Fire

So if anyone is wondering why I haven't sent out my new address, its because I'll probably be moving again because my house caught fire.

Luckily nobody was hurt and the only damage is to the structure of the house and not to any of the things inside.  Still the insurance assessment has labeled the house as potentially unlivable for the next few months.  So... I'm scrambling to find a new place to live.

I wasn't home when it happened, but apparently the cause of the fire was a freak accident involving things in the basement.  Apparently the insurance company called it an "act of god."  I'll update this post if I get any details.

Let the fun that is house-hunting on long island begin again.

The New York Trilogy

I've been reading Phil Auster's The New York Trilogy lately and its a very interesting (and strange) take on detective fiction.  I'm not even really sure how to write about it, so instead just post an image from the graphic novel adaption of City of Glass drawn by the amazing David Mazzuchelli and give a summary.

The stories, as is probably obvious, all take place in New York City.  However, this is not the New York of Raymond Chandler-esque crime fiction.  This is a version of New York where identities are constantly gained, lost, and shifted.  A version of New York where everyone seems just 20 pages away from insanity.

I don't want to give too much away, and I probably wouldn't be able too even if I could, but the stories all seem to intersect.  Characters from the three stories may or may not interact with each other or may or may or may not assume each other's identities (its unclear).  In City of Glass, the narrator (who may or my not be Phil Auster) describes a meeting between the protagonist (who is pretending to be a investigator named Phil Auster) and a writer named Phil Auster (who is different than the actual Phil Auster).  Later, a character in The Locked Room assumes the identity of a fictional character introduced in City of Glass.

All and all, some very interesting reading.  Maybe not recommended for a week where everything conceivable goes haywire though.

I think its fair to say...

That the current lab playlist has reached new levels of eclectic pretentiousness.







Though not all of it is entirely unrelated to psychology.



Like I said, its a bit eclectic.  When our new student arrives, I'm guessing this insanity will be reigned in a little.

Post Apocalyptic Movie Marathon Part 3: The Mist

So this isn't really post-apocalyptic in the same sense as The Book of Eli or The Road, but since the movie's main conflict arises from a fear of the end of the world (and, you know, giant Cthulhu monsters) I think it qualifies.



I watched this mostly because I was interested to see how the director, Frank Darabont, handles a horror piece.  Given how well directed this movie is, I'm pretty eager to see how his television version of The Walking Dead turns out.

Anyway, The Mist pretty much Stephen King by the numbers.  The acting and directing make the film engaging and adds some tension to the plot, but its all material that has been done before.  The focus on fear (in this case fearing of an impending biblical apocalypse) adds an interesting layer of drama to the story, but the writing isn't strong enough to support it and it ultimately peters out by the end.  Had the writing been better (and really, endings have always been Stephen King's weakness) this film could have been something really interesting.  With that said, the direction and acting in the film is good enough to make it worth seeing.

The film is becoming increasingly famous for its final scene.  While I think it was a bold artistic choice, I'm not sure how well it fit with the tone of the rest of the film.  I don't want to spoil anything, but it seems to me that ending the film like that leaves the major conflict of the film unsatisfied.  I'm perfectly happy with ambiguous endings, but when you have a film like this end in the manner that this film does, it ends up completely overriding everything that came before.  So, while I think it was an interesting way to end the movie, I'm not so sure it was the right way.

Scott Pilgrim

So this summer hasn't been so great for movies.  Besides Chris Nolan's weird fiction science noir epic  Inception, the only movie I'm looking forward to is Scott Pilgrim vs. The Universe.

Its based on a series of indie comics that I actually haven't read.  However, the fact that its directed by Edgar Wright (of Spaced/Sean of the Dead/Hot Fuzz fame) and looks to have special effects created on a Nintendo is enough to make me want to see it.