tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5234577865405600782012-02-16T09:00:24.347-05:00Thoughts on music, movies and TV through the mind of a high-functioning autistic young man.Recliner Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01827661828956944028noreply@blogger.comBlogger251100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523457786540560078.post-56609933839527252132009-10-30T21:34:00.005-04:002009-10-30T23:23:18.825-04:00

(Larry David as Boris Yellnikof in "Whatever Works")How auspicious a start for my new incentive than Woody Allen's 40th film "Whatever Works". In one of the most natural pairings, he teams up with Larry David who, like Allen, is a poster child of brilliant neuroticism. The film stars Davd as Boris Yellnikof; a intelligent, divorced, neurotic (a Woody Allen movie fixture) misanthrope who believes

Recliner Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01827661828956944028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523457786540560078.post-9102059596768593942009-10-29T21:52:00.004-04:002009-10-30T00:28:22.364-04:00

I have something to share with you. Around five years ago, I had reached the utter low point of my psyche. My original dreams were starting to fall apart and my brain kept scrambling to stay afloat by trying to figure out what else I could do. Not only that, the prospect of having to be an adult, albeit an autistic one, frightened me. I mean, what if I spend my whole life trying to achieve

Recliner Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01827661828956944028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523457786540560078.post-89921186609415442872009-07-07T15:00:00.001-04:002009-07-07T15:01:49.664-04:00

There's a famous story in Greek folklore about a father and son named Daedalus and Icarus. They were imprisoned by King Minos and kept in a tower on the island of Crete. Fortunately, Daedalus was a skilled craftsman and created wings for both of them to escape from the tower out of wax and feathers. As they escaped using the wings, Icarus wanted to fly as high as he could to be with the gods.

Recliner Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01827661828956944028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523457786540560078.post-34606401298822372712009-07-01T13:07:00.001-04:002009-07-01T13:09:00.344-04:00

My brother, Ethan, has received a job at a Fox affiliate near our home. He graduated from college in communications a little over two weeks ago. I'm very happy for him.

Recliner Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01827661828956944028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523457786540560078.post-24531421406338416862009-03-29T17:37:00.007-04:002009-03-29T21:03:32.215-04:00

The concept of the compliment is pretty easy to explain. It's usually given to someone you care about that deserves praise or accolades for doing something ordinary in an extraordinary way. In the case of the performer (actor, musician or otherwise), most of them are short and straightforward, like "you're awesome", "you rule", "you're incredible" or perhaps simply "I like you... I like you, a

Recliner Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01827661828956944028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523457786540560078.post-64557953969608390182009-03-07T01:03:00.008-05:002010-03-18T23:55:58.039-04:00

Cherry blossoms are in full bloom and falling along the paved landscape, leading down the street to where two train tracks lie, together but apart, going in opposite directions. A man walks along this road he has been down many times before and knows instinctively that he must cross the track in order to continue his desperate contemplation. On the other side of this marker is a woman walking

Recliner Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01827661828956944028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523457786540560078.post-17947459602594550872008-11-17T15:21:00.004-05:002009-03-29T17:29:06.888-04:00

The first seven minutes of the anime series "Elfen Lied" revolve around a woman escaping from a secret government facility with calculated, deadly precision. Using only her mind, she stops bullets, lops off limbs, hurls sharp objects through flesh and decapitates helpless guards and staff members, all while she is naked, I might add. I sat back with rather piqued interest. I had heard the praise

Recliner Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01827661828956944028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523457786540560078.post-19156643269440854492008-11-14T14:59:00.003-05:002008-11-14T15:51:50.361-05:00

A father of my local church passed away today. It's a shame, but it was a long time coming. He had been diagnosed with ALS since April 2007 and it's been leading his body to a path of self-destruction which finally ended.Now, I'm not a particularly religious man. Though, what I admired the most about him is that for a year and a half, he kept presiding over Masses. Which he himself described as "

Recliner Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01827661828956944028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523457786540560078.post-27914385915073442822008-11-05T12:36:00.003-05:002008-11-05T12:48:54.398-05:00

I promise to be brief.Well, Barack Obama won the election. That's the reality now and we must deal with that. Now, I know politicians are not perfect in keeping promises (i.e. "Read My Lips...") but Obama in particular, has a lot to live up to. All I would just like to say is that I hope he is everything that the people want him to be and that he delivers on his promises. Otherwise, he's going to

Recliner Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01827661828956944028noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523457786540560078.post-23591276813985960002008-09-26T19:40:00.011-04:002008-09-26T22:15:03.838-04:00

Wild Spirit, which art moving everywhere;Destroyer and preserver; hear, oh, hear!-Percy Bysshe Shelley (Ode to the West Wind)I love the wind. It's the only phenomena in nature that I respond to. There is just this sense of power and calm when you feel the wind in your face, whether it be a gust or a breeze. Just to stand outside and let the intensity of it run through your clothes and skin, to me

Recliner Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01827661828956944028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523457786540560078.post-59732467490059387752008-08-12T00:37:00.003-04:002009-10-30T23:24:44.826-04:00

(Clockwise from Bottom: Tohru Honda (holding Kyo's and Yuki's animal forms), Kyo Sohma, Shigure Sohma & Yuki Sohma)"Fruits Basket" is an anime that tells the story of a teenage girl of 16 named Tohru Honda (Laura Bailey), who becomes a tenant and housekeeper at the home of three brothers of the Sohma family: the calm and collected Yuki (Eric Vale), the angry and volatile Kyo (Jerry Jewell) and

Recliner Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01827661828956944028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523457786540560078.post-50557330022922581752008-08-06T14:55:00.004-04:002008-08-06T19:51:22.350-04:00

(Thom Yorke and Colin Greenwood of Radiohead performing)Any study of modern rock music will eventually come across Radiohead. This English quintet has become one of the most critically acclaimed bands by doing essentially what a good band should do: carve its own path. After their 1993 hit "Creep," the band refused to be pigeonholed creatively. With 1995's "The Bends" and 1997's "OK Computer"

Recliner Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01827661828956944028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523457786540560078.post-50635274215378108972008-08-03T02:26:00.007-04:002009-02-28T23:11:47.937-05:00

(Rakka from "Haibane Renmei")Let's face it: It's common in fiction to have the main character be the person who needs his or her friends to face a problem. That doesn't mean that supporting characters in a story aren't allowed to have problems of their own or allowed to be three-dimensional. It's just that most storytelling revolves around how our hero is in a pickle and how the others have to

Recliner Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01827661828956944028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523457786540560078.post-82793074558246538862008-07-11T13:48:00.012-04:002009-03-29T17:21:28.743-04:00

Dear Ben... no that's too obvious...Yahtzee, you god-like excelsior,As we near the one-year anniversary of you posting Zero Punctuation on both YouTube and The Escapist, I would just like to thank you for causing a mini-revolution in gaming criticism and entertaining the heck out of me and many others.I'll admit it now, I'm not a regular gamer, (I'm mostly into music and film), nor do I actually

Recliner Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01827661828956944028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523457786540560078.post-24725531596753766612008-06-19T00:48:00.004-04:002008-06-19T15:08:13.939-04:00

Sigh... I knew I had a tough time ahead of me when I approached D.W. Griffith's "The Birth of a Nation." Not only is it three hours long, which I divided into two parts, but the film is forever condemned for one of the most blatant demonstrations of racism in the history of American Cinema.Now this doesn't mean that the film isn't influential. The Civil War battle scenes, the portrayal of Abraham

Recliner Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01827661828956944028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523457786540560078.post-16161513028439770022008-05-26T23:05:00.009-04:002008-07-04T23:21:59.980-04:00

One puzzling question about a voice, or sound is general, is why do we respond to it so deeply? Is it the way a person talks, the way they hold a note, the way they enunciate the words they say? I find it one of the coolest mysteries of life and we have yet to figure it out. But that won't stop me from wondering.Let me start with a simple example: I don't watch the anime "Bleach." I don't know

Recliner Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01827661828956944028noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523457786540560078.post-19622370308571901432008-03-24T14:14:00.006-04:002008-03-27T01:08:09.939-04:00

I've decided this years ago: I never want to be a soldier in a war... ever. The only time I'll ever fight is when my life truly depends on it; other than that, war can't do anything but warp my already fragile mind. More than any psychotic R-rated film ever will. But this isn't just me, war affects the core of any being who fights in one or is close to one who has fought in a war. These two films

Recliner Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01827661828956944028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523457786540560078.post-4659317360478696232008-03-06T12:59:00.008-05:002008-05-28T16:50:30.374-04:00

Concurrent with watching "Wings of Desire," I was viewing the fine anime series, "Eureka Seven." Through that, I've developed a special bond with one of the characters. Her name is Eureka.Eureka is the female protagonist of the show who is not who she seems. Watching the show you learn she is a humanoid Coralian sent by the Scub Coral (sentient alien beings who became based in the land of the

Recliner Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01827661828956944028noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523457786540560078.post-32606362993581492512008-03-05T13:50:00.007-05:002009-03-29T16:45:42.812-04:00

(Bruno Ganz in "Wings of Desire")Wim Wenders' 1987 film, "Wings of Desire" is quickly ascending on my list of favorite films of all time. Not necessarily because the movie is beautiful, which it truly is. My estimation of it grows with how much the film assisted me in my quest to understand myself.It tells the story of Damiel (Bruno Ganz), an unseen angel who silently observes the hearts and

Recliner Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01827661828956944028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523457786540560078.post-6454785202321737202008-02-16T17:04:00.009-05:002009-03-29T16:56:56.836-04:00

(The Dance of the Dead from "The Seventh Seal")Not too long ago, I watched "The Seventh Seal" by Ingmar Bergman for the first time. I've never seen a Bergman film before, but I was glad to finally know what all of the adulation was about. It tells the story of Antonius Block (Max von Sydow), a knight who has come back to his disease-plagued homeland after years of fighting and challenges Death (

Recliner Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01827661828956944028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523457786540560078.post-38741163054752114862008-01-29T17:24:00.000-05:002008-01-29T17:42:54.344-05:00

Swing Time (1936)Director: George Stevens"When you see anyone -- an athlete, a musician, a dancer, a craftsperson -- doing something difficult and making it look easy and a joy, you feel enhanced. It is a victory for the human side, over the enemies of clumsiness, timidity, and exhaustion." - Roger EbertMy favorite critic, Roger Ebert, wrote this is his Great Movies essay on "Swing Time," and he

Recliner Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01827661828956944028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523457786540560078.post-42751043672788327662008-01-25T22:30:00.000-05:002008-01-25T23:25:16.852-05:00

Red River (1948)Director: Howard HawksWhat will be our mark on this world?As I watched this film, I kept wondering of what the mindset of John Wayne's character, Tom Dunson, truly was. It felt to me as if he wanted to prove himself more than his surrogate son, Matt Garth (Montgomery Clift) did. Here was a man who never had a true biological heir because his sweetheart was killed in an Indian raid

Recliner Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01827661828956944028noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523457786540560078.post-57858607732201880812008-01-24T15:26:00.000-05:002008-01-25T22:30:32.086-05:00

There's a moment that I'll never forget as I was watching this film. As the opening for the song "One" started, Bono began singing, "Oh... shine a light." Slowly, little digital lights from cell phones all across the massive stadium began lighting up. As he keeps singing that simple phrase, the crowd became a sea of illumination -- an entire group of people who had come together, if just for

Recliner Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01827661828956944028noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523457786540560078.post-2035885468171807932008-01-21T00:09:00.000-05:002008-01-24T21:28:40.403-05:00

I saw “Cloverfield” on Friday. I thought I should see it, just because it looked very interesting as well as pacify my wait for another film, which I will be posting on in a few days. What I think is fascinating about the film is how influenced it is by the work of great docu-drama. The movie puts you into a situation where the entire scope of the events are fully explained to you. We never

Recliner Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01827661828956944028noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523457786540560078.post-31408054082230528632008-01-20T16:19:00.000-05:002008-01-24T21:29:31.896-05:00

Hi, my name is Sam and I'm an autistic arts lover; though what I just said is kind of contradictory. In a lot of ways, I shouldn't be a arts lover. I become uneasy during long continuous stimulation, I'm impatient, my thoughts drift, my mind goes a thousand miles a minute and I don't like to go out unless I feel like it. But, I'm bonded deeply with the art of film and music because they (as

Recliner Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01827661828956944028noreply@blogger.com0