Departures

6th TRIP TO VIET NAM

…And on this trip I’ll be bringing back a souvenir — my wife! Yes, after nearly two yeas of our being involved (hard to say being together) Hong will be coming home to the USA on April 15th. I leave on the 7th. People were telling me to let her come over by herself, but I think the process would be too overwhelming (it’s exhausting enough for me, and I’ve done it five times before). It’s worth the extra money for me to ensure her comfort. So, our adventure begins a new phase! Once here, as my fiance, I’ll remarry Hong on paper to make it all legal and stuff. So much to do before the trip, so I’m stressing to say the least!

PRAISE AND PUNDITS

Louis Fowler has given DEADSTOCK a gushing and glowing review over at Bookgasm.com:

http://www.bookgasm.com/reviews/horror/deadstock/

“his novels and short stories are nightmarish glimpses into a future world that pretty much make William Gibson and Phillip K. Dick mere shrinking reflections in the rearview mirror…DEADSTOCK, is like H.P. Lovecraft writing the novelization of CHINATOWN, if that film were directed by David Cronenberg…the seminal voice of science fiction right now.”

Well…wow! But we can’t all agree, can we? I could eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich every day, but my coworker Albert despises peanut butter. I hear there are even people who don’t like coffee! (Let me repeat that exclamation point: !) There’s a new Amazon.com review from someone who sniffs (with the malicious tone of a frustrated writer) that DEADSTOCK is “mundane at best.” He seemed to have a major problem with the story’s Ha Jiin race resembling the Vietnamese (very intentional), and for my perceived Oliver Stonesque (sic) attitudes — rather than, say, John Waynesque attitudes, I guess – about the Viet Nam War. I’m also accused of writing a B-grade monster movie sort of story, and of being predictable. I think what is cliched and predictable is when people leap to label something based on too easily regurgitated notions. A monster in the story? Shades of GODZILLA! But I think my monster, Dai-oo-ika, is more Frankenstein than Godzilla, a pathetic and touching character. Oh well. I’m waiting for this reviewer’s own book to come out, so that we can all be exposed to a novel that is much less “disposable” than mine! Anyway, hopefully my fans and supporters will boost my star rating back to the celestial realm I belong in. Ahem!

THE DEPARTED

Last week I watched INFERNAL AFFAIRS, upon which THE DEPARTED was based, and first of all, what’s up with that sexy babe on the DVD’s cover? I didn’t see too many females, period, in this anti-buddy flick, a nicely done (if rather less bloody than Scorsese’s interpretation) story of two young cops working undercover as agents for an organized crime operation and an internal affairs unit. While I prefer THE DEPARTED (and what a great score), what I liked best about INFERNAL AFFAIRS was that the main characters came across to me as just a tad more complex. Tony Leung exudes weary sadness as opposed to DiCaprio’s edgy bitterness (he seems more spiritually exhausted than merely impatient to be relieved of his assignment). And it was hard for me to tell, because I was remembering Matt Damon’s total slimeball of a character, but I think the villain as played by Andy Lau was even a bit remorseful for his own sinfulness. But the American actors are very good, too; Matt Damon is excellent at playing a fidgety guy waiting for his dark deeds to catch up with him, ala THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY. I like watching that sort of character sweat in his collar, a fine example being William H. Macy in FARGO. So I guess what disappointed me just a little in the otherwise impressive THE DEPARTED was this lack of complexity in the leads. When you have two men infiltrating the good guys and the bad guys, you’d expect to see them become more confused about their loyalty, morality, sense of purpose…but aside from busting a few heads, DiCaprio doesn’t seem corrupted by his immersion in crime and feels no affection for his cohorts (as Johnny Depp does in DONNIE BRASCO). I think Sean Penn’s character in the very similar (and to me, more satisfying) STATE OF GRACE was much more complex and conflicted. And that film’s relationship between Penn and Gary Oldman’s scene-chewing, loose cannon character put me in mind of the relationship between Harvey Keitel and Robert DeNiro in Scorsese’s MEAN STREETS, just to bring things full circle. By the way, the next film I’ve rented from Netflix is THE BEAT THAT MY HEART SKIPPED, which instead of being an American remake of a foreign film is – get this – a foreign remake of an American film (FINGERS, with Harvey Keitel again, which I’ve long wanted to see). Again, a story of a guy torn between crime and doing the right thing — in this case, playing the piano! I guess you’ll get my review of that sometime upon my return. I’ll try not to sound too haughty and pundit-like; but then, hopefully I’ll find this film less than “disposable.”