captain random's roundup of miscellanea...

I got a lot of items on in the hopper and not much time or energy, so I'm starting a new, semi-regular feature on this blog. Every so often I'll toss up a post with a whole mess of links on it.

Good news for me, I clear my Inbox of possible blog posts. Good news for you, I inundate you with quality reading.

* * *

Monster By Mail

The artist who runs this site creates one-of-a-kind caricature type drawings of monsters based upon a seasonal theme. This summer's theme is zombies, and you know how I love zombies! I just ordered one... Once I get it I'll post a picture here and let you know what I think. It is also pretty cool that you can get a video of him creating your monster for an additional fee.

a zombie ophthalmologist: the eye is the quickest way to the brain

* * *

Generation Chickenhawk

Max Blumenthal is a lefty writer and quasi-documentarian whose work has appeared in The Nation and the Huffington Post. You can check out his blog here.

This short movie was filmed when Blumenthal attended a College Republicans convention at a hotel (Moonie-0wned!) across the street from Arlington National Cemetery. All the folks he talks to are gung ho for the war in Iraq. But when he asks why they aren't over there fighting for their country the self-contradictions and hypocrisy kicks into high gear.

In conversations with at least twenty College Republicans about the war in Iraq, I listened as they lip-synched discredited cant about “fighting them over there so we don’t have to fight them over here.” Many of the young GOP cadres I met described the so-called “war on terror” as nothing less than the cause of their time.

Yet when I asked these College Republicans why they were not participating in this historical cause, they immediately went into contortions.

Check the disconcerting political hilarity:

* * *

Johnny Depp to play Hunter S. Thompson Once Again

Say what you will about Terry Gilliam's 1998 release of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Johnny Depp did a hell of a job portraying one of the most important (in my opinion) figures in twentieth century journalism. Hunter S. Thompson's death was the first death of a celebrity that affected me as much as did the passing of Jerry Garcia.

From reading after-the-fact stories about the filming of Fear and Loathing I learnt that Depp lived in Thompson's basement for months in preparation for this role in order to be able to imitate to unmistakable Gonzo master. That's dedication...

the Gonzo One's Trademark

Depp will play a younger, slightly more sober Thompson in the Rum Diary (IMDB page here), due in theaters in 2009. For those of you who have never read it, a brief synopsis:

Depp will play Paul Kemp, a freelance journo writing for a rundown newspaper in 1950s Puerto Rico and surrounded by a bunch of lost souls bent on self-destruction. The journo was 22 when he wrote the autobiographical novel and had yet to develop his trademark gonzo style. It was written in 1959 but not published until 1998.

This is not my favorite H.S.T. book, but I'm excited to see Depp reprise the role.

* * *

Symphonic Video Game Music

I'm a child of the video game generation. I'm also moved into a somewhat cultured phase of my life. So what better then world-renowned symphonies playing the tunes from videogames--Super Mario Brothers, the Legend of Zelda and others--that served as the soundtrack of my childhood?

National Public radio did a nice little story about the Video Games Live tour's recent stop in Washington D.C. I'd love to see this show and I hope it comes down to South Florida...

* * *

That's all for now, I hope you enjoy! Posting will be sporadic to non-existent the next few days as I will be in NYC for a little mini-vacation. I'm going to see the Beastie Boys in Central Park on Wednesday, which is only a warm up for the concert event of the summer... DAFT PUNK in Brooklyn on Thursday. I got a good crew of folks coming up from Florida and a bunch of people meting us in the city. On Friday, we are going to take my good friend BKNY's Slice of Brooklyn Pizza Tour and feed out faces before heading home on Friday night.

Hopefully, I'll have it together enough to review my trip this weekend.

Harry Potter and the rainy weekend spent (mostly) reading...

Unless you've been living under a rock that doesn't have internet, TV, radio or any other method of communication for the last week or so you know that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the final book in J.K. Rowling's epic Harry Potter series, was released this past Saturday morning at 12:01 a.m. I'm a pretty big fan of the books (and the films based upon them). I remember going and buying the first one while at school in Montreal and starting to read it while waiting for the Metro... which stopped and left again without my poking my nose out of the ever-engrossing children's book I had just started to read. These books have a way of making time disappear.

You may not know this, but books released in Canada often have a different distributor and/or publisher then books released in the United States. This is the reason why the Canadian versions of the Harry Potter novels have different, more colorful (or, as a nod to the Canadian spelling, colourful) covers. As an example, take a look at the two versions of the new book:

The American cover of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

The Canadian cover of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Rather different, wouldn't you say?

Anyway, since the majority of the time that J.K. Rowling was cranking out stories overlapped with the time I spent in Canada, I had acquired Canadian versions of the first five books. I got a friend to buy and ship me the sixth book from Vancouver, since at the time Amazon.ca would not ship to a non-Canadian address. When the release date for the newest book hit the street, I checked and was to discover that this time around I would be able to purchase a Canadian edition online.

Unfortunately, there was no way that I was going to get the book the weekend it was released, so I had made peace with the fact that I would not be apart of the first wave of folks reading the book. I'd read the book when it showed up in my mailbox, which was alright by me.

The hardcore of the hardcore: these two girls are reading their copies of Harry Potter on the rail at Brooklyn's Siren Festival.

On Saturday morning I left my apartment early to meet with my project group from one of my classes at my school's library. We got our business out of the way and split up. I was heading out of the building with the other two males in my group when something sitting on the circulation desk. "I'll see you guys later," I said as I headed to the girl working the desk.

I picked up the massive tome that was sitting in on a small easel labeled "Book of the Day" and asked her "May I check this out?".

"Of course you may," she said with a smile. "I've been wondering how long it would sit here before someone grabbed it." She scanned my library card and opened the book's spin for the first time to place a green "Due On" card in the back. I skipped out of the library happy about my unexpected acquisition.

Even though it was difficult, I trudged my way through a bunch of schoolwork before heading home and directly onto my couch. I set myself up with some music, a glass of wine and 756 pages of fine adolescent literature. One of South Florida's infamous afternoon thunderstorms was getting under way outside my window (that's what I get for getting my car washed), so I was more then happy to be inside curled up in a fantasy world.

Five hours later I looked up and it was beginning to get dark. I was almost 500 pages in and I felt likeI had been reading for no time at all. Amazing how time seems to disappear when you're completely immersed in a good book.

False spoiler at the NYC release party

That evening I hid the book from my own view and went bowling with the crew. Many beers (and assorted strikes and gutters later) I passed out on the couch.

If you've ever passed out drunk on the couch, you know that it ain't easy to sleep through the night. I woke up at 6 and headed to my bed, but it wasn't long before the mental alarm clock that prevents me from sleeping late was clanging in my head, so I headed back to the couch to read some more. If I didn't have plans with the parents on Sunday afternoon I would have probably stayed in my underwear and devoured the rest of the book. But I left to spend some quality time with the family, knowing full well that I'd have a chance to finish the book that evening.

Which I did, at about 11:30 last night. The conclusion was surprisingly satisfying. Without spoiling anything, I can say that I felt Rowling did a good job tying up what seemed to be a million loose ends in the extremely complex mythology of her wizarding world. The characters have grew and changed dynamically, and even at the end some are revealed to be not what they seem. I am pretty sure that the Deathly Hallows will be the last book in the saga of Harry Potter. I can only hope that the author is planning her next project. Maybe it will be an adult one, as the last couple books of the Harry Potter series, especially this last one, are not really for children.

Unlike most movies, which leave me disappointed in the ending, I felt happy with this conclusion. Plus I didn't turn on my television the entire weekend, which is a feat I am quite proud of.