Mount Helicon

Most Anticipated Books of 2012

2011-12-28T03:16:00.000-06:00

2012 is poised to be a pivotal one for the publishing industry, with e-reader sales skyrocketing thanks to new tablets from Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Luckily, there is no shortage of upcoming books from huge names: John Irving, Richard Ford, and Toni Morrison all have new novels on the way, not to mention essay collections from Roberto Bolano, Jonathon Lethem, and Jonathon Franzen. But here are the projects I'm most looking forward to, big name or no name.

No One is Here Except All of Us by Ramona Ausubel (February)
This is just Ausubel's first novel, but it's already generating a lot of buzz, and it sounds fascinating. A remote village in the forests of Romania decides, collectively, to forget all knowledge of the outside world. To erase history and all conventions of society. If that doesn't draw you in, just look at that great cover.

Suddenly, A Knock on the Door by Etgar Keret (March)
I had the privilege of hearing Mr. Keret read from his work at the 2010 AWP Conference in Denver. Typically, hearing someone (other than George Saunders) read from their work is, well, boring. Even for writers. But I actually got emotional during Keret's reading, as did most of the room. His upcoming short story collection is already being lauded as "part Kafka, part Vonnegut, with the concerns and comedic delivery of Woody Allen."

The Cove by Ron Rash (April)
A lyrical mystery set in the Blue Ridge Mountains from my favorite Appalachian writer. Shortly after the First World War, Laurel and her brother live in a small cabin deep in a leafy cove, a place said to be cursed by locals. One morning she finds a stranger hiding in the trees. Someone with a secret that puts her in danger. Rash's last novel was the epic, New York Times Bestseller Serena, and this project sounds just as grand in scope.

The Wind Through the Keyhole by Stephen King (April)
King's Dark Tower series is one of the industry's most beloved, and this new prequel/sequel/standalone entry in the franchise certainly sounds appetizing. Billed as "the perfect introduction to the series," Keyhole revisits the last gunslinger's distant past, when Roland is charged with investigating a murderous "skin-man."

The Twelve by Justin Cronin (August)
The sequel to Cronin's bestselling post-apocalyptic pseudo-vampire epic, The Passage. The author has promised a tighter narrative this time, while expanding the mythology he constructed in the first book in the trilogy, and taking us to new places in an America ravaged by rabid post-humans.

Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver (Fall)
Not much is known about Kingsolver's next book, except for this tantalizing plot description: Set in a small town in Tennessee, [the novel is] about a young woman who happens upon a forested valley filled with silent red fire, and whose attempt to share the wonder and find an explanation throws her into a spiraling confrontation with her family, her church, her town, her continent, and finally the world at large.

Cover image via Amazon

Best Books of 2011

2011-12-26T20:39:00.003-06:00

It's that time of year again...the time for best-of lists! Luckily, I kept this one short: one book per medium. Enjoy.

Short Story Collection: Burning Bright by Ron Rash
Rash might be the best Appalachian writer alive, and certainly my favorite. His latest collection of short stories, one of which was immortalized in last year's Best American Short Stories, deftly cuts through stereotypes of what it means to be a "man of the mountains." Rash's precise awareness of the natural world colors each melancholy tale with hues of earth and sky and water. These stories are a major progression from the more impressionistic fables in his earlier work, where his lush descriptive spandrels sometimes hid shaky narrative foundations. Burning Bright is a more mature exploration of his (and my) native hills and coves of Western North Carolina, with characters ranging from nineteenth-century soldiers to modern-day fugitives.

Novel: The Passage by Justin Cronin
Part literary, part genre. Part present-day mystery, part post-apocalyptic quest. It's been compared to The Stand, but I found it infinitely more engaging and well-drawn than any of King's epics. Essentially, we follow an immortal child across centuries and across the continent, after the phenomenon that transforms her also destroys modern civilization. Cronin's vision of a future where human survivors battle an inhuman force is cooler, fresher, and more emotionally involving than Cormac McCarthy or Richard Matheson's bleak nightmares. This one's got heart.

Nonfiction: Bossypants by Tina Fey
As an avid fan of Saturday Night Live (even with its current 20% skit-success rate), 30 Rock (even with its fourth season doldrums), and entertainers from Chicago (even though Fey spent her childhood in Pennsylvania), picking up a Tina Fey memoir was a no-brainer. But here's the thing: it was good. As in well-written. It's easy to forget that much of Fey's success stems from her abilities as a writer when she's constantly in the spotlight for her performances as Sarah Palin or Liz Lemon. Bossypants, in addition to providing great insights on the minds and lives behind SNL and 30 Rock, is also an incredibly encouraging read for any writer. Fey is human. She is one of us. She worked hard, and she was rewarded. Not because of a lucky break, but because she did what she loved and she didn't give up.

Poetry: Like Shining from Shook Foil by Cathy Smith Bowers
When I read poetry, I typically want two things from it. To be grounded in a special place through imagery (in this case, my own Blue Ridge Mountains), and to be challenged. Bowers' poetry does that, but it also does something I don't typically look for in poetry (though perhaps I should). It engages you on an emotional level; not manipulatively or sentimentally, but organically and genuinely. You simply feel better after reading Cathy Smith Bowers. This collection takes the best of her previous chapbooks and combines them with new material.

Best Book About Chicago and/or Hiking: Best Hikes Near Chicago by Adam Morgan
Duh.

Cover image via Amazon

Short Story: "In Our Dreams"

2011-05-20T17:24:00.000-05:00

One of my short stories was published in this month's edition of Ghost Ocean Magazine, which has a beautiful website, no less. It's a very, very short story, almost a prose poem, that I actually wrote with a pencil on the inside of a Carl Sandburg anthology late one night in Chicago, riding the #151 home from work. It's about alternate versions of Chicago, an idea that Carl Sandburg, frankly, would have hated.

Interview: Adam Levin

2011-05-20T17:10:00.000-05:00

May's been pretty productive. As partial proof, my interview with "the next David Foster Wallace," novelist Adam Levin, was published in this month's issue of Bookslut, one of the best and most popular literary blogs on the net.

Levin's novel The Instructions, put out by Dave Eggers' McSweeney's last year, has created a lot of buzz, both for its content and its weight (the thing is 1200 pages long).

Book Review: 2666 by Roberto Bolano (Part 4)

2011-04-09T22:18:00.000-05:00

This post is the third in a series analyzing 2666 from a writer's perspective. Check out the first post for a more general introduction to the novel.

While the first three books of 2666 have orbited around the evil in Santa Teresa like a dying satellite, the fourth book, The Part About the Crimes, exposes it in grotesque detail. While many reviewers have focused on the author’s clinical, monotonous prose as he describes hundreds of murders in Santa Teresa, it is Bolaño’s masterful introduction and handling of Klaus Haas--a character who truly embodies the novel’s bizarre ambiguity and quiet malevolence--that makes The Part About the Crimes such an innovative addition to Postmodern literature.

Bolaño introduces Haas with a red herring in the previous book. As a reader, when we meet an impossibly tall German in Santa Teresa, we immediately remember Archimboldi, the reclusive writer that the professors tried to track down in Santa Teresa in The Part About the Critics (and eventually the novel's most central character of all). Bolaño then frustrates our appetite by ignoring Haas for the next one hundred pages, until he pops up suddenly in a police investigation.

With Haas, Bolaño is extraordinarily careful to avoid common tropes and cliches from the police procedurals and murder mysteries he’s channeling. Haas is not an archetypal villain, complete with a particularly idiosyncratic but definable personality, a comprehensible motivation and a dark past. He has none of these things. He is slippery and unknowable, just like Santa Teresa itself.

He seems alternately capable and incapable of the mass murders, thanks to Bolaño’s subtle manipulations, as he blurs the line between madness and genius. At times, Haas displays a keen intellect and an honest disposition. And then a few pages later, he brutally sodomizes a man with an improvised blade. Still, we are given no indications that Haas enjoys this violence, or that it stems from any definable psychosis or neurosis.

Bolaño never directly reveals whether Haas is even involved in the Santa Teresa murders at all. He is not a “villain” any more than the murders of Santa Teresa are a “mystery”: that is, in the traditional novelistic sense. Here as in earlier books, Bolaño continues to defy the assumptive relationship between author and reader. He presents us with a character and a series of events without supplying their motivations or meanings, making 2666 a truly Postmodern murder mystery.

Book Review: 2666 by Roberto Bolano (Part 3)

2011-04-03T23:55:00.002-05:00

This post is the second in a series analyzing 2666 from a writer's perspective. Visit the first post for a more general introduction to the novel.

Each book in 2666 reads like an exercise in genre writing. From the wry, understated academic quest of Part One (The Part About the Critics), to the erratic, stream-of-consciousness prose in Part Two (The Part About Amalfitano), and the blunt, unflinching reportage in Part Four (The Part About the Crimes).

In the third book, The Part About Fate, Bolaño uses a clipped, objective, fast-paced style familiar to readers of mysteries and detective novels in the vein of Raymond Chandler. But every so often, Bolaño deftly injects his prose with short flourishes of subjective lyricism to create impact and suspense, as we see in the following turning points in the story of Oscar Fate, a small-time reporter for a Harlem magazine who travels to Santa Teresa, Mexico to cover a boxing match, and winds up directly embroiled in the city's evil.

Fate may not be a detective per se, but his investigative reporting lends the book a similar ambiance with regards to the mysteries of Santa Teresa’s murders. For the majority of The Part About Fate, Bolaño’s writing is frank and minimalistic. Like The Big Sleep or The Long Goodbye, sentences are short and sweet, describing one idea and one image at a time. The paragraphs slip by quickly as water, without any obstacles. Even the most traditionally climactic events are minimized to a few short, blunt sentences. But Bolaño punctuates other, quieter key moments in the narrative with dense, figurative, poetic passages that jump off the page in contrast to the hard-boiled detective prose.

The first occurrence is on page 234, in the paragraph-long sentence describing Fate’s dream, where he watches a nightmarish, alternate version of a film and comes to the conclusion that “all criticism is ultimately a nightmare,” meaning that our interpretations of reality are never more solid than a bad dream. Bolaño uses this lyrical moment to establish Fate’s character before we embark on our journey with him, to show us the subconscious effect his mother’s death is taking on him, to demonstrate that he is already questioning reality.

The second occurrence is on pages 266 and 267, in the dialogue of the White-Haired Man as he theorizes about the origins of evil, the filtering of death through words, and the murders in Santa Teresa. The White-Haired Man’s monologues directly address the themes of 2666, and his voice sounds almost like a surrogate for the author’s.

The third occurrence of note comes on page 289, when Oscar has a sudden, unforeseeable character shift in a Mexican bar:

“For a brief moment he couldn’t breathe, he saw his mother’s empty apartment, he had a premonition of two people making love in a miserable room, all at the same time, a moment defined by the word climacteric.”

Another occurrence is on page 320 when Fate arrives at Charlie Cruz’s house. Bolaño inserts an eerie bit of symbolic foreshadowing when he bursts into a lyrical description of a mural in Charlie’s garage, a striking depiction of the Virgin of Guadalupe with one eye closed.

Finally, the very end of The Part About Fate is marked with more lyrical flourishes. As the blond giant approaches, Fate believes he might still be dreaming, that he is himself a giant lost in the middle of a burned forest, as the prisoner (the “polyglot woodcutter”) saunters in, smiling and singing in German.

These small but well-placed passages of subjective, poetic prose not only make The Part About Fate more than an imitative Raymond Chandler homage, they also create appetites, suspense, and tension. Bolaño turns to the same technique in the next book, The Part About the Crimes, in order to break up the endless objective descriptions of murder and rape.

Book Review: 2666 by Roberto Bolano (Part 1 and 2)

2011-04-01T03:12:00.003-05:00

2666 is a monstrous novel, in every conceivable way. Even the critical praise is monstrous, from the 2008 National Book Critics Circle Award to Time's Best Fiction Book of the same year. Reading it is an exercise in patience, beauty, and masochism, as Bolaño deftly circles the mysterious mass femicide of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico like a subtle vulture.

This post is the first in a series of attempts to analyse Bolaño's magnum opus from a writer's perspective. The novel is actually five distinct books, beginning with The Part About the Critics, where four European professors track their literary hero--the enigmatic and reclusive Archimboldi--to the city of Santa Teresa, Mexico (a stand-in for the dreadful, real-life Ciudad Juarez), where they hope to finally encounter him face-to-face. In the second book, The Part About Amalfitano, a Mexican literature professor slowly succumbs to an infectious madness as he tries to protect his daughter from the dangers of Santa Teresa, where hundreds of women are being quietly raped, tortured, and left for dead in the desert.

While stylistically distinct, these first two parts of 2666 circle around the same concept of madness--specifically the kind of madness that results from obsession with meaning--and Bolaño’s carefully constructed prose creates an eerily similar effect in his readers.

This obsession slowly becomes evident in The Part About the Critics when the academics reach Santa Teresa, and their perceptions of reality are altered and obscured. Throughout the first hundred pages or so, their preoccupation with Archimboldi certainly affects their professional and personal lives, but it isn’t until they are embedded in the bizarre labyrinth of Mexico that we see the real toll their obsession has taken on them, as evidenced by their dreams, their shifting perceptions, and their increasingly desperate behavior.

The theme is further underlined in The Part About Amalfitano, when we discover the professor's wife’s obsession with a Spanish poet, but especially Amalfitano’s own schizophrenic delusions as he tries to understand the actions of his insane wife and the unspeakable crimes in Santa Teresa.

The common thread between all of these characters is a desperate search for meaning, whether through direct contact with the artists that mystify them (Archimboldi, Edwin Johns, the Spanish Poet), or with the greater mysteries of the city itself. Like many postmodern novelists, Bolaño explores the relationship between the search for meaning and its resultant madness, but 2666 takes it a meta-step further by echoing this relationship in his prose itself.

Bolaño is subtle at first, but as the pages pile on, the reader becomes more and more lost in a series of competing narratives, of non sequitors and red herrings and dreams and impossible reversals. He writes in a straightforward way, and then undercuts himself with short passages that demand interpretation from his readers. Consider the first instance of this technique on page 9:

“Then the oblique (drops) turned round (drops), swallowed up by the earth underpinning the grass, and the grass and the earth seemed to talk, no, not talk, argue, their incomprehensible words like crystallized spiderwebs or the briefest crystallized vomitings, a barely audible rustling, as if instead of drinking tea that afternoon, Norton had drunk a steaming cup of peyote.”

These flashes of narrative ambiguity occur more and more frequently as the novel progresses, from Espinoza’s toilet seat to Norton’s mirrors to Santa Teresa opening up like “vast barbeque pits tended by an angel” to Amalfitano’s near-drowning in the pool and his Dada-esque ruminations, and odd turns of prose that Bolaño likes to use as punctuation at the end of his sections.

Subtly and deftly, Bolaño underminines the most basic relationship between author and reader: that the reader’s appetite for narrative meaning will ultimately be fulfilled by the author. But this author, like life itself, feels no such obligation, and thus his readers are infected by his novel’s postmodern perspective on madness, obsession, and meaning, beginning even with the ambiguous title.

Cover image via Wikimedia Commons.

Four Places In Chicago Where It's Always Springtime

2011-03-26T21:30:00.001-05:00

Technically, spring arrived this week, but sub-freezing temps and Tom Skilling's snow warnings continue. If you feel like cheating nature and warming up somewhere full of sunlight and foliage, check out these four indoor paradises right here in the city. The best part? They're all free.

1. Lincoln Park Conservatory
Hours: 9am-5pm everyday
Admission: Free
Location

Built over 100 years ago, this Victorian architectural gem is a winter haven for floraphiles. Step inside at any time of year and wander through the otherworldly ferns, palms, and orchids. The air is always balmy, and unless you visit during summer's tourist-filled weekends, you can expect peace, quiet, and plenty of places to sit and read.

2. Garfield Park Conservatory
Hours: 9am-5pm everyday, open until 8pm on Wednesdays
Admission: Free
Location

Image via the Garfield Park Conservatory

It's a little further from downtown, but this sprawling indoor forest is one of the largest and most celebrated in the United States, and makes the Lincoln Park Conservatory look petty in comparison. Designed by the "father" of prairie-style landscape architecture, Jens Jensen, near the turn of the century, the gigantic conservatory holds seven distinct ecosystems under its acres of glass, replete with pools, waterfalls, and flowers.

3. Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum
Hours: 9am-5pm on weekdays, 10am-5pm on weekends.
Admission: Free on Thursdays, otherwise $9 ($7 for students/seniors).
Location

Image via Wikimedia Commons

Most of us have been to the "big five" museums (Adler, Art, Field, Shedd, MSI), but a lot of Chicagoans don't even know that we have a nature museum hidden in Lincoln Park. Well, surprise: it's an amazing way to explore Chicago's natural history. Especially the 2,700-square-foot greenhouse filled with over 1000 butterflies. You can also look in on an animal research lab and walk through several recreated Midwestern environments.

4. The Winter Garden in the Harold Washington Library
Hours: 9am-9pm on Mon-Thur, 9am-5pm on Fri-Sat, 1pm-5pm on Sun
Admission: Free
Location

Image via rpongsaj

One of Chicago's best-kept secrets sits on top of the gargantuan Harold Washington Library in the Loop. Take the escalators all the way up to the ninth floor and you'll find a bright, marble-floored sitting area beneath a vaulted glass dome. The decorative trees and the abundant natural light is a welcome escape in the dark days of winter.

Wanderers of the Week: Bouey and Shoppman

2010-05-30T10:56:00.006-05:00

There are road trips, and then there are road trips. These guys literally drove around the world.

In Toyotas.

They started in Denver. Shoppman was a designer, Bouey was a public administrator. They didn't have money, but they had an idea.

"Why don't we circumnavigate the globe?"

Sometimes, they even had to build their own roads. The most inspiring thing about these guys is that they aren't part of some corporate initiative or funded by a television network or magazine. They're just two ordinary guys who had an idea, and followed through.

In Toyotas. I can't stress that enough.

Six continents, sixty-nine countries, and 70,000 miles later, they're editing a documentary and touring the world (again), promoting humanitarian and environmental causes. Because they didn't travel the world to sightsee. They traveled to help people, and to change the way we view the rest of humanity.

According to their interview with National Geographic Adventure, they want to prove that the world isn't nearly as dangerous as we think.

Check out their website The World by Road to see photos, video, and the labyrinthine route they took. And here's a short highlight video to make you even more jealous.

They drink cobra blood.

Image and video from The World by Road.

A Post-Finale Letter to LOST

2010-05-24T20:17:00.024-05:00

Dear Lost,

More than anything, I want you to know I take no pleasure in doing this. It's going to hurt me way more than it hurts you, because you still have thousands of satisfied lovers out there in the world, while I'm forced to disown the story that once mattered most to me.

I honestly wish I didn't have to do this. But here's the thing. You and I?

We're done.

Our first three years together were blissful. Since then it's been rocky, but I still didn't leave you. Season 4 lacked suspense (since we knew everyone's future); Season 5 misfired a bit by demystifying and trivializing the once-ominous Dharma Initiative; and Season 6 was the worst of all: an obligatory island-wide game of musical chairs.

And then last night happened. Or really, the last ten minutes of last night happened, because the 140 minutes before that, you were doing so good.

But then you embarrassed me. You betrayed my trust. You made a fool out of me.

And we have to break up.

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking 1) I wanted more answers, 2) I'm an implacable cynic, or 3) I didn't understand you.

But it's not that I wanted more "answers" to your mythology.

(Though to be honest, you reeked of plotholes by the end, i.e. Walt, Aaron, infertility, food drops, an anonymous outrigger that shot Sawyer somewhere in time, an unclaimed glass eye in the Arrow, the circles of ash, the completely unaddressed sickness that claimed Sayid and Claire but only until the script needed them to be sane again, the bird that screamed Hurley's name, the scales in Jacob's cave, the mark on Juliet's back, the Others' actual purpose on the Island, the Others' reason for kidnapping people in early seasons, why the Island can move by the turn of a donkey wheel, how said donkey wheel could have gotten the Man in Black off the island, how falling into a magic light could change you into an incorporeal, shapeshifting, mindreading column of smoke, how the Man in Black could exist without anyone ever saying his name, excluding the fact that the storytellers don't want to give him one because of some misplaced idea that that makes him cool).

It's not that I'm cynical or anti-spiritual, either. There are plenty of stories that sucessfully tackle themes of death, forgiveness, and the afterlife. The Sixth Sense, American Gods, and Sum, for instance.

And it's not that I didn't understand you. I understand that the characters didn't die in the plane crash, that they died at different times in the real world, and then found each other again in a purgatory-esque, unreal world created so that they could "remember" and "be together" for their trip to heaven, or whatever comes next.

(Though, riddle me this: why did they need to forget their real lives for a while, live in a falsely constructed universe with bizarre, seemingly random differences, and then remember their actual lives? Why not just meet up in Heaven and skip the sideways stuff? They already changed and found redemption in their lives on the Island, so there's no need for purgatory, especially not a purgatory laced with amnesia. Is there any logic at all operating in the Lost cosmos? Outside of the writers' need for a new storytelling device to replace flashbacks and flashforwards?)

The reason I'm breaking up with you is this: you lied about who you were.

You convinced me for six years that I was watching a compelling drama with real-life stakes about 1) a unique place, and 2) a unique group of people.

And then at the very last second (or the very last ten minutes), you reveal your true colors. You admit that the Island itself wasn't nearly as integral to the story as we thought, but instead emotional bonds between the characters and their subsequent redemption forged on the Island. The Island wasn't a character anymore, and didn't get the send-off it deserved.

Were the characters important? Absolutely! Did we need to see their post-Island fates? Yes! Did we need to go so far as to see them in the afterlife (and...um...pre-afterlife)?

No.

Did we need to dismiss the relevance of the Island's very nature, and its seemingly conscious role in the characters' collective redemption?

No.

Does dismissing the on-Island events (beyond their capacity to bring people together) and ending the story in a manner and form completely alien to the preceding 120 hours completely violate the essential premise and nature of the story itself and our trust in the storytellers?

Yes.

It's a long con. A cop out. The red herring to end all red herrings. You already had a great ending, potentially: the sideways world could've simply been a second chance at life created by the Incident/Jughead, where, after their deaths on the Island, the characters could have lived happily ever after, free of the machinations of Jacob and the Man in Black.

But no.

You changed the rules in the last second of the game. And you know what that's called?

Cheating.

So farewell, Lost. I'll remember our first years together fondly. But your place in my heart is vacant, and I'll never recommend you again, because I wouldn't wish this kind of disappointment on anyone else!

Sincerely,

Your Once-Greatest Fan

P.S. If you'd like to discuss re-editing options, I'm not too proud to consider reconciliation. But all of the scenes in the church last night (and the entire 'Across the Sea' episode), will have to be completely eliminated.

P.P.S. While I'm definitely breaking up with the you (the story), I still have the utmost love and respect for Michael Giacchino, Jack Bender, Terry O'Quinn, Michael Emerson, Elizabeth Mitchell, and Matthew Fox. It's not their fault.

You Should Watch This: Lost Cities of the Amazon

2010-05-11T00:40:00.017-05:00

Remember that book I just recommended?

In the race to bring the story alive, National Geographic beat Brad Pitt to the punch.

This stellar episode of Explorer spotlights the very same real-life people from David Grann's book, including the man who may have found the real City of Z, archaeologist Michael Heckenberger. The charismatic Kuikuro chief Afukaka makes several appearances too.

Historical reenactments of Francisco de Orellana and Percy Fawcett's expeditions are combined with modern-day proof of an advanced Amazonian civilization just beyond their grasp.

Why didn't Fawcett see it? He was looking for stone cities, but civilizations build with what they have, and there's not much stone in the Amazon. Plus, most of the indigenous population had already been wiped out by European disease.

The great cities of the past were gone before he set foot in the jungle, and he didn't have the eyes to see their stoneless ruins. But modern archaeologists do.

Fans of The Lost City of Z will get a much closer, visceral look at the Kuikuro's ancient roads, walls, and architecture. Anyone who may have doubted Grann's claims on the page will be hard-pressed to argue with Heckenberger's evidence on-screen.

Z is real.

The best part? You can watch the whole thing on Hulu.

Recent Wanderings in Chicago

2010-05-08T13:10:00.016-05:00

First week of May? Dubious. Wet, gloomy days instantaneously transformed into Eden for a few hours every afternoon. In fact...that's exactly what's happening outside my window as I write this post.

During one of those breaks, I drove down to the South Side's criminally unappreciated Jackson Park. As always, click to make 'em bigger.

The most peaceful place in Chicago: Osaka Garden, designed by Frederick Law Olmstead, the genius who gave us New York's Central Park and Asheville's Biltmore Estate grounds.

The only remaining building from 1893's World's Fair. A compelling place to visit after reading The Devil in the White City. Formerly the Palace of Fine Arts, today it houses the Museum of Science and Industry.

Statuary at the Museum of Science and Industry.

I'm no good with Japanese flora. Let's call them Pretty White Thingies.

A replica of the Statue of the Republic, which stood three times as tall in 1893, overlooking the White City:

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Tonight's Reading

2010-05-07T15:31:00.005-05:00

Fellow Chicagoans,

Join me and some of my writer-friends at The Coffee Studio (that's not it, above) for a fiction/poetry reading. Rest assured we've all been published in cool places (which some readings can't say, ahem), so you'll get your cup-of-coffee's worth.

I'll be reading a short story of mine called "Daisy". It's not about flowers, or a girl named Daisy, or the adorable meerkat named Daisy on Meerkat Manor, or Daisy, Arkansas.

The only way to find out what it's about? Be here, tonight at 7pm.

Photo by Cordey, Flickr Creative Commons.

What's Wrong with Lost?

2010-05-06T10:06:00.007-05:00

Here's the thing.

I loved this show. If you'd told me two years ago that mere weeks before the series finale, I'd be completely uninvested in Lost, I'd have kicked you in the shin.

But this show is broken, and I imagine lots of once-diehard fans will agree with me.

So while I take no joy in the exercise, here are my thoughts on where Lost has gone wrong, from a writer's point of view.

The Absence of the Unknown

Lost has always been driven by mysteries. The Island was so fascinating because so much of it was unknown. The show's most successful arcs are stories of exploration, journeys through the wilderness that compliment the characters' journeys through their own hearts.

And in retrospect, each season has arguably been centered on this idea of discovery: whether it was discovering the characters' pasts in Season 1, the Island's mythology in Season 2, the Others' society in Season 3, etc.

But in Season 6 (and for most of Season 5), the survivors have been revisiting familiar sites from seasons past, going in circles on an Island-wide Lazy Susan. Characters have been forming, breaking, and reforming alliances and rethinking their objectives so often that it's impossible to keep up with who's going where with whom.

Granted, building new set-pieces is expensive. And this season did start off with several fascinating new locations: the Temple, the Lighthouse, and the Cave. But since then, the Island has felt like a much smaller place. All the blank spaces on Rousseau's map have been filled in, and there are no more unknown threats lurking in the jungle.

And with all of these attempts to leave the Island, as well as the seemingly inevitable transition to an Islandless timeline, it feels like the writers have forgotten what made the story so magical in its infancy.

Too Much of a Good Thing

In an interview with Stephen King several years ago, the creators of Lost explained their plan to execute the show for "4 or 5 seasons," with a total of around "100 episodes." But Lost has run 6 seasons, and will hit 123 episodes before it's over.

That means the story, when finished, will be twenty hours longer than they originally intended.

And it shows. Did anything significant happen between the destruction of the Temple in "Sundown" and the deaths in this week's episode, "The Candidate"? We've spent two months listening to people talk about what to do next.

And even going back to last season, did we need to watch Jack and Company stand around in 1977 Dharmaville for ten hours? I had other issues with that arc: it took all of the intrigue and mystery away from the Dharma Initiative, and literally turned them into a joke about sideburns and Volkswagons.

I absolutely appreciate the difficulty of writing an engaging forty minutes of television every week, as well as the pressure from a major network to squeeze every last drop from a hit series. But if you've got 123 hours to fill, why not give flashback episodes to some secondary characters to make them more than expendable plot devices?

I would have loved to see Dogen, Lennon, Cindy, Ilana, Charlotte, Frank, Mikhail, or Rousseau get flashbacks instead of quick deaths, assuming their pasts were relevant (unlike, say, Rose and Bernard's). Surely they could've shed light on other periods in the Island's history, which would've been more entertaining than watching alternate versions of the survivors in Los Angeles ooh and aah over how weird it is that they were all on the same flight.

Not to mention, the existence of another timeline makes the events on the Island feel meaningless. Who cares if Sayid sacrifices himself, or if the Man in Black kills Sun and Jin? They're doing just fine in LA.

Careful What You Wish For
Finally, I don't completely blame Lost's downward spiral over the past couple years on the writers, because the fans (and the media) are probably equally culpable. When the writers were churning out their very best character-driven episodes in the early, more mysterious seasons, viewers were already getting impatient and started demanding answers.

They weren't accustomed to long-term, serialized narratives on television, and many fans may have entirely missed the point. Definitive answers aren't satisfying. Ambiguity is okay. We are smart enough to come to our own conclusions.

Flash-forward to the last couple seasons, and the writers have seemingly caved. For one, the narrative is no longer driven by organically motivated characters; instead, they've become catchphrase-laden plot devices, mainly used to move the cast from one recycled location to another, to blow something up (again), mount an escape attempt (again), or trigger an omnipotent white flash (again), but more than anything, characters now exist solely to blatantly answer our questions.

Secondly, in an attempt to prove to the world that "they had it all planned out from day one," the writers are locked into a specific endpoint. The problem with a pre-determined ending is that it can feel forced.

That's why so many episodes this season have felt like prologues for the finale instead of stories in their own right. It's why our characters' motivations have stopped being believable, and started being transparent techniques to simply get the plot going in a specific direction.

But good writing doesn't happen that way. You don't lock yourself into a final chapter six years in advance. It prevents you from writing organically, listening to your characters and seeing where the story takes you, instead of the other way around.

Good writing is like jazz. Take the polar bear in the pilot, for instance. That wasn't originally inserted as part of a long-term plan. Apparently, JJ Abrams was just riding around Hawaii scouting locations when he saw something white by the side of the road and thought, "How bizarre would it be to find a polar bear in the jungle?"

You can figure out the logistics later, but forcing a story in any direction--or caving in to demands for simplistic answers--changes the dynamic between writers and viewers.

In early seasons, it was the authorial intelligence that got me hooked, the feeling that these writers were always twelve steps ahead of us.

Do any of us still feel that way now?

Hopefully, Lost will redeem itself over the next three weeks and make this post moot. No one would be happier than me!

Book Review: The Lost City of Z by David Grann

2010-05-04T23:40:00.011-05:00

This remarkable true story is more thrilling than any novel I've ever read.

In the spring of 1925, the world's most celebrated explorer and his son disappeared without a trace during a search for a forgotten civilization deep in the Amazon, and were never heard from again. In the eight decades since, nearly one hundred people have died looking for them, and the "lost city" they sought has been relegated to myth by most historians and archaeologists.

Are you hooked yet?

Meet David Grann, a disarming, middle-aged writer for The New Yorker who specializes in investigating the most compelling mysteries on earth. He didn't just pour over Percy Fawcett's journals and eyewitness accounts in the libraries of Rio and London, he booked a flight to Brazil and painstakingly retraced the explorer's path through the jungle, stumbling upon new evidence in the folklore of locals and discovering a possible source for the legends of a lost city with the help of a brazen young archaeologist. The resulting book is a frantic, sensational account of parallel journeys separated by nearly a century, but joined by a like-hearted obsession with the unknown.

Grann's prose is as compelling as any fiction. The book doesn't read like a history lecture, using novelistic narrative techniques in the vein of another true-story romp, Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City. The period details, real-life quotations, and historical insights are fascinating. And the Amazon itself becomes the story's fearsome antagonist in a lifelong battle with the men who try to conquer her.

If you like a good mystery, a fascinating character, and an awe-inspiring setting, pick this book up today. Reading it is an adventure in itself. Brad Pitt has already bought the film rights and plans to star as Fawcett himself.

Also, twelve of Grann's best articles from The New Yorker were just released as a book called The Devil and Sherlock Holmes. I've read several of them, and each story is just as compelling as Z. You can still find most of the articles online, over here. Read them now!

Cover image via Doubleday.

Wanderer of the Week: Samantha Larson

2010-05-03T14:32:00.022-05:00

If you ever get too cocky, I want you to google Samantha Larson.

She's a 21 year-old sophomore at Stanford Univeristy. And she's climbed all Seven Summits (including Mount Everest when she was 18), making her the youngest person to ever reach the highest point on all seven continents.

Emasculated yet?

This girl will probably visit all eight planets by the time she's thirty. Pluto and Eris by thirty-two. Why don't we compare Samantha's accomplishments with my own?

Samantha Age 12: Summited Mount Kilimanjaro (Africa)
Adam Age 12: Started shaving

Samantha Age 13: Summited Mount Aconcagua (South America)

Adam Age 13: Won school spelling bee on the word "brassiere"

Samantha Age 14: Summited Mount Elbrus (Europe)

Adam Age 14: Nothing, really

Samantha Age 15: Summited Mount Kosciuszko (Australia)

Adam Age 15: Wrote seven pages of a novel and forgot about it

Samantha Age 16: Summited Mount Vinson (Antarctica)

Adam Age 16: Learned how to play Hotel California on a Spanish guitar

Samantha Age 18: Summited Mount Everest (Asia)

Adam Age 18: Played a lot of tennis

Okay, I'm kidding. Obviously I did a lot more than that. But still. Samantha's passion for climbing should really make us stop and think, "What have I done lately?" Head over to her Everest Blog or her website for more inspiration/shame.

Photo from Samantha's website.

Recent Wanderings in Chicago

2010-05-02T17:21:00.015-05:00

What a gorgeous week in Chicago. Trees and tulips are in bloom, the tourists have arrived, and everyone with a pulse is outside. Here are some photos from the past week: hopefully they'll encourage you to get out and go somewhere you haven't been! (Click to make them much bigger.)

Looking west down the Chicago river towards Trump Tower (in postmodern blue) and the Wrigley Building (in French Renaissance white). And the black international-style building on the far right? That's where Tom Hanks worked as an architect in Sleepless in Seattle.

Downtown, as seen from the Lakeshore Path as it curves around Shedd Aquarium.

A mounted cop and some tourists on Museum Campus, just in front of the Field.

I ran into Anna Davlantes by Lake Michigan.

I've said it a thousand times: Canadian Geese are like little tyranosaurs.

A Typical Scene from the 6th Season of Lost

2010-04-14T13:01:00.007-05:00

FADE IN:

EXT. BEACH CAMP - DAY

Our beloved characters attempt to look busy by fixing tarps and zipping up backpacks.

HURLEY

So. Like. What are we supposed to do now?

ILANA

I have no idea. Do you like my new top?

HURLEY

Jack. Help us out. You always know what to do, right?

JACK

Don't look at me. I stopped caring about this stuff

wayyy back in Season 4.

HURLEY

Okay...Sun. Ideas.

SUN

Have you seen my husband?

HURLEY

No, Sun. Don't you think we would tell you

if we saw him?

Everyone covers their ears as Miles explodes in a ball of fire and flesh.

HURLEY

Dude.

SAWYER

Sonofabitch.

FRANK

Terrific.

BEN
I actually forgot he was still on the show.

JACK

It's like I said. We either live together, or--

SUN

Have you seen my husband?

The castaways stop rearranging Dharma toiletries and gather around the campfire.

RICHARD

Hey wait, I know. We could always blow something up

with dynamite from the Black Rock like you guys

did in Seasons 1, 2, and 3?

HURLEY

Dude. You've been here for 150 years and

that's all you got? I thought you were, like,

the Man. What with all those breast-pocket

shirts and stuff.

RICHARD

Well Jacob always uses these really vague metaphors.

HURLEY

Look guys. I'm just the voice of the audience.

Obviously, the writers think the audience is stupid, because

I never have a good idea unless a dead person gives it to me.

So. If nobody knows what to do, I guess we can just transition

to some arbitrary time and place off the island to watch me eat

chicken and make out with--

EVERYONE

NO.

HURLEY

Well then let's do something.

We've only got like five episodes left.

There is an awkward silence.

SAWYER

We could commandeer the submarine?

HURLEY

Nope. Seasons 3 and 5.

JACK

Somebody could sleep with Kate. Wait, no.

She wandered off into the jungle again.

Jack begins to cry, then violently smashes something very important.

SAWYER

Maybe Walt will show up and tell us what to do. Wasn't

he a big part of all this? We spent like two whole seasons on him.

CLAIRE

Yeah. And I thought my baby was relevant.

Another awkward pause.

HURLEY

Hey. Do you guys remember when we were

three-dimensional characters with motivations

determined by our pasts instead of plot devices

for obvious mythological revelations that were

better left a mystery?

Everyone stops to think about this for a second. Suddenly, the back of someone's head fills the corner of the screen. We pan around to reveal the face of Isabel, the sheriff of the Others from Season 3.

JACK

Wait a second. She's relevant?

BEN

It's the last season, Jack. Every

character has to make an appearance,

no matter how convoluted or unnecessary.

Isabel throws two knives. One hits Claire in the head, the other hits Frank in the chest.

ISABEL

There's your Adam and Eve, b!*#$.

Isabel grabs their corpses and travels back in time via a brilliant white light.

HURLEY

Dude.

SAWYER

Sonofabitch.

BEN

Got any milk?

SUN
Have you seen my husband?

SMASH TO BLACK

LOST

Book Review: The Other City by Michal Ajvaz

2010-01-18T12:28:00.000-06:00

The Other City is an obscure novel, but a very important one. Michal Ajvaz's haunting, difficult prose is a bizarre, labyrinthine journey through Prague--the City of a Thousand Spires--that will leave you alternately breathless, laughing out loud, or utterly confused.

There is nothing remotely conventional about this book. You can quite literally get lost in it (just like the unnamed narrator), in the many hidden worlds it examines: entirely unknown, nocturnal realities coexisting with our own in the dark corners and midnight gardens of our own cities.

Prague itself is the most compelling character: an elegant, seductive, maddening mistress of snow-covered cobblestones and gothic spires. You will be dying to book a flight within the first few chapters. Yet the Prague we know is just a starting point:

"The frontier of our world is not far away...it glimmers faintly close by, in the twilight of our nearest surroundings. Out of the corner of our eye we can always glimpse another world, without realizing it. We are walking all the time along a shore and along the edge of a virgin forest."

The story begins in an old Prague bookshop where the narrator discovers an unmarked volume bound in purple velvet. The pages are filled with an indescribable, unknown alphabet that, when placed on his shelves at home, begins to spread and infect the pages of all the books nearby. In his quest to understand the strange book and its engravings of lost temples, the narrator stumbles in and out of an "other" Prague (the source of the unknown alphabet), an entire hidden, incomprehensible civilization existing on the fringes and in the hidden spaces of our own world.

I won't spoil the fun, but you can expect to wander through subterranean churches filled with glass sculptures (themselves filled with schools of fish); through gargantuan libraries filled with jungles and forgotten ruins where visitors often lose their way looking for a book, never to return; there are elk stables hidden in the hollows of Prague's statuaries, and night-classes at 3am in its universities on the history of unknown wars.

Ajvaz's magical realism is narratively complex, and very challenging to read. It requires focused attention just to finish one short chapter. You will get lost and confused, especially if you look for meaning or purpose in the bizarre rituals of the Other City.

In the end, the novel isn't narratively satisfying. There's no sense of progress, closure, or accomplishment, and the narrator never develops into a character in his own right. But reading The Other City is like having the most eccentrically beautiful dreams of your life, and then waking up and laughing at their brilliant absurdity.

Think of the chapters as prose poems instead of serialized episodes in a story, and you'll enjoy the book more. I highly recommend it, and it's short enough to read in a few sittings, but dense enough to come back to several times.

What's Wrong With Fringe?

2010-01-17T20:59:00.022-06:00

By the end of its first season, Fringe had established itself as a consistently compelling drama. The characters were unique, the direction was top-notch, and the writers seemed to have found a perfect balance between satisfying long-term fans and simultaneously staying accessible to new viewers. After the finale's iconic shot of a standing World Trade Center in an alternate universe, Fringe became a bonafide, buzzworthy new hit for Fox heading into its second season.

And then it all fell apart. Here are 3 reasons why.

Watered-Down Science

In Season 1, Walter's scientific prowess was always the key to solving cases, whether it was burglars who could walk through lead walls, or a virus capable of turning men into monsters. Science--and its consequences--was the premise of the show. Walter's lab experiments and last-second insights were infinitely entertaining, and unlike 95% of television, Fringe was smart.

In Season 2, cases are solved with fists and bullets. Walter has been demoted to a passive flood of exposition, and more often than not, each week's disposable villain is brought down by a headshot from Olivia or a tackle from Peter. There's nothing wrong with action, but that's not what fans of Fringe tune in to see (and it's not what Fringe directors are good at shooting, either). Sure, we want our characters to be physical and proactive, but the fierce intelligence they displayed in Season 1 has completely disappeared.

No Continuity
Every single week in Season 1, regardless of the episode's plotline, we learned a little more about the Fringe universe: the characters' pasts, the involvement of Massive Dynamic, or the mythology of ZFT. And yet halfway through the second season, I haven't learned anything new. In fact, I have trouble remembering Season 1's revelations, since the writers seem to have forgotten them too.

What happened to Massive Dynamic? The Pattern? ZFT? Olivia's abilities? Peter's mysterious past? I'm not asking for a mythology-heavy episode every single week, but each outing should feel relevant for the characters. Other continuity-killers: getting rid of Charlie; killing and/or simply dismissing villains way too quickly; introducing new characters like the bible-obsessed Agent Jessup and the bowling-alley yoda Sam Wyche for just a few episodes and then pretending like they never existed.

Bland Characterization

Walter was a joy to behold in Season 1, but he's been reduced to food jokes. Peter just scowls a lot and over-explains everything to the audience in a voice that is blatantly deeper than Josh Jackson's. Olivia does a lot of frowning, shooting, and walking. The rest of the ensemble is virtually nonexistent unless they're needed for exposition.

To remember why these characters even care about these paranormal cases, you'd have to rewatch Season 1, since the writers have completely forgotten themselves. Without tangible stakes and believable motivations, what's the point of the show? The Law and Order franchise may be the most episodic, self-contained shows on the air, but we know who those dectectives are, and why their cases matter to them.

How To Fix It

Refocus the episodes on the science and the characters. Walter should be fighting to right his earlier wrongs, to keep Peter safe from his alter-self, and to find his long-lost partner, William Bell. Peter should be trying to protect his father and discovering everything he's responsible for. And Olivia should be determined to fully understand her abilities. At the very least, we need to understand who and what the Fringe team is up against, and they need to make progress every week.

Finally, the writers have to trust their audience again. Stop over-explaining every tiny story detail in recapitulating dialogue, and you'll have more time to build narrative momentum.

I know from word-of-mouth that Fringe has already lost a lot of viewers this season. We saw lots of potential in Season 1, so let's hope it's not too late for the writers to course-correct.

What do you think is wrong this season?

Must-Watch TV In 2010

2010-01-16T22:19:00.007-06:00

People of Earth,

You are likely suffering from a lack of Adam. I've been completely absente from the noosphere.

But put your tissues away, because I'm back with renewed focus. To open 2010, I give you the TV shows you can't afford to miss this season. Enjoy!

White Collar
Hands down the best thing on television right now. A slick young con-man helps the FBI solve high-stakes crimes. It films on-location in Manhattan, which is refreshing in an age where everything else shoots in studio lots in LA and Vancouver. The characters are believable, likeable, and infinitely watchable.

Modern Family
I thought it looked like a typical throw-away sitcom, but ABC's surprise hit is the best comedy on TV. Sure, it unceremoniously steals the mockumentary style of The Office (who in turn stole it from Christopher Guest), but I challenge you to watch an episode without laughing--heartily-- several times. Even more surprising? It's wholesome.

Better Off Ted
Andrea Anders is reason enough to watch this criminally under-appreciated show. I don't know how it got renewed for a second season, which is likely its last, but it's a quirky, geeky, pithy, feel-good, character-driven comedy, which is hard to find.

Parks and Recreation
Greg Daniels has a pattern. First seasons are a wreck (see The Office), but come sophomore year, warm up your TiVo. Parks is the best thing on NBC, and I never make it through an episode without laughing out loud.

The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson

Who needs The Tonight Show drama? And Letterman's fun, but Craig Ferguson is the best late-night entertainment on the air.

Chuck
Almost cancelled last season after poor ratings, Chuck is downright fun. A charming spy comedy that makes Los Angeles look habitable? You'll have to see it to believe it.

V
The pilot episode rocked. The following three outings were less suspenseful, and failed to provide much momentum heading into a long winter hiatus. But Elizabeth Mitchell and Monica Baccarin are scene-stealers, and I'm dying to find out what these aliens are really after.

Flashforward

Hyped as the next Lost, this mythology-driven action/mystery has grown more and more intriguing every week. There are some tangible weaknesses (dialogue, pacing, character development), but the suspense is compelling enough to keep you coming back for more.

Community
It's predictable and highly episodic, true, but this network underdog has really grown on me. If nothing else, tune in for Troy and Abed. I'm just thankful it's so different from my own college-centered pilot.

Notably absent from my list? Fringe, which has completely lost its way. More on why, later.

Details Soon...

2009-09-30T21:04:00.006-05:00

I know...I've got a lot of 'splaining to do regarding this. I'm a bit swamped with the aftermath, but I'm going to post something this weekend about what happened in Manhattan last week and where things could go from here. In the meantime, here are some press links:

The Hollywood Reporter
Life.com
NYTVF
Roosevelt University Press Release

I'm Back

2009-09-18T23:06:00.006-05:00

With the summer--and the first hectic weeks of class--behind me, Mount Helicon is back in business. Expect multiple reviews (television, film, and fiction) every week, as well as interviews with people who tell stories for a living.

To start, head over to FringeTelevision.com (which has a slick new design) for my review of last night's second season premiere of JJ Abrams' Fringe

I'll be refocusing the blog, in a way, to center on my thoughts on storytelling (tv/film/books) as a writer...instead of just as a consumer of media.

Blogging Drought

2009-08-19T20:51:00.004-05:00

I know. It's been nearly a month since my last post, but I got busy, okay? Rest assured that come September I'll have plenty of book/movie/tv reviews, along with more interviews with the cast and crew of Fox's Fringe (and hopefully more surprise interviews like last month's with Maria Baltazzi).

Speaking of Fox, I should hear back regarding my comedy pilot sometime between the 21st and the 26th of September, so keep your fingers crossed! I should also have an article on Jeffrey Ford's trilogy published soon over at Bookslut.

Batman Does Have A Superpower

2009-07-16T21:29:00.012-05:00

Say what you will about Batman being the only superhero without tangible powers, but fans have definitely overlooked something.

Judging from the Chris Nolan franchise, Batman has the uncanny ability to inadvertantly wind up in architecturally advantageous locations when fighting crime.

Here's the challenge: name an action sequence in Batman Begins or The Dark Knight where the architecture in Batman's immediate vicinity doesn't play a key role in his success.

In Batman Begins, you've got the remote temple of Ra's Al Ghul, which Batman destroys and escapes from thanks to a convenient nearby poker and copious amounts of flammable thatch, wood, and explosives.

He stops Falconi's drug shipment and later rescues Rachel from the Scarecrow thanks to some extremely high, poorly-lit ceilings with giant rafters.
He gets away from a veritable horde of police by gliding down an extremely wide spiral staircase (pictured above).
In The Dark Knight, he kicks things off by dropping down a perfectly placed atrium in a parking garage.

Later, his Tokyo target happens to be staying in a glass-walled building.
When the Batmobile breaks down on Lower Wacker Drive, he's able to drive the Batpod through some generously wide doors and through the Chicago pedway system to catch up with the Joker.

He stops the Joker's 18-Wheeler using a few well-placed streetlamps on LaSalle Street.

He neutralizes a SWAT team and Joker's thugs thanks to an under-construction skyscraper with exposed support beams and no windows.

My question. What would happen if Batman tried to stop a crime in, say, your neighborhood bank? If it wasn't under construction or built around an ever-reliable atrium, would he have to go through the revolving doors like everyone else? If it was on the eigth floor, would he have to take the elevator?

Disclaimer: despite the sarcasm, I'm a huge fan of every film Nolan has ever made.

Interview: Maria Baltazzi

2009-07-15T16:34:00.010-05:00

Update 7/22: Maria sent me some more detailed answers about her experience with Mark Burnett, the History Channel, and the expedition team, which I've embedded below.

Note: Maria and her production team were just nominated for a 2009 Emmy for their cinematography.

The best thing on TV this summer, the History Channel's thrilling Expedition Africa, just wrapped on Sunday night. If you missed it, catch up on Hulu or History.com.

Maria Baltazzi is a veteran, hands-on producer who's worked with Mark Burnett on classics like Eco-Challenge and Survivor (can we bring Eco-Challenge back, please?). Maria was the original brains behind the concept of Expedition Africa, and was the on-location show runner, meaning she went on the same expedition, only behind the cameras. Tough girl!

After stumbling across my Mount Helicon reviews via Expedition explorer Mireya Mayor's tweets, Maria was kind enough to answer a few of my questions on making this summer's smash hit.

Adam Morgan
Where did the idea for Expedition Africa come from?

Maria Baltazzi
[First], I thought back to my elementary school days and thought about the explorers I most remembered. Even if someone knows nothing about exploration, they may have at least heard the words "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" Expedition Africa is the modern-day story behind one of the most famous lines ever said in exploration. Second, when you think of early exploration, Africa's daunting and epic landscape comes to mind first. Then, after many discussions with Mark Burnett and History, we all agreed this would be a great expedition to re-capture.

The initial inspiration for developing EXPEDITION AFRICA came from Nancy Dubuc, the Executive VP/General Manager for A&E Television Network’s History Channel. She wanted to do a series about the world’s greatest historical expeditions, and asked Mark Burnett to develop the series. Then Mark, knowing my great love for travel, asked me to develop the series with him. We have had a working relationship since the very first shoot day of Survivor: Borneo (season 1).

My very first meeting with Mark on this project was Jan 10, 2008. We presented our concept to History on Feb 26, 2008. A year -- to the day -- later, I delivered the very first completed episode of Expedition Africa. As the series showrunner, I could not have asked for a more supportive working relationship than the one I experienced both with Mark Burnett and the History Channel. I can truly say the experience was epic in every conceivable way.

Adam Morgan
Were any other locations or historical expeditions considered before you settled on Stanley and Livingstone?

Maria Baltazzi
We talked about Lewis & Clark, parts of Magellan's voyage, Marco Polo, the Arctic explorers... to mention a few.

Adam Morgan
How well do you know the explorers themsevles?

Maria Baltazzi
I did the casting, and they are exactly what you see on screen. I adore each one of them uniquely. They are so different and strong in personality. Each brought a special talent to comprise a well-rounded expedition team.

When I did the casting, I had our casting director look here, in the States, Canada, England (where I found Benedict), Australia, NZ, Kenya and South Africa. It was challenging to find experienced explorers, who’s skill-set didn’t overlap too much, could verbalize the history as well the “how-to” part of doing an expedition, and handle having a camera around them 24/7. I presented my choices to Mark Burnett and History for final approval, and the result was a dynamic none of us could have predicted. We all thought they were an amazing team of knowledgeable, skilled explorers, who were very expressive with their thoughts and feelings.

Adam Morgan
What's the best expedition you've ever been on?

Maria Baltazzi
Hard to pick "the best" expedition I've ever been on. They are each so unique. But I can truly say Expedition Africa: Stanley & Livingstone was EPIC. This is not an exaggeration.

Adam Morgan
Which explorer do you most resemble? Personality-wise, not physically!

Maria Baltazzi
I would have been mostly similar to Mireya with a touch of Pasquale mixed in there. You have to keep the expedition team moving forward AND look after everyone's well-being. That was my daily concern. In truth, I think I see a bit of myself in each of the Explorers: Benedict’s micro curiosity for the world he explorers. Kevin’s desire to tell stories about people and places. Pasquale’s focused determination to achieve a goal. And, Mireya’s love for people and nature/wildlife.

Adam Morgan
What's next for you?

Maria Baltazzi
More adventures! I specialize in shooting on location.

And while Maria wouldn't dish on the inevitable sequel, the tag scene of final episode contains a blatant reference to Marco Polo. Then again, it also blatantly refers to Subaru, so I guess Season 2 could ostensibly be a trek across the grounds of the Indiana Subaru plant, which doubles as a real-life wildlife preserve...

Major thanks and kudos to Maria and the rest of the Expedition Africa team. Head over to StudioDaily for a more in-depth interview with Maria about her experience on the show.

Expedition Africa: Finale

2009-07-13T15:01:00.016-05:00

Summer usually means reruns. As a writer, I typically mourn the loss of scripted television between May and September.

Not this summer. Expedition Africa has been a welcome shot in the arm. In an era where the majority of Westerners spend their days lounging in climate-controlled, wireless-enabled offices and bedrooms, four intrepid explorers abandon the modern world for a real-life adventure in the wilderness. No sat-phones, no GPS. Just a compass and a tube full of hand-drawn maps.

The final two legs of the trek may have been my favorite. The music and the cinematography have really stepped up a notch here at the end of the season, with some Gregson-Williams-esque motifs and a lot of great helicopter shots. The night-hike through a moonless jungle was creepy (especially with all the hyena and lion eyes glowing through the trees), and I got a little anxious when they set up camp in an abandoned village (abandoned because too many children had been attacked by nearby crocs).

It was also nice to see Pasquale's soft side. After learning about his nightmarish childhood, I began to understand some of his social difficulties, and his geeky enthusiasm for geology was endearing. I even got misty-eyed when he and the rest of the explorers said goodbye to their loyal porters. You could tell they had really bonded, despite linguistic and cultural barriers.

Kevin's attitude did reach an all-time low towards the end of the first hour, but it's hard to blame the man after such a grueling month in the wild. I actually took his side when Pasquale argued against "wasting" time speaking with a local farmer. Kevin's a journalist. He should get fifteen minutes to interview someone every few days without catching flack for it.

The final hour looks to be smooth sailing (pun intended) after a leisurely canoe cruise down a placid river, but once the water opens out into Lake Tanganyika, all hell breaks loose. As those canoes, and later dhows, were near-capsizing in the choppy water, I couldn't help but ask the same question I ask every episode when conditions get rough:

"How does the poor CAMERA CREW deal with this?"

Hopefully some special features on the DVD will shed some light on these hidden expedition members, who had to make the trek with God-knows-how-much extra weight on their shoulders.

As the team neared Ujiji, the proverbial end of the road, I found myself sorry that it was almost over. I mean look, there's Pasquale, bathing in Lake Tanganyika, going on about wading through the same water molecules as Stanley and Livingstone. And there's Mireya, introducing us to another snake, Steve Irwin-style. It's a shame we won't see these guys for the rest of the summer.

Their well-earned arrival in Ujiji was a real treat to watch. Those Edenic avenues of mango trees, the colorful local dancers, and dozens of wide white smiles. I'm glad they made it in one piece, bodies and relationships intact. And I personally would like to see a spin-off with Julius and the Maasai.

Did you all catch the teaser scene at the end? Is there really a Marco Polo-centered sequel in the works? Executive producer Maria Baltazzi has been kind enough to do a short interview with me for Mount Helicon, so I'll see what hints I can tease out of her!

Major kudos to the explorers, the crew, and all of the creative minds behind the best reality show of all time.

I Want One Of These

2009-07-11T15:51:00.003-05:00

Interview: Joey Comeau

2009-07-06T18:05:00.004-05:00

Only six days into the month, and it's already a very productive one.

Head over to Bookslut.com and scroll down to the bottom, where you'll see my interview with the always-funny Joey Comeau. He's famous for webcomics like the one above called A Softer World, and his new book is written entirely as cover letters for job applications.

Book Review: The Stranger by Max Frei

2009-07-06T18:00:00.006-05:00

If you head over to Bookslut.com, you'll see my very first fiction review pubished in the "Reviews" column, the last one listed under "Fiction." Here's the direct link.

Sorry for the quiet blogging spell; I moved across town to a great new place, but won't have internet for a few weeks. Pics soon!

Meanwhile, the weather is perfect here in Chicago.

Expedition Africa: Episode 6

2009-07-06T16:36:00.008-05:00

After last week's demoralizing arguments, this week's episode starts on a high note. During a quiet campfire chat, Pasquale seemingly agrees to stop ordering the other explorers around like a dictator.

For perhaps a single day, the expedition hums. The terrain is forgiving, the weather is comfortable, and spirits are up. Mireya and Benedict even have time to flirt a bit, albeit in an understated, professional manner. For the first time in quite a few eps, people are smiling. Everyone's set for a fun night of celebration in Tabora, an ancient trading center and bustling marketplace where Stanley himself let loose.

But Africa has a sardonic sense of timing.

Just as the team rolls into Tabora, Benedict's blindsided by malaria. Now, I was assuming malaria meant game over. I figured a helicopter with a History Channel logo would thunder in and fly Benedict to a world-class hospital where he could be pumped full of antimalarial drugs. But that's not the show we're watching.

Instead, a local doctor comes out in a Range Rover, hooks him up to a saline IV, and gives him what appear to be a couple Lorazepam tablets. That's it. Benedict suffers through the fever for 36 hours or so, and then it's back to work.

It's inspiring, to say the least. I, for one, am completely knocked out by a stomach flu for about a week. This guy had malaria, which kills 100 million people every year, and he was back to carrying a fifty-pound pack across the savannah in a day. Most of all, I never saw a trace of fear on his face, only a look of bitter disappointment that he might miss out on the rest of the trip. Mireya's maternal instincts were touching as well. Pasquale even stopped scowling for a bit.

After such a serious brush with Africa's deadliest killer (about half of the human beings who have ever died on earth were killed by mosquitos), you'd think the power struggles would stop, that compassion and mutual appreciation would spread through the team like wildfire. It was a touching sequence, and it looked like some old wounds may have been healed.

But then? Hungry hippos, stagnant water, and Pasquale.

Head over to the History Channel or Hulu to watch full eps of Expedition Africa, or tune in Sunday nights at 10/9c.

Expedition Africa: Episode 5

2009-06-30T19:19:00.015-05:00

By Day 20 of Expedition Africa, any semblance of a "team" has dissolved.

The tension reaches a boiling point in the series' fifth episode, when the expedition crosses the scorching salt flats of the dried-up Bahi Swamp. It's the most intense episode yet, likely a result of the miserable conditions on this leg of the trek.

Essentially, Pasqaule races ahead and leaves half the team behind. I have to side with Mireya and Benedict on the issue. Had they kept pace with the dogged Pasquale, the donkeys would've been abandoned in the middle of a desert, along with their precious water supply. While I don't question Pasquale's experience or expertise, part of leading any expedition (even if it's a day hike), is being an effective communicator. That means you don't run two miles ahead of the rest of your teammates. You don't ignore their perfectly civil attempts at solving the issue. And you definitely don't yell and curse at them when they want to discuss alternative routes and strategies.

As someone who's led so many expeditions, Pasquale should have better people skills. The other team members may not always be right, but Benedict, Mireya, and Kevin do always make calm, respectful suggestions. Meanwhile, Pasquale makes no attempt at civility, and then wonders aloud why he can't "bring this team together." The guy should take a NOLS course before next season.

It's another fascinating look at what happens to real people when faced with near-insurmountable odds. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm really rooting for these guys to make the trek, and to form meaningful relationships along the way. That's something you never get with a show like Survivor, where everyone's trying to decieve and outsmart one another. I watch Expedition Africa for the adventure and the comraderie, so I'm hoping next week the expedition puts their differences behind them to become a real team again.

It looks like they may be forced to when someone contracts malaria. And perhaps to lighten the mood, Pasquale apparently wears a bona fide pith helment.

Watch every ep of the best thing on TV this summer over here, or on the History Channel Sunday nights at 10/9c.

Two Recommendations

2009-06-30T00:34:00.006-05:00

Recommendation #1
I interviewed webcomic pioneer Joey Comeau a while back for Bookslut (it should be published soon, fingers crossed) and he introduced me to a hilarious series by Chicago artist/writer John Campbell called Pictures For Sad Children. Do yourself a favor and go read some of these. Think magical realism meets dark comic-strip humor.

Recommendation #2

Not usually a piano-rock kind of guy (Ben Folds never did it for me), but Nashville's Gabe Dixon Band is a nice summer listen. Ignore the ads for The Proposal - they're a real band. Try "Find My Way," "Till You're Gone," and "Disappear."

Short Story Excerpt: "The Bardo"

2009-06-27T11:29:00.002-05:00

While I'm busy with screenplays and tv scripts this summer, I'll be posting the first paragraphs of some of the short stories I've worked on in the last year or so. They're all part of an as-yet-untitled collection that will be my MFA thesis. "The Bardo" is about a wealthy, self-centered Chicagoan with a strange obsession, who's prepared to do anything it takes to satisfy his morbid curiosity.

"The Bardo"

I read once that after mankind destroys itself through nuclear or biological warfare, the urban pigeon population will spike. They'll take our places in Grand Central Station and Sears Tower and the Mammalian Age will give way to the Ornithic. I think the pigeons know this already. I think they're marking their territory.

That’s why the roof of the Monadnock building is coated with pigeon guano, as if Jackson Pollack went ballistic with grays and whites on every surface he could find, old AC units and lightning rods and slabs of concrete. I’ve never snuck up here before, but judging from all the cigarette butts it’s a popular spot. Would’ve been a nice place to take lunch. Too bad.

Beyond the guardrail at the edge of the roof, Chicago rises before me all black and gray, the tops of towers hidden in low October snow clouds. Seventeen stories below, a river of taxis courses through Jackson Boulevard. At my feet, a paper coffee cup teeters on the ledge, mere centimeters from its eventual fate. Just like the rest of us. Especially me. Especially today.

I've always been fascinated by death. Most people are oblivious--like pigs who don't know they're pork--or they turn to religion, which takes the bite out of the whole thing. Personally, I find posthumous possibilities fascinating. You see, when I was a boy my grandmother lived in a small room at the back of our house. Her hair was white and fine as gossamer, and she was no bigger than a child herself, but I was genuinely terrified of her, and thought her to be some breed of witch.

One Sunday morning she didn’t come to breakfast, so my father checked her room and found she’d died in her sleep. My father was a surgeon. He checked her vitals. He came back into the kitchen and called the hospital as my mother explained to my sister and I what had occurred. Just as she was getting to the part about Heaven, she dropped her glass, and milk surged over the formica table and into my lap. I followed her eyes and found my grandmother standing behind me, brewing a pot of coffee.

She lived for another two weeks, the most unsettling fortnight of my pre-adolescent life. The night before she died permanently, she called me into her room, beckoned me to her bed with long spidery fingers. I may have wet myself slightly. She pulled me close and whispered, "Can you keep a secret?" Her eyes were wide with joy and wonder, her voice like dead leaves blown over cobblestones: "Heaven ain’t like what they say in Sunday school."

This guardrail's going to be tricky.

Shyamalan's At It Again

2009-06-25T17:15:00.002-05:00

The teaser for M. Night Shymalan's next flick, The Last Airbender, hit the internet this week, along with a new "Shyamalan Web Experience" that's pretty revealing.

As for the trailer, let me know what you think. I've been optimistic, but I got a very uncomfortable, queasy, Chronicles of Narnia feeling from the last ten seconds or so. Something about that more-colorful-than-life CGI.

As for the "web experience," it's pretty slick. You explore a dilapidated mansion, Myst-style, filled with themed rooms from each of Shammy's movies. Even though I'm disillusioned with the man, and this whole "web experience" is probably an attempt at correcting his image before Airbender hits theaters, I have to admit the thing is pretty cool.

Each room's design is taken from a set-piece from his movies, and James Newton Howard's brilliant music constantly plays in the background. Hidden trinkets in the rooms offer insights into Shammy's writing and directing experience, such as how stressful each film was on a 1-to-10 scale, his favorite scenes and lines, and what he learned. Unfortunately, Shyamalan's infamous ego is still occasionally apparent in his choice of words.

Poor Shammy. I used to be your biggest fan. The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, and The Village still rank among my favorite movies. Signs was a blast when I was 17, but hasn't aged as well. Then you made two unforgiveably bad movies. Well, Lady In the Water had potential, but you cast yourself in it as a writer who changes the world, for goodness sake. And you killed a movie critic on screen. Very subtle.

Shammy's last film, The Happening, is literally the worst movie I've ever seen.

How do we explain such a MacBethian fall from brilliance? I'm speechless. I can only guess that Shyamalan has insulated himself so much from criticism that he's forgotten how to entertain people other than M. Night Shyamalan.

Expedition Africa: Episode 4

2009-06-23T18:18:00.005-05:00

It's back to the mountains for our adventurers in this week's grueling episode of Expedition Africa. Leaving the sizzling Mkata plain behind, the team climbs into the cool, foggy Sagara Mountains amidst a series of torrential downpours.

Whether you're on a day hike in the Smokies or a month-long trek through Africa, rain is a gamechanger. The risk of hypothermia skyrockets, building a fire becomes nearly impossible, injuries due to slips and falls increase exponentially, and morale can really plummet. When I worked in a temperate rainforest one summer during college, trails would literally turn into rivers in a matter of minutes, and trying to sleep when you're soaking wet is quite a challenge. And to be honest, constant heavy rain can really suck the fun out of being outdoors.

Pasquale and Benedict butt heads once again on the expedition's pace. Should we cover ground as quickly as possible, or stop to enjoy the views and the wildlife when we can? While I understand Pasquale's rationale for speed, I have to side with Benedict. What's the point of crossing the continent if you can't slow down enough to experience it? And while Pasquale's intentions are good, his tone is often brash and condescending compared to the light-hearted suggestions of the other team members.

The rain really sets the team on edge. In the mountains, temperatures dip into the low 40s, which is hypothermia weather when you're dripping wet. Stunningly, the group didn't bring waterproof bags, and none of the porters were equipped with rain gear.

Kevin gets a nice redemptive moment when his idea to wait out a storm pays off. Low on provisions, eating just one meal a day, the team grows desperate and wanders into a few tiny, ghostly villages clinging to the slopes of the Sagaras, some of which have no food to spare.

Overall, it's another inspiring forty minutes of brilliantly-produced television, getting to watch the incredible resolve of the explorers, porters, and Maasai guides in the face of adversity. One porter falls victim to an especially dangerous threat, affecting the emotions of the entire group, and reminding viewers that this isn't Survivor. It's survival.

Watch every episode here, or tune in to the History Channel Sunday nights at 10/9c.

Details On Fringe's 2nd Season

2009-06-22T20:48:00.007-05:00

Over at FringeTelevision.com, I broke the directing credits for Fringe's first six episodes next season.

No JJ Abrams I'm afraid, but Oscar-winner Akiva Goldsman is back behind the camera for the pilot. Shooting on Season 2 starts the day after tomorrow in Vancouver.

I also broke the title and credits for Episode 2.02.

Happy Father's Day, Dad!

2009-06-21T12:08:00.004-05:00

Were it not for you, I never would have seen the Grand Canyon covered in snow. Or stumbled upon a doe in the Cascades. Felt the rumble of a shutte launch in my chest at Cape Canaveral. Climbed the Temple of Kukulkan at Chichen Itza, or explored the Anasazi ruins at Wupatki. And I never would have gained an apprecation for the night sky or its endless narrative possibilities, which is what initially led me to love stories, be they ancient myths or Arthur C. Clarke.

Thanks for making life an adventure, Dad, and for being the perfect role model for a budding boy. Love you!

Also, congrats on winning the bid to host the 2011 SEPA Conference! In the world of astronomy, that's like hosting the Olympics!

New Evidence For Martian Life

2009-06-20T15:43:00.006-05:00

According to a team of researchers at UC-Boulder, a deep gash in the Martian surface was once a lake larger than Vermont's Lake Champlain. (Artist's rendering above.)

Even weirder, the lake dried up 300 million years after Mars was previously thought to have lost all its water.

Scientists say it'll be a great place to look for Martian fossils in the future. I will wet my pants if we find an alien fossil in my lifetime. Think about it: if complex life is common enough in the universe to occur twice in the same solar system, how many other billions of planets out there are harboring life?

What If Lost Was A Sitcom?

2009-06-19T12:59:00.008-05:00

From the 90s?

(Don't worry - no plot spoilers if you haven't seen the whole series.)

Jimmy Fallon Actually Made Me Laugh

2009-06-17T19:31:00.005-05:00

I guess there's a first for everything. And check out Horatio Sanz, who's apparently lost 100 pounds since his SNL days.

Expedition Africa: Episode 3

2009-06-16T00:01:00.008-05:00

After wading through knee-deep swamps and climbing over sheer mountains, the Expedition Africa team heads for the dry grass of the Mkata plain in the third leg of their trek across the continent.

By far the most dangerous terrain they've crossed yet, the Mkata grasslands are home to Africa's Big Five, forcing our adventurers to take extra precautions against wildlife attacks. Minutes into the episode, they come across an eerie pile of zebra and giraffe bones, as well as a recently-killed buffalo calf. To complicate matters even further, Mireya sustains a bloody injury in the tall grass, local water sources prove unusable, and temperatures soar above 116 degrees Fahrenheit.

Pasqaule's dogged determinism to make good time continues to ruffle feathers, especially when Benedict questions his navigation. For the third straight episode, both Pasquale and Kevin are presented in a particularly unflattering fashion. I'm not blaming the editors, it just seems like some personalities don't make for the most civil conversation on television (in the case of Pasquale), and perhaps poor Kevin was doomed from the start due to his relative inexperience.

But it's still clear that regardless of differences in experience and opinion, these four adventurers are tough, self-disciplined, kind-hearted people. Kudos to the producers for not casting a melodramatic group of giant egos.

The highlight of the ep for me was the Maasai. When asked to keep watch overnight while the team slept, one of them actually hoped an elephant or a lion would attack so that he could spear it. And later, two Maasai make a touching effort to save a stranded calf, in one the ep's many fascinating demonstrations of the role of livestock in Maasai culture. Another demonstration involves several liters of blood!

On a random note, I could listen to Benedict talk for hours, even if it's about which kinds of animal dung make the best kindling. What a cool voice! And are we ever going to get a look at the poor cameramen that are making the same trek?

Next week...rain. Lots of it. And I can tell you from my own backpacking experience that heavy rain changes everything. The stakes will skyrocket.

Head over here to catch up on episode three, and tune in this Sunday at 10/9c for episode four on the History Channel.

Finally, A Trailer For Time Traveler's Wife

2009-06-15T19:15:00.006-05:00

The Time Traveler's Wife, despite being written by a crazy lady who works across the street from my school, is undoubtedly one of my all-time favorite books.

But the film adaptation of Traveler's has been a controversial work-in-progress for a while now. Why? Well, they finished filming the thing way back in 2007, and then New Line postponed its release without an explanation. In Hollywood, this typically doesn't happen unless a studio realizes they've got a real clunker on their hands, but it's possible New Line wanted to wait on a wide-open release weekend to maximize box office receipts.

Last I heard, they were planning on a February 2010 release (to grab the Valentine's Day audience), but then, inexplicably, a trailer popped up online this week with a release date of August 14, 2009, just a couple months away.

Here's the trailer. It actually looks pretty good (albeit cheesy), but I'm biased towards Rachel McAdams, since she's my favorite actress and since I pictured the character in the novel as her when I first read it. And Eric Bana's a stud (though I pictured Aaron Eckhart in the role).

What do you think? Just another awful adaptation of a great book? I'll say one thing: they give away far too much of the plot in the trailer.

Book Review: We Agreed To Meet Just Here by Scott Blackwood

2009-06-12T15:00:00.004-05:00

Scott Blackwood's debut novel is far from typical. Imagine Carver and Marquez having a child together, and then Lynch raising it as his own.

Instead of a straightforward narrative, Blackwood offers shattering glimpses into the fractured lives of interconnected people in Austin, Texas. At once haunting and heart-rending, Blackwood's lyrical passages are filled with microscopic epiphanies of perspective. He finds and focuses on the transcendent in everyday instances and gestures.

Two people have gone missing. The neighborhood sweatheart, Natalie Branch, a sultry-yet-naive lifeguard at the town's iconic public pool. And Odie Dodd, an elderly physician who witnessed the aftermath of the Jonestown Massacre firsthand before he retired.

The disappearances are Blackwood's catalyst for stepping inside the all-too-human minds of his characters, all of whom struggle with feelings of grief for lives-not-lived, for stillborn dreams and futures that might have been. Disillusioned with their present, the past begins to glow, no matter how traumatic. There are traces of magical realism, sometimes implied, sometimes showcased.

The novel isn't for the faint of heart. Blackwood's zen-like meditations on what it means to be human are emotionally challenging. A rampant sense of loss and forboding fills the neighborhood like a cold fog. And the diverse cast may have you re-reading pages just to keep up with who's who. But patient readers are ultimately rewarded with a moving reflection on joy, grief, life, and death. Sure, he's my professor (and my boss), but I genuinely recommend this book wholeheartedly.

Book Review: Darwinia by Robert Charles Wilson

2009-06-11T17:30:00.003-05:00

I've been slack on book reviews lately, because Publishers Weekly and Bookslut have hogged most of my reading time. But here's the first of five novels I've read of my own accord in the last few months.

Hugo award-winner Robert Charles Wilson is the Prince of Promising Premises. In Darwinia, something unthinkable happens to the world in 1912. Skies everywhere burst with an auroric light, and the entire continent of Europe disappears overnight. That is, the Europe we're familiar with.

When American ships headed for Portsmouth encounter a landmass that used to be England, what they find is inexplicable. An entirely new and alien landscape, filled with exotic flora and trecherous wildlife. Dubbed "Darwinia" for its display of an alternate evolutionary process, the new continent spurs a 20th Century very different from the one we know.

A shy Boston photographer named Guilford Law is tapped to join a scientific expedition into the heart of this new wilderness. The remnants of Western Civilization have deemed the transformation a divine miracle, and the Finch Expedition is intent on gathering evidence to prove it. But they weren't expecting to face a dark force older than time itself, in a battle for the fate of the cosmos.

The first two acts of Darwinia are pure pulp adventure with healthy doses of Wilson's deft language and character development. You'll be utterly fascinated by the Continent and its effects on history, and thrilled to follow Guilford Law on the trail to discovering the transformation's purpose.

But the third act will challenge you. Wilson's meta-narrative is one of the most abstract science-fiction concepts I've ever come across, complete with Higgs fields, Turing packets, and a dichotomy between the ontospheres and noospheres of the universe in the far future. It's simultaneously frustrating and fascinating. In the end, it makes sense, and the reason for Darwinia's existence becomes clear, but at the cost of the original sense of adventure. Wilson dilutes the tension he builds by spreading the remainder of the story across decades on Earth (and eons elsewhere), and so any sense of urgency and intrigue is lost. The authentic relationships he constructs so well dissolve, distancing us from Guilford and his loved ones.

Regardless, Darwinia is a fascinating read that combines a Burroughs-style adventure with the cosmological philosophies of Greene or the late Clarke. Plus, just look at that gorgeous cover.

Meanwhile...
Currently furious with Chicago, which might be the only place in the continental U.S. that still thinks it's early April.

Top Ten Things You Probably Didn't Know You Could Watch On Hulu

2009-06-09T02:26:00.014-05:00

Hulu's the best thing since the wheel, but it doesn't just stream full episodes of current network giants like Fringe, The Office, and Bones. Here are the top ten things you might not know you can watch for free:

10. 30 Days
This brilliant documentary series from Morgan Spurlock throws everyday Americans into environments that make them extremely uncomfortable for a full month, forcing them to reconsider their prejudices and biases. Topics covered include Islam, Animal Rights, Pro-Choice vs. Pro-Life, Homosexuality, and Atheism, for starters. Minus one point for not locking down Chuck Berry's "30 Days" as the theme song.

9. It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia

An abrasive FX comedy series that follows four narcissistic bartenders with zero morals in their constant quest for money, women, and self-esteem. Skip the pilot episode (it reeks), and be prepared to forgive the writers for some crass jokes and poor episodes, but occasionally Sunny delivers comedic gold. Like this scene, for example, where two of the leads try to write a song for a musical based on their nightmares.

8. Darkon

I'll let the official description speak for itself:

"DARKON is a feature documentary that follows the real-life adventures of an unusual group of weekend "warrior knights," fantasy role-playing gamers whose live action "battleground" is modern-day Baltimore."

7. Biography

Unfortunately, most of the streaming eps are about inane celebrities, but you can also watch features on Lizzie Borden, the Hussein Family, Jesse James, and Al Qaeda.

6. Journeyman

By my count, the second-best tv series to be canceled after its first season. Most industry-watchers believe it would've been picked up for a second season were it not for the Writer's Strike of 2007. Journeyman centers on a San Fran reporter who mysteriously travels back in time to specific events in the last century, where he's called upon to help individuals at turning points in their lives. Kevin McKidd's the most underrated actor in television, and Moon Bloodgood is, well, delicious. Fascinating stuff from Kevins Falls and J.R. Orci, and all 13 eps are available.

5. Dorm Life

The best web series ever made, period. Think The Office, only set in a college residence hall.

4. Buena Vista Social Club

A real eye-opening documentary on one of the most sensational musical groups of all time. You'll be whisked away to romantic Havanna for a one-of-a-kind look at the Caribbean's most talented artists.

3. Arrested Development

Probably the funniest show of all time, the entire series (three seasons) of this cooky, clever Fox comedy are streaming for free. You'll be hooked after the Pilot.

2. Firefly

The best series to ever be canceled after just one season. Firely is a genre-colliding "space western" from mastermind Joss Whedon (Dollhouse), where a rag-tag team of nine heroes scavenges the fringes of mankind's new resident star system, where the United States and China rule with an iron fist as the imperialist Alliance. Brilliant characters, effects, and mythology. Like Journeyman, the whole series is streaming for free.

1. National Geographic

Hulu's hidden gem. There are hours of first-rate documentaries from the courageous folks at NatGeo, including Wild (inside looks at lions, crocs, bears, etc.), and specials on blood diamonds, the Amazon, the Vatican, Mecca, and more.

The best news about Hulu? ABC plans to join this fall.

Expedition Africa: Episode 2

2009-06-08T16:52:00.007-05:00

After last week's compelling premiere, I was left wondering whether Expedition Africa could maintain its frenetic pace, energy, and sense of wonder throughout multiple episodes. What I didn't expect was for the show to get even better.

After crossing through the grueling swamps outside Bagamoyo last week, the expedition team faces a daunting 3,000-foot climb through the Uluguru Mountains, where head navigator Pasquale's unrelenting upward pace turns dangerous, as one porter succumbs to heat exhaustion and collapses.

The interpersonal tension continues this week, though at a more subtle, strategic timbre than in the premiere. Pasquale (navigator) and Benedict (survivalist), both equally knowledgeable and equally stubborn, approach their differences with more tact, and Mireya (wildlife expert) continues in her role as a restrained voice of reason.

This episode is filled with priceless moments. Benedict starts a fire with a tampon. The lead porter takes a wonderful crack at Pasquale's pace. Mireya eats a goat kidney, as her Maasai admirer looks on. And the entire team dances with giant pythons. I'm not making any of that up. That's just the kind of show this is, and I love it! I was also thrilled to recognize some of my own backpacking gear in this ep. Pasquale uses my therma-rest, and Benedict has my pack!

Best of all, the explorers' personalities are being well-developed by the editing team, who refreshingly avoid melodramatic manipulation. Pasquale (navigator) is determined, but not unwilling to listen or compromise. Benedict (survivalist) is fiercely observant and sympathetic, both in regards to nature and the people around him, and he's a brilliant oral storyteller. Mireya (wildlife) isn't just tough as nails, she's kindhearted and maternal. And while Kevin's relative inexperience in the bush is often highlighted, his resolve in an unfamiliar environment is admirable. Most people would be crying and screaming were they in his shoes!

Also notable is the series' excellent cinematography, which will have you aching for an African expedition of your own. The music, too, is perfect.

Next week, the team heads downhill into the savanna, a.k.a. Lion Country. I can't wait. And let's hope for more interviews with the Maasai and head-porter Julius!

Head over here to watch full episodes online, or tune in to the History Channel Sunday nights at 10/9c.

Expedition Africa: Episode 1

2009-06-04T16:42:00.004-05:00

I don't really watch reality television. I used to casually follow Survivor and The Amazing Race for their exotic locales and adventurist themes, but grew tired of the human melodrama. I watch TV for good storytelling, not histrionic bickering.

That being said, I'm unequivocally hooked on the History Channel's new Expedition Africa after just one episode.

The concept is simple. Take four experienced explorers from different fields, give them maps and a compass, and let them try to retrace the path that the infamous Henry Morton Stanley forged in 1871 to find the missing Dr. Livingstone.

The explorers have no GPS. No sat-phone. And here's the real kicker: they're trying to do it in just 30 days. It took Stanley nine months and over 200 porters.

I loved every minute of the premiere. The adventure starts in Zanzibar, once the capital of the Arab slave trade. From there, the explorers cross the Zanzibar Channel in a perilous, old-fashioned dhow to the eastern coast of Africa in Tanzania, and work their way through treacherous mangrove swamps filled with knee-deep mud, spitting cobras, and deadly crocodiles. If that doesn't sound like good television, check your pulse!

The four explorers occasionally butt heads when faced with a vital decision, but they maintain respect for one another's skills and experience, so the arguments never spiral out of control. After all, no one's trying to win a million dollars. The point is the adventure itself, and that's why the media is already branding Africa "the best reality show of all time."

Watch Expedition Africa Sunday nights at 10/9c on the History Channel, or online over here.

Also, here are the four explorers and their specialties:

Pasquale Scaturro

Navigator

Mireya Mayor
Wildlife Expert

Benedict Allen

Survivalist

Kevin Sites

Journalist/War Correspondent

Early Movie Review: Land of the Lost

2009-06-02T23:10:00.007-05:00

As always, this review is spoiler-free.

In short: "Unfortunately, not even brilliant character actors and $100 million of set pieces and special effects can save an insipidly lazy, unimaginitive screenplay."

When I first read about Land of the Lost getting a greenlight, I was thrilled. Who wouldn't want to watch Will Ferrell and Pushing Daisies' delicious Anna Friel on a sci-fi adventure with dinosaurs, monkey-people, and sleestaks? Sounds like fun, right?

Unfortunately, not even brilliant character actors and $100 million of production can save an insipidly lazy, unimaginitive screenplay.

That might make me sound like a snob, but trust me, I'm no arthouse, indy-flick, mumblecore cinephile. I like to be entertained just like the rest of America. I welcome campy adventures, when they're done right (Galaxy Quest being a prime example). But Henchy and McNicholas' script is missing a few pivotal things, like real characters, say, or a real plot.

Instead, Land of the Lost is an endless string of one-liners and sight gags, some of which are, admittedly, pretty funny. But there's no continuity to be found. You could watch this movie with the scenes in a completely random order, and it would lose nothing. Honestly.

It's like the writers said: "We'll just throw Will Ferrell into a bunch of random situations with bizarre creatures, and let him react to them." Meanwhile, Friel's talent is completely wasted. Her character seems to exist solely for her cleavage. And Danny McBride's a funny guy (Tropic Thunder), but he isn't given much to do, either.

I'm sure Land of the Lost will make a killing, based on Ferrell's pull alone, and I'm sure plenty of people will be heartily entertained by it. The audience I watched it with certainly was. But the story is the narrative equivalent of surfing through funny YouTube videos. Mildly amusing, but ultimately thoughtless and without a heart. It's the worst thing I've seen this year.

But at least Anna Friel's getting some good exposure. She's a keeper.

Writing A Comedy Pilot

2009-06-02T14:43:00.016-05:00

Update: The script discussed in this article wound up winning the 2009 New York Television Festival's Comedy Script Contest, and is currently in development at Fox!

As a writer, I've always told stories that are both serious and speculative. But for my first writing project this summer, I decided to tackle a concept that was neither of those things. It was rough! If you're interested in writing for television yourself, here's a look at how I approached writing a half-hour comedy pilot for Fox's open call.

Before even opening Final Draft, there are a lot of conceptual decisions to make. I settled on a one-camera show (a la The Office, Arrested Development, 30 Rock, shows without a laugh track), as I had no desire to write a sitcom (I haven't really watched any since Boy Meets World). But there are just as many three-camera shows on network tv these days, so pick the format you're most familiar with.

Then you need a premise, one that plays to your strengths as a writer. The best way to find one is to start with a setting that you understand well. On The Office, it's an everyday workplace, whereas Scrubs uses a hospital. Try to find a setting that hasn't been done to death! It should also readily provide you with lots of characters and limitless story potential. In a pilot, you've got to prove that your series has "legs," meaning that it's narratively fertile enough to sustain dozens of episodes.

I turned to personal experience and went with a series centered on a shy, well-meaning student during his first year at a small, private, prestigious liberal arts university. That gives me plenty of diverse characters (the student body), and tons of storylines (orientation, classes, homecoming, parents weekend, finals, rushing/pledging, you get the idea).

Once you've got a setting, you need characters. If movies are all about plot, television is all about characters. It's what people are addicted to. People aren't religiously devoted to Friends or The Office because of the storylines; they tune in to see what their favorite characters are up to. So creating compelling, unique, three-dimensional characters is probably the most important step in creating a series.

Next, I suggest reading as many scripts as you can for shows that are in your format. Simplyscripts.com has all kinds of shows, including current series, which should be at the top of your list. It'll give you a sense of what works, style-wise and pacing-wise.

Choosing a storyline for the pilot is tough, because it has to accomplish so many things. Most importantly: your main character, his goals, and the world he's living in, including his allies and enemies. Further, it's got to be an encapsulation of your series as a whole. The main themes of the show need to be imbedded in the story, all while you're introducing the characters and the setting.

As for making it funny, my advice is to use your characters' weaknesses. Put them in situations where they're certain to fail, or to humiliate themselves. The humor should come from your characters, not one-liners or gags.

Finally, there are two books that I found indispensable (and several others that I didn't). Ellen Sandler's TV Writer's Workshop is amazing for helping you find a story and structure it, and Alex Epstein's Crafty TV Writing gives you a broader look at the industry and how to craft something that works within that context.

But basically, for a half-hour show, you want two acts, plus a teaser (the cold open before the opening titles), and a tag (the quick scene before the credits). The story's got to be driven by your main character, and there has to be something at stake. If he or she doesn't acheive is goal, what's the worst that could happen? And based on what kind of person he or she is, what's the most awkward situation you can put him or her in?

I should hear back from Fox on or before August 7th, so keep your fingers crossed!

Mysterious Memorial Day Road Trip

2009-05-26T13:44:00.006-05:00

What is this?

It's the Georgia Guidestones, the so-called Stonehenge of America. Comissioned in 1979 by one mysterious R. C. Christian, a wealthy man who claimed to be part of a larger group, who spent millions erecting 120 tons of granite. Each slab is inscribed with the same message in a different language: English, Spanish, Hebrew, Arabic, Ancient Babylonian, Sanskrit, Egyptian hieroglyphs, Hindi, Chinese, Russian, Classical Greek, and Swahili.

The inscriptions are meant as instructions for the survivors of a future apocalypse on how to rebuild human society. Creeeeeeeepy. Here's what they say, in English:

1. Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.

2. Guide reproduction wisely — improving fitness and diversity.

3. Unite humanity with a living new language.

4. Rule Passion — Faith — Tradition — and all things with tempered reason.

5. Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts.

6. Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court.

7. Avoid petty laws and useless officials.

8. Balance personal rights with social duties.

9. Prize truth — beauty — love — seeking harmony with the infinite.

10. Be not a cancer on the earth — Leave room for nature — Leave room for nature.

Naturally, they've become the target of conspiracy nuts and fundamentalist Christian activists who believe the guidestones represent the New World Order and a Luciferian secret society, respectively.

The stones are also astronomically interesting, with a peephole that points to the north star, a solar slot aligned with equinoxes and solstices, and a hole in the capstone that keeps track of the day of the year.

We also stopped by Tallulah Falls on our way to the Guidestones. Head over to my flickrstream for more pics.

Puerto Rico Recap

2009-05-23T22:21:00.016-05:00

Day 1
Woke at 4am in Chicago, met the family in Atlanta around noon, survived a flight through the Bermuda Triangle, made it to Condado with just enough energy left to crawl into bed.

Day 2
Breakfast at a French cafe, explored the Old World streets and Spanish forts of San Juan.
Day 3
Drove east into the rainforest, climbed through cloud forests to the 3500-foot summit of El Yunque with Alex (in a torrential downpour), where we found an abandoned Dharma station and a castle. No, really.
Day 4
Drove to the southern coast to explore Ponce.
Day 5
Drove west into karst country, visited the breathtaking Arecibo Observatory (featured in so many sci-fi novels/films), headed into the mountains to see Taino ruins and petroglyphs, and night-kayaked through a mangrove to a bioluminescent lagoon. One of the coolest things I've ever seen.
Day 6
Rose early to see Old San Juan one last time before the flight back. Adam 2, Bermuda Triangle 0.
Visit my Flickrstream for tons of photos. It was a blast, albeit exhausting, as we aren't the sit-by-the-beach type!

The Movie I Can't Wait To See This Summer

2009-05-22T21:02:00.004-05:00

It's probably not what you think...

Two words: perfect casting.

Upcoming Absence

2009-05-15T22:42:00.002-05:00

I will be on vacation for the next two weeks, during one of which I will have limited-to-no internet access. Mount Helicon will be very quiet. Then again, it's already been pretty quiet the last couple weeks, thanks to a hectic schedule. I'll be in San Juan for the first week, with road trips to El Yunque for some backpacking, and to Arecibo to see the scope. And the second week, I'll be home sweet home in Clay County, North Carolina. Expect a massive influx of pics when I get back!

Interview: JJ Abrams

2009-05-11T14:23:00.008-05:00

Last Friday marked the highlight of my attempts at becoming a respectable journalist, as I got to speak with the man whose creative work has most directly inspired my own for the last four years.

For those of you who don't know him by name, JJ Abrams is the co-creator and producer of numerous television series, such as Alias, Lost, and Fringe, for which he has written and directed many episodes (he also wrote the music for their opening credits). On the big screen, JJ directed Mission: Impossible III and this month's brilliant Star Trek reboot, along with producing last year's fantastic Cloverfield.

Due to a crowded conference call, I only got to ask JJ a couple questions, but that was enough to make my day. And he gave me some very detailed answers.

Adam Morgan

All of your projects feature very strong-willed, independent females like Olivia Dunham. Who or what is your inspiration for those characters?

JJ Abrams

I would like to think that I've been luck enough to work on projects that have strong-willed characters who happen to be male or female, and in the case of characters like Kate or Sydney Bristow, and certainly Olivia Dunham, those are females that hopefully pop because they are interesting and strong-willed, but I could also point to certain male characters that have the same things. I guess the answer is that I don't really try to write characters that are strong women, I just try to write, when I can, strong characters, and if they happen to be women, they happen to be women.

And in my life, I've got the most spectacular wife in Katie McGrath. She is probably the strongest and best influence on me that I've ever had. And I would say that it's no coincidence that it was after I met her that I wrote Felicity, mostly because she reminded me to write about stuff that I actually care about again. It had been a while. But her strength, and her amazing ability to not only immediately understand right and wrong, but she's amazingly capable of articulating that position. And she's very socially active and politically minded, and fights the good fight, and she's someone who is definitely an inspiration, who happens to be a woman.

Adam Morgan

By the way, I saw Trek last night, and I'm going again tonight. I loved it.

JJ Abrams

God bless you, sir. Thank you very much.

Adam Morgan

Anyway, now that we've seen Charlie and Broyles in this alternate reality, do you think we might run into, say, a still-breathing John Scott over there?

JJ Abrams

I would say that it would be very difficult now that "John Scott's" show got picked up.

Adam Morgan

Ooo, that's right.

JJ Abrams

But having said that, I'm very excited that it got picked up. And I do think that there will be some very interesting things happening, given this "other place" that you're referring to. And again, that's part of the fun of the show, and I hope one of the aspects of the show that makes it incredibly unique. Meaning, my favorite kinds of ideas are the things that we work on that make me think, "there's no other show on television that could do that wierd thing." That's my favorite kind of an idea. And I just think that if you don't go for those, then the show becomes increasingly mundane and disposable. But the more you can do some of those things, even if they don't work, to try and do those things that feel specifically "that show." Anyway, there are some things with that "other place" that I think will feel uniquely "Fringe."

Thanks, JJ! I'm really looking forward to Trek sequels, as well as his next project with Damon Lindelof: a movie adaptation of Stephen King's The Dark Tower.

Head over to FringeTelevision.com for the full audio from the interview.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

2009-05-10T14:43:00.004-05:00

Thanks for a wonderful twenty four years! And for picking me up out of that river when a water moccasin swam by. For reading to me and making me fall in love with storytelling. For letting me bang on pots, pans, and later, bonafide drums and guitars. For letting me explore, be it the back yard, the mountains, or the country. For being there every time I got dumped, and convincing me the girls were out of their minds. For being an ideal role model as a parent and an adult. And for the hundreds of thousands of things you've done for me that I never noticed!

Thanks, Mom. I love you!

Early Movie Review: "Star Trek"

2009-05-08T23:35:00.011-05:00

(This review is spoiler-free).

In short: "I can't think of a more entertaining science-fiction film this decade."

A preface: If you'd told me two years ago, when I first heard about this remake, that I'd get to talk to JJ Abrams on the phone the day it was released, I'd have laughed at you. Or maybe spit at you, for insulting my intelligence.

I am a pseudo-trekkie. Not particularly well-versed in Roddenberry's mythology, but I have seen every single previous Trek movie at least nine times each. Well, except for The Undiscovered Country. So I at least had a working knowledge of the original Trek characters, and that definitely added a layer of enjoyment that general audiences won't benefit from. That being said, the three people I watched this flick with, Trek-virgins all, enjoyed it immensely.

As you've probably heard, Abrams' Star Trek isn't just a prequel or a remake, it's a completely fresh take on the original concept: a diverse cast of characters zipping through the universe and battling some civilizations, while rescuing others. After five television series and ten feature films, the Star Trek franchise was virtually dead. The last series (Enterprise), and the last movie (Star Trek: Nemesis), were utter failures, both critically, financially, and emotionally with the franchise fanbase.

But JJ and Company (Orci, Kurtzman, and Lindelof, particularly), have taken the soul of the original show and turned it into a thrilling, fast-paced, action-packed romp that rips through time, space, and your eyeballs. Right now, I can't think of a more entertaining science fiction film this decade. Here's why this Trek rocks, in bullet-form.

The retro-futuristic design is slick, with lots of bright colors and Apple-inspired technology that reinforces the storyline's determined optimism.
Pine is a perfect Kirk. Quinto, despite my fierce reservations (I hate Heroes, and Sylar) is a near-perfect Spock. The chemistry between these two men carries the entire film.
Karl Urban's take on Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy is an absolute riot, along with Simon Pegg's priceless Scotty.
Yelchin's Chekov and Saldana's Uhura are both adorable, though in very different ways. If you know what I mean.
Michael Giacchino absolutely knocks the music out of the park, particularly his main Enterprise/Federation themes and the Vulcan music.
Leonard Nimoy's return is breathtaking.
Abrams' direction is downright gleeful. The tracking shots, the steadicam shakes, the lens flares, the razor-sharp editing...it's a beautiful thing to see.

Is there anything wrong with the movie? A few things did irk me.

Did we really need the Tyler Perry cameo?
Kurtzman and Orci, despite their immense talent, display a five-year-old's understanding of black holes.
The dialogue gets silly in places. Things like "I should have killed you when I had the chance!"
Giacchino's Romulan theme is dreadfully simplistic. Three or four plodding notes on a tuba, and we hear it over and over and over again. Though the rest of the score rocks!
While Eric Bana does a great job with the role he's given, the evil Captain Nero was a one-dimensional, stock villain with fudged motivations.

I know, I know, everyone's a critic. But these miniscule balks aside, I absolutely adored every moment of this delightful film. Enough to make the trek (ha!) to Chicago's busiest theatre twice in two days!

I can't wait for the sequel.

Fringe Episode 1.19 "The Road Not Taken"

2009-05-08T23:30:00.003-05:00

Whew. It's been a crazy week. I'm behind on pretty much everything, including the 'ole blogosphere. My interview for this week's episode of Fringe is finally up at FringeTelevision.com.

Also coming soon: my Star Trek review, Lost review, and interview with JJ Abrams himself!

Reading, Out Loud

2009-05-01T15:16:00.005-05:00

Tonight in Lincoln Square, my fellow MFA students and I will be reading excerpts from our creative work, be it fiction, non-fiction, or poetry, at the Book Cellar at 7pm. If you're in Chicago and you don't come, you're probably a loser. Yeah. I said it.

Details over here.

Interview: Jasika Nicole (#2)

2009-04-30T13:55:00.000-05:00

Fringe's Jasika Nicole was sweet enough to talk with me again this week about the show and her plans for the summer hiatus. Here's the audio from the call, and the full transcript is up at FringeTelevision.com. She's the cutest thing since bunnies.

Fringe Episode 1.18 "Midnight"

2009-04-30T00:40:00.007-05:00

It's that time of the week again. Head over to FringeTelevision.com for the review.

And I've got about twelve book reviews in the pipeline. Coming soon: Robert Charles Wilson, Ian McDonald, Borges, Marc Norman, and Scott Blackwood, to name a few.

So Long, Jessa Crispin

2009-04-27T12:42:00.004-05:00

The Bookslut herself is leaving Chicago. She emailed us reviewers about it a few days ago, but now it's official.

Jessa's headed for Berlin, not just for a vacation, but indefinitely. Bookslut will live on in the trusted hands of Caroline Eick, and Jessa will continue to blog once she's settled. But it's still a sad day for Chicago, as we lose one of our finest.

Jessa recently started a twitter feed, if you're into that kind of thing. I'm currently reviewing a couple books for her (or rather, for Caroline): Max Frei's The Stranger (which has taken me two months to finish, due to its length) a gritty, witty Harry Potter for adults, and Jeffrey Ford's Well-Built City trilogy, which is surreal and fascinating.

Interview: Jasika Nicole

2009-04-25T20:51:00.006-05:00

Last week, I got to chat with Fringe's Jasika Nicole, (she's the girl, not the cow) and the full transcript is up at FringeTelevision.com. She's a very warm-hearted free spirit with a great sense of humor.

Adam Morgan

What's the biggest difference between you and Astrid?

Jasika Nicole

Astrid is smart in exactly all the ways I am not. And I would imagine that I am smart in all the ways she isn't; together we would make one completely awesome curly-headed person. She is my doppleganger who didn't doodle in science class and made it through calculus with flying colors. But she's got nothing on my Show Choir awards and AP English skills.

Jasika actually went to college in Salisbury, North Carolina--not too far from my old neck of the woods--and in addition to acting, also writes and draws her own web comic.

Movie Review: "The Soloist"

2009-04-24T23:17:00.012-05:00

The previews for Joe Wright's The Soloist were good enough to get me in the theater on opening night. Two of my favorite actors, a visionary (if exhibitionist) young director, and what looked to be a moving story about friendship and grace. Instead, Wright gives us an unflinching look into the dark corners of the human psyche, at the hopelessness and madness lurking in so many alleys and minds.

Craft-wise, the film excels with impeccable sound design (a Wright trademark), cinematography, and two gut-wrenching performances from Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey, Jr. The movie is unique in that it speaks its own language, both literally in its dialogue and narratively in its presentation. You'll sense this within the first five minutes, and combined with Foxx and RDJ, it's enough to keep you watching til the final reel.

But the screenplay is another story, lacking any sense of meaning, arc, or heart. The real-life musician Nathaniel Anthony Ayers (Foxx) drops out of Juliard after a mental breakdown, and winds up homeless on the streets of L.A., where real-life reporter Steve Lopez (RDJ) discovers him and tries to give Ayers a better life.

But the screenplay's conclusion is that no amount of love, sacrifice, or talent can make a difference. Neither in regard to the urban homeless epidemic, nor the tortured minds of schizo-phrenics like Ayers. Maybe the movie's right, but it leaves a hopeless, borderline nihilistic taste in the mouth.

That said, there are moments in The Soloist that will move, lift, and shatter you. One musical sequence uses visual effects to create the closest approximation to the experience of synesthesia I've ever seen (and I'm a synesthete). Some of Foxx's scenes with RDJ will likely move you to tears, but often for the wrong reasons. You're being emotionally manipulated by the not-so-subtle exploitation of a mentally-ill homeless man.

Is The Soloist worth seeing? Yes, if you alter your expectations from what the previews led you to believe, and if you like auteurish directors with stylistic flair. But honestly? The preview is better than the real thing.

Fringe Episode 1.17 "Bad Dreams"

2009-04-23T13:36:00.004-05:00

My review of this week's stellar Fringe ep is uppity up up at FringeTelevision.com.

I'll also be interviewing Fringe's Blair Brown--who plays the cunning Nina Sharp--on Monday, so let me know if you've got any questions for her.

Coming off a bad night for Chicago sports fans, but my money's on Derrick Rose and the Bulls tonight. But we're supposed to see sunshine and 60s and 70s for the next four days, win or lose, so I won't be too upset either way.

Hidden Image In Bulls Logo

2009-04-21T18:10:00.005-05:00

This one's been making the rounds on sports blogs, likely because the Bulls actually matter again in Chicago (as do the Blackhawks, though both teams had a rough time last night).

Look at the inverted Bulls logo above. Really just the red part. Do you see a robot reading a book?

Because I do.

A Bedtime Story With Michael Emerson

2009-04-19T19:18:00.003-05:00

Probably the best thing that will ever happen on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

Lost Episodes 5.12 and 5.13

2009-04-18T22:56:00.010-05:00

Sorry for the blogging drought - the last week has been very engaging in Chicago.

Two weeks ago, "Dead Is Dead" was a huge landmark in Lost's mythological meta-narrative (as every Ben-centered episode tends to be). Not much actually happened in the present, but Ben's origin-story flashbacks filled in some interesting gaps (with varying success), and we did get to see Smokey for the first time this season.

In the flashbacks, I found the scene where Ben kidnaps Alex from a beautiful young Danielle Rousseau very underwhelming. In Lost's character mythology, this event was one of the most game-changing: I expected something revelatory. Instead, we got a predictable, run-of-the-mill kidnapping scene that didn't surprise anyone. For me, Lost works best when it hints at the Island's history; when the writer's show us a pivotal event first-hand, it often feels anticlimactic (like when Rousseau's team crashed, Montand lost his arm, etc.).

But we did get more background on the antagonism between Ben and Widmore, in a nice scene where an adolescent Ben refuses to follow Charles' commands (while Richard Alpert looks on). My only complaint here: those hairpieces. Ben and Widmore's both.

The real climax of "Dead Is Dead" was, of course, Ben's confrontation with the Smoke Monster. Not in the Temple itself, but in dusty antechamber beneath the Temple wall. We've seen Egyptian hieroglyphs all over the Island, but now we've seen a bona-fide god: Anubis, Lord of the Afterlife, Protector of the Dead, and Guide to the Underworld. I'm pretty sure he's the mystery statue too. Are there any Smoke Monster parallels in Egyptian Mythology. Yes.

The implications are limitless. How do we account for Egyptian artifacts on the Island? Did the Island's original inhabitants leave millennia ago and found the Egyptian civilization? After all, turning the Wheel dumps you out in nearby Tunisia. When combined with the Cambodian architecture of the Temple wall (see Angkor Wat), the Island could have once been the proto-civilization of Atlantis, Mu, or Lemuria.

I loved Ben's secret room (what's with the pool of water?!), the Temple chamber, and the grate/vent thing that the Monster poured out of. I wasn't crazy about Ben's flashbacks appearing in the Smoke so clearly. It worked much better with Eko in Season 2 when the visual effects stuck with sublimal images. But it was great when Smokey manifested itself as a fiesty Alex!

And now on to "Some Like It Hoth," a different kind of episode for this season. Leisurely-paced and fun, it reminded me of more straightforward Season 1 flashbacks, and that was okay. I've always been fascinated by Miles and his gift.

Thankfully, the writers put "ghost theories" to rest, as Miles explains that he doesn't speak with dead people, he only accesses the pre-death memories stored in their brains. Though this explanation doesn't quite fit for his door-to-door seances in Season 4.

Miles and Hurley's banter continues to be fun. Miles is the new Charlie, in that respect, and he's a major improvement, in my opinion. He's smart, cynical, and full of repressed angst. His scenes with his old man, Pierre Chang (Dharma's "man behind the curtain"), were a nice touch.

The strangest thing about these two eps? "What lies in the shadow of the statue?"

At the end of "Dead Is Dead," I assumed Ilana and Bram were part of another Widmore-funded team hellbent on reclaiming the Island from the Others. But then, in "Some Like It Hoth," the very same Bram tried to warn Miles against working for Widmore.

What faction do Ilana and Bram represent? They aren't Widmore, and they certainly didn't recognize Ben. I was assuming that Lost's eminent war would be between Widmore and Ben (two factions of Island-loving Others), each using 815-survivors as pawns. But now there appears to be a third party involved.

Stray Thoughts

Kate and Jack's confrontation with Roger Linus = boring.
Jack this season = too passive.
Juliet this season = ditto.
Kate, Sun = does anyone really care anymore? Do the actresses?
1970's plotline = getting old.
Desmond = bulletproof.
When Janitor Jack was wiping down the blackboards, they were covered with notes on Egyptian history. More evidence that Egyptians = Aboriginal Islanders.
Locke lately = reminding me why I love him.

Interview: Kirk Acevedo

2009-04-10T13:32:00.004-05:00

This morning, Fringe's Kirk Acevedo took cover behind the blood-spattered police vehicle above, and spoke with me for about ten minutes. His responses are pretty funny (he does some good impressions), and he teases the last five eps of Fringe's first season. Here's the audio, but head to FringeTelevision.com for the full transcript. And it's not part of the audio file or the transcript, but he gave me some good advice for my trip to Puerto Rico next month. Thanks, Kirk!

WALL-E, But With Humans

2009-04-10T11:51:00.003-05:00

Slashfilm got their hands on some neat uncredited artwork that reimagines the cast of Pixar's WALL-E as human beings, as well as Andrew Kalko's take on Finding Nemo below. Too cool.

The Hand of God?

2009-04-09T22:03:00.003-05:00

NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory recently captured the most awe-inspiring image of space I've ever seen.

What you're looking at is actually a magnetized nebula surrounding a star (PBR B 1509-58) that rotates seven times per second. The red aether behind it is an enormous gas cloud (RCW 89).

For a sense of scale, the entire scene spans 150 light years. Which is over 800 trillion miles. Which is equal to 315,141 of our solar systems lined up side-by-side.

Of course, the pictured nebula is also 17,000 light years away, meaning this is what it looked like 17,000 years ago.

In unrelated news, Rastro used the reliable "But-I'm-ADORable!" card to coerce me into playing ball with him today:

Fringe Episode 1.15 "Inner Child"

2009-04-08T11:44:00.004-05:00

Fringe returned this week for a six-episode run to conclude its first season. My review of last night's creep-fest is up at FringeTelevision.com.

Also, some sad news in TVland...NBC's Kings has officially been cancelled. The remaining eight eps will air on Saturday nights, but I doubt I'll bother to watch.

Finally, I know Mount Helicon has turned into a predominantly TV blog this month, but between the slate of movies coming out and the number of books I've been scarfing down, I assure you we'll get back to a more eclectic mix of posts very soon.

Interview: John Noble

2009-04-06T16:03:00.003-05:00

Australian actor John Noble plays the iconic mad scientist Walter Bishop on Fringe, and last Friday he spoke with me for half an hour about his experience on the show, and gave Fringe fans some hints on what's coming up. The full interview transcript is up at FringeTelevision.com, but here's my favorite part:

Adam Morgan: Okay...what's your favorite dessert?

John Noble: My favorite what?

Adam Morgan: Your favorite dessert!

John Noble: Dessert! [Cackle] I thought you said "zurt"! I thought that was another Fringe term I wasn't aware of. Well I'm trying to stay away from desserts at the moment, because being on a film set you have to be very careful, or you'll start to explode from the waist. But what would be my favorite? I'd have to say New York cheesecake.

Adam Morgan: Aha, you should tell the writers so they can include it in an episode.

John Noble: I shouldn't have said anything about it, because now I'm starting to salivate.

John's a real gentelman who's as funny and kind as he is talented.

Also, this week I'll be interviewing Jasika Nicole, who plays Walter's assistant Astrid, so let me know over here if you've got any questions for her!

Early Movie Review: "Sin Nombre"

2009-04-05T15:26:00.006-05:00

Bold. Haunting. Ethereal.

Pretty big words to describe a filmmaker's first feature. But NYU-grad Cary Fukunaga's directorial debut, which won awards for direction and cinematography at this year's Sundance Film Festival, is a powerful tour-de-force that vibrates with kinetic energy.

Two stories collide at the end of Act I: Sayra--an innocent Honduran girl--attempts to cross the entirety of Mexico to reach family in the United States, while Willy--a young member of the real-life Mara Salvatrucha gang--flees from headhunters hellbent on making an example of him. Their adventure across Mexico's dynamic landscape--on foot, car, and the roofs of trains--is frought with danger and intrigue.

You've got to see this movie in a theatre to appreciate its sights and sounds. The cinematography is raw, luminous, and heartbreaking. The score is one of the most haunting soundscapes I've ever experienced. The editing and direction are razor-sharp. You'll be breathing shallowly for the entire two hours, which pass like minutes.

But the film is much more than just its artistic bells and whistles. The nuanced performances by Paulina Gaitan and Edgar Flores are revelatory in their subtlety, while the exotic setting serves as a foreboding character in its own right. Latin America has never been so beautiful, so deadly.

The screenplay works wonders up until the third act's climax, which left me disappointed, given the freshness that came before it, but it might just be my affection for these characters that clouded my critical judgement. Sin Nombre is really that emotional, that subjective.

Do yourself a favor and go see it. It's in limited release, but if you're in Chicago you can catch it at the Landmark in Lincoln Park.

Head to NY Entertainment for a great interview with the director.

Lost Episode 5.11 "Whatever Happened, Happened"

2009-04-04T17:06:00.003-05:00

After a stellar start to season five, we're now floating through the mid-season doldrums. It happens every year, and you can't really complain. Now that the timeflashing story arc has settled, the writers have to transition the show into something different. By my count, this week's ep was the third such episode in a row, with our characters basically arguing with each other in 1977. The pace can be frustrating, but there's still plenty to chew on, and if previews and press releases can be trusted we'll be emerging from the doldrums next week.

"Bye-bye, baby..."

This week's flashback filled a gap in Kate's story, but unnecessarily so. We knew she decided to head back to the Island without Aaron, but weren't shown the exact circumstances. To me, it was relatively obvious that she'd given Aaron back to his grandmother. If a flashback isn't surprising, it seems like a waste to spend an entire episode on it.

Did anyone care about Kate and Aaron's relationship? I never bought it. She's a pretty terrible mother, and their bond has always felt contrived, so watching a cold, lifeless Kate leave behind a child who's displayed virtually no personality whatsoever wasn't really a tearjerker for me.

Watching Kate, especially this season, it seems like even Evangeline Lilly is bored with the character. If she weren't so nice to look at, do you think the writers would've kept her alive for so long? Call me cynical, but Nielsen ratings count.

"That was really confusing."

This scene started off cute, with the Back to the Future reference, but it's a good example of something Lost should never do: directly explain itself. "The Little Prince" did the same thing earlier this season, and there was a lot of explaining in this episode, too. Everyone from Jack to Sawyer to Kate was explaining their feelings and motivations out loud, which made me cringe a few times. And not just because they were talking about their desires, but because they were a bit contrived as well.

I didn't buy that Kate would suddenly want to rescue a teenaged Ben just because it reminded her of Aaron. Or that Jack would refuse to do surgery because of Miles and Hurley's chat. Even the time-talk between those characters started to get a bit too heavy-handed. As a viewer, I prefer the fun of trying to figure things out for myself.

"If I take him, he will never be the same."

This development was easily the most interesting. Ben's conversion to an Other was caused by Sayid, and facilitated by Kate and Sawyer. Nice!

My question: if the Smoke Monster heals Ben in the Temple, does that mean Ben is infected with the same sickness as Rousseau's team? Or even further: are all of the Others "infected" by the Monster? Is that what makes them other? It could explain their fierce devotion to the Island.

I can't wait for next week's episode. It looks like it'll kick off the storylines that will run to the end of the season. I want more Ben, more Locke, more Richard, more young Widmore and young Hawking. And a side of Smokey, Jacob, and Daniel!

Stray Thoughts

Wouldn't it be obvious to Horace that Ben let Sayid escape? Since Ben was found shot in the jungle, and since his father's a janitor with keys?

Jack's really bugging me this season. For once, I agreed with Kate in this ep, when she said "I liked the old you." Jack needs to be a man of action again. I think Matthew Fox is getting bored.

I love seeing Juliet in 70's attire. It suits Elizabeth Mitchell.

I like the way they humanized Roger Linus this week.

The final scene between Ben and Locke: perfect. It's been three weeks since we saw the Island's present, and I'm looking forward to getting back. The 70's Dharma storyline has been less than revelatory. Too much bickering, not enough action/mystery!

And now, back to the Final Four!

Interview: Anna Torv

2009-04-03T13:04:00.003-05:00

Australian actress Anna Torv, who plays Agent Olivia Dunham on Fringe, spoke with me and a handful of other online journalists yesterday afternoon in a FOX conference call, similar to the Mark Valley interview I participated in earlier this year. She's a wonderfully genuine person, as all of the actors on this show seem to be.

This call was much more crowded, so I only got to ask Anna two questions:

Adam Morgan

Hey Anna! What's been your favorite scene to shoot so far, and why?

Anna Torv

See...I never know what I can and can't say about the show before it's aired! You'd think it would be some kind of big, explosive scene, but we shot a scene recently in Walter and Peter's hotel room. Olivia's just discovered some things about her past, some things that Walter is connected to. I loved shooting that, because it was the first time I felt like Olivia inched her way into that dynamic between Peter and Walter, since she's kind of on the outside...

Adam Morgan

Okay, and have you enjoyed working in New York? And what are your thoughts on the potential move to Canada?

Anna Torv

I've loved shooting in New York. And it's the same way we felt after we had an amazing crew in Toronto, breaking their backs to shoot the pilot. I don't know. It will be really sad to say goodbye to all of these guys that have put in all this effort on Fringe this season.

The full audio of the call is up at FringeTelevision.com. You can hear my lovely voice around the 13:30 mark.

In other Fringe news, I got to talk with series star John Noble this afternoon on the phone for about 20 minutes one-on-one, and I'll post that transcript later today.

Questions For Walter?

2009-04-02T13:13:00.004-05:00

Tomorrow afternoon, I'll be talking with Fringe's John Noble one-on-one about his experience on the show. Noble plays mad scientist Walter Bishop, and gained international fame as Denethor in The Lord of the Rings. If you've got any questions you'd like me to ask, leave them in the comments over at Fringe Television.

And in about fifteen minutes, I'll get to ask Fringe's lovely Anna Torv (Olivia Dunham) a few questions in a FOX conference call. The full audio and transcript will be up soonafter.

"The Samaritan" Gets A Greenlight

2009-04-01T13:48:00.008-05:00

Disclaimer: This was my April Fool's joke post! If only it were true...

After years of development, my TV series concept has finally gotten a greenlight from a major network: NBC.

In an attempt to compete with popular genre shows on ABC, FOX, and CBS, the Peacock picked up The Samaritan, a spec pilot script I wrote about an ordinary man who uses an extraordinary gift to become the world's first real vigilante hero, and protect the city of Chicago from a bizzare, clandestine organization with seemingly supernatural ties to the Occult.

Bad Robot will produce an initial 13-episode order from NBC, and The Samaritan will premiere this fall. Shooting starts this summer in Chicago!

The lead role of Michael McBride, a guilt-ridden software programmer whose temporal lobe epilepsy grants him the ability to momentarily see outside of linear time, will go to Colin Hanks, who just appeared in The Great Buck Howard alongside John Malcovich.

Michael's sardonic roommate and tech-friendly sidekick, Grayson, will be played by Dev Patel, while Jennifer Morrison will portray detective Samantha Nelson, Michael's ally with the Chicago Police. Finally, NBC signed Terrence Stamp to play Michael's dangerous, mysterious mentor, Anthony Girard.

More details forthcoming!

Check your calendar.

Kings Episode 1.03 "First Night"

2009-03-30T11:08:00.007-05:00

This show rocks.

The cinematography and art direction are stellar. Beyond cinematic. The production team has deftly created an alternate universe on-screen, a wealthy modern city called Shiloh (a cgi-enhanced New York) with its own architecture and color palette. Francis Lawrence's direction (Constantine, I Am Legend) is arguably the best on television.

The story's deeply layered mythology is fascinating: a parallel, United-States-like nation is governed by a monarch named Silas Benjamin, played by Deadwood's delicious Ian McShane, in a modern reimagining of the biblical narrative of David and King Saul.

Every line of dialogue I've heard thus far cuts like a knife. The score is fresh, original. I can't think of a single thing I don't love about the show, other than a few forgiveable subpar performances by a couple of the cast members, though the rest of them shine: particularly Unbreakable's Eamonn Walker as a cool-headed priest, and King Silas' wife and daughter.

That being said, Kings' third episode isn't the best place to jump in.

If the first two eps were a bold tour-de-force (and they were), "First Night" was a leisurely-paced, cerebral meditation on virtue. It wasn't nearly as engaging or dynamic as the show's first two outings, but I have faith "First Night" was merely a transition episode (with which Lost has made me all-too familiar).

My advice: catch the pilot, "Goliath," and last week's ep, "Prosperity," on Hulu, but skip this one. I'm confident next week's "previously, on Kings" will catch you up on anything relevant that you may have missed.

Great Lit-Based News Spoof

2009-03-29T18:13:00.003-05:00

I laughed hard at this one!

This Isn't Spring:

2009-03-29T12:07:00.003-05:00

(View of our balcony this morning.)

And now that I've got my laptop back, I dumped some photos of my new(ish) place/neighborhood into my Flickr stream.

Coming up: reviews of this week's Dollhouse and Kings.

Lost Episode 5.10 "He's Our You"

2009-03-28T23:43:00.004-05:00

One category in which Lost has declined in quality over the years:

Episode titles.

We've had some real clunkers this season. "Because You Left," "This Place Is Death," and "He's Our You," for starters. Ironically, those were all great episodes.

This week's Sayid-centric outing was a bit slow, but kudos to Ed Kitsis and Adam Horowitz for at least keeping us on our toes during one of those eps that primarily exists to set up its very last scene. Which is often a dousy, like Sayid commiting infanticide.

Call me old-fashioned, but I can't justify murdering Little Ben. It's the first time Sayid's ever crossed the line for this viewer. I still love the guy, but he's got some redeeming to do. And if I'm correct, his intentions in shooting Little Ben will have an antithetical effect.

I think it'll be what turned Little Ben into Ruthless Machiavellian Bug-Eyed Adult Ben.

"A 12-year-old Ben Linus just brought me a chicken salad sandwich."

Say what you will about Sawyer, but I think Sayid always gets the best one-liners (above). Anyway, let's think about the moral issue Sayid was faced with. If you could travel back to turn-of-the-century Austria and kill a 12-year-old Hitler, would you? Does the horror of his adulthood justify the murder of an as-yet innocent child?

Or how about this: your attempt to kill 12-year-old Hitler fails. He grows up harboring a deep misanthropy because of your betrayal, ironically turning him into the madman you've always known him to be.

That's Daniel Faraday's theory. The timeline of the universe only unspools once, just like the episodes of a television show. If you watched each scene of Lost in chronological order, Sayid always shoots Little Ben in 1977. It's always been a part of Ben's life. We're just experiencing it now, through the eyes of Sayid. The timeline hasn't been altered...according to Faraday (where is he?), that's impossible. Unless you're Desmond.

"I'm a professional."

Will Sayid ever learn not to trust a beautiful woman? He can kill a man with his left pinky, but he can't go on a date without getting shot or handcuffed. I like this Ilana girl. Surely she's not who she says she is. I'm assuming Ben hired her to get Sayid onto Flight 316, since Sayid made it very clear he wouldn't be coerced. And Ben knows about Sayid's soft spot for a pretty face.

So here's my big prediction. All of our 815 survivors (plus Juliet, Miles, and Faraday), have an integral part to play in the Island's timeline. The history of the Island, leading up to the present, is absolutely dependent upon their traveling back through time. That's why the Oceanic Six weren't supposed to leave. They were supposed to get flashed back to 1977 when Ben threw the Frozen Donkey Wheel off-axis, but they left the Island instead. Widmore tried to change the timeline by sending his freighter, which led to the Oceanic Six's escape.

But the Island course-corrected, as always. Through John Locke. He got them back on a plane, and the Island got them back to 1977 to do their work. I think we'll see what their individual roles are before the end of the season.

Stray Thoughts

I really hated the Old Man Torture Subplot. Unnecessary. Not much suspense.
If Sawyer leaves Juliet for Kate, the perfect woman for the devil, I will curse the Fates.
Horace and Radzinsky are coming across as very one-dimensional, and I'm not sure if the actors or the writers are at fault.

I thought the Dharma Initiative was doing all kinds of crazy, secretive pseudoscience experiments. Why is everyone just loafing around?
One thing the writers are really testing my patience on: the nature of the Others/Hostiles. We're more than halfway through the show's penultimate season, and I still have no clue where these people came from or what they're doing on the Island. What do they even call themselves?
By my watch, it's about time for some Smokey. Or some Jacob.

Real-Life Spider-Man Saves Real-Life Boy

2009-03-25T12:28:00.003-05:00

Yesterday in Bangkok, an autistic child began his first day at school. Frightened, he climbed out onto a third-floor window ledge.

Teachers and firemen tried to coax the boy back inside, but he was too scared to move. One fireman, Somchai Yoosabai, fled back to the fire station and pulled a Spider-Man costume out of his locker, which he occasionally uses to liven up school demonstrations.

Somchai rushed back to the school, stood in the window, and said "Spider-Man is here to rescue you."

The boy stopped crying, smiled, and threw himself into Somchai's arms.

Pretty cool.

Two New TV Shows You Should Be Watching

2009-03-23T17:27:00.003-05:00

Joss Whedon's Dollhouse (below) and Michael Green's Kings (above). I'm hooked on both, and will start reviewing eps next week. Assuming they aren't cancelled.

They're both ambitious, fun, and intelligent genre. And they're both sitting on Hulu, 100% free...

Yikes, it's 5:30. Gotta run to workshop!

Interview: Chance Kelly

2009-03-23T12:01:00.007-05:00

Even if you don't watch Fringe, you've probably seen Chance Kelly. He's guest-starred on all three Law and Order franchises, The Unit, The Black Donnellys, The Sopranos, and was a feature character in HBO's highly acclaimed Generation Kill, produced by The Wire's David Simon and Ed Burns. You may also have seen him on the big screen, in Unbreakable, The Departed, Little Children, or American Gangster.

Chance currently plays the shifty double-agent Mitchell Loeb on Fringe, and last week he chatted with me about his role on the show, and his experience with the cast and crew. I even got him to talk about working with Bruce Willis and Shyamalan on Unbreakable:

Adam Morgan: What was it like working with M. Night Shyamalan on Unbreakable? How many takes did you shoot for that great one-shot fight with Bruce Willis? This is one of my favorite movies!

Chance Kelly: Working with Night was great. He is a super nice young guy. It was a great opportunity to die at the hands of Bruce Willis, who is another infinitely nice and infinitely young guy (six takes). I look forward to dying at the hands of both Bruce and Night many times more in the future.

For the full interview, head over to FringeTelevision.com. On a personal note, Chance is a wonderfully kind, down-to-earth guy. He's also in my current favorite commercial, which is running during CBS's March Madness coverage:

(I'm a devoted UNC fan who currently lives in Illinois...)

Lost Episode 5.09 "Namaste"

2009-03-20T21:34:00.008-05:00

I'm back after a week off in North Carolina, where I got to watch "Namaste" with my folks, who are also devoted Lost fans. Lost is always more enjoyable with a crowd.

Yes, it was a transition episode, but it was well-paced and entertaining. My running count of consecutive good eps now stands at 5. And for the first time, at mid-season, I have no clue where this season's arc is headed. The writers have put our known characters into position in 1977 and 2007, but we've got no clues as to where they're headed, or who they'll come into conflict with.

The Island has its pawns back. Now what will it do with them? What destiny do Jack, Locke, Sayid, Ben and company have to fulfill?

"Welcome to the Island."

So the Oceanic 6, along with Juliet and Sawyer, were documented, photographed members of the Dharma Initiative. Does that mean Ben knew all of them before the crash of 815? Surely he remembers his cell-talk with Sayid. Not to mention that group photo hanging in the barracks' processing center all these years.

And Jack's a Dharma janitor. If I remember correctly, so was Ben's dad, Roger Linus. Will the Doc and BenDaddy be scrubbing toilets together soon? Will Jack's presence affect Roger's relationship with his son in any way? I'm assuming/hoping that the Oceanic Six's presence in the 70's is going to have a major impact on the Dharma Initiative, as well as Ben's childhood.

"You have a bit of a journey ahead of you."

The most intriguing scene of the night. We still don't understand Christian Shepard's role in this story. Is he a vision created by the Island? Was he bodily resurrected from his coffin after the 815 crash, a la Locke after the 316 crash? Does he really speak for Jacob?

My latest theory: Jacob is Jack's great-grandfather. Christian is thus Jacob's grandson. At the end of the series, Jack will be the leader/protector/savior of the Island.

What a creepy scene. The Island is certainly haunted in 2007; by the Monster, the Whispers, and a family of Pseudo-Ghosts in Christian and Claire. I'm optimistic that Frank and Sun's presence on the mainland means we'll be getting some info on Jacob and the Ghosts. Or an update on Richard and the Uber-Others. What is Locke going to do when Ben wakes up? What is Ben going to do on the mainland?

Stray Thoughts

I knew that runway would come in handy. Did Ben know back in Season 3 that he'd eventually need a more conventional way to get back to the Island?
Does anyone really care about the Sun/Jin subplot? Sun has been a real bore the past couple seasons.
Juliet is amazing. If Kate messes up her romance with Sawyer, I'll be livid. Honestly, Sawyer. It's no contest. Juliet wins every conceivable category.
The Radzinsky reveal was a bit underwhelming. The Swan model was cool though.
How's Sayid going to ninja his way out of that jail cell?
Was that the Smoke Monster lurking by the dock? It didn't sound like Smokey.
Where's Dan???

And the biggest question of all: where's the story headed this season? Sun and Frank are with Ghost-Christian. Ben and Locke are with the 316 newcomers. The Oceanic Six plus Juliet, Sawyer, and Miles are in the 70's.

What now?

Happy Equinox

2009-03-20T18:58:00.004-05:00

It's spring! To celebrate the return of light, leaf, and fertility, choose from the following vernal traditions:

1. Balance an egg on its point (though this is possible year-round).

2. See the feathered serpent (Quetzalcoatl) appear on the steps of Chichen Itza.

3. Jump over a fire with Kurds.

4. Say thanks to Eostre and Attis by dancing in circles with your friends, wearing nothing but flowers in your hair.

Upcoming Fringe Interview

2009-03-16T14:33:00.003-05:00

Writing for FringeTelevision.com has already landed me interviews with actors Mark Valley and Jared Harris, but this week I'll get to chat with some of the writers and producers about Fringe's return in April. Specifically, JR Orci and Jeff Pinkner (2nd from left above).

As a writer who loves character-driven, serialized television with genre bend, I'm pretty pumped. Got any questions for them? Head to FringeTelevision.com and let me know before midnight Tuesday.

JR Orci is a writer and supervising producer on Fringe. He's also filled those same shoes on Alias, Vanished, and Journeyman (one of the best shows ever to be cancelled after one season). He's also Robert Orci's brother (writer/producer of Mission Impossible III, Transformers, and this May's Star Trek).

Jeff Pinkner is the showrunner on Fringe, as well as a writer and executive producer. He previously worked on Alias, Ally McBeal, Early Edition, and Lost.

That's right, Lost! He wrote some of my favorite episodes in Season 3, including "Not In Portland" and "The Man From Tallahassee".

Pinkner and Orci:

Elmo and Ricky Gervais

2009-03-14T14:05:00.003-05:00

If you aren't familiar with Ricky Gervais, he's the "Michael Scott" character on the original, British version of The Office, as well as a comedian and film star (Ghost Town) in his own right. He's got one of the greatest laughs of all time.

The Other March Madness

2009-03-12T21:39:00.004-05:00

If you're a writer or a bibliophile like me, check out The Morning News' Tournament of Books for a different kind of bracket. Contenders include Bolano's 2666 and Hemon's Lazarus Project (boo, hiss, yawn).

Speaking of Bolano, two new unpublished novel manuscripts were recently "found" among the late author's papers.

By whom? Pinkertons?

Movie Review: Watchmen

2009-03-09T16:22:00.011-05:00

You've probably already heard that this movie "sucks."

Bad word-of-mouth is sweeping the noosphere, as Watchmen's fast-decreasing box office numbers prove. But does it suck?

In a word, no.

The key is expectation. If you go into the theatre expecting another Iron Man, or even another Dark Knight, you will inevitably be disappointed. Watchmen is not an action-packed adventure story, like its trailers would have you believe. Don't let the superhero costumes fool you: it's a genre-breaking meditation on morality and human nature.

Which is why fans of the graphic novel are more than happy with the film. It's the most faithful adaptation I've ever seen, right down to recreating individual panels from the comic. Zach Snyder and Alex Tse could've easily sold out and made a blockbuster thriller like 300, but they chose to remain true to the original.

What Worked

Visually, this is one of the most beautiful films I've ever seen, and I don't throw around praise like that. It's mesmerizing from beginning to end. Snyder's temporal fluctuations, for which he is often mocked, create a hyper-real atmosphere. The art direction's attention to period detail (an alternate 1985) is perfect. Tyler Bates' haunting score is even better than 300's. Jackie Earle Haley's Rorschach is the new definition of cool, Patrick Wilson makes for a wonderfully dorky Nite-Owl, and Dr. Manhattan steals the show, visually. Lots of reviewers have complained about Malin Ackerman's performance, but I believed her. The lack of depth is from Moore's graphic novel, not a fault of the actress. All the script called for was physicality and vulnerability, and Ackerman brought them both.

And of course, the action was jaw-dropping. Snyder makes The Matrix look silly.

What Didn't

For starters, it's too long. But so is every movie over two hours, in my opinion. Cutting a 12-issue comic down into a screenplay was certainly a daunting task, but the editors or the prodco's should have talked Snyder into cutting at least another half-hour.

The use of popular music was also troublesome. It starts out fine, with Nat King Cole's "Unforgettable" crooning beneath an awesome fight sequence, but then things get out of hand. Dylan's "Times They Are A Changing" was too on-the-nose for an opening credits that tells an alternate history. And Leonard Cohen's original recording of "Hallelujah" takes an already-explicit sex scene too far over the top. Speaking of over-the-top, Snyder shows us some things that Moore simply suggested, to a fault. Most notably, scenes of ultra-violence, gore, and sex; the kinds of incidents that are actually more powerful when they are implied, rather than exhibited. The Owlship coupling was particularly gratuitous.

Finally, remember those jaw-dropping action sequences? There just aren't enough of them. I know, it's a faithful adaptation of Alan Moore's relatively action-less story. But I would've been fine with a few more punches and kicks. Especially from Rorschach. Can we get a Rorschach spin-off, please?

Conclusion

If you liked the cerebral source material, you'll love the movie. It's not about fighting crime, it's about fighting our own destructive nature. There are no "heroes" in Watchmen, just human beings in costumes. Even the god-like Dr. Manhattan falls victim to existential apathy, while his colleagues suffer from sociopathy (Rorschach), cowardice (Nite-Owl), nihilism (Comedian), vanity (both Silk Spectres), and egoism (Ozymandias).

Nonetheless, Watchmen is a retina-burning, thought-provoking cinematic spectacle that shouldn't be missed.

Rating 8/10

"Spectacle" Marketing

2009-03-05T11:29:00.006-06:00

It's the new viral. Check out this water-projector-created Dr. Manhattan, a UK promotion for this weekend's Watchmen, that Warner Bros. created over the Thames in London. Couldn't they have done this in Chicago? SlashFilm projects Watchmen will break $60 mil this weekend.

While We're On The Movie Topic...

2009-03-04T22:32:00.006-06:00

The trailer for Public Enemies hit the web today. I drooled.

Not just over the stellar cast and direction, but also over all the Chicago interiors/exteriors I recognized. They shot one sequence in my school, which you can glimpse in the trailer. When Johnny Depp says "What else you need to know?" he's standing inside the lobby of our campus theatre. Enjoy:

Why You Should Go See "Watchmen"

2009-03-04T13:42:00.003-06:00

1. Because it took two decades to make.
The rights to adapt the graphic novel were purchased way back in 1986. Sam Hamm (Batman) was the first screenwriter to tackle it in 1988, followed by Charles McKeown (Brazil) in 1991, David Hayter (X-Men) in 2001, and finally newcomer Alex Tse in 2006.

How about directors? First it was Terry Gilliam (Twelve Monkeys), then Darren Aronofsky (The Fountain), then Paul Greengrass (The Bourne Supremacy), and finally Zach Snyder (300).

2. Because the trailers are wicked.

3. Because it takes place in an alternate 1985.
Imagine how the course of history would have been altered if a God-like man enabled the United States to surge forward in power and technology back in 1959. Think airships, wars, and Nixon.

4. Because the characters are sick.
5. Because I said so.
I'll have a review up this weekend.

My Interview With Jared Harris

2009-03-02T13:22:00.004-06:00

Jared Harris is one cool guy. You've probably seen him as Captain Mike in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, but he's also a regular villain on Fringe.

Two weeks ago, I got a wonderful chance to do a one-on-one phone interview with Jared about his characters and experiences as an actor. The full transcription is up at FringeTelevision.com.

Jared's an extremely pleasant, kind-hearted man who patiently answered all of my questions. Do yourself a favor and check out Fringe on Hulu.

Trivia: Jared was also one of the Smoking Men in M. Night Shyamalan's Lady In the Water.

Lost 5.07 "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham"

2009-02-27T16:09:00.006-06:00

Lost doesn't usually air two amazing episodes back-to-back. Much less three. Season 5 just keeps getting better.

This week's ep wasn't flawless. Locke's visits to the Oceanic Six were a drag. If nothing consequential happens, we don't need the flashbacks. I thought for sure at least the surprise visit to Walt would be a thrill, but the characters basically said hi and goodbye.

Luckily, the rest of the ep was stellar, blurring the lines between good and evil even further than before. I've been a Ben Linus apologist since Season 3, but now that he's killed Locke (on the second attempt, no less), I'm not so sure. Are Ben and Widmore both bad? Is that the war we've been promised? Both sides of this Machiavellian god-game seem to use the 815 survivors as unwitting soldiers. I'm hoping that somewhere down the line, our favorite heroes (Locke, Jack, Sayid, Desmond, etc.) will team up against the forces that have manipulated them for so long.

"I was their leader."Now we know why Widmore wants the Island back. It used to be his, before Ben convinced him to turn the wheel and exile himself. Or so Widmore says. If we believe him, the Island needs to pick its leaders better. Between Widmore and Ben, it's appointed a lot of selfish egomaniacs.

Though this glimpse at Widmore's past was tantalizing, I want to know more. Surely we haven't heard the whole story. Is he connected with the Dharma Initiative? Why does he want the Island back so bad? Regardless, he sure looked cool in that desert garb. And speaking of cool-looking...

"Let me help you, Mr. Locke."Why does Lost always kill my favorite auxiliary characters? Rousseau, Mikhail, and now Abaddon. The man gave me chills. And I was sure he was a future version of Walt. They're the only two characters who call John "Mr. Locke." I thought the writers had big plans for Abaddon down the line. I thought he'd be a major player in the endgame, since he exudes such power.

Guess not. At least I can still watch Lance Reddick on Fringe.

One scene did make me cringe: when Abaddon reminds Locke of his visit in the hospital, which convinced Locke to fly to Australia and wind up on 815. Really, writers? We're smarter than that. We don't need characters explaining the obvious to each other. You used to trust us back in earlier seasons; don't start going all exposition on us now.

"I know we can do this, John."Whoa. This scene threw me for a loop. I'm convinced Ben really was trying to prevent Locke's suicide. Other fans say he had to instill faith in Locke before he could die, or else the Island wouldn't resurrect him, but that's a bit too abstracted for me. I think Ben snapped when Locke mentioned Mrs. Hawking.

Why? Two possibilities. He was just using Locke to get himself back on the Island, and when Locke revealed Hawking knew the way, Ben didn't need him anymore. Just his body. The second possibility? Jealousy. The last time Ben tried to kill Locke, he was jealous because Jacob revealed himself to John. Hawking is a similarly powerful and hidden figure, so maybe Ben couldn't stand the thought that the Island keeps giving all this info to Locke.

It'll be interesting to see how Locke reacts on the Island with Ben in sick-bed. I'd throw him in a polar bear cage. But Locke doesn't ever seem to learn from his mistakes.

"You'll have to talk to Caesar."Who are Caesar and Ilana? They seem to know a bit about the Island. My first assumption was that they work for Widmore, but that seems too easy. Perhaps they represent a third party that we haven't seen yet, and will be part of the upcoming war.

My mind was blown when I realized the Ajira flight landed intact on Hydra Island's runway (the one Kate and Sawyer helped build in Season 3). That means we've got dozens of potential new characters on the show. Hopefully, no more Nikki's or Paulo's.

Even more interestingly, the Ajira survivors (plus Locke, Ben, Frank, and probably Sun), seem to have landed on Hydra Island in the present (thus the long-abandoned Hydra station), whereas the rest of the Oceanic Six were flashed out of the plane and into the 1970's (thus Jin's brand-new Dharma van and jumper).

I love it when I can honestly say I have no idea where this show is going. Every season has an arc, and halfway through, we can usually tell what general shape that arc will take. Not this season. All the time- (and space-) travel has made that impossible.

My Bookstore Is Closing

2009-02-27T13:03:00.004-06:00

What does this say about the state of the publishing industry?

Chicago's Borders Bookstore on Michigan Avenue (the largest Borders in the world) will close its doors next January, citing a long-decreasing return on profits.

A bit sad, since this is the bookstore I visit in the Mag Mile. It's very close to the beautiful Fourth Presbyterian Church courtyard, where I like to read in warm weather: