town being full of college students as it is, someone later drew a mustache on her. While I appreciate the retro aspect of that addition (how Bugs Bunny), it kind of ruined it.

I like graffiti in college bathrooms. It's so hilariously political. In a bathroom down the hall there are comments about ex-President Bush written above the urinals. There's "stop the Bush Nazi's". It was probably written by either a militant left-wing undergrad or a professor. I'm guessing professor. This type of statement doesn't sit well with the redneck physical plant guys that also use the bathroom. One tried to scratch out the statement. There's another that reads "there's a terrorist behind every Bush". I thought that was rather clever. Then one of the physical plant guys added "yeah, comes right behind him in office." You have to give credit for the comeback. I don't think I could've done as well. I'm thinking about adding "wait, Obama is a terrorist? I thought he was a communist, I better go check Foxnews." Somehow I don't think that's really in the proper graffiti style. Too long.

Murdered!

Murdered! And someone's responsible!
- Plan 9 From Outer Space

Yesterday during the day kind of sucked. Yesternight during the night totally rocked. Why you ask? (ok, I know you're not asking why but if yesternight is really a word). Last night my girlfriend and I went to see a showing of Plan 9 From Outer Space. But wait, it gets better.

It was actually a Fathom Event. The event was a rebroadcast of a taping of a live Rifftrax session. I know I murdered that sentence, but the point is: Rifftrax! On August 20 of this year the Mike Nelson, Bill Corbett and Kevin Murphy got together in a theater in Nashville, in front of a live audience and live broadcast to theaters around the country, and riffed over a showing of Plan 9. But it was even more than that. It was a whole goddamned show. They started with riffing on a short "Flight Stewardess". Then there was a "comedy" clip from the founder of SomethingAwful. Then Jonothan Coulton came out and sang a couple numbers. Then there was another "comedy" clip (both were pretty bad), then the boys came out and sang a song with Jonothan Coulton before finally going on to the main presentation.

Let me put it this way. I haven't laughed that hard since I was wandering around the North Carolina state fair making lolgoat jokes with a couple of people that shall go unnamed. I think I hurt something laughing. It was fucking hilarious and fucking awesome. I miss MST3K. I need to get into rifftrax.

Now just remember, sunlight is made of many atoms...

Like swallows to Capistrano

I've started writing on my thumb. Again.

This is not a good sign.

You're smart. I like you.

You're smart. I like you. I'll probably give you a nickname.
- Slackers

I wish I had a really cool nickname. Like "Blind Owl" or "Earthquake". I have one nickname. In WoW I was given the name "Cane". It's not the name of my character or anything, and the origin is a long and boring story. It's a serviceable nickname, but it's not first class. That's the problem with nicknames, right? You can't give yourself one. I can't start walking around demanding people refer to me as "The General". Well, I couldn't without looking like a complete douche. Nicknames have to happen spontaneously. Maybe this is just an inclination that my life is too boring. That I haven't been part of anything awesome that would spontaneously lead to a badass nickname. Maybe it's a by-product of me being the type of person that could turn the lack of a nickname into an existential crisis.

I'm not normal, right? Yeah, that makes sense.

To have stared into the face of God

Gentlemen I have been there. I have stood upon the mountaintop and screamed into the heavens. I have stood before the burning bush and prostrated myself. I have walked on the surface of the sun and seen the glory in a grain of sand. I have strolled through the minds of artists and dreamers. I have been in the utopia of every religion. I have felt the rays of a thousand smiles of mothers seeing their newborn babes. I have tasted of divine fruits. I have sipped from fountains of gold. I have had a thousand screaming orgasms at once. I have now truly LIVED.

I have partaken of chocolate-covered bacon.

And it is good.