Justin Pierre: My Favorite Minnesotan

Music, rock music in particular, is one of the few art forms I have a great passion for as a consumer but not as a creator.  I’ve written comics and short stories, directed and performed in my material on stage, and even made some short films but I’ve never been in a band.  The closest I’ve come is performing in musicals, singing songs I didn’t much care for.  The exception was 1776 but I couldn’t even hit my harmony part in “The Egg”.

There are several bands and performers I’ve put on a pedestal starting in high school (Public Enemy, REM, They Might Be Giants, Social Distortion) to college (The Beatles, Green Day, Elvis Costello, The Ramones, The Replacements) and into adulthood (The White Stripes, Ben Folds, Chuck Berry).  I could keep going but once I start lists, it’s hard to stop.

Since late 2008, I’ve been laid off, looking for work, starting my own sales business supporting three clients, getting up to speed as an independent recruiter (with my old client as a partner), continuing to work on being a writer when I grow up, and maintaining the dad/husband thing.

While music has always been important to me, those experiences made it vital to my being.  It’s always playing when I’m working (and not on the phone).  I listed some all-time greats above but there’s an artist I’ve listened to more than any of them in the last four years: Justin Pierre.  Justin is best known as the lead singer and songwriter of Motion City Soundtrack.  He’s also in the band Farewell Continental and is recording with a third, The Company We Keep, right now.  I think he’s trying to beat Jack White in the “How Many Bands Can I Be In?” contest.

I discovered Motion City Soundtrack by accident.  I was flipping through On Demand music videos on my TV and misread their name as “Motor City Soundtrack”.  I hit play thinking they must be a new Detroit group (they’re from Minneapolis).  The song was “LGFUAD”.  The reason the name is spelled in letters is because the “F” stands for a word you can probably guess.

I’m glad I discovered that song first because it’s a good example of the tightrope Pierre walks in his best songs.  This is how it opens:
Let’s get fucked up and die!
I’m speaking figuratively of course.
Like the last time that I committed suicide.
Social suicide. 

I love how he starts with two over-dramatic statements then backs off them right away.  The song is all about insecurity and not being able to find your footing in life.  I’ve been there and remember all-too-well bluffing with fake bravado (“I’m a crazy rebel, but not really”).  Frankly, that’s what most of the songs on that album, Commit This To Memory, are about.  That’s not an uncovered area in popular music, especially during the pop-punk years MCS came up in.  A lot of the post-Green Day bands sang about misery or being screwed up because that’s the template they were filling.  The difference here is Justin seems to be expressing his actual feelings.  There’s an air of authenticity to MCS music missing in many of their peers.

I should also mention, in deference to the entire band, that the music itself is more ambitious too.  Tony Thaxton is a great drummer and very popular with my four-year-old musician-in-training, Evan.  When we got him a little drum set for his birthday, he made sure he was playing with his arms crossed, just like Tony on his YouTube videos.

Motion City Soundtrack has released four albums and their last one, My Dinosaur Life, came out in 2010.  It’s their best and I think it was well-timed with how I felt at the time.  That’s not to say I was going through the exact things the songs describe.  While they cover topics such as devastating splits (“Her Words Destroyed My Planet”), substance abuse (“Delirium”), and being afraid of intimacy (“Stand Too Close”), I had been through heavy self-doubt and the realization I’d spent the last year way too angry.  His experiences are more extreme than mine but the feelings come from the same place.

I hope that doesn’t sound depressing because one of Justin’s saving graces is that his lyrics don’t wallow in their own misery.  He’s not in love with being unhappy (I’m looking at you, Morrissey).  In fact, My Dinosaur Life gives you a sense of someone working for something better, especially the song A Lifeless Ordinary.  That’s why I connected with it as strong as I did.

I think the band is often dismissed by people my age (and, ironically, Justin’s age) as just another pop-punk group.  Their loss.  I’ve heard people complain that we don’t get many albums like Weezer’s Pinkerton anymore but here’s a band working at that level now, especially compared to what Weezer’s done since.

Last year, Justin’s other band, Farewell Continental, released their first full-length album, Hey, Hey Pioneers.  While not a confessional album like My Dinosaur Life, it’s grade-A stuff.  I wrote a review for it last year.  I’m looking forward to hearing what he does with The Company We Keep.  The group’s female lead singer is a Detroiter, so it does come full circle.

As I’ve headed into my mid-thirties (which is what I consider thirty-six and I won’t say late-thirties until I’m thirty-nine and a half), I don’t feel the same level of hero-worship I used to for writers, directors, and musicians.  I am very appreciative to Justin Pierre, though, for giving some crazy years a solid soundtrack.

Before Watchmen: The Year’s Biggest Non-Event

If you heard a popping sound  this week, chances are it was the sound of geeky heads exploding over DC Comics’ announcement of their Watchmen prequels, all printed under the banner Before Watchmen.

For those of you outside the comics community, who may know of Watchmen because it’s one of the few series to escape into the non-comics world, this is the equivalent of someone making a sequel to Citizen Kane.  Watchmen is our sacred cow and not just because it’s one of the greatest graphic novels of all time (it is).  What makes Watchmen special is because it was instrumental in pushing the boundaries of what superhero comics could be.  There was nothing like it before its debut and creators have killed themselves to make something like it since.

Alan Moore (the writer) is angry about this.  Alan Moore is always angry but it’s worse when he has a reason.  Dave Gibbons (the artist) gave a weak statement of support with a clear “I really wish you wouldn’t have done this” subtext.

The biggest surprise is the talent they lined up for them.  Two, Brian Azzarello and Darwyn Cooke, are favorites of mine.  Their inclusion gave pause to what would’ve otherwise been an immediate feeling of disgust.  Since then, I’ve read several opinions, pro and con, and have a clear feeling on the subject.

When it comes to the books themselves, I’m indifferent.  It doesn’t matter who is working on them.  Watchmen is a complete work and I have no interest in digging further into its back story.  I don’t mean this to reflect poorly on the talent.  If Darwyn Cooke he has a story to tell about The Minutemen, who am I to tell him he can’t?  Just don’t expect me to buy it.

Here’s what irritates me:

“It’s our responsibility as publishers to find new ways to keep all of our characters relevant,” said DC Entertainment Co-Publishers Dan DiDio and Jim Lee. “After twenty five years, the Watchmen are classic characters whose time has come for new stories to be told. We sought out the best writers and artists in the industry to build on the complex mythology of the original.”

Really?  Hey Dan and Jim, Rorschach isn’t Superman.  He’s not an open-ended character without a complete story who gets reinterpreted over multiple generations to keep him relevant.  We know everything important about him.  His story has a beginning, middle, and end.  He’s a complete creation.  You don’t need to “keep him relevant”, just visible. You’ve done that.  You’ve sold a lot of Watchmen books in the last five years and he’s so interesting people went to the movies to see a so-so interpretation of him.

You know what, though?  I shouldn’t be arguing with their statement.  Why?  Because it’s BS.  Anyone with a brain in their head knows this isn’t the result of a creative impulse.  DC has a bankable property, they don’t need its creators’ permission to use it, and they’re confident they can finally get away with doing this.

I don’t know Brian Azzarello (which might be good because I’d probably annoy the hell out of him) but I have enough respect for him to assume he’s doing this out of a true creative impulse.  But his book wouldn’t be happening at all if not for DC’s desire for a cash grab.

I’m not against said cash grab for moral purposes.  Moore feels DC screwed him on Watchmen and he may be right.  I know they’re not keen on him either.  I’m not interested in reffing a fight between an increasingly bitter man and a bottom-line minded company, even if the man is my favorite writer in any medium.  These things are murkier than many want to acknowledge.

What I’m irritated by is that DC has a lot of momentum right now and a rare chance to grab readers’ attention for almost any project.  They can put great writers and artists to work creating this generation’s Watchmen.  Instead they’re wringing everything they can out of the original.  It runs counter to what they were doing in 1986, when they opened up the potential for sophisticated artistic expression in mainstream comics.

Don’t get me wrong.  I read a lot of DC Comics.  I’m a defender of the New 52 initiative, if not all the individual books.  That’s why I’m so disappointed to see them drop the ball on the follow through.

I won’t be buying these books.  They may turn out to be solid reads but I don’t like what they represent.  I also won’t spend any more time writing or arguing about it online.  Ignoring them is the best way to insure they fade away.  The only exception is if you’re at a book store and you see someone checking out the Watchmen books on the shelf.  We have a responsibility to make sure they know which one is the real thing.

What I’m Reading: All the Rest

Because you demanded it, I’m going through the rest of my comic pull list to share what I’m reading and what I think of each book.  Last night, I covered the mainstream DC books and tonight I’m picking up where I left off with my comics from other publishers (and Vertigo).  Without further ado…

Daredevil
Though I spent last night going over DC superhero titles, this is my favorite superhero book being published.  I love Daredevil but the book had gone over the deep end on its quest to make Matt Murdock more and more miserable.  Along comes Mark Waid with the great idea of making things fun again.  Even better, he does it without stepping on anything that happened before.  And that’s not saying anything about Paolo Rivera’s art, which has been outstanding.  Did I mention the covers?  They’re some of the best I’ve ever seen.  You should be reading this if you already aren’t.

Captain America
Moving along to my other regular Marvel book, this one isn’t at the lofty heights it was two years ago but still manages to tell a good yarn every month.  Ed Brubaker has a talent for making fantastic stories feel down to Earth and I’m a Steve McNiven fan, so there you go.

Criminal/Incognito
Speaking of Ed Brubaker, 2011 saw the end of his latest Incognito series and a new story for Criminal, both with regular cohort Sean Phillips.  While Bad Influences may have not gotten the praise of the previous Incognito story, I still really enjoyed it.  And Criminal?  Last of the Innocents may be its best storyline yet.  These will stay on my pull list as long as these two keep returning to them.

Pigs
This is a new series from Image about a second generation KGB Cuban sleeper cell being re-activated to wreak havoc in the US, despite the Cold War being over.  The problem is a key member has gone native and has no interest in working against his adopted home.  The others aren’t taking no for an answer.  The book is four issues in and off to a strong start.

Buffy, the Vampire Slayer (Season 9)
So far, Whedon and company seem to have learned their lesson from Season 8, which started strong before going off the rails two-thirds of the way in.  They’re keeping things down to Earth and it’s enjoyable watching Buffy adjust to her new status quo.  Let’s hope they can keep it together.

RASL
After finishing the epic that was Bone and having fun with Shazam, Jeff Smith has moved into more adult territory with RASL.  It’s the story of a scientist, turned dimension hopping thief dealing with the consequences of his, and his colleagues’, dabbling in Tesla’s unfinished work.  It’s not the triumph that Bone was but it’s an interesting story and unlike anything else coming out right now.

Hellboy
2011 saw the conclusion of what creator Mike Mignola calls the second phase of the Hellboy story.  At the end of this last series, Hellboy was able to defeat the witch queen Nimue and the Great Dragon but his soul was pulled into hell as a punishment.  The ad at the back of the book promised a new series, Hellboy in Hell, coming in 2012.  Sounds good to me.

Spaceman
This series, by the 100 Bullets team of Azzarello and Risso, is about Orson, a man bioengineered to live on Mars.  That project was scuttled, though, and he spends his days as a scrapper in a flooded out, gloomy future while daydreaming about his adventurous life that should have been.  Things get interesting when he winds up in the middle of a high profile kidnapping case.  The little girl involved is the star of a reality series where poor kids compete to get adopted by a celebrity couple.  Sound a little crazy?  It is but these are two creators who know what they’re doing.  There was complaining when the first issue came out that you couldn’t follow the dialogue, as Orson and his friends speak om a strange slang, but for me it just added to the book’s character.

 

That’s about it for my regular pulls, though I’m catching up on the two Vertigo series The Unwritten and Scalped in their trade collections.  I highly recommend those two.  Scalped doesn’t really take off until the third book but once it does it becomes one of the great all-time crime books.

What I’m Reading: The DC Edition

I started 2011 looking to cut down the number of comic series I bought.  Though there were some titles that scored on a regular basis (like Captain America) there were many more not getting the job done.  The slow start to my business in January forced me to make cuts I probably should have made a while ago.  Away went the Bendis Avengers books, which I liked but hadn’t ever really loved, and several DC books that had been at the brink.

The picture at the end of the year is much different.  This is due to several factors, such as my business getting back to normal, the DC relaunch, and several favorite creators jumping into new titles.  I thought it would be fun to go through my current pull list and what I think of each book.

The big news of the year has been DC’s New 52.  For those of you outside the loop, DC Comics relaunched all of their mainstream books, putting them back to #1 with new continuities (mostly).  It might be early to call whether it was a success or not but I think the results have been mostly positive.  I’m reading a LOT more DC now and there’s a new energy going through the line.

I’ll start tonight with those titles and go into the rest tomorrow:

Justice League
I’m really curious how I’ll feel about this book several months from now.  I’m having fun with the way Geoff Johns is writing the characters at the beginning of their careers.  I know their cockiness, especially Green Lantern’s, is a turn off for some but I’m enjoying it.  They’re young, after all, and haven’t been humbled yet.  I also still enjoy Jim Lee’s pencils (if not his costume designs).  The only problem I’m having is the book so far has consisted of heroes fighting monsters as they get introduced at the rate of one or two per issue.  That’s fine but to have staying power, the book has to start building some dramatic meat.

Action Comics
When I read the first issue of this title (the one this year, not 1938), I was over the moon.  It was the return of the Superman I’d wanted for years.  The one that proved he could be more than a Boy Scout.  Here was the “hero of the people” shaking up the forces of the status quo, just like in the original Action Comics #1.  I still felt that way through the second issue.  Now we’re past issue four and it’s stumbling.  I’m hoping Morrison and Morales can find their footing again because I want their take on the character to have a lasting effect.

Batman
I’m enjoying this book though I think some are over-praising it.  The story isn’t Earth-shattering.  It’s simply a solid, basic Batman tale.  The big surprise is Greg Capullo’s art.  I’d only known him as the guy who replaced Todd McFarlane on Spawn.  This has shown he has skills beyond what I’d realized.

Animal Man
I didn’t think I’d ever enjoy this character again.  After Grant Morrison’s triumphant run around twenty years ago (that doesn’t seem possible), one creative team after another tried their take on him and failed.  This one found an angle to make everything new, both for old fans like myself and those approaching Buddy and his family for the first time.  The result is one of the DC relaunch’s surprise successes.

Frankenstein: Agent of SHADE
The first issue of this book is a shining example of how you start a new series.  It mixed high concept science fiction (a miniaturized headquarters drifting in the Earth’s upper atmosphere) with old-fashioned comic book concepts (a team consisting of classic monster agents).  For four issues they’ve been fighting horrific creatures from a monster planet and I’m still having a good time.

Grifter
I’m on the verge of cutting this book.  I’ve loved Grifter since he was first introduced in WildCATs #1.  Something about his attitude and the costume  just worked for me.  That character has yet to show up in this series.  I think the art is top notch and the writing isn’t terrible.  The problem is it’s so by-the-numbers.  It’s got two or three issues left to surprise me.

Batwoman
There’s not much I can say about J.H. Williams III’s art that hasn’t already been said.  It’s always impressive and the writing hasn’t suffered like I thought it might in Greg Rucka’s absence.  This is the DC book you open up to impress people with.

Justice League Dark
So far, so good with this one.  I happen to love the idea of a Justice League team with members like John Constantine and Shade, the Changing Man.  They’ve managed to strike a nice balance of weird, supernatural elements and classic superhero storytelling.

Aquaman
Okay, Geoff Johns, we get it.  Everyone thinks Aquaman is lame but he’s awesome.  You’ve proven the awesome part so let’s just drop the meta-commentary.  Especially since the main story has been solid so far.  It’s nice to know you can still create a fun superhero book.  Unlike…

Green Lantern
Geoff Johns reinvigorated the entire Green Lantern concept when he brought Hal Jordan back.  There’s no questioning that.  For the last several years, though, it’s been treading water.  On the surface, it all sounds good.  Hal Jordan has been kicked out of the Green Lantern Corps and Sinestro has taken his place.  He’s enlisted Jordan to take on the Sinestro Corps he founded.  This should be awesome but I find myself skimming every issue.  This book was on the brink at the beginning of the year and it’s back there again.

Wonder Woman
More than any other book in the relaunch, Wonder Woman feels like it’s building a long-term story.  It’s written by Brian Azzarello, after all, who showed over one-hundred issues of 100 Bullets that he knows how to plant seeds that take years to grow.  I hope he gets that long because in four issues, he’s already creating the most immediate, compelling Wonder Woman story in forever.  On top of this, Cliff Chiang has showed me he’s everything he was hyped to be.  Plus, I love their take on the Greek gods.  They’re strange and terrifying, just like they should be.

Stormwatch
I’d argue that Warren Ellis’ work on Stormwatch and The Authority created a new dynamic that’s effected superhero books from The Ultimates to the new Justice League to even the Marvel movies.  After reading Paul Cornell’s run on Action Comics last year, I thought he’d be the perfect guy to carry the torch.  Instead, he’s dropped it.  It’s not all his fault.  The art looks good in single panels but is a jumbled mess when they’re put together.  In other words, the book is a storytelling failure across the board.  I feel like there’s good stuff under the surface but they can’t quite bring it out.  It is, hands down, the biggest disappointment in the New 52.

The Shade
Picking up where James Robinson’s classic Starman series left off, this book finds the sort-of reformed Golden Age villain getting to the bottom of who wants him dead.  It’s a tough riddle to solve, even given the number of times he’s had to do it before.  Robinson’s superhero stories of the last several years felt phoned-in.  This is the work of an engaged writer creating stories he loves.  More people need to be reading this.

Batman, Inc.
This book is the New 52′s great orphan.  It doesn’t fit in with the new status quo but was so successful it’s still going anyway.  Well, kind of.  We just got a special that collects what would’ve been #8 and #9 of the series, finishing up  ”Season 1″.  How will Season 2 fit in with the new continuity?  I don’t care.  It could not fit in at all and not bother me, as long as it keeps up the quality level.  Though the digital issue was a flop, the rest of the series has been a real hoot.  Not all of Morrison’s Batman stories have been a home run but at least there’s real ambition in them.  I’m game for wherever he takes things next.

There was another solid DC book I read last year that was cancelled six issues in.  That book was Xombi.  The tragedy is it would’ve fit in with DC’s new direction.  And like Animal Man, it could’ve found itself an audience who wouldn’t give it a shot under normal conditions.  It’s a lost opportunity and a real shame.

 

A Hiccup in the Force

Here’s a little something I wrote to amuse myself…

Jedi Master Danjo Troodoa walks down a tall hallway in the Jedi temple.  He arrives at a large door and before he can press the button next to it, it opens.  He steps in to find Yoda sitting on a round cushion chair, in deep concentration.

Danjo:  Master Yoda.
Yoda:  Master Troodoa.  Expecting you today, I was not.
Danjo:  I’m sorry for coming unannounced.  Do you have a moment?
Yoda:  Always. 

Danjo sits on a cushion across from him.

Yoda:  Troubling you, something is?
Danjo:  Yes.  Ever since the start of the Clone War, I’ve had some concerns.
Yoda:  Speak freely, you can.
Danjo:  Thank you.  Anyway, my concerns mostly revolve around the clone troops.
Yoda:  Performing well, they have been?
Danjo:  It’s not their performance that concerns me.  If I understand things correctly, they were ordered more than ten years ago, correct?
Yoda:  Correct.
Danjo:  And though the Kaminoans believed a Jedi commissioned their creation, it was actually a bounty hunter, right?
Yoda:  Also correct.
Danjo:  We then found out the bounty hunter worked for Count Dooku, who is now a Sith Lord leading the Separatist army.
Yoda:  Known to me, these facts are.
Danjo:  So we’ve placed the entire security of the galaxy into the hands of clone troops created by a Sith lord we’re now fighting.
Yoda:  Yes.
Danjo:  (pause) And you’re okay with this?
Yoda:  I am.
Danjo:  You said I could speak freely, right?
Yoda:  Always, Master Troodoa.
Danjo:  Are you out of your green f****ing head?
Yoda:  Not necessary, this language!
Danjo:  Well, sorry, but I can’t be the only one who sees how screwed up this is.
Yoda:  Making great gains against the Separatists, we are.
Danjo:  Yes, with the army created by their leader.  You haven’t, for one moment, considered the idea we’re being screwed with?
Yoda:  Sensed nothing amiss, have I.
Danjo:  Aren’t the clones created to follow orders without questions?
Yoda:  They are and have.
Danjo:  Then how do we know they haven’t been programmed with secret instructions to, I don’t know, wipe us out the moment their leader sees an opening?

A quiet moment passes.

Danjo:  That hadn’t occurred to you, had it?
Yoda:  Of course it had.
Danjo:  Because when I said it, you looked surprised.
Yoda:  Surprised, I was not.
Danjo:  Then what was that look?
Yoda:  Matter, it does not.
Danjo:  Whatever.  I’m just saying, don’t turn your back to them.
Yoda:  Under advisement, I’ll take this.
Danjo:  That’s all I’m asking.  Maybe by the time they make their move, it won’t be such a big deal anyway.
Yoda:  What is meant by this?
Danjo:  The first batch of clones were complete bad asses.  Have you seen Commander Cody in action?
Yoda:  I have.  Very impressive, he is.
Danjo:  Right but the new ones just arrived and aren’t looking so great.
Yoda:  How so?
Danjo:  To begin with, they can’t hit a target to save their lives.  I was doing a sweep on one of those Outer Rim planets and we ran into a handful of battle droids.  These bozos open fire and hit everything but the droids.  If I wasn’t there with Skywalker, they would’ve been hosed.
Yoda:  That bad, they are?
Danjo:  The only creatures that shoot worse are Tusken Raiders on Tatooine.  Compared to those things, even the troops are precise.  And have you noticed the new ones don’t have the same accent as the first ones?
Yoda:  I had not.
Danjo:  I’m starting to think they lost that bounty hunter’s DNA and used some janitor’s instead.

The door opens again and Mace Windu steps into the room.

Mace:  Am I missing something?
Yoda:  Just sharing some concerns, Master Troodoa was.
Mace:  Is he complaining about the clone army again?.  I told him to stop making this into an issue.
Danjo:  Why am I the only one who understands the problem?
Yoda:  Made your case, you have.  Follow Master Windu’s advice, you should.  One of the greatest Jedi ever, he is.
Mace:  I even have a purple lightsaber.
Danjo:  You know, I’ve always wondered about that.  Is it because you’re the most skilled warrior or an indicator of rank or what?
Mace:  (pause) I have a purple lightsaber.
Danjo:  Great.
Yoda:  Get going, you should.  Anakin Skywalker waits for you to join him on a sweep.
Danjo:  Skywalker again, huh?
Mace:  Is there an issue between you two?
Danjo:  Nothing major.  He just broods all the time and goes on and on about how much power he should have.  It’s irritating.
Mace:  You feel he has issues?
Danjo:  Duh!  The other day I asked him how things turned out with his mother situation and he blew a gasket.
Yoda:  Speak highly of him, Senator Amidala does.
Danjo:  No shock there.  You know how it is with girls like that.
Mace:  I don’t follow.
Danjo:  Oh, come on.  I know we don’t have lady friends but you guys can’t be that dense. 

They stare at him blankly.

 Danjo:  She’s a rich girl who grew up on the straight and narrow.  They’re suckers for bad boys.
Mace:  You think Skywalker is one of these bad boys?
Danjo:  Hell yes.  He’s always pissed off and breaking the rules.  He’s got that angry look except once in a while when he gives that devilish smirk.  A princess like Amidala sees him and thinks “he’s nothing like the guys my parents want me to date.”  A couple years later, everyone else is telling her he’s bad news and she’s all, “you just don’t understand him like I do.”  

They again stare at him blankly.

Danjo:  I know what I’m talking about.
Mace:  We’ve heard your concerns.  If we observe anything to back them up, you’ll be the first to know.
Danjo:  Alright.
Yoda:  Feel down, do not.  These are dark times but the light of a new day will follow.

Danjo rolls his eyes and leaves.

Mace:  He bothers me.
Yoda:  A point, do you think he has?
Mace:  Hey, we’re Jedi Masters.  If anything like that was going on, we would’ve sensed it.
Yoda:  Correct, you are.  Meeting with Palpatine, I am.
Mace:  You’re passing along our secret attack plans for the next campaign?
Yoda:  I am.
Mace:  Good.  This war is finally starting to go in our favor.

Danjo Troodoa was killed by clone troops after Palpatine issued Order 66.  His dying words were, “I frigging knew it.”

An Idea for the Economy

I had an idea tonight.  I don’t know if it’s the right idea and maybe I shouldn’t write a blog about it.  After all, it usually takes a day or two for the flaws in my own thoughts to become apparent to me but what the heck.  If there are flaws in this, getting it out there might be the best way to tackle them.

Anyway, I was thinking about Henry Ford and how he changed the economy in the Twentieth Century.  I’ve brought this up before and I keep coming back to it but that’s okay because it’s significant.  When he realized the value of the assembly line and the money it would make his company, he did what no “smart” businessman does.  Instead of just maximizing his profits, he used it as a way to fund our greatest social experiment ever.  He paid his workers more money for significantly less work with the idea that with the extra money and leisure time, they’d pump more dollars into the economy.  This led to the industrial boom that put our country at the top of the economic world.

Fast forward to the present.  Because of advances in communication and information technology, we’ve had a productivity boom creating similar windfalls for companies now.  This isn’t just for large corporations.  I’m now an independent consultant working from my home, partnered with the two owners of my former employer.  The three of us are almost accomplishing as much as two offices did in the past.

This has been fantastic and tragic for us all.  It’s fantastic because it’s created new ways to work and companies can make more money with less overhead than ever before.  It’s tragic because one part of that overhead is employees.

I’ve heard the statement a thousand times: companies are making record profits but unemployment is still too high.  How is that possible?  The answer is in the question.  They aren’t hiring any more because they don’t have to.  It takes less people to make a car, connect phone calls, sell a book, or get you your medication than ever before.  Plus, new breakthroughs happen every day to make us more and more productive.  Yes we’ve lost manufacturing jobs to other countries and yes that’s not a good thing.  But even the number of people needed on overseas production lines will continue to shrink.  The government can blunt the problem but they can’t create a business case to hire out of thin air.

I have yet to be convinced this isn’t a bigger issue than tax rates, government debt, entitlements, or all the other stuff we turn blue arguing about.  Those things are important, yes, but this is at the heart of it all.  Our growth, success, and ability to support entitlements are all tied to jobs.

So that’s the problem.  It’s a problem that I’ve heard no one in power offer an answer to.  It’s much easier to stir people up about taxes than a chronic issue with a fuzzy answer.  I think the idea I had tonight addresses a lot of it, though.  I don’t know if it’s the answer.  For all I know there are a bunch of economists who thought of it a while ago and I’m just treading on well worn ground.

My idea is that some corporation or corporations are going to have to make a strategic decision to start taking their profits and using them to increase the pay and benefits of their “bottom rung” employees beyond what most would call sensible.

For the educated, highly skilled employee, this is already happening.  Trust me, as I recruit these guys for a living.  We have a huge shortage of key skill sets and as anyone who has taken Economics 101 can tell you, that equals more pay.

But for the person on the customer care line, store floor, or administrative desk, things are either getting worse or staying flat (which over time is the same as getting worse).  And why should they get more?  They haven’t acquired in-demand skills or done the hard foot work to make up for that.  If they haven’t done anything to make themselves valuable to the economy, then it’s logical they won’t be very valued.

Except that the people on Ford’s line hadn’t acquired any special skills either.  They were just there first.  The line was the value generator, not them.  Almost anyone can bolt in a tire over and over again.  Yet he paid them more for less work and it somehow became the greatest business idea ever.

It’s, of course, easier to do this when you’re a privately held company in a new industry.  If a public corporation did the same thing today, the stock market would kill them for it the next day.  We’ve allowed stock MBA thinking to turn us into greedy cowards.  But somewhere in the business community there has to be some leaders who can convince their corporations to weather the storm for greater long term gain.

Because even though we’ve been trained to look at a call service rep as unskilled and not valuable, there are those who work harder and smarter than others.  A company that pays them a lot more will have more of those folks flock to them.  Better customer service agents will give better customer service which will lead to more loyal customers which will lead to expanded sales.  Over time this becomes a reputation for quality that can put you at the top of your industry.

On the bigger scale, other companies will have to increase their pay to compete for people and more money for customer service agents means more money for the economy.  More money in the economy means growth, maybe even enough to close the productivity gap.  A growing economy means more tax revenue for the government.  More tax revenue for the government equals shrinking debt.

Now we still need to right-size the government, stop getting into useless wars, etc, but those are issues that have dogged us throughout our history, no matter what shape the economy has been in.  This is the unique, bigger issue.

To get the ball rolling, though, companies need to start taking those record profits and make it happen.  So who is the first one to defy “common sense” and pull their money out of financial market shenanigans?  Who will be the first to stick their thumb in the eye of conventional wisdom?  Who is going to be Henry Ford this time around?

Those are my thoughts, many of them coming together for the first time as I wrote them here.  So am I crazy to think that upping the pay on unskilled labor is a key to solving our problem?

Bringing the Action on Netflix

I’m back!  Before getting into this post, I want to state outright that this isn’t about Netflix’s current business moves or what I think of the thankfully dead Qwikster idea or any of that other garbage.  This is about the movies on Netflix, so let’s stick to those.

Many years ago, I was introduced to Jackie Chan in my friend Ian, who had a then-rare copy of Armour of God.  While not the greatest movie, it blew the doors off anything from Hollywood.  Since then, I’ve fostered a strong love for Asian action movies, especially the kung fu movies that followed Chan’s breakthrough in the early eighties.

Thanks to Netflix, I’ve spent the last year discovering new films not just from Hong Kong but also from mainland China, Japan, South Korea, and Thailand.  While making my way through these recent releases, I’ve also been able to go back and see some of the films I’d missed from the eighties.  Though the selection on Netflix streaming falls short in many categories, there is a lot to be found in this one.

So here is my guide to “kick ass Asian action films streaming on Netflix now”:

Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Stars
This is the third of Sammo Hung’s Lucky Stars films.  Though these movies are billed as starring the three dragons (Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, and Yuen Biao), Sammo is the only one who is a major character.  So what’s the plot?  It’s something about The Lucky Stars, old friends who get together to act goofy and solve crimes, having to take in an actress to protect her from blah, blah, and blah.  The Lucky Stars movies are proof that what is funny to an Asian audience is excruciating to a US one.  So you can skip seventy-five percent of this and get to the fights, which are excellent.  Here’s your minute mark guide to them:
27:30 – Sammo fights a bunch of hitmen in drag
32:00 – Jackie, Yuen Biao, and Andy Lau take on a bunch of hoods in a Pepsi wharehouse
1:22:00 – Climactic battles, including Sammo’s impressive use of tennis rackets

Dragons Forever
Though not as unwatchable asa Lucky Stars films, Dragons Forever is still not a great film.  That said, the set pieces are among the best you’ll ever find.  This one really does star the three dragons and it’s again directed by Sammo Hung, which means you’ll see fast, intricate fights with great stunt work.  The most off-putting part of the film is how Jackie’s character is a serious scumbag through most of it, redeeming himself by the end.  The finale in the drug processing plant is a masterpiece.  Action guide:
3:30 – Jackie versus thugs in an outdoor cafe
36:00 – Bar fight!
41:00 – Jackie’s battle on a yacht
1:20:00 – Grand finale

Project A 2
One of Jackie Chan’s top three movies and unlike the previous two, one that can be enjoyed all the way through.  Unfortunately, Netflix is only streaming the dubbed version of the film, killing a lot of the scenes between fights.  It’s still worth seeing but check out a subtitled version on DVD if you can.

Yes, Madam
There’s only one part of this film, featuring Cynthia Rothrock and Michelle Yeoh in her first starring role, worth seeing and that’s the finale.  It starts at 1:21:00.  Enjoy!

Ip Man and Ip Man 2
We now move into more current films with these two recent hits, starring the always cool Donnie Yen.  He plays Ip Man, a real life master famous for having trained Bruce Lee.  Safe to say it doesn’t follow real history with any accuracy.  Like many of Yen’s recent films, it has a heavy Chinese nationalist streak but don’t let that throw you off if you’re a westerner.  Ip Man was a master of Wing Chun and its fast strikes make for some impressive moments.  I think the finale of Ip Man is anti-climactic but part two is a definite improvement.

Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen
Though this is a sequel to Bruce Lee’s The Chinese Connection and its remake Fist of Legend (starring Jet Li), you don’t need to have seen those to follow this.  Featuring bone cracking fights and some great Bruce Lee homages, it’s a great overall movie.  The only negative is its China=good and Japan=evil mindset.  You can see there are still a lot of open wounds between the two cultures.

The Man from Nowhere
If you haven’t seen a Korean action/crime film, I should warn you up front that they are bloody.  When I say bloody, I mean it.  The end of this movie features one guy with a knife taking on multiple hoods.  By the time it’s all over, the room looks like the kill floor of a slaughterhouse.

They also don’t feature wall to wall ass kicking the way Hong Kong films do.  Instead, they build steadily to the climax.  In this film, a former special forces agent is living as a hermit when he becomes caught up in the kidnapping of a girl who lives in his building.  I found the character scenes between him and the girl moving, which balances out the blood spilled as he tries to get her back.  The movie also features the greatest knife fight I’ve ever seen.

13 Assassins
I love a good samurai movie and this is definitely that.  Set in the final days of the Japanese feudal period, it’s the story of a Caligula-level psycho nobleman and the samurai hired to kill him.   It’s a great portrayal of the samurai code and how it could conflict with the greater good.  The last forty minutes of the film are an impressive battle between the thirteen samurai and the nobleman’s bodyguards, numbering over one hundred.

 

I was going to put Ong Bak on this list but it’s no longer streaming.  It’s good too, so check it out if you can.  At the very least, this is a good primer.  Have I missed anything essential?

 

REM: 1980-2011

As you probably know, REM officially disbanded this week.  The internet being what it is, you read a lot of comments about how overdue it was and that they’ve sucked for the last twenty years.  It got me frustrated so I’m throwing my thoughts in.

REM was the first band to broaden my horizons into what is now known as Indie Rock.  That’s fitting, since they started that movement in the early eighties.  In the nineties, they became the band that rode highest on the alternative wave.  Yes, Nirvana is the band that broke it all open but they blazed bright and brief.  Besides, Kurt Cobain was a huge REM fan and enlisted their producer, Scott Litt, when it came time to follow up Nevermind.

But maybe you’re not a fan of the whole grunge scene.  Maybe you liked the whole pop-punk movement that came afterward.  Well, Billy Joe Armstrong was just a metal fan before seeing an REM show.  So no REM equals no Green Day.

I will always respect REM for carving out their own niche in popular music.  That’s a rare and important achievement.  So what if their work wasn’t as relevant or inspired after they became a trio?  The last I checked, this is what happens to all bands over time.  Everyone still gushes about acts like The Who (myself included) long after their best work is behind them.  You judge artists by their prime era and  REM’s lasted a lot longer than most of the greats.

To sound like Rob from High Fidelity, they’ll always be a Top Five band for me.  So in the spirit of that character, here’s my list of Top Five REM albums and Top Ten songs.

ALBUMS
5.  Life’s Rich Pageant
“Fall On Me” is the big single but it’s an album where its sum is much greater than its individual songs.  The only minus is “Superman” which has gotten annoying over time but that’s okay because it’s only a cover.

4. Document
Their first album with Litt as a producer is also the first REM album I bought.  This is where Michael Stipe perfected his ability to paint pictures with lyrics instead of directly addressing feelings or telling stories.  It also has the cruelest love song ever, “The One I Love.”

3.  Reckoning
Their sophomore album took them further into the realm of pop music.  Out of all their early albums, it has the individual songs I go back to the most.

2.  Murmur
Their first full-length album has one of the most appropriate names in history.  I can only make out about half of what Stipe is singing but I still know what he’s getting at.  It’s a cliché to call music “haunting” but I’m a visual guy and this album always conjures up images of empty houses and misty fields.  No other music before sounded like this and none has since, including from REM.

1.  Automatic for the People
This is often bandied about as their top album and as much as I like to rebel against popular consensus, sometimes the people are right.  My feelings about this album run deep.  It was what I listened to when I lost a friend and when I was at my most content.  One moment it’s lamenting the gap between imagination and reality, the next it’s pleading for someone to hang on to life.  There are songs about yearning for the peace of death and songs about the people who have to pick up the pieces afterward.  I’ve sung my kids to sleep with “Nightswimming” and made big decisions with “Find the River” playing in the background.  It’s as close to a perfect album as a band can get.

SONGS
10. Fall On Me
9. Imitation of Life (see, they did make good songs later on)
8. Man On the Moon
7. So. Central Rain
6. Perfect Circle
5. What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?
4. Don’t Go Back to Rockville
3. The Sidewinder Sleeps
2. It’s the End of the World as We Know It (and I Feel Fine)
1. Nightswimming

 

A Little Bar for the Big Shots

The Little Bar looms large in my childhood memories. I grew up in a nice, middle-class neighborhood in Marine City, MI so the Porsches and Ferraris that often parked there stood out.

I haven’t been able to find much established history on the place (maybe someone can help me with this) but I do know it started up in the early 20th Century. Its name was appropriate, as it was a tiny building with just enough room for a bar, the kitchen, and a handful of tables. I’m not sure when but sometime after the automotive boom, it became a hangout for automotive executives. Even Henry Ford was known to eat there.

The drive from Detroit to Marine City is about forty-five minutes now but in those days it was a much longer haul. So why did they make the trip? Word is it was a good spot to talk business away from spying eyes. For the same reason, it was a good place to take your mistress out for a good meal. I’ve heard from many sources, though it’s never been one-hundred percent verified that Henry Ford II fired Lee Iacocca over dinner at The Little Bar.

I’ve run into people from all over who have heard of The Little Bar. For a certain crowd of people, it was a famous place. This never stopped surprising me. To me, it was just the place across the street. As a kid, The Little Bar meant money. As I mentioned, the cars that parked there were awesome. On Halloween, the owner handed out full-size candy bars. He also tipped big when I had my paper route. The place was a wealthy nook in a blue collar city. For a good period of time, my family was friendly with their chef. His name escapes me but he was a large, African American man who would always come out to give our beagle, Lucy, scraps when we were running her in the field next door. She’d lose her mind every time he appeared in the side door. We never saw him outside of his white chef’s uniform, which included a big, old fashioned chef’s hat. One time, my parents invited him to the Maritime Days Beer Tent. He was easy to spot when he arrived, as he was a large black man in a chef’s hat in a sea of good ol’ boys.

Out of all of these memories, my fondest is of the boat people. They would dock at the marina and walk the block over to get dinner and drinks. They would pass our house well dressed and proper. They’d pass in the other direction disheveled and howling with laughter. I pity the other boaters they encountered on the way home.

Some time ago, when I was in college, a new owner bought it with big plans. He added a large, two story section onto the back. The lower floor was a nice, expanded dining room. The upper story was turned into three “hotel rooms” of different themes. I remember one being a jungle room but can’t remember the rest. I don’t know what the hell they were thinking. In short order, they went out of business and The Little Bar sat empty for the first time since it was built.

It stayed that way for several years until the current owners, Greg and Char Faucher, decided to invest in it. They found it in a sorry state. The exterior looked fine but the inside was a borderline death-trap. They went to work for many months putting it back together again. They kept the back dining room but converted the upstairs to a very nice apartment, which they lived in. By the time they were done, they’d not only gotten the place up to code but also managed to bring back the spirit of the original establishment. In the following years, the members of the Trudeau family had become regular patrons. The food was very good and unlike in the past, not expensive. It may not have been The Little Bar of legend but it was a great place to have dinner. Part of the charm was Char and Greg themselves, as they were always friendly and happy to have you in.

Then some idiot set it on fire.

We had a string of arsons in town, hitting The Marwood Inn, Anita’s Bar and Restaurant, and The Little Bar. The Marwood was already closed and people were at Anita’s when the firebomb was tossed into the basement, so they managed to put it out quick. The Little Bar was not so lucky. Ben, Beth, and I watched the fire trucks descend on it in the middle of the night and we hoped the damage wouldn’t be too bad. It was, though. The outside looked fine but the inside was a total loss, with an entire section of the floor collapsing into the basement.

They’ve been working hard in recent weeks to get fixed and open again. The great tragedy is that to get it up to code, they had to demolish and rebuild the front section. In other words, the “real” Little Bar.  I just watched machines tear it down. I’m sure Char and Greg will make it a great place again and they can expect the Trudeaus to return for their usual take-out order. I’m still sad to see the original building go, though, as a lot of history went with it. At one point, it was a meeting place for the businessmen who helped shape the American Century.

Putting It Together

I’m now two weeks from my new live show, The Good Stuff.  I’ve checked out the venue, measured out the stage, the poster is done, and I’ve almost got all the production night roles filled. 

Did I mention the cast?  For months, they’ve been working on their lines, blocking, and timing.  The show’s dialogue-heavy nature has made this a real challenge, even for me.  The best part of the process has been seeing what they do with the parts I gave them.  Several of these were written for specific people back in the Flying Turtle days.  Watching them put their own spin on them has been a pleasure I wasn’t anticipating.

It’s a small show but it means a lot to me.  It was cool publishing a book of my work but it’s nothing like putting it in front of an audience.  As a book, it’s something I can put on the shelf and say “I made that”.  At the end of the day, though, the scripts are meant to be performed.  The book is just a blueprint for the real thing.

I’ve spent almost every Monday and Wednesday of this summer watching bank robbers armed with vegetables, a man torturing another with Rush music, and two guys arguing about a furry candle.  It’s been great, even in its rough form.  Make sure you take some time to see the finished project.

The show will be performed on August 26^th and 27^th at 8pm at the St. Clair Community Center.  The price is $5 at the door.  I promise it will be worth your time.