Temporal Reviews: Hey Nostradamus!

Hey Nostradamus! is the latest novel by Canadian author Douglas Coupland. Coupland is perhaps best known for coining the phrase "Generation X" - taken from the title of his first novel. I have been a huge fan of Coupland's since that first novel - even though much of his work is spotty (for example, I thought "Girlfriend in a Coma" started very strong, then meandered away to mediocrity).

This novel, however, is brilliant from top to bottom. Similar to the atrocious Booker winner ("Vernon God Little"), this novel is a take on school shootings. But where VGL does it's best to explain the "why" of school violence (and fails miserably), Coupland wisely uses the school violence as a starting point. He's much more concerned with "what happens afterward?" This creates a much more complex novel that explores not only teen angst, but also familial emotional abuse, spirituality, religion, feelings of urban isolation, and a host of other themes.

By using four narrators, Coupland is able to take a core theme, spirituality, and absorb it and examine it from vastly different angles. Moreso than in his other work, Coupland captures the unique voice and experience of each character.

Overall, this was a fascinating read, and one that will stay with me for a long time - especially the "Heather" section. An amazing novel.

You are Gold - Always believe in your soul

So I think for starters that Paul Hamm is gay. It's not just the lisp. It's not just the chipmunk voice. OK. It's the lisp. It's the chipmunk voice.

But give the brother (oops- sister) a break! He should keep his gold medal which he earned in true American style - playing the rules game (aka "I followed the rules")

There seem to be a lot of cry-babies in the Olympic gymnastathon this year.

Koreans. OK, so the judges screwed up. But they should have caught the error sooner - before someone else was wearing the gold medal. And who's to say this guy would have just gotten the 0.1 added?

Svetlana Khorkina. Someone feed this girl. Krispy Kreme and Ham Sandwich to go, stat! I know she's a "model." I can't imagine what she models for. Baby Gap? No one is out to get her, except for maybe a Lifetime TV movie about the dangers of food issues.

Alexei Nemov. You're beautiful, and you have 12 medals already. Let the other kids play.

Pam Anderson. I really wanted to see her at the Olympics. She would have won the gold medal for "boob jobs", hands down.

Bulgaria. I'm faulting Bulgaria, not Jordan Jotchev because he is one beautiful man, even if he is only 4 feet tall. He's like a mini-me version of George Clooney. Only he wasn't in that Batman movie.

Elizabeth Berkley. OK, so she wasn't there, but I bet she's pissed that Tarin Humphrey stole her look from "Showgirls" and got rewarded with 2 silver medals. Relax Elizabeth - the medals are for swinging around and leaping over the bar, not writhing on it.

The only thing that would have made gymnastics this year better would have been if Surya Bonaly competed. (OK, so she's a skater - is there really much difference?)

Temporal Reviews: Garden State

Garden State almost makes me want to watch Zach Braff's TV show (Scrubs or Scabs or something?). He is certainly the new "it" boy - at least for me. Garden State was a valiant, if flawed, effort. The quirky sense of humor - of laughing at life's daily tragedies - was spot on. I'm not sure it would have worked as well without such great acting.

I have admired Peter Sarsgaard's talent for several years now (he was absolutely brilliant in Boys Don't Cry, The Center of the World, and Shattered Glass). Natalie Portman has some great acting chops - I wish she would bring them to the Star Wars prequels! But Braff himself had the perfect detached/medicated persona to give the Large character the right mix of bemused observer and conflicted protagonist.

As I was looking him up on imdb, I noticed he appeared in Broken Hearts Club. I don't remember him at all. I'll now have to revisit that film. Not necessarily a bad thing (Dean Cain, where have you been all my life?!?)

FYI - I think I want to get the soundtrack, too. Hmm.

Temporal Reviews: Cosmopolis

Cosmopolis is the 13th novel by Don DeLillo. It tells the story of a day in the life of a billionaire asset manager - a day spent mostly in his white stretch limousine, and a day when the currency market crashes (due mostly to his interference) and bankrupts him.

It's also a day anarchists take over Times Square, a day he makes love to his wife for the first time, and the day he sees what he believes is his own demise in his pocket watch.

Were Cosmopolis any longer, I think it would be a failure as a novel. As it is, the unevenness become unbearable toward the last 10 pages or so.

Aside from that, this is a provocative novel with a great array of images, ideas, and characters. Clocking in at 208 pages, it's a perfect length for its subject matter. I loved the passages with his Chief of Theory - she was certainly the most interestingly drawn character.

Temporal Reviews: What the #$*! do we (k)now?

I finally saw What the #$*! do we (k)now? at the Valley Art last night with my friend Andy. It was a very fascinating film - part drama, part animation, mostly documentary - lots of talking heads of physicists and spiritualists talking about quantum physics and reality and such.

This film for me called to mind another film I liked and admired more - Waking Life. Waking Life was the film Richard Linklater filmed and then animated that was more an exploration of dreaming and consciousness with respect to reality - much less academic than What the Bleep.

Like Waking Life, What the Bleep is a film I will need to see a few times to really appreciate everything that happens. For me, the most powerful scene was when Marlee Matlin (I love her) has her breakdown/breakthrough - smashing her bathroom mirror and confronting her own personal demons (specifically her outrageously low self-esteem) and choosing to love herself rather than hate herself.

Overall, an excellent film, even though I got a little sleepy at times. And I loved the chubby Barbara Eden lady who channels Z Gallerie. She was great!

Vacation all I ever wanted....

So I'm now back at work after a glorious 5-day vacation of doing absolutely nothing. It was a lovely vacation:

• Thursday evening: Coffee with the boys at Biltmore
• Friday day: Bowling party sponsored by my realtor Heather - which was fun. Also met my friend Keith for coffee.
• Friday night: Birthday dinner for my friend Nicole at Oregano's - they know the owner, so he blocked off part of the parking lot for our big birthday bash. I had a spot of beer and a spot of martini, and felt no pain as I drown my vacation in pizza. Yummmmm. There were a ton of people there (mostly from Realty Executives), but it was fun anyway.
• Saturday day: Haircut day at Biltmore - Lana/Iguana was happy to see me - followed by some pool time relaxation.
• Saturday night: Out for beers and jello shots with my boys at Tinseltown Tavern. This experience can be summed up as "Hags Gone Wild." Yikes.
• Sunday morning: Church (natch) - which was very interesting - sermon about friendship. I listened to most of it.
• Sunday afternoon/evening: Scott and Shawn's Day of Fun. We had an impromptu pool party at my place, followed by dinner at Pei Wei (orange peel chicken for me), then beer bust at NuTowne, and lastly bare chest night at Padlock. Quality time with Shawn is always good.
• Monday day: Gym and snoozing while watching Lifetime TV for Gays.
• Monday night: Bowling - we lost two of three, but are still in third place with one week to go. I feel like the Cubs...
• Tuesday day: Finally got around to taking an HIV-test at APAZ. I took the new 20-minute test. I am negative (to be celebrated by throwing huge orgy - kidding).
• Tuesday rest of the day: I finally got around to cleaning to my house, and I'm now perhaps 90% done (I thoroughly cleaned the downstairs, still have to finish my bedroom/bathroom and vaccuum upstairs). Also watched a lot of Law and Order. Benjamin Bratt is sometimes very cute. Sometimes not. He should pick cute.

All I can say is that I wish I was still on vacation. The Go-Go's were right. Vacation all I ever wanted. Vacation have to get away.

Temporal Reviews: Oryx and Crake

I just finished Margaret Atwood's latest novel, the Booker shortlisted novel Oryx and Crake. It, like Atwood's most famous novel, The Handmaid's Tale, is a dystopian tale. In this future imperfect, genetic engineering and bioterrorism have run amok - not to mention extreme class warfare with the virtual elimination of the middle class.

Atwood is one of my favorite authors - I think she is destined for a Nobel Prize. I was a little hesitant to read this novel - especially given the luke-warm reviews it recieved from critics. I thought the novel was amazing. Her approach was mesmerizing - especially in how the actions and histories unfolded in both real time and flashback. If there is a fault in this novel, it's how the climactic point of the novel, Crake's ultimate betrayal of humanity, is not monumental enough. Even though the novel is called "Oryx and Crake" - and the spectres of those characterize infiltrate every aspect of the novel - the novel is really Jimmy/Snowman's story - his experiences growing up before the virus, and his survival after (including his semi-deification by the Crakers).

As far as the Booker Prize is concerned, they certainly missed the boat. I haven't read the other short-listed novels, but Oryx and Crake was in another league altogether from the anemic piece of crap that won (Vernon God Little). All I can say about why that POS won is that Europe really hates us.

There are giants in the sky

So I went to "Coffee Lady" today for a smoothie, and I think I was disappointed. Trying to eat healthy sucks. Really sucks.

High Fructose Corn Syrup
This stuff is terrible. It's like non-sugar sugar. It doesn't exist in nature, just as a cheap way for The Man to sweeten things that are sweet enough anyway. No wonder the US is now all-diabetic, all the time. Why does Apple Juice need to be sweeter? Apples are sweet enough!

(Partially) Hydrogenated Oil
This stuff is terrible. It's like vegetable oil that's been injected with death. It's also nigh on impossible to avoid. And it's really bad for you.

Vegetables
This stuff is terrible. Why can't vegetables taste like donuts?

Anyway, so my smoothie was tasty (apple juice, frozen peaches, yogurt, and protein powder), but i don't like not knowing the nutritional value of things like that. I have a feeling that the apple juice had added High Fructose Corn Syrup, and I'm sure the yogurt did too (and was probably full fat).

It sucks to try to eat natural foods that are good for you.

Temporal Reviews: De-Lovely

De-Lovely was certainly better than I expected, but I still didn't enjoy the framing effect. I think the merits of the story (Cole Porter's lifestory) was strong enough without creating this bizarre "This is Your Life" frame.

Moreover, the frame itself was odd. If the point of Kevin Kline's make-up was to make him look like Carl Reiner, why not just hire Carl Reiner? And am I the only one who is frightened of Jonathan Pryce? He can be done anytime now.

The songs I thought worked very well - in most cases improving on their (somewhat narrow) appeal from the soundtrack (especially Alanis Morrissette). The big exception here was the stagnant rendition of "Just One of Those Things" by Diana Krall. Not sure why, but she doesn't seem to get the song.

Kevin Kline is yummy. That's all I can say.