Rocketboom Replacement

Jeffrey Wells observes a cinematic trend that I remarked upon in contemporary literature a few months ago: movies that, in Wells’ words, involve “GenX guys in their early to mid 30s who’re having trouble growing up.” (Wells doesn’t cite Adam Sternbergh’s “grups” article from earlier in the year, but it does tie into the nagging question.) Personally, I think that any films or literature dealing with the subject might offer a few valuable reasons why. But to expand Wells’ question, speaking as a man in his early thirties happily immature in a lot of ways, has he not observed the dark underbelly of the American dream (i.e., rising real estate prices, the disparity between the rich and the poor)? Has he not observed the troubling sense of self-entitlement that many twentysomethings (and even thirtysomethings) seem to possess? Has he not observed that couples are getting married and having children later? Or the bedlam of luxuries (cell phones, DVDs, SUVs, the Internet, Scandanivan furniture) that have sent a cultural shock wave through the Western world and beyond during the past fifteen years?

While there is certainly something to be said for growing old gracefully, one might also argue that prudence in choosing one’s calling is sometimes a virtue. Even so, it saddens me to see friends with remarkable potential remaining quite blissfully inert after living lives devoid of chance-taking. Then again, if they’re happy, who am I to pass judgment?

• Keith Richards will play Depp’s dad in Pirates 3. Let us hope that the scene doesn’t involve coconut trees.
• Great Ormond Street Hospital, owner of the Peter Pan rights, is getting its panties in a bunch over Alan Moore’s Lost Girls. Interestingly, the copyright on Wendy is still active in the United Kingdom, despite the book and the play being a little less than a century old. I was baffled by this devleopment until I read up on crazed EU copyright law. Here’s the irony: The UK copyright expired at 1987, but an EU directive extended copyright from 50 years to 70 years after the author’s death. The situation is complicated in the United States, where GOSH claims that they own the Peter Pan copyright through 2023, despite the original edition of Peter and Wendy being published in 1911.
• The Old Hag is blogging again, but for how long?
• Heidi McDonald’s invaluable comic blog, The Beat, has jumped ship from Comicon to PW. (via Galleycat)
• I will control my worst impulses and say nothing about the Sean Connery memoir. Nothing! Ever lose your car keys? Shithead! The gun is good, the penis is evil! You have the gift, Jamal! Damn.
• Birnbaum talks with Gay Talese.
• Pussies. (via Jeff)
• Jean Cocteau sound files (via wood s lot)
• The Six Most Feared But Least Likely Causes of Death. Consider how much airtime much of these highly improbable deaths get on the news. Now consider a parallel universe in which your local anchorman reports on more quotidian deaths: “Robert Harris died today of lung cancer. He was 72, entirely unremarkable in every way, but, in his prime, could kick your ass in lacrosse.” (via Quiddity)
• Richard Simmons on Whose Line Is It Anyway?
• The Rocketboom flap becomes a soap opera.