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No, we're not pregnant. I didn't realize the subtext of this illustration until I'd fnished the weekly site design. His idle apple-eating art-mag perusing days are about to end, it seems.
When faith in the Easter Bunny goes, it takes Santa with it. I think they might believe in Santa longer if they weren’t asked to believe that a large rabbit enters the house and hides eggs. (G)Nat has been thinking on these matters, and has concluded that I hid the eggs – and that’s okay. Her friend said she saw her Mom and Dad putting presents under the tree last year. She seems okay with all this; there’s almost a sense of relief, I think. It’s the uncertainly of belief that troubles you, not the side on which you land. Frankly, I was surprised she still entertained any faith in the Easter Bunny. I never encouraged it, and she’s a pretty rational kid. I think they believe a year longer than they want to; it’s a comfort, an old toy, a link back to things that already start to seem gauzy and pale.
Doesn’t mean I won’t put out eggs every year, because I will. What kid would ever want to wake and find that Mom and Dad just didn’t bother?
So I’m standing in line at Best Buy, just trying to buy a video without a great deal of human interaction, and I have the luck to stand next to Mr. Chatty. “That’s a good movie,” he says. “Did you see the original?”
Well, that’s someone else’s blog entry, but it’s not mine. Here’s mine:
So I’m standing in line at Best Buy in a good chipper mood, waiting to buy a battery, and the guy ahead of me has “I Am Legend,” which I’d seen the night before. “That’s a good movie,” I said. “Did you see the original?”
He gives me a curious look. “There’s an original?”
“Omega Man, with Charlton Heston,” I said.
“Who?”
“Charlton Heston.”
“I already seen this one anyway. Now I’m going to go pop it in the player and see it in Hiiigh Def.”
I looked at the version he was buying: standard def. Well, let him have his illusions. When it was my turn I asked the clerk if he’d seen the original, and he said he hadn’t even seen the new one, but everyone was buying it today. I looked to the fellow behind me: bleary-eyed guy with two day’s worth of grey beard. He was buying “I Am Legend.” He also looked old enough to remember the original, so I asked him if he’d seen “The Omega Man.” He looked confused and shook his head.
When I left the store I thought “Shutup, you,” and I wish I’d meant it, but no, I had to tell the clerk at Borders that his strange earpiece made him look like a Borg. He asked if I had a members reward card. One of these days I’m going to say “yes” and refuse to give it to him, or just ignore everything else he says. Oh, you mean a members reward for this store? I have one for the cheese counter at the grocery store. They have free tastings on Sundays. Do you have free tastings?
I did watch “I Am Legend,” and found it an interesting companion to the ur-70s post-plague precedessor, “The Omega Man.”
The original:
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Chuck Heston driving around LA shooting at zombies: that ought to be a recipe for fun, especially when the zombies are post-religious anti-technology photosensitive chancrous albinos:
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The fellow on the left is Anthony Zerbe, of course; the fellow on the right has not entirely abandoned the old ways, because he refers to Charlton Heston’s fortified redoubt as a “Honky Paradise.”
It certainly is well-stocked: half his lair consists of glassware and liquor.
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For entertainment, he dresses up in a ruffled shirt and a crushed-velvet jacket and plays chess with a bust og some dead roman fellow borrowed from a museum.
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If you're wondering why I think it's the original version, that's because it is: both "Omega Man" and "I Am Legend were based on the same book, and the character's name is the same: Robert Neville. Aside from that, they're quite different movies. The plague survivors in "Omega" are dedicated to expunging all knowledge from civilization, and the survivors in "Legend" are fast-zombies a la "24 Days Later." There are a few nods to the original, though: "Omega" features a scene where Chuck meets some well-preserved mannikens:
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In "Legend," Neville has set them up himself in a video store he frequents; it's a way to pretend he's still part of a vanished civilization. It's the least convincing part of the story, but if you know the original, you expect one of them to move.
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HIs digs are less swank, and he has companionship: a dog. (One of the great dog characters of recent cinema, incidentally.)
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I have no problem giving away the last shot of "Omega Man" - you've had your entire life to watch the movie, friend. Like most Serious Important Movies of the 70s, the hero dies. In fact he dies in a crucifixion posture, having literally shed his blood for the world:
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The vial of his vaccine is entrusted with an "Easy Rider"-type countercultural rebel, man, who takes The Children into the wilds of nature to start again. I won't give away the ending to "Legend" - but this Neville is active, not passive, and the difference between the two speaks a bit to the difference between the 70s, and now. It's a heartening sign. Religion, incidentally, was absent in "Omega," but it's present in "Legend" - not in a heavy-handed way, some of the speeches aside. The last shot says enough on the matter. All in all, a much better film - it's just remarkable how they made New York City look deserted. The Flatiron Building:
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Times Square. This is a first, I think: they inserted an ad for a movie geeks have been buzzing about for a while, a Batman vs. Superman film:
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And then there's this:
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The sign for the Hotel Wellington tells you where it is. The "Ray's PIzza" sign is real. Must have given Ray a kick. Or a particular sense of dread.
New Matchbook, of course. See you at buzz.mn!
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