Ye Olde Staging Point

Every so often, I stumble across a non-American film or book the excellence of which makes me realize anew just how impoverished and intellectually empty U.S. pop culture really is. I had one such experience last week when I had the opportunity to watch the anime series Now and Then, Here and There, an animated sci-fi epic set on a ravaged desert world where an insane ruler is struggling to reassert his rule over the wasteland and its scattered inhabitants. It's an amazing story in and of itself, but it shines all the brighter for incorporating into the narrative believable characters and a host of 20th-century issues and concerns. Read on for my thoughts on the series.

The basic premise of NT,HT is a conglomerate of sci-fi themes with which most viewers will be familiar. The main character, Shu (an abbreviation of a much longer Japanese name), is a likeable, nondescript young man with a cheerful outlook and a world experience that does not extend beyond the borders of his small hometown in Japan. After meeting a mysterious and taciturn girl on the way home from martial arts classes (in which he has again been humiliated), he has a run-in with strange robot creatures and is transported into an alien world--an alternate, far-future Earth, perhaps. The girl he meets has the mysterious ability to create and control water--a skill that makes her an immensely valuable pawn in the battle to control this future Earth, which is nothing but a parched and desolate wasteland.

Upon their arrival in this strange world, Shu and the girl are immediately captured by the forces of King Hamdo, who needs water to fuel his armies and technology in his quest to conquer the planet. Hamdo is also quite insane, and the NT, HT follows the adventures of Shu and the characters he encounters as he struggles to survive imprisonment, makes his escape, and ultimately plays a pivotal role in the final battle for the planet.

The story, told progressively throughout a dozen 25-minute episodes, kept my interest and managed to throw several unexpected twists into a fairly straightforward tale of heroism and sacrifice. About half a dozen characters rise to the forefront of the story, and all are vibrant and sympathetic in their own ways--even the villains. King Hamdo's descent into madness is well-portrayed; we feel the resentment of Lady Abelia, his assistant, as she carries out Hamdo's orders even when they fly against common sense and morality; and we can empathize with Nabuca, a tormented soldier forced into service in Hamdo's army, who knows the atrocities he is ordered to commit are wrong but who commits them anyway in the hopes of being one day freed. We see the pain in the eyes of rebels who hate Hamdo for his crimes, but who don't realize that their bloody acts of vengeance make them Hamdo's moral equivalents. And most importantly, we grow fond of simple Shu, who sees right and wrong for what they are and in whose eyes no crime is too great for forgiveness and redemption.

If NT, HT were just a collection of interesting characters, a fun sci-fi setting, and the usual heroics, it would work just fine. But what elevates it above the crowd is the way that it incorporates difficult moral issues into an otherwise fairly straightforward plot. In particular, NT, HT unflinchingly gazes into the horrors of World War 2 Japan and at terrible wartime crimes which we are no closer to comprehending even 50 years after the fact.

Among the World War 2-esque issues the series addresses is one of the most disturbing questions that has arisen in the aftermath of that conflict: how does such a thing happen? How do perfectly rational, sensible people come to commit nightmarish atrocities in the service of a tyrant? Hamdo's insanity is clear to all, in the way that Hitler's insanity and the madness of the Japanese war ministry's policies were painfully clear to anyone with eyes to see by final year of the war. Yet Hamdo's troops--whose uniforms bear a striking resemblance to Japanese WW2 army uniforms--follow his orders without question, willfully deceiving themselves with delusions that following orders, no matter how awful, is the quickest way to end the war and return the world to the way it was. Hamdo uses words to manipulate those closest to him, twisting concepts like loyalty and love into hideous caricatures of their true meanings, convincing his followers that his vision must take precedence over petty and passing concerns of morality.

Among the more harrowing scenes in NT, HT is a chilling extended sequence in which Hamdo's armies raid a local village to kidnap and forcibly recruit soldiers to bolster their dwindling ranks. We see children torn away from sobbing parents and we watch as the troops methodically and mechanically obliterate the village and its inhabitants once they have met their recruitment quota. Shu's disbelief that people are actually doing such horrible things to other people is a disbelief that parallels our own inability to comprehend how Axis doctors could experiment on living prisoners or how Nazi guards--normal people--could watch as human beings were herded like animals into death chambers.

A second and more specific issue addressed in NT, HT is that of sexual slavery. As the story of women forced by the Japanese military into sexual slavery comes slowly to light, NT, HT shines a spotlight on the issue by forcing us to watch as one of the main characters, Sara, is captured and forced into the "service" of Hamdo's troops. We watch uncomfortably as Sara, driven nearly insane by this torturous treatment, brutally kills a would-be rapist and escapes (easily the most excruciating scene in the series)--only to be haunted by her mistreatment through the remainder of the story. [BEGIN SPOILER] There is no easy healing for her, and when she finds out late in the series that she is pregnant as a result of being raped by Hamdo's soldiers, she attempts to kill herself in a fit of despair; and even afterwards struggles with feelings of hatred for the unwanted but innocent baby growing inside her. It is Shu's insistence that life--both Sara's and her unborn baby's--has intrinsic and immeasurable value that wins out; he cannot solve Sara's problems, but he can lend her the strength and encouragement to carry on even under life's unasked-for burdens. [END SPOILER]

In its careful but honest look at these issues, NT, HT rises well above the level of "standard sci-fi" and into the realm of contemporary parable. Despite the occasional horror of its subject matter, the series shows quite commendable restraint: the violence depicted is strong but only used when the point could not be made without it; and the darker sexual issues are treated as tastefully as possible (there is no onscreen sex or nudity) without compomising the effectiveness of the message. And what is even more amazing is that despite the bleak undercurrents of torture, imprisonment, and brutality, NT, HT manages to emerge an immensely positive story. It is a celebration of bravery and sacrifice, and a powerful story of good triumphing over evil--even when the victory requires tremendous sacrifice.

NT, HT is anime, and it is sci-fi, but the story it tells is greater than the sum of those parts. Highly recommended.

Posted by Andy at 10:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I just finished watching the second part of "Chain of Command," one of several recent Star Trek: the Next Generation episodes that is causing me to re-examine my long-held dislike for the series. This episode (and the 2-part "Redemption" episode) was excellent--almost everything I like about Star Trek, with very little of what I dislike.

I grew up a rabid Star Trek fan, and when Next Generation first came out, I greeted it with the level of loathing you would expect from someone enamored with the original series and first several ST movies (OK, not counting the first one). My suspicions that the Star Trek franchise had been totally ruined were confirmed in the first episode of TNG, in which we learned that the Enterprise is a happy fun ship with hundreds of families and happy children running around in it, presumably at the expense of the extra phaser banks and photon torpedoes that belonged on any self-respecting Federation starship. Familes and children on board? Do US Navy crews bring their families and household pets with them on aircraft carriers or submarines? And how did the Enterprise expect to effectively dispense indisciminate iron-fisted intergalactic justice if it insisted on diplomacy with such alarming frequency? And when the saucer section separated from the engine section and began flying around under its own power, I just couldn't take it any more; the shame of what they were doing to Star Trek became too much, and I refused to watch the show during its original run except when nothing else was on and I needed a sci-fi fix.

All this to say that now, years after TNG has come and gone, I am finally starting to warm up to it. The characters--a few of them, at least--are at last growing on me, and I thoroughly enjoy those episodes in which galactic politics play a prominent role. I still find Guinan, Crusher, and Troi to be as annoying as ever; but it's hard not to appreciate the characters of Picard, Riker, and Data as they are developed over the course of the series and movies. And many of the complaints I had about the Next Generation universe--that it was too clean and antiseptic, with too few real problems--seem to have been dealt with in Deep Space Nine. And the Borg, it must be admitted, are some of the best antagonists in the history of sci-fi.

So maybe it isn't too late. Maybe there's still time for me to join the millions of nerdy Americans who fell in love with this show years ago. Maybe I can learn to like--even love--TNG without feeling like I'm betraying the original Enterprise and its crew of worthies. Maybe this cranky old-school Trekkie can stumble overlate into a Star Trek franchise that everyone else accepted over a decade ago. Maybe... it's not too late.

Posted by Andy at 9:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Well, the weather behaved just enough on Saturday to allow for a rendezvous with Michele--the usual fun browsing through bookstores, talking about wedding stuff, and just hanging out. We had a good discussion about Clive Barker's children's novel (soon to be a movie, from what I hear) The Thief of Always: we both agreed that while we wouldn't recommend it to any actual children to read, it had some interesting ideas, specifically about the nature of evil. Interesting enough that I may post about them at some future point, at least. And that's another cool thing about Michele: conversations with her can range from Trixie Belden to Clive Barker without missing a step.

This weekend I also finished watching the truly amazing anime series Now and Then, Here and There. I'll write up some more detailed comments later, but suffice it to say that I was quite pleasantly surprised by the 12-part series, which I picked up on a lark at Blockbuster. And kudos to my local blockbuster for having the occasional anime film.

What can I say? My life has been pretty boring lately; and my blog entries are just naturally following suit.

Posted by Andy at 6:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My good friend Jay has been involved for some time with the Office of Social Justice and Hunger Action, a ministry of the Christian Reformed Church. I'm pretty pleased to see the CRC getting actively involved in questions of justice around the world. I've never attended a Reformed church in which questions about international justice and the Christian response to it were addressed directly, and have mixed feelings about that: on the one hand, keeping partisan politics out of church services seems like an extremely good idea; but on the other hand, prompting concern about these issues among American Christians also seems like an entirely appropriate activity.

So anyway, I'm pleased to see the CRC promoting an online forum and information center regarding questions of social justice--particularly the Iraq situation, a scenario that I've seen seriously addressed by few American Protestant denominations. If you're a member of the CRC, or even if you're not, you should check it out; there are some good articles and documents online there. If nothing else, you should join the mailing list and witness me struggling to promote my crazy opinions amidst a sea of people who seem to disagree with me.

Posted by Andy at 10:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Wow, just finished up a four-player game of Starcraft online. Joel (Protoss) and Jay (Terran) went up against me (Terran) and Steve (Zerg) in a team game. It was very intense and well-fought and lasted around 1.5 hours. Steve and I failed to adequately secure one of the two bridges over the river that separated our teams, and it was downhill from there as Joel and Jay sent wave after wave of troops at us. We held them back for a while, but eventually they broke down most of our defenses and we surrendered just as a wave of Protoss Zealots came flooding through our base. Everyone played extremely well and the match was enormously fun. I'd love to get some more team games going; that added an interesting new dimension to the game and to planning out strategies.

It amazes me that a 4+ year old game can still be so much fun. And it amazes me how after years of playing, I still haven't found any exploits or "cheap strategies" to guarantee an easy win. Winning requires outwitting and outmanuvering your opponent, and the result is always an intense match that rivals anything a fast shooter like UT2k3 has to offer.

Now to plan for the rematch...

Posted by Andy at 11:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Another weekend that didn't turn out quite as planned, but which ended up being OK as far as weekends go. The weather conspired to keep Michele and I apart, which was incredibly not fun. Among the assorted activities of the weekend, then:

• joined Max and the Kaisers at an official going-away party for the Kaiser family. It was quite the entertaining evening, although it's a bit sad to think that the Kaisers are leaving west Michigan. David, Michele, and the kids--they're four wonderful people, and I hope that we can keep in touch. The Kaisers opened their home and their friendship to me during my first year here in Muskegon, and I have always appreciated that. Best of luck in Vermont, David!

• did some wedding-related stuff online while IM'ing with Michele. It's not quite as fun as a face-to-face meeting, but we managed OK and knocked one or two more things off the wedding-preparations list. Although our wedding checklist says we still have 123 tasks to do before the wedding. Yikes!

• watched two movies this weekend. Run Lola Run has been recommended to me by many people, and it was as enjoyable as everyone said. Very interesting film, with a great soundtrack that was melded perfectly into the film. My enjoyment of the film was increased by at least 24% by to the fact that all the characters in it speak German, which is the coolest and most ridiculous-sounding language in the world. Great movie (definitely one to watch more than once), and thanks to all who recommended it.

  The other movie I watched was--wait for it--Jurassic Park III. You see, there's this paleontologist, and a kid, and some assorted other people, and they're flying over the dinosaur island and--oh, the mother of surprise plot twists, they've crash landed on the island!!! What will they do now?!? JP3 continues the Jurassic Park tradition of revealing in each successive movie that the velociraptors are even more intelligent that we previously thought! Those wily raptors! I expect Jurassic Park 4 to be a down-to-the-wire race against time as the reluctant paleantologist and his wacky companions try to disrupt the raptors' sinister plans to develop weapons of mass destruction. That said, I did enjoy the film for what it was.

• lost a game of Starcraft against Jay, whose ability to build a super-effective siege tank defense line, shield it with Valkyries and Science Vessels, and then "leapfrog" it towards my base defeated my Protoss strategies once again. What a great game--even losing, I had a great time. I definitely think I made him work for his victory. If you play Starcraft, can anyone recommend a way to beat the Terran "siege tank roll" strategy?

• is there anything in the world better than relaxing inside with a book and a hot chocolate while the wind howls outside and the snow gusts around? I didn't think so. What a great weekend to stay indoors.

Have a great Monday, all!

Posted by Andy at 10:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As most of you know, I saw and loved Donnie Darko a few months back. It's a genuinely original and extremely well-done film. It's also quite bizarre and confusing, and I've put a fair amount of mental effort in recent weeks into trying to figure out what exactly is going on in the film. Here is my interpretation. Major spoilers abound, so if you haven't seen the film yet, do yourself a favor and go rent it!

I'll try to lay out my interpretation as simply as possible. Here are my assumptions and hypotheses:

1. Donnie isn't insane; the events of the movie are actually happening as we see them; they aren't the product of Donnie's mental issues.

2. Frank, the rabbit, is God.

3. Donnie was destined to die when the aircraft engine fell through the roof. That was "God's channel" for his life (a phrase that surfaces later in the movie during talks about predestination).

4. Donnie did not die as he was supposed to. As a result of this, reality is tearing apart and the world will end soon.

5. To restore reality and save the universe, Donnie must return to God's channel--he must go back in time and die as he was originally supposed to.

6. All of the characters Donnie encounters in the movie--Gretchen, Jim Cunningham, Grandma Death, his therapist, all of them--are there to guide him to the right choice. Between Frank's guidance ("I will show you the way") and the subtle encouragement of the other characters, Donnie is guided towards his final choice and arrives at the end prepared to make the right decision.

   This point probably merits some elaboration. Almost everything that happens to Donnie in the film leads progressively him further along the path of knowledge and discovery, further along the path towards his ultimate choice. He is being nudged and prodded by all the other characters in the film towards his choice. For instance, Frank tells Donnie to break the school water main. As a result, Donnie meets Gretchen and they start going out. Gretchen and her advice play a major role in Donnie's choice (in the final moments of the film, he remembers her quote about going into the past to undo wrongs). Grandma Death and the Noah Wyle character are there to help Donnie understand the concepts of time travel and free will/predestination, so that he knows the stakes he's dealing with. The therapist's final speech with Donnie is quite blatant in this regard--she warns him not to let the world end; she also draws subtle connections between Frank and God. Drew Barrymore's character pushes Donnie towards his encounter inside the "cellar door" at Grandma Death's. Even slimy Jim Cunningham is there to warn Donnie not to be afraid--to make his choice based on Love, not Fear. At one point, Donnie's gym teacher urges his mother to direct Donnie down the "path of righteousness." And throughout the whole movie, of course, Frank tells Donnie what to do next--he himself never tells Donnie what is going on, but he urges him to take actions and meet people who will prepare him for his final choice.

7. Donnie makes the correct choice at the end, choosing to sacrifice himself to repair the broken universe. Using the time travel knowledge he has learned, he "rides" the airplane engine back into the past to die. The universe is saved.

8. Why did Frank (God) pull Donnie out of his chosen channel to start with? Because he wanted Donnie to choose his fate instead of simply blindly going along without free will. By pulling Donnie out of his predestined channel, Frank takes the risk that Donnie will choose "wrong." But, as was the case with Adam and Eve, righteousness chosen freely has more value than righteousness predestined.

9. This movie is essentially a treatise on the concept of free will vs. determinism.

Those are my thoughts in brief. Agree or disagree? Comments and critiques are welcome!

Posted by Andy at 10:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (530)

...for a quick romantic interlude. Michele and I started dating three years ago today. Can I hear a collective "aaaaawwwwwwwww"? It seems like just yesterday that I was sitting next to that one crazy girl in Hebrew class who always showed up to class on time and actually did her translation assignments. Who would've thought that a few years later we'd be engaged?

Thank you for sharing this brief moment of romantic reminiscing with me. You may now return to your regularly scheduled programming.

Posted by Andy at 10:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

No big news this evening, so I'll treat you to whatever random thoughts occur to me as I write this blog entry.

• Is it just me, or is Law and Order just an incredibly amazingly good show? I think I'm starting to get hooked.
• I got my car's front windshield replaced today with a nice shiny new one. The best part? I got to park my car in the heated garage at work all day so the windshield could "settle" without being exposed to extreme cold. You know how awesome it is to be able to reach my car after work without leaving the warm interior of the building, and how nice it is that my hands don't freeze to the steering wheel and my body doesn't go into frantic convulsions as the bitter cold inside the icy tomb that is my car seeps its killing chill into my bones while the car heater takes its sweet time switching from "dispense icy cold air" to "dispense warm heated air?" It's really nice.
• So who, exactly, watches Charmed? You know, that show about those witch sisters or something? Who? I demand that a fan of that show reveal him/herself so that I can see with my own eyes that somebody does in fact watch it. Surely somebody must be watching it, because I'm always seeing commercials for it. Right?
• Hunter: the Reckoning has just got to be one of the best RPGs ever written. It just keeps getting better. I've been following it as it has developed over the last year or two now, and the latest sourcebook for it, Fall from Grace, is just excellent. Now to find players...
• Time for bed.

Posted by Andy at 11:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I watched The Exorcist this evening. Hailed by many as the scariest movie ever made, it has been on my "to-watch" list for many years; but I have avoided it out of fear that it would prove too disturbing for me. I have at last watched it (I rented the recent re-edit which contains some extra footage), and I am here to report that it is as disturbing as advertised. It is an extremely intense film, one that puts modern "horror" movies to shame; and like any good horror story ought, it gives you plenty to mull over after the final credits have rolled. Read on for some of my thoughts; I'll do my best to avoid spoilers.

The Exorcist is a horror story in the original, most intellectually satisfying sense: it sets out to disturb us, to take the familiar and make it frightening and alien. How do you create a terrifying story when the antagonist--in this case, the demon possessing the girl Regan--spends most of the movie strapped down and immobile? The Exorcist shows us how--it takes one of the most comfortable and reassuring images in the American cultural vocabulary--a cheerful, innocent child--and completely inverts it, making it a thing of horror. The effect is a powerful one, and this movie's sights and sounds linger in the mind long after we've forgotten Freddy Krueger's latest gory shenanigans. This movie shows us what sheer wrongness is--it's taking the good and pure and defiling it. Hearing sweet little Regan shrieking obscentities at her doctors is far more shocking than any special-effects-ridden Hollywood gorefest could hope to be.

The movie also makes a fascinating point about the nature of evil. The plot of the film revolves around the possession of a young girl by a demon. Halfway through the movie, the question occurs to us: why a little girl, of all things? Why doesn't the demon possess someone powerful, someone strong, someone in a position to do real damage to the unsuspecting people of the world? What is the point of possessing a little girl who remains bedridden through the entire movie? The answer, as the protagonists of the film slowly realize, is that the demon is possessing the girl because it can--because evil is not a super-powerful, world-conquering power, but a petty, hateful thing that delights in the destruction of beauty and hope. There is no point to the possession beyond the simple faith-killing despair that it brings into the lives of those who must watch innocent Regan deteriorate into inhumanity. I think this is another reason The Exorcist connects with us--it's a believable evil, the sort of evil that we confront and commit every day of our lives. It's petty, it's pointless, and it's mean-spirited; it's the mundane, everyday evils of gossip, slander, deceit, unfaithfulness, mockery that serve no high purpose beyond the perverse joy that comes with tearing someone down. If the demon in The Exorcist was a two-story-tall monster, it wouldn't be nearly so frightening, but this--this evil we know well.

It's a potent film, and a harrowing viewing to be sure. It's a frightening movie, but it demands our attention in ways most modern "horror" movies don't. It's beautiful and horrifying at the same time. Highly recommended.

Posted by Andy at 12:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Note: this post is a response to Michele's comments on the state of Hyde Park. This post started as a comment on her blog, but grew big enough that I decided to make it into a full-blown post.

Michele's post on Hyde Park was quite thought-provoking. Hyde Park is certainly a curious place. I remember discussions about whether or not it ought to be declared an "economially blighted" area. I can see the challenge in answering that question, though: what do you do with a neighborhood in which million-dollar homes can be found a block away from your stereotypical dingy, run-down, drug-infested neighborhoods? I mean, the known crack house on Drexel and 57th is only a couple blocks away from Louis Farakhan's multi-million-dollar mansion.

Hyde Park can't seem to figure out its own identity. I have given thought over the years as to why Hyde Park just can't seem to clean up its act, and not surprisingly, I have no real answers. But my personal opinion is that much of Hyde Park's difficulties are rooted in a very poorly managed business environment.

There is a lot of money in Hyde Park. The University (Hyde Park's main feature) and the people it has transplanted into Hyde Park bring a lot of wealth with them. The University Hospital is a major, well-respected place of medicine. The University itself represents a near-captive audience of thousands of students with money to spend. But despite the potential pool of wealth it has in its midst, Hyde Park is not at all set up to benefit from that wealth. There is nowhere in Hyde Park to spend it.

There are businesses, of course. Some of them are quite respectable and seem to be doing well. But the vast majority of businesses on 53rd St. are simply unappealing to the average citizen. I can't remember ever stepping foot in 95% of the businesses in Hyde Park because they either a) had no relevance to my lifestyle, b) featured outrageous prices and horrible customer service due to a lack of competition, or c) didn't sell the sorts of basic items that I needed.

You can buy large quanitites of alcohol from any of the several liquor stores on 53rd Street. You can buy bedding from one of the two (!) adjacent mattress stores. You can buy all sorts of weight-loss products from the fitness store. You can cash your payday check in advance at the "Cash Advance" place. There are plenty of businesses on 53rd St. But what if you want to buy normal, everyday clothes? Or a bookshelf? Or silverware? Or any of a hundred other everyday items that people actually need? To get those items, you have to leave Hyde Park--taking your money out of the neighborhood where it'd do the most good, and investing it somewhere else in Chicago.

Hyde Park wants to be its own little self-sufficient community (and that would be exciting to see!), but it doesn't have the "normal" businesses needed to actually support one. The "normal" businesses that exist in Hyde Park, such as the local grocery store, are poster children for what happens when one business has a monopoly on goods in the area: super high prices, atrocious customer service, and the lowest quality they can get away with. After a few months of buying past-the-expiration-date milk for twice its actual value, the prospect of driving to Cicero to shop at the Sam's Club out there started to look more and more attractive to me. And while I was out there, I could stop in the Cicero Mall and buy the winter jacket that wasn't available in Hyde Park, and the set of dishtowels that wasn't available in Hyde Park, and the... you get the idea. The local movie theater--the only movie theater for miles--was so run-down that it went out of business. How does a movie theater next to a huge, wealthy American university, in a neighborhood utterly devoid of other weekend entertainment, go out of business? Were they even trying?

I'm not putting down the value of having quirky, fringe businesses; they are part of what gives Hyde Park its character, and I wouldn't want to see them go. But what Hyde Park needs is to foster a more mainstream business environment, or it will continue to see all that wealth diverted into other parts of Chicago. We don't need Hyde Park to be overrun by chain stores, but the presence of a Target or similar store in the area would do wonders for meeting local "basic needs" without impinging on the territory of the neighbordhood's quirkier businesses--and it would mean people could keep their money in Hyde Park without the need to go elsewhere. The Office Depot that just went into Hyde Park is a great step in the right direction--it's not unfairly competing with the existing local businesses, which don't sell anything that Office Depot does; but suddenly we can buy furniture, electronic equipment and computers, and office supplies in Hyde Park whereas previously we had to take the Metra downtown to do so.

I realize this has taken the form of a rant, and a fairly uninformed rant at that. But Hyde Park has been stagnating for far too long, and pouring more money into preserving its local businesses has not yielded any appreciable results. The storefronts are just as dingy and empty as ever; the range of business types is just as narrow as ever; and lack of competition continues to destroy the integrity and quality of those stores that do sell basic goods such as food and groceries. What is needed are incentive programs to encourage outside businesses, big or small, to lay down roots in the neighborhood; and careful studies about what sorts of businesses are most needed. In what areas would competition be healthiest? What basic commodities are unavailable in Hyde Park, and what sorts of businesses could best provide them? There is a lot of wealth in Hyde Park just waiting to be tapped, and when it is, Hyde Park stands to really shine as a cultural center--and a wonderfully diverse culture at that. Here's hoping that the spirit of capitalism can restore some vigor to this "blighted" region.

Posted by Andy at 12:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Tonight, feeling a little down (mostly due to the prospect of not seeing Michele tomorrow), I decided that what I really needed to watch was a good horror movie. So I went out and rented two that have been on my "to-watch" list for a while. The first is The Exorcist, which I have not yet watched. The second, and I risk ridicule from my more cultured acquaintances for admitting this, is Hellraiser: Inferno.

Normally, H:I is the sort of movie I scoff at in Blockbuster and wonder exactly who rents this sort of film. I loathe "splatter" horror films and consider them one miniscule step above romance novels in the grand hierarchy of the Arts. However, some months ago I happened upon a Hollywood Jesus review of the H:I that included this quote:

It's a shame, really; Inferno is, in some ways, too smart, sensitive and spiritual for the audience it's broadly aimed at, and in many ways too hard-core and powerful for the audience that would, in the safe light of day, argue many of its uncomfortable points about obsession, morality, 'goodness,' and---let's just say it, shall we?---damnation. With a few key cuts (one or two 'red' scenes, and some general profanity), Inferno would be an ideal, high-caliber, weapons-grade substitute to most of those milquetoast Rapture-scare films many churchgoers saw in the basement of their local parish on Thursday night; sometimes, the best way to put the desire for Heaven into someone truly is to simply scare the Hell out of them.

How fascinating is that? Very, at least to me. It reminds me of Flannery O'Conner's stated desire to write stories so hopeless and depraved that readers would be left gasping for God and scrabbling desperately for the saving grace offered by Christ. So I rented H:I and watched it this evening. And I concur completely with the Hollywood Jesus review, which I encourage you to read. It's not a great film by any means; as a piece of art, it has a few moments of greatness and just as many moments of mediocrity. The "ick" factor is very high (higher than the HJ review implies), and I don't really recommend that you watch it. But it unabashedly does what it sets out to do. The closing scene, in which the protagonist comes to grips with his selfish life choices and their consequences, is brilliant. H:I has an extremely moral spiritual message, and by golly, you've learned it by the end of the film.

Spiritual insight in the strangest places, eh?

Posted by Andy at 11:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I just returned from the car repair place--a lot poorer and feeling, as I usually do after dealing with such places, vaguely used.

Car repair places just do that to me. I always leave them suspecting that I have just been ripped off, although the rational part of my mind knows that to be a product of my own insecurity. I have a very limited knowledge about vehicles and engines, and am thus aware of exactly how easy it would be for an unscrupulous repairperson to completely hoodwink me regarding car repairs. I always feel so vulnerable when my car needs repairing: I must essentially trust that their diagnoses are correct, and since the car is usually having mechanical problems, I don't really have the luxury (like I would for other business transactions) of shopping around at competitors'. It's really only car repair places that leave me feeling so insecure; I wonder if others have similarly irrational suspicions regarding other types of businesses (such as computer sales/repair) about which they know little.

After dropping my car off to be repaired and giving the go-ahead for them to do the necessary fixes, I spent a few minutes on Google and the Chevrolet site looking for some information on the type of damage sustained by my car. It only took me a few moments to find a notice issued for my specific type of car announcing an open recall of an obscure car part which happens to cause the precise, exact type of damage sustained by my vehicle. Armed with this information, I navigated the Chevrolet telephone bureaucracy to see if Chevy would cover the cost of the repair and recall. Alas, stupid me. Although the mechanics were unsure exactly what had caused all the wiring in the steering column to melt and fuse together, they were very sorry to inform me that it had absolutely nothing to do with the recalled part (which they verified did need to be replaced--I get to make another appointment for that). Apparently there are just all sorts of things in 1997 Chevy Cavaliers that cause the wiring in the steering column to melt and fuse together in that precise fashion.

So here I am a few hundred dollars poorer and feeling like I've just been ripped off. Most likely they were being honest with me and I'm just the victim of an unlucky coincidence. I am genuinely happy that the car is repaired. So why do I once again feel like I've just been screwed over by the Man?

At any rate, a quiet evening with a good book should suit me quite well tonight.

Posted by Andy at 5:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

That fantasy worlds are better than the real world is readily apparent. As Americans, we invest enormous amounts of money and time each year in escaping the banality of our everyday lives despite the technological marvels and luxuries that surround us. One might be forgiven for wondering what, exactly, is wrong with the real world, that we need to invent imaginary universes in which to take refuge.

I have a theory, propounded at times to unfortunate acquaintances (a group of individuals of which you, gentle reader, are now a part), regarding this tendency of ours to dismiss the real world in favor of fantasy ones. In short, it's all about nomenclature. The words and names we use to describe our world are clinical and boring compared to the evocative monikers given to features in fantasy worlds such as Middle-Earth, Krynn, or a host of other fantastic universes. Pull out a map of the U.S. and you will be bombarded with mundane names like "Washington, D.C." or "Ohio." On the other hand, pull out a map of Lovecraft's version of Earth, and you get wonderful features like the Mountains of Madness and the Dread Sunken City of Rl'yeh. Which is the more interesting-sounding world? That latter, of course.

In the hopes of sprucing up our dull, monotonous North American lives, I have taken the liberty of suggesting several name changes to U.S. cities and geographic features, all of which make America a much more interesting-sounding place. I think we can all agree that my version of America sounds much more intriguing than the real one. Read on for my suggested name changes.

Which of these is the more interesting name?

• The Grand Canyon or The Stygian Abyss?
  
• Washington, D.C. or Skull City? (thanks to Jon for this one)
  
• Detroit or Hellport?
  
• The Platte River or The Frigid River of Broken Souls?
  
• The Washington Monument or Bleakspire?
  
• The Pacific Ocean or The Sea of Sorrows?
  
• The Rocky Mountains or The Crags of Despair?
  
• The President of the U.S.A. or The Masked Darklord of Forgotten Aranath?
  
• Alaska or The Realm of Icy Death?
  
• Yellowstone Park or The Bloodstone Wastes?
  
• Old Faithful or Relentless Fountain of Watery Death?
  
• Vice President of the U.S.A. or Witch-king of the Shattered Realms?
  
• The Statue of Liberty or The All-Seeing Skeletal Watcher?
  
• Mt. Rushmore or The Mountain of the Four Cyclopean Heads of Death?
  
• Chief Justice of the Supreme Court or Agronar, Dispenser of Indiscriminate Justice?
  
• Tomb of the Unknown Soldier or Forgotten Tomb of the Nameless One?
  
• Gettysburg or Melshorak's Folly?
  
• Lake Michigan or The Lake of Lamentation?
  
• The Lincoln Memorial or The Crypt of Tashagrond Foehammer?
  
• Muskegon Hall of Justice (no change needed)
  
• The Everglades or The Marshes of Creeping Oblivion?
  
• Fort Knox or Dread Keep of the Jade Empress?
  
• Arlington Cemetery or Killing Field of the Eyeless Deathking?
  
• The White House or The Iron Fortress of Tar-kel'ron?
  
• Boston or The Necropolis Kingdom of Salucor Oathbreaker?
  
• The Mojave Desert or The Desert of Ineffable Damnation?
  
• Michigan Correctional Facility or The Bottomless Pit of Cleansing Fire?
  
• The Midwest or The Blood Plains of Tyreath?
  
• Carlsbad Caverns or Maw of the Underworld?
  
• Golden Gate Bridge or Doomspan?
  
• Mt. St. Helens or Demongate Mountain?
  
• Los Angeles or Lair of the Bonelords?
  
• any National Forest or The Forbidden Forest?
  
• Death Valley (no change needed)
  

Are these proposed names not much more interesting than the originals? Try placing these names on a mental map of the U.S., and see what a difference it makes. With but a shred of imagination, everyday America could be as exciting a place to live as any imagined realm.

Posted by Andy at 10:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Well, Gentle Readers, what a great week it has been. I spent several days of it with Michele here in Muskegon, which almost breaks our record for the most number of days spent in the same state. So I'm in a pretty good mood, and instead of subjecting you to some sort of enlightening essay about a topic of great significance, I have decided to simply scatter some weekend closing thoughts out into the wind for you to enjoy.

• So I went to Brian's church this morning, and experienced a few moments of bewildering surreality when I saw none other than bcp himself standing in the church lobby, dressed as a wise man. He looked quite dapper in his robe and turban. I trust he plans to wear it to work sometime this week.

• Rendezvous-ing (how do you conjugate that verb?) with each other requires Michele and I to both make the epic journey to our secret meeting spot in South Bend, Indiana. The Amtrak might make our lives a bit easier, if only Amtrak's pricing policy didn't make it more economical for us to build our own Apache helicopter from scratch and fly to and from Chicago ourselves. But I digress. I tend to measure the drive back to Muskegon from South Bend (after dropping Michele off at the train station) musically; that is, by the CDs I listen to during the different stages of the journey. Today, Social Distortion provided the soundtrack for the South Bend-->Benton Harbor stage of the trip. The Cult got me as far north as Holland, at which point I switched over to NPR, the Official Voice of the Democratic Party(tm), for a few minutes until I got bored with listening to ACLU press releases. I then listened to Sarah McLachlan remixed by Bill Leeb of Delerium and Frontline Assembly fame (if being listened to by two dozen angst-ridden Goths in South Dakota and 1 pasty-white Protestant male in West Michigan constitutes "fame"); that was about as close to pure audio bliss as I figured I would get, so I put that on repeat until I got back to Muskegon. All and all it was a successful musical foray. Selecting CDs to accompany my on my car journeys is always a fun experience.

• Michele and I went scouting for apartments in Grand Rapids on Saturday. That was quite enjoyable, although it didn't turn up anything too promising (lots of places don't like cats, it seems, which is a problem). But it was a day well spent. If you can recommend any good apartments in GR, we'd love to here about them.

• I then convinced Michele to watch the phenomenally good Donnie Darko with me, and she claimed to enjoy the film although she wasn't convinced by my rather convoluted theory on what exactly is transpiring in the movie.

• confidential to Alan: I like the new look.

Now to brace myself for a new week, one that will not be mercifully interrupted by the occurences of any holidays or vacation days. Here's hoping you all had a good New Year's!

edit 1/6: I think you conjugate verbs and decline nouns, not the other way around. It's my love-hate relationship with languages, I swear.

Posted by Andy at 9:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Knowledge, it is said, is a prize to be pursued above all else; and so any day in which I learn something entirely new to me I consider a successful one. Today, to my meager but enthusiastic pool of knowledge about World War II has been added a fact of history that has, strangely enough, never come up once in my readings about that most brutal of wars. Yes, my friends, today I have learned about the role of Nazi Dominatrix SS Stormtroopers in the crucial battle for Europe, circa 1944.

The source of this revelation is none other than the acclaimed computer game Return to Castle Wolfenstein, a first-person-shooter lauded by historians for its responsible and painstakingly realistic depiction of the Second World War (the links above point to screenshots from said game). Amazingly, I was not aware of the crucial role these uberfrau played in the war until I encountered them in this game. In fact, had I not known better, I might have dismissed this as a ridiculous idea conceived by an all-male team of computer game programmers. Curious, I did some research and found almost total silence among historians on this topic.

A reading of the leading historians of the war reveals so little on the topic that a less-informed reader might get the impression that legions of these elite fraulein commandos were, in fact, not present in large numbers defending top-secret Nazi installations. Weinberg, otherwise a respectable scholar, mentions them not at all, and Cooper makes only vague references to these black-leather-clad stormtroopers in his groundbreaking work The German Army 1933-1945. Sternbrecht's oft-dismissed work Vixens in the Werhmacht is the only source with the courage to address the topic, and it is in his work that we find illuminating discussions on the practicality of skintight leather bodysuits as a standard-issue infantry uniform.

It is sad to see such a crucial part of history all but ignored by mainstream historians, although the upcoming HBO miniseries Band of Babes promises to shed some light on the feisty frauleins of the XXII Supervixenkorps during the invasion of Poland, just as Band of Brothers illuminated the story of the Allied 101st Airborne in Normandy. Until then, we'll just have to rely on what we learn from Castle Wolfenstein: that these commandos are extremely fast-moving, are skilled at kicking grenades back at the thrower, and are armed with submachineguns that can reduce your health to 0 in no time at all. They apparently ultimately met their end (along with several legions of Nazi cyborgs and zombies, but that's a topic for another post) at the hand of a single heavily-armed Allied agent while guarding the ultra-secret Nazi archaeological excavations and experiments at the aforementioned Castle Wolfenstein, located somewhere in Europe. Find that in your high school history textbook, I dare you.

Chalk one up for history.

Posted by Andy at 11:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Wow, these constant holidays are wreaking havoc on my original commitment to write a post each day.

I see that it is the "in" thing to do to post one's New Year's resolutions on one's "blog." Well I'm not usually big on the whole making-resolutions thing, and the few resolutions I have made this year are on a strictly Need To Know basis, so unless you have the appropriate clearance (for instance, if you're getting married to me this May) I'll just keep them to myself. Trust me, you don't really want to know them anyway.

Oh, Michele and I watched Pi (I'm getting sick and tired of linking everything to IMDb, sorry) last night. Pretty much the mere mention of Kabbalism is enough to get my undivided attention, and this movie happened to not only feature Kabbalism as a central element, but was also just a great film. This movie has a lot in common with Eco's Foucault's Pendulum, which also explores the idea of universal patterns and connectivity, using Kabbalism as an interpretive framework thereof. Michele and I enjoyed Pi, although we had some rather different interpretations of the significance of various scenes. Michele's knowledge of Hebrew was quite handy. I'm still trying to collect my thoughts on the film (i.e. figure out what the heck was going on) but will post once I get them into some semblance of order.

11:45: restate my assumptions. One: watching Pi and Muppets Take Manhattan back-to-back on New Year's Eve is dangerously surreal. Two: Romulan ale not to be served at official occasions. 11:46: press RETURN. Happy New Year!

Posted by Andy at 11:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)