The Natural Narrative

I know it's been awhile since a new blog... as with the rest of the waking world, times have been interesting in the last few months.

However, I would like to say it's a pretty awful indicator of how things are going when Beverly Hills Chihuahua is the number one movie in America.... wtf?!

After nine years of being a devoted fan, I’m fairly convinced that Joss Whedon can do no wrong. With the exception of the “hoards of potential Slayers” storyline in the final season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (it was becoming clear that they were quickly running out of episode ideas), the man keeps me constantly amused and entertained. Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, the online musical sensation written by Joss and his brother Jed, takes its place among such gems as Firefly and BtVS in its clever format and writing.

 

Be it space-western, teen horror/drama, or musical internet blog about superheroes, Joss never shows any fear to try new approaches to storytelling. He breaches the internet community here, placing Dr. Horrible online in three short episodes. There’s a reason that this forty-two minute web exclusive managed to crash its home website after receiving so many hits- it’s hilarious! Whedon takes the ever-growing concept of the blog and applies it to the superhero universe, following unlikely super-villain Dr. Horrible on his quest to join the Evil League of Evil and win the heart of Penny, the doe-eyed laundress of his dreams.

 

View it here until I get a friendly/threatening e-mail from Hulu to take it down (which would imply that I have readers outside my circle of family and friends!)

 

Like Tarantino and the Coen brothers, Whedon likes to round out his new projects with familiar faces from the past. Dr. Horrible’s nemesis Captain Hammer is portrayed by the brilliant Nathan Fillion (all of the fellow Browncoats out there remember him as Malcolm Reynolds from Firefly, the best fourteen-episode series EVER). The love interest of the saga is Felicia Day, who played one of the afore-mentioned potential Slayers on Buffy. We can forgive her that- her performance in Dr. Horrible is sweet and talented. The newcomer to the Whedonverse is Neil Patrick Harris of Doogie Howser and How I Met Your Mother fame. It seems that Neil Patrick Harris has become entertainment’s golden boy- he has great comedic timing and a stage-worthy singing voice. And, might I add, a dead ringer for a nerdy villain. There’s something about him that is endlessly boyish and cute- but as soon as he opens his mouth into one of those classic evil laughs, you can believe he wants to take over the world.

 

Whedon skillfully inverts the superhero story, with the blog’s format causing us to sympathize more with the nerdy, scheming Dr. Horrible than the “hero,” Captain Hammer. Hammer embodies all of the traits of a superhero that they don’t show you in Superman- arrogance, narcissism, and an aura similar to that of a schoolyard bully. Whedon has always been curious with the blurred lines between good and evil, if you recall the haunted-but-still-cuddly vampire Angel on Buffy and the crew of Serenity’s less-than-legal space adventures. This inversion is becoming more and more popular lately, it seems. Come to think of it, maybe Joss should have lunch with Christopher Nolan. (Hear that sound? That’s the sound of a million fanboys drooling.)

 

While the storyline has a familiar ring to it, the plot is peppered with hilarious little bits destined to become in-jokes among the fans (my favorite is Dr. Horrible’s villainous mentor Bad Horse- whose epithet is “The Thoroughbred of Sin” and whose messages to Dr. Horrible come via a trio of singing cowboys). I think I exceeded the healthy level of laughter for a forty-two minute special several times over.

 

            The internet provides an interesting and promising medium for the arts. There are different rules for an internet show than for a television show. While television shows seem to need to appeal to the masses in order to get renewed for a second season, the internet allows for more individualization of interests. Dr. Horrible does work better online- it’s a blog, tailored specifically as a parody of the countless personal confessions you can find on the internet these days. As an added bonus, we don’t have to worry about cancellation at the hands of artless television executives (*ahem* Fox network, I don’t think I’ll ever forgive you for Firefly).

 

Television just cannot compete with the amazing phenomenon known as viral video. These websites don’t get hits because people see advertisements on the sides of their Del Taco cups, or because they see billboards on their commutes. The sole force at work here is word-of-mouth (also known as “OMG!! Check this out! It’s sooo funny/good/amazing!!” et cetera). Television can work that way too, but nothing seems to be as strong as that never-ending e-mail chain that runs rampant through circles of family and friends. It will be interesting to see what happens as the age of technology rages on. Maybe talented directors like Joss Whedon will forsake television and film completely for the internet medium.

 

I look forward to seeing much more of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. The storyline could serve as an excellent prequel to a larger piece of work if Joss gets the go-ahead to make new episodes. Viva la internet!

So today on my day off my boyfriend and I embarked on a ridiculous project of cleaning out our closet (which unfortunately had just become one humongous pile of stuff). We found a bag of old notebooks and letters that belonged to my grandmother. Just so you all know because nobody else really ever did, my grandmother was a fantastic writer. She had this amazingly descriptive style and her wacky sense of humor shone through in almost everything.  I'm not going to transcribe anything from her notebooks here, but I did find two limericks that she had written that made me laugh out loud, and I figured that if she's somewhere in the great beyond right now, it might make her laugh to see them again.


"There was a lady of Wilts
Who walked up to Scotland on stilts.
When they said it is shocking
To show so much stocking
She answered, "Then what about kilts?"


"There was a young guy from Amazon
Who put nighties of his grandma's on
The reason was that
He was too fat
To get his own pajamas on."

- SW, 1992

One my projects for the summer is to watch all 100 of AFI's Greatest American Movies of All Time (note it's just American films, do all other foreign films get lumped into another sort of definitive list?)  Luckily because of Netflix I can get my hands on most of them, except the original Apocalypse Now (I can rent the Redux version), Midnight Cowboy, and The African Queen. I figure I'll have to look to VHS for those (how retro ;) )

Tonight I'm watching An American in Paris with Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron. First of all, I was a band geek who loved playing in the musical pit orchestra every year, so I love the Gershwin. And of course this movie reinforces my ridiculous idea that it would be so fun for life to be a musical for just a day. Could you imagine what life would be like if everyone on the 405 stopped, got out of their cars and started doing a synchronized song and dance routine about the horrors of L.A. traffic? Pretty damn cool.

Onward and upward with the AFI list... next up, Dr. Strangelove or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.

Back in the day (okay, okay, just a few short years ago) I was one of the millions of movie enthusiasts who faithfully arrived for the midnight showings of all three of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films. Not only was it a kick to sit amongst school-age Elves, Dwarves and gray-bearded Gandalfs, but it also always felt like I was getting to indulge in my devotion for the movies with a few hundred people who felt largely the same way I did. After Frodo headed out from the Grey Havens and the book on LotR hysteria began to close, I found myself wondering if there was a chance that genuine passion would return for another film. Was that wonderment simply part of my childhood, or could I experience the same feeling as an adult?

 

Cut to 2008, as I’m cleaning up my station at work fifteen minutes early in an attempt to beat Southern California rush-hour traffic. My objective - make it to the IMAX theater thirty miles from my apartment for a Tuesday evening show of The Dark Knight. Upon arrival my boyfriend and I share a soda and sit in the ever-increasing line, talking about what we’ve heard about the movie and reveling in the anticipation of the crowd.

 

In front of the theater sits a model of the Batmobile (bless you, clever marketing strategies) with a sardonic Joker prowling the premises. There are a few unpaid Jokers in the line as well, parading in snappy suits with Jack Nicholson-esque color schemes. True, this may not be Rivendell, but there’s definitely something going on here. Once inside, we see that the IMAX Theater itself has been attacked with Joker graffiti- ghoulish streaks of red paint full of tantalizing messages. The towering IMAX screen has an eerie clown face staring outward at the moviegoers. Add that to the viral marketing strategies I’ve seen on the internet (see ibelieveinharveydent.com) and it suddenly occurs to me that movie nerd-dom has without a doubt moved forward into the twenty-first century.

 

I love sitting in a theater with other people who aren’t afraid to let their geek flag fly. When I saw The Empire Strikes Back in theaters during the Special Edition re-release, the entire theater began chanting “Yoda, Yoda, Yoda” as the green Lucasfilm icon came on the screen. In The Dark Knight, the first wide-angle IMAX shot of the high rise buildings in Gotham was enough to make the theater burst into impressed applause as the camera guided us directly into the heart of story.

 

If you hadn’t guessed by now, I can say with certainty that this film lived up to and exploded past all of its hype and expectation. I’ve heard that it feels long to some viewers, but the nearly three-hour running time seemed to just, no pun intended, fly by. It’s so rare that a film manages to present the complete package: exceptional writing, carefully crafted storyline with enough symbolism to make any scholar drool, and a superior level of acting that would make James Lipton close the New School of Acting and run off to join the circus. And even in the face of my scholarly gushing, it’s a good MOVIE. Things blow up. Christian Bale embarks on a number of gravity-defying stunts. They really flip an eighteen-wheeler, for fuck’s sake. It manages to be thought-provoking AND entertaining, a feat that most movies fail to achieve.

 

It’s so very refreshing to see a movie that does not rest its entire weight on CGI. Admittedly, I’m a purist- when the Death Star blows up, I long to see the scale model explode with real fire like it did in the original trilogy, not the hollow computerized effect they replaced it with in the Special Edition. Therefore, when I say that it thrilled me to see that eighteen-wheeler flip over, it was because I knew that somebody really had to get their hands dirty and figure out how to make the stunt as realistic as possible. While I appreciate the technology that allows us many new avenues, I still find it much more gratifying for effects to be grounded in some sort of real experience. And P.S, thanks to director and writer Christopher Nolan- now I want to go base jumping in Hong Kong. J

 

Heath Ledger, Heath Ledger. What a great loss to the acting world. Amidst the entire pre-release buzz was the looming question of whether or not Ledger’s Joker would stand up next to Jack Nicholson’s 1990 performance. It turns out that this question has no relevance, because the men have crafted two such starkly different representations that to attempt to compare them would be ridiculous. What made him such a brilliant villain was his complete lack of motive, complete with conflicting stories about his past. The purest evil is without origin, without rhyme or reason. Ledger transformed himself into this character and it looked effortless. If acting was the love of his life, his performance in this film was a beautiful final testament to that passion.

 

Gary Oldman is the man. Enough said.

 

I’ve been a fan of Christian Bale ever since Newsies, and this movie continued and strengthened my love for this strangely underrated actor. (Quick side recommendation: go rent The Machinist.) One thing though- his voice as Batman makes me laugh! Bale is a master of accents; he is from Wales but you could never tell because he changes his accent for every role. Bruce Wayne has a plain American accent, but Batman has a gravelly rumble of a voice. I did find myself momentarily distracted and entertained by a daydream of Batman pulling up to a drive-thru and ordering in that voice (can I get a double double, no tomatoes?)

 

The second of my two gripes about this movie (Batman’s bronchitis-voice being the first) is that Morgan Freeman didn’t have enough screen time. Although, I suppose that’s personal preference, because in my opinion Morgan Freeman could have been in all nine hours of Lord of the Rings (don’t forget the Extended Version and Special Features) and I would have been happy about it.

 

Aaron Eckhart also joins the superhero movie world as Gotham D.A. Harvey Dent, whose horrifying turn as Two-Face was a unique representation of the famous villain. I suppose I’ll contradict myself slightly by saying that the CGI visual work for Two-Face’s decimated left side was truly disturbing and effective. I loved Eckhart in Thank You For Smoking (ah, the Netflix list is just getting longer and longer!) but he seemed to really stretch his legs out into this role. Trilogy, anyone?

 

Christopher Nolan, thanks for getting it right. Your film inspired movie lovers everywhere to don their best combinations of green and purple and hit the theaters despite a difficult time in the American economy (IMAX tickets are fifteen bucks a pop, that’s like three gallons of gas!!) It was a pleasant surprise to discover that it was a film completely worthy of that level of worship. I can’t wait to see what’s to come in Nolan’s Gotham. He may be modern film’s White Knight after all.  

- KW 2008

DISCLAIMER: This is my original work. If you wish to do anything else with this work (link to it, excerpt it, burn it in effigy) please contact me at narrativnatural@gmail.com.

I was watching clips of Inside the Actor's Studio and thought it would be fun to do the famous questionnaire, just for shits and giggles :) If anyone reading wants to do it, go for it... it would be fun to hear responses :)

What is your favorite word?       
Serendipity

What is your least favorite word?       
Ignorance

What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
Seeing beauty and joy in the simple

What turns you off creatively, spiritually or emotionally?        
Closed-mindedness

What sound or noise do you love?       
Horses nickering. The concentrated silence of a library.

What sound or noise do you hate?       
Alarm clocks and ambulance

What is your favorite curse word?       
Fuck and all of its glorious variations

What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
Screenwriter

What profession would you not like to do?
One of those cleanup crews that comes after homicides, suicides, and accidents (I think I watch too much Law and Order)

If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?
All of your favorite authors, directors and heroes are sitting at that table over there. Go talk to them all you want :)

Welcome to the Natural Narrative!

Storytelling has tremendously influenced my life thus far. From frantic childhood nightmares of Darth Vader looming down my hallway, to rainy afternoons in my grandmother's recliner curling my lips around the words of Shakespeare, to feeling inescapable vertigo on a high-rise building in an IMAX theater ... I have a feeling that this love for stories and all of the amazing ways in which they can be told will always stay with me.

This love has led me through young adulthood to become a book collector, movie buff,  English major... and, more recently, blogger. :)

So welcome to my little corner on LiveJournal, where there will be movie and book reviews, original scholarship, and any other little tangent I manage to find myself on. Enjoy!