Under Review
This week: Gay Legos, spandex pants, a graphic novel, and more.
By Campus Progress
April 10, 2009
The Beats: Why, yes, it is quite graphic. (Courtesy Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
BOOK
The Beats: A Graphic History
Paul Buhle (Editor)
Farrar, Straus & Giroux
Released: April 2009
I have a reasonably serious obsession with the Beat Generation, and so I leapt at the chance to devour the latest literature on the subject, The Beats: A Graphic History, edited by Paul Buhle, the day it was published. It’s a series of essays about the Beat writers (not just Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William Burroughs, but more peripheral figures as well), told in graphic novel form. These take the forms of biographies, histories, and sometimes even the occasional episode of literary criticism.
It’s great to see a revolutionary movement presented in a revolutionary format, but the actual content is ultimately disappointing. The biographies are too one-sided, managing to paint even egotism, substance abuse, violence, and pedophilia in a positive light. The speech bubbles contain a mix of authentic quotations and inane fabricated statements, but the fact that they’re rendered in the same way could confuse the reader as to which is which. While this book could be a basic introduction to the Beats for a reader not previously familiar with their work, the oversimplification of some very complicated lives renders it more akin to a children’s history of the first Thanksgiving or the American Revolution—all whitewashed folklore and no historical substance.
This is most certainly not a children’s book, however. It is unabashedly forthright in its presentation of sex and is riddled with obscenity. This isn’t a criticism—it’s refreshing to hear the sex lives of a number of gay and bisexual writers frankly discussed, given how many biographies of Beat writers gloss over the way that they countered the sexual norms of their period. However, I’d happily trade in some of the sexual content of The Beats in favor of a story rooted more in facts than in folklore.
3 out of 10 angelheaded hipsters
-Emily Rutherford
Rick: The innuendo was this thick. (Courtesy Logo Network)
DVD
Rick & Steve: The Happiest Gay Couple in All the World
Logo Network
Released: March 2009
You’ve probably never seen Rick & Steve: The Happiest Gay Couple in All the World, which happens to be the funniest show about gay and lesbian Legos on television today. Well, to be fair, Rick and Steve is the only show about gay and lesbian Legos that is or ever has been on television, but that doesn’t mean it’s not rip-roaringly funny. It is, and you’re in luck, because the complete second season has just been released on DVD.
An unlikely cross between Team America: World Police and Will & Grace, Rick & Steve first premiered on the LGBT-focused Logo Network in 2007. The show follows the lives of three gay and lesbian couples living in the fictional town of West Lahunga Beach. Fictional, of course, because everything on the show—from its characters to its environs—is created using Lego-like blocks and stop-motion animation. (The show doesn’t use actual Legos because the toy company threatened to sue the creators if they used their products.)
Fair warning: This show is not for the easily offended. Its best storylines and one-liners play with stereotypes about gays and other minorities. Like, for example, the one time Chuck, who is paralyzed from the left testicle down because of a car accident he was in immediately after finding out he is HIV-positive, proclaims, “If God was Jewish, the Bible would probably be more entertaining.” Offensive? Sure. Funny? Of course.
On the one hand, it’s important to recognize that shows using stereotypes to elicit laughs—ones like Rick & Steve, Chappelle’s Show, and Southpark—run the danger of desensitizing their audiences to harmful misrepresentations of minorities. And even in this day and age, stereotypes can have deadly consequences. But, on the other hand, sometimes it’s nice to tell the P.C. police to take the night off, pop in a DVD, and laugh at same-sex Legos going down on each other. It’s just natural.
9 out of 10 well-coiffed Legos
-Rob Anderson
Kings: Not just a card game anymore. (Courtesy NBC)TV
Kings
NBC
Premiered: March 2009
Kings is an ambitious show, so a few mediocre episodes are to be expected. It’s set in what appears to be an alternate reality where the world is populated by rival kingdoms, rather than nation-states. The actual plot is based off of the story of David and Goliath. There are some differences, of course. In the first episode, David (Christopher Egan) slays a Goliath (one of the tanks of Gath, a kingdom at war with Gilboa, where all the show’s heroes are from). The King Saul figure is King Silas Benjamin, played masterfully by Ian McShane. McShane’s performance is so good that it almost offsets that of the irritating and unskilled—but fair-haired and handsome—Christopher Egan.
The entire cast seems to be split between very good actors and actresses and very bad ones, two of the good ones being Sebastian Stan, who plays the Crown Prince Jack Benjamin, and his mother, the queen, played by Susanna Thompson. Stan and Thompson, like McShane, play their characters dexterously, but their performance stand in sharp contrast to the horrific performance of others, like Allison Miller as Princess Michelle, David’s one-dimensional love interest.
The show is still a bit shaky: One minute it’s riveting, the next minute it’s better than Ambien. Getting the kinks out might mean making McShane the star and getting rid of David’s character all together. It’s hard to imagine anyone missing him.
7 out of 10 modern-day crowns
-Daniel Strauss
Portland: The right half of Mount Hood represents the city’s employment rate. (Courtesy Portland Chamber of Commerce)CITY
Portland, Oregon
Founded: February 1851
If you are college-aged, moderately cool and can claim a diverse group of friends, you probably know someone in Portland, Oregon. The city sags with the young and the hip. Older people stick to the shadows, nervously looking over their shoulders in anticipation of Logan’s Run-style schemes. A youthful populace isn’t all that sets Portland apart, though. Other perks include limited sprawl, stellar public transportation, and bike lanes on most major roads. Bike lanes! The very idea is alien to my East Coast experience, where bike riding in the city is a contact sport, braved by the foolhardy, environmentally conscious, and drunk.
Better still, the bike lanes and cheap buses take you places you’d actually want to go. Portland boasts a robust downtown including Powell’s Books, a mammoth independent bookstore occupying an entire city block (and it’s unionized, too!). Beer is another Portland specialty, the golden vats of suds at Deschutes Brewery typifying the city’s alcoholic splendor. I won’t bore you with the details, as I can’t tell hop from malt, but the drinks were tasty.
Other delightfully unique Portland businesses include
Movie Madness, with its vast collection and film paraphernalia, including the knife from Psycho and a chair that nestled Humphrey Bogart’s butt in Casablanca. Across town, an
elementary school has been converted into a cinema/bar/soaking pool/hotel/venue, which is about as bizarre and wonderful as it sounds.
Before you pack your bags, consider this: The weather is miserable. My weekend in Portland was graced by sunshine, but the fevered look in the eyes of Portland residents as they swarmed outdoors suggested such an occurrence to be the exception, not the rule. But more intimidating is unemployment. The recession has hit Portland hard, with the joblessness rate exploding over the past year from 4.8 percent to 9.8 percent, and with so many young people concentrated in one area competition is intense.
10 out of 10 underqualified, overeducated hipsters
-Jake Blumgart
Pants: No, showing them from different angles doesn’t help. At all. (Courtesy American Apparel)Fashion
Printed Spandex Jersey Harem Pants
American Apparel
Released: Spring 2009
Wow, American Apparel has really outdone itself. After the sexual harassment lawsuits and the “plus-sized” clothing line for men only, I thought my opinion of the clothing company couldn’t get any lower. Boy, did I speak too soon. New styles for spring this year include Printed Spandex Jersey Harem Pant from their racism-inspired “Afrika” line that will bring you right back to the “U Can’t Touch This” days of the 1990s and the glory of MC Hammer.
The wafer-thin tween model pretty much looks like she’s wearing an oversized diaper. The “Harem pants” feature not only a six-inch waistband, but also a “loose-fitting on top; snug around calves” design that is sure to lure in those skinny hipsters. Harem pants come in “White Black Africa” and just plain “Black.” Michael Jackson’s “Black or White” song ain’t got shit on these pants for racial commentary. The marketing department deftly evades racism by photographing a white model in Black Harem pants. Sometimes American Apparel makes my head want to explode.
These special duds are available as an online exclusive for the dignity-defying price of $42.00 (plus tax, shipping, and handling). They’ve even garnered a five-star review from syzen (the only online review so far), who gushes, “they look soo funky comfy makes me feel like mc hammer again lol.” Well, with an endorsement like that, I don’t know what you’re waiting for.
2 out of 10 Dov Charneys (score upped for rantability factor)
-Kay Steiger
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