Scott

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halloween movie fest 2014.

October is upon Seattle in just a few short hours, which means it is almost time for another year’s Halloween Movie Fest. Oh, happy day!

This year I will be watching 15 movies for HMF, a few I know in love, and a bunch I’ve never seen before.

Here are the films, not necessarily in the order they will be watched.

You’re Next
The Conjuring
Oculus
Come Out and Play
We Are What We Are
Magic Magic
Sightseers
The Changeling [1980]
Freaks
Carnival of Souls
Uzumaki
The Shining
Suspiria
Peeping Tom
Repulsion

And a few bonus movies include: Pontypool, Let The Right One In, Coraline, Paranorman.

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birdman. [trailer park.]

By Scott • On 2014-06-13 • In movies, scott, trailer park • 1 min read

Yup.

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e3 is in full effect.

By Scott • On 2014-06-10 • In gaming, nerd candy, scott • 1 min read

You should watch these even if you aren’t into gaming, if only to see where the wildly popular medium is headed. It continues to grow as a beautiful visual medium.

Ori and the Blind Forest

This game looks so gorgeous, and I wish I’d been in the room for this launch trailer.

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The Division

This trailer is satisfyingly cinematic. If it was a movie, I’d go see it.

A third person shooter that utilizes an open online world, meaning your action will pit you against AI and other players, but with a larger scope than just ‘load map, shoot other players, repeat’. This looks like something I could actually get into.

As a bonus, watch a gameplay trailer here that shows the sort of awesome co-op fun to be had.

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No Man’s Sky

From the very little I know, this one could be the gamechanger in the next gen story. The beautiful indie [!!] game is entirely open world for exploration, and will continue to grow, leaving a veritable universe to be discovered.

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gameplay for ‘arkham knight’

By Scott • On 2014-06-10 • In gaming, nerd candy, scott, trailer park • 1 min read

Behold, the reason I’ll upgrade to a PS4.

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five and five. [five things i’ve been enjoying and five things i hope to enjoy very soon]

By Scott • On 2014-06-08 • In books, fictionista, five things, gaming, invasion/visitation movies, movies, nerd candy, scott, seattle, sports, television • 4 min read

I’ve been in the mood to do this again. I’d like to do it as consistently as I used to, but needs must and whatnot. Maybe my schedule will allow it, maybe it won’t.

For my first post back in a while I decided to share five things I’ve been enjoying, along with five things I still really want to try soon.

Five Things I’ve Been Enjoying

1. Kurt Vonnegut.

Loving a writer like Vonnegut is pretty obvious, especially for someone with my particular sensibility. Still, before this year I had only read Slaughterhouse-Five, or, The Children’s Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death. As some of you know, this year my goal was to read every Vonnegut novel. I’m through six, and he is everything I’d hoped he would be and more.

I expected the gallows humor, the irony, the cleverness, and the imagination that he is known for. What I didn’t expect was the beautiful tenderness in his writing. Sure, the writing is darkly hilarious and honestly realistic about the world, but for all Vonnegut’s ability to see humans for the absurd beings we really are, he also seemed to love us in spite of it all.

Vonnegut’s work is hopeful, but in an eyes-wide-open way that results in the only hope that’s worth a damn.

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2. Justified

The contemporary western series based on characters created by Elmore Leonard is one of my favorite things of late. I’ve been careful not to start episodes most days because it too often results in binge watching multiple episodes in a row.

I only just finished the second season and it was outstanding. What could easily be a purely formulaic affair is elevated by great camerawork, satisfying and thrilling season-long story arcs, phenomenal acting by recurring players, and two of my very favorite characters on television in Raylan Givens [Timothy Olyphant] and Boyd Crowder [Walton Goggins]. Like Eastwood’s various protagonists, these characters give us those moments of delightful badassery, complete with smart-ass one-liners and love/hate banter.

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3. Silicon Valley

I started watching because it was created by Mike Judge and Kumail Nanjiani is in it. I kept watching it because of how great it is.

Relevant, original, hilarious, and smart. This and True Detective are the best examples of why HBO is still in the company of Netflix, et. al. as the future of serial storytelling.

Also, the eureka moment in the series finale is probably my favorite ever, but I won’t explain why and spoil anything.

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4. Seattle Sounders

The trick with sports is that your team is going to have a season that ends in defeat significantly more often than in victory. Being a sports fan, even a relatively realistic and rational sports fan like myself, is often a painful affair.

Thus, the Sounders could break my heart sooner rather than later.

Right now, though, it sure is fun to be a Sounders fan! In the 15 games before the break they are literally running away with the entire league. Hopefully after the World Cup break the boys in Rave Green will get right back to providing a non-stop highlight reel.

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5. Last Week Tonight

The first two or three episodes were good. Certainly good enough to keep me coming back. Yet, as the show hit its stride it became downright brilliant. The writing is improving every week, and Oliver continues to get his legs doing a job he’s done before but never in this context.

At this rate, Last Week Tonight, a show that in its initial episode looked to be merely clever and funny, will become one of the more important weekly events on television. John Oliver’s rants smack of a special kind of truth-telling this world needs a shit-ton more of.

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Five Things I Hope to Enjoy Soon

1. Child of Light

A video game that follows a young girl who finds herself unable to awaken in her real world, but is instead trapped in a dark world where the sun, moon and stars have been stolen by the Queen of the Night.

From what I’ve read, which isn’t much because I don’t want everything spoiled for me, the game uses the fairy tale structure to engage deeper themes of sadness, isolation, connection, and hope. So, basically, the description you’d give if you were trying to catch me hook, line, and sinker.

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2. The Edge of Tomorrow

So far this weekend, people aren’t going to see this. However, I hope that before the week is out I can be one of the few who have bought a ticket. The premise looks exciting and fresh, Tom Cruise continues to make entertaining movies even if he is apparently a psycho IRL, and critical reaction has been overwhelmingly positive.

Oh yeah, and Emily Blunt.

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3. Her

I’ve already seen it, but it becomes available as a Netflix mailer on Tuesday and I can’t wait to enjoy it again. So far, Her is my favorite of the films I’ve seen this year.

I am still baffled that one of the storytellers I cherish the most for his insight, tenderness, and honesty helped create Jackass. Oh, Spike Jonze, you beautiful enigma.

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4. Chef

I’ll actually be seeing this later today, so, WIN!

It’s good to see Favs writing something smaller again. Did I mention some friends and I used to watch Swingers once a week in freshman and sophomore years of college? Occasionally we would take breaks and watch Made once a week instead.

Plus, the cast looks fantastic. I really wish there were more Bobby Cannavale performances in the world.

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5. The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

Technically, I’ve already started enjoying this because I’m 50 pages in. I hope to have time to enjoy the other 650something pages later this week, because so far it seems to be exactly the kind of book I want to be reading right now.

Lynch’s first novel, and the first book in the ‘Gentleman Bastard’ series (which is up to three books thus far), is apparently a well-written crime caper in a beautifully realized fantasy setting. So far, I agree with the consensus assessment that the book is awesome. I can’t wait to get back to it!

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four albums you should listen to, in case you haven’t yet.

By Scott • On 2014-03-02 • In music, music videos, the band wagon • 1 min read

I’m behind on most music at the moment, but there are still a few new releases of late I’m into. Do yourself a favor, and get your hands on all of these recent album releases.

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1. Broken Bells – After the Disco

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2. St. Vincent – St. Vincent

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3. Beck – Morning Phase

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4. Phantogram – Voices

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Amazon.com Widgets

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just in case you missed it. [five things, 2.21.14]

By Scott • On 2014-02-21 • In five things, movies, scott, trailer park • 3 min read

I’m in Portland on a writing retreat that so far has been an abysmal failure. The goal was to be here for five days, the first four alone, in a place where I was comfortable but had no responsibilities, connections, etc, where I could just plant myself in various coffee houses and bars and write as a voluntary captive. This was largely to force myself to do the very hardest part of writing fiction: staring at a blank page/screen and trying to conjure a narrative of some sort. When I get into a rhythm things go pretty well with writing, and after a long period of inactivity this was my attempt to kick off a new rhythm. The reason the trip has been a failure so far is that within an hour after arriving I got some sort of terrible food poisoning or gastroenteritis. Thus, this is the third day of my trip and I am just now, at 3:48 in the afternoon, sitting down to write for the first time. Not what I had hoped for when I’d been planning this trip for the last few months. On the bright side, at least I am sitting down to write for the first time at heart, and they are playing Frank Ocean’s Channel Orange in its entirety.

Anyway, to get the writing juices flowing, I am starting with a blog post instead of fiction writing. It is part cop out, part dipping my toe in the water, and part reminder of how on earth to string sentences together in semi-coherent thoughts.

As a result of numerous conversations lately where people have asked me for recommendations, I’m offering some to the entire internet. This time, for movies. Perhaps you’ve already seen some/all of these, but they are some of the best movies I’ve seen in the last few months and in conversations I’ve had, too few folks have given them a try.

I’ve kept all the descriptions brief.

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1. Headhunters (Hodejegerne)

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, better known as Jaime Lannister, co-stars in this Norwegian film about a man employed as a corporate recruiter by day, and self-employed as an art thief by night. When it appears he has stolen from the wrong man, things get crazy in this well-executed thriller filled with strong performances that add to the narrative to create surprising depth.

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2. The Secret in Their Eyes (El secreto de sus ojos)

This Academy Award winning Argentinian film spans decades as a retiring criminal investigator decides to write a novel to help exorcise the demons he can’t shake, namely, an unsolved rape and murder and a love he never acted on. As far as his job goes, I’m not exactly sure how the details of the Argentinian judicial system work, it basically seemed like he was a detective who worked for a judge.

Set against the rich and troubling backdrop of the Argentinian government of the 60’s and 70’s which can only be appropriately described as evil, the story works beautifully as both a mystery thriller and a love story. So great!

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3. Perfect Sense

An original take on the apocalypse film, Perfect Sense stars Ewan McGregor and Eva Green. The story begins as an epidemiologist begins struggling to understand an outbreak with no apparent cause where people become temporarily overcome with profound sadness, then recover quickly but without their sense of smell. Said scientist meets a womanizing, profoundly talented chef, and from there they must navigate the strange and terrifying times that just keep getting worse.

The film is quiet, poetic, and beautiful. Underrated and seen by far too few.

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4. Mud

There has been much written about Matthew McConaughey’s remarkable rise from that pot head who played himself in a bunch of romantic comedies to remarkable actor who brings profound depth to every performance and an electric charisma to the screen with each line. An underrepresented (albeit universally acclaimed) part of that rise was Mud, Jeff Nichols follow-up to Take Shelter (one of my absolute favorite films from recent years, which I have already gone on about here).

Two teenage boys encounter a charismatic and mysterious fugitive near their homes along the Mississippi River, forming a bond with him as they attempt to help him escape justice. Nichols is a master of subdued, beautifully shot scenes, of creating rich emotional moments that feel authentic as opposed to melodramatic, and of capturing subtle and nuanced performances from everyone he directs.

Currently Nichols is filming Midnight Special, about a dad who goes on the run with his son after discovering the boy has special powers. He’s said that while it seems counterintuitive, Midnight Special is actually a more grounded story than Mud. Color me excited!

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5. Kings of Summer

Frustrated by his relationship with his father, while both craving and fearing adulthood, Joe Toy convinces his best friend Patrick (and an accidental tagalong weirdo Biaggio) to run away and build a house in the woods where they can truly be in charge of their lives. What could easily be a formulaic coming of age story is much, much more than that because of a tight and energetic screenplay, wonderful direction, and amazing performances by the likes of Nick Offerman, Nick Robinson, Megan Mullally, Allison Brie, Gabriel Basso, Mary Lynn Rajskub, and more. Also, newcomer Moses Arias as Biaggio is one of the most delightfully entertaining onscreen characters I’ve ever had the joy of watching.

Kings of Summer strikes a perfect balance between sarcasm and tenderness.

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guardians of the galaxy. [trailer park.]

By Scott • On 2014-02-19 • In movies, movies in space, nerd candy, scott, trailer park • 1 min read

It’s been a while since I posted, but I HAD to share this. HAD to.

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true detective.

By Scott • On 2014-01-13 • In scott, television • 1 min read

Episode one has me really excited for the rest of the season. As I’d hoped, the first ep reveals a remarkably well made show. There were a few scenes in particular when Matthew McConaughey was absolutely electric, including the final line of the episode.

It’s obviously still too early, but after episode one I wouldn’t be surprised if he followed up his 2013 Golden Globe for film with a 2014 Golden Globe for television.

What also has me excited is to see how the show develops over the long haul, because it is an anthology, so each new season will have different actors, characters, time periods, etc. If the whole season is as good as week one, I can’t wait to see who else becomes a part of True Detective in time.

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the best books i haven’t mentioned yet, part two. [2013 edition]

By Scott • On 2014-01-13 • In 2013, books, fictionista, nerd candy, scott • 4 min read

Part one is here.

And, we’re off!

7. Eleanor & Park – Rainbow Rowell

Rainbow Rowell is Emily’s favorite author of the year. For that matter, she could be mine as well. In Eleanor & Park, Rowell somehow delivers a work that manages to be delightful and heartbreaking, joyful and devastating, funny and tear-jerking, often all on the same page, if not in the same paragraph.

I can’t recall any other book I’ve read that gets high school right, or being a teenager in love right, or nails the rage and depression of being the helpless young victim of abuse the way Eleanor & Park does.

This is a book to satisfy both folks who love YA romance, and people like me, who detest the vast majority of it. This isn’t just a love story, it is also an ode to music and rebellion and freedom and transcendence and self-discovery and the need we all have to somehow find ways of letting people see and accept those places in ourselves that we keep secret.

Rowell released two books in 2013, with one on the way this year. If that is any indication of how prolific this talented young writer is going to be, we all have reason to be excited.

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8. All the Pretty Horses – Cormac McCarthy

Cormac McCarthy writes amazing novels, that’s just what he does. His work gets under a reader’s skin, clean and no-nonsense prose that is at once tough and elegant. He never feels to me like he is droning on, and yet he is still remarkably descriptive. One never merely reads about the post-apocalyptic wastelands, the savage border territories, or the Mexican horse ranches McCarthy writes about, we inhabit those places while we are reading and for some time afterward.

All the Pretty Horses is a beautiful novel about passion, and desire, and the limitations we all face in a fucked up world like ours. It is proof that McCarthy doesn’t need to rely on savage violence to move a reader, that violence being something many of his novels are known for, and rightly so. This novel, while it still has a moment or two of more muted violence than you’ll find in, say, Blood Meridian, would be a great place to start for someone curious about McCarthy’s work but uninterested in cannibals, psychotic nihilists, or large gangs of monstrous outlaws murdering and pillaging their way across the North American West.

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9. Embassytown – China Miéville

Everything Miéville writes is fascinating. His work is weird, and he is proud of it, and that is just one of the things that makes his work so satisfying and original. He is supremely talented, with prose that is visceral and complex. He never does the same thing twice, and has even claimed he wants to write a book in every genre eventually. Yet, with every genre he writes, he puts his own beautifully mad twist on it, making him the sort of author you should read in a given genre even if you think you don’t like said genre.

Embassytown is science fiction, set in a future where humans have colonized the stars, on a planet where a small city of people live amidst a mysterious alien race they call the Hosts. STAY WITH ME. Embassytown is, among other things, a way for Miéville to play with ideas of language and metaphor and meaning, and I can’t really say much more without spoiling stuff.

As always, it is evident that Miéville is a brilliant human being. I am running out of books by this wild, crazy, socialist genius that I haven’t read, so hopefully he will continue to pump out books at a steady clip.

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10. Hyperion – Dan Simmons

Ugh, depressingly terrible cover. As is often the case with genre books it seems to imply that the artist never actually read the book, but instead was just told about a particular scene or concept and went at it.

Anyway, Hyperion first came to my attention because of a genre class Emily took with Nancy Pearl, the world’s most famous librarian. When Nancy Pearl recommends something, you should pay attention to it. I did, and got the book from Powell’s in exchange for some other books I didn’t want. Then former RtM writer W saw the book in a photo and gushed about it for a while, and it moved to the top of my personal reading queue. Aren’t you glad you know that story now?

Hyperion is everything W and Nancy said it would be. Told as a frame story, where much of the action actually takes place as a series of characters tell stories about why they are returning to the mysterious world of Hyperion (named for the Keats poem) where they will likely meet their doom. Each chapter thus shifts into an entirely new genre, with a new voice. It’s a joy to read as Simmons somehow brings all that together into a single narrative, revealing a little at a time to introduce this terrible planet.

The book engages deep territory, and I can’t wait to get through some more books on my ‘To Read’ shelf so I can grab the second book in the Hyperion Cantos.

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11. Attachments – Rainbow Rowell

More Rainbow Rowell. Her first novel, while not as good as Eleanor & Park, is still more than worth your time.

The story follows a guy trying to figure his life out who takes a job doing electronic security at a newspaper, or in other words, he reads flagged emails to make sure no one is doing anything inappropriate. He comes across emails between two best friends at the paper, and quickly becomes enamored with their banter and conversations. As the back cover of the book says: “Hi, I’m the guy who reads your e-mail, and also, I love you.”

Immensely likable characters written in Rowell’s playful but stirring voice makes Attachments another winner.

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12. Smoke and Mirrors – Neil Gaiman

And, more Gaiman. I know a lot of people don’t like short stories, but I love them more all the time. This is especially true with writers like Gaiman, with a voice I love and a wide swath of tones, themes, interests, etc. It makes it so that each new story goes to a wildly different place, and that can be a whole lot of fun in the right hands. Obviously, I think Gaiman is a prime example of “the right hands.”

A dark, 100 word story about Santa Claus; a man who unwittingly invites the end of the world because his fiancé cheated on him; a werewolf detective; an old lady who finds the Holy Grail at a thrift shop… Smoke and Mirrors has a little bit of everything.

Long live the king.

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