I didn’t plan to write a whole post about books and television but this is what appears to have happened. Here you go.

Posted on April 23, 2011 by Kate

In my recap of the trip to St. Louis, I neglected to tell you about the most excellent bookstore of all time, Big Sleep Books. It specializes in crime, detective, and noir fiction — aka my favorite sorts of things. The novels I write about tend not to be explicitly detective novels (rather narratives with a mystery or investigative theme), but as far as genre fiction goes, I am all about a good detective novel.

I bought the classic Dashiell Hammett novel The Thin Man and a novel by a Norwegian writer named K.O. Dahl (hello, I will apparently buy anything designated with the initials K and O). I can’t wait to get the chance to dig into these.

At the moment, however, I am about halfway through the second book in the Hunger Games series, and then there is the matter of my boyfriend David Foster Wallace’s posthumously published novel, The Pale King. I am up to my eyeballs in great reading. Good problem to have.

Speaking of Scandinavian crime fiction, can we talk about The Killing, aka Forbrydelsen? The Danish television crime drama that made it big on the BBC even with subtitles and that has now been made into an American TV drama on AMC? Can we talk, more specifically, about why none of you jerks told me about this?

If you don’t happen to know that I 1) study detective fiction, 2) speak Danish, 3) study Danish narratives, and 4) am obsessed with Scandinavian crime narratives in all forms, e.g., written, cinematic, televisual, then you are not held accountable. How would you know to tell me about this? The rest of you, however, ARE ON NOTICE.

Anyway, this is all to say that I looked all over the dog-gone internet for the original Danish version* with English subtitles and eventually had to download the first season on schmit-schmorrent, if you know what I mean. I would love to become the legal owner of this entire series on DVD, in Danish, if possible. But my point is, I have the entire first season and I am SO exited to start watching it!

*Look, I know it makes me sound like a pretentious dork-nozzle to insist on seeing the original Danish when I’m sure I could watch the American AMC version much more easily, but I’m sure I don’t need to tell you about American filmmakers’ long tradition of taking shows and movies from other countries, remaking them, and ruining them. The Office is the obvious (only?) exception to this. See also above re: speaking and studying Danish. See also also my over-dansk last name. Familien represent, ja?

But before I can start Forbrydelsen I had to finish Friday Night Lights. I finally watched the last four episodes last night, and I think the reason I feel a little dehydrated today is not the wine I drank while watching nor the bike ride and run I went on in today’s 88 degree weather, but rather the many, many sad tears I shed. Absolutely wonderful end to the series. Also, why oh why is this show (and its amazing writers, directors, and cast) not winning all of the Emmys ever? I call bullshit on that.

I Sat Down and I Typed Some Things

Posted on March 24, 2011 by Kate

Unlike Tuesday of this week, I managed to get a whole boatload of work done today. I am feeling mostly better and (not going to lie) a massive amount of coffee and Diet Coke got me rolling with good momentum today. This week entails not only normal teaching/grading/prep but also writing group meetings and gathering paperwork for my annual review, so believe me when I tell you that the extra caffeine was not optional.

I’ll have another long workday tomorrow but after it a big reward: hosting friends for another night of watching Twin Peaks! I just love David Lynch, and that show was what got me hooked on his creepy, surreal, noir sensibilities at the tender age of thirteen. When my mother caught me watching an episode one night, though, she declared it to be inappropriate material for my viewing (the phrase “of the devil” was invoked, so there’s that for amusement) and Twin Peaks became verboten and I never got to watch the second season. Now that I have finally bought the boxed set of DVDs I can complete the mission I started twenty years ago.

HOLY SHIT TWENTY YEARS.

Okay. I’m all right now. Just having a minor, age-related, sands-of-time kind of freak-out for a second. Gathering myself now. But seriously, folks: did you know that people born in 1990 can now buy beer? And liquor? LIQUOR?

Moving on. Isn’t Agent Cooper just dreamy?

"This is some DAMN fine coffee. And HOT."

I have a feeling Twin Peaks night is going to be the one and only fun night of my weekend: I left myself with a lot of grading to do and I’ll likely be gluing my rear to a wobbly coffee shop chair and hunching over a stack of essays for all of Saturday and Sunday so I can get things ready for the coming week. Something feels a little bit wrong about planning ahead for Monday when it’s only Thursday night, as if I have already erased the weekend before it has even happened. Hopefully I’ll find time to squeeze in a yoga class, a swim, or at least a nap or something.

Oh yeah: I’m not running this week because the hip whose flexors I strained last fall is acting up again. Lucky me! I am taking some time off until the twinging is totally gone (as opposed to just lightening up my runs, which I already tried and which did not turn out to work after all and which in fact just kept the twinging at a slow simmer until it finally erupted into a full-on rolling boil Monday night, which was delightful I assure you).

Well! This has been a largely rambling and pointless entry, hasn’t it? Work! Twin Peaks! Work! (Not) running! What can I say; this is my life lately. It marches relentlessly onward. At any rate, I should hopefully have my new computing machine in my hot little hands come Monday, which should make blogging more interesting. For me, anyway. Maybe not for you. Sorry, suckas!

Kentucky, Bourbon, and Cinema

Posted on February 28, 2011 by Kate

I am back from my second conference trip of the school year, which went very well. Because the vast majority of the time I am focused on teaching, it’s always nice to work on the research and writing sides of life. Of course, conferences are a great chance to present one’s academic work and receive feedback from one’s peers, but let’s face it: it’s also really fun! Once again I was able to use the conference as a way to travel with and/or meet up with some far-away friends and we had a wonderful time of it.

One of my favorite places to visit in Louisville is the Seelbach Hotel, which is very glamorous indeed. It has this lovely old bar, which is — according to legend — the very bar where one F. Scott Fitzgerald met the man who inspired him to create Jay Gatsby. The bar has great character and a list of bourbons a mile long. It’s always on my list of places to go when in town for the conference and so far I’ve had at least one drink there every year.

I know it sounds like this was a drinking conference and not a literary conference, but for one thing I don’t like to blog about work, and for another thing, listen! Kentucky is where bourbon comes from! And bourbon is my favorite! So you will not be shocked when I tell you that B. and D. and I also managed to squeeze in a distillery tour. On Friday, E. had to teach classes, none of us had an conference sessions to attend, so the timing seemed perfect to escape to Lawrenceburg, where Four Roses Distillery is located. Our tour guide, Terry, showed us all of the operations and led us through a tasting afterward.

I was excited to learn that their Small Batch Bourbon is made specifically with the K and the O strains of yeast — my initials! — and it was also my favorite of the samples we tried, so of course I had to buy a bottle. I haven’t opened it yet — saving for a special occasion.

I am thankful that I’ve had a couple of days to wind down from the trip and the absolutely insane two work-weeks that preceded it. If I hadn’t worked my butt off all last week, I’d have found myself with stacks of essays to grade upon coming home. As it was, I was able to attend a friend’s fabulous Oscar party last night, where we all dressed up in costumes inspired by the ten best picture nominees. I went Black Swan style (as did a few others), and The Fighter, 127 Hours, The King’s Speech, and Toy Story 3 were also represented.

If you are thinking that my costume was merely an excuse to buy myself a pair of legwarmers, you are only half right: I also got to attend a party in what were basically pajamas. Totally fun. Sadly the broadcast itself was a bit underwhelming, but I did enjoy the following elements: Helen Mirren looking like a total fox and speaking French, Trent Reznor looking also foxy but charmingly normal and articulate, and James Franco’s bit about all the film titles that sounded dirty. Heh. Winter’s Bone. Heh.

So how have you been? I’ve been rushing around so much and so behind on the internet that I need an update on YOU! What’s up?

“Come Back Tomorrow,” and Other Wisdom of Miyagi-do Karate

Posted on January 2, 2011 by Kate

The Karate Kid is one of the greatest sports movies of all time. Fact. I fell in love with this movie (and Ralph Macchio) when I was in first grade or so. I even took Karate lessons for a couple of years in my efforts to be more like Daniel-san. (I got up to a blue belt before getting bored, but that’s immaterial here.)

I always enjoy a good sports movie with an underdog to root for, and that’s part of the reason I still love this movie today. As I was watching it again, though, I realized there’s more to appreciate about the film than I remembered.

The lovable Mr. Miyagi, for example. Who doesn’t want a Mr. Miyagi mentor of their own, right? I think Pat Morita was even nominated for an Academy Award for this role. He’s great. The bonsai trees, the efforts to catch flies with chopsticks, the antique cars. He also has a lot of interesting things to say.

One of the best parts of the film is of course the whole scheme whereby Daniel-san learns karate: through doing Mr. Miyagi’s household chores. Wax on, wax off. Paint the fence. Sand the floor. And so on. Every day he works late into the night, only to be told at the end of his labors, “come back tomorrow.”

Everyone will remember that transformative scene where, after complaining that he isn’t learning any karate and is mainly serving as Mr. Miyagi’s slave, Daniel-san finds himself successfully defending against Mr. Miyagi’s punches and kicks with his waxing, painting, and sanding maneuvers. In that moment we see him become, in a small way, the person who we’re to believe can credibly defeat all of the Cobra Kais at the film’s climactic All Valley Karate Tournament.

In the moment following their sparring, we see understanding dawn on Daniel-san’s face, but Mr. Miyagi simply says, “Come back tomorrow.” Best line of the film, if you ask me.

In order to learn anything, we have to keep coming back, over and over again. It takes a significant effort to decide to do something and to show up to do it. But to keep showing up, day after day, even when things are difficult and progress seems so hard to see and our efforts don’t appear to be paying off — that is when it is hardest, and, of course, when it really counts.

Mr. Miyagi has plenty of other wisdom to impart. When he shows Daniel-san how to “train” the bonsai tree, he has him close his eyes and shut out everything but the perfect image of the tree, “down to last pine needle.” Visualization and mental focus? Key components of success in sports or any other endeavor.

On the topic of karate’s colored belts, Mr. Miyagi points to his head. “Karate here.” He points to his heart. “Karate here.” He point to his belt. “Karate no here.” Once again the efforts of the mind and the desire to learn are what count, not the outward signifiers of success. A perfect message for the underdog in a sports movie, but worth noting in any situation.

One reason why Mr. Miyagi emerges as such a great sensei in the film is his contrast with Kreese, the evil (but kind of weirdly hot) sensei of the Cobra Kais. Kreese’s motto, The Way of the Fist, calls for his students to “Strike first; strike hard; no mercy.” Why? Because, as they chant in unison, “An enemy deserves no mercy.”

Only a fool would take this kind of talk seriously. And, in the film, many fools do. Designed to be the incarnation of arrogance and cruelty, Kreese’s character is the one to utter what is probably the film’s most famous line: “Sweep the leg.” In the critical fight, Kreese advises his student to break the rules of the tournament and put Daniel-san “out of commision” instead of fighting him fairly. Even an audience that is half asleep will pick up on the message being sent here: arrogance, cruelty, and violence are signs of weakness, not strength.

The wisdom of Miyagi-do karate is exactly the opposite of the cruelty of the Cobra Kais. It comes from discipline, love, respect, mental focus, and — strangely enough – mercy and pacifism. Karate is what we practice so we don’t have to fight.

So in the end, an adorable loser grows up, gets tough, learns to respect the discipline of karate, gets the hot girl, and wins the tournament. Pretty sweet deal. And all he had to do was keep showing up.

Classic Movie Round-Up, Part IV – Running Edition

Posted on December 8, 2010 by Kate

It’s been quite a while since my last series of new-to-me classic films, hasn’t it? I guess when the fall semester started I lost a little steam with my project of watching all of those old classics I had never gotten around to seeing before. (Previous versions are here, here, and here.) Recently, though, I have been firing up the Netflix queue with a bunch of running-related films. My big race is coming up on Saturday so I figured it would be wise to get my fill of running movies when it counts!

Some of these are genuine classics, some are recent and haven’t yet stood the test of time. Others might never be classics. So it’s not really right of me to call this part of the classic movie project, but let’s just go with it anyway, okay?

Chariots of Fire

This movie is most definitely a classic — and I thought I had seen it before, but as I recently watched it, I realized I hadn’t. I think at some point in my youth I got the theme music in my head and connected it with a chariot race scene from maybe Ben Hur or something and conflated it all, believing I had seen Chariots of Fire. I know this movie received so much attention and acclaim, but for me it was just fair. I didn’t dislike it, but I did sort of dislike both of the protagonists. Abrahams seemed to do nothing but whine, while Liddell was just so effing sanctimonious. Not my kind of guys, really. And they were sprinters, so it figures. That scene on the beach with the theme song, though? Worth a watch for sure.

Prefontaine

I had seen most, but not all of this movie one day when I was glued to the couch with the flu, the first spring I lived in Eugene. When I flipped to it on TV I realized they were at the UO, which caught my attention long enough to make me stick with the film. My memory of it was foggy, though, so I needed to see it again. What this movies has going for it: Ed O’Neill and Jared Leto (hel-lo there), beautiful Pacific Northwest landscape, and lots of great running scenes, especially the slow-mo ones where we can see Leto’s moneymakers all a-flex. The race finish at the Munich Olymipcs is just grueling to watch. I felt like I had run it myself, except of course for the fact that running 5000 meters in thirteen minutes still seems like some kind of cruel joke to me. The only thing I really didn’t like was the somewhat creepy scene where the hearse carrying the late Pre drives twelve laps around the track in 13:xx. It should have been poignant but came off as unpleasant at best. Otherwise, great. But wait, the movie wasn’t filmed in Eugene? That’s not the real Hayward Field?! Okay, let’s try this one again:

Without Limits

This version of the Prefontaine story stars Billy Crudup as the young superstar and was filmed in the real Eugene (TRACKTOWN U.S.A.!) at the real Hayward Field. It also features my friend Dangermoose’s brother as an extra. Can’t go wrong with that! I like most of the cast better, I think, but only slightly better. Donald Sutherland is sort of dark and strange as legendary coach Bill Bowerman, and I think he did a better job than R. Lee Ermey did in the above version. The soundtrack is better in this movie (exception: “Rocket Man” in the car scene) and they captured the rain and the coast the way I remember them — also plusses. The Munich Olympics race is just as heart pounding, but instead of rippling quads we get slow-mo wobbling cheeks and jowls. They really should have asked me about this.

Run, Fatboy, Run

Written by Michael Ian Black and Simon Pegg, this story about an unfit guy training for a marathon to win back the love of his ex seemed like it would be funny at least, even if not so inspiring when it comes to pure running. It was funny enough, I guess, but a lot of times they went for the easy gross-out humor. For example, there was a disgusting blister-popping scene, which is not only not my kind of humor but also, blisters are largely irrelevant in marathon training, in my opinion. Thandie Newton plays the love interest, and I have an irrational dislike of her ever since her brief stint on ER. No, I won’t explain it; it’s irrational. Anyway, even my affection for Simon Pegg and a great scene that visualizes “hitting the wall” at mile 20 couldn’t save this movie for me. I suppose Hank Azaria was OK.

Run for Your Life

This is a documentary about the life of Fred Lebow, the founder/director of the New York City Marathon. It was less about just running and had more to do with what it takes to build up a race, gain support, and form a community of runners in the city. I found that to be a lot more fascinating than it sounds, although if you aren’t interested in marathons and/or NYC, this movie may not hold your interest. I don’t know if I mentioned it here or not, but I entered the lottery to run in the NYC marathon in November 2011. While my chances of getting in are, I believe, pretty slim, I certainly enjoyed the fantasy of participating in that great race as I watched the film. One wonderful scene: because Lebow was race director, he didn’t get to run in his own race, being too busy with the back-end of the event. Instead, he ran several other races a year, traveling all over the world. At the end of the film, though, he finally gets a chance to run his own race. I won’t tell you how or why or what happens, but it was pretty moving.

Lola Rennt

I have loved this movie for years. It’s a bright, heart-pounding post-modern adventure with a great soundtrack. I’ve used a few of the tracks on past running mixes. Franka Potente is great, of course. Admit it: doesn’t this one make you want to dash out the door and just run somewhere?

Spirit of the Marathon

This is a great documentary about runners training for the Chicago Marathon. It follows elite runners Deena Kastor and Daniel Njenga, as well as several regular old amateurs like you and me. It’s really inspiring and I enjoyed it a lot when I first watched it as I was gearing up for my first half marathon in February. I haven’t actually re-watched it yet, but I plan to tomorrow night before I leave town for my next race.

Am I missing any great running movies? Do you have any favorite sports movies?