I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: LOUDON WAINWRIGHT III-Strange Weirdos: Music from and Inspired by the Film Knocked Up (2008).

I can’t say I really noticed Loudon’s music during the movie.  Of course, when I read about it later, it turned out that the versions in the movie were instrumental.  Ahhh.  So, this “soundtrack” contains the instrumental tracks from the movie with words added (which is how they were originally recorded, so all is right once again).

This collection of songs is, to my ears, Loudon’s least funny collection.  Which is fine.  There are a few turns of phrase that raise a smile, but mostly the songs are thoughtful and thought-provoking.  They work very well with the theme of the movie: parenthood, children, relationships, love.  (Even though the movie is funny, these songs aren’t).

The collection is certainly one of Loudon’s strongest.   Many of Loudon’s musical partners in crime are here: Richard Thompson, Patrick Warren, Van Dyke Parks and, special guest Joe Henry (who I don’t know too much about, but who plays a lovely guitar).  The first three songs, “Grey in L.A.” “You Can’t Fail Me Now” and “Daughter” are possibly three of Loudon’s strongest songs in years (He didn’t write “Daughter” but he sings it wonderfully…and I think better than the original, which is a bit too jazzy for my tastes.)  The rest of the album continues in that vein: mellow folk music but with enough of an edge to keep it from sounding monotonous.  Loudon is releasing another new album this month, and I hope he keeps up this high quality!

[READ: August 14, 2008] Echo

When Strangers in Paradise ended, I was quite sad.  One of my favorite comics by one of my favorite artists was now out of my life.  And slowly, I forgot about Terry Moore, and moved on to other things (like the Buffy Season 8 comic).  Well, while I was at ALA this year, Michele Gorman, the wisest person in the graphic novelverse, asked me how I liked Terry’s new book.  Wha?? I said.  She said, it’s called Echo, and it’s fantastic.  And, so I got home, looked it up online and immediately subscribed and got the back issues.  1-4 came right away and #5 just arrived.  And I’m all caught up.

And lo, Gorman was right.  Echo is an amazing story and I am totally caught up in it and, much like with SiP, I can’t wait the six weeks it takes for the next issue to arrive.

The story starts out exactly as you would not expect a Terry Moore story to start: with a woman in spandex flying through the air.  It appears that all of the earth-bound brilliance that Terry brought to SiP has been traded in for superheroes(!)  But no, it is just a set up for a grand conspiracy of epic proportions.

I can’t get into too many details, as there really haven’t been that many yet, so I’ll sum up: The superhero is Dr. Annie Trotter, she works for the Heitzer Nuclear Institute.  She is part of a mission to test this new material for some kind of scientific military purpose.  On today’s mission, she becomes the tester not of standard flight suit requirements but of the suit’s resistance to missile attack.  The suit survives; she doesn’t.

She has been dating Dillon Murphy who comes to visit her only to find that she didn’t return from her mission.

But the real focus of the story is Julie Martin.  She was in the wilds taking photos when Annie had her “accident.”  The explosion caught her attention (duh) and she was able to snap some photos before being pelted from the sky with little metallic balls.  They dent her truck, they get on her skin and in her hair, they cause nothing but havoc.  Especially when she finally settles down and realizes that the metal balls are slowly congealing into one large breastplate.  Which she cannot remove.

Julie slowly learns that the plate has powerful properties, the extent of which we haven’t learned yet; however, it is able to blast a couple of aggressive soldiers several feet into the air once they touch her.

With the help of Dillon, who runs into Julie while she is being questioned by the military, she is able to flee the scene and….

We have to wait for the next issue.

When I started the story I was a little concerned, especially when I saw the superwoman flying through the air.  I wondered what got into Terry that he went from a romantic triangle that spanned genders and nationalities to this atomic flight suit involving the military and who knows what else.  Then I remembered that SiP in addition to being a beautiful love story also had a huge back story of international espionage, brutal murders, prostitution and much more.  So, Terry always has these grand schemes in him.  The fact that he makes you care so much about the people involved just shows was a great writer he is.

In Echo so far, Julie is a totally compelling character: she is having marriage troubles, lives with her dog and is now besieged by the army.  And even though the military is played up as the bad guys, he has introduced a new woman in Issue 5, Ivy Raven–a “bounty hunter” of sorts who is able to figure out Julie’s life just by her truck–and in just a few paragraphs, she becomes the second most compelling person in the story.  Their inevitable showdown will be intense.

The men are also well drawn out, although they haven’t had quite as much page time yet.  Dillon in particular promises to be a memorable character, too.  Even Rick, Julie’s potentially-ex-husband, seems more well rounded than you might expect given that he is divorcing the hero.

Perhaps the most amazing thing about Echo is how much it looks like SiP.  More to the point, Terry’s characters look so much like the characters in SiP and yet they clearly aren’t.  With really simply lines, Terry is able to make a character who resembles Katchoo, but who is so different in personality, temperament and line shading that despite the surface resemblance, you never for a minute think you’re reading about Katchoo.  Amazing.  Julie is instantly a Terry Moore creation and yet is still individually fantastic.

I have no idea how long this series is supposed to go, but I’ll be along for the ride the whole way.