I Can See Clearly...

Hey blog friends!  Thanks for bearing with me through the last couple of no-update weeks.  I had a few bumps (and ice) in the road, but I'm back.  And I brought specs-y with me.  (Sorry.)

The second collection from Warby Parker is now available!  These new frames just cause optical lust in many ways.  WP has also added a little feature where each frame's page tells you which face shape that style will work best on.  The prices have not gone up (about $95 for each pair), and they still donate a pair for every pair purchased. 

I'm going to keep rocking my Coltons most days of the week and spice it up with Thompson from time to time.  Has anyone else tried out Warby Parker? 

Quick Catch-up:

The Social Network: (A) It's directed like a thriller, but no one dies. It's got some very funny bits, but it's not a comedy. You got your Fincher in my Sorkin. Whoda thunk it?

True Grit: (B) Solid remake of the John Wayne classic. Not a major Coen Brothers film, but I'll take what I can get.

Tron Legacy: (D) Well, the soundtrack was nice...

Running Wilde: (C-) Methadone for Arrested Development junkies. Well, if there's any justice, we'll see Peter Sarafinowitz in something else soon.

Despicable Me: (C) Loved the character design, thought the story was too, well, contrived. (Woulda been nice to see an actual super-hero to offset the villains.)

Drunk, Stoned, Brilliant, Dead: The Writers and Artists who Made the National Lampoon Insanely Great by Rick Meyerowitz. (B) At this point, I've got enough 'NatLamp' memoirs to last me a lifetime, and I'm hoping this is the last one that a contributor puts out.

Acme Cartoon Library 20: Lint: (C) The main character-not protagonist-in Chris Ware's latest comic is one of Rusty Brown's tormentors in school. It's a biography for the type of person who doesn't usually get a biography, and in retrospect, there's a good reason for that. Ware portrays Jason Lint as the type of lower-level alpha male who goes through life with an inflated sense of entitlement, whom, given his social class, has most of his entitlements fulfilled. When someone like Ware makes something like this, it comes across as an act of literary revenge, not unlike 'Revolutionary Road', where the protagonists suffer not because of the elements of Classic Tragedy, but because someone like Lint gave Ware a wedgie in gym class. Because Lint doesn't have any capacity for self-reflection, the reader doesn't have any ability to empathize with him.

Between this comic and Dan Clowes' 'Wilson', maybe a new trend in 'alt-cartooning' is coming. By which I mean the Rise of the Unlikeable Lead Character. I'm on record as being a Chris Ware fan myself, but I can see why a lot of cartoonists really find his work a turn-off.


Finally, might I recommend you stop by this website and check out my pal Steve LeCouilliard's web-comic, 'Much the Miller's Son'? It's a funny bit of ribaldry in the classic model of a French comic from the 70's. (Well, that's the best comparison I've got for now.) And he just got a much-coveted Xeric grant, too! Jolly Hockeysticks for Steve! (Best part: there's no video game references, role-playing game references, gay furries, tormented goth kids or Mary Sue characters to be seen! A true mark of a potentially great web comic!)

The Magicians

The Magicians by Lev Grossman has been on my must-read list for about a year now.  When I moved to Nashville, it was one of the first catalog searches I did at the public library; much to my dismay, of the dozen or so copies they had across the various branches, all were gone.  They were also on hold.  All of them.  For a long time. 

This was a bittersweet recognition that people here actually read.  No offense to anyone from my hometown, but there was usually not a line on a book, unless it was the latest Harry Potter.  Hmm....speaking of which...

This book was a blatant rip-off of C.S. Lewis and J.K. Rowling.  I'm surprised he didn't sign his name as L.V. Grossman.  There's nothing new here.  Nothing.  Almost every aspect was apparently 'borrowed' from a highly known book or movie.  I am getting a bit ahead of myself, though.

This is the 400-page story of Quentin Coldwater, a bright high school student who is getting ready to apply to colleges.  His life takes a wild turn when he is accepted into the magic school called Brakebills.  It's a thousand wonders he was not a neglected orphan as well. 

As I mentioned, there's not really anything new here, but there was a bit of magic--at least for me.  It's a definite page-turner, but for this reader, it was more about getting down to when the real story was going to start.  Around page 357 or so, I realized that Grossman was running out of time.  I never got particularly attached to Quentin because he doesn't really seem to have many unique or redeeming qualities.  Maybe this was the magic?  I kept reading, despite myself.  It was a decent book, but it was mostly like Hogwarts with some f-bombs and alcohol thrown in for good measure.

Notable excerpt:

"...perfection is a nervy business, because the moment you spot the tiniest flaw it's ruined."

...still here

Hi all.  I'm still around.  Work has been insane in the membrane.  I've been putting in tons of overtime.  Please bear with me.  I have some ideas for some new lust lists, more food coming soon, and a new book review.

How have you been doing?  (Don't be shy.  I love a comment.)