Hello again! Did your inbox feel a bit empty this past Friday? I didn’t forget about you, I promise! I had a busy week of deadlines and then a full weekend of family visiting, which was awesome, but not conducive to writing newsletters. So here I am five days late. But just think: only 10 days until the next newsletter! (Note to self: watch one [1] movie in the next 10 days)
MOVIES
Rarely on this newsletter do I recommend something I did not love, but you’ll have to bear with me. About a year ago Peter and I watched Kōji Shiraishi’s found footage horror film Noroi: The Curse (2005) and really loved it. We followed it up last week with its spiritual successor, Occult (2009). I want to recommend both movies to you with some notes.
Both films have the same sort of setup: a documentary film crew looks into some supernatural phenomena and shit gets crazy, culminating in a shocking end sequence. Noroi is, I think, the epitome of a good found footage film—if you like Blair Witch, you’ll love it. Occult, however, is absolutely bizarre in a way I did not expect. It is 60% creepy and fun, which is what we signed up for, and the very last note of the film is amazing in a way that made me laugh out loud. But it takes a turn into domestic terrorism that I did not love to watch. I spent most of the last half of the film shaking my head, like, Why? Why make this about a real thing that happens and is horrible? Were the UFOs and leeches not enough? All of this said, I couldn’t stop thinking about it, and it’s available on YouTube with proper translation.1 A perhaps important note is that Shirashi’s practical effects are pretty wonky, so personally I find they wind up being quite funny. It’s the human elements that get you, spooks-wise.2
Here is the full film:
TELEVISION
File under: I can’t believe it took me so long to watch this show.
Yes, I finally watched Over the Garden Wall, which is AKA probably your favourite cartoonist’s favourite cartoon. To be totally honest, I had to take a break halfway through because I was kind of spooked-out, which sounds like a thing that couldn’t happen to me yet did. It’s not that it’s scary, there’s just something about the darkness that really got to me. I’m glad I persevered, though, because the second half is less scary. But don’t listen to me, my spook-o-meter is all out of whack.
For those of you who have not yet had the pleasure of watching this beautiful miniseries, I want to say just watch it. Don’t read anything. But, fine, I’ll give you a brief synopsis: two brothers get lost in a forest and make friends and enemies while trying to find their way home. There are songs. The music is great:
A few years ago, Peter and I went through a phase where we tried to find and watch every Fleischer cartoon that was available on the internet. While watching Over the Garden Wall, I turned to Peter and said, “I think those Fleischer cartoons were a really important piece of media literacy for us.” I stand by this, so I will give you a secondary recommendation to watch some of those if you haven’t already. They go hand-in-hand. They’re also unreal; did you know that Betty Boop was originally a dog?
BOOKS
After probably a year or more of periodic reading, I am about 50 pages from the end of The Fellowship of the Ring, so I will be writing about that next week. This week, I want to tell you about a really great new book from Drawn & Quarterly: Library by Michael Dumontier and Neil Farber.
Despite being published by D&Q, and being comprised entirely of drawings, I hesitate to call this a graphic novel. It’s not a novel, for one, and the artists work primarily in the fine art realm. I think this qualifies as a funny art book?
Library is a collection of collaborative drawings by Dumontier and Farber. All of the drawings are of book covers and all of the book covers have funny or sweet or weird titles. I posted a photo online and it took me ages to choose just one, but this is the one I finally settled on:
I’ve been a fan of Dumontier and Farber’s for many years, especially their Personal Message project, which is basically what this book is. I have one of their personalized postcards in the entrance to my studio and I love it.
Speaking of tricks, here is a very good one: Drawn & Quarterly will send you a signed adhesive bookplate if you purchase Library from an independent bookstore; just fill out this form. I think it’s such a fun thing that they do!
This is the song I listen to when I need a pick-me-up
As title indicates. I need some energy this week!!!
You made it to the end! It has been three months and I can’t believe I have kept this newsletter up, but I guess the fact that I have written seven newsletters means I must really like doing it. I certainly wouldn’t keep it up if I didn’t have an audience, so thank you for reading!
xo
Noroi is available on Shudder.
For those of you who do not go anywhere near horror – which it turns out is a lot of you – I’m sorry but it’s October! I’ll get back to the non-scary movies soon.