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randy_byersSo yesterday I put the last few touches to my piece for the next Chunga, a fanzine review about fanzine reviews which I had been stuck on for a bit. Such a relief to be done with it, even if it could be better. Now I can focus on proofreading and other phases of getting this damned zine ready for publication. Guess I need to write my contribution to the editorial, too, but I figure that'll just be a Corflu wrap-up.
I offered my Worldcon report to a favorite fanzine that I've owed a piece for over a year, and they have accepted it, so my next writing project is to revise and expand that. It's been interesting to see other responses to Anticipation around the intertubes, especially the ones that aren't favorable. I'm so used to hearing some of my friends grouse that the Worldcon is too big and too full of people they don't know that it's a little strange to see younger people complaining about insularity and racism and inability to appeal to new people. I mean, you'd think that all the insular people would have stayed home. On the other hand, it's certainly true that while I've enjoyed all six Worldcons that I've been to (the first in 1984), the last three have been the best for me because I now know so many people in fandom around the US and around the world that I can always find people I enjoy hanging out with. That wasn't always the case before.
Anyway, so yes, I watched movies last night. The Conversation (1974) was a nice exploration of paranoia, with a twist ending that took me by surprise. Very tightly orchestrated. It was interesting how it walked the line between naturalism and genre, too. At times it felt like a delicate portrait of a very lonely man, and at other times it felt like a pretty goofy spy movie satire (e.g., at the trade fair). Loved all the pre-digital high tech; I can see why this has so many fans amongst science fiction aficionados. The ending is utterly perfect. What a brilliant image of existential devastation! In fact, there was part of me that thought this was a smarter, much more feeling version of Blow Up.
Point Break (1991) is a very strange beast. Aspects of it seemed utterly rote and ham-handed. Keanu Reeves lives down to his reputation. He's just a really unconvincing actor here, and there are several scenes that he kills through sheer woodenness. However, visually and kinetically this thing sings from the very beginning, and it builds and builds to more and more complex and exciting set pieces. The first sky-diving sequence, which happens in the last third of the movie, is incredibly exhilarating. Still not sure how some of that was shot. Patrick Swayze makes up for many of Keanu's sins. The philosophy of the bad guys is actually quite seductive. There are many ways in which this feels like a typical throw-away trash thriller of the era, but it's got something going on beneath its pretty face, something deep in its bones. It feels like it has bones -- and guts. Bet my eldest nephew would love this.
After that I bounced off both The H-Man (1959) and Mothra (1961), after a half an hour of each. I blame the Old Viscosity, which pretty much destroyed me at that point. Or at least I hope that was the problem, because I'm going to be disappointed if none of these old Toho movies is of interest to me!
I offered my Worldcon report to a favorite fanzine that I've owed a piece for over a year, and they have accepted it, so my next writing project is to revise and expand that. It's been interesting to see other responses to Anticipation around the intertubes, especially the ones that aren't favorable. I'm so used to hearing some of my friends grouse that the Worldcon is too big and too full of people they don't know that it's a little strange to see younger people complaining about insularity and racism and inability to appeal to new people. I mean, you'd think that all the insular people would have stayed home. On the other hand, it's certainly true that while I've enjoyed all six Worldcons that I've been to (the first in 1984), the last three have been the best for me because I now know so many people in fandom around the US and around the world that I can always find people I enjoy hanging out with. That wasn't always the case before.
Anyway, so yes, I watched movies last night. The Conversation (1974) was a nice exploration of paranoia, with a twist ending that took me by surprise. Very tightly orchestrated. It was interesting how it walked the line between naturalism and genre, too. At times it felt like a delicate portrait of a very lonely man, and at other times it felt like a pretty goofy spy movie satire (e.g., at the trade fair). Loved all the pre-digital high tech; I can see why this has so many fans amongst science fiction aficionados. The ending is utterly perfect. What a brilliant image of existential devastation! In fact, there was part of me that thought this was a smarter, much more feeling version of Blow Up.
Point Break (1991) is a very strange beast. Aspects of it seemed utterly rote and ham-handed. Keanu Reeves lives down to his reputation. He's just a really unconvincing actor here, and there are several scenes that he kills through sheer woodenness. However, visually and kinetically this thing sings from the very beginning, and it builds and builds to more and more complex and exciting set pieces. The first sky-diving sequence, which happens in the last third of the movie, is incredibly exhilarating. Still not sure how some of that was shot. Patrick Swayze makes up for many of Keanu's sins. The philosophy of the bad guys is actually quite seductive. There are many ways in which this feels like a typical throw-away trash thriller of the era, but it's got something going on beneath its pretty face, something deep in its bones. It feels like it has bones -- and guts. Bet my eldest nephew would love this.
After that I bounced off both The H-Man (1959) and Mothra (1961), after a half an hour of each. I blame the Old Viscosity, which pretty much destroyed me at that point. Or at least I hope that was the problem, because I'm going to be disappointed if none of these old Toho movies is of interest to me!
