No alligators, no Phantoms, no Morlocks, but still pretty cool: Slate’s Rose George takes a trip deep into London’s 30,000 mile-strong sewer system.
Also at Slate, Ron Rosenbaum, whom I’ve kicked around a bit here before, writes about the new 9/11 docudrama United 93 in part through the lens of George Romero’s Dead films, specifically likening terrorists to zombies and the world that terrorists would like to usher in to the world of the Dead. This is the sort of thing that’s gotten me into hot water in the past, so I won’t do the same; I will say that to me, part of the appeal of the zombie genre is zombies reflect in symbolic form the aspects of human nature that terrorists embody in actual form.
Jason Adams of My New Plaid Pants waxes rhapsodic on Michelle Pfeiffer, specifically Michelle Pfeiffer in Scarface. Pfeiffer is a person who seems to just keep getting better and better looking, to the point where I think in a few years she’ll turn invisible, like a dog whistle blowing in a register human ears can’t pick up.
Jog the Blog has posted an index for his reviews of all 29 issues now available of Grant Morrison’s Seven Soldiers project. Seven Soldiers is easily the most ambitious superhero comics project in recent memory and well worth your time to investigate; so too is Jog’s writing.
Jason Bell at One Louder sings the praises of Jonathan Demme’s beautiful and riveting video for New Order’s “Perfect Kiss,” one of my all-time favorite music videos. I love the contrast between the emotional urgency of the music and lyrics and the understated simplicity of the performance and cinematography. I just made it sound a lot more boring than it really is, though–click on the link and check out the clip from the video. And watch VH1 Classic’s The Alternative regularly–they show the video at least once every two or three weeks.
Finally–and there’s just no way to transition to this appropriately–terrible news: I was stunned to read today that the wife of Matt Zoller Seitz, the blogger and film critic whose writings on The Sopranos I’ve come to absolutely love, has died suddenly at age 35. Please go and offer Matt and his young children your condolences; information on where cards can be sent and donations can be made may be found there as well.