The Pointillism of Walter White and Frankenstein

Spoiler warning!

I realized I had written this short piece, but never posted it back in 2013! It was strange to read what I had written, now knowing how Breaking Bad ended. But here is what I wrote while watching the last season of the show. Of course, I had to update a few things...

The final season of Breaking Bad is getting closer to its finale. Two more episodes until we learn why Walt purchased guns at Denny's, his intentions with the ricin, and what became of his abandoned house.  

 

As we approach the series' finale, Vince Gilligan and his writers continue to spawn twists and unexpected events that keep us on the edge of our seats. Gilligan has called Breaking Bad a hyper-serialized show which is evident in the precision and ordering of narrative information. This is most notable in Breaking Bad's use of restricted and unrestricted information for both viewers and characters alike. White's concealment of secrets primarily drives the show's tension. Of course, Hank's discovery of "W.W." at the end of season 5.A was one of the show's biggest twists.

What is also interesting to note about Gilligan's use of restricted information is how strongly it engages us with the narrative. I particularly found the precise unfolding of the show's narrative information oddly similar to the art form of pointillism: dots applied on the canvas to form an image. Pontillism was created by Georges Seurat, most notable in his famous painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.

Indeed, as we approach closer to Breaking Bad's finale, the parceling of narrative information (all the dots) that have unfolded over the past 5 years that form an image (and transformation) of White/Heisenberg are beginning to show us the totality of the show--the painting of Breaking Bad, so to speak.

Lastly, after watching the last episode of Hank's death and Walter departure in "Ozymandias," I kept thinking about the man in the row boat painting that showed up a few times throughout the series.  

This image reminded me of the tragedy of Frankenstein, who could not fit into the world, left to die alone. Indeed, Walter was certainly the "danger" as he famously expressed. But has he transformed into a monster? Or is this alluding to what we are about to encounter in the final episode?

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

I frequently screen Michel Gondry's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) for my film courses. The topic we often discuss is the film's relationship between new media and memory. Although the film came out in 2004, I think it still offers some insights into concerns of privacy and big data. 

A topic that I brought up with my students this past semester is the character of Patrick played Elijah Wood. To be short, the film is a science fiction love story that entails a recently separated couple Joel (Jim Carrey) and his ex-girlfriend Clementine (Kate Winslet) who erase their memories of each other by a company called Lacuna.  

Patrick works for Lacuna. While Patrick assisted Stan (Mark Ruffalo) with Clementine's procedure, he became attracted to her.  As a way to court Clementine, Patrick steals Joel's memory objects from Lacuna's office. 

Patrick stealing Joel's memory objects certainly addresses concerns of database breach. But Patrick's mining of Joel's memories is also similar to how digital algorithms can map and predict our shopping behaviors. In one scene, Patrick gives Clementine a gift which he stole from Joel's bag of memory objects of Clementine. Of course, Clementine is taken aback by the gift. Patrick seems to know exactly what she likes, even though they have only been seeing each other for a very short period of time.

Perhaps the most significant scene is when Patrick and Clementine are on the frozen lake. He recites some of Joel's memories about her.  Like the binary code of digital, Patrick is too perfect. And it is exactly this moment that Clementine loses her desire for Patrick.

Some Excellent Books on Jacques Lacan

Over the winter I read a number of great academic books on Jacques Lacan. If you are interested in reading about the intersection of Lacanian thought and cinema, check out Matthew Flisfeder's book The Symbolic, The Sublime, and Slavoj Zizek's Theory of Film. Flisfeder's book offers an excellent introduction to a number of key Lacanian terms and concepts and how they are employed in a number of Zizek's writings on cinema. 

 

Todd McGowan's Capitalism and Desire is also worth checking out. McGowan examines the intimate relationship between the logic of desire and the logic of capitalism. Also, see my post on desire for introduction on this concept.

Another book worth checking out is Traumatic Encounters in Italian Film by Fabio Vighi.  This book examines the unconscious in relation to film language in Italian cinema. Vighi considers a variety of Italian films from filmmakers such as Pasolini, Bertolucci, and Rossellini. Vighi's reading of Michelangelo Antonioni's L'Avventura is indeed one of the film's many highlights.

The Bells - Now Available

My second novel The Bells is now available on Amazon. For three years (on and off) I've worked on this novel. It is my second book, which focuses on the Hudson Valley, the same setting of my first novel The Postcard. I am planning to write a third book that will also involve characters from The Postcard and The Bells. I never set out to make a trilogy, but I guess I'm heading in that direction.

The last time teenager Mark smoked marijuana, he heard the chime of bells ringing in his head. He promised himself to never smoke again. Tonight, he will break his vow so he can impress his best friend's sister, whom he wants to court. Gabby makes local commercials to fund her documentaries. She's trying to end her affair with Anthony, who's on the verge of a nervous breakdown from running an eco-friendly car wash. But to do it, she must confess the affair to her husband, who's an out of work professor of Chaucer studies.The three are part of a host of characters whose paths mysteriously and ludicrously intersect during Halloween in 2008 in New York's Hudson Valley as they search for meaning and connection.  

Update: August 2019. I am currently writing the third book on the Hudson Valley called The Mansion. I hope to have the book available in 2020.  

The Bells - Coming this spring

I am putting the final touches on my second novel "The Bells" which will be released this summer on Amazon. This is the second book of my Hudson Valley trilogy.

 

The last time teenager Mark smoked marijuana, he heard the chime of bells ringing in his head. He promised himself to never smoke again. Tonight, he will break his vow so he can impress his best friend's sister, whom he wants to court. Gabby makes local commercials to fund her documentaries. She's trying to end her affair with Anthony, who's on the verge of a nervous breakdown from running an eco-friendly car wash. But to do it, she must confess the affair to her husband, who's an out of work professor of Chaucer studies.The three are part of a host of characters whose paths mysteriously and ludicrously intersect during Halloween in 2008 in New York's Hudson Valley as they search for meaning and connection.

Top Films - 2013

Here is my list for the best films of 2013.  There are still some films I have not seen that I will probably add to the list.

The Wolf of Wall Street, Dir. Martin Scorsese

American Hustle, Dir. David O. Russell

Before Midnight, Dir. Richard Linklater

Inside Llewyn Davis, Dir. Joel and Ethan Coen

Ender's Game, Dir. Gavin Hood

Francis Ha, Dir. Noah Baumbach

Gravity, Dir. Alfonso Curan

Captain Phillips, Dir. Paul Greengrass

 Iron Man 3, Dir. Shane Black

Not Fade Away, Dir. David Chase

Prisoners, Dir. Denis Villeneuve

Out of The Furnace, Dir. Scott Cooper

Mud, Dir. Jeff Nichols

Top Books - 2013

As posted last year, my yearly list entails books from different genres and periods of time. This was my first year teaching which tremendously cut down on my reading time, so I had to mix up fiction and non-fiction just to generate a top ten list. Here is my list of great books read for 2013 - no particular order. . . . 

The Year of the Flood (2009) by Margaret Atwood

A Visit from the Goon Squad (2002) by Jennifer Egan 

The Tommyknockers (1987) by Stephen King

The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890) by Oscar Wilde

The Ice Storm (1994) by Rick Moody

Garden State (1992) by Rick Moody

Alone Together (2011) by Sherry Turkle

The Gunslinger The Dark Tower I (1992) by Stephen King

Book Reading and Signing of The Postcard

While visiting friends and family in the Hudson Valley this summer, I will be doing a book signing and reading from my novel The Postcard at Merritt Bookstore in Millbrook, NY on July 13 at 4pm.

Set in the summer of 1990, The Postcard tells the story of upstate New York teenager James Bailey's last weekend with his metal head friends before leaving for college in California. The story follows James and his friends from hanging out in a dilapidated strip mall parking lot, to the urban pavement of New York City to see a hardcore matinee show at CBGB. Travelling with James and his entourage is Stacey, an ex-metal chick (now hardcore/punk rocker). James and Stacey share some history: a spontaneous one-night affair-a night seven months ago that continues to silently haunt their friendship.

I self-published my novel in the Fall of 2010.  Busy completing my Ph.D, I did not have the time or opportunity to celebrate the book's publication with my friends and family.

The postcard is available as e-book and paperback on Amazon. 

I am currently completing my second novel tentatively called "Dressed to Kill."  I expect to have the book ready for publication early next year.

Live and Record...In Memoriam: Jacques Cohen (1968-2012)

This blog site was created for a graduate course I took at Claremont Graduate University, and has been used mostly for academic purposes, as well as short and random pieces on the arts. Having a friend unexpectedly pass away this week, Mike Toback, and then just learning that another good friend of mine had died last March, I thought it be appropriate to write about this.

I have been working on a number of projects this year: the almost completion of the first draft of my second novel; an article that I am about to submit for peer review; and the upcoming release of the demo I recorded with my band Skybox from New York.

Having all the materials prepared for the release of the Skybox EP, I thought it be appropriate that I contact my friend Jacques Cohen, who recorded the demo at his studio called "The Space," in Poughkeespie, New York.  It had been 4 years since I talked to Jacques, and wanted to see if he was on Facebook. I knew he would be excited about the release. When I googled his name, I saw that there was a memorial concert for him at The Loft in Poughkeepsie this past summer. My heart instantly sank. I did another search, which required to me to type the dreaded word "obituary," and learned that Jacques did pass away last March at the young age of 44.  

Anyone discussing the Hudson Valley music scene, Jacques' name is sure to come up.  A talented and gifted sound engineer, Jacques has recorded a number of bands in and around the area for a long time. He was also known for his work with Mercury Rev.  Jacques was a very kind and giving person, who was a supporter of the music scene.  Jacques would not accept payment until the recording was completely done. And he did not charge by the hour, because he believed that putting out quality work is the number one priority. It not only gave him credibility as a place to record, but also gave the band a professional sound at an affordable cost. When I was recommended by a friend to use Tune Core to sell our music on iTunes and Amazon, I did not have to worry about the quality of Skybox's sound, because Jacques had done such a great job recording, mixing and mastering those 6 songs.

I got to work with Jacques three more times. The second was for a 9 song demo for Skybox, which we never finished. The third was with my thrash band Smashed Rapture in 1998. I was living in Burlington, Vermont at the time and convinced my band members that we had to make the trip from Burlington to Poughkeepsie to record at The Space. The last recording was a small project I made with my friend and singer of Smashed Rapture in 1999.

I have great memories of Jacques, especially when he came to Burlington for a business trip - not for The Space, but for regular 9-5 work. Me, my wife and Jacques went out for Mexican food and had a great time. My last conversation with Jacques was right before I left to go to California to attend graduate school. I had planned to pick up the rest of our recordings that Jacques had stored for us, because I was unsure if I was coming back to the east coast.  Jacques was unable to get the tapes out of storage because he had moved the location of The Space. Talking with Jacques, he told me about a house he had bought so he could live and record in the same place. Live and record - that was Jacques. I will miss him tremendously. RIP Jacques....

 

There is a scholarship fund created for Jacques at Dutchess Community College, his alma mater. Be sure to indicate that the scholarship is in memory of Jacques Cohen.

Fables - The Great Crossover

For the past two years, I have been reading the comic book series Fables, which I highly recommend. If you enjoy the television show Once Upon A Time, you'll find some similarities in both story worlds. I just finished reading "The Great Crossover" (Volume 13) and was amazed of Willingham et al's. creative fusion of literary subjects in these 9 issues.

The story basically centers on Kevin Thorn aka "The Storymaker" who wants to re-write the universe with his magic pen. To do this, he draws upon the "genres," which are played by characters such as western, blockbuster, comedy, noir, and science-fiction. The Fables team, with the help of "The Literals," try to stop Thorn before he re-writes them out of existence! This was a fun and engrossing read. In fact, if you plan to read Fables, I suggest starting at the beginning.  Another gem from Vertigo comics.

Random Review - January 19, 2013 - Peyton Place

Peyton Place (1957)

Dir. Mark Robertson

For fans of the television show Twin Peaks (1990-1991), Peyton Place is important to film to view.  David Lynch has acknowledged its influence on the show.  There are many similarities between both the television show and the film: the main source of employment is a mill; many of the characters are high school teenagers; the postcard images of a small town and the values of its community.  But most importantly is the dramatic tension in concealing secrets.  Of course, Twin Peaks was marketed as a murder mystery: who killed Laura Palmer?  In Peyton Place, there is a desire to know each others' secrets, which generates most of the narrative tension. The patrons of Peyton Place constantly watch each other, causing one another to be conscious of their own looking.

Peyton Place is also know for its powerful use of Cinemascope photography.  There are many breathtaking shots of New England that I am sure play better on the big screen. Cinemascope and Cinerama were new technologies created in response to the popularity of television and the changing leisure habits in the USA.  

But it would be wrong to suggest that the widescreen images of Peyton Place are there just for purely spectacle means. These gorgeous shot must be considered in relation to the space the characters inhibit. The small town of Peyton Place is where sexuality and intimacy are taboo.  These secret places, by way of contrast, are where the young characters can escape to in order to be intimate and to express their feeling...one of many things to enjoy about Peyton Place.