This Needs Ghosts

broderic on August 24, 2011

In the morning before the ground shook, I was reading Micheal Chabon’s Maps And Legends and came upon his intro to Casting the Runes, an anthology of M.R. James ghost stories. Chabon celebrates the short story “Oh, Whistle and I’ll Come to You, My Lad!” as M.R. James’ greatest ghost story. He also laments that the ghost story has fallen out of favor with writers.

I concur. There’s something satisfying about a well crafted ghost stories. A well written ghost story sends shivers up your spine and is a joy to read. You’re frightened and elated and that’s a good feeling.

What I liked about Chabon’s essay was that he went touched upon a few things I noticed about ghost stories — things I felt I should write about too. Here’s where I write about them.

Chabon talked about the first person perspective of most ghosts stories. They are mostly told by a narrator describing ghastly things he has seen or has heard about from a reliable source. Chabon talked about the truthiness of the ghost story accounts. The narrator’s account from a first person perspective — can you trust ’em? Or that they seem almost true. Chabon talked about how they were told on cold winter nights around camp fires. That’s the best time for ghost stories. And they are told, spoken, enough to scare you.

I, too, love the first person perspective of the ghost story. “I don’t believe in the supernatural, but….” They always open like that and you get hooked. I don’t believe in the supernatural but I love the chills I get from reading them. I love ’em in the winter. The darkness. The cold. Under the covers. The darkness. All are conducive to being frightened.

It’s almost fall and the day’s are getting longer. It’s almost time for a good ghost story. “I don’t believe in the supernatural…”

5.9

broderic on August 23, 2011

I'm sure you've already heard about the earthquake on the East Coast. I was down in the basement lab and thought it was just construction until the floor began to quake. Then my stomach felt funny .Everyone was looking at each other on the first shake. Then we got up and left immediately on the continuous second shake. Just a very eventful day.I survived!

Arson, Inc

broderic on August 17, 2011

If you all followed me on twitter, you would’ve been treated to my crazy rants (crazants!) on how I feel about the Orioles. I think I’ve raged against them every game. Last night, they were coming back (I know, right?), but then Matusz who although kept them in the game through six, still sucks though, was relieved by the worse bunch of “pitchers” in the MLB. I’ve gone to calling these guys arsonists: the opposite of what relief pitching should be doing. They’re throwing gas on the fire!

Anyhow, I believe this song is appropriate for our bullpen. Wouldn’t it be funny if Camden Yards music director played this for our chief arsonist Kevin Gregg when he comes out in relief? It would be awesome!

30 Minutes or Less

broderic on August 16, 2011

30 Minutes or Less was a dual buddy movie. You had the comedy buddy movie with Jesse Eisenberg and Aziz Ansari, and you have the serious buddy movie with Danny McBride and Nick Swardson. One group brought the comedy. The other brought the stupid action. They were stupid. It made me stupid.

What’s strange is that the movie put both couples as sympathetic characters. You expect it from the comedy team, but from the villains? Could they make them anymore sympathetic?

Then the movie got real with the latino, brown skinned bad guy. The tone went from a comedic to gruesome quickly with some gritty violence. Who would’ve thought?

Also, for a 1.5 hour movie it felt long.

Needless to say, I didn’t like this movie.

2 of 5 stars

All the other kids

broderic on August 15, 2011

I miss playing my acoustic guitar. I doesn’t sound good going through my Fender Jaguar Amp. I don’t have it near me so I barely play it. Maybe I’m looking for a new one. That Taylor looks mighty nice. Wait! I thought I wanted a Jaguar. Maybe later, then.

Here we go again with another round of covers on Youtube. If you don’t like the original, then you might not like this. And if you don’t like the original, then what’s wrong with you. Isn’t it the song of the summer?

CamdenChat.com

broderic on August 12, 2011

Go to CamdenChat.com to commiserate with fellow Orioles fans on how bad our home team is. This team is worst than they were last year. It’s hard to say that, but it’s true.

Crazy, Stupid, Love

broderic on August 12, 2011

I had started writing a review for Crazy, Stupid, Love earlier this week while I've been twiddling my thumbs at work, but I deleted the first draft. Was that stupid of me? No, because I thought it went nowhere. Now, as I write review, I know this one's gonna go nowhere as well. I should've published the first one — one and done.Steve Carell and Julianne Moore are a couple on the edge of divorce. She wants out because she married the 40 Year Old Virgin. He can't believe it, grants her wish, and mopes around before Ryan

Gosling shows him how to be a man. He dresses Carell up, teaches him how to pick up women, and lets him loose in his home bar. Carell flies right, but does he like his lady's man persona? Doubtful as he maintains the ex's yard at night and keeps close tabs on his family. The question then becomes does Gosling like his persona? Doubtful as he falls in love with the ubiquitous Emma Stone. Gosling tabbed Carell for the same loser role he had been but transformed as a lady's man he knows he misses something.I thought Crazy, Stupid, Love was a romantic comedy, just look at its title, but it isn't. It's a romantic drama with comedic overtones. It acts like a rom-com, but doesn't try to follow all the conventions of the genre. Strangeness abounds in this hybrid movie and its best to watch with a clear view that this is really about love and its sometimes stupid, sometimes crazy practitioners.There is a twists that you know is coming, and one that you don't know. I'll not spoil it for you but I was surprised and laughed both times. Clever.Now of the couples involved in this movie, the younger will make you cringe. Everything they did was really creepy. I couldn't believe it. I'm warning you now.3 of 5 stars

Cowboys & Aliens

broderic on August 6, 2011

I don’t know what I was expecting from Cowboys & Aliens. Did I expect a western? Or an alien invasion flick? Perhaps I was expecting a good flick. You got the western and the alien invasion, but it wasn’t good.

The film jumps right in with Daniel Craig trying to figure out who he is and how he got into this mess. What movie am I in? Is this a western? Or is it an alien invasion film? Yes. Long story short, he’s an outlaw with a heart of gold. Gold being the operative word.

The townspeople are ruled by the big cattle rancher, Indiana Jones. Harrison Ford is looking old. And he’s crotchety. He hates everyone. We’ll come to find out he has a heart of gold. Gold being the operative word.

There’s the Doc who is a minister, and there’s the barkeep who is a doctor. The minister doc helps stitch up Daniel Craig and knows that he is the key to making the town a better place. The barkeep doc is a wimp but finds out later that he does make the town a better place. They both have hearts of gold. Gold being the operative word.

The doc barkeep loses his wife to the aliens. Daniel Craig loses his memory to the aliens. Various townfolk get lost to the aliens. A posse is rounded up to get them back. This is the part where we get to see them strung up as food for the aliens. Just like in Super 8. I think they used the same setup.

I watch Jon Favreau movies and wonder where the action is. His films are slack in pace even the Iron Men movies. It saddens me, because he’s always directing action movies. One day, his pace will make a movie fun to watch.

2 of 5 stars