Yesterday I got the CD of music from the movie Juno. I've already praised the movie, and part of what made the movie the best one of 2007 was the soundtrack. The songs fit the mood of the movie's scenes perfectly, and apparently part of the reason was because Ellen Page, the film's star, decided that her character would most logically listen to the music of the Moldy Peaches, a band that includes singer Kimya Dawson, who performs many of the songs on the album.

I'd never heard of Dawson before, probably because I'm not too up on indie rock or the anti-folk movement. But I can understand why her songs are appealing to me. I'm probably not the best person to try to describe her music, but what the hey. Her lyrics are somewhat surreal, her style is acoustic, and her voice is real. There's an idiosyncratic feel to what she's doing, and as I listen to her songs I feel like I'm enjoying an orthogonal view of the world around me. I think it's because the music is filled with bouncing rhythms and catchy tunes, while the lyrics range from simple, sweet observations of life to the mocking of those very same observations.

Okay, that didn't make any sense. But the music is still cool. And if you're in Boston, there's a great opportunity coming up.

I looked up Dawson on the Internet and found, much to my surprise, that she'll be performing locally next Thursday night, January 17, at Newbury Comics. So if there's anyone else out there who was as enchanted by her music as I was, let me know. Maybe we can get a small group together.

(For my friends in NYC: she's in Brooklyn next Tuesday.)

Tags: boston, movies, music, nyc

I originally hadn't planned to discuss my thoughts on the "One Day More" story line that just concluded in Amazing Spider-Man 545 a few weeks ago, for two reasons. First of all, I didn't think anyone would be interested in my opinion. And secondly, I presumed that there would be so much discussion in the blogosphere that any of the points I might make would have been made already.

As it happens, though, I've actually been asked for my opinion, since I'm not just a reader of Spider-Man, but someone who grew up in Forest Hills, just like Peter did (cf. my essay "The Friendly Neighborhood of Peter Parker" in the book Webslinger). And as I ruminated over the story, I realized that my thoughts on the story go deeper and further than just this one story itself, into the realm of general thoughts on serialized fiction.

So even if you don't read comic books, or don't care about the adventures of Spider-Man, I think you might find something interesting in here about the writing of franchised characters and the writing of fiction in general. Because I also bring into the discussion Stephen King, William Goldman, and the TV shows Lost and Gilmore Girls. Read on, or just cut to the end, which is a good bit and has Marvin in it. (Well, to be honest, Marvin doesn't appear at the end. But I do reveal if I plan to keep reading Spider-Man.)

( What Would You Do If You Only Had One More Day? )

Finally, for those of you who didn't read through all my pondering, the answer to your question is yes, I will continue to read Amazing Spider-Man for the foreseeable future. I may not be happy about this current development, but I still want to keep up with the life of Peter Parker.

Tags: comics, movies, science-fiction, television, writing

There's an old saying: once is heresy, twice is tradition, three times is sacred tradition. With that thought in mind, welcome to my list of the top ten movies of 2007!

As you can remind yourself by clicking on the above links, Nomi and I don't usually manage to see a lot of new movies in the theatre in any given calendar year. In 2005, we saw only thirteen films, and in 2006, we only caught ten. And yet, I revel in the absurdity of making a top ten list based on such a small sample. So the magic number for 2007 was again thirteen, and out of those thirteen, here are what I consider the top ten films of the year.

[Warning: There might be minor spoilers in the discussion. If you want to be safe, just read the titles, which are in boldface.]

( Michael A. Burstein's Top Ten Movies of 2007 )

And the three that didn't make the list? Spider-Man 3, Shrek the Third, and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. Hm. The three movies that didn't make the list are all the second sequels to a previous film. Hollywood, I bet there's a lesson in there for you.

(ETA: I completely forgot that I went to see Transformers this year, sans Nomi. I frequently joked that it was the greatest movie ever made, but if I even forgot to mention it when I first posted this... well, I guess that tells us something about the impact that movie made.)

Tags: books, comics, movies, personal, politics, science-fiction, television

Nomi and I plan to see the new movie National Treasure: Book of Secrets sometime this weekend.

I took a look at the review of the film in the New York Times. The reviewer, Matt Zoller Seitz, understands that it's supposed to be a hokey movie, filled with cheese, although he does criticize it even within that genre (he points out that compared to films like the Indiana Jones series and "North By Northwest" it is lacking).

The best part of the review, however, is when Seitz attempts to lay out the plot. He begins with a rather straightforward recounting of what happened with a Gates family ancestor and John Wilkes Booth:

"Booth just happened to shoot Lincoln on the same night that he and a co-conspirator pressured Thomas Gates into translating a diary page that disclosed the location of Cibola, the fabled lost city of gold. To clear the Gates family name, the good guys must prove the existence of Cibola by finding the long-dispersed fragments of a map, one of which is hidden in a compendium of secrets handed down from president to president."

And then we get this little gem:

"To acquire the cleverly named Book of Secrets, Ben plots to kidnap the current president (Bruce Greenwood) and blah, blah, blah purple monkey dishwasher."

I know it's been around for a while, but I think that will become my new catch phrase.

Tags: movies, silly

7:30 PM: Arrive at home after running evening errands. Turn on the television set to see that the NBC Nightly News, at least, is still fresh and new (although an hour old from having been recorded on the TiVo). Surf the Internet.

8:00 PM: In desperation, put on DVD of the 2005 movie The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio borrowed from library. Watch movie to fill time. Charming adaptation, with interesting choices made the screenwriter/director, but not as good as the book.

9:40 PM: Panic. TiVo is recording NBC Monday night lineup. Are the shows reruns?

9:45 PM: Begin watching Heroes. Sigh of relief as we discover the episode is brand new. Enjoy plot twists and story ramp-up.

10:25 PM: Wonder how Tim Kring will actually manage to wrap this up by December 3. Take a few steady breaths to calm down.

10:30 PM: Begin watching Journeyman. Time travel plot, as usual, bends the brain and make us forget the lateness of the hour. Wonder what would happen if Dan Vasser and Sam Beckett arrived in 1988, during the last writers' strike. Would Probe still be on today? (Wonder if I wondered this before.)

11:15 PM: Attempt to make Jon Stewart-style joke in an effort to properly satire current political situation. Fail miserably.

11:20 PM: Pick up book to read before going to sleep. Hey, writers of books aren't on strike. Make a decision to read more.

11:21 PM: Books are boring. Sleep.

Tags: movies, television

Those of us who enjoy television shows and movies as more than casual entertainments are probably all aware that the Writers Guild of America has gone on strike today. The last time this happened, in 1988, the strike lasted five months and killed a lot of TV shows. (I myself bemoaned the loss of Probe, a new show that broadcast perhaps five episodes before the strike brought it to an end.)

Almost anyone who knows me is aware of the fact that I am a strong supporter of unions. I remember my father going on strike in the 1970s when I was a little kid, and how my family went for much of a year not knowing how it would turn out. But Dad stuck to his principles that the writers and editors of the Newspaper Guild deserved more than management wanted to give them. My father died in the strike offices of the Newspaper Guild seventeen years ago last Friday; it's not hard to see that I come by my support of unions honestly.

So it should not come as a surprise to anyone that I support the writers in their strike and hope that they succeed in negotiating a new, fairer contract.

However...

It may be perverse of me to say this, but in some ways I wouldn't mind seeing a long, drawn-out, protracted strike. It would give me a chance to catch up on both my reading and older entertainment options. Nomi and I have been watching old episodes of Doctor Who, and we're still in the middle of the DVD set of the series "The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr." We missed Veronica Mars during its three years of broadcast and have been meaning to catch up with it (again, via DVDs). It has not escaped my notice that the simple fact we have old TV shows and movies on DVD as an option to fill the empty hours of programming buttresses the WGA's arguments that their members deserve a share of residuals for the new media.

Of course, in the end what I hope for will have little, if any, effect on the final outcome. But if it weren't for the strike, we wouldn't have paragraphs such as this one, from the New York Times article "Screenwriters Picket as Strike Begins" by David Carr and Michael Cieply, describing the picket line outside Rockefeller Center in New York City today:

All of the trappings of a union protest were there — signs, chanting workers, an inflatable rat, and a discarded bag of wrappers and cups from Dunkin Donuts. The rat was borrowed from Local 79, an AFL-CIO laborers’ union, and commuted in from Queens.

I just wish they had published a photo of the inflatable rat.

Tags: movies, personal, television, writing

The New York Times today ran a review of a new movie, "Helvetica," which is, believe it or not, all about the career of the Helvetica typeface.

On the film's website, the director, Gary Hustwit, does a good job of justifying why he made a film about a typeface:

Why make a film about a typeface, let alone a feature documentary film about Helvetica? Because it's all around us. You've probably already seen Helvetica several times today. It might have told you which subway platform you needed, or tried to sell you investment services or vacation getaways in the ads in your morning paper. Maybe it gave you the latest headlines on television, or let you know whether to 'push' or 'pull' to open your office door.

Given the discussions I've occasionally participated in about what font editors prefer on manuscripts, I figured that there must be some readers out there who are as intrigued by this film's premise as I am. And hey, they interview someone who was a year or two behind me in high school, so it must be good.

Tags: movies

Nomi and I have two traditions we like to observe on Independence Day, if we can. The first tradition is to go to the Old State House in downtown Boston to hear the reading of the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration has been read from the balcony on the Fourth of July every year since 1777. (In 1776, before the Internets, they had to wait for a man on horseback to deliver a copy from Philadelphia, so they held the reading on July 18th.)

The last time we did this was two years ago, which I posted about then under the title What I Did on July 4th -- As Told By Others. (Last year, as folks may recall, Nomi and I went to New York City to visit my Mom. For those who want to read about that trip again, you can find it under the title Independence Day Weekend Trip Report -- With Photos of Forest Hills!) This year, since we were home, we went again. It ended up being a lot more crowded than I remember from two years ago.

We met friends near the Park Street T stop around 9:30 AM and walked over to the Old State House. Because of the crowds, we weren't able to get a spot directly in front, so we found ourselves viewing the balcony from the side:

Old State House Balcony Members of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company read the Declaration of Independence. Photo copyright © 2007 by Nomi S. Burstein.

I had a copy of the Declaration with me, as did Nomi, and as we listened, we followed along with the text. Quite a few people on LiveJournal have noted the similarity of some of the abuses of King George III to the abuses of our current administration. Nomi and I found ourselves ticking off on our fingers which ones we found ourselves. And that's really all I want to say on that topic.

(Well, I will note one more thing. The speaker thanked the men and women of the armed forces, and expressed his hope that they would all soon come home safe and sound. That got the most applause of the morning.)

After the reading, Nomi and I usually go home, but our friends wanted to see what happened next at Faneuil Hall. So we walked over and watched the parade march along:

Middlesex County Volunteers Fifes and Drums The Middlesex County Volunteers Fifes and Drums participate in the festivities. Photo copyright © 2007 by Nomi S. Burstein.

There were also quite a few people around in period garb:

Lady in Costume This young lady, who gives tours of the Freedom Trail, agreed to pose for a picture. Photo copyright © 2007 by Nomi S. Burstein.

And more marchers:

Marchers in Costume Photo copyright © 2007 by Nomi S. Burstein.

And, as usual, there were representatives from the armed forces around. This time, it was sailors from the USS Bulkeley, who are visiting Boston. Nomi managed to snap this photo as a group of sailors were posing for their own photo:

Sailors from the USS Bulkeley Photo copyright © 2007 by Nomi S. Burstein.

Around that time, one couple we were with decided to go on a tour of the Freedom Trail, and we managed to connect them with the lady who had allowed us to take her photo. We walked with the other couple back to the T, and because they had a stroller with them, we walked to the Haymarket T with the elevators.

Which meant that we walked right past the Boston Holocaust Memorial.

Boston Holocaust Memorial Monument Photo copyright © 2007 by Nomi S. Burstein.

Since I had never actually been to the Memorial, I asked if we could take a few minutes to pass through it. Quite a few others were doing the same thing. For some reason, it seemed appropriate to see it on Independence Day, especially after having read Harold Feld's post on Asher Levy.

This afternoon, Nomi and I observed our other tradition, which is to watch the movie "1776." I've done this for years, using VHS tape and Laserdisc, and now we watch it on DVD. Other friends of ours have picked up this tradition as well, which pleases me. I remember when we once had a group of friends over to watch it; afterwards, one of them told me that this was the first time she had ever done anything for the holiday that actually seemed appropriate. And this year, I got to tell one of my high school classmates at our reunion that we've enjoyed her father's performance in the movie, and I even sang his part for her.

So that was our Independence Day. How was yours?

Copyright © Michael A. Burstein

Tags: boston, brookline, jewish, movies, personal

I have no time to post this right now, but I need to acknowledge the 30th anniversary of Star Wars.

Why? Because thirty years ago today, when the movie opened, was the day I actually saw this film. My father had heard about it, and insisted that the family all go to see it the day it opened. He knew it would be something special.

And ten years ago, on January 29, 1997, I asked Mom to record her memories of our experience of going to see the film. Both Mom and Dad are now gone, but through the magic of technology, I'm listening to her voice on my iPod, telling me the story of us going to see the film.

Many people went to see the movie over and over, but in its original release, we only saw it twice. We saw it on opening day...and we saw it on closing day.

Tags: mom, movies, personal, science-fiction

Last year about this time I posted my personal list of the top ten movies of 2005. I did admit that I had only seen thirteen movies, so that my choices of what to put in the top ten were rather limited.

This year, as it so happens, I actually only managed to see exactly ten movies. Does that mean that I can't post a top ten list? Of course I can!

[Warning: There might be minor spoilers in the discussion. If you want to be safe, just read the titles, which are in boldface.]

( Michael A. Burstein's Top Ten Movies of 2006 )

And that's it for now. Thoughts?

Tags: books, comics, movies, personal, politics, science, science-fiction