Jonathan Ames writes this graphic novel about his struggle with drug and alcohol addiction. The illustrations are simple and clean. I can sum it up pretty quickly, Ames started drinking while he was young, and quickly became a self-absorbed alcoholic which messed up everything in his life.
It doesn’t really get much more interesting than that, he continuously finds something small in his life like a girl he likes, then messes up this new relationship by focusing on himself and his insecurities. Then he binges on alcohol or cocaine while trying to fix what is wrong. Trying to to do this while drunk leads to predictable results, and he ruins whatever good thing he had.
Not that some things in his life wouldn’t drive many people to drink. His parents are killed while he is a teenager, the love of his life leaves him unexpectantly and he obsesses over her for years, and of course he lives a few blocks away from the towers during 9/11 and the last member of his family dies. So he has plenty of excuses, but I still don’t see the story here, it’s the same thing repeated every 20 pages or so with two variations. Something good turns bad and he drinks or does drugs, or something good is turned bad be him doing drugs or drinking too much.
It was kind of a depressing end to this 52 week experiment. To try and end things positively, here are a few of my favorite books from the past year.
A couple of weeks ago I went to the Hill Air Force Base museum with the Utah Photowalking group. It was a great time, and we were lucky enough to get access to the museum before it opened, and they were nice enough to let us get right up next to the planes, and sometimes even inside them to take photos.
I didn’t realize until I was finished with it that this series is written by Gerard Way of the band My chemical Romance. Not that it suddenly makes it better or worse, but I might have skipped it if I would have known beforehand.
At a certain moment around the world, children were born that had special powers. They were all born to women that nobody knew were pregnant, and seven of these children were adopted by Sir Hargreeves, an old detached man that called these adopted children by numbers instead of names.
Each number has a different power, which we’re introduced to as they rejoin the team after many years of being separated. The story begins as they’re older, then we are shown how the team began, and how each number was different, through flashbacks.
The art is lose, and very interesting. This only covers the first six issues, but it’s all tied together very well, and isn’t too much of a problem with an open ending. It’s full of interesting villains that are in no way retreads of other comics, at one point fighting an evil Eiffel tower driven by a mad zombie.
It’s a very quick read, and left me excited to read the next collection.
After a few short hours it was pretty obvious Britnie and I were going to start with musicals in our 52 movies in 52 weeks marathon. So here are all the choices, we’ll end up watching the top four or five that you all pick. And for those of you reading in an RSS reader, this post contains a poll that you’ll have to go to the site to see. I’ve added everything from the AFI’s top 25 musicals that Britnie and I haven’t seen, and was released before 1974. After watching Mamma Mia last night, I’m pretty sure this is going to be torture.
Because of the family I grew up with, I may have seen some of these. But if I don’t remember, it didn’t happen.
5. Cabaret 1972
Fosse uses the decadent and vulgar cabaret as a mirror image of German society sliding toward the Nazis, and this intertwining of entertainment with social history marked a new step forward for the movie musical.
8. My Fair Lady 1964
Outside Covent Garden on a rainy evening in 1912, dishevelled cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle meets linguistic expert Henry Higgins . After delivering a musical tirade against “verbal class distinction,” Higgins tells his companion that, within six months, he could transform Eliza into a proper lady,
9. An American in Paris 1951
Gene Kelly does his patented Pal Joey bit as Jerry Mulligan, an opportunistic American painter living in Paris’ “starving artists” colony.
10. Meet Me in St. Louis 1944
The plot hinges on the possibility that Alonzo Smith, the family’s banker father, might uproot the Smiths to New York, scuttling his daughter Esther’s romance with boy-next-door John Truett and causing similar emotional trauma for the rest of the household.
15. Top Hat 1935
One of the best of the Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers musicals, Top Hat centers on a typical mistaken-identity plot, with wealthy Dale Tremont , on holiday in London and Venice, assuming that American entertainer Jerry Travers is the husband of her friend Madge — who’s actually the wife of Jerry’s business manager Horace Hardwick.
17. The Band Wagon 1953
The Band Wagon stars Fred Astaire as Tony Hunter, a movie star whose career is in a downturn. Looking for a boost, Tony decides to try starring in a Broadway musical. His friends Lester and Lily Marton have written a show they feel would be just right for Tony.
18. Yankee Doodle Dandy 1942
Summoned to the White House by President Roosevelt, the aging Cohan is encouraged to relate the events leading up to this momentous occasion. He recalls his birth on the Fourth of July, 1878; his early years as a cocky child performer in his family’s vaudeville act; his decision to go out as a “single”; his sealed-with-a-handshake partnership with writer/producer Sam Harris, etc.
19. On the Town 1949
Three sailors on a 24-hour pass — Gabey, Chip, and Ozzie– decide to soak up the sights and sounds of New York. Each one finds romance within those 24 hours: Gabey with aspiring dancer Ivy Smith , Chip with lady cabbie Hildy Esterhazy, and Ozzie with paleontology student Claire Huddesten.
21. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers 1954
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers is one of the best MGM musicals of the 1950s. Most of the story takes place on an Oregon ranch, maintained by Adam Pontabee and his six brothers. When Adam brings home his new bride Milly, she is appalled at the brothers’ slovenliness and sets about turning these unwashed louts into immaculate gentlemen.
23. Guys and Dolls 1955
a certain Broadway citizen by the name of Nathan Detroit, who maintains the “Oldest Established Permanent Floating Crap Game in New York.” Seeking a location for his latest high-stakes game, Nathan has an opportunity to rent out the Biltmore Garage, but he needs $1000 to do so. He decides to extract the money from high-rolling Sky Masterson, known for his willingness to bet on anything.
Next year instead of reading and writing book reviews, Britnie and I are going to watch movies . Inspired by my friend Paul, we’re going to try and watch a bunch of classic movies that we haven’t seen before, and give you a quick review on each one. Right now the plan is to alternate between classic films and recent movies. So one week we might watch Spartacus, the next Wall-E. 26 Classics, and 26 movies from the past year.
There are only two rules for the classic movies, they have to have been made before I was born, and they have to be on the AFI’s top movie lists. They don’t have to be totally obscure, just something either Britnie or I hasn’t seen before.
Now you get to participate, which should we focus on for the first couple of months? Classic musicals like Guys and Dolls or My Fair Lady? Classic comedies like Adam’s Rib or Duck Soup? Or should we start with classic westerns? Either Britnie or I will choose the modern movies, you all get to choose the classic films (as long as we can get them from Netflix)
Go ahead and vote, and we’ll get started. (if you’re reading this in a RSS reader, there is a poll at the site.
And feel free to suggest something if you think we missed it.
This is book fifty in 52 weeks
J. Michael Straczynski (the writer on a bunch of television shows movies, as well as Spider-Man) writes this graphic novel about a man trying to reclaim his soul.
A policeman is attacked by creatures, and he son discovers his soul has been taken, and he will slowly change into one of the being that attacked him. A woman shows up to lead him on a journey to get his soul back, and he’s told he will need to travel to New York where the man holding his soul lives along with his followers. If he reaches his soul in time, everything’s great, if not, he becomes a creature.
Along the way he’s asked by his traveling companion if he’d like her to kill him, he meets Lazarus (the man raised from the dead by Christ), is instructed by himself from the future, and fights a whole gaggle of demons.
It’s an interesting premise, and along the way tackles issues around the homeless. The protagonist does seem a little daft, the reader figures out who his companion is long before he has a clue. The writing is ok, and the art is passable. The story is interesting enough that I overlooked the main character that was a little clueless at times.
