January 29, 2004

Reading List

here's the reading list that Rick asked for.

also, yes Phil, we are all going to read Henry James' Washington Square, and by 'we all,' i mean me, Hal, and you apparently. Maggie also expressed interest. if anybody else would like to join in, the book needs to be read by February 18, which is when i need to finish it.

we can all gloat over how we beat James afterward.

Writing New York
Ragged Dick- Horatio Alger
Yekl and The Imported Bridegroom- Abraham Cahan
Ragtime- E.L. Doctorow
Howl- Allen Ginsberg
Washington Square- Henry James
Angels in AMerica- Tony Kushner
New York: A Short History- George J. Lankevich
Passing- Nella Larsen
The Dark Knight Returns- Frank Miller
Four Plays- Eugene O'Neil
Early American Drama- Jeffrey Richards, ed.
The Age of Innocence- Edith Wharton
Here is New York- E.B. White
plus, items in a course reader, including but not limited to: History of New York by Washington Irving and poetry from the Harlem Renaissance

movies:
'Manhattan'- Woody Allen
'The Jazz Singer'- Alan Crosland
'Do the Right Thing'- Spike Lee
albums:
'The Velvet Underground and Nico' by the Velvet Underground and Nico (surprise!)
'Horses' by Patti Smith

World War II
With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa- Eugene B. Sledge
Major Problems in the History of World War II- Mark A. Stoler
Short History of World War II- James L. Stokesbury
Japan at War- Haruko Taya Cook
The Forgotten Soldier- Guy Sajer

movies:
'Triumph of the Will'- Leni Riefenstahl
'Bridge on the River Kwai'- David Lean
'Das Boot'- Wolfgang Peterson
'Twelve O'Clock High'- Henry King
'The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter'- Connie Field
'Stalingrad'- Joseph Vilsmaier
'The Cruel Sea'- Charles Frend
'Casablanca'- Michael Curtiz
'Battleground'- William A. Wellman
'Schindler's List- Steven Speilberg

American Fiction since World War II
Geek Love- Katherine Dunn
Dreaming in Cuban- Cristina Garcia
The Rain God- Arturo Islas
Mona in the Promised Land- Gish Jen
On the Road- Jack Kerouac
Angels in America- Tony Kushner
The Left Hand of Darkness- Ursula K. LeGuin
Peyton Place- Grace Metalious
Lolita- Vladimir Nabokov

movies:
'Dr. Strangelove'- Stanley Kubrick
'Rebel Without a Cause'- Nicholas Ray
'The Big Sleep'- Howard Hawks
'It's a Wonderful Life'- Frank Capra
'Lolita'- Stanley Kubrick
'Apocalypse Now'- Francis Ford Coppola
'Naked Lunch'- David Cronenberg
'The Joy Luck Club'- Wayne Wang
'Selena'- Gregory Nava
'Pleasantville'- Gary Ross
'Tortilla Soup'- Maria Ripoll

Asian-American Wars
Vestiges of War: The Philippine-American War and the Aftermath of the Imperial Dream; 1899-1999- Angel Velasco Shaw and Luis H. Francia, eds.
War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War- John W. Dower
Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of an American Empire- Chalmers Johnson
plus, items in a course reader, including but not limited to: selected chapters from A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn and many other one-sided texts

movies:
'Apocalypse Now'- Francis Ford Coppola
'This Bloody Blundering Business'- Peter Davis
'The Fall of the I-Hotel'- Curtis Choy
'Knowing Your Enemy: Japan'- Frank Capra
'Grave of the Fireflies'- Isao Takahata
'In the Name of the Emperor'- Christine Choy and Nancy Tong
'The Steel Helmet'- Samuel Fuller
'The Women Outside'- Hye Jung Park and J.T. Takagi
'Homes Apart: Korea'- J.T. Takagi and Christine Choy
'Joint Security Area'- Chan Wook Park
'Hearts and Minds'- Peter Davis
'Full Metal Jacket'- Stanley Kubrick
'Regret to Inform'- Barbara Sonneborn
'AKA Don Bonus'- Sokly Ny and Spencer Nakasako

Literature and Visual Culture
Emma- Jane Austen
The Big Sleep- Raymond Chandler
Trilby- George DuMaruier
The Wasteland and Other Poems- T.S. Eliot
The Berlin Stories and Goodbye to Berlin- Christopher Isherwood
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde- Robert Louis Stevenson
Dracula- Bram Stoker

movies:
'Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'- Rouben Mamoulian
'Nosferatu'- F.W. Murnau
'Svengali'- Archie Mayo
'The Big Sleep'- Howard Hawks
'I am a Camera'- Henry Cornelius
'Cabaret'- Bob Fosse
'Emma'- Douglas McGrath
'Clueless'- Amy Heckerling

and that's all. easy semester, no?

now reading: Peyton Place- Grace Metalious, Ardis Cameron

thecomicman spoke @ 10:31 AM |

January 27, 2004

"Nothing, wossamatta you?"

i know, i know, it's been awhile. but what are you gonna do?

i've been back from Singapore and Tokyo for a little over two weeks now, and i haven't said anything. i tried doing that day to day thing that ET likes doing, but i sucked at it. so instead, you guys get a concise version with only the important parts.

Singapore: it rocked and i only got dehydrated twice. this place is a mallrat's dream. mall after mall after mall, with comic, toy, and video game shops in nearly each one. i had to do my damnedest not to spend all my money in the first two days. that sorta worked. Sam's family was nice and they tried real hard not to make me feel like the only white guy in the house that i was. the people i'll probably remember the most are Sam's little cousins, Lynnette and Ryan. these are some cool kids.

Tokyo: i probably won't be coming back here for a long time. it sucks when the romanticized version of something in your head is smashed by the real thing. Tokyo was cold and alienating. this isn't to say i didn't marginally enjoy it, but goddammit, i should have enjoyed it more. instead, the weather gave me this ridiculous cough that wouldn't let me sleep at night, my bones and joints ached during the day, and i couldn't understand these people. i bought stuff, i looked at stuff, i went the Ghibli museum, Sunshine City, Akihabara, Ginza, &c., but at the end of the day... look, this is how it breaks down: while i was in Singapore, i didn't want to leave; while i was in Tokyo, i couldn't wait to come home. and that's that.

there are pictures that i'm sure will be put up sooner or later.

besides that, i've started school again. my classes are as follows: Writing New York, World War II, American Fiction after World War II, Asian Americans and War, and Literature and Visual Culture.

Writing New York: super cool. a hybrid New York history/New York literature taught by two professors: the bestest professor ever, Professor Patell, and the guy that looks like Speed Levitch, Professor Waterman.

World War II: covers the basics and mainly stays in the European theater. basically, an intro class. i don't mind that at all.

American Fiction after World War II: i had this instructor last semester (for the class American Fiction from 1900-WWII, natch) and i enjoyed her class very much, so i thought, why not? i finally have an impetus to read 'Lolita' if nothing else.

Asian Americans and War: dealing with the Spanish-American War, the Asian thater of World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. i'm afraid that as this class progresses, it will become more and more anti-American with its omission of certain facts (that i'll have to bring up) and i'll be one of the few guys screaming from the back that it isn't all our fault (for one thing, we weren't the only superpower who decided to cleave Korea in half at the 38th).

Literature and Visual Culture: just what it says. we'll read something and then see a visual representation of it. example: 'Emma' followed by the straight adaptation, 'Emma,' then the modernization, 'Clueless' (that'll be a fun day). there is an open class that i'm going to try to convince the professor to fill with comics. why? because this is literature that comes pre-packaged with its own visual representation.

these are all good classes that are going to ask me to watch movies that i've never seen before (e.g.: WNY- Woody Allen's 'Manhattan'; WWII- 'Triumph of the Will'; AmFic- 'Rebel Without a Cause'; America is Evil- 'Grave of the Fireflies'; Lit&VisCult- original 'Nosferatu'). unfortunately, they are also asking me to read a whole hell of a lot.

this is all for now. good day to you, sirs.

now reading: Koba the Dread: Laughter and the Twenty Million- Martin Amis

thecomicman spoke @ 10:22 AM |