Sauthorday!

Interview with Ernest Cline, author of Ready Player One, probably one of the best books I've read in years. May contain spoilers. I will gush about it next week but, let me say, damn, what a good book.

Film Friday: Contagion ( 2011 ) Movie Review

Title: Contagion
Genre: Thriller/Independent
Directed by: Steven Soderbergh
Written by: Scott Z. Burns
Starring:
Matt Damon
Laurence Fishburne
Jude Law
Gwyneth Paltrow
Release Date: September 9th, 2011
Rating: 4.5/5





Its Matt Damon running away from things!!! Whoo! Or, in the case of Contagion, Matt Damon and the rest of humanity are running from a deadly strain of flu which can kill within a matter of days. The movie interests itself by following a number of characters including workers from the WHO, bloggers, scientists, and your regular joe as they all attempt to deal with the disease, find a cure, and come to terms with its aftereffects (death, societal discord, looting, etc, etc.)

If you have seen the movie Crash, this movie also follows a number of individuals who are seemingly connected to one another despite differences in jobs, geography, and class because of this plague. At one point or another one or more of these characters interact with one another while attempting to find a cure. The movie and plot are delivered to the audience without the smarmyness of a natural disaster movie, rather, the story is told in a very plainclothes way that gives an accurate look at what would happen should  large plague cover the globe without becoming a pseudo-documentary or preaching to the audience.

I suppose my two main complaints are that some of the characters storylines are not as connected to the overall story or reach any satisfying conclusion. For example, Jude Law's character, a whistleblower/blogger figure, there really isn't a clear motivation for his actions nor conclusion to his storyline. You could also say this about Matt Damon's character as well.

Also, since this story is told so plainclothes I am at a loss to tell you the -exact- plot. You got people dealing with a disease and....? It is suggested by the director that this is just another episode of many of humanity dealing with a plague. So, if that's the case, then why is this plague special? Why are these people highlighted? Why this story now? What's the significance? The movie isn't a cautionary tale nor spouting a particular political agenda, rather, it is neutrally telling this tale and, for that reason, it is hard to pinpoint exactly what this movie is communicating to the audience.

However, I found Contagion to be a very compelling movie and a movie well put together and I think it is worth a watch, even if I am unsure what you will be watching.

Album Review: Orson Welles's 1938 War of the Worlds Broadcast

Rating: 5/5

Its October! Here's something to get that Halloween mood going.

In 1938 Orson Welles and the Mercury Theater did a live radio broadcast of their radio adaptation of H.G. Wells's The War of the Worlds. With only two station identifications throughout the 60+ minute broadcast, listeners tuning into the middle of the adaptation became convinced that what they were hearing was actually happening. Panic ensued as many individuals were convinced that Earth was being invaded by Martians and destroying the planet.

Granted, no one really knows exactly how widespread this panic was and numbers vary, but this broadcast and the panic it caused reached newspapers across the world and did much for Welles's fame and notoriety. This broadcast is cleverly put together not simply as an adaptation that exists merely for entertainment, but they put in news broadcasts, music, and other things to make the adaptation sound genuinely like a radio program that is interrupted by news of a martian invasion. It's not surprising that it caused a panic; listening to the broadcast gives the listener a sense of dread as innocuous reports of gas jets from mars turn into broadcasts from army soldiers that go silent as they are killed from martian heat rays.

The fall season and cooler nights are approaching and this is a nice broadcast to listen to with a cool drink and a nice autumnal breeze blowing.


Orson Welles 1938 Broadcast: Part 1 , Part 2 , Part 3 , Part 4 , Part 5 , Part 6 , Part 7

Stephen King Reads From Dr. Sleep

If you are enjoying the autumnal chill in the air, here is an excerpt from Dr. Sleep, his sequel to The Shining

Book Review: Cell

Cell by Stephen King
Release Date: January 2006
Publisher: Scribner
Audience: Adult/Mature
Pages: 480
Buy the Book: Amazon
Book Rating: 4/5









Alas, we have reached the last day of Stephen King week... If you are wondering why none of the Dark Tower books made an appearance, a couple reasons. 1. I haven't read any of them beyond The Gunslinger and...well...that's about it. The series is fairly well known, and I wanted to share other King offerings. That doesn't mean the series won't appear on this blog. . .

Bit of a shift today as I am looking at a more dystopic book and one of his more recent novels. Cell follows Clayton, an unsuccessful artist, as he tries to find his son during a technology-induced apocalypse. From Clayton's observations, using a cellphone essentially erases the human brain, much like a magnet on a hard drive. This creates a mass of humanity that is wild, unpredictable, violent, and later dangerous as the full potential of the human brain is unlocked and creates a group-mind populace with preternatural abilities. Along the way he ends up grouping together with a number of people and they try to find out how to turn humans back to normal while trying to find loved ones.

This book is a very visceral book, which I think affects the novel negatively. It's almost as if King wanted to write in all the blood and filth that many authors may not include in their 'artistic vision'. Does knowing that humans lost control of their bowels and crap their pants matter? No. Do I need to know the specifics of naked people running by the narrator or details of people bashing their faces in? No. (alas, King-itis affects this book with its cast of many). It may just be a personal beef, but blaring the humanity of humans in novels when it doesn't have direct bearing on the plot smacks of self-superiority. One could make the argument that it is a physical representation of the mind-wipe people experienced, but that is shown in so many other ways this feels extraneous and only serves as shock value.

That being said, King must have done something right because I read it when it came out and the novel, upon recollection, is still vivid in my mind, perhaps because of the realistic and visceral nature of the novel. The nature of the threats the main characters face change throughout the novel, and Clayton's quest to find his child amongst the wreckage of humanity is compelling. Also, the nature of humanity is discussed some as the main characters try to make sense of it all.

Beyond the shock value of the book, it was a vivid and fast read, well put together and is an interesting take on the many apocalypses (apocalypsi?) humankind may face, often from unexpected quarters.