...in which your humble servant is featured (mentioned in a comment below) is here.
See if you can guess which skeevy dude I am! (Not much of a challenge, I know.) Deposit approbation and/or snark below! Once an embed-ready version appears, I'll put it up here! You're gonna get pretty sick of hearing about it soon!
"Thanks, Dad"?
I'm only going by the sporadic pictures you post of yourself here. Also, on an unrelated note, I want to thank you for recommending Zeroville to your readers last year. I love it so much--and how could I not, with its "cine-autistic" fan of both Preminger and the novelist Huysmans--that I've been re-evaluating my indifference toward Erickson. Any recommendations from his remaining oeuvre?
Posted by: Joel | April 18, 2009 at 08:28 PM
I really liked that book, too, and, coincidentally, have "La Bas" by Huysmans winging itself my way as we speak.
What the hell must John Milius have thought reading "Zeroville"!
Posted by: bill | April 18, 2009 at 08:37 PM
He must have been incredibly flattered. Viking Man is far cooler and more articulate, especially in his "I'm settling for being John Ford" speech, than John-Goodman-as-Milius in The Big Lebowski, though maybe he should be flattered by the latter, as well. La Bas is good, but it's part of a tetralogy (I think), which charts the character's growing embrace of Catholicism, so it's best to continue all the way up to the last volume to put La Bas's depravity in context (kind of like reading Inferno, but Paradisio). Against Nature is still his best novel, one that has earned fame as Dorian Grey's amoral yellow book. It also features novel uses for live turtles.
Posted by: Joel | April 18, 2009 at 08:45 PM
Yeah, I assume he'd be flattered, but more than a little taken aback at the same time. Of all the people to serve as Vikar's guru. Not that I'm complaining, mind you, I thought it was a fascinating way to do. But surprising.
Is "La Bas" at least the first part of the tetralogy?
Posted by: bill | April 18, 2009 at 08:52 PM
Yes, La Bas is part one, and of course the most entertaining because it's about Satanic priests, but the tetralogy is still worth reading as a whole because it encapsulates a whole spiritual journey that was quite unfashionable at the time. Sorry about the thread-diversion, Glenn. I should probably mention that you do indeed look quite skeevy in the film, yet haughty and pathetic at the same time. Recipe for hilarity, I assume. And the movie in general looks good, too.
Posted by: Joel | April 18, 2009 at 09:00 PM
Glenn, I never thought I'd say this about you but you're actually "...big pimpin', spendin' cheese..."
In all seriousness, I look forward to seeing this movie, and congratulate you for qualifying for a SAG card.
Posted by: Tony Dayoub | April 18, 2009 at 09:03 PM
I bet 10 bucks Armond White will say that Soderbergh's casting of Glenn represents self-reflexive hipsterism. He'll then compare the film and Glenn's performance unfavorably with a recent hip-hop video.
Posted by: Steven Santos | April 18, 2009 at 09:26 PM
@ Joel: I'm a bit abashed to admit it, but "Zeroville" is the only book of Erickson's I've read. I mean to read more—particularly "Amniesiascope," in part a roman a clef about the L.A. Weekly, in which disguised versions of some friends of mine apparently appear—but have not. So I don't know what to recommend! I would like to revisit Huysmans soon as well—his depraved visions loomed large in my adolescent ambitions!
@Steven Santos: I'd take that bet, but with White you never know. He can go counterintuitive at any time! Then again, given his general distaste for Soderbergh, I'd say you nailed it. Except my guess is that it'll be a Morrissey video.
Posted by: Glenn Kenny | April 18, 2009 at 09:34 PM
What's a video?
I thought White was a fan of Bubble?
Posted by: Aaron Aradillas | April 19, 2009 at 12:20 AM
@Aaron: No, no, no, no. White was a fan of "Bubble Boy," not "Bubble."
For a minute there you almost gave me reason to hope...
Posted by: Glenn Kenny | April 19, 2009 at 12:43 AM
"'The Girlfriend Experience' is a hipster's version of Joss Whedon's 'Dollhouse,' which is a hipster's version of 'Belle du Jour,' which is a hipster's version of Rob Schneider's seminal 'Deuce Bigolow: Male Gigolo...."
"....and Glenn Kenny a hipster's version of Glenn Beck...."
Posted by: Craig | April 19, 2009 at 08:56 AM
A black man's in the White House, the Evil Empire loses 22-4 in the House that Greed Built, and Glenn Kenny is a movie star. Is this a great country or what?
Posted by: Herman Scobie | April 19, 2009 at 09:37 AM
Either I have a crappy monitor or that's a crappy transfer, unless the washed-out look is intentional.
Posted by: Dan | April 19, 2009 at 01:56 PM
"....and Glenn Kenny a hipster's version of Glenn Beck...."
Comment of the day...(btw, does this make The Girlfriend Experience also a hipster version of The Christmas Sweater?)
Posted by: MovieMan0283 | April 19, 2009 at 09:28 PM
"I bet 10 bucks Armond White will say that Soderbergh's casting of Glenn represents self-reflexive hipsterism. He'll then compare the film and Glenn's performance unfavorably with a recent hip-hop video."
Priceless. And true. The film looks really strong.
Posted by: nick | April 22, 2009 at 01:13 PM
Re: Erickson. I've read "Leap Year," and enjoyed it very much.
Posted by: wwolfe | April 23, 2009 at 11:59 AM
I'm hooked. I have got to see this movie. fyi, the next trailer queued up on TrailerSpy after yours was Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience.
Posted by: George Mannes | April 29, 2009 at 07:17 PM