Thursday, December 4th, 2003

Storytelling

Thanks to a friend with ‘industry contacts’, I got to go to an advance screening of Big Fish, the new Tim Burton film. In a nutshell, Billy Crudup is a son trying to find out who his dying father, played by Albert Finney, really is. This task is made tougher by the fact that dad only likes to recount his life story under the veil of tall tales and mythology. Ewan McGregor takes the lead role in these flashbacks, though his Alabama accent sounds an awful lot like Scottish. It’s pretty different from Burton’s usual work – the wacko fantasy has been turned down several notches in favour of a subtle touch, and it works as it prevents Burton from getting buried under the weight of his artistic ambition. There are still a number of terrific visual effects and bizarre sequences in the flashbacks, but they’re offset by the simple, subdued presentation of the present-day scenes. It takes a little while to reconcile the two disparate presentation methods – pretty much the whole film – but that might be the point. Overall it’s charming and enjoyable, good holiday fare.

Check it out check it out check it out. Lenore cartoons! For those of you not in the know, Lenore – The Cute Little Dead Girl is a damned funny blackly humourous comic book by Roman Dirge and published by Slave Labor Graphics. Many thanks to Mystery & Misery for the link. Now go watch the cartoons.

Speaking of cartoons – what ever happened to Bill Watterson after he wrapped up Calvin & Hobbes? Cleveland Scene tries to find out. Link from Heart Murmur via Catchdubs.

Also from Heart Murmur – Neil LaBute’s Top 10 black comedies.

eye managed to conduct a Ryan Adams interview without any mention of Parker Posey. Astonishing. But callling Rock N Roll his best albums since Strangers Almanac? Please. Was kissing his ass with bullshit a condition of getting the interview?

NOW chats with Young & Sexy. Looking forward to the show tonight, though I suspect I’ll have to get there early early. No advance tickets sucks.

Oh good, Grammy nominations are to be announced this morning! Let me find my retching bucket.

The Lake Holiday rock machine may be kicking back into gear early next year. We may be doing a show January 17th at the Cameron House with Aaron Booth. Stay tuned for confirmation/more details.

np – The Postal Service / Give Up

By : Frank Yang at 9:48 am
Category: Uncategorized
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  1. 12/4/03 10:11 am

     art babe says:

    Ohmigawd!

    Neil LaBute name drops Godard’s Week End with the infamous fucked by a dead fish scene!

    i hate that movie.

  2. 12/4/03 10:38 am

     Five Seventeen says:

    Thanks for the C&H article. That man was genius. Honestly, I’d love to see his paintings though I can’t imagine the shift from fantasy comic world to landscapes. I think he was the best of the genre. Ah, well.

  3. 12/4/03 6:54 pm

     Graig says:

    for bother of repeating myself re: Lenore, let me direct you to my comments here:

    http://…/

    Long and short for the lazy anti-link-clickers:

    I didn’t like lenore in 1998 when it came out. I wrote a misinformed review. Drunken emails from creator follow.

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