Cowbook

A Quinnipiac University professor of journalism asked his class a question, like you do when you happen to be a teacher, and when one Michael Kataja answered correctly, he was rewarded with a book of travels.  Specifically, Tim Brookes' Hell of a Place to Lose a Cow, in which the author attempts to recreate the path he'd hitchhiked through the USA some 20 or 30 years previous.   The prize was probably awarded to Mike in 2002 or 2003.  He never actually read the book, but he did give it to me instead of throwing it away.  In the spirit of the thing, I slipped it under the back seat of my pal Kevin's car on our way to a Bad Plus concert (standard 'man, that guy is fast' and 'look! ET dolls!' comments apply).  I also left a note inside suggesting that future readers drop me a line when they leave it for someone else to read.  

Now, at the end of 2008, I'm pleased to report a kind of modern day miracle.  One of those fun little things that takes off and you read about and you tell your friends and everyone takes a moment to think of how neat that is and oh I should do something like that myself some time.  Yes, lo these many months and years, I have heard stories and tales of the book's travel.  To be more specific in fact, I have heard from:

1 person.  In 2006.

Even by that volume's standard of spending a year with an owner before moving on, that's slow.  I wonder where it is today.

Kind of a Big Deal

Not to brag or anything, but this blog, website, and author have been graced with a Merlin Mann Award for Excellence in You! award as of December 2008.  With a little luck, I'll still be eligible for 2009 as well.    It's no Monty Burns Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence, but I think it's a step in the right direction.

All the preparation in the world!

Alfred Hitchcock's thing was planning. Scheming. Preparing. His job was to take a scenario, coax it through a writer into a script, and then figure out the geometry of the thing. Camera angles, lens lengths, the shapes and colors of the foreground and background. He took notes, he storyboarded, he imagined and decided and determined and produced. By the time the first frame was shot, he was essentially finished. He had produced a specific plan, and filming was just the tedious process of capturing all the little snips of colored thread so that they could be sewn into a suspenseful needlepoint later on. He didn't shoot coverage, he didn't run a dozen cameras so he could make up his mind later, he didn't waste film on anything; he just shot the plan. This way, if he was fired before the edit was done, the movie would still look like he planned, because there would be no alternate footage or angles to choose from. Actors - props that eat - were expected to know their roles, literally and figuratively, and do their best not to mess it up. (I don't think Hitchcock would go in for the creepy Zemeckis-favored animation thing though, that's giving whole staffs and departments worth of people the chance to screw up the performance.)

In theory, if you had all of Hitch's notes and storyboards and perhaps, in the spirit of planning, you discussed his intentions with him, he wouldn't even have to show up. Someone else could relay the same set of decisions, made in advance, follow the boards, shoot the plan.

So how did Gus Van Sant screw up Psycho? They not only had the original materials, they had the original film to look at! Maybe that's the trouble. Maybe too much effort was spent on imitating the original cast instead of acting. Maybe it was mis-cast. Maybe part of the problem was that it was shot in color - Hitchcock certainly could have shot it in color, and had already done several color films; the black and white was a choice.

So....what? Imitation is flattering, but lousy art? There was more method to Hitchcock's madness than met the eye? Does the meaning of the film change when the audience goes in knowing the surprises on which the original was hinged? Was the movie actually okay, just not able to stand its own weight, in the form of the original's legacy and the criticism that comes with touching it?

Journal Entries in Bad Taste

No lie! Thursday, Sept 13, 2001 - When the people are clear and they start sifting through the rubble, I wonder if the insurance companies will classify it as an 'Act of God.'

Monday, Aug 29, 2005 - Why aren't there more Katrina and the Waves jokes in the news lately? It looks like there's gonna be a whole lot of people without power or water, just waiting out the storm. I'll bet we start seeing a whole lot of little girls named Katrina next year.

[EDIT: Fake entry I thought of today!] Thursday, Sept 11, 2003 - Generations from now, the date of September 11th will live on in infamy, in memorial of the senseless loss this nation has sustained. R.I.P. John Ritter.

Another web thing.

I had an idea, so I signed up for that Twitter the kids love.  It's greenglassdoor if you're into that sort of thing. But let's be honest, if you're one of my two known readers here, you probably already noticed that I added you over there. At least I'm not on facebook. But Dave Brand will be! Just 32 more days!