Cool Things I Like

In no particular order:

 -The Mighty Boosh

I have yet to see a TV show as clever and creative as The Mighty Boosh, which has sadly been on hiatus since 2007. I've always had an interest in productions with creative uses of special effects, and The Boosh continues the tradition of special effects pioneers such as Melies and Harryhausen with its imaginative use of limited sets and process shots. It's the sort of programme that never gets made here in the US, and almost never in the UK, its homeland. Were it simply visually appealing, however, I probably wouldn't list this as my all-time favorite show, but the writing is every bit as clever as the props and costumes. This show has some of the best comic writing I've ever seen in that every comic bit has a payoff. I've seen plenty of imitators that attempt to mimic the supposedly "random" humor of The Boosh, but their writing never matches the intricacy of their inspiration. If there's a throwaway gag or line near the beginning of an episode, odds are good that it will actually turn up and prove vital to the story at some point. This is a show that has encouraged me to step up my own game writing-wise and to never assume that my creations are "good enough".

-Mother 2/Earthbound

As a lifelong fan of videogames, I'd be remiss if I didn't include at least one game on this list, so I've decided to go with Earthbound, also known under its Japanese title "Mother 2". While there's been a lot of ballyhoo lately over the recognition of games as an artform, lately due to more abstract, pretentious games that are often only marginally interactive, I feel that Earthbound is one of the earliest great examples of games as Pop Art. It's a fantastic piece of approachable, mainstream art that engages the participant on an emotional level without ever alienating them in its presentation. While playing through it again recently, I was amazed by how well it has held up over the decades since its release. While the story and pixel art presentation may seem superficially simple, they give it a certain timelessness that makes the overall product more inviting and approachable, allowing the player to engage in its unexpectedly moving content, which gets increasingly spiritual as it reaches the end. Significantly, this is the only game I can think of that has ever actually made me tear up. 

-Sparks 

Sparks is a band displaced in time, a group that never found the mainstream popularity they deserve, yet has still managed to carve out their place in musical history by silently influencing countless creatives who follow in their wake. I first discovered Sparks as a longtime fan of They Might Be Giants, and I was initially shocked by how similar their music was, despite being separated by about a decade and a half. I can understand why they never found mainstream success, as their lyrical content is often a bit too unusual or morbid for traditional tastes, but I find myself constantly impressed by the thoughtfulness and depth of their songs. While their songs often explore humorous subject matter, I feel that to label them a comedy act would do their music a great disservice. Rather, I consider them to fall more into the tradition of Lear and other such wordsmiths, as they use their wordplay and wit to take the edge off of what would otherwise be very painful and cynical material. They walk the fine line between clever-good and clever-self-indulgent with masterful skill, and I find myself amazed by how they've maintained consistent quality and evolved musically over a forty year plus career.
-Philip K. Dick

I regret to say that I've gotten much worse at reading over the years, and these days it's rare that I actually read a novel through to completion. It seems that the one author whose work never fails to engage me is Dick, who has proven to be the supreme pop culture prophet of our age. As the scripture says, no prophet is accepted in his own country, and it's only now that we can see the far-reaching implications of his science fiction. It seems that every headline in the science and technology section of the newspaper or magazine hints at some sort of detail from his work, which likely seemed like paranoid delusions at the time, but have increasingly been proven to be quite prescient. It's been interesting to see the interest that Hollywood has taken in his work in the decades following his death and how they often fail to do it proper justice. Dick's work was true science fiction, cautionary tales about the omnipresence of technology in our age, and most adaptations reduce it to mere high-concept action pieces. I find his work constantly inspiring for the way in which he observes our relationship with technology and considers the far-reaching implications, and I would someday like to create an adaptation of his work.

-Mystery Science Theatre 3000

There is no other TV show that I find more inspiring than MST3K. Since the movies they feature on the show are typically of extremely low quality, I tend to find them reassuring. If the goofballs that made these movies could get a feature made, then why not me? While I usually find the jokes the show's hosts make to be very funny, I typically find myself more captivated by the strangeness of the films themselves. In mainstream or highbrow cinema, we often find ourselves limited to a series of rules as to what is or isn't acceptable onscreen. In the trashy or wrongheaded movies shown on MST3K, however, you'll find nearly every rule of cinema broken, and it can be quite exhilarating. Sometimes the movies can be a chore to sit through, but just as often they're a revealing look into an outsider's perspective on the world.

-Terry Gilliam's Brazil

When people ask me what my favorite film is, my default answer is Brazil. While I'm not sure how accurate that assertion may be, I think I can pinpoint it as the single film that changed my perspective on cinema and what is possible in the motion picture medium. After having grown up with conventional films, watching Brazil was like taking the blinders off my eyes. Gilliam may have a litany of influences, yet he makes films like no one else, for better or for worse. I know I'm not alone in declaring Brazil to be his greatest success, but every time I watch it I find something new to appreciate, some small detail that may have eluded me beforehand. His movies are often like his animations in the way he crams little notes and doodles into every corner of the screen. It's a great form of world-building that few directors have executed in a way I find comparably impressive. I also admire the film for its inventive use of miniatures and matte paintings, which seem to be a lost art today. It has a particular look that may pay homage to classics such as Metropolis, yet it winds up being completely original.


-Whisper of the Heart

For my money, there is no greater living filmmaker than Hayao Miyazaki, and while he didn't exactly direct Whisper of the Heart, his fingerprints are all over it. I hold great admiration for all of his films, but Whisper occupies a special place in my heart. I've always liked how his films often contain minimalistic plots with little or no conflict, yet manage to be completely engaging based on the authenticity of their characters. There are never clear-cut villains in Miyazaki pictures, and Whisper is an exemplary example of this trend. American-made high school stories tend to follow the John Hughes model of the young protagonist vs. the jock or principal, but this Japanese take focuses more on a young woman's own uncertainties regarding her decisions for the future. I probably like this movie so much because I discovered it as I lay at a crossroads in my own life, and therefore related to the protagonist, but I find that I still enjoy it no matter what circumstances I watch it under. It's a beautiful, sincere, understated masterpiece.

-Dazzle Ships

Dazzle Ships, by British pop duo Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, was the first album I listened to that made me realize the power of the LP format. Most albums I'd listened to previously could be summed up as "a collection of songs", but Dazzle Ships was united by a theme, exploring concepts of fear and alienation against the backdrop of the Cold War. Half of the tracks are fairly conventional yet still engagingly unique pop songs, whereas the rest of the album is made up of samples of radio chatter and experimental soundscapes. The result is an utterly engaging, occasionally terrifying glimpse at an era in world history that continues to haunt us to this day. 

-One Froggy Evening

I grew up watching Looney Tunes on TV every Saturday, and to this day I don't believe there's any other animation that I enjoy as much. One Froggy Evening is a particular standout from Chuck Jones' career, and its singing and dancing frog never fails to make me smile. Sometimes, art doesn't need to serve any grand purpose other than to entertain, and this cartoon does a bang-up job of entertaining. I suppose I also enjoy it partly because of its undercurrent of melancholy, as its hapless protagonist constantly tries to capitalize on his discovery yet is foiled at every turn. I guess I like my sugar with a bit of lemon in it.

-The films of Beat Takeshi

 

Speaking of lemons, I doubt I've seen another filmmaker as nihilistic as Beat Takeshi. I can honestly say I've never seen anyone who makes films quite like him, and for that his movies fascinate me. While he works with fairly consistent subject matter, primarily making films about yakuza, he never seems to fall into the genre conventions of gangster pictures. His movies rarely have exciting action scenes or shootouts, and typically contain sudden scenes of gruesome violence almost like a punchline with no setup. Death comes suddenly and swiftly in his universe, with little regard for whom it may affect. His films have a poetic feel to them, with uncomplicated camera staging and infrequent but beautiful music (coincidentally by Joe Hisaishi and Keichi Suzuki, who provided music for Miyazaki and Earthbound, respectively). While his movies might not be easy to watch, I can sincerely say there's nothing quite like them, and I love them for it.