Venture Bros: The Revenge Society
The protagonist of "The Revenge Society" is Phantom Limb, who has undergone a transformation since we last saw him. This is, of course, nothing unusual in the Venture-verse, "transformation" is one of the strongest themes of the show. Phantom Limb transforms in this episode, The Sovereign transforms several times, Red Mantle and Dragoon merge into one (with limited success). Sgt Hatred tries desperately to transform into a good father-figure for the benefit of Hank, and Rusty even continues his delicate transformation into a father-figure for Dean.
A note on Mad Men
Mad Men is the greatest show in the history of television, certainly the greatest hour-long drama.
Venture Bros: Perchance to Dean
What does D-19 want? That’s easy — D-19 wants to be Dean. He’s bound to be frustrated in his pursuit, because there’s no way he can actually become Dean. Setting aside the fact that Dean isn’t really "Dean," since "Dean" has been dead many times over.
Wait a minute.
I just realized, not only does the wicked queen order a huntsman to kill Snow White, she orders him to bring back her heart in a box. Not only does she order the huntsman to bring back Snow White’s heart in a box, she has a special fancy box built for exactly that purpose, on a moment’s notice.
I’m trying to imagine the conversation between the wicked queen and the guy she hires to construct the box:
One for the books
My son Sam (8) has informed me that I am famous! A movie I co-wrote, Antz, is now in the Guiness Book of World Records, complete with poorly-scanned, over-saturated artwork. It was, apparently, the "first film with digital water." "The first movie to use computer software to simulate the properties of water was Dreamworks’ Antz (USA, 1998)," says the text. "Prior to this, computer-generated fluid effects were drawn, frame by frame, using graphics programs. Realistic water effects require powerful, physics-based computer simulations — at the time Antz was released, the only detailed studies of fluid dynamics were being carried out by scientists at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, USA, researching the flow of particles after a nuclear strike." If those Los Alamos boys had thought to put some talking ants in their studies they might have had something.
Some thoughts on Fantastic Mr. Fox
Surprise of surprises, it’s turning into a wonderful autumn at the movies. As a rule, I don’t enjoy Wes Anderson’s movies, but I thought Fantastic Mr. Fox was a hoot and a half. And it’s very purely a Wes Anderson movie: a quirky guy set in a neurotic milieu triumphs through his quirkiness, all presented with a dry, self-aware wit. Normally, that kind of thing rubs me the wrong way but this movie bowled me over. Anderson should make more movies about talking animals.
Some thoughts, kind of, on 2012
2012 reminds me a lot of the night back in December of 1972 when my father packed us all into the car and took us to a late-night show of The Poseidon Adventure. I had just turned 11 and had never seen a "grown-up" movie before. The movie I can remember seeing in theaters before The Poseidon Adventure was The Aristocats.
Venture Bros: Handsome Ransom
What does Hank want? Hank wants a father. Rusty is as close to a biological father as he’ll ever get, but Rusty has no interest in acting the role of father to Hank (Dean, it turns out, is a different story). Hank loves and idolizes Brock, who is now gone, replaced by the obnoxious, overbearing Sgt Hatred. Hank states outright that Hatred is not his father, and he refers to Rusty as a "honky" (which, to be fair, he is).
My Christmas Carol story
It is 1980. I’m in college. I’m taking a drama class. The class is taught by a guy in the drama department. When he’s not teaching drama, he designs sets for the productions of whatever play the school is doing. Which means, in addition to attending classes, the class is required to attend all productions, so that they may then praise the instructor’s work the following Monday.
I suffer through well-mounted, boring-as-all-get-out productions of The Shadow Box, The Country Wife and What the Butler Saw. The last production of the semester is an adaptation of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol.
Venture Bros: Blood of the Father, Heart of Steel
As the title suggests, "Blood of the Father, Heart of Steel" is about, well, searching for fathers and steeling your heart. What does it mean to be a man? Are you a man when you kill your father, or when you find him? Does a father hold you back or complete you? Does a father make his son a man by nurturing him or making him fight on his own? And, in a moment of truth, can a man act? Is that what it means to be a man? Can you steel your heart enough to act? And, where do our notions of manhood, or action, come from?