Edgy Mama

I’m taking a page from Stephen King, who writes a “Best of…” (books, movies, TV shows, etc.,) each year for Entertainment Weekly. Of course, most of what King likes actually was published or came to theaters during the year he’s writing about. When compiling my list, I realized that I don’t see many new movies or read many new books and, of course, I don’t watch TV, so this list is not particularly cultural. In fact, it’s rather anemic. But what the hell.

In no particular order, EM’s Best of 2007:

The Road by Cormac McCarthy. This book arrived in paperback in 2007. And it was, by far, my best read of the year. Moving, poetic, elegaic, amazing. Read it if you haven’t already. Then go stock your personal nuclear bunker.

(Not that You Asked) Rants, Exploits, and Obsessions by Steve Almond. This book was pubbed in 2007, and I actually purchased it in hard cover. Because I adore Steve’s writing. If you’ve been reading the bloggie, you’ve already read my laudatory words for this guy’s work. This book does make me laugh out loud. And if you read my column for this week’s Mt. X, you’ll know I don’t often do that.

Stardust, the movie. Loved the book, loved the movie, despite the addition of the gay pirate bits. Neil Gaiman rocks.

Down River by John Hart. Second novel by a co-North Carolinian. As fast-paced as Grisham but with deeper characterization. When I went to link the book on Amazon, I saw that Uncle Newt gave the novel a great review. Yep, Newt Gringrich, related to me through marriage, is an avid reader and top Amazon reviewer. I still don’t like his politics, but the guy knows books.

Emotionalism by The Avett Brothers. Album of the year, no question. By the funky, alt-bluegrass, incredibly talented A Bros. And they’re fun to look at too.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling. Despite it all, the end came too soon.

Ratatouille, the movie. Cute animated rats cooking in a Parisian restaurant. What’s not to love?

Best American Short Stories 2007 edited by Stephen King. The short story lives. Kind of. At least in the Best of series. Buy it and acquaint yourself with great tales, shortly told.

Anyone else got a list to share?

I love the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman, of which The Golden Compass is the first book. As most of you know, the movie version of that book was released last weekend. I have yet to see it, although I want to.

A couple of weeks ago, I received an e-mail from a friend about the purported atheistic themes in the book and film. I did not reply thoughtfully, although several of my other friends who received the e-mail did reply thoughfully. My reply was basically, this is bs.

Then I started thinking about the books and Pullman, who does claim to be an atheist. But so what? What’s wrong with atheism? In my mind, nothing. It’s a belief system, and one that those who choose it have thought through carefully, in most cases. It’s not subversive or wrong, it just is, and there’s no reason why it shouldn’t be taught alongside other belief systems such as Buddhism, Christianity, or Hindi.

I’ve written before about my take on religions. Basically, if a religion makes someone happy and, most importantly, doesn’t hurt anyone, I’m cool with it. In truth, there aren’t many religions that fit into the second part of that equation. Atheism, while more a belief system than a ture religion (whatever that is), doesn’t hurt anyone. As far as I can tell, atheists, often known also as secular humanists, have never started a war or killed anyone for not believing what they believe.

To my mind, religious discrimination is one of the last barriers that needs to fall for this earth to become a more peaceful place. Again, if a religion or belief system makes someone happy and doesn’t hurt anyone else, what’s the problem?

The reviews of The Golden Compass note that there are no overt references to atheism, and that most people won’t get the possible connections between Pullman’s Magisterium and the Catholic church. So, enjoy the movie for the fantasy-filled adventure story that is it, and leave the atheists alone.

Will Asheville: the movie ever be finished? Hard to tell. In typical Ashvegas fashion, Asheville: the movie stars freaks, hippies, assorted non-actors and even includes an Edgy Mama cameo. It’s taken years to make. The director keeps promising it’s coming, and according to the movie web site, he may be about to deliver.

we hope to have a few test-screenings/fund-raisers in the early fall. people who’ve seen the film have laughed, cried, and been mesmerized…

the editing of our film is completed!!!! we are currently working on our preliminary sound mixes at echo mountain recording with the multi-talented bruce sales…

we are preparing the film for festival runs and actively seeking representation (sales agents, producer reps). when we were looking for help with the marketing of this film we had the gall to contact one of the greatest graphic designers working today. he lives in london and his name is si scott.

So what is the movie about, you ask? Well, it’s described on the web site as “an autobiographical film in three parts: penance, ignorance, and loss.” Here’s more from the web:

these three parts are, for all intents and purposes, independent short films that when watched together gain in meaning and scope. each film was designed and conceived so that the viewer senses that three different authors were at work, that three different teams came together to make the films. to that effect, we shot each one differently, with different stylistic slants and executions. the performances in each segment are also all different, deliberately so.

the first film, PENANCE, is the most overtly comedic. IGNORANCE is an example of masterpiece theatre gone awry. LOSS starts off as a comedy and if you’re not crying at the end of that segment you’re a sociopath or worse.

One other note. The director, Chusy Jardine, says on the web site that a number of cool musicians, including the Avett Brothers, contributed to the soundtrack. Coolness!

Edgy has pimped this film before, so we’re anxious to see the final product.

What is love? That’s the question raised in a provocative documentary hitting the big screen these days. Crazy Love premiered at the Sundance Film Fest in January and is now opening in more theaters around the country. Hopefully it will come to Ashvegas at some point. The story explores the relationship between Burt and Linda Pugach. Let’s go to the wires for a summary:

In 1959, long before domestic violence was taken seriously, before stalking laws existed, Burton Pugach, an ambulance-chasing Bronx lawyer, grew obsessed with Linda Riss, a woman 10 years his junior whom he’d spotted at a local park. He wined and dined her at a nightclub he owned, introduced her to celebrities, flew her in his wobbly little plane, bought a house in Scarsdale, N.Y., to entice her into marriage and became incensed that she would not have sex with him. He even forced her to undergo a medical exam to prove she was a virgin. (She was.)
And then, she learned he was married.
Not only that he was married but that he’d forged the very divorce documents he’d offered as proof that he was free. Fed up, she left him, which is when the “if I can’t have you, nobody can” harassment began.
Detectives at her local precinct refused to help.
Eight months after she broke up with Burt, Linda agreed to marry a man her own age. The day after celebrating their engagement, someone posing as a messenger knocked on her door. Thinking her fiance had sent her a gift, she answered, vulnerably, her hands behind her head as she fussed with a French knot.
The messenger, hired by Burt, flung the contents of a mayonnaise jar at her face. The jar was filled with lye; Linda — raven-haired, creamy complected, dark-eyed and all of 22 years old — was instantly blinded in one eye and maimed for life.
The press was all over the crime and the trial. Tabloid heaven. As Jimmy Breslin says in “Crazy Love”: “Sensational. … That sells your papers.”

Yeah, that’s all creepy. Now here’s the real crazy part:

Years passed, she lived in near poverty, alone, partly sighted. (She would lose the blurred vision in her second eye in 1990 and is now blind.) Linda tried, unsuccessfully, to sue the police for failing to protect her.
Meanwhile, from prison, Burt continued to stalk her relentlessly, writing pious and florid declarations of undying love. He befriended attorney William Kuntsler, who interceded with Linda by phone. If he loves me so much, said Linda, why doesn’t he send me any money?
Burt, who claims in the film to have reversed three murder convictions as well as represented the bank robber Willie Sutton while incarcerated in Attica state prison, began charging fellow inmates for his legal services. The first check he sent her was for $4,000. Other checks followed, and, impressed by his attempts at restitution, the parole board granted him release in 1974. He’d served 14 years. And now he was divorced.
Burt was barred by a court order from getting close to his victim, who adapted to her injuries by wearing wigs and sunglasses (and frankly, it’s almost shocking how these accessories gave this physically damaged woman a glamorous air). So he proposed to her via local television, while being interviewed. Linda accepted. They wed on Nov. 27, 1974, in a civil service officiated by a judge.
And it was tabloid heaven all over again: The cover of People. Sally Jessy Raphael. Geraldo Rivera. Mike Douglas. “An Acid Bath for Love” read one headline. “In my heart, I probably do love him,” Linda tells Geraldo when she and Burt are guests after the marriage. “I just find it hard to say the word.”

So, is this true love? What is love? Have you ever been driven to an act of “crazy love”?