A few quick hits about books, movies, etc. that have caught my eye:
The Third Translation, by Matt Bondurant. This thriller, about a cryptologist working on the mysteries of an ancient Egyptian relic at the British Museum, first appeared to be a quasi-historical conspiracy tale in the Dan Brown mold, but was much more of a straightforward adventure tale, though it did involve a lot of Egyptology and a rather bizarre conspiracy. Lots of drugs, too. At heart inherently flawed because it sets up an intellectual puzzle that is never really addressed and resolves the hero’s nominal quest in a rather facile way, it’s still an interesting three-fourths of a book if you’re into linguistics, Egypt or scientific arcana. It really needs an ending, however. I read it mostly on airplanes, so it served its purposes well. Lest you be worried, it is a much better written book than any of Dan Brown’s works.
Seven Soldiers, written by Grant Morrison, art by J.H. Williams, Simone Bianchi, Cameron Stewart, Ryan Sook, Frazer Irving, Pascal Ferry, Yanick Paquette, Michael Bair and Doug Mahnke. This is a 30 issue comic story arc by Morrison, consisting of two bookend specials and seven 4–issue miniseries about seven “new and inexperienced” heroes (Klarion, Mister Miracle, Frankenstein, Zatanna, The Guardian, Bulleteer and Shining Knight) that together try to save the world (without actually meeting and teaming up, JLA or X-Men style). Each mini is a self-contained story but each has impacts on the others. Publication is spread throughout 2005 and into 2006. I’ve read Seven Soldiers #0 and Shining Knight #1, with more on the way from Mile High Comics. Looks really good, although I suspect lack of knowledge of the fringes of the DC Universe may be a problem eventually.
The Narrows, by Michael Connelly. As with any Michael Connelly novel, you pretty much know what you’re going to get – hard-nosed but unconventional detective (in this case, series favorite Hieronymus “Harry” Bosch), battles with bureaucracy, crazed killer, introspection about family responsibilities vs. passion for the job, etc. It’s all here, too. At some point, the books will become cliched and a parody of themselves, but Connelly’s not there yet. If you like mystery novels, Connelly’s pretty much at the top of the list these days. Another airplane pick, but a quicker and on-the-whole more enjoyable read than The Third Translation.
Mezmerize – System of a Down. Follow-up to 2001’s Toxicity, I found the CD to be uneven at best, despite SOAD being The Next Big Thing, hyped for weeks by Best Buy, called the vanguard of the “new prog” by Entertainment Weekly, subject of glowing adoration in Wired. Like Toxicity, this CD is a melange of styles, from the piledriving harshness of B.Y.O.B to the far more melodic Old School Hollywood and Lost in Hollywood. To be fair, some of my feelings about the music are derived from the sophomoric politics on the tracks getting airplay: B.Y.O.B. (“Why don’t presidents fight the war/why do they always send the poor?”) and Sad Statue (“We’ll all go down in history/With a sad Statue Of Liberty/And a generation that didn’t agree.”). Overall, though it’s still a pretty good listen, and rock-band politics are generally about as well thought out as any celebrity pontification. The biggest problem is the marketing of the CDs. The band cut a 75–minute CD in half, and will follow the 38–minute Mezmerize with Hypnotize later in the year. It’s a rather bald-faced attempt to get more bucks from fans, and I wouldn’t have bought this one had it not been 8 bucks at Best Buy.
Sideways – starring Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church, Virginia Madsen and Sandra Oh; written and directed by Alexander Payne. This little movie about life, love and wine was clearly one of the more overrated of the past year, but that is largely not its fault. The media hyped it to the point that it was all but destined to be a little disappointing if you saw it on DVD, like I did. Like all of Alexander Payne’s films (Election, About Schmidt, Citizen Ruth), Sideways is ultimately about confronting the bleakness and averageness of life. It is almost painful to watch Paul Giamatti as he lets go of the tight control he’s kept over his life since his marriage disintegrated, and surely it was he, and not Thomas Haden Church who deserved an Oscar nod. Unlike the other works, this one actually ends on a note of optimism for Giamatti’s Miles, though the future of Church’s Jack is certainly not so bright, once his new wife discovers him for the philanderer that he is. Wine lovers will have much to like about the movie, as well as some points to criticize (Santa Barbara County as the center of the California Wine Country?). The plot also seemed a little too facile – what are the odds that Miles and Jack would meet two separate beautiful and available women in the same small town who not only both love wine, but know each other well? It’s still a very good movie, just perhaps not quite as good as it was made out to be (saying as much about last years other releases as it does about Sideways).
