Guggenheim Offers 65 Books Online For Free

The Solomon H. Guggenheim Museum is now offering 65 art books from its archives online, for interwebs users to read and peruse for free. This move comes just a week before Apple has planned its big "textbook push" announcement at the Guggenheim Museum. The books in the collection include work from artists like Wassily Kandinsky, Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Klee, Francis Bacon, Alexander Calder, Edvard Munch and many more.

The interface for the Guggenheim site is very easy to use and at first glance the books available seem very well rendered for use on the web. This idea also seems like a huge leap in getting very expensive art books into the hands of users who are either intimidated on what books they should purchase or unsure of where to begin their own exploration of the art world. Its an idea with a great deal of promise. Hopefully, even more content is forthcoming.

For more details on the project and other great free e-book suggestions, head on over to Open Culture where we first got wind of this story.

Watch The Trailer For Wes Anderson's 'Moonrise Kingdom'

Focus Features today unveiled the trailer for the upcoming Wes Anderson film, Moonrise Kingdom. Written by Anderson and Roman Coppolla, the film marks Anderson's first live action film five years.

The press sheet for the film describes it thusly, "Set on an island off the coast of New England in the summer of 1965, MOONRISE KINGDOM tells the story of two twelve-year-olds who fall in love, make a secret pact, and run away together into the wilderness. As various authorities try to hunt them down, a violent storm is brewing off-shore -- and the peaceful island community is turned upside down in more ways than anyone can handle. Bruce Willis plays the local sheriff. Edward Norton is a Khaki Scout troop leader. Bill Murray and Frances McDormand portray the young girl's parents. The cast also includes Tilda Swinton, Jason Schwartzman, and Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward as the boy and girl."

Now, the real question here is whether we'll get the wit and quirky charms of Anderson's first three films (Bottle Rocket, Rushmore and Royal Tennenbaums), or if his rambling and vague tendencies as they've been on display in his last two live action films, The Life Aquatic and The Darjeeling Limited. Based on the trailer, it appears it could go either way. The inclusion of Edward Norton, Bruce Willis and Frances McDormand to the Anderson repertory players in the cast is a good sign though.

Moonrise Kingdom opens in limited release on May 25. Watch the trailer below.

Watch The Trailer For The LCD Soundsystem Documentary

Given the Sabauteur predilection for music documentaries, we have to admit some excitement and interest in the forthcoming LCD Soundsystem doc, Shut Up And Play The Hits. Not only is this film a music documentary, but it captures the end of a good band pulling their own plug. This is a phenomenon near and dear to our hearts, as exhibited in our love for end of days indie docs like Tell Me Do You Miss Me and A Good Band Is Easy To Kill.

The film chronicles the final live performance of the band at New York City's Madison Square Garden in April of 2011. Stylistically, the approach appears to be a combination of live footage mixed with LCD frontman, James Murphy talking about the end of the band. Adding to ourgeekish interest in the film, is the fact that Murphy is interviewed in these segments by the terrific cultural essayist and author, Chuck Klosterman.

Shut Up And Play The Hits will make its debut at the Sundance Film Festival later this month. You can watch the trailer below.

Velvet Underground Sues Warhol Foundation

A lawsuit in the New York court system has been filed by former members of the famously groundbreaking, 1960's rock band, The Velvet Underground against the Andy Warhol Foundation. At issue is the proposed use of the iconic banana symbol designed by Warhol that adorned the cover of the Velvet's now legendary debut album.

Warhol was the band's manager and producer during the recording of their first album and designed the cover art specifically for the album.  According to reports, Warhol was given a $3,00 advance for the design of the artwork.

Apparently, upon reading that The Warhol Foundation had been planning on licensing this famous image to Apple, Inc, for use on iPods and iPads, former VU members Lou Reed and John Cale filed suit, claiming that "The symbol has become so identified with The Velvet Underground ... that members of the public, particularly those who listen to rock music, immediately recognize the banana design as the symbol of The Velvet Underground."

The banana image is now entrenched as one of the most famous examples of cover art and of the 1960's album design ethos. And, the band's debut album is the piece of work for which they are most recognized and of which Brian Eno allegedly quipped, "Everyone who bought that album started a band."

The suit also stipulates that the band has requested that the Warhol Foundation cease with further licensing agreements on the grounds that such action is "likely to cause confusion or mistake as to the association of Velvet Underground with the goods sold in commerce by such third parties."

Arcade Fire To Appear On Austin City Limits

According to the Pop Candy blog over at USA Today, Canadian rockers/indie-superheroes/Grammy Awardsters, Arcade Fire will appear in concert on an upcoming installment of the PBS music program, Austin City Limits. The Arcade Fire episode will air on most PBS affiliates on the evening of Jan. 14.

This is just another notch in an impressive belt of recent big name acts to grace the ACL stage. In the very recent past, ACL has aired episodes from Spoon, Coldplay, Gomez, The Decemberists, and the elder statesman of awesomeness, Tom Waits. In addition to that, upcoming episodes from the likes of Wilco, Lykke Li, Fleet Foxes and Florence and the Machine indicate that PBS is working hard to swing their demo to folks other than the Werther's gobblers that have been eating up Season 2 of Downton Abbey.

You can watch a live performance of We Used To Wait mixed with behind the scenes footage in the video below.



Arcade Fire "We Used to Wait" at ACL: Behind the Scenes from Jonathan Jackson on Vimeo.

NEW VIDEO: Real Estate | "Easy"

Back in October, jangly pop outfit Real Estate, put out the terrific full length LP, Days. On March 5th, Domino Records will release a new 7" single of Days lead-off track, Easy. To celebrate the occasion, Best Show On WFMU host Tom Scharpling has directed a pretty hilarious new video. You can watch it below.

Real Estate - "Easy" from Tom Scharpling

ALBUM REVIEW: Youth Lagoon | The Year Of Hibernation

Youth Lagoon  | The Year Of Hibernation (2011) - Fat Possum Records

The Year Of Hibernation, the debut album from Youth Lagoon is an album that seems like an auditory oxymoron. On the one hand, there is a simple, honest and humble appeal to it. The songs sound very much like you'd expect from a record made by one young man, Trevor Powers, in the bedroom of his Boise, Idaho home. On the other hand, the arrangements are epic. The songs are mature and self-assured and the narrator through muffled voice and reverb drench often sounds wiser than his years would belie.

It is within these contradictions that the greatest appeal of this record lies. It would be easy for a 22 year old kid to make a bedroom record with a few twee instruments and a laptop. Yet, that would make these songs seem cute or cloying. Youth Lagoon never elicit any of those emotions. Instead, the simple melodies are repeated in almost Reichian fashion and are built upon so as to elevate the songs to ethereal planes.

In the title of the record, and throughout mush of the lyrical material, Powers writes about his own sense of loneliness and anxiety. But it almost always seems smarter than the songs we should expect from someone who is just entering his adulthood. The production value and subject matter evoke a sense of nostalgia that this young man has created for a dream world that never really existed.

The potpourri of influences here are part of what make the record so interesting too. In quieter moments, there is a sense of a piano style 70s solo act. Yet, at the moment that aesthetic becomes clear gears shift and a synth loop chimes to throw the listener off track. The guitar riffs owe a large debt to early New Order with their melodic repetition and simplicity. Yet they never feel forced or out of place.

Powerful moments are common on this record, but none is more evident than in the coda that ends the penultimate track, "Montana". As the a slow melodic whistle builds with a smacking, metallic anvil sound to the songs crescendo. It is haunting and beautiful and very much original. This is a melody you will have in your head for days.

The best compliment I can give this record is that when it's over, you'll want to flip it over and start again from the beginning.

Rating: 8/10

The haunting beauty and melodic charm of Youth Lagoon
are even further displayed in the marvelous video
for "Montana", which can be found below.

My First Time: The Violent Femmes

We're proud to bring you our brand new series, My First Time Ever, in which a guest contributor tells a personal story of discovery. The stories included in this series are designed to be a sort of compendium of the individual moments we all have as we gain self-awareness and determine what matters to us. It's an experiment in where our experiences in growing up and becoming culturally critical and informed are similar and disparate.

For our inaugural essay, Chad Patterson tells us about the moment early in his college days when he realized he was, as Steve Perry once opined, "just a small town boy".

My First Time Ever: The Violent Femmes
By Chad Patterson

I had a moment in college where I realized just how "small town" I was. I will never forget it.

I was studying theater at Lansing Community College. And, as you do in college I met an eclectic group of people; young, old, black, white, hispanic, gay and straight. None of that surface stuff really mattered. What mattered is that performance brought us all together. We all loved doing live theater and we also all loved partying.

On opening night of my first College theater production we had a cast party in a small two bedroom apartment. There had to have been 20-25 us roaming around this little place. I was still a minor, but alcohol was there and accessible to all of us. It was a party like you see in the movies. There were people making out, people wearing lampshades on their head, and loud music playing and drinking. Lots and lots of drinking.

Now, don't get me wrong I had been to my share of shit kicker barn keggers in High School, but this was different. This party had that Bohemian art feel to it where at any time sex might just accidentally happen to you, or some older guy might start cutting lines of cocaine on the kitchen counter. Now none of that happened but it felt like it could.

Everything was hot and smoky and unlike anything I had ever experienced. I felt very outside of it, like a kid looking in at his own birthday party. But there was one moment in which I felt alienated more than any other and it wasn't because my friends were ostracizing me or that I wasn't participating. This environment, if nothing else, was extremely inclusive. This moment had everything to do with how out of touch I was culturally.

Everyone was gathering at the CD player. One person in particular, my Improv teacher and mentor Bill getting very excited about what was going to happen. There was a palpable buzz about the music that was about to be  played. My friend Dawn, whose apartment it was, took a CD from the jewel case with a dark cover and she placed the disc in the player. The door closed on the player and people backed away from it as if it were going to emit light and melt their faces.

I was glued to this plastic kitchen chair seemingly unable to move in anticipation for what they were about to hear. My mind filled with great party songs of my youth; Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, or maybe some Bob Seger? No. I was painfully out of touch.

The sound that came from this tiny little stereo at an apartment party in South Lansing was a raw, whiny lone voice that primally moaned "DAY AFTER DAY I WILL WALK AND I WILL PLAY, BUT THE DAY AFTER TODAY, I WILL STOP, AND I WILL START..."

Everyone in the room knew the words, they screamed them along with this man and as soon as the very raw, crude music began to this very simple beat and guitar riff the entire group of people were gone on this mad pogo jump around the living room slamming into each other. Then the singing started and everyone sang along sans myself. The words were so unforgettable; a man actually pleading in a song "Why can't I get just one fuck?" and then for good measure repeating the same line because inquiring about why one can't get a fuck bears repeating.

This was the first time I had ever heard The Violent Femmes and I may venture to say the first time that I had ever heard anything that would qualify as college radio. My entire childhood had been littered with a hodge-podge of classic rock, heavy metal, disco or easy listening contemporary crap. In other words Popular music.

Here I was in college looking at this group of people that I admired a great deal reveling in this song that they had obviously worshiped like a church hymn of youth rebellion and I couldn't even identify it.  I was still wearing my Motley Crue concert T to class sometimes and not to be ironic either, but because I actually thought it was cool.

From that moment on my ears and eyes were opened. I had missed out on an entire list of great artists in the 80's and early 90's because if for no other reason they weren't ever on the Monsters of Rock tour. I missed out on great bands like R.E.M., The Smiths, The Cure and Depeche Mode and of course the Femmes, who will always hold a special place in my heart because in my ways they very roughly deflowered me culturally and musically at a little apartment party in South Lansing.

The Violent Femmes - Add It Up

FILM JOURNAL 2012

As the arbitrary day for a new year arrives, so does the 2012 installment of the film journal. We'll attempt more intestinal fortitude to keep from allowing the baseball season to throw me off task.
This list will include both films viewed for the first time and those with previous multiple viewings. Anything on this list was seen via Netflix Watch It Now, DVD, in the theater or on cable - please assume that anything viewed on cable was not only watched in completion, but also without commercials. Movies weren't made with ads designed to fit into the plot narrative, I prefer it stays that way
 

Each of the films on the list is rated on a scale of 1 to 10. Any reviews or notes that I've made on a film from the list will be linked. Also, I have included at the end of each entry, how the film was watched. Cable, DVD and streaming entries were all watched on my home television unless otherwise noted. This will be an ongoing project, so please stay tuned.

Jan. 1 - Hugo (2011) directed by Martin Scorcese | 8/10 Brief Review 
A beautiful children's adventure film that combines the classic tale of childhood wonder and adventure and mixes it with Paris in the 1920's and the dawn of of the cinematic arts. Theater Viewing

Jan, 2 - The Sicilian Girl (2008) directed by Marco Amenta | 5/10
A compelling, but somewhat melodramatic re-telling of the true story of Rita Atria who testified in the early 1990's against the Sicilian mafia. Veronica D'Agostino is powerful in the title role, but the Lifetime vibe of the storyline and sometimes crawling pace keep this from being a full on winner. Netflix Instant

Jan. 4 - Tell Me Do You Miss Me (2006) directed by Matthew Buzzell | 8/10
This documentary of the final tour of indie band Luna is a quiet and poignant peek into the world of life as a mid-level rock and roll band taking a quasi-victory lap. Being that I am a sucker both the music doc genre and the records of Luna, this was sort of a slam dunk like for me. DVD

Jan. 5 - Killer Instinct: Mesrine, Part One (2008) directed by Jean-Francois Richet | 6/10
Vincent Cassel is an enigmatic force as French gangster Jacques Mesrine. The style and visual flash combined with the terrific cinematic vision of 60s Europe through Richet's eyes makes this seem like a slam dunk success. However, the one note storyline and obvious bio-pic tendencies make this one add up to less than the sum of its parts. A very pretty disappointment. Netflix Instant

Jan. 7 - These Amazing Shadows (2011) directed by Paul Mariano and Ken Norton | 7/10
An intriguing documentary on the foundation and purpose of the National Film Registry. While the filmmaking here is not perfect, this is a real treat for cinephiles. Netflix Instant

Jan. 8 - Studs Terkel: Listening To America (2010) directed by Eric Simonson | 7/10
A short (45 min.) documentary on the great oral historian, writer, listener, provacateur, TV/radio host and true patriot featuring interviews with Terkel at the end of his life and those who knew him best. While it is a humble and brief film, it's also a well crafted reminder of the power of speech, the value of listening and the worth of the "ordinary" man. HBO

Jan. 8 - Chungking Express (1994) directed by Wong Kar Wai | 8/10
If there is someone out there making more remarkably simple and effective films about what love better than Wong Kar Wai, I haven't met them. Chungking Express is a dual tale of failed romances, broken hearts and the rewards of emotional survival. A clever, funny, endlessly charming and poignant movie that also just looks really, really cool. DVD

Jan. 9 - Tabloid (2011) directed by Errol Morris | 8/10
With Tabloid, America's foremost documentarian, Errol Morris brings us the real life tale of former Wyoming beauty queen, Joyce McKinney and her bizarre episode in the mid-1970's with an alleged kidnapping that was covered feverishly by the British tabloids. Morris uses the story to capture thedivide between our own truths and fictions and how our obsessions shape the people we become. This is a pretty fascinating peak into a driven and almost inexplicable lady. You must see it for yourself. DVD

Jan. 14 - Moneyball (2011) directed by Bennett Miller | 7/10
Brad Pitt's perfromance here as Oakland A's General Manager Billy Beane, is one of the most self assured of his career. Jonah Hill is understated and terrific as Pitt's right hand man. The relationship between Beane and his daughter lends a compassionate (read as non-baseball) element to the story. The usually great Phillip Seymour Hoffman is perfectly fine here, but it would have been nice if he'd had more to work with. This is a solid film that languishes a bit at times, but is an overall success. DVD

Jan. 15 - We Bought A Zoo (2011) directed by Cameron Crowe | 7/10
This seemed like a film that would be easy to hate: A holiday release of a feel good family film based on a well know book based on a true story. Somehow, in Cameron Crowe's hands, the film winds up being loveable most of the time. Sure, there are moments of manipulative, tearjerking sequences and there is little doubt that it will end happily, but for the most part, it just works. Theater Viewing

Jan. 16 - The Arbor (2010) directed by Paul Mariano and Ken Norton | 9/10
An experimental documentary about the life and work of the late English playwright, Andrea Dunbar. Told in the style of theater verbatim, actors lip-synch the audio of recorded interviews of Dunbar's family and friends to recreate her bleak life. In addition, Dunbar's gloomy existence and her erratic behavior towards her family are profiled in the effects laid upon her children, especially her daughter Lorraine who plays the pivotal figure in the film's narrative. This is a shatteringly difficult film to watch, but it's done with such style and deftness, that it's simply an amazing thing to see. Truly a one of a kind film.  Netflix Instant

Jan. 24 - Sherlock Holmes: Game Of Shadows directed by Guy Ritchie | 6/10
There is no shame in having fun at the movies. Sure, many of the plot twists here are preposterous at best, but Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law are dashing and loads of fun. The additions of Jared Harris as the villainous Dr. Moriarty and Noomi Rapace as the gypsy at the aid of our heroes work wonderfully well. If anything, this feels like a Victorian version of James Bond. Which is just fine with me. Theater Viewing

Jan. 27 - The Way Back directed by Peter Weir | 5/10
The Way Back is based on the real life story of a group of men who escaped from a Siberian Gulag during WWII. All the pieces are there for a powerful film: interesting back-stories, prison breaks, man vs. nature and a clash of wills. The problem is the film's leaden pacing and extended running time. Add to that the nonsensical flip-flopping of native languages and use of English amongst primarily Eastern European characters and you're constantly reminded that you're watching a film. The performances are solid and the story is intriguing, but it just can't ever put all the pieces together. Netflix Instant


Jan. 28 - Terri directed by Azazel Jacobs | 5/10
In this coming of age film, we follow the trials and tribulations of Terri, an obese, orphaned teen who wears pajamas to school each day. Many of the high school film tropes are in full use here and at times, Terri's friendship with his assistant principal elevate the film above the usual fray. But still, this never really takes flight due to its inconsistencies and lack of focus. The ideas and the heart are there, but the execution falls short. DVD

Bean Soup With Ham Recipe

Few things are as comforting in the winter months as a hot and hearty bowl of soup. This bean soup with ham is practically the easiest meal you could make this side of macaroni and cheese from a box, but this will fill you with a sense of sated hunger and accomplishment without the yellow die #5 and carcinogen style cheese powder.

If you have small kids you'd like to share the joy of cooking with, or if you do not enjoy culinary duties, this is the place to start. With just a few minutes of prep work, a heavy dutch oven and an afternoon's worth of simmer time, you'll have a delicious and very inexpensive meal fit for a small army just in from the cold.

These measurements are designed to make a full pot of soup. This is not some bullshit four serving thing like crafty Aunt Martha worked up for you. This is a full on meal including leftovers. Around our place, we like to make this on Sunday afternoon. We have plenty of time for a long simmer and this will afford us lots of leftovers for lunches throughout the week. If it's way too much for you and yours, you can always throw some of the leftover soup into freezer safe containers and save it for another week or even another month. From start to finish this will take several hours. You might as well stock up and get several meals out of it.

As far as cookware is concerned, you'll want to use a large, heavy Dutch style oven with a lid. I like to use a 5.5 quart Le Creuset. It's an enameled cast iron pot that is perfect for this type of application. It doesn't have to be Le Creuset brand, but this type of pot will prove invaluable in your kitchen.

The Ingredients:
1 pound smoked ham (chopped into small cubes)
2 large smoked ham hocks (scored with a sharp kitchen knife)
2 48 ox. jars Great Northern Beans*
1 large Spanish onion (chopped)
4 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
1 tbsp. dried thyme leaves
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Cold Water

*You are welcome to use dry beans for this, but I find that canned beans are easier to use, cost only a shade more and don't require a pre-soak the night before. If you use dried beans, just make sure they're fully or mostly cooked before you refer to the times in this recipe.

The Process:
Over medium heat, add enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Once the hoil is heated through, add the ham to the pan and stir. Let it cook over medium heat for 2-3 minutes or until you can smell the aroma of the ham cooking. Once the ham is heated through and aromatic add the onion and garlic, along with the thyme leaves, some salt and pepper and stir to combine. You should be adding salt and pepper regularly throughout the process. I like to add small amounts continually so all the layers are seasoned properly. However, it's important to remember that youcan always add more later, but it's tough to fix it if you've gone too far.

After the onion and the garlic have softened and become almost opaque, add the beans and the ham hocks. As mentioned above, I recommend scoring your hocks, or cutting slits into the outer layers of fat to allow the fat to incorporate in to the soup. There isn't very much fat in the smoked ham and the small of amount of oil you need to start the cooking process likely are not enough fat to afford the flavor and texture of soup you're looking for here. Scoring helps add depth of flavor and is key to achieving a great bean soup.

Once you've added your hocks and beans, fill the pot to nearly to the top with cold water. Because I use canned beans, I refill the jars with water so it's not just plain water that I am adding, it's another layer of flavor. If you have cooked your own dried beans here, you can just use tap water. Stir all of the ingredients well and bring to a simmer.

After the soup has begun to simmer away, turn down the heat to medium-low and cover with the lid just askew to allow steam to escape, thus allowing the soup to thicken. This should simmer for at least 2-3 hours and will be fine if you leave it for even longer as long a you check and stir it regularly. I like a think, but not mushy soup, but you can simmer this until you achieve your desired thickness. Also be sure to keep tasting during the simmer and add salt and pepper as needed. Remove the hocks from the pot and discard them and you're ready to eat. A great homemade cornbread or loaf of bread goes perfectly with this and all told you can feed your whole family a feast for well less than twenty bucks, and have leftovers for several more meals.

Confessions Of A Quiz Bowl Nerd

Many people will tell you that Trivial Pursuit is simply a board game. A cocktail party diversion or a way to get the family together for pizza and laughs on a Friday night. For most people this statement is entirely true. For a few people, people like me, it is a death match of intellectual cunning.

I am by nature, a pretty nice person. Regularly, I will observe people in social settings to assure they are comfortable and having a pleasant time. I make an effort to be interested in people's lives and am a generally gregarious fellow on most occasions. Bring a box of Trivial Pursuit and it's like inviting the fox to the hen house. All social mores are tossed aside, politeness bites the dust and it is on.

My Aunt Melody first introduced me to Trivial Pursuit on Christmas Day, 1981. She had given the game to my mother as a gift. My parents, grandparents and aunts and uncles, after playing a full game or two, were kind enough to let me play along even though I was just nine years old. We were playing in teams, so my age was less of a liability than you might imagine. Occasionally a question would come along that I knew the answer to and the adults would let me shout my answer proudly. These were obviously fairly easy questions, but it was a great feeling. I got to hang out with adults and they were proud of me for knowing the answers to stuff. There was no shame in getting a question wrong and success in getting it right. Suddenly, knowledge became a very valuable commodity to me.

Trivial Pursuit games became a regular obsession at our house. Anytime family or adult friends came over, the game would come out and I was always made to feel welcome. This wasn't so much an effort by my folks to show off my child prodigy-esque skills, but more of a chance to simply include me in their fun. While it seems very likely they felt there was an inherent intellectual benefit in my playing, I just loved the chance to play at the big table. To this day, I have to wait my turn at Thanksgiving for a hand of euchre, but I get first dibs on Trivial Pursuit. If this gives you the impression my euchre skills are poor, you might be on to something.

Rarely, if ever in my life have I been a braggart. I am a good cook, but I know lots of good cooks. There is a great deal that I know about things like baseball, music or movies, but I always wind up meeting someone who knows at least as much as I do or more and I never feel like I should thump my chest over such things. Yet, trivia is a different issue for me altogether. After careful consideration, I can only deduce that it was high school that truly made me this way.

By my sophomore year I had entered into the world of quiz bowl. We had matching V-neck sweaters instead of uniforms and these people became my friends. They were funny and genuine and actually liked me and for the first time in my life I no longer pretended to be someone I wasn't. I could be smart without being shunned. I could reference a foreign movie or talk about a Smiths record and wasn't made to feel like a shit heel weirdo for it. I was a quiz bowl nerd and I was home.

The physical configuration was fairly simple, desks were set up with a low-rent, Jeopardy style buzzer system and four contestants teamed up and listened to questions ranging from history and math to music and geography. It works exactly like you would imagine; a room brimming with anti-social nerds oozing with useless knowledge showing off to each other and trash talking about how they were the first to nail how many sonnets Shakespeare wrote or what the capital of Bulgaria might be.

My high school was as awkward as that of any suburban teen without aggressive athletic skills or an early growth spurt.  I was short, skinny and interested in things that most people found weird and unusual. There is nothing so awful in a small high school as being unusual.

Our team was pretty good, and during the season of my senior year we were invited to compete on a new show called Quizbusters. This show was produced by the local PBS affiliate and featured most of the schools from the area. I don't recall exactly how many teams were involved, but I vividly remember there was an NCAA type bracketing system and I remember for damned sure that the team who won received free tuition at Michigan State University for four full years.

We rolled through the early rounds and mopped up our opponents. A sense of destiny began to fill my thoughts. I imagined myself attending a prestigious university, walking to class, meeting cool people who liked weird records and art films; people I belonged with, not jocks from a small farm town. My parents had enough money to send me to school even if we didn't win, but I felt like the Quizbusters scholarship was my ticket to enter the world I was interested in, like a kid from the ghetto dreams of the NBA. Also, if I won a scholarship, Michigan State might overlook my 2.67 GPA. A GPA which on its own merits, would certainly not provide acceptance into a Big Ten school unless I arrived on an athletic scholarship. I built this competition up to be my escape, even though it almost certainly was not.

Our team continued to careen to the finals with big win after big win. It seemed so easy as we swatted aside opponent after opponent. Then came the final round against our local rivals, the Williamston High School Hornets. The entire match was nip and tuck. The lead changed hands seemingly a dozen times. Bonus rounds swung back and forth and rapid fire questions came from all angles as the clock ticked down to the lightning round. As we entered the final 60 seconds of competition, a flurry of questions worth ten points each rolled in. Sweat ran down my acned forehead and on to my nylon Bath Quiz Bowl v-neck sweater.  When the buzzer sounded the match was over and we had won by 10 points - one single question. The score was 320 to 310 and my teammates and I began to celebrate. Yet somewhere, in my gut there was an unsettling feeling of nerves.

After several minutes of hushed conversation between the Williamston players, advisers and the host Matt Ottinger, it was decided that the game officials would look at the replay. Yes, the replay! I was unaware of it too, but quiz bowl allows for instant replay. Minute after agonizing minute ticked by and then finally the details were announced. Somehow, in the middle of the lightning round, our team had answered a question incorrectly. More specifically, I had answered incorrectly, and I knew it before everyone else on my team.

The disputed question had been asked about halfway through the lightning round. It was a simple question and I knew the answer, but my mouth had said the absolute wrong thing. How could I have been so stupid? The answer was so damned easy. Ottinger had asked, "Where are the halls of Montezuma located"? Obviously, the correct answer was Mexico, but my mouth and my recollection of the Marine fight song in which those words appeared blurted out Morocco. MOROCCO! That is where the fucking shores of Tripoli are. What the hell was I thinking?

As a result of my gaffe, our 10 points for answering correctly were erased from the board and our lead evaporated to nothing. I felt awful and wondered what the quiz bowl overtime rules were. Then, the enormous kick in the gut was delivered as the host announced that we would also be deducted 10 points for the incorrect answer. In a flash we had lost. We had lost and it was completely my fault.

I am certain now that this event has affected my personality when trivia games are introduced in to a room. It is the only opportunity I ever have to redeem myself for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. Numerous times throughout my life, I have said the wrong thing at the wrong time, but never with such swift, cold and painful results. My teammates forgave me. My parents comforted me. I could never do either for myself.

My life has turned out quite well and I am a generally happy individual. I can live with never having played second base for the Detroit Tigers as I dreamed when I was 10. It will be okay that I never acted in a Quentin Tarantino film, ran for public office or wrote the great American novel. Fucking up the lightning round of a local PBS affiliate quiz show and costing myself and my teammates a free education will never be okay.  And that is why, when we play trivial pursuit, I will destroy you. It will be because I have no choice.

Author's Addendum: I hate the film Magnolia, not just because of the stupid frogs at the end, but because William H. Macy's failed quiz kid character strikes too close to home.

Hugo, A Brief Review

Hugo (2011)
Directed by Martin Scorcese

Like almost any other well versed moviegoer in America, when I heard Martin Scorcese was making a film adaptation of a children's novel, I nearly fell out of my chair. The simple idea of imagining a film for kids from the guy who brought you Taxi Driver, Bill The Butcher and Goodfellas seemed hilariously wrong. Even beyond that though, the sensibilities of a man who crafts harsh and often stark cinema seemed completely at odds with a story of magic and surrealism in post World War One Paris as seen by tweens. If it takes a humble man to admit he was wrong, I stand before you a very humble critic with his hands pulled from his pockets only to applaud this film.

Hugo works very well because of how it looks, how it's played and how it's told, but mostly it works because it is a love story about the history of early movie making from a man who has had a lifelong love of the movies. Scorcese's ease with the camera and his gentle touch here completely belie the style we have come to associate so closely with him. The tough and gritty streets of the criminal underbelly are forsaken for a child's enthusiasm and search for his purpose while Scorcese beautifully captures the magic of childhood discovery.

This story is an adventure of a young man in many of the most conventional senses. It combines a detective story, a tragic family past and a mysterious man with a haunted past. Somehow though, all of these tropes never seem trite or contrived or obvious; they simply are the facts of our tale and they are utterly compelling. Complex films that combine history and a specific time and place made with children in mind and from a child's view are a rare thing. Films like Hugo and Finding Neverland trust their audience enough to allow for the story to be languid when it suits the narrative, but they also plant their allure in the history of its characters and the glory of their quest without impatiently hinting at the inevitable payoff. In other words they are more patient than most films, evn films made ostensibly for adults. Yes, Transformers, I am looking in your direction.

If you don't know what this film is about, don't find out. The payoff and the twists the story takes will be so much more worth it than if I lay them out brick by brick for you now. Go to this film and be surprised at what a love story can be in the hands of Mr. Scorcese. Go to learn about the beginnings of the art form you are watching at that moment and go because this is a lovely and genuine movie. Really, just go.

Hugo Trailer