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Archive for the ‘Jason Planer’ Category

Jason Planer–“Arach niD (to be one thing)” [updated] (unpublished, 2013)

Posted in Fears, Film & TV, Jason Planer, Justin Timberlake, Modest Mouse, Short Story, Violence, Yuck! on April 5, 2013| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE-“SexyBack” (2006).

Isexy don’t know much of Justin Timberlake (he’s not my jam).  Although I have found him very enjoyable in the last few years when he’s been acting.  His comedy skills are great.  And Of course, I love him with Lonely Island (the guy can sing).

This story mentions this song as the main character’s favorite song so I gave it a listen.  It strikes me as an extremely unlikely single.  The music is really erratic and mechanical.  There’s just bursts of sound that keep the beat going.  Although the music is very visceral..

Indeed, the main melody seems to be his voice, which doesn’t let up a lot.  The first time I heard it I thought there was no way it could have been a hit, which shows what I know about popular as it was #1 for 7 weeks. It’s such an unusual song, and musically I find it very odd, which I like quite a bit.

I’m surprised by how much I enjoyed the song (maybe I’m a dance diva at heart).

Take ’em to the story.

[READ: March 25, 2012] Arach nID (to be one thing)

Almost nine months ago, Planer asked me to read this short story.  He has since revised it and expanded it, making it about 16,000 words.

It’s funny to read something that has been revised and which now makes you think that the original wasn’t nearly as good.  I enjoyed the first version a lot, but the revisions improved the story so much it makes the first draft seem pale.  This is obviously good news for the revision, but it means that when referencing the original it makes it seem less than it was.

The same story is in place–the main character is a sentient spider who grows to human size and believes, because of his sentience, that he may indeed be human.  After leaving the web and his (dangerous) mother and sisters, he seeks his fortune in the human world.  Luckily for him he lives in the 2000s, where he can do most things remotely and virtually.  But he manages to pass in the human world (especially on Halloween, a great scene indeed).  He even manages to meet someone interesting (who is almost as smart as him).  Ultimately he must decide is he is really human or arachnid. (more…)

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Jason Planer–“Arach niD” (unpublished, 2012)

Posted in Contests, David Foster Wallace, Fears, Film & TV, Franz Kafka, Jason Planer, Modest Mouse, Short Story, Violence, Yuck! on July 21, 2012| 1 Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: MODEST MOUSE-“Lives” (2000).

This song (quoted in the story) comes from the first Modest Mouse album that I ever bought, The Moon and Antarctica.  I have very vivid memories of listening to this album on a long dark stretch of road–not a bad image to connect with the album.  This song comes near the end of the album after the stomper “I Came as a Rat” and the slow guitar and slightly ill sounding bendy note really set the unease of the song.  After about 45 seconds the tribal drums kick in and change the pace of the song.  But rather than bursting forth, the song kind of falls back in on itself until what feels like a brand new song comes out of this little cocoon–an upbeat acoustic number with strings that tries to remind you to live before you die.  After a brief flirtation with yet another style, the song returns to whence it started.

It’s representative of Modest Mouse’s quieter side, although it barely showcases the extremes that the band is capable of.

[READ: July 11, 2012] Arach nID

My former co-worker Jay is one of the few people I know who is “writing a book” who has actually written most if not all of said book.  He has been writing a sci-fi opus for a few years now and at last count it eclipsed 600 pages.  I mean, sure, I’m “writing a book” but it’s all in my head.  Anyway, I told him about a short story contest and asked if he had any short stories to submit.  We once had a discussion about how novelists shouldn’t really write short stories if what they wanted to write was a novel, so I didn’t know if he had anything handy.  He told me he had this work partially written and, with a deadline in mind, he polished it up and finished it off.

Because the story is unpublished, I’m not going to give away too many details, as that’s not cool (and because he may always revise it).  But I will talk about the basics of the story because I think it’s pretty interesting. (more…)

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