Andrei Mouravski

When I heard that there was going to be a comics convention in San Francisco, I was excited. I rushed over to the website to see who was coming. Hoping for someone interesting, I was rewarded by seeing Alex Robinson on the guest list. I told all my friends (well, two of them that are close to me and upon whom I thrust the comics I buy) that I was going to get signed the two comics of his that I own. Weeks went by and I almost forgot about the con until my friend tweeted about it and that was good. I was almost about to not go today, I mean, why go for just one guy? Well, Sergio Aragones was there, and Stan Sakai, and Brian Azzarello, but, none of them really meant as much to me as Alex Robinson. I meant to catch him at the MoCCA show in NYC a year or two back, but I never did. Further, I meant to always e-mail the guy and tell him how awesome he is and ask him to hang out, but, well, it never made much sense to.

I think I'm going to change my mind, because I really want to know this guy, even though we're over a decade separated in age. Today I had my copies of Box Office Poison and Tricked signed and also picked up his latest book, Too Cool to Be Forgotten, which is far smaller than either of the other two tomes. I didn't expect much from this book, aside from a typical high school story and excepting the great visuals and dialogue I came to trust from his other books. This novel is something completely broke my expectations.

I'm not going to mince words here, but this is only the third graphic novel to bring tears to my eyes. I mean, I was literally crying when I finished this work. (The other two instances were in Lone Wolf and Cub and I can't remember what the other was.) This is a story that goes along it's business, but never quite leaves well enough alone something else. You feel it through the whole book that there's something nagging at you. What it is eludes you till the finale, but then it's right there in the open and it's a tremendous release. I'm so glad I came to this convention and picked up this book and met the author and had him sign my books and found him on LiveJournal and hopefully I'll send this post to him and say, hey, you're a really awesome guy. Wouldn't it be great if we were friends? Who knows.

A few more critical points: Alex Robinson does something entirely special through dialogue and visuals and characters. Firstly, dialogue sounds like real speach a lot of the time, like when the fourty year old in the fifteen year old body says something, recants it, and says the _right_ thing. It's fabulous how the characters actually think in this book and don't just speak a script. There are just so many nuances of real life thrown into speech bubble. The visuals pull a few tricks here and there where the frame is subdivided, showing the facets of the characters. It's more than just layout, it's a way to relay information. Tricks of typography and parallelism shine and even the book cover is a visual pun. This stuff is priceless. I guess that's what happens when you have full creative control of your work and are not marketting it towards some spurious demographic that wants 8 panels on a page full of pows and booms.
Lastly, though, are the characters and the story they tell, and mostly the voice of the creator. The story is ostensibly one where the lead is taken back to sophomore year through hypnosis, but it's really about looking back at who you were and who everyone else was. It's a look back in time while knowing the future, and that makes it clear that living for the moment is what matters. The lead makes many asides and we read the story mostly through his internal monologue as he surveys his school and his family and his friends. He notes the kids that had no impression on him and the nerds he called friends who were a contrast to the real outcasts. The crushes and the bullies and the parties and the severe awkwardness are stark on the page and we live them from someone who has seen and who can now look back and reflect positively for the future's sake. It's almost too much for the character to think until you put the author into the speech bubbles and you see his direct thoughts. It's something utterly fascinating, and I would be dismayed to learn it was all pure fiction. Were it honest feelings, then I doubly applaud Alex Robinson for taking this tone with his writing. I think we all have something to learn from the life of Andy and his fourty year old self's thoughts.

But seriously, the ending is brilliant.

I highestly recommend this novel and everything else this artist has written.

Andrei in California.


 

Just got this e-mail from Lisa, thought I'd share it with you:

Hot dog.

Andrei in California.

So, my Valentine's day was pretty much the best ever/yet. Let's recap:
Elementary through 9th grade: This is lame. I don't have any friends so nobody get me cards. Also those Necco hearts are disgusting.
10th Grade: Got flowers, made a horrible omelette, and had a rather depressing night with my then girlfriend.
11th Grade: No memory.
12th Grade: "Let's not do anything special today" = I fucked up.
Freshman year: Don't recall.
Sophomore year: Nothing special, I think.
This year: OH! So this is what having a Valentine's day with your loved one is like.

Laurel flew down on Friday and things were awesome from there. On Saturday we made pancakes and drove down to Monterey and visited the aquarium there, which is pretty cool, actually. No squid, and the GPO was being emo, but there were river otters and jellies and other adorable salty slimy things. We walked along Cannery row and drove home in a light rain. We got dinner and didn't end up making it to see Coraline that night. Then... well, then stuff.

Oh, right, Laurel bought me fudge and made me a hand-made card of kissing fish... and stuff. I got her flowers and well, was myself, which is good enough!

Yesterday I took her to the Exploratorium, which was filled with lots of people, but still managed to be a wonderful trip. The Exploratorium is perhaps the most fun science museum there is. It's the size of a narrow warehouse but ever couple of feet is a different exhibit where you can touch things, look at thing, listen to stuff, and basically play and learn at the same time. It's fabulous. She had a blast and well, we're great together. We drove over the Golden Gate Bridge and through Berkeley, ate at the Emeryville Public Market (as opposed to the Emeryville Black Market) and drove home and to Coraline 3D.
I'd never tried these newfangled 3D movies, but it was awesomely wonderful. The movie itself was topnotch and I can't really think anything to fault it on. I just enjoyed it immensely and I think it was very faithful to the novel by Neil Gaiman. Also, Keith David as the cat was awesome.

This morning we made ginger pancakes and scones: both were delicious.

I am extremely happy today and this whole weekend has been perfect. I really love Laurel Kanawyer and it was a good decision to contact her again. I'm sure we'll keep going strong like this and even when we're apart, I'm able to remember just why I'm doing this. La la love you.

Andrei in California.

Note to people who I talked to when Laurel and I were apart: Thank you so much for all your words of support and for all the advice you gave me. I took all of your words to heart, even when they were harsh or something I didn't want to hear. Thank you for being my friends and for looking out for the both of us. I'm not sure if things would be the same had you people not said what you did, so thanks for making life better.

Tales from Essex County: Country Nurse by Jeff Lemire is the third volume in the interconnected Essex County Tales. This is one of those great comics that tries to go beyond words on a page and share with you the lives of its inhabitants. These lives  revolve around Essex County, Ontario, a place where the collected dream is to leave the farm and live a fantasy. In a land as empty as Essex County, it is all people can do to try and escape. And yet we find that everyone belongs in Essex County. There is a collected history of brothers and fathers and grandfathers and all of their children. Their fantasies just bring them back to the land that created them. No amount of reconcilliation can bring back what was lost, and so we're left with the youngest generation echoing the first, and we know that nothing ever will change until everyone who is old enough to remember has died. And when they do die, their history will remain in Essex County.
Jeff Lemire accomplishes something human in these three short black and white comics. The illustration is sometimes jagged, but always pure and he renders both emotion and the stark environs in the same undramatic light. There's that consistency throughout, just like the unchanging Essex County. I highly, highly recommend reading these comics. For all the work people do to make experimental comics or convoluted stories, it's the simple things that are most poignant.

Andrei in California.

My grandmother has terminal lung cancer. I saw her today for probably the last time. I don't think I will ever talk to her again.
Grandma Antonina Mouravski, my father's mother, was born 77 years ago, presumably on October 1st. In such time, she mothered three kids, and has taken care of half a dozen grandkids, of which I am one. Of her I remember coming home from school and having a hot plate of /katleyta/ and mashed potatoes waiting for me. I remember her doing our laundry and wiping my bottom when I was much younger. I remember her teeth and her fragile hair and her large glasses and I remember her smile which I saw last today.
I remember so little of her, but, I'll never forget everything she did for me growing up.

Andrei in California.

In a remarkable third LJ post of the day (remarkable in that there are three, that they're while I'm at work, and that none of them contain reviews of anything) I have decided that I no longer care about Freedom of Information or any of that stuff and that things'll play out however the should.

Again, I don't care anymore about Millburn and I admit that I am fickle and easily excitable.

I sent out a few e-mails, but that's all.

The end, I have better things to do now. Like learn me some Haskell.

Andrei in California.

So, I saw a link on Reddit about an atheist and his two sons beating a kid up with a baseball bat. Just kidding, it was a reverend.

I passed it as more Christian bashing (but they were bashing someone else!) and blah blah.

Today I looked at my Google News page because I had gotten to work a little earlier than usual and had finished reading my e-mail earlier. Anyway, I checked the Local News for MIllburn, NJ and found the same story as above!
http://wcbstv.com/local/reverend.bat.attack.2.906423.html

First of all, go Millburn for getting in the news through beating an eighteen year old. Seriously.

I'm sure I don't know any of the parties involved, but, perhaps it's a good thing that I'm very far from Millburn right now. I just want the school to go back to the idyllic days before folks beat each other up like that.

Oy.

Andrei in California.

A few letters can make a big difference. Laurel and I started talking again, and I'm able to use terms of endearment that otherwise I couldn't. It feels great. A few additions mean all the world.

Hon[ey].
Dear[est].
Love[r].

Andrei in Love.

I'm inspired by everyone else's entries to finish off this week. So much has happened in a very short time, and so, this is all the more important.

After my trip to the comic book store (on Saturday), I proceeded to 83c Weise to Noisebridge. There I saw a scruffy looking shlub, </a></b></a>pvck , smoking a cigarette. He looked nerdy enough, and it turned out to be the right place after all. There I found out what Noisebridge is, a hackerspace right in the heart of the Mission, right next to the BART stop, too! It has a work room, a large table, shelves upon shelves or random gadgets, gizmos, and components, couches aplenty, a kitchen, etc. Basically, it's where I want to spend all my time, if not for the fact that I live in San Mateo. Hrm, remember that thing I said about that area feeling like home and being a place I wanted to settle down? I also met a few more people, including </a></b></a>wealhtheow , who exclaimed that the look just like </a></b></a>xaosenkosmos , which seemed silly, until I met the guy. More on that later. I also met this guy, David, who'll come up later, too. After some food, I got bored and left.

*****

On to Monday, finally (Sunday was hang-gliding.) I came to work and sat down for some real hard-core feature writing. There was the clawing knowledge of the package I sent Laurel 10 days earlier. I had been checking the tracking info pretty regular, so when I saw that it had shipped through Hamilton, NJ, I knew I should be expecting some sort of response. All that planning didn't help as I received a very frank response early in the day. At that moment, my heart exploded and I was dizzy for the rest of the day. But now what? I had promised her that I would not contact her until she contact me, and she made it clear again that we should keep our distance. I'd thought of her everyday for the past four months and couldn't let this go, so I sent her an e-mail back, and suddenly we were talking again.

***

A short history of Laurel (</a></b></a>tumemanques42 ) and I:
We first met August, 2005 at CTY reunion in Princeton, NJ. I had no idea who this girl was, but I instantly had a huge crush on her. I informer her of this fact a few months later, but she goes to school in Seattle and so there was no chance of anything happening between us. We fell out of contact until June, 2007, when we both went to a reunion in Bethlehem, PA at </a></b></a>best_ken_ever 's house. She came out to meet me at the street corner, but I had no idea that there would be more to come.

I did everything I could to impress her and think I was fancy and great and we ended up sleeping with her in my arms for two nights in a row. I say without any pretense that I have never slept better in my life than I did those two nights. We drove back to New Jersey more or less together and then I saw her town, which I fell in love with. We said our goodbyes and then I invited her over my house for the next weekend, as my parents were away. Somehow, I won her over and we spent the summer in love and quite happy, I should say.

Then came August, 2007, and I was off to school again and she was off to France for a year long study-abroad program. We'd decided, rather tearfully, to split up and make the best of being friends. This almost worked, but we both wanted each other again and so we decided to "get back together." In spirit anyway, as I was not to see her in person until that winter. Our reunion was joyous, if not for a little awkward, with me almost intending to break up with her there, so as not to prolong the chaos of our relationship. This was not to be, though. We stayed together and I visited her at the end of February in France, which was much fun and cemented that we would be together for some time.

However, there are a few things that need mentioning. Firstly, the entire exchange was terrible for both of us, with some moments of light. We didn't treat each other like two people who are in love should treat each other. I hurt her most by bringing her down by bringing up other girls I had crushes on. I will never cheat on anyone, but, well, I was horribly tactless and used her as a way to get my stress out. This is something nobody should do to anyone and I am ever penitent for my actions. I'm not a bad person, but I do bad things.

So, summer came and we were as in love as ever. We spent a lot of time together, as much as possible, and went to parks, and beaches, and cities, and Maryland/D.C. It was a great summer, if only too short and filled with too much work. As the end of summer was approaching, we needed to make a tough choice. Stay together and risk the pain of the exchange, or break up and go our separate ways. We opted for the latter, because it makes sense to get over someone and move on to a whole new life. After a month and a callous e-mail on my part, she told me not to contact her and I promised her that I wouldn't until I received some contact in return.

So passed three and a half months until I decided to send her a package with a letter inside. I knew what she wanted, but I also knew that I needed to talk to her again. I hadn't stopped thinking about her for all that time, in spite of everything fun and different in my life. In spite of friends and school and work. Turns out, she'd felt the same way.

And now we resume the story already in progress:

***

On Monday we some terribly personal e-mail flew back and forth. By end of day, we had decided it was best to take a few weeks of renewed silence to ponder things and to make our own decisions about the future. It was clear we both wanted each other, but after all our embattled history and with the future looking grim and distant, we needed some time. I wasn't happy with this, and neither was she, so she gave me a call sometime late at night. We proceeded to talk for almost four hours about how we felt, what we wanted, our lives and our futures. I knew not what she was thinking for three months and now things are more clear. We love each other and want to be together, but this is just not feasible right now, so we're going to figure something out to hold us over for the next however many months or years.

We've been talking nearly constantly this whole week, and I have to say it's a relief. We were together for a long time for a reason and we were very good together. I say with little exaggeration that Laurel is the woman for me. She's the most beautiful, intelligent, fun, happy, caring, patient person I've met. I defer many tough decisions to her because I have so much respect for her as a person. I see myself settling down with her when we get the chance. I want to be in the real world with her; no more of this constant push and pull of school and work and nonsense.

That's love.

Andrei in California.

This is not the 2008 post that I've desperately wanted to put out, but, it'll have to do.

On Sunday I went down just south of Hollister, CA to go hang-gliding. It was normally an off day, but my friend, chmarr , had his friend at the shop pull in a favor and I received a private lesson, or equivalent thereof. Hang-gliding is a sport where you're harnessed into a flexible wing and then run or jump off a hill into the wind, where you begin to fly. On the bunny slope, I got only a few seconds of time in the air, but it's amazing fun the first time your feet lift off the ground.

I spent a couple of hours there and got further and further up the bunny hill. I was making good progress, according to the instuctor and my friend, and that encourages me so much. I can see how easy it is to mess this sport up, but it came to me rather quickly. I look forward to hang-gliding again, sometime in the next few weeks.

*****

Last Saturday, I decided that I had nothing better to do than to go into the city and check out this Noisebridge place. I took the BART train to 16th Mission St. and walked down Valencia, which is a very friendly, exciting avenue in the Mission district. 826 Valencia is a writing center or something like that, but it's notable for the mural, designed by Chris Ware, and the store, which deals primarily in pirate goods! Would that insanitysraving were there. I'm sure she would squee. It a wonderful place and I'm sure I'll be back. The shopkeep was extra nice and happy and it was a great time.

I then proceeded down the street to Borderlands Books, which is kind of a novelty bookstore, in that it sells Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Horror books. Crazy! It seemed nice enough, but I'm not that into those kinds of books as I should be. I took a gander at the Philip K. Dick books they had, but the prices were not the bargain I was looking for, so I passed along to the next book store!

There were two more bookstores on the same side of the street there and I unfortunately do not remember their names. One, however, was a neat little place with books crammed in every which place. What it lost in organization, it made up for in charm and indieness. The place felt like home to me and I ended up picking up two books, one on writing well and the other about starting your own indie bookstore! I almost bought a PKD tome, but decided the internet would serve me better. The other bookstore was neat and organized, and rather less exciting. It had a good graphic novels section, but nothing out of the ordinary.

*****

I was actually headed that day to the Really Really Free Market, which sounded like so much fun! A few nights prior I had made cookies, and so I took them along to distribute to fun people I met there. Unfortunately, by the time I made it to Mission Dolores Park, just a few blocks away, there was nobody around. Perhaps they changed the hours or perhaps it was because of the drizzle, but there was nobody I could see that would be the type of people at this place. I was disheartened, but, I'd read up on a comic and toy store about 10 blocks away and started walking towards 22nd and Castro.

Little did I realize what walking in San Francisco meant. Hills! So many hills! It's not even an option most of the time. Things just happen to be at a higher altitude that you presently are. This meant, unfortunately, that I would be climbing for almost a mile. I was heartened by the gorgeous houses on either side of me on every street I traversed. Houses that looked like homes: homes of people I wanted to be. This was living and is something that I strive for. Between the gorgeous trees down the suburban blocks, to the colorful slanted houses, I felt safe and at home here. There's a certain culture in San Francisco that reminds me of the joys of Chelsea and the Villiage, back in my own city of New York. The difference is that this culture embodies every aspect of the city, and that is why, one day, I wish to make a home here.

After some map consultation (I always have an NFT guide around), I found the comic store, Neon Monster. The store was fabulous and small, but covered in comics! And these are people who clearly know what comics are about and so stock the best from Jason and Daniel Clowes and single issues of things like Goon and the re-print of the first issue of Watchmen. The walls and shelves were also covered in Munny figures and other paintable, posable, do-it-yourself art dolls. They're these little toys that you paint and make your own. Or rather, give to your artist friends to decorate for you.

*****

This shall continue, I'm sure. I'm just tired now and can't really write more.
Until next time, this is Three Dog, AUwwwWW!

Andrei in California.


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So, I'm writing this in just a towel in a really cold bedroom because I didn't get up early enough to snipe the one shower in this house. Curses!
There are a lot of thing I want to talk about, and I will try to in the next few days if I get home at reasonable hours. A breakdown of what I still need to talk about:
* My day in the city of San Francisco. I went to the Mission and no fewer than three bookstores and one comic store.
* My first experience with Noisebridge, which is an awesome Hackerspace right here in SF. I'm going to a meeting of theirs tonight (most likely) and so that'll probably be thrown in there.
* In terms of reviews, we have the book version of Diving Bell and the Butterfly and also maybe Wall-E, since I watched it again, but I didn't review it way back in June.
* My year and all the crazy things that happened. From the very excellent New Year's Celebration, to a wonderful summer, to a very strange fall, to just yesterday. I specifically held off on writing anything about my year on account of what happened with:
* Laurel, who has re-entered my life's stage. Short story is that I couldn't keep my mouth shut, and we talked again. I pray to science that I'm less stupid now than I was back then, but we'll see what happens. More on this later.

And now, a shower, thank Nietzsche.

Andrei in California.

Do NOT see The Spirit, the latest comic book adaptation done by Frank Miller. This time it's both written and directed by him. Unfortunately, it's based on a comic by Will Eisner, who you may know I love. Unfortunately not for the source material, but for the utter disgrace it does that great man's work. Seriously, though, a letter to Frank Miller would begin, "Dear Asshat." I think Frank Miller is in the school of, "hey, I've written comics and screenplays and so people will throw money at me to do anything I want. How about directing?" Well, this was a bad idea because HE IS NOT A DIRECTOR. His vision, if you can call it that, is to make the Spirit into a new Sin City yarn, except it doesn't have the grit or badass of Sin City and instead is just a hard-boiled action comic of the Golden Age of comics. You have perhaps the most stilted action sequences mixed with horrible dialogue, non-existent character development and some of the stupidest shit ever seen in a comic book movie. "Everyone loves a toilet," speaks Samuel L. Jackson. It only goes downhill from there, mind you. I'm not even going to bore you with the story or the dumb stuff that happens, like the melting kitty. Yeah, that's right, Sam Jackson melts a kitty.
Let me put this in a sentence. DO NOT SEE THIS MOVIE.

***

Moving Along...

So, Roger Ebert is the man. This is something you all should know. His reviews are more than didactic expansion of the plot and characters and cinematography. This is something you can get from any reviewer. What Ebert does is tell you why he loved the movie and more, what makes the movie great, or not. He really writes from the heart and has a good enough take on movies that you can use him as a resource more than a black and white number. Sure he gives his thumbs up/down, but reading his reviews are more than a number of stars.

That being said, I am going through his top movies of 2008 and have just watched Happy-Go-Lucky. This is an unassuming movie that holds more than just entertainment. The plot is roughly about a plucky schoolteacher that has more sunshine than normal. I mean, she's of the mindset (I suppose) that not everything must be dark, and that there's a helpful way to do anything. Her bike's stolen? Oh, well. Untalkative shop owner? Might as well wish him the best and try your best to cheer him up. She's the kind of person who wants to make you smile, but doesn't do it out of selfish enjoyment, but out of sheer caring for others.

So what's this person doing in a movie, because I think you all know people sort of like this, and the get annoying. Our protagonist, Poppy, does get annoying at times, but through the course of the movie we figure more about her insides and what makes her go. She takes driving lessons and gets into the very heart of her instructor who is very insecure and self-minded. She helps out a homeless man and a troubled child in her class and does this all very knowingly. Watch this movie and see how she reacts to life and people around her and, I guess, try this for yourself. I recommend seeing this movie. It's not best picture worth, in my opinion, but it's a good movie that's not just feel-good. Maybe it's think-good.

I read another comic today. Bruce Wayne: Murderer? Imagine this. You're Batman, out saving Gotham, and you come home to your ex-girlfriend dead on the floor and cops at the door. What do you do? You have no alibi, after all, you're Batman. This trade covers an arc written and illustrated by more people than I'll care to name here and so might seem a little weird to be reading completely different stuff every issue, but we get into the heart of many of the heroes and family that surround Bruce Wayne and Batman. A few people I had to Google because I haven't been keeping up, but the ideas are coherent. Bruce Wayne is trapped, or rather Batman is trapped and he can't/won't ask anyone to help him. It's at points not very engrossing and has a few asides that are to be expected when you have so many writers as opposed to one central author. In any case, the end of this story arc comes quickly and you're left wondering what will happen. It's probably best framed with the other story arcs, but the story itself is good and is a good collection. If you're into Batman comics, I recommend you read this if you have the chance, but it won't kill you not to read it.

Maybe another movie tomorrow. Want to watch Slumdog Millionaire.

Andrei in California.

Proving, once again, that he is the master of the form (along with Alan Moore), Warren Ellis continues to put out the greatest comics ever written. Now, I have spoken highly of Doktor Sleepless, which is just too cool for reckoning, but that comic is piddling compared to the masterpiece that is Desolation Jones. It's written by Ellis and illustrated by J.H. Williams III, and it's the best comic I've read in ages. Seriously. Not since Preacher, maybe.

So, what is Desolation Jones, I hear you cry. Well, this is a comic that's been around for a few years, but only has one trade out, because Warren Ellis is a busy man. Get your shit together, old man! The gist is: ex-members of the intelligence community are not allowed into the real world and instead are confined to L.A. Sounds tame enough. And then you realize that they're all insane or drugged up or filled with surgeries that make them... different. Our protagonist himself was subjected to the Desolation test, and was the only survivor. He was left with... well, you'll see. Basically, he hurt people.

The story is laid out as sort of a mystery, with Jones playing P.I. He gets his assignment from a strange man whose office is replete with the obligatory venetian blinds. He has a trusted female assistant, Robina; a confidant and intelligence expert, as well as love interest, Emily. Basically, the whole complement of a good detective story. The story of the first arc is really well done and paced spectacularly. You're likely to guess the ending, but it's done in such a way that it's FUN to figure it out. It's not just a straightforward shoot-em-up, nor is it an overly complicated mess of tangled stories. It's clear and focused, but gives enough leeway where characters serve a purpose. It's an excellent story.

The artwork, too is spectacular. This is a kind of artwork that I haven't seen in a long time, and the style and pacing as well as framing is akin to something like Sandman, which shifted art styles several times. It's a bold experience that still allows for natural lines here and soft paint there. It's not an ordinary cut and paste cell-styled book, and I love that. There's real character to the art that's far beyond most things we see in comics today. It's neither too clean nor too rough, but gives a grit that's unshakable. Color is used to great effect, and there's a lot of yellows and grays, with good smatterings of bright red. It's a scheme that really reflects L.A. and the tone of the novel: the detective story.

Seriously folks, I am not kidding when I say that this comic is the best thing you'll read all year. I try to get people to read Chris Ware and other more indie creators, but it's all about the greats. Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Warren Ellis, Frank Miller, etc. These are people you should be reading more of. Also Garth Ennis. But, seriously, I give Desolation Jones the highest possible recommendation, and it's only one volume right now, so read it. NOW!

Andrei in California.

The Boys by Garth Ennis and illustrated by Darick Robertson is awesome. I started reading it awhile ago and continued it recently, and am now eagerly awaiting the next trade so I can continue the sheer craziness that is this comic. The Boys is about a team of chemically pumped killers who are a bunch of chums and weirdos that have the sole task of keeping superheroes in line, you know, because all the supes are perverted, vapid, homosexual bastards that really shouldn't have stuck their dick in the coffee. They step out of line and they have to deal with the Boys. It starts off kinda weird, but, like all comics, it really picks up and gets good once you realize that there is a cogent story behind it and that the series is going somewhere. The writing is good, but the story is a little forced at times. The plots, however, are great and are as much a mystery as they are action oriented. The characters are hilarious and if you liked the kind of bizarre super-violence-piss-on-everything of Transmetropolitan or Preacher, you'll love this. It's all in good fun, of course, and it's well executed. Funny stuff that has a story I want to continue following. I give  an average recommendation.

Doktor Sleepless by Warren Ellis, however, is pure awesome. Warren Ellis is pretty much the shit and he showed the world how he could create controlled ridonculous in Transmetropolitan. He brings the same kind of irreverant writing to this series. It's roughly about futurism and the way consumerism and technology and life mix. He asks the question "where's my flying car?" and then backs it up with mystery and just pure gold writing. The Doktor himself is just about the same asshole as Ellis is and has such great lines. I mean, there's a reason my friends talk like Warren Ellis, because he's just crazy and fun and the internet. It's a great culture. See boingboing. Anyway, I've only read the first trade, but it's really cool and I want to see where it goes next .The art is done by the talented Ivan Rodriguez and it's spot-on. Oh, and don't forget the everchanging mythos of the comic that's also updated on an internet Wiki. It's really pretty incredible piece of work and it's very in the now, so read it before you get old! High Recommendation.

Milk is a cool movie starring Sean Penn and depicts the life and times of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected to major public office. Yeah, cool stuff. So, this movie comes right on the heels of Prop 8 and there are definite parallels and it just makes you despise homophobia even more. It's sad that things like this still happen, and so it's up to us to stand up for what's right. I am proudly an Ally, for your info, and so, go equality. (Note: if (a.gender == b.gender) then (not equal)) Anyway, the movie was good and it had some really spot on acting by Penn, James Franco, and Josh Brolin. It's the kind of movie that you're inspired to see and you're good on the message, and it doesn't have to linger too long. Biographical movies are an interesting sort for me to watch and it's always interesting to see how they pace it and introduce the timeline, which is what I mean by it not lingering. It's a very straightforward plot, with one shallow loop of his assassin's story. I wish it were more in depth, but that's just the kind of film this way. I should watch Magnolia again. Hrm... Anyway, if you're gay or all about the gay right or into, you know, HUMANITY, then this is a good movie for you. As a movie itself, I don't think it's quite as stellar as you might want. If you're really into gay rights, high recommendation, otherwise average recommendation.

Seven Pounds is a movie that I thought was going to be a lot better than it was. It's starring the ever-talented, "aw, hell no!" Will Smith and it's directed by the same director of Pursuit of Happyness (a movie I loved), Gabriele Muccino. What you get out of this movie is pretty well crafted mystery of a man that we know is going to kill himself. The piecing together of pieces is the fun part of this movie and we see him do all sorts of things and we don't know exactly why. I'm glad that the trailers did not reveal anything about this movie as the end is well executed. The thing I love most about this movie is the very moody cinematography and the use of colors in scenes with warm colors here and cool there. It's a very noticable effect that I really appreciate, from an art stand-point. Will Smith is a fabulous actor and does this movie really well, and if you see it for anything do it for the cinematography and the acting, which is great. And then there's the emotional manipulation that this movie pulls on you and the ending which leaves a little to be desired. I mean, it's a good experience, but I wish it were paced differently and that it had more than a very simple solution to the overall conflict. Oh, well. It's a good watch, but, definitely see something better. I give it an average recommendation for the cinematography and acting.

Phew, this is exhausting. I want to go play Porta: Prelude...

Gran Torino is a movie I watched today starring, produced by and directed by the inimitable Clint Eastwood. So, this is a movie that had a lot of promise, but just really was horrible. It's about a retired auto-worker who's about as racist as they come. There are more racial slurs in this movie than I even knew existed! It's pretty cool to listen to Eastwood just go on about zipperheads and gooks and chinks, but, colorful vocabulary does not a movie make. So, conveniently his neighbors are Hmong and what do you know, he ends up befriending them and taking the kid under his wing while still being a dick. It all sounds fine and blah blah, but, really, the execution is terrible. All of the acting seems so off. Every single part of this movie is forced and it just leaves you wondering how it could be so bad. I mean, Eastwood is a great man and he is very proud, but he just doesn't do it here. Every single part of the movie seems somehow dilated, as if it were an amateur college film that I'm sure some people think is good, but not in a movie of this scope. It's just not believable when you actually start listening to the characters or the story or gah! There are a few redeeming qualities to this movie, such as how Eastwood is a badass, but, that's it. The acting really hurt me watching it, and oy. Just don't watch this movie, it's not worth it. Go rent Unforgiven or The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly or Mystic River or something. Unfortunately I recommend you don't see this movie.

That's all for now, but I'll watch some more movies tomorrow, I have a lot of them. Also comics. I'm working on another Ellis work, Desolation Jones and have Bruce Wayne: Murderer? sitting on my shelf. Need more time and fingers.

Andrei in California.

So, it's come to my attention that there is a rising negative sentiment towards my favorite micro-blogging service, Twitter. Instead of falling in with the rest of the internet, this stalwart bastion seeks to impregnate discontent in the heats of millions. Actually, I just wanted to put a lot of big words in a sentence.

Twitter, for those not familiar, is a microblogging site and service that lets users post 140 character Tweets to the blagonets. You can Follow people and they can follow you, which basically means you subscribe to their microblog. You can also reply to tweets and retweet and post pictures (through tiny ursl) etc. It's really remarkable just how much you can do with just 140 characters. There are multiple clients you can use, and the API is very robust, so there's neat things on the net that are kind of like aggregators, or otherwise do neat things. Blah blah.

Content: Yes, it is true that they are often used to convey the very trivial things about whatever it is you're doing whenever you're doing it. Now, this might seem inane  to you, at first, and then you realize that all your friends are doing the same thing, and you're bored at work, or just lazing about, and suddenly it's wickely entertaining! I mean, it's really a social thing. Why do people go on Facebook? Not for the games and puzzles, I'm sure, but because people have a life and want to interact with their friends on the internet. That's why people do Fark and SA and 4chan and ctyalcove.org and etc. It's really just an awesome social place.

And then there's all the cool microblogs you can sign up for. I keep track of news AS IT IS HAPPENING, using BreakingNewsOn (which is sometimes faster than regular news services), BBC News, CNN News and NPR news. Then there's cool people on Twitter, such as Warren Ellis or Barack Obama (not so much nowadays, though.) I mean, you read blogs anyway, why not just do it in little chunks?

It's a great medium for sharing information or interesting links. I often give little reviews of this or that or express my opinion on some late breaking news or music or whatever. It's cool. Also, clicking on links is fun.

One really major reason that Twitter is awesome is because you can get information out into the world faster than you could through any other means. A blog post takes time and a computer. AIM is between two people. Forums need sign on. Facebook is limited in who can see it. Twitter, however, is accessible through an enormous variety of systems, most notably, computer and mobile devices. There are half a dozen apps for the iPhone and I think some for Android. There are countless different clients on PCs and Linux and Mac. But, best of all for me, is that you can text to 40404 with 140 characters and as long as you have it set up, you can post from anywhere you can send a text. I blogged my entire journey across the United States via Twitter. I could keep people informed of my doings from miles and miles away, even when I didn't have a computer or feel like calling people.

Personal aside: the reason I love Twitter so much is because I am one of those weirdos that thinks a lot. I think about music or politics or movies or whatever I'm doing, and sometimes I have a thought that I want to share like, "damn, I'm lost in San Francisco. Should I ask the bum or that scary looking Mexican for directions?" Or "why is there a guy dressed in a panda suit" or "damn, this DeVotchKa music is great!" Now, normally I would send these short blips to whoever it is that would get least annoyed with me (usually significant other), but given my situation (single), that's not possible and so I sent my inane headthoughts into the air-o-tubes. I like it.

And what about the sheer speed that you can disseminate information faster than anyone can censor it and faster than any other method. You can tell people exactly what's happening at a rally or event or speech maybe before the 7 second delay! You can tell people, "turn on the T.V. right now, shit's going down." And then there's times where you can communicate to people that matter exactly how you're doing. I present to you a few links that better explain my point:
http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/12/twitter-holy-fucking-shit-i-was-just-in-denver-plane-crash
http://greghuntoon.com/2008/12/21/social-media-faster-than-cnn/
http://bnonews.tumblr.com/post/58715110/bno-news-beats-new-york-911-call

That's really something. In this age of instant gratification, why not have a service that can connect you asynchronously to more people faster than any other method? 

*

Also, suck it up and deal with it.


Andrei on Twitter.

I wanted to write "cookies" but, well, there are no cookies. It would have been nice.

Milk is a fabulous movie starring Sean Penn as Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man elected to major public office. This is one of those movies that  I need a day to think about to fully tell you what I thought of it, so, I'm sorry, all I can tell you now is that it is a very good movie. There are very few flaws, as far as I can tell, and so it's just a well crafted movie. I'd compare it to a movie like All The President's Men, just in sheer completeness of craft. Worth a watch. More review later. In spite of this only initial review, I give it a high recommendation.

I guess I don't have much else to say. Tomorrow I am going to Fisherman's Wharf, most likely. Fun stuff.

Andrei in California.

Is there really a point to creative LiveJournal post titles? I say no.

So, today I got a lot of internet shopping done. Shipping costs are brutal, by the way. Anyway, giftmas is almost done for me except for a few letters, a special package, a gift for my brother's family, a few cards, a different special present and some stuff for parents that I'm not sure about yet.

I felt pretty giving this year. Well, I feel very giving a lot of the time, except I usually need a good excuse to spend more than 5 minutes on a person and Giftmas is a good excuse. However, like this year, I usually forget until a few days or a week before the actual event. That's why I'm really bad about birthday presents. Oh, well. People are getting some classy shit this year now that I have a job and am getting paid the big bucks.

*****

Today I got a few packages in the mail. Not least of which was the 2.5" enclosure I ordered. Now that I have this, I could put the 500GB harddrive into my lappy, clone the old harddrive through USB and use the old 80GB one as an external... and that's just what I did! I now have about 400GB free on my Windows partion and 20GB free on my Ubuntu partition. Now I can put all my music on my actual HD. This is awesome. I used to have to delete stuff very often. For example, I no longer have any Steam games on here or Fallout 3 and most of my music/videos are gone. All that is in the past now!

So now I'm just waiting for my other 500GB external 2.5" hard drive to come, which unfortunately got sent back because nobody here signed for it. Stupid mail people. Also stupid me for shipping it to my house. Anyway, when that comes I'll be able to back up all the media on my other 500GB 3.5" crappy external, wipe it and then use it as dedicated backup of all my important files. I want to actually back up my system, because I'm not sure when this HP is going to crap out on me. I like my electronics.

I might buy myself a netbook soon. And EeePC or some other kind. If you have anecdotal evidence you want to give me, I'll take it into consideration.

*****

I'm going hang-gliding on Sunday. Yeah, that's right.

I missed out going to see Bruce Campbell because we forgot to buy tickets ahead of time. Oh, well.

Saturday, I am most likely going to see Rocky Horror in Oakland. I don't really have a good get-up. I don't really need one, though. I know who I am and what I've done. I just want to go for good, sane, debauchery.

*****

I miss Laurel, of course, but I just wanted to say that there was a marine biology Jeopardy category and I knew every answer because of her (except for the $2000 one about Leopard seals. We didn't cover leopard seals together.) Yay for knowledge and the good that comes of being with someone with interests.

Andrei in California.

So yesterday was eventful. The whole weekend was, but I discussed most of it already. I drove down yesterday around two thirty in the pee em to Santa Cruz. It was rainy and a little foggy and there was a car completely flipped over on 17. If you don't know the area, 17 is a road defined by eight miles of pure crazy. It's windy and fast and corners sneak up on you. Needless to say, I love it. There's that extra danger you get in knowing you just might die today. Anyway.

I got to the church where the chorale concert was to be held and found Martin, Lisa's boyfriend. He's a cool guy, if not a little quiet. Then again, I'm loud enough for half a dozen people. The concert was enjoyable. I don't really do chorale concerts, but, they're growing on me. There's a special pride in knowing my very good friend is up there being all professional-like. Ever since a certain terrible incident, I love supporting my friends. It's a good feeling. If there's one thing I do not like about chorale concerts it is the religious nature of the performances. This is just my overreaction to religion as a whole, but I don't like churches anymore. They stand for too many bad things I dislike. The music is good, though, I will admit and blah blah art and organs and blah blah. Have your beliefs, this is not a post about religion.

We then went back to Lisa's place where I got a really annoying call from my grandpa. He uses me as tech-support basically, and I can't stand it sometimes. I'm not going to talk any more shit about my family because this is not the place for it and I know if anyone says anything bad about my family I'll do my best to not kick the shit out of them. I get very defensive of my family and my ex-girlfriends. They are MINE. No more about that.

Wow, this post has quickly taken a very harsh tone, I apologize, but I'm not in the habit of revising my posts. Censoring, sure, but not revising. We made some hot (relative term) chocolate and I read a book and then we made our way to the Mission. Also, I love being a resident of this really interesting place that I've always heard people talking about. The Mission, the BART, Fisherman's Wharf are all within my reach for once! It's very gratifying. Also, Oakland, Berkeley, Silicon Valley.

The drive took about an hour and a half, but, as we should all be aware, I love driving. I mean, seriously, I loved my cross-country trip and any day that I drive a hundred miles is most likely a good day. Also, quick aside about parallel parking: it's mad fun to do and is pretty much necessary in this area. I'm getting much better at it, but I was pretty good at it to begin with. So, we parallel parked near Lisa's friend and then we met up with Mkehrt and his friend Akiva. So, the six of us (Lisa, Martin, Asheesh, Akiva, Mkehrt and I) went to a really delicious place called Chow, which serves just that. I had a delicious fish of some sort. Grilled Steelhead, which apparently is nothing more than a rainbow trout. Way to fool me into thinking I ate something fantastic when it was trout. Actually, it was very tasty and came with mashed potatoes, and you all should know how much I love those. I had delicious spiced apple cider (non-alcoholic) and for desert I had a seven dollar piece of pecan pie, which was worth it. I put a charge of a hundred fifty dollars on my card, but since I was paying with card, I managed to collect as much as I normally get from an ATM. Bonus! 

So, about the people. These people are really awesome and I respect them very much. Asheesh and Akiva are two locals who I have made friends with and hopefully I'll get some real good out of them because they are computer sciency people (one works at Creative Commons and the other at Apple) and Mkehrt is in grad school for CS, so it was a very nerdy table. It was FANTASTIC. I learned a lot from just a few hours talking with these folks. Funny how that works. Also, I met this awesome dude the other day name Heewa, who's also incredibly smart. He works for VMWare, if that's any indication.

We parted ways about then and I drove home, which was nice. So, that was my Sunday. Crazy, right? This is how all my weekends have been going, basically, and I love it. Tomorrow is game night, most likely and Wednesday I'm going to see Bruce Campbell and My Name is Bruce in the city. This Saturday I intend on going to see Rocky Horror in Oakland. Oh, and I think I'm going hang-gliding on Sunday. That's my week so far. Oh, and there's work in between, which is weird. Work? Seriously.

Andrei in California.

Firstly, when two of my daily Twitter recaps are in the top 5 articles of LJ, you people do not write enough.

Secondly, reviews:
Swallow Me Whole by Nate Powell is awesome. I wish I would go into more depth, but it's roughly about a brother and sister who have a history of schizophrenia in their family. She sees insects and needs to keep them as ambassadors and he sees a wizard that compels him to draw until exhausted. It's a really interesting story that spans their adolescence and really doesn't offer too many hand-outs. It takes some good quality thinking to really get the full experience of this one: making the connections, discerning reality from fantasy and understanding the characters for who they really are. Great artwork, too.
This is a new novel and should be in quality bookstores near you. High recommendation.

Synecdoche, New York, directed and written by Charlie Kaufman starring Philip Seymour Hoffman: this movie is everything I love about going to see movies. People complain about it being long, or depressing, or inconsequential, but these people are rabble that'll be crushed in the ensuing pogrom. Anyway: it's about death, and life, and living, and choosing a life for yourself, and directing, and being directed; about acting and the actors that act in life. It's really a broad scope for a movie, which is reflected in the movie itself with the cascading layers of plot, setting and character. In spite of the lofty (pun intended) goals of the movie, it's done perfectly. The multiple aspects of every key character is explored through other, less significant characters. The key here is that everyone has their part to play in the bigger picture and no one person is everything and no one person is nothing. It's just phenomenal and I can go on and on and I wish we had this movie when I took my film class back in high school. It's so much fun to decompose. Please watch this movie as soon as possible, you won't regret it. Highest Possible Recommendation.

Yesterday I saw Man on Wire with my new friend Heewa, who is awesome and cool. This is a documentary about a French high-wire artist who dreams of walking between the two towers of the World Trade Center. Not only that, but he does it. The movie is very gripping, especially when you realize what he's doing and "why" he is doing it. This is a study of a real person and his dream and how the dream affects those around him. There is a lot that is unspoken in the conversations and dramatizations and it is this that I think makes this a brilliant documentary. Sure it has the same talking heads and flashbacks and forwards and re-enactments and fancy cuts as every other doc you'll see, but there are so many spectacular things he does, such as giving the performer time to really play with his own imagination. There is a lot of imagination in this movie and it ends on a spectacularly serene note. Real genius went into the planning and execution of this movie.
I must address the topic of the destruction of the Twin Towers. There, I did it and that's more than you'll get in the movie. Shut up about, it's not important in this context.
Though the critics unanimously say to see this movie, I give this one a high recommendation because, well, it's not the best thing ever.

Today I went to see Frost/Nixon with some new friends I made. It's directed by Ron Howard and stars Michael Sheen and Frank Langella as Frost and Nixon respectively. I came into this movie expecting something very different than what I got. I was expecting a lot more personal interaction between the characters in the way of banter, but it's really not that at all. Nor is it the kind of dramatic challenge of wills that you'd get in a movie like Doubt, which I've yet to see. The movie is a kind of historical but ahistorical look at a very key moment in time. It's this exploration of history that makes it a key movie. The scope is just right and it really homes in on the key scenes, the climax, and denouement; it was initially a play after all where everything is temporal. Anyway, the movie is very compelling at points and you get a real fire going about half-way through and then everything is just incredible. Frank Langella better win an Oscar or something for his performance, because it is real acting. His form and character is spot-on and the physical and facial language he uses is wonderful. Not to discredit Sheen, who really plays the part well and does a fantastic job of being both popular and committed. This is a movie I know people are going to be talking about, but I personally don't think there's too much else to talk about, not like in Synecdoche. This is a movie that you're going to watch regardless of what I say, but I don't think it's really that important. I give this a low recommendation.

*****

So, I joined this Sifter group (sifter.org) and it's neat. I organized an event for people to meet at the Exploratorium at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. There were eight of us there total, but one ditched quickly and three were not really part of our group. So, the museum is a really awesome place and it's a lot of running around doing things. It is nigh impossible to interact with every exhibit there in less than three hours. It's not a big space, but, man is there stuff to do. It's real science, too, which is awesome. Needless to say, I had a blast. I sat in on a talk about the evolutionary theory of altruism, but it was a really bad presentation and I didn't learn anything. Blah, it was boring and I just wanted to get out and play with stuff.
After that, the four of us that remained decided to go to Sausalito and grab cafe stuff. I had a chai. It was tasty. The town itself looked really fun and I plan on returning as soon as I have someone to hang out with there. I might actually, because I made friends with this nice couple that lives in Emeryville. I mentioned that I wanted to watch a movie that night and we decided to go to Emeryville for dinner and a movie. There's this really interesting public market with a lot of vendors that you can get nigh whatever food you want quickly. It was tasty and we went to the really big Bay Street shopping center where we missed the first show (sold out) and had to wait an hour for the next. We saw Frost/Nixon, as I mentioned before. I got a chance to scope out books in the BN there, and I'm totally ordering some of them right now from Amazon. Cheaper, you see.
All in all, my day was fun, but I came home to the rancid skunk smell of pot and I'm feeling a lot less optimistic now. Damn people.

***

My living arrangements. I meant to do this in my sweeping cross-country post (which I have not yet posted), but I'll do so here. I am living now in San Mateo, and it is fun. My friends live 10 minutes down the road in Foster City, and I am always welcome there. I am paying $650 a month, which is ridiculously cheap for this area, for a tiny 8x12 (or so, I haven't measured) room with a queen bed, a desk, a tv and a dresser (with all utilities included). This is comfortable, but it's not optimal, you see. My roommates are: David, who is a late thirties real estate guy with no real prospects who also happens to be the landlord of this here estate. He's pretty okay and is chill about anything, so I won't have any problems with stuff. I'm paying by the month, so I got that covered, too. However, he's not super smart or nerdy, (not dumb, though) and I have nothing of importance to say to that man. He's a good guy, but not really my kind of guy. Also, there's this weird thing about his ex-girlfriend (I think) in jail who's an alcoholic or something. Weird shit.
The other roommate is Clyde, who is a thirty something bartender at a local bar. He's big and friendly and has a daughter, I think, somewhere. He's an okay guy, I suppose, but he's loud and yells at sports really loudly. Not my kind of guy, either, but he sort of refers to me in a "little buddy" sort of way, so I think I'm good. I feel okay in this house, but, man, pot? Seriously? I am 420 unfriendly, and the more I come in contact with it, the more it seems like, damn, that is not my idea of a good time. Yeesh.

*****

Going back to books, I am buying books for the Ks. I feel like Bill and Jennifer have been so generous and welcoming to me that it's the right thing to do. I love those people so much. As for Laurel, I think I know what to get her. I'm not contacting her, but I am going to write an inscription on the inside cover of the book I'm getting her. I'm still working out what to write, but, that's the plan. I'm pretty sure I'm fixating on her a little, and am trying to stop, but, I can't help that it's Christmas and she's on my mind. Also: New Years last year was something special.

*****

Life is good, and when I know it, I know it. I'm having a good time and am seeing as many sights as possible. Life is still a little lonely, but, I'm doing my best to fight it. Work is fun, but I'm not being very efficient, sadly. I'm working on it. Also, I'm making new friends slowly, but surely. It's a slow build-up, but I think I'm going to have a good six months and a good first half of twenty aught nine. Please keep in touch and bug me to write more.

Lastly, I'm going to Santa Cruz tomorrow to see Lisa sing (I'll have ear plugs, of course) and hang out with Martin and Mkehrt. Should be fun!

Andrei in California.

I'll probably add to this post, but I would just like to present the following link:
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-secret-to-raising-smart-kids&print=true

I am someone who falls into the fixed mindset, or at least that's the way it seems to me, and I can totally see where they're coming from here. I'm kind of discouraged by this, and I want to be better at stuff. Yes, it'll take hard work, but isn't it a conundrum that I don't actually want to do the hard work to get there?

We'll see what happens.

Andrei in California.