"TinTin and the Mystery of the Golden Fleece" 1961 film

The original film poster

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3


Part 4


Part 5


Part 6


Part 7


Part 8


Part 9

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The Adventures of TinTin "The Secret of the Unicorn" by Hergé

Ah I always do things half-assed backwards.  Ok, so this is the first part of the two part story and I sort of gave a review for the second part.   What's amazing and interesting is how much research Hergé did for his stories.  Besides clothing, he had a good eye for architecture as well as weapons, automobiles, etc.  These young reader editions all have additional information regarding the story - and overall its very interesting. Similar to a bonus on a DVD set.   The world of TinTin is very very rich.

The narrative doesn't impress me that much, but the detail work of his Hergé's illustrations is really impressive.  And as I mentioned before I am really attracted to his drawings.  And I think I got that bug ever since I was a child.

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The Adventures of TinTin/"Red Rackham's Treasure" by Hergé, plus Documentary on TinTin

I have known TinTin all my life and i must have read the series as a very very young tot, or my mom read them to me.   For the past 40 something years I have been avoiding re-reading the books, while at the same time being very attracted to the author/artist Hergé's artwork.  in fact I am totally nuts about it.

It is fascinating that Hergé did a remarkable amount of research for his narrative/artwork.  He made models of locations/ships, and in many ways they are sort of like little films or at the very least visual film treatments - but alas, that doesn't really matter, because the work really does it best on the printed page.  "Red Rackham's Treasure" is the second TinTin book, and my understanding is that it is sort of attached to the first adventure "The Secret of the Unicorn" which I will read next.  Nevertheless "Red Rakham's Treasure" stands up on its own, and all the eccentric characters are fully exposed and explained.  What we have here is a boy's adventure,  but with very well dressed characters.  And that alone is worth the attention, and seeing how Hergé works and thinks, this has to be an important aspect to the aesthetic of TinTin.

This book as well as the others I will read shortly are young reader's edition's, which is exactly (at least I have been told that) the same as the original, except the images are bigger, and each title has an additional 20 pages of bonus material, which is quite interesting.

Down below is a documentary on Hergé and his invention TinTin.


"TinTin & I Documentary Part 1


"TinTin & I" Documentary Part 2


"TinTin & I" Documentary Part 3


"TinTin & I" Documentary Part 4


"TinTin & I" Documentary Part 5

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"My Friend Dahmer" by Derf Backderf

A graphic memoir by Derf Backderf who went to high school school with serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. What we get are snapshots of Dahmer's life before he totally answered to his darker side. Yet, clearly he was on that road to mayhem perhaps all his life. One is never sure, because I think everyone has a Dahmer they went to school with. And that is the quiet shock of the narrative, at least for me.

There are two worlds that are expressed in this 'graphic novel.' One by Backderf, who seemed to have been charmed with a good family life and friends, and then there is Dahmer, a tortured soul with no friends and a disturbing family set-up. The thing is the problems he had at home is not that different from millions whose family are going through divorce or drug related problems. Some can just pick up the pieces and go on, but Dahmer can't go on.

Dahmer basically went through school totally wasted on alcohol. & to amuse the school population he pretended to be spastic. Which was obviously a role he took to his heart on many levels. The disturbing part of the narrative is that no one picked up on his problems or worse, they didn’t care or bother to think about it. The title is miss-leading because Backderf is not a friend of Dahmer . He knew him causally at school, and like his other classmates saw him as an object to use or have fun with. Which is typical of teenagers in that social setting, and Backderf doesn't run away from that role in his teenage years. But clearly the problem with Dahmer was obvious and the fact that his community didn't see it coming is the shocking aspect of the narrative.  

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"Bad Vibes" by Luke Haines

Britpop, as a movement, had a huge affect on maybe a handful of people - mostly those who lived in North London.  But saying that there were some great bands that came out of it, who without a doubt is Pulp.  On the other hand I am not sure if Luke Haines was one of the 'movement's bright lights, but for sure a great personality.  And like most great personalities they usually have talent on the page.  Therefore "Bad Vibes" is a splendid trip to the underbelly of British pop music world circ. 1990's.  While Haines has distaste for the pop world, one suspects he also has great admiration for the power structure of the pop world as well.  If for nothing else then to rebel against its limited power and vision.  
And as for Haines' music, I only know Black Box Recorder, which is pretty good (hardcore) British pop.  Another music figure who delivers to the medium of the book.  Very nice.

http://youtu.be/FP-2VLQEv4c
Perfect pop chorus.

http://youtu.be/Mm_W4r0Fw5g

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L'écume des jours by Boris Vian

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Great David Bowie Footage 1997

Great Bowie circ. 1997.

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