I love to take taxis, even though they often make me car sick (more on that later in the week!). I guess I got this idea that taxis are the best mode of New York transportation from watching too much Sex & The City back in the day…they’re not, not at all. But I still want one…all the time, espeically when it’s really cold…or really hot….
I was invited by Chronological Snobbery to add a post to his week long coverage of Zero Effect’s ten year anniversary.
It’s a great idea, and I’m honored to be included. I had seen Zero Effect on video some ten years ago as I worked in a video store back in those days and videos were both easy to come by and delightfully free. I remember liking the film and when asked to participate in Chronological Snobbery’s coverage I thought it would be interesting to watch it again some ten years later and see how it held up.
Several things really stand out in watching this film again, some of them having to do directly with the movie and some of them not. The first and least movie related is the fact that I actually had difficulty concentrating on the film because my brain was filling up with so many memories of the time in my life when I had last watched this film. I was young (blissfully young!), and overall much happier, if only because I was in art school and enjoying the freedom and excitement of academia in general. It was before credit card debt, and nine to nine jobs, and all that crap that comes with ‘the real world’. Of course I paint the picture of happiness now, but then of course I could not see the forest for the trees and was often miserable. Miserable I wasn’t dating, miserable that I never seemed to have enough money, miserable because I wanted to move forward with my life. What an idiot. Hindsight is always 20/20 they say. Anyway, I must confess that these thoughts partially overshadowed the movie watching experience, and made it difficult for me to concentrate as much as I should have liked.
As for the movie itself, it held up pretty well, in that the story was still interesting and engaging and the “mystery” aspect was better than many you see these days with all their forced twists and turns. I was struck immediately with the memory of how much I used to like Ben Stiller, and he is good here, good like he was before he totally oversaturated the market with himself and all his neurotic over the top performances. I really like him here as the straight man.
Unfortunately, almost immediately, I also remember how much I dislike Bill Pullman in general, and ten years has made me like him even less. It’s not that he turns in a bad performance as much as the fact that I just don’t like the guy. I can’t help but think how much better the movie could have been with a different Daryl Zero. What about a young Philip Seymour Hoffman?
This issue with Bill Pullman becomes an even larger problem in that I found romantic relationship to be the least interesting aspect of the film, which is too bad. I found Kim Dickens an appealing and unique leading lady (if in looks alone) and the romance is well worked into the film, it’s integral to the plot and to the development of the Zero character, but I was pretty bored with it, there was no chemistry between these two leads, and I found myself much more interested in the idea of such a brilliant detective and how he works, but even that ends up being a let down, both because Pullman is so unlikeable to me, and also because for all his “crazy genius neurosis” he pretty easily assimilates as evidenced in his relationship with Dickens character. It seems like a lot of smoke and no fire in the end.
Zero Effect was made into television show in 2002, which I never saw, actually it’s unclear from IMDB if ANYONE has seen it as it claims NBC never picked it up. A shame, as it starred Alan Cummings, who in my mind would be a far superior Daryl Zero, as well as Krista Allen from HBO’s Unscripted. The Zero Effect is actually a great idea for a series as the mystery element is an interesting hook for a weekly show and the Zero character could be very well developed and explored more throughly in a weekly show than in a brief two hour film.
The Good: The concept, the mystery, the script, and Ben Stiller’s performance.
The Bad: The romance aspect of the film and the chemistry between Pullman and Dickens.
The Ugly: Bill Pullman, I just don’t like anything about the guy.
In the end, I find that I had previously given Zero Effect 3 stars in my netflix ratings, and after re-viewing it I decide to let the rating stand. I know I had a lot of complaints, but the interesting story and well written script keep it above the 2 star mark.
Sorry guys. I wouldn’t really say I was as much out of ideas this week as time. I was sick Monday and Tuesday (and another minor back injury – yea!) and then I’ve been doing some work at home, including today, so I had to hurry up and finish this comic and get it up while I had access to a scanner (long story). End of story, it’s rushed and I apologize. But I liked the joke, and we all know that my comics are more about the words than the pictures anyway, so just read it with your eyes closed or something…um, no, that probably won’t work out either.
Also, what do we think of “Rabid Lamb Comics”. It’s an image I’ve always liked, the mean and the sweet tangled together in a gross little picture of, well, probably gross…which is kinda like me when I think about it…mean and sweet, hopefully not gross, although to some probably I’m gross…okay, WAY off topic at this point. Anyway, Adam’s pretty into it, but I’m not sold yet.
Thoughts?
Okay, okay, it wasn’t really THIS dramatic, it wasn’t the end of the world, but it sure was a bummer. We only missed probably the last 60 seconds or so, but it was a pretty intense ending and it’s lame to have to rent it just to watch 60 seconds or download it or whatever. Annoying. You know what was also super annoying about this movie? The “relationship” between Redford and Dunaway. LAME! The whole movie was pretty good and interesting, but I just hate it when movies try to wedge in a romance where none belongs. This was one of the most unbelievable “romances” I’ve ever seen in a movie. If not for that factor I think I really would have enjoyed the movie, instead it gets a barely 3 stars.
Onto more important issues. I need a name for this strip. As you can see in my title I’m playing with some ideas, but I’m not loving anything I’ve thought of. Anyone have any great ideas? I’d kind of like to keep the words “journal comic” out of the title but otherwise I’m pretty open to anything…bring on the suggestions!
Thanks!
He REALLY hates this issue.
If you don’t have access to the New York Times, you can read all the chapters of Clowe’s Mr. Wonderful, here. It is so worth it, the stuff is brilliant.
Yes, drinking water cures everything you know, even severed arms.
Good weekend everyone?
Following through on my mind-numbing research, I submitted five queries for my book this week.
Three via email, as it was the “preferred method” for those agencies, one via regular mail, and one with their “online form” which is that agency’s preferred method. I hated using the online form, however I must confess that it does eliminate a lot of the mistakes it is so easy to make when querying.
Five queries still isn’t exactly a wide net, and it only brings my total since August 2007 to eight, but I figured I’d track them here (much like my short fiction submissions) so you could all share in the anguish (lucky you!).
Of the 8 Queries, they languish in these stages:
My first query, we’ll call it Query #1 (shocker), received a request for a partial. Partial was then rejected within about two months, with a few helpful and some not so helpful comments. Agent did nicely leave the door open for me to send my graphic novel when complete (or further along) which is great.
#2, submitted via regular mail almost three months ago. This agency claims to respond to queries within 3 -4 weeks. Hmm. Did I get lost in the mail? Did they hate it so much that it’s pinned up on some “laughing board” (I made that up…but it totally exists in my paranoid mind). Is it just a mistake…should I re-query? Ah, questions with no answers – love them!
#3, submitted via email 3 weeks ago, no reponse as yet. This agency does not promise to get back to you if they’re not interested. Sigh.
#4, #5, and #6 submitted via email this week. Of those, #6 got back to me within 24 hours with an incredibly nice note and a request for a partial (first five chapters) and bio etc. Nothing yet on #4 and #5.
#7 submitted via regular mail this week to a HUGE agency which I have little hope of cracking.
#8 submitted via “online agency form” this week, which was rejected within, I think, 18 hours. Sarcastic Joy!
So there it is. Of eight agency queries, two have requested partials, one never got back to me, one rejected me immediately, and four are still out there simmering. It’s hard to feel too badly about this when I’ve gotten two hits, out of four…that’s 50% and that’s pretty damn good. If the other four come back as rejections though those numbers will not look so great.
It’s also sad to realize that my strength may in fact be in query letter writing and not in novel writing. *big sigh*
I spend a lot of time thinking about this thing “getting hit on”. It’s an odd thing. Don’t get me wrong I don’t mind the obvious compliment that it is, in a way, but it also often makes me (and I’m sure other women) uncomfortable. And I also don’t really understand what the point is. Do men really think a woman is going to respond to “mmm. you are hotttt.” I mean, even if we wanted to respond, what on earth would we say? What are men hoping we’ll say? Are they just saying it for themselves? Is it a power play? Is it to make them feel like real men…to validate themselves in some way and it has nothing to do with us? Is it because they’re desperately hoping for a date and have no idea how to go about getting one (hint, gentlemen this is NOT the way). The whole thing confuses the hell out of me.
So I wanted to do a cartoon about Adam dancing since it’s so great, but Adam alone is responsible for the stripper pole direction it took…his suggestion for the cartoon…and it was a great one. Although my favorite panel is the second one, with him sort of doing ‘the robot’. He’s a great dancer, it’s a shame that nobody will ever really know it…
