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Crumb
The following essay, which is about Terry Zwigoff's 1994 documentary "Crumb," is the first in what will hopefully be a series. My goal is to write about every five-star film I've ever seen. The series is inspired by Roger Ebert's The Great Movies.
The best films revolve around the most interesting people. Of all the films I've seen, none allow me to spend time with a more fascinating person that Robert Crumb, a comic book artist, “the Brueghel of the last half of the 20th century” says one art critic in the film. His drawings are like nothing you've ever seen: crazy, sadistic, perverted, and, above all, wildly offensive. But no matter who you are and how much your stomach turns when you see them, you can't look away, can't deny that they are impossibly special.
Most people this talented are either terribly introverted--and as a result horrible subjects for a film--or completely uninterested in letting a documentary film crew follow them around. But sometimes the stars align and out comes a film like this. The story goes that Terry Zwigoff, the film's director and Crumb's close friend, was depressed and defeated in the mid-1980s. Legend has it that Zwigoff made Crumb agree to the film by threatening to shoot himself. Of course, in this case, as in many cases, legend isn't actually true (this turned out to be a rumor accidentally started by Roger Ebert). But, as Tony Wilson says in the fabulous "24 Hour Party People," "Given the truth or the legend, always print the legend," so this is the way I like to think the film came about.
The documentary mostly involves Crumb chatting about his work and his life and spending time with his family, friends, and fans. And while that doesn't sound especially riveting, it is. The parts of the film I enjoy the most are those with his two brothers, Charles and Max.
Charles is a forty something recluse who hasn't done much else with his life than ingest heavy doses of antidepressants and read upstairs in his mother's house surrounded by cats. It's clear from the very first moment we meet him that Charles is fiercely intelligent and terribly broken. He knows it to. Charles talks to the camera about wanting to bludgeon Robert over the head when they were children out of jealousy. Robert finds this amusing and laughs in the corner of the room as the camera pans over to get his reaction. The two have a strange bond. We learn that Charles got Robert, and the rest of the family, interested in comics. In fact, he demanded they dedicate their lives to little else when they were children; they even ran a makeshift publishing company out of the house. But as cute as this sounds, a bunch of kids writing comics, it's clear that it was anything but. Charles had an unhealthy obsession with, among other odd things, comics, and he demanded perfection, especially from Robert who admits that he still seeks Charles' approval. After meeting Charles, we get the distinct impression that something terrible happened to him and his brothers when they were children. Maybe it wasn't one specific event, but a series of events. Robert found a way to deal with it, which explains his work. Charles didn't, which explains his life or lack thereof. We never find out exactly what was so horrible about their up bringing, though it's clear their father had something to do with it.
Next we met Max Crumb, who only confirms our suspicion of terrible childhood experiences. Max looks a little younger than Robert and is just a step above homeless, living in what looks to be a one bedroom apartment where he sits on beds of nails and passes pieces of fabric through his intestines by swallowing them whole. While Charles is broken and defeated, Max is upbeat and psychotic. He tells distributing stories of his inability to control himself around women in public and shows us his artwork which, while clearly not without plenty of merit, looks like something that came out of a physc ward.
The more we understand about Robert's past and his family, the more interesting his work becomes. Once you get the full picture, Robert's work takes on a third dimension, as it becomes clear that he isn't just someone trying to get attention by drawing distributing pictures. Rather, you can see that the work is genuine and therapeutic, that it is self-medication. We rarely see Robert siting without a pen and pad in front of him, scribbling away. He doesn't appear to have much control over what comes out. He's a zombie, a machine.
Yet, his work isn't purely therapeutic. It also argues a specific worldview, which sees modern humanity as utterly sick and evil. His wife, who shares a similar vantage point, tells the camera of a time she visited a friend and watched in awe as the woman's fat pre-teen son sat in a giant helmet-shaped chair mesmerized by a video game in front of him. This is how Robert sees the world, especially Americans, as people who lack any sense of "intellectual curiosity."
You leave the film with a dark and haunting feeling that's hard to understand. It's like everyone in the film knows some terrible secret that explains everything: where Robert's talent and work comes from and why the Crumb's are so destroyed. But revealing the secret, or even confirming that one exists, is absurd and not the point. The point is to get by, by sitting on nails, swallowing selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, and drawing women without heads. And sure, it leaves the audience rather hallow and frustrated to never get the answer, but it makes for a perplexing and ominous film that sticks with you for days. As Robert would say, "How perfectly god damned delightful it all is, to be sure."
The following essay, which is about Terry Zwigoff's 1994 documentary "Crumb," is the first in what will hopefully be a series. My goal is to write about every five-star film I've ever seen. The series is inspired by Roger Ebert's The Great Movies.
The best films revolve around the most interesting people. Of all the films I've seen, none allow me to spend time with a more fascinating person that Robert Crumb, a comic book artist, “the Brueghel of the last half of the 20th century” says one art critic in the film. His drawings are like nothing you've ever seen: crazy, sadistic, perverted, and, above all, wildly offensive. But no matter who you are and how much your stomach turns when you see them, you can't look away, can't deny that they are impossibly special.
Most people this talented are either terribly introverted--and as a result horrible subjects for a film--or completely uninterested in letting a documentary film crew follow them around. But sometimes the stars align and out comes a film like this. The story goes that Terry Zwigoff, the film's director and Crumb's close friend, was depressed and defeated in the mid-1980s. Legend has it that Zwigoff made Crumb agree to the film by threatening to shoot himself. Of course, in this case, as in many cases, legend isn't actually true (this turned out to be a rumor accidentally started by Roger Ebert). But, as Tony Wilson says in the fabulous "24 Hour Party People," "Given the truth or the legend, always print the legend," so this is the way I like to think the film came about.
The documentary mostly involves Crumb chatting about his work and his life and spending time with his family, friends, and fans. And while that doesn't sound especially riveting, it is. The parts of the film I enjoy the most are those with his two brothers, Charles and Max.
Charles is a forty something recluse who hasn't done much else with his life than ingest heavy doses of antidepressants and read upstairs in his mother's house surrounded by cats. It's clear from the very first moment we meet him that Charles is fiercely intelligent and terribly broken. He knows it to. Charles talks to the camera about wanting to bludgeon Robert over the head when they were children out of jealousy. Robert finds this amusing and laughs in the corner of the room as the camera pans over to get his reaction. The two have a strange bond. We learn that Charles got Robert, and the rest of the family, interested in comics. In fact, he demanded they dedicate their lives to little else when they were children; they even ran a makeshift publishing company out of the house. But as cute as this sounds, a bunch of kids writing comics, it's clear that it was anything but. Charles had an unhealthy obsession with, among other odd things, comics, and he demanded perfection, especially from Robert who admits that he still seeks Charles' approval. After meeting Charles, we get the distinct impression that something terrible happened to him and his brothers when they were children. Maybe it wasn't one specific event, but a series of events. Robert found a way to deal with it, which explains his work. Charles didn't, which explains his life or lack thereof. We never find out exactly what was so horrible about their up bringing, though it's clear their father had something to do with it.
Next we met Max Crumb, who only confirms our suspicion of terrible childhood experiences. Max looks a little younger than Robert and is just a step above homeless, living in what looks to be a one bedroom apartment where he sits on beds of nails and passes pieces of fabric through his intestines by swallowing them whole. While Charles is broken and defeated, Max is upbeat and psychotic. He tells distributing stories of his inability to control himself around women in public and shows us his artwork which, while clearly not without plenty of merit, looks like something that came out of a physc ward.
The more we understand about Robert's past and his family, the more interesting his work becomes. Once you get the full picture, Robert's work takes on a third dimension, as it becomes clear that he isn't just someone trying to get attention by drawing distributing pictures. Rather, you can see that the work is genuine and therapeutic, that it is self-medication. We rarely see Robert siting without a pen and pad in front of him, scribbling away. He doesn't appear to have much control over what comes out. He's a zombie, a machine.
Yet, his work isn't purely therapeutic. It also argues a specific worldview, which sees modern humanity as utterly sick and evil. His wife, who shares a similar vantage point, tells the camera of a time she visited a friend and watched in awe as the woman's fat pre-teen son sat in a giant helmet-shaped chair mesmerized by a video game in front of him. This is how Robert sees the world, especially Americans, as people who lack any sense of "intellectual curiosity."
You leave the film with a dark and haunting feeling that's hard to understand. It's like everyone in the film knows some terrible secret that explains everything: where Robert's talent and work comes from and why the Crumb's are so destroyed. But revealing the secret, or even confirming that one exists, is absurd and not the point. The point is to get by, by sitting on nails, swallowing selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, and drawing women without heads. And sure, it leaves the audience rather hallow and frustrated to never get the answer, but it makes for a perplexing and ominous film that sticks with you for days. As Robert would say, "How perfectly god damned delightful it all is, to be sure."
Using PHP to Detect a User's Browser
I needed a quick way to detect what browser any given user visiting my site was using. I used this information to serve them a custom CSS stylesheet. And sure, PHP claims to have a built-in method to achieve this functionality: get_browser. But I ran into problems with that dude: it's slow, it returns way more info than I need (an array of data the tells me everything the browser is capable of), and, the nail in the coffin, it didn't work on my web server (I get a "browscap ini directive not set" error).
Instead of dealing with these issues (which, I believe, would mean calling GoDaddy, who runs my server), I built my own little custom method. Here's the script.
Download the .php file here.
I'm simply using PHP's Switch feature, which seems to work pretty well. Feel free to borrow and improve it.
Disclaimer: I'm not a PHP expert. I'm sure someone (everyone?) will come along and say this is wildly incorrect, but, hey, it works for me and it is reasonably efficient (thanks to the breaks). In other words, I'm not claiming it's perfect, I'm saying it works for me and I thought I'd share.
I needed a quick way to detect what browser any given user visiting my site was using. I used this information to serve them a custom CSS stylesheet. And sure, PHP claims to have a built-in method to achieve this functionality: get_browser. But I ran into problems with that dude: it's slow, it returns way more info than I need (an array of data the tells me everything the browser is capable of), and, the nail in the coffin, it didn't work on my web server (I get a "browscap ini directive not set" error).
Instead of dealing with these issues (which, I believe, would mean calling GoDaddy, who runs my server), I built my own little custom method. Here's the script.
Download the .php file here.
I'm simply using PHP's Switch feature, which seems to work pretty well. Feel free to borrow and improve it.
Disclaimer: I'm not a PHP expert. I'm sure someone (everyone?) will come along and say this is wildly incorrect, but, hey, it works for me and it is reasonably efficient (thanks to the breaks). In other words, I'm not claiming it's perfect, I'm saying it works for me and I thought I'd share.
I just saw Robert Altman's MCCABE & MRS. MILLER for the first time. Overall, I did not enjoy the film. I think it deserves praise for its sheer ambition, but that does not hide the fact that it is dull, lifeless, and unengaging. Nonetheless, I stumbled across two pieces of criticism on the film that I really enjoyed.
The first piece is from Roger Ebert.
The first piece is from Roger Ebert.
All of the characters know each other, and the camera will not stare at first one and then another, like an earnest dog, but is at home in their company. Nor do the people line up and talk one after another, like characters in a play. They talk when and as they will, and we understand it's not important to hear every word; sometimes all that matters is the tone of a room.The second piece is from Cinephobia.com's Stephen Rowley. He touches on something I found very difficult to deal with at first: the film's sound design, which is, by design, very inaccesible.
Which isn’t to say the chaotic, hard-to-discern sound of McCabe doesn’t have its detractors. Beatty hated it, feeling Altman had pushed a style which worked in MASH too far. Even the film’s editor, Lou Lombardo, has said it was poorly recorded and compared its sound to an out-of-focus picture. Certainly the film treads a fine line; not being able to hear every word adds has its own inherent realism, but at the same time missing things tends to take you out of the experience. (Pauline Kael wrote that “it takes a while to realise that if you didn’t hear someone’s words it’s all right,” which sounds like a rationalisation to me.) But perhaps having something that is a borderline stuff-up work anyway is part of what makes a great director great. When I saw Altman’s final film, A Prairie Home Companion, I kept thinking that nobody else would get away with the slapdash construction Altman did there, and I still haven’t made up my mind whether that’s a testament to Altman or an indictment of critical double standards. In McCabe, however, the case for greatness is clearer cut. The sound, considered on its own, might not work, but as I’ve said it makes possible other aspects of Altman’s technique that definitely do: improvisation, realism, and atmosphere. These qualities give the film life and character, and McCabe & Mrs Miller is a beautiful mood piece that creates an almost trance-like effect.I think I actually enjoyed reading these pieces more than I did watching the film. I especially liked Rowley's description of the film. He said it was "a film based on atmosphere and character rather than narrative." This is a great way to explain some of my favorite films, for example Francois Truffaut's work and Sofia Coppola's work. But the key difference between these director's films, which I love, and MCCABE, is that the former are centered around character's I care about. MCCABE, on the other hand, is centered someone I never get to know and therefore never grow to care about.
My Favorite Nirvana Lyrics
Lately I've been listening to little else but Nirvana. I've always liked their music, but lately I love it. I think I'm responding primarily to Kurt Cobain's lyrics. He captures in such simplicity and depth feelings of apathy, self-doubt, and anhedonia.
Here are some of my favorite lyrics.
Lately I've been listening to little else but Nirvana. I've always liked their music, but lately I love it. I think I'm responding primarily to Kurt Cobain's lyrics. He captures in such simplicity and depth feelings of apathy, self-doubt, and anhedonia.
Here are some of my favorite lyrics.
- Things have never been so swell. I have never felt to feel pain. You know you're right. (You Know You're Right)
- Light my candles in a daze 'cause I've found god. (Lithium)
- Hey! Wait! I've got a new complaint. Forever in debt to your priceless advice. (Heart Shaped Box)
- I'm on my time with everyone. (Pennyroyal Tea)
- I'm not like them, but I can pretend...I think I'm dumb. (Dumb)
- What else should I be. All apologies. (All Apologies)
- I wish I was like you. Easily amused. (All Apologies)
- Hurt yourself. Want some help. Please myself. (Polly)
- Here we are now. Entertain us. I feel stupid and contagious. (Smells Like Teen Spirit)
- And I forget just what it takes. And yet I guess it makes me smile. I found it hard, it's hard to find. Oh well, whatever, nevermind. (Smells Like Teen Spirit)
Batch Submit Tasks to Remember the Milk
The web-based task manager Remember the Milk is awesome (Lifehacker explains why it's so excellent here). I recently found out, however, that their batch task import feature has a minor flaw.
The problem is that, since the import relies on an e-mail client, and since most e-mail clients automatically wrap lines (usually at around 72 characters), tasks that are longer than the auto-wrap limit will be split over multiple lines and will import as multiple tasks. As RTM explains in their documentation, if you can change your e-mail client not to auto-wrap text, this isn't a problem for you. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a way to disable the auto-wrap in any of the e-mail clients I had access to. Since I had a bunch of tasks to import, I decided to come up with a way around this limitation.
Here is the quick and easy batch import form I built that will get around this problem. Simply define your Remember the Milk import address, the specific list you want to import tasks into (the list must already exist), and then list the tasks you want to import (one task per line; if you include bullet characters (e.g. * or #) at the start of each line, they will automatically be removed by RTM).
The web-based task manager Remember the Milk is awesome (Lifehacker explains why it's so excellent here). I recently found out, however, that their batch task import feature has a minor flaw.
The problem is that, since the import relies on an e-mail client, and since most e-mail clients automatically wrap lines (usually at around 72 characters), tasks that are longer than the auto-wrap limit will be split over multiple lines and will import as multiple tasks. As RTM explains in their documentation, if you can change your e-mail client not to auto-wrap text, this isn't a problem for you. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a way to disable the auto-wrap in any of the e-mail clients I had access to. Since I had a bunch of tasks to import, I decided to come up with a way around this limitation.
Here is the quick and easy batch import form I built that will get around this problem. Simply define your Remember the Milk import address, the specific list you want to import tasks into (the list must already exist), and then list the tasks you want to import (one task per line; if you include bullet characters (e.g. * or #) at the start of each line, they will automatically be removed by RTM).
How to Ballpark your Retirement Nest Egg
There are lots of tools online to help you estimate how much money you will have in the future based on specified conditions: CD calculators, 401K calculators, inflation calculators, etc. Unfortunately, I've yet to find a single website that combines all of these different estimates together into a single figure that answers the most important question of all: what will my annual income be when I retire?
Below I'll show you how I used a bunch of different calculation tools together to answer this question.
Before we begin, keep in mind this tutorial assumes you will be contributing to a 401k and that you will one day be eligible for social security benefits in the United States. It also assumes that once you retire, you will live off the interest of your 401k via a certificate of deposit. If you don't agree with any of these assumptions, feel free to make changes to the instructions below as you see fit.
Also, regarding your retirement age, keep the following in mind.
OK. Let's get started. For each step below, click the link, fill out the respective calculator, then enter the calculated amount into the form towards the bottom of this page.
Step 1: Estimate what your 401K will be when you retire. For rate of return, try 4%. Enter the total amount in the form below. Keep in mind that, after you complete all of the steps below, you can repeat the whole process again, but this time use 8% here (or whatever number you like). This will allow you to prepare for different scenarios.
Step 2: Determine how much your 401k will be worth after inflation. For the amount, enter the number you calculated from Step 1. For starting year, enter the year you plan on retiring. For target year, enter this year. After hitting Calculate, you can see what inflation rate was used for each year by clicking Show Rates. Try not to cry when looking at how badly inflation is going to eat away at your nest egg. Enter the total amount in the form below
Step 3: Determine how much you can make a year off the interest of your 401k. For the CD amount, enter the figure you found in Step 2 so that you are working with the actual value, not the inflated value. For interest rate, something like 5% is conservative and reasonable. For number of months, enter 12. Enter the total amount of interest earned over a year in the form below.
Step 4: Calculate your annual social security benefits. Ensure you select today's dollars. After your enter all the correct information and click Calculate, enter the dollar amount that appears next to Your monthly retirement benefit in the form below. Be sure to take into account the potential penalty you may incur if you retire before your full retirement age.
Step 5: Fill out the following form then click Calculate. Enter numbers and decimal points only. Do NOT enter dollar signs or commas. Scroll down to the bottom of the page after submitting the form.
There are lots of tools online to help you estimate how much money you will have in the future based on specified conditions: CD calculators, 401K calculators, inflation calculators, etc. Unfortunately, I've yet to find a single website that combines all of these different estimates together into a single figure that answers the most important question of all: what will my annual income be when I retire?
Below I'll show you how I used a bunch of different calculation tools together to answer this question.
Before we begin, keep in mind this tutorial assumes you will be contributing to a 401k and that you will one day be eligible for social security benefits in the United States. It also assumes that once you retire, you will live off the interest of your 401k via a certificate of deposit. If you don't agree with any of these assumptions, feel free to make changes to the instructions below as you see fit.
Also, regarding your retirement age, keep the following in mind.
The earliest you can retire and receive [social security] benefits is age 62, but your payments will be reduced if you retire before your full retirement age. The age for receiving full benefits and the reduction for early retirement is increasing. The schedule will add two months each year until 2027, when workers born in 1960 and later will have to be 67 years old to qualify for full benefits. Eligibility for reduced benefits at age 62 won't change, nor will the age of eligibility for Medicare, which is 65. (Source)If you were born in 1960 or later, here is a page that breaks down just how penalized you will be for retiring before your full retirement age. Here is a similar page if you were born before 1960.
OK. Let's get started. For each step below, click the link, fill out the respective calculator, then enter the calculated amount into the form towards the bottom of this page.
Step 1: Estimate what your 401K will be when you retire. For rate of return, try 4%. Enter the total amount in the form below. Keep in mind that, after you complete all of the steps below, you can repeat the whole process again, but this time use 8% here (or whatever number you like). This will allow you to prepare for different scenarios.
Step 2: Determine how much your 401k will be worth after inflation. For the amount, enter the number you calculated from Step 1. For starting year, enter the year you plan on retiring. For target year, enter this year. After hitting Calculate, you can see what inflation rate was used for each year by clicking Show Rates. Try not to cry when looking at how badly inflation is going to eat away at your nest egg. Enter the total amount in the form below
Step 3: Determine how much you can make a year off the interest of your 401k. For the CD amount, enter the figure you found in Step 2 so that you are working with the actual value, not the inflated value. For interest rate, something like 5% is conservative and reasonable. For number of months, enter 12. Enter the total amount of interest earned over a year in the form below.
Step 4: Calculate your annual social security benefits. Ensure you select today's dollars. After your enter all the correct information and click Calculate, enter the dollar amount that appears next to Your monthly retirement benefit in the form below. Be sure to take into account the potential penalty you may incur if you retire before your full retirement age.
Step 5: Fill out the following form then click Calculate. Enter numbers and decimal points only. Do NOT enter dollar signs or commas. Scroll down to the bottom of the page after submitting the form.
A New and Improved Filmnut!
Welcome to the completely redesigned Filmnut. It's all very exciting! Now that I've taught myself a thing or two about PHP and CSS I've put my new skills to work. The result is hopefully a much fancier little website.
Below is a list of some of the site's fancy new features.
Welcome to the completely redesigned Filmnut. It's all very exciting! Now that I've taught myself a thing or two about PHP and CSS I've put my new skills to work. The result is hopefully a much fancier little website.
Below is a list of some of the site's fancy new features.
- A blog powered by Google's Blogger.
- A right-hand sidebar on most pages that gives a real-time look at what I'm up to: my current Twitter status, the last three movies I've seen, and some cool calculations on the Film, TV, and Lit pages.
- A PHP function that automatically serves you a custom CSS stylesheet based on the browser you are using.
- A detailed About page that tells you all about yours trully.