WHEN world-class ski champion and hollywood film producer frank beddor approached me about his book project a couple years back, i wasnt sure what to think. the fact that, he told me, he had taken lewis carroll's "alice" stories and turned them into a rather violent YA novel, as well as a graphic novel and video game, made me wonder if this was just a case of corporate-style "synergy" gone mad.but … [Read more...]
Steve Erickson’s West Coast Dreams
THE recent release of "a new literary history of america," has gotten me thinking again about longtime LA writer steve erickson. this fascinating volume, edited by greil marcus and werner sollors, includes a brilliantly counter-intuitive essay by erickson, which manages to wrap thomas jefferson and john adams around the songs of stephen foster. (he was born on the day in 1826 on which those two … [Read more...]
Italy vs. Rock ‘n’ Roll
Over the last decade or so, france has launched air, phoenix and a whole host of chanteuses including the heavenly keren ann. sweden has given up komeda, the concretes and peter, bjorn and john. ever germany has the scorpions. (for better or worse.)but italy -- for centuries the most aesthetically minded nation in all of christendom -- has never sent a decent rock band into international orbit.i … [Read more...]
Spike Jonze vs. "Where the Wild Things Are"
BY this point, "being john malkovich" is considered one of the masterpieces of the indie-film movement. but when word started to filter down, 10 years ago, about this project by skateboard/ rock video auteur and the then-unknown screenwriter charlie kaufman, it was hard to imagine this working. a film about living inside a celebrity's brain, directed by a kooky guy who had never made a film longer … [Read more...]
Maurice Sendak and "Where the Wild Things Are"
ONE of the fascinating things about literature -- especially popular literature -- is the way it tracks the contours of the society that produces it. which is a fancy way of saying, maurice sendak books like "where the wild things are" not only reflected those churnings in american culture in the late 50s/early 60s, it helped produce what we learned to call "the 60s."sendak, of course, is in the … [Read more...]
Happy Birthday to Dune’s Frank Herbert
TODAY is would have been the 89th birthday of frank herbert, the west coast science fiction writer and journalist, best known for "dune," who died in 1986.when "dune" won the best sci-fi novel poll on my blog -- defeating heinlein's "stranger in a strange land," gibson's "neuromancer," and others -- i wrote a bit about the book, which you can find here. i recently reread herbert's novel and found … [Read more...]
Di Caprio as Travis McGee
WELL, this is probably a good-news-and-bad-news situation.Mike Fleming has just reported in Variety that the star of "titanic" and "the departed" has been attached to "the deep blue goodbye," the first of what could become a franchise of films based on john d. macdonald's travis mcgee series. HERE's my previous LAT piece on the project.here's fleming:"Chernin joins Appian Way's DiCaprio and … [Read more...]
The Found Footage Festival
SO much of what's supposed to be really funny ends up being just crude, shocking and sophomoric -- sometimes all three. that's why i was so blown away a few years ago when i attended the first national tour of the Found Footage Festival, which came to Hollywood's M Bar, not only was it genuinely hilarious, it was an original turn on both indie/DIY and on the trash-can aesthetic that runs from … [Read more...]
John Updike vs. Witches of Eastwick
FOR a not terribly good book, "the witches of eastwick" has had quite an afterlife. not only did it become a popular, if faintly cheesy, movie involving cher, and a briefly lived stage show, but it's now set to become a television series. no, not a miniseries -- but a show that could run for years and years.why? i'm still a bit confused about the whole thing. but HERE is my new piece on the book's … [Read more...]
Crazy For The Big Lebowski
DO you spend your free time dressing up like figures of speech, drunkenly bowling for endless hours and memorizing non-sequitors from an obscure film? if so, you must be "an achiever," one of the group of "big lebowski" zealots who gathers to celebrate the coens brothers movie at least once a year. the film, of course, was considered a disappointment upon opening but has become -- thanks to a few … [Read more...]