I wasn’t a hardcore Whitney Houston fan but certainly appreciated her vocal talent. And I’ll be eternally grateful for the memory of a cousin’s daughter, first member of the next generation in our family, dancing excitedly before she could even talk anytime her mom put on “I’m Every Woman”.
We’re an hour away from Superman’s birthday, according to old comics lore.
Stories in various media conflict — even within their own continuity at times — over both when the Man of Steel was born on his homeworld of Krypton, relative to our Gregorian calendar, and when his rocket landed on Earth. As I wrote a few years back, though, DC Comics editor Julius Schwartz and writer/historian E. Nelson Bridwell noted in response to reader mail with a giant wink that Superman barely seemed to
age because his birthday only came around every four years.
Panel from 1st story in Action Comics #1 © 1938 DC Comics.
Script: Jerry Siegel. Pencils, Inks, Letters: Joe Shuster. Colors: Unknown.
On the heels of the February 29th date seeing print in a 1976 DC calendar and those occasional lettercolumns, Alan Moore used it in the acclaimed tale “For the Man Who Has Everything”, drawn by his Watchmen co-creator Dave Gibbons for 1985’s Superman Annual. The same calendar gave alter ego Clark Kent’s birthday as June 18th, however, carried over from a 1973 story establishing the date as that of Kal-El’s arrival on his adoptive planet. Writer Cary Bates may have chosen that month based on the character’s 1938 introduction in the pages of Action Comics #1, bearing a cover date of June but on newsstands at least one month prior — despite which DC celebrated Superman’s 50th anniversary in 1988 with a party on the Friday before Leap Day, instead of in April, May, or June!
I’m sure that the world doesn’t need another Oscars analysis. And while that hasn’t stopped me the past couple of years, real-life concerns have me too distracted right now to forge ahead with any prolonged insight; neither my head nor my heart is in the game.
Billy Crystal’s return as host was more triumphant in terms of his professionalism
than of rollicking humor, which may be what the doctor ordered. There was some good, yet not much bad or ugly — mostly things were perfectly fine but unremarkable, unless that was just my personal mood — and it’s the controversy, the unexpected, the WTF moments where quick-minded emcees (with backstage writers at the ready for good measure) like Crystal shine. I noticed and appreciated his ease at moving the show along, perhaps due to the particular contrast with recent hosts, while at the same time wishing for wittier material.
My dislikes, although they were mild, include...
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I didn’t see The Tree of Life in theaters. Reviews of the film were mixed enough,
and my moviegoing is limited enough, that it didn’t make the cut during its release. I was curious about it, however, and I got it on DVD from Netflix last month.
Between critics and acquaintances, I’d heard the film described as everything from magnificent to pretentious to nauseating. I didn’t find it nauseating. Pretentious? Yeah, I wouldn’t quibble with that, yet I also thought that it was magnificent. I’m not sure that a spoiler warning really applies, but if you know absolutely nothing about The Tree of Life and don’t want to, either, stop now and consider my recommendation; otherwise, continue after the pic.
The other night I got the chance to see the 1977 Japanese film ハウス (Hausu),
alias House.
I’m not sure what I can tell you about it of import that the insane trailer doesn’t —
save to verify that while House does have at least the framework of a story it lives up to the trailer’s wildly abrupt shifts in scene and tone. Even if you don’t think you’ll ever watch the film, I urge you to click through the link for its distillation of sublime weirdness into 1¾ minutes.
