Various items noted as I scanned the Arts section of today's New York Times:
1) A publishing house paid 1.25 million for a book on Dewey, a cat who lived in a library in Spencer, Iowa. The publisher as much as admits this is a cynical attempt to cash in on the surpise success of Marley And Me, which means the book itself is an act of marketing, not creativity.
On the other hand, a book about a much-beloved orange stripey cat who lives a nice, long life and then dies? I'd start crying two pages in.
2) Speaking of furry critters, the movie Firehouse Dog receives a surprisingly favorable review from second-string critic Jeannette Catsoulis. The only reason I mention this at all is because this dreadful-sounding kiddie pic--He's a dog! Riding a skateboard! It's funny!--was directed by Todd Holland.
His feature film credits are undistinguished, but his work on TV includes episodes of Twin Peaks, Eerie Indiana, My So-Called Life and Wonderfalls. He was a producer and regular director for The Larry Sanders Show, one of the most tonally perfect things I've ever seen, and despite the excellent writing and casting, we can assume Holland had much to do with that.
And now he's directing farting dog movies. Good career move.
3) Keith Richards snorted his dad's ashes. That would be the only cool thing Richards has done since Brian Jones died.
4) The world doesn't need yet another movie based on a comic book most people have never heard of, but it kind of makes me happy that Warner Bros. is planning a movie version of Metal Men.
The movie, if it gets made, will no doubt suck, but if it brings any attention at all to the comics' author, Robert Kanigher, that will be all to the good. Kanigher spent most of his time at DC Comics churning out war stuff--he wrote Sgt. Rock, my favorite comic book when I was a kid--and when he ventured outside his comfort zone, things got weird. Metal Men is about a bunch of robots with the properties of different metals(!), but my favorite Kanigher character was Ragman, a superhero with no super powers whatsoever. He was just a guy who lived in a slum who dressed up in a really cool, ratty outfit and beat the shit out of guys. I seem to remember Nazis getting worked in to one issue, but I may be confusing it with another Kanigher book--in his universe, anything could happen.
5) Actress Anna Faris is getting a divorce. I've barely heard of her, but I didn't know she was married. Thank God the press is around to tell us these things!
