Running With Scissors

Roughly thirty years ago my family and I drove to Swiss, WV and bought 300 chickens. I'm not sure why--my Dad probably got a good deal on the birds--but he went all out, buying hens, roosters and the long metal cages that they roosted in.

(Years later, when the chickens freely roamed our fairly large semi-functional farm, my brother and I were charged with feeding them. We would on occasion lace the cracked corn with those little poppers you buy at gag shops, the ones with thin paper all twisted up, and filled with small amounts of gunpowder. The chickens would peck at the corn until their little beaks would strike one of the poppers just right:

Peck...peck...peck...ka-bam!...peck...ka-bam!...peck...peck...peck.)

OK, I'm back now.

I may be confused about the timing of events but as I remember it, in addition to chickens we brought home a young girl named Lynn. She lived for the summer with my grandparents, next door to me. I suspect now that she must have arrived at my grandparents' home because she had been abused by her parents or was from a dysfunctional home, but I didn't think to ask her that at the time. I just knew she liked to play in the creek, threw a pretty terrific curve ball and was rather tough for a chick.

Scary tough.

I think it was because she had to fend for herself back in the day. Even though she was still pretty young, I recall her as having the sort of presence that comes with experience, the kind of perspective that comes from disappointment. Lynn left in the Fall, and I never saw her again. Maybe some day I'll find out why she was there.

I was reminded of Lynn while watching the supposedly-true-story of Running With Scissors. The flick, based on the novel by Agusten Burroughs, tells the story of a child whose parents struggle with the challenges of mental illness, and who abandon their son. While seeking psychiatric help Agusten's mother falls under the spell of her Svengali psychiatrist and leaves her child in the care of the psychiatrist and his eccentric family.

The results are disturbing, dark and catastrophic. And you can't stop watching it!

Running With Scissors illustrates the need each of us has for family, and the social, emotional and psychological problems that can occur when that need isn't met. The movie celebrates eccentricity, but points out that while oddity can be interesting and charming, stability is something children need in their lives.

Luckily, Agusten Burroughs figured it out and created a successful life for himself despite his circumstances.

I wonder what ever became of Lynn.

An Only Slightly Exaggerated Conversation

The Scene: Noon. Lunch, at Hibachi.

The Place: Downtown Huntington

The Players: Hoyt (Donutbuzz), Barbie (Stay Away From The Barbies), Bill, and The Film Geek.

Action:

The Film Geek: "Barbie, you have no any idea how often friends of mine call me, and ask if I know you?"

Barbie: "Really!?! My life's not that interesting."

Hoyt: "People love honest writing, and you do that really well."

Bill: "What are you guys talking about, blogs?"

TFG: "She does write really honest stuff. Kinda like Don't Print This, which I think is the most honest blog around."

Hoyt: "He does write honest stuff. It's great writing."

Bill: "Who's that? What's it called?"

TFG: " I wish I could write so honestly. Hey, Barbie, why haven't I seen you lately on the message board?"

Barbie: "Have you read my blog lately?!?"

Bill: "Uh, ... You guys have a message board, too?
Check, please."

Countdown

I awoke this morning consumed by two time related events:


O to Larry King, on his CNN show last night: "I have four or five years left on my show, and when I'm done with that contract, I'm done."







48 hours and counting!






I'm all tingly on the inside!

The Last King Of Scotland

When I was in junior high school, teachers there talked a lot about Idi Amin. They made him out to be some sort of small-scale Hitler; a ruthless dictator who slaughtered his own countrymen in pursuit of personal and political gain.

I didn't get it, really. I saw Amin on the news from time to time, and he was always sort of a goof. Eccentric. A bit silly, even.



Some time later I read that Amin had killed over 300,000 of his people, tortured political opponents and murdered many who he thought opposed him.

I suppose that resume qualifies Amin as an evil totalitarian dictator.




Forest Whitakar won the 2006 Academy Award for his portrayal of Amin in The Last King Of Scotland. And the trophy is well deserved. Whitaker's performance is inspired, and focuses often on the erratic behavior of the Ugandan president.

Nicholas Garrigan is a young Scot fresh out of medical school who craves adventure and excitement. After traveling to Uganda to provide medical care to the country's impoverished citizens, Garrigan ends up meeting President Amin soon after Amin's military coup. Amin takes a shine to the young doctor, and appoints Garrigan his personal doctor.

Well, of course that was a mistake. A big mistake. Garrigan suddenly had an inside view of how the country is being run: through intimidation and superstition. Decisions are made to satisfy Amin's paranoia. And Amin became so erratic that even Garrigan--whom Amin called "my most trusted advisor"--feared for his safety on a daily basis.

The Last King Of Scotland is a good film made better by the incredible performance of Whitaker. Without Whitaker, the film is so-so.

But with him, it's riveting.

Country Boys

The Frontline documentary Country Boys moved me like no documentary I've seen before when I watched it for the first time last Fall. It tells the stories of Chris and Cody, two male teens living in Eastern Kentucky, struggling against poverty and circumstance to carve out a place for themselves in the world.

It moved me so much that I check the film's website from time to time to see if their stories have been updated. Filmed in three parts, you can watch it online at this link.

I can't recommend Country Boys highly enough.

For The Geek In All Of Us

If you haven't yet, check out Comics2Film. It's so cool, it's talking Spidey 4 already!

Flashback! Bad Movies That Haunt Me: Raising Cain

There was no way Raising Cain could miss, I thought. No possible way.

Written and directed by Brian De Palma? Starring versatile actor John Lithgow and boasting a thriller-type plot that centered on child abuse and the effects of psychological trauma? In 1992 Raising Cain was a movie I was jacked up to see.


I mean, c'mon. De Palma! The genius behind Scarface, and Body Double, two of my all-time favorite films. Not to mention Carrie, for god's sake.

I forgot, though, that he was also the mastermind behind duds like Casualties Of War, Wise Guys and Blow Out.

Raising Cain was worse.

It was 90 minutes or so of the most confusing, senseless cinematic jacknuttery I had seen to that point. And perhaps since.

So confusing, in fact, that I can't even describe the plot. All in know is, Lithgow played four characters, "Carter" "Cain" "Dr. Nix" "Josh" and "Margo."

Oh wait, that's five. See? Confusing.

I'm still haunted by it.

Zoinks!!

The conversation happened while waiting in line at the Scooby-Doo Haunted House.

It's always The Film Geek Family's first stop at King's Island Amusement Park, and typically a hot-spot for debate. The line's long, after all. And it's air conditioned. So, it's a great place to chew the fat.

I'm pretty sure she started the debate because she grew tired of my new bit; morphing the voice of Scooby-Doo with the lyrics of Fergie. Yeah, the Black-Eyed Peas Fergie.

You know, Fergalcious.


"My rody rays riscious

I be rup in da rym
Just rworkin' on my ritnes

Re's my rwitness"




Well, it's funnier when sung in the Scooby voice...

Anyway, a conversation started regarding if and when the television show Scooby-Doo jumped the shark. Both Mrs. Film Geek and I believe it did. We disagree, however, on when. She believes strongly it jumped when guest stars were used; episodes with Sonny and Cher, The Harlem Globetrotters, and even Batman and Robin.

Man, that was some classic Scoob to me!

I think it jumped with the addition of Scrappy-Doo. In fact, I believe firmly that Scrappy can be linked to the downfall of modern television cartoons. I freakin' hated that damn pup! He was the embodiment of commercialized, lazy story telling in cartoons.

"Puppy Power" ?!?

Pffftt...

Anyway, we couldn't agree on just where the show jumped the shark. So I thought I'd ask you.

Did the crew in the Mystery Machine ever jump the shark? And if so, when did it happen?

Be Right Back, Gonna Get More Popcorn

I’ve always been a pretty good daddy, I think.

I mean, I’ve always loved to spend time with my kids, getting them to laugh at my funny faces and the Pull My Finger bit that still slightly annoys my wife after 16 years, but makes the kids laugh until they can barely breathe. I loved being daddy; digging through the dirt for worms with three-year-olds, pushing them on the swing just high enough to make them squeal and laughing at them because they can’t figure out which hand the It’s really hidden in.

I stopped being only daddy on Tuesday, April 20, 1999. The events that occurred that day at Columbine High affected me deeply. I was home from work with the flu, and watched the horrible tragedy unfold. My oldest daughter was then three years old, and I couldn’t stop thinking of her. How the actions of those two kids—monsters, sure, but still kids—changed her future forever. They changed how I will view the friends she makes over the years, and the groups that she (and her younger siblings) will join. I’ll nervously eye-up each school they attend to make sure that all the necessary safety requirements are there, and be hyper-observant about possible bullying behavior from classmates.

Sure, those are all things a parent should do, I agree. But since that day in 1999 I do them in an obsessive manner. With an urgent diligence which just didn’t seem that necessary before.

That anxiety changed me, too. Because the behavior doesn’t really fit the term daddy to me.

It’s more like Father.

I’m saddened by this eighth anniversary of the Columbine tragedy, and that the incident seems to have sparked a generation of similar events in public schools, private schools and now higher education. But as my kids progress through those academic systems, I can’t help but be angry at the changes that are the result: the heightened security, the transparent book-bags, armed guards and on-site police. Plus, the fear. That always-present, ever-gripping fear…

And because even though they still call me daddy, I’m just not that guy anymore.

Teaching An Old Dog New Tricks

While catching the TMNT flick this weekend with the kids, we saw the first trailer for Underdog, due for release on August 2, 2007.

Here it is, via YouTube.

For those of you waxing nostalgic (and complaining about the modernization of the super mutt), compare it to the original, from 1967.