Sunday, August 30, 2009

For me the war is over

Yes, it's a Simpsons quote, but not a particularly noteworthy one. Only total fanboys would recognize it. The line itself is a misquote of a famous line from the movie "Platoon."

I think now, looking back, we did not fight the enemy, we fought ourselves, and the enemy was in us. The war is over for me now, but it will always be there, the rest of my days. As I'm sure Elias will be, fighting with Barnes for what Rhah calls "possession of my soul." There are times since, I've felt like a child, born of those two fathers. But be that as it may, those who did make it have an obligation to build again. To teach to others what we know, and to try with whats left of our lives to find a goodness and a meaning to this life.


This is the end of Summer for me. The calendar doesn't dictate it's final day until September 22, but my semester starts promptly tomorrow at 3:25 pm when my first class begins, and my night will surely contain much drama as I fight tooth and nail with the administration for my right to take a class. I have nothing in my arsenal besides an assertive disposition and the deplorable pity card. Perhaps tonight I shall practice my puppy dog eyes.

This summer has been a strange one, and not a good one. With the ushering in of scholastic responsibility comes the lack of focus on Darien's well being. Do not think me calloused, though. He is my best friend, and I love him like family, but I do not have the time or energy to babysit him anymore. When he finally goes, my scholastic performance will undoubtedly suffer. But, it is as I said above: For me, the war is over. I cannot keep waging battle, as I need to return from the front lines. I have a home to return to, and a family to attend to.

Today is a strange day. I saw a film with my father and eldest sister. "Inglorious Bastards" by Tarantino. I didn't dislike the film, but I can't say I thoroughly enjoyed it either. The build up was powerful, the tension palpable, and the payoff adequate. I snuck candy into the theater. Now I am home, and writing, and soon I will dye my hair blue black, my favorite color for my own hair.

It's a strange day. I'm watching Simpsons with Aislinn at this very moment. The episode HOMR from season 12, when Homer becomes intelligent. For over 24 hours a word has escaped my grip. I know one must exist but cannot form it. A word that is defined as a suffering or depression caused as a consequence of above average intelligence.



As intelligence goes up, happiness goes down. See, I made a graph. I make a lot of graphs.


I feel so weird today, on this strange day. My stomach and mind seem so off kilter. I don't know quite what to do. Wistful sighs occupy my lips, and I'm going to trail off in this blog post now....

Sunday, August 23, 2009

I always suspected that nothing in life mattered. Now I know for sure.

There's a lot going on right now that I need to address, and I will address all of it, when I am ready. But that time is not yet here. I've been so...off, today. There are Darien updates, and for perhaps the first time in the history of this blog, there are Alissa updates. I'll inform everyone when I can. But it can't be now. I don't know why I can't write about it now, but I can't. I do need to push out a dream recollection from last night that has stuck with me all day.

I'm embracing someone. A woman. I don't think she really exists, or if she does, I've yet to meet her. If this is a prediction dream, I'm going to just...I hope it's not. I'm holding her against me. I can smell her. She's small, and frail. Her hair is jet black, or so it would seem. The strands on her forehead seem a lighter brown. Her eyes are brown, and large. She has freckles. She is looking into my eyes. I am looking into hers. Something in this moment moves us past being two people and the connection is solid, like a foundation, and it is real, and it is deep, and in my mind and heart I feel a burst. She tells me she loves me. I feel it inside, I feel it like a vice on my heart, squeezing me, screaming at me to say it, begging me to say it and just let go, but I can't. I want to, and I can't, because I know it's a lie. I know there isn't anything real to embrace when I say it, just another dependency on an emotion that runs my life and rips my, for lack of a better word, soul in twain over and over again. I just can't say it. And she's hurt, and she's tearful, and she stands above me, and I sink. She is a giant to me, curled in the fetal position at her feet. Blue jeans, white sneakers, so specific. Please don't be a prediction dream. I'm crying at her feet and I want to let go but I can't because it's artificial. But, I think it might be the only choice I have for happiness. She is my monolith, inspiring my heart to learn new techniques, new adaptations for living.

Can I knowingly live a lie, and maintain who I am?

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Fuck that cake

I don't want to be around people and my house is full of those things. I'm just going to hide out in my room tonight. My stomach hurts anyways. I'm definitely slightly ill, thanks to stress. Acid reflux has gone into high gear, sinuses clogged, eyes inflamed, though that last one is partly my own doing.

So unhappy.

Things I need to do tonight:

1.Bake a cake

2.Talk to people

3.Sleep

Correction:

Despite him at times making it difficult, I actually do love my real father. It's just easy to forget.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

It's not going to be a good Autumn

I have to wait until December to get a Red Lantern ring. There is no ring I deserve more than the red one. Check out their oath:


"With Blood and rage of Crimson red,
Ripped from a corpse so freshly dead,
Together with our hellish Hate,
We'll Burn you all, that is your fate!"


Today there came a great deal of trouble from my automobile. I was going to allow Lexi to drive with me, but the brake light came on. I did some research and found out that it's probably one of a few things. Google gives me answer regarding a vacuum leak at the power brake booster or possibly a defective brake booster. Run me about 150 in parts I think. We'll see what mechanic says. I called AAA since the shop is 1/4 mile away and a tow is free under 3 miles. The car is really not what is important in this blog post, it's my reaction. Fear gripped me first, but then I just started seething. Came close to taking it out on Bubbe, but I didn't thankfully. But I'm just so angry. I want to be a super villain. I want to end all life on earth. I want to plant nuke after nuke all around the equator and set it off, breaking the planet in half and sending the chunks plummeting into the sun.

I'm surprisingly stable, to be honest. Meds I'm on must be working. Of course, nothing ever does it completely. I'm quite obviously stressed to myself, even if I don't show it to others. The eyelash pulling I've been playing off as me just wanting to get rid of them is quite obviously a case of Trichotillomania. I started when Katie and I were going through a hard time, then stopped for a while, and since Darien hovers so close to death, I've started again. Of course, I'll have to stop soon. I think I've got less than a dozen of them left between my two eyes. I don't like pulling in other places though.... Maybe once the lashes are 100% gone, I'll stop completely.

For a few minutes tonight I strongly considered calling an ambulance to take me to Yale Psychiatric.

My stepfather was angry and nearly yelling about something while I was freaked out about my car. The air between us is heated. It's been weird with him lately. Between him and I, there's an interesting time line. Ok, it's not interesting, but I'm going to post it anyways so I can make a point.

  • Divorce - life sucks, I hate him.


  • Realization of new male influence - I think I tried to electrocute myself about that time. Age 9 I think. Whatever. I tried to show affection and got nothing.


  • New house - life sucks, no friends, started stealing for money, dislike and fear combine for him.


  • Middle school - Start medication for my head, hate him.


  • High School - on and off meds, dislike him.


  • College - tolerated and for a while we were good. Until recently.


  • He keeps drinking more every week and getting angrier and angrier. For no reason. The advice I was given by friends back when was to fight him. And today, as he grew angry at me while I was freaking out about my car...I came so close to hitting him.

    Mind if I quote Palahniuk?

    Tyler Durden: Our fathers were our models for God. If our fathers bailed, what does that tell you about God?

    Narrator: No, no, I... don't...

    Tyler Durden: Listen to me! You have to consider the possibility that God does not like you. He never wanted you. In all probability, he hates you. This is not the worst thing that can happen.

    Narrator: It isn't?

    Tyler Durden: We don't need him!


    I've got two average men as role models. Extremely average. At times, they both dip well into mediocrity. Emotionally? I can sum it up like this:


    I love my mother very much.


    When I get out of this house, I'll be horribly in debt, and most likely without a job waiting for me since I'm a member of this "Lost Generation" I keep hearing about. I'll have my piece of shit car, my overweight body, my body of writing which is only worth a damn to a few people. I finished that Joker story and I'm very proud of it, but where will it go beyond this blog? I'll need to do around 50 hours of work on Darien's book/blog before it's in a state to be published, and I don't know if I could get it out with much ease. Joe's book will take work too, if he ever even starts the thing.

    I will never abandon the women of my family. My Bubbe, my mother, my sisters, my little cousins, I love them all very much. Mind you, familial love is the only one left that I still believe in. I want a partner in life, but I don't believe in romantic love anymore. Or marriage. Or procreation. And my biological father has supported me many times, and our similarities are unavoidable, so I'll keep him in my life. But Thomas? There's a good chance that after I've left this house, this country, I'll never speak to him again.




    Under a lack of automobile imposed house arrest, this is Ben G., signing off.

    Tuesday, August 18, 2009

    New Story

    (Disclaimer: I don’t own any DC characters, I’m merely a fan, writing fiction.)


    Whatever Happened to the Harlequin of Hate?

    A spotlight shines into his eyes, partially blinding him, reflecting off his stark white skin. He blinks rapidly, trying to clear out the spots. He stands in front of a brick wall, and behind a microphone stand.

    “Where am I?”

    “Where you always are: on stage”

    The sparse audience isn’t looking at him. They look to a spot at the edge of the stage, right outside his eye line, or they look at nothing at all. Staring out into space, staring at their shoes, but none of them are staring at him. In fact, they don’t seem to notice that he is even there. And perhaps just as unnerving, is that everyone is smiling. Naturally.

    “Is this…am I dreaming?”

    “No. You are not dreaming.”

    “This is Gotham, I think. I mean, it has to be Gotham. I know Gotham like I know myself. I know this stage…but it’s not quite right.”

    “Wait.”

    People begin to file in slowly. They shake hands and share laughs with those already sitting down. There are men and women in costumes, businessmen in suits, housewives in aprons, and cops. There are countless many cops. They come marching in like a wave of blue. Like the walls were glass our comedian can see outside. There are groups gathered around trashcan fires toasting marshmallows and telling stories. The side streets are filled with people double parked for the event. More people in skin tight costumes show up, dropping down off zip lines and grappling hooks, gliding down on capes from adjacent rooftops.

    “Wait a minute! I know some of these people! Why that’s, er, Starfire, one of those titans the birdboy ran with. And that’s…that’s the robin I killed! But…he came back didn’t he? Why is he so young? And isn’t that him behind him!?”

    “Be Patient”

    “You’re of absolutely no help you know. Why, I’ve killed a lot of these people haven’t I? They, they can’t see or hear me, can they? I mean, we’ve got a Dicken’s kind of thing going on, right disembodied voice?”

    “Uh…yes, you could say that.”

    “I wont have to interact with a little crippled boy will I? Because that’s really pushing my boundaries for pacifism within surreal freak outs.”

    “Do you ever shut up?”

    “You don’t know me that well, do you?”

    “I did, once.”

    “You…what the hell are those?!”

    From down the road there came a roaring, a roaring which grew in size and strength and power every second it approached. Like a storm cloud fog it came at him, like the black vengeance of God coming down upon him, there was a tumult of Batmen. Black motorcycles, cars which crept along the road with hardly an inch between them and the asphalt, great armored beasts covered in spikes, cars with wings hovering above them, low flying jets and stealth helicopters. It rained Batmen down upon them all.

    “…Huh.”

    The great mass slowed, then stopped. The eerie collective dismount spooking even the clown. And they filed in. Grey bats, black bats, blue cowls, purple cowls. Bats with fangs, bats with super powers, Bats in leather and canvas, bats with dentures. Thin black bats with red angled symbols, thin costumed bats with pencil line eyebrows, Bats with green rings, bats with revolvers. They all fit in, despite what you’d think, and just as the heaving mass of people seemed about to burst, the crowd breathed out and they disappeared, though the shadows suddenly seemed thicker.

    “So, should I tell a few jokes? What do you people want to hear? Bawdy limericks?”

    “They can’t hear you.”

    “Then why am I here?”

    “To observe.”

    “Observe what?”

    Like a rolling film his perspective moved, dragged along the floor of the stage and down the wall onto the floor. Then back up, onto the table, and into the casket, where a man lay in a purple suit, an expression of apathy on his face.

    “I made arrangements for a much more extravagant send off than this! Where are the streamers? Where are the crying widows? Where is the French team of acrobats?”

    “This isn’t your funeral, Joker. It is your death.”

    “Oh, it’s one of those things. Joker, here is your life! Or death, rather. Didn’t I just go to one of these?”

    “Shh. It’s starting.”

    “So? What do you care?”

    “I want to listen.”

    “Aren’t you like, my spirit guide or something? I assumed you’d know all this stuff already.”

    “I know one story. And no, I’m not your spirit guide. I’m just the only one who’d take your case.”

    The first one to walk up and speak was a man of a duplicitous nature, scarred along one side. A scar that ran deeper than the suit of black and white, or the face of peach flesh and dry black death. He cleared his throat, elegantly at first like a best man would at a wedding, but it devolved into a phlegm filled hacking cough. He spit as he finished.

    “I’ve known the deceased for half of my life. I first met him when I was a brass young man, working for the people of Gotham City as a district attorney. I wanted to bring him in, along with the rest of the freaks I thought were ruining this city, making the mob look like shoplifters with the degrees of their depravity. He educated me on the subject, with a bottle of acid.”

    “Thought some made mook did him. Did I really do that? I could’ve sworn all I did was rough ‘em up a little, maybe burn him a bit. Or was that someone else?”

    “Shush, Joker. He’s not done.”

    “Once I was back out on the Gotham scene I started taking power. I stole territory from the penguin, recruited freaks for my cause of a city ruled by the lowest common denominator. When it came to the clown, I was indecisive. I went to him, and asked him if he wanted to be part of my organization. He laughed at me, laughed in my face, telling me he'd won, bringing me down to his level. So I flipped a coin, and shot him twice in the chest. He giggled, and then he died. No court exists that can handle an indecent case like Joker. What I did was the only way.”

    The two-faced man sat down. His exposed jaw pulled back in an uneven grin. His remaining good eye slowly streaming tears. As he slouched in his chair, a woman in red and black spandex stood up, visibly shaking with grief, her makeup running badly with the tidal wave of tears. Her coherence came seemingly from sheer force of will, as she began to talk about the man in the pine box.

    “Mistah J was the only person in my life who ever really loved me. I mean, I had boyfriends and stuff ya know, but nobody who stood by me like the Joker. He was my one and only, and no one can make me laugh and smile like he could. I was his princess. The judy to his punch, ya know?”

    “…Is she crazy?”

    “Oh be nice.”

    “We had our squabbles like any couple, but we always knew we were gonna be together forever. From the first time we touched back at the asylum, to the last minute I saw him, before he put the blindfold on me. We were just fooling around, regular normal couple stuff! And I was fighting back like he likes, struggling against my cuffs and yellin’ for help. But, I…I musta kicked him just a little too hard in the wrong lace or something, and when I’d gotten out of the locks to help him it was already…already too late!”

    She threw herself on the coffin, screaming and crying and rubbing off her grease paint on the lavender fabrics. A few of the cops placed about the room tried to gently pull her off, but only ended up having their noses broken. After a few attempts a man with stringy yellow hair walked up and whispered to her ear until she lifted her head up and allowed him to escort her, lovingly huddled arm in arm, back to her seat, where she continued to bawl, albeit somewhat more quietly. The man then stood erect, showing his height and thin stature, and he proceeded back up to the front and faced the room. He spoke with an eloquence and weight not unlike a professor speaking to his students.

    “My name is Doctor Jonathan Crane. Many of you know me as The Scarecrow. Some of you, like doctor Quinzel there, have known me as a friend and colleague. The Joker, on the other hand, knew me as a rival. In crime, for fame, even for Batman’s attention. And in the end, I am responsible for killing him. It was another dark night in Gotham, and I had ransomed the city with my fear toxin again, as usual. The payment was late, so I set off some of the gas canisters to show them I wasn’t merely playing patty cake with the police. The fog began billowing out an empty building near the police station. I didn’t know that The Joker was using it as his temporary headquarters. He’s never been particularly receptive to poisons of any kind, including mine, but his men proved extremely susceptible to its effects. Seeing a mad clown waving around a gun, they became so terrified that, in their chemical induced state, they rushed him, and beat him so fiercely that it took them a week to scrape enough of him together for this event. I did not like The Joker, but I would not have subjected him to…that.

    “None of these people are making any sense. I’m not dead. I’m right here! See? Me? Alive? Frisky, even!”

    “Are you?”

    The Joker paused to consider this. His usual brevity temporarily vanished as he furrowed his brow in contemplation. He pinched himself, he slapped himself, he blew a raspberry.

    “Seem pretty alive to me. Then again, you’re the spooky one. Reaper knows best, eh? I guess I’ve gotta see this through to the bitter end. Who’s next?”

    “I think she is.”

    A redheaded woman in a wheelchair was brought up, being pushed by a gray haired man in a long brown jacket. Her wheels squeaked quietly, but the silence in the room ushered by her movement made the noises loud as gunshots. He stood behind her stoically as she began her tale.

    “The Joker was a monster, the worst possible result of the human condition. He put me in this chair. He put countless others in the ground. After I was made this way I spent years planning a way to kill him. Batman told me he couldn’t kill him, saying it was a line he couldn’t cross. So I had to do it alone. I served as Batman’s eyes and ears on assignment, giving him priceless intel, but all along I was picking and choosing locations and poisons and lies to tell my boss. It all came down to him, me, a locked room, and a gun. I disabled the cameras, I had the walls soundproofed, I paid the guards to look the other way, and one night in Arkham, I shot him to death. Starting at the knees and moving up, I used every bullet I had in that revolver. And then, I left. Eventually Batman found me out, but he couldn’t gather enough evidence to prosecute, and my father kept the rest of the city in the dark when I asked for his help. I had to kill him, so no one else would be hurt. I had to do what Batman couldn’t, what the courts couldn’t. And I’m happy he’s dead.”

    “Hmph. I’d call her a party pooper if I thought she could still use a toilet.”

    The pair disappeared back into the crowd. The next speaking person seemed undecided between them all. The rogues were arguing quietly but heatedly, the batmen grabbing batarangs, ready for a scuffle. Eventually it died down when a large green hat was passed around and numbers were pulled out. A small man with what could only be described as permanent hat-hair fretted and fidgeted as it moved from hand to hand. As the hat came back to him and he breathed a sigh of relief, a man in a green suit stood up for his turn at the coffin.

    “Question: Why don’t clowns tell the endings to jokes? Answer: They are not done living them. Perhaps as much a challenge to my intellect as determining the identity of the bat was finding the origin of The Joker. Who he was before the circus his life became. And once I came close to finding it. I know I did. But when I approached him to confirm my hypothesis, he…laughed at me. I spent days thinking on him, trying to solve him, but he didn’t care. Didn’t value my hard work, wouldn’t tell me if I was right. He asked me, when he restrained his laughter at my efforts, “If a tree falls in the forest and kills a pathetic man in a green jumpsuit, would anyone care?” I…lost control of myself. He just made me so angry. I shot him. I’m not normally a violent man but… Before he stopped moving, he said to me, “Question: What conundrum could even the Riddler not solve?” He started retching violently, but shoved out of his throat the answer. “What’s the point?” And he laughed quietly, until the giggles became barely noticeable between his labored breaths, and then stopped altogether.”

    “My name is Arnold Wesker. Yer name is DUMMY! And you barely said 3 words to the clown! I’m doin’ this here story. Aint no big dramatic thing like the rest of you sad sacks been talkin’ about. Simple as all hell. I was takin’ more an’ more a the clown’s territory, and it came down to a showdown between us. I did the better planning, packed the bigger guns, and I blew him away with a Tommy gun, the way things are supposed to go down. Strictly business. I always thought that Mr. Scarface was my Joker, just like Joker had someone else in him before he was in an accident. I made him this ventriloquist dummy that I brought with me.”

    The old gentleman held up a small man in a purple suit, wearing a smile on his face. But not the smile of insanity. The smile of freedom. The face was normal and unscarred, the hair a regulation brown. It looked, in all definitions of the word, normal.

    “I used to think if he had this with him, it would, maybe, I guess give his human side a voice. Even if we are buried behind something, we still want a voice. We still deserve one, even if small.”

    He placed the figure on the floor, leaned up against the table leg, and walked back to his seat. It was a few seconds of silence more before another walked up and told their story. After the long stories of some of their comrades, many kept it short and bittersweet.

    “I thought I was dead to the suffering of this world, but the deaths of his cruelty reached even my icy heart. I shattered his frozen body against the pavement, and mailed the pieces to the Gotham MCU.”

    “I bred a laughing variety of Venus flytrap to trap him. He didn’t know they were also specially created to release a plethora of my own custom-made toxins. I had to rescue Harley somehow.”

    “He made fun of my skin one too many times, so I threw a rock at him.”

    “The Joker helped make me the man I am today! Without him, I’d still be a legitimate businessman. Sure, I’d still be a scarred up, sliced up, freak to rival any of the rest of you nut jobs. But, without the clown, I might have not known what I really am, inside. He told me I was the worst person he’d ever met, and he was right. But, just like the rest of my rivals, when Gotham was craved up and he tried to take my piece, I devoured him.”

    “The old man took too many lives in Metropolis that day, and I did what none of you had the guts to do! I’m the only real hero here.”

    “You all know me. Many of you voted for me, even if you don’t remember doing so. I am a proud American citizen, but in my past there have been times when I was known, quite aptly, as the greatest criminal mind on earth. Only one man had the audacity, and the cunning, to challenge my title, and that man was The Joker. His unpredictable mind created schemes of sheer nonsense, and yet, they often succeeded in spite of themselves. I knew The Joker before he was a mass murderer. Back when he was a prankster robbing banks with fake guns and leaving behind plastic vomit. Truly, a genius of injustice. Something, though, something pushed him too far. Perhaps it was just his many years in the line of work, maybe it was the world changing around him. All that’s clear is that the laughing man who murdered on occasion, became a beacon of depravity, and tragedy. I put him out of the world’s misery, the way Batman never could. I saw to it, with my considerable government influences, that he was executed. Nice and legally. But in a strange way, the world is darker for having lost his spirit, and I, for one, will miss him.”

    “He’d brainwashed me, he’d tortured me, and he was about to kill my adopted father, so I shot him, with his own gun. And it still haunts me to this day, but none of you can say you wouldn’t have done the same. We are better for having lost him.”

    “Now hold it! I know my own life, and…well, ok, a lot of this seems familiar, but there’s no way I could have done all of these things! I’ve never even met some of these people. And when did I torture that guy?! I really think you need to come clean about all this. Who are you?!”

    “Honey, I really don’t want to answer your questions. You’re supposed to figure out all this on your own. And besides, the best one’s are about to start. Look at the shadows…”

    And they started to move, to slide into your field of vision somehow imperceptibly. They walked up and told their tale. Batmen with black capes, Batmen in blue. Batmen as fanged monsters, Batmen as gumshoes. Swinging down from rafters and emerging from the floor. And as invisible and massive as they were, they paused to form an orderly line.

    “Oh, spectacular. I can’t wait to hear this. Who’s first, the one with wings or the one wearing…is that a pirate?”

    “I watched him kill himself right in front of me, just to frame me for it. We were just two old warhorses beating on each other, too tired to be like we used to. But he couldn’t give it up. He had to be a monster, even at the very end.”

    “After he killed Robin I just lost my reserve. I hunted him down, tore his diplomat papers up, and I shoved them down his throat. Then I caved in his skull with a crowbar. Superman had to pull me off his body. He broke my arm in the act. The League shunned me, but no Government seemed to care. I went on with the mission, as I always do, always will.”

    “He shot Tommy Elliot. I beat him to death in an alleyway. Gordon tried to stop me, but I knew this was the last death I could allow on my watch. He told me he’d hunt me down for it, send everything he could after me, but the sirens never came. Instead, he retired.”

    “It was the 2nd time I’d encountered The Joker, and he died from a stab wound. Thankfully, his intellect and talent for evil never grew beyond those 2 incidents, for I was soon dealing with other monstrous men….”

    “I fought him on a rooftop, and he nearly got away in his helicopter, but at the last second I tied him to a gargoyle, which then broke off. The weight brought him down, all the way to the ground.”

    “That devious joker trapped me and my ward Robin in yet another one of his ingenious devices, a merry-go-round of murder, he called it. Thankfully I had an acetylene bat-torch in my trusty utility belt to free me from my restraints. But, that clever clown had henchmen waiting for us, and watching his boys fight us on the revolving ride was, just too funny for him. He laughed himself to death, a case of fatal hilarity…”

    “He’d crippled Barbara. He tortured Jim. My friends, my comrades, my partners in the never-ending war. I wanted to reason with him, I did. When I went to Arkham that night I had every intention of talking to him, man to man. But The Joker was not a man, he was inhuman slime, and I left his body in that funhouse he invited me to, for the freaks he’d hired to do with what they may. I hung up the cowl that night.”

    “He’d poisoned the reservoir, killed many people with his hideous new poison that left his victims with a permanent grin. He came at me, and I weighed my options. I could have stopped him, grabbed his wrist and kept him from plummeting, but I didn’t. And he fell into his own plans, and died.”

    “They’d forced my hand, made me play hide and seek with the inmates, running through the asylum, trying to plan, trying to keep them off me, away from me. Joker was running the show, like always in there, always in there. After Croc tore chunks of me off I ran him through with n antique spear. And then I split Harvey’s head in two, ran my thumbs through Destiny’s eyes, and fish hooked Joker til he split open like a child’s doll. I made sure he bled out. I put them all down. I killed them all. And I never left that place again, til tonight…”

    The clown once standing tall now sat down, head in his hands, waiting for them to finish. As the Batmen disappeared once more, the lights began to rise, and people began to file out. And the coffin grew large, til it enveloped all. The Joker remained bored.

    “Does none of this move you?”

    “Lady, I know a bad show when I see one. I’m an expert on performance art, and this is not up to my standards.”

    “But, it’s…you.”

    “Is it? I may have done a lot of these things, but I didn’t do just as many.”

    “No, Joker, they are all you.”

    With her words came a flood of sensation into the mad man’s mind. Memories and lives and deaths and plots and times and places and people he never was, or always was. Long hair and scarred cheeks, vats of bubbling acid, makeup over moustaches, countless closets of purple clothes. He screamed with the tide of images, of pain inflicted or received, and a temporary sanity came to him, seeing so many pasts, and over and over again, one person who had been there, and would come for him when it was his time. One who would still care.

    “It’s you, isn’t it? You!”

    “Yes, it is.”

    The Joker sunk down onto the floor, an awed expression on his lips. His head shaking back and forth, his eyes darting everywhere but at her.

    “It can’t be you, that’s not possible! You’re…you’re…”

    “Dead? What do you think is happening to you?”

    “This is what a brain does when you’re dying. Isn’t it? A normal person’s brain, at least. A replay of my whole life, flashing before my eyes! But it’s not quite my life. And yet, it is. But if I’m thinking this, and I’m pretty sure I am, than I’m not dead. But I’m close, aren’t I?”

    “Yes, you’re very close.”

    “Why is it being dragged out like this? For who’s benefit is this freak show? I’m certainly not getting anything out of it. I’m not even allowed to interfere. You’d think the whole crazy thing would give me a loophole in situations like this, but after all the build up, I messed up the punch line.”

    “Honey, you were never truly gone, you know. You were just pushed over the edge. I thought that coming back to you, might twist you back my way.”

    “So is that it? The big man sent you to laugh at me one last time? Life’s a laugh and death’s the joke it’s true!”

    “I came to see what you did with your life after I died. I know you did it all for me, Joker.”

    “Why are you calling me that? Why don’t you call me by my name?”

    “Because the man I married died with me that night, so many years ago.”

    The permanent makeup on his face began to run as he broke down, and began crying. He ran up to the woman and collapsed in her lap, crying into her stomach. The high pitched cry of a man unfamiliar to the action, a man with 40 years of stifled screams, it echoed through the metaphysical room the existed in. The room of the funeral gone, the black starless sky of Gotham enveloping all.

    “Oh God.”

    “Oh baby…”

    “Oh God, I’m sorry…”

    “It’s true, I’m a monster. Oh, Jeannie, what am I going to do?”

    “There’s nothing you can do. Not anymore. It’s too late.”

    The clown stayed whimpering, his red-lipped grin twisted into a bizarre mirror of itself, creating a chilling view of human emotion in a man habitually devoid of empathy. With her cold look locked on his pathetic countenance, the man choked down his tears, his sobs, his love for the woman finally in his arms again, and let the bleach white overtake him. With a last whisper of her name, The Joker had returned again.

    “So, you were guiding me, right? Get guiding!”

    “What more is there for you? You’ve seen your death countless times, been countless selves. Haven’t you learned anything from this experience? It is your last, after all.”

    “You want me to summarize the entire experience that I just had in a short and sweet way that includes a “brought to you by the letter 3” spiel?”

    “It’s your funeral.”

    “Hmph. I’ve learned…that it doesn’t matter what the mode of death is, some things never change. Because even when they’re not talking about me, they are. Because they’re talking about The Joker. The joker has fun! I keep this city on its toes, even if it’s crazier by just one person. And I do not ever stop laughing. Sometimes I fall in battle. Sometimes I die hugely, destroying the city with my last breath as Batman rushes me one second too late. Sometimes it’s a small, ironic, unnoticed death. I die murdering a child in front of his parents, or kicking a stray dog in front of a vet’s office. Everything is chaos, nothing stays the same. Every thought betrays me, sooner or later, and every friend becomes an enemy, or a victim. I’m The Joker! I burn down the city. I kill people. I commit crimes. I am the guilty. I torture the innocent. And I get it. I mean I really get it. The punch line of The Joker is he’s dead. Because, in the end, The Joker dies. What else am I going to do? Retire and play canasta? Life doesn’t work that way. I keep ‘em rolling in the aisles til I drop, and one day, I will drop. But until then, the show must go on.”

    “That’s right, Joker. You maim and you murder until someone finally puts you in your place. And then you’re gone. Until that time comes you keep terrorizing, because no matter how many lives you destroy, you can’t bring me back. And I know you had great plans for your death, but without you around to terrify people, no one would carry them out. Your men abandoned you, after selling your body to the highest bidder, of course. The cash set aside for your massive tombstone is drained by those still around to take control of your accounts. The land you purchased for it becomes a public park. Your body is left alone, no repairs to make you look your best. You’re kept in a cheap black suit, standard fare for a funeral. They put you in a secure, locked box, and they bury you as deep as they can dig. The stone is unmarked, saying only “identity unknown.” No service is held. No obituaries are published. Several small parties are thrown. And the Batman goes out on patrol, just like every other night.”

    “For the wife of a comedian, you’re a real downer, you know that? I’m tempted to use “Take my wife, please,” but you’re not a very good audience.”

    “You never really laughed again, after that night. Not honestly. We didn’t get a lot of time together, but we were happy. And you disgraced my memory by the life you led. It all started in a playing card company, the beginning of the end….”

    “What? What is it? What is it, it’s all over me…”

    Watch out! He’s pulling a gun!”

    AAAAAAAAA
    oh no. No, no, no, no…”

    “So, Red Hood, we meet again.”

    “No. No no no. This isn’t happening. Oh dear God, what have you sent to punish me? Don’t come closer! Don’t come any closer, or I’ll…jump…”


    “Can I wake up in a hospital bed, or, hell, a prison bed, now? I’d like to get off this ride.”

    “Not this time.”

    “You know, I don’t actually believe in any of this life after death place, you know that? This is just me alone in my head. You’re not really here, Jeannie.”

    “I’ve always been with you, you’d just forgotten. Or chose to ignore.”

    “…I’ve tried to believe in an afterlife, but I just can’t. I mean, what kind of God would allow me to exist?”

    “A vengeful one?”

    “Ha ha! So you’re getting some revenge for the big guy on me, by showing me all of this?”

    “It was a joke.”

    “Oh.”

    “Are you ready to let go of the past, now? Stop living in memory?”

    “To go to my final resting place? I don’t really think you’re going to escort me in past the pearly gates, I don’t think there’s such a place waiting for me, for anyone! If I did, what would be the fun in killing people?”

    “You’re not going to Hell or Heaven, much as you deserve it. You know what your punishment is for being The Joker? You have to be The Joker. For a few years, you are happy, with me. And then you’ll throw it all away and become one of the human race’s most despicable monsters. And you’ll know all the time, that in the end, it was just you. My death didn’t destroy your mind, neither did a dye job and an encounter with a man in costume. It was always just you. You gave up, and gave in. You’re done. It’s over. Let it go.”

    “Jeannie? Don’t let them take me back Jeannie, I don’t want to go back.”

    “Remember your act, Joker? The one you practiced on me and the baby?”

    “Yes…I think I do.”

    “It’s just like you remember, a comedy of terrors…”

    “Sorry I’m late to the club tonight, everyone. I had to run here, 6 blocks! See my car broke down on the way here. And I was driving from my hotel room, see my house burned down last week. I was sent these wonderful chocolates by some sympathizers…and my dog got into them. I couldn’t afford the vet bills, so he passed on. Of course, my father is a retired veterinarian, so now my parents wont talk to me, or help me out with cash. But it’s alright, you know. My wife was cheating on me with my best friend, but she said if she was staying that she’d be in the front row here tonight. I, uh, I don’t see her. Boy will the kids be upset. Little Jack has some sickness they can’t identify, and I don’t know what to do for him. But, they say laughter is the best medicine, so I figured I’d become a stand up comedian! I just wish I’d remembered to bring him…”

    “Get off the stage!”

    “Uh, ladies and gentleman, you’ve been wonderful. Goodnight.”

    “Ppffugh. Guhh. Aaugh. I’m stinging. Itching. My face, my hands…something in the water? Oh Jesus, it burns…Get this stupid hood off. Get it off so I can…see…Ha. Ha ha ha. Ffnk. Ahoo, Ahoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo. Ehrrr

    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA


    -Benjamin George
    Copyright 2009

    Adrift in a sea of decadent luxury and meaningless sex.

    I really am. for me, getting a few new things and eating food I love is the height of spectacular, and I've been repeatedly engaging in intimate meetings as well. Not so impersonal and random as they sound though. As I've mentioned to a few people offhandedly, because I find it amusing, the universe comes together once a year for the explicit purpose of getting me laid. This year, an ex was dumped literally the day before, and as she pretty much always does after these incidents, she came back to me for sex. I don't really mind it. I enjoy the self-esteem boost I get during sex, having so much power over someone, though I am curious as to whether I'd enjoy the reverse. Never been with a woman capable of really taking control. Well, maybe one, but it didn't last long and....not going to go into that. Painful to consider. With Jess it's impossible not to dominate. I know this is stroking my ego, and she disagrees with me on this point consistently (if without much fervor), but I have spoiled her and ruined her for future relationships. In order to have a real, successful relationship, the sex has to be good to amazing. She still compares everyone to me in that area. At least the college boys she'll be servicing in a few weeks will be happy. I've trained her well.

    I...enjoy...the sex. Not because I'm particularly horny or that I'm particularly attracted to Jess. She's alright. Her mind is wonderful and that does enough for me. But, I haven't had an emotional connection in so long. The sex is good for my body image, good because it gives me a work out, and good because it distracts me from everything else. For 3 hours on Saturday I forgot that my best friend is going to kill himself, that school is about to start and my ex-fiance will be around to taunt me again since she is returning this semester, that I'm thousands in debt, that I need to lose weight, that the country is going to hell.

    Jess pushes my limits, sexually. I'm not usually a fan of duct tape, cuffs, candle wax, all that crap. But I'm accommodating as a lover, I do what I have to to make them happy. In a way, I've always been the subservient one to my women.

    I need to run an errand today, just to the grocery store for 20 minutes or so. During my time at home I really need to finish my Joker story. I can tell it is close to being done, and I need to just ride it out for another few hours and it'll come together with a nice little ribbon tied around it. For those not in the know, I am creating my situation for how the Joker is killed in the comics. His popularity keeps him from being gotten rid of, but if they were to do it, this would be my preferred method. It's like "Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader," but in reverse. Sort of. You have to be a big fan of Batman in general to understand it. But whatever, I'll post it when it's done. Gonna do a sandwich review on the other blog at some point today too.

    TTFN

    Sunday, August 16, 2009

    Movie Review: District 9



    Today I am reviewing one of the most hyped films of the summer, Neill Blomkamp's District 9. Let me be blunt. This is not a good film. It's been built up for months, starting with a trailer filled with news footage of shanty towns and assorted other examples of human suffering that ended with a CGI alien interrogation. With the exception of one short interview, the footage shown never made it into the film. Whether this was an editing room decision or a viral marketing hack job, I remain irritated with it. Trailers filled with footage not from the film are simply deceptions. The trailer itself is wonderful. Everything involved with the build up to this film has been fascinating and phenomenally well done. The film itself, however, did not cash in on this build up. It's as if they had the idea for a political commentary involving aliens, but then half way through writing it Michael Bay broke in and finished it in crayon. The action is uninspired, the music is generic, and the CGI is run of the mill. The only impressive effects, and I use impressive lightly, was the weapons, which could have been pulled easily out of any video game. The obvious attempt to comment on apartheid falls flat as nearly character portrayed is equally as despicable. with the exception of the adorable child alien, who I felt for, not a single character touches you. The protagonist, portrayed by Sharlto Copley, is unlikable. Sure, he goes through hardship and, eventually, does the right thing...sort of, but he's a white collar scum that you love to hate. For Christ's sake he spends the first half hour of the film evicting people! It's like an episode of COPS. And not even a good episode of COPS! If the filmmakers intended to create a surreal view of racism, they failed. Everyone hated everyone, and the underlying message, if indeed the film actually had one, seems to me to be this: You think (insert race here) is bad? Just wait for the aliens!

    I haven't been so disappointed with a film since Pan's Labyrinth. And I hated Pan's Labyrinth. With the exception of the general.

    Peter Jackson and Neill Blomkamp, for shame. You took an alright idea, not a great one, but an alright one, and did it absolutely no justice. For shame.

    **.5 out of *****

    2.5 out of 5

    Friday, August 14, 2009

    Movie Review: Paper Heart



    Yet again, my preference for these artsy films has limited my options for theaters. However, I don't really have a problem with the Criterion. It's old styled, and some films work well in the old type theaters. I do miss stadium seating though. This is alright, since I'm seeing District 9 in digital tomorrow in Milford. Look for that review shortly after.

    The story of one girl's search for the facts about love, in general, and in her own heart, Paper Heart rests somewhere between a docudrama and the black abyss of a genre known as romantic comedy. However, it does not qualify as a legitimate documentary since any unknown number of it's scenes is scripted. The edge of reality it walks along detracts from the sincerity of the numerous interviews. The characters of the biker known as "Jester" and the couple in their 80's and the Elvis running a wedding chapel are all memorable and touching, but they may have been acting for a significant, if not complete percentage of the dialog.

    Moving along to the main actors, Michael Cera and Charlyne Yi, we see Mr. Cera deliver the same performance he has brought to the table in films such as Juno and, well, everything else he's ever been in. The fact that in this film he was playing himself actually lessens the level of irritation he seems to constantly be secreting in other films. Charlyne Yi on the other hand, though most likely merely playing herself, was just quirky enough to not be annoying and remain genuinely endearing. Even I found myself becoming interested in her. She is, if not merely acting, a unique individual, and I look forward to researching her work in comedy and seeing her in films in the future.

    The story doesn't exactly grab you, but you do fall into it and it wraps itself around you until you actually care what happens. The current trend in artsy films seems to be leaving the ending so ambiguous that a false interpretation is seemingly impossible. While this is a valid ending in certain situations, this film is another example of where utilizing it makes the writers just seem lazy. I respect that they wanted to leave it open, but they managed to avoid answering nearly all of the questions I was left with. And the two stars have denied commenting on the film aside from saying that they are not actually together.

    Strewn between the interviews, and used quite masterfully at the finale, are paper puppetry scenes that reflect an elementary school play in production values. However, I quite enjoyed them. The juvenile tone of these scenes, as well as the overall young frame of reference for the film keep the atmosphere fresh and it just feels like puppy love.

    The music I have no complaints with. The original score, also by Cera and Yi, is effective throughout. The duplicitous effects of the music in certain scenes, really enriches the fact that one place can be so many different things, depending on where your heart is.

    A bold first attempt by Yi, worth at least one viewing, and perhaps obtaining the soundtrack.

    Verdict: ***.5

    3.5 out of 5 stars

    Monday, August 10, 2009

    An overdue chewing out

    You really make me sick, [redacted]. And it's not just that you are weak, and cowardly. I can see past that. Sure it annoys me that you couldn't dig deep and find the common decency to talk to me, instead of just retreating back like a child until you could hide behind someone bigger than you, but it's only human. That's really sad and pathetic, how you're still acting like a toddler, but not unexpected, though the level of your incompetence surprises even me. But you know what really gets to me? You've hidden behind God, like he was some sort of protector that could keep you from becoming an adult. I'm friends with real Christians, proud people who live their lives for God, not cowering behind him like some sycophantic toad. He is not your personal bodyguard. He wants you to grow a spine and move on. I was insulted, I grew vengeful, and then I saw you for what you are: Infantile. I'm done with you.

    Papyrus Cardiac Organ

    Ha ha ha. See that title? It's a joke because the film I wanted to see (Paper Heart) has been released, but only limited for the moment. A wider release is scheduled for Friday. I'm still rather peeved by the entire thing. So this weekend I have "Paper Heart" and "District 9" both on the docket. Should be an eventful few days.

    Today I'm hanging around the house, driving the girls a few places, letting Alexandra practice her automotive skills, and hanging around online. I enjoy driving Mom's car around. It's a nice vehicle. I washed most of it yesterday, by hand with an all-purpose cleaner. I can't reach the roof though. Gonna need to hit a car wash eventually. My automobile is running fine, but I'm worried about the chassis. Old warhorse like her, metal could be warping. I shouldn't dwell on it too much though. worrying can't improve anything. Ever.

    I'm still wet while typing. Fresh out of the shower. My long hair is really awesome, yet really annoying. It stays wet for hours. I really needed a shower. Jess and I consummated our complete lack of a relationship 3 times yesterday. It's a bittersweet bathing ritual, this morning-after shower. Nothing else in the world smells quite the same as sex. The unmistakable musk that emanates from somewhere beneath the skin, somewhere beyond the nostrils it hangs and waits. I'm glad to be fresh again, but I sort of miss the stench that reminded me I'm not alone. I've made powerful connections with so many women. Jess keeps coming back to me for the sex, and a little for my personality too. But mainly the sex. What we have now works, especially since I no longer believe in love. I'm not really looking for my soul mate anymore. I think I'm just looking for a partner I can "love" in my own way. It's unfortunate that it can't be Jess. I don't love her, and I'm never going to.

    Ah well. Arkham Asylum comes out....or came out. Not sure. I don't have a system. Bryan does though. Perhaps I can convince him to let me play it with him. It would certainly brighten up my summer.

    Wednesday, August 5, 2009

    Movie Review: MOON



    I saw this film last night at the Bow Tie Criterion Cinema in New Haven. For a relatively unknown theater and a relatively unknown film, the crowd was surprisingly large. About half full. Now, I will say that I enjoyed the film, but at the same time I found it mildly off putting that the psychological mystery I expected from the spectacular trailer (viewable here: http://www.sonypictures.com/classics/moon/) did not come to fruition. The audience is left very much in the dark for roughly half the film. I feel I would have enjoyed it more had it been billed as a purely science fiction film rather than a genre straddling journey into the mind of a man alone and enclosed.


    WARNING: There be (limited) spoilers ahead


    Sam Rockwell delivers a powerful performance as an astronaut charged with the task of monitoring a lunar mining facility. The year is somewhere ahead, but not far off. Moon rocks provide energy for 75% of the earth's inhabitants. His contract for a three year station is about to end, and the situation has begun to rot his mind. Hallucinations ensue, and an accident while driving a rover leaves him severely injured. He wakes up back in the base with no recollection of how he got there. But after convincing the computer system to allow him to leave the base to inspect for meteorite damage, he finds the rover that crashed, and his body still inside it. What follows is a clone plot straight out of the science fiction story handbook. The sick and injured Sam must work with his newly awakened clone self to solve the mystery of whether or not there really are clones, if the station is more than it seems, and all along the sanity of Sam is in question.

    The film is clearly "2001" inspired but not close enough to be considered plagiarism. However, you can definitely see the set design and claustrophobic camera angle choices of Kubrick reflected in the style of director Duncan Jones. The style creates an alien yet somehow familiar setting, like the set was deja vu. Despite setbacks in the plots formulaic follow through, Sam Rockwell's portrayal of Sam Bell is without misstep. The angry confusion is palpable in his dialog, and his misery never fails to touch you as a human being. His work becomes more impressive when considering the amount of work involved in creating the scenes where he talks to himself, numerous costume and make up changes between them. Bringing up the rear is an unnoticed Celebrity actor doing the voice of the station's computer, GERTY. Kevin spacey proves his ability once again in creating a dead on computer AI personality with conflicted loyalties. The sets are simple and believable. The real final piece is the simple yet eerie and beautiful piano of Clint Mansell, who succeeds overwhelmingly in setting the tone and matching the action, without resorting to old cliches and expected norms such as a sharp tone change at a reveal scene. He instead opts for building foreboding while the viewer slowly understands the scene with a growing dread.

    My only major gripe with this film is the brevity of the ending. Nothing is tied up in a way acceptable to my curiosity. We are led to believe that the Sams succeed, but considering the psychological tone of so much pf the film, it becomes unclear what happened and what did not, and there are literally dozens of ways to take it. Not a bad ending, but I'm left asking so much. I hope for DVD commentary to answer my questions when it is released.

    Verdict: *****

    4 out of 5 stars

    Saturday, August 1, 2009

    Reflections on turning 21

    I bought purple jeans today. Happy Birthday.

    This "will he won't he" business with Darien is exhausting. I'm doing all I can. Today we went to the build-a-bear workshop so that he could make Jennifer the bear he promised her. He doesn't know how he'll get it to her. In all likelihood I'll be given the responsibility after he's gone. I'm alright with this. I've come to terms with all that mess. I just hope his family will be alright. I worry about his sister. Inherent big brother taking over, worrying about little ones.

    I revised some poetry earlier. I modified it to meet the criteria of my poetry class, but in retrospect, those people's opinions were whack. I've returned to the original theme and expounded significantly. I like it a lot. He's just so upset about the Jennifer thing. After another long, long conversation I found myself welling up in anger, and retorting to him how my pains are every bit as severe as his. Something about birthdays, I reflect on what a waste it all is. To this day I have no regrets over anything, but I still miss her. I did the only thing that had a shot at making her happy, and I will always have to live with my choice, but I still hurt. I was hoping to see Jess tonight. She just broke up with her boyfriend, and I wanted to hold her, and we could cry together after releasing the emotional burdens of solitude within each other. But, alas, she is nowhere to be found. Texting and calling appear worthless gestures.

    I'm all torn up inside for some reason. what is it about a day, a day like any other, which pulls all this out of me. Tears welling up as I old back the urge to reminisce. But so many things have been coming up lately. Sarah's voice in another girl's mouth. Valerie's smell on the air. And Katie...just her presence. Not here, but, the absence of it, in my soul.

    I need....someone.