Jimmy Corrigan: The Dullest Kid In The World

Much like my struggles with Life A User’s Manual a while back, the only thing that’s keeping me reading Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth (Chris Ware) is the paroxysms of joy it seems to inspire in its Amazon reviewers.

I remember picking the book up in Borders shortly after it won the Guardian First Book Award, and abandoning it soon after, stupefied, for The Wire. (Which, of course, can be stupefying in its own way eg. “Oh look, a critical re-appraisal of the Appalachian free jazz movement!”) I chanced upon it again in the Marine Parade library last week, so I decided to give it another try. So far, so blah. I’m finding the flow of the panels extremely non-intuitive, and I’m not getting the big deal about the quality of the drawing either. I’ll keep wading on though – Life A User’s Manual did pay off in the end. And at least it’s a good way to get me sleepy at night.

Lord Denning Cuts The Crap

Lord Denning begins his judgment in Buttes Gas and Oil Co v Hammer and others [1980] 3 All ER 475 with this:

“Abu Musa is a small island in the Arabian Gulf. Early in 1970 oil was discovered nine miles off its shore. Each of two American oil companies claimed the right to exploit it. They started litigating about it in October 1970. Now ten years later the action is nowhere near trial. It has only reached the stage of discovery of documents. On this interlocutory point the argument before us took nine days, with five leading counsel and as many juniors. We have had excursions into the law of the sea, of territorial waters and the continental shelf, into sovereign immunity and diplomatic immunity, into the rules of court and goodness knows what else. No expense has been spared. No stone left unturned. McNeill J in the court below exploded. Even at that stage, when the application was before him, he said that the length of the proceedings was ‘outrageous and comes perilously near to an abuse of the process of the court’. Even more when it reaches us nearly a year later. Still we must go on with it. It looks like outdoing Jarndyce v Jarndyce (see Dickens, Bleak House) except that these litigants are not likely to run out of money.”

And ends with this:

“I return to where I started. This is merely an application for discovery of documents. Yet it has taken the master, the judge and the Court of Appeal many days of argument and many pages of judgments. All the territorial matters under discussion have passed into history. They were settled by international agreement eight years ago. The continental shelf of the Arabian Gulf has been apportioned out. The oil revenues have been divided by agreement. All that is left is this interminable action arising out of a speech by Dr Armand Hammer on 5 October 1970 at the Great Eastern Hotel in London. It is high time to let bygones be bygones. I would not allow any further discovery by either side. Let these two oil companies fight it out as best they can with such materials as they have available or can get hold of. By subpoena or otherwise. There is quite enough of it in all conscience. Take out a summons for directions. Either side can demand that it be tried by a jury. I pity the jury. Set the action down for trial at once. Let it hang about no longer. For goodness sake get rid of it one way or the other.”

Lord Denning rOxOrs so hard sometimes.

Marrrrrritime Law

One of the other lawyers was teaching me how to research a ship.

Lawyer X: Okay, so if you can’t find it in Lloyd’s Register or the online sources, that probably means it’s –
Me: PIRATES!
Lawyer X, looking at me strangely: – not a vessel involved in international trade.
Me: Ah, yes.

I think I need to curb my enthusiasm a bit more.

The Incredibles / Look At Me / Shutter

Out of the last four movies I’ve watched, the one which inspired me to write a long rambling blog post was the most middle-brow one with (by far) the worst reviews. Go figure. But I thought I should just write little snippets about the other three for the record.

  • The Incredibles: Was great fun, but I couldn’t think of any new or original ways to describe what was good about it, so I didn’t bother writing about it at the time. Most of my enjoyment of it was derived from the geeky thrill of identifying every homage to Watchmen, which is why I reread it just after watching the movie, and realized that any review I wrote of The Incredibles would pretty much end up being a ravefest about how amazing Watchmen is instead. My favourite part of the movie which had nothing to do with Watchmen was probably the name of the supervillain who appeared at the end – The Underminer, which I found hilarious.
  • Look At Me (Comme Un Image): Hard to describe the plot, you’d best read the review I linked to. This is definitely not a film for the impatient – you never know where the story’s going, and a familiar storyline never emerges e.g. “It’s going to be about how Indiana Jones goes on a quest to find the Holy Grail” or “It’s going to be about how nerdy girl will blossom and eventually get hot guy to fall for her.” Lots of scenes seem pointless early in the film, but later on you realize that they were showing you little things about its characters which build the overall impression of them which you leave with at the end, and I think this was actually its greatest strength. The opinions I formed of the characters at the beginning had evolved very considerably by the end, and yet nothing in the way the film progressed ever seemed forced or unnatural. I wouldn’t recommend this film to everyone, and especially not to anyone who doesn’t like arthouse films, but I did enjoy it. Watch it if you like Paul Thomas Anderson films, maybe – it does that whole “different lives intertwining through a series of coincidences” thing quite well, although that isn’t really its focus.
  • Shutter: Asian horror movies since Ringu have all looked really formulaic, sort of like attempts to just jump on the Asian horror bandwagon while it’s still a cash cow. While Shutter sticks to a fairly simple plot, and many of its scares are predictable enough, on the strength of the ones that aren’t, and its clever ending, I’d say this is definitely a cut above the rest. Frankly, although it isn’t as terrifying as Ringu and will probably not take the world by storm quite as much, I think it’s much more coherent as a film. If you’re not in South East Asia and haven’t heard of this Thai horror movie yet, don’t worry – I’m sure you’ll be able to watch some Hollywood remake starring Jennifer Love Hewitt and Ashton Kutcher in the near future.

[Speaking of Asian horror, Bedok cinema is apparently screening a film called I Know What You Did Last Raya. Intriguing.]

Whatever Froats Your Boat

Dom sent me the photo of the Waraku menu she took when we were there last week, and I think it’s worth sharing.

A selection of froats
Next time I’ll try Calpis.

It Took A Lifespan With No Cellmate

One down, a lifetime more of heavy-lidded days to go. I’ve started work. Many rude shocks were involved with today. Waking up before noon. Being forced to use Internet Explorer, in which this blog looks like ass. (To everyone who views this site through IE, I’m not actually as mentally, structurally and aesthetically challenged as that browser makes this blog look.) Being told by my friend that my recent haircut, which I thought was subdued enough to help me blend into corporate zombiedom, is apparently still noticeably funky.

On the bus ride home I was trying to persuade myself to listen to happy harmonizing Northerners but found I was more in the mood for dark starburst guitars and a voice like a cracked slab of concrete. I know everyone says Antics sounds too much like Turn On The Bright Lights, but discussions on musical evolution and the sophomore album are really quite irrelevant when you’re teetering in a crowded bus with your iPod volume too high, heading home on the first day of the rest of your downhill life, because when the chorus hits in Evil, and Paul Banks announces “You’re WEIGHTless, you are exOTic, you need something for which to care” – for a moment, you almost forget where you are.

Rahzel Who?

Ever seen anyone beatboxing and playing latin jazz guitar at the same time? Well, now you can (a scissorkick exclusive). Before this, the most impressive beatboxing I’d seen was Killa Kela doing I’m A Slave 4 U complete with beats and breathy Britney vocals but this guy sure gives Kela a run for his money.