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Showing posts from February, 2012

The Third Clue

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Here's your third clue to the plot of the next Simon Rip adventure:

The Dark Behind Her Eyes

On the 8th of this month, I had to take Maria back up to Indy to see the eye specialist. The problems with her sighted eye have worsened. Not only does she still have the problem with floaters, but her “good” eye has become fairly sensitive to light and her vision has deteriorated to the point where she finds it difficult to see anything written on the television screen. When things like that happen, it’s funny how your brain latches on to minor and inconsequential observations...we used to go out of our way to watch anime subtitled rather than dubbed. In the last month, it’s the other way around. I’ve come to recognize Funimation’s pool of dub talent by the sound and cadence of their voices, regardless of how much they try to mask themselves. The last time I wrote about this, I mentioned there was some fear of the culprit being Behcet’s Disease . Thankfully, that proved to not be the case. However, as comforting as it is to have Behcet’s eliminated from the list of possible culp

Black Review #1

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This is my copy of Black Review #1, edited by Mel Watkins. It includes Shane Stevens’ social commentary essay, “The White Niggers of the Seventies.” It’s not incredibly difficult to track down, though you’re probably looking at 15 or 20 bucks for this slim paperback. It’s worth it for Shane’s essay alone. Not only does he deliver some some sharp insights into race relations, but he offers a few hints at his own life. Thanks to Stevens’ essay, I discovered another literary feud ( see post on Ishmael Reed ) and tracked down the letters that were exchanged back and forth. Again, if I can raise the cash for my research trip, I suspect I might unearth more details. After reading the letters, I have a hard time believing that it ended there.

Merantau

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While waiting for the U.S. release of The Raid, I again streamed Gareth Evans and Iko Uwais’ first film, Merantau . The movie takes its name from a traditional Mingangkabu rite of passage, a journey a young man undertakes to prove his worth before returning home and starting the next phase of adult life. If I understand it correctly, it’s not so much about going out and making money as it is gathering life experience and discovering your moral identity—what’s acceptable and what’s unacceptable, what’s right and what’s wrong, what’s good and what’s evil. It’s a theme that adds Merantau to the list of films I recommend to people when they dismiss “chop-socky flicks” as a mindless stream of fights. Yuda (Iko Uwais) leaves his rural village for the city, hoping to open a school teaching Silat. Unfortunately, he discovers the address in Jakarta he had been given for a place to stay has been demolished, forcing him to spend his nights sleeping in a construction site and his days wande