Category Archives: Pop Culture

Lee vs. Lee

The HulkUnexpectedly, the battle that’s truly at the heart of “The Hulk” is not the one that the titular green antihero fights with society at large, the massive arsenal of the U.S. Army or even the tortured depths of his own soul. Rather, it’s the battle between the moviemaking prowess of Ang Lee, who has been responsible for some of the most intricate and touching personal epics committed to film, and the cantankerous spirit of Stan Lee, controversially-proclaimed father of the famed stable of Marvel Comics super-heroes. What results is a movie that pits a grotesquely literal interpretation of the graphical storyteling of comic books against a psychologically complex exploration of human horror. It’s not an altogether disastrous experiment in opposing sensibilities, but it is ultimately, hugely, disappointing.

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Hulk Smash! Or Flop?

The HulkI’m feeling kind of time-pressured today, because I’m trying to leave the office early to go see “The Hulk,” which unfortunately got a pretty poor review in The New York Times today. This is a shame, because I had so many high hopes for Ang Lee’s foray into multimillion-dollar box office spectacles as a sign that the characters of popular mythology can actually be treated with truly artful hands. I don’t know why I do this to myself each time I head out to see a comic book made into a movie, because I tend to be let down. It’s just that I think these characters have so much potential for mature, literate dramaturgy that it’s a shame that Hollywood is not aiming to make true classics out of them, rather than just box office smashes.

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The Fantastic Fourth

The Invisible Girl“The Invisible Girl” is the title for my latest contribution to the Squat mix CD club. It’s not as late as its predecessor, but it wasn’t on time, either; I only shipped it today, two and a half weeks after the original deadline of 31 May. If I can offer any excuse, it’s that my packaging for this round was more complex — and expensive — than ever.

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The Morning Commute

Radiohead “Hail to the Thief”Two anecdotes from my daily walk to the office: First, it was a beautiful morning to release a new Radiohead album; the skies were a calming, solid blue and the sun is finally, after weeks of miserable precipitation, pouring down clean, bright light again. There’s a Virgin Megastore at Union Square and as I walked past it I saw one satisfied consumer after another exiting its doors with a copy of “Hail to the Thief,” happily heading off into the springtime. I walked a little further into the park and I saw a young woman sitting on a bench beneath an old, old tree, already listening to the CD on her Discman and reading along with the lyrics intently.

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Size Matters

Starship DimensionsStarship Dimensions is a phenomenal piece of work and a staggeringly detailed attempt to apply metrics to imagination. “This site is intended to allow science fiction fans to get an impression of the true scale of their favorite science fiction spacecraft by being able to compare ships accross genres, as well as being able to compare them with contemporary objects with which they are probably familiar.” It reminds me of a project I once had an idea to do: a unified timeline of science fiction histories, showing when the various post-20th century apocalypses happened and trying to show how the world of, say, “Logan’s Run” and “Star Trek” might all fit together. Don’t ask me why I would actually have an idea like that; I’m a geek.

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Serially Folks

Serializer.netSerliazer.net, which I stumbled onto while poking around Ethan Persoff’s Web site, is a vibrant experiment in online comics. A subscription goes for the almost ridiculously affordable price of US$2.95 per month and gives you access to hundreds of pages from 25-30 regularly updated strips. I bought a subscription last night and so far one of my favorites is the beautifully drawn “Pup” by Drew Weing.

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Dust Off that Cloak

nced Dungeons & DragonsIf you’re in your late twenties or early thirties and looking for the absolute bleeding edge in chic ironic pastimes, then Advanced Dungeons & Dragons may be your thing. The inaugural game was organized by my Behavior co-founder Chris Fahey and held a few weeks ago out in Brooklyn (naturally!) — I would’ve been there had I not been out of town.

Chris writes: “We thought that now, well into our adult years, maybe now we had the rich imagination — and comfort with our own identities — necessary to ‘properly’ play a fantasy role-playing game. We were bored with video games, we were high on Lord of the Rings hype, and we wanted to have a Dungeons and Dragons party.”

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Blind Ambition

The Matrix ReloadedMy little getaway last weekend denied me the opportunity to go see “The Matrix Reloaded” on opening night, a consumer ritual of which I’ve become very fond. Last night’s crowd for the 10:20p showing of the movie was tamer than I’d have liked, less prone to hoots, hollers and moments of mob ecstasy. I’m pretty sure I would have enjoyed the movie significantly more with an opening night crowd, but in some ways it was a better context in which to have viewed it; less peer excitement to augment the absurd hype with which the movie has been promoted.

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No Escape from The Matrix

The Matrix ReloadedIn January, Newsweek ran a cover story on the two “Matrix” sequels. Premiere Magazine featured the first of those sequels under four “collectible” covers. Keanu Reeves is on the cover of GQ Magazine. Britian’s Empire Magazine has four holographic covers featuring The Matrix. Reeves, Carrie-Ann Moss, Lawrence Fishburne and producer Joel Silver all appeared on The Charile Rose Show” last night. This week’s issue of The Village Voice includes an article called “Hacking the ‘Matrix’ Master Code.” The New York Times ran a puff piece on Sunday about the movie’s origins and influence on contemporary cinema. Atari’s companion videogame “Enter the Matrix” has sold 4 million copies in its initial order alone. A DVD of animated shorts called “The Animatrix” is being marketed now for an early June release. Officially sanctioned Matrix swag is now available for online purchasing at TheMatrixShop.com.

This list is hardly exhaustive, even. I’m still looking forward to “The Matrix Reloaded,” but all this media saturation is starting to turn me off.

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