• About
  • Movies
  • Music
  • Posts
  • Published Works

The Obscurity Symposium

~ Reviews & Fiction by Zach Smith

Monthly Archives: March 2017

The Easter Bunny on a Glass Elevator Going Down

29 Wednesday Mar 2017

Posted by zachhsmith23 in Published Works

≈ Leave a comment

Greetings all my loyal readers,

I have for your pleasure my second story published this year: “The Easter Bunny on a Glass Elevator Going Down” from Foxglove Journal. Yes, Easter is still a few weeks away, but I don’t like to wait on these things that much.

There are several songs mentioned in this story, so if the story has peaked your interest here are some of the songs.

The main song: “Losing My Religion” by REM

“Heart of a Dragon” the DragonForce song that sounds like “Peter Cottontail”

And “Peter Cottontail” (for comparison of course)

And though I’m not a fan of the song, here’s Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)”

There’s other songs mentioned but they should be familiar enough.

If you can’t wait to get some more “awesome” stories from Zach Smith, I have some good news. Another story was picked up a few weeks ago. I don’t know when it will be published, but it should be imminent. In the mean time you can check out the rest of my blog.

Enjoy,

Zach.

Stories I-K

26 Sunday Mar 2017

Posted by zachhsmith23 in Stories

≈ Leave a comment

I Know What You Need – Starting off this batch of stories is one from Stephen King’s “Night Shift.”  Night Shift is a strange collection, it’s not bad, some of the stories are actually quite good and clever, but it is much less mature then his later works. Unlike his later collections the stories in this collection are almost entirely horror based, and all but one or two are actually short story length. This story is about a college girl that falls in love with this mysterious and somewhat nerdy kid who always seems to know just what the girl needs. This is probably the second best story from the collection, my only problem with it is the title, the title is applicable of course, but it’s kind of bland and there could probably be a better one.

I Want to Live – a candidate for my favorite story form the BASS Century (the other being Gish Jen’s “Birthmates”), this was the first and for a long time only Thom Jones story I had ever read. Since then however I have read one entire book by him, and while two or three of the stories (in that book) are really good, the rest are basically just variations on the same handful of topics. It seems that every story he writes is either about Death, Diseases, Boxing, Africa, Cars, or some combination of the above. This story falls into the Death and Disease category and it’s beautifully written. Jones has his own voice that seems to be cultivated almost independently of any particular influence. It’s a combination of minimalism mixed with train of thought and colloquialism. Three styles which shouldn’t be able to work together, but in this story Jones is able to do just that. Perhaps if he chooses other topics to cover in his stories he would have had a more lustrous corer, but hey there may still be time.

Illinois – one of the historic semi-non-fiction stories from Munro’s “The View from Castle Rock.” It’s not one of my favorite stories from the collection, as it is a western tale and deals largely about a baby and raising a family while fording the wilderness. I have little interest in these topics (i.e. babies and families), but that’s just me. On the plus side it is short, clocking it at a little over half an hour, so you won’t get weighed down in it for too long if you don’t like it.

In Another Country – this is one of the Hemmingway “War Stories,” written in the minimalist vein in which almost nothing significant happens, and there’s almost no plot at all. There is a line in this story where the narrator says he got his medals because he was an American, where as the others (Italians) had earned their medals from the time they spent on the front. That says an awful lot about the meaning the story is trying to convey.

In Sight of the Lake –This story is about a woman who goes to a town she is not familiar with to find a doctor the day before her appointment so that she doesn’t have to look for the doctors on the day of the appointment. Which is not a terrible idea to tell you the truth. This is one of the rare Alice Munro stories to have an unexpected twilight zone-esqu twist ending.

Incarnations of Burnt Children – for a while this is one of the very few audio stories I could find from Wallace’s third story collection “Oblivion.” The story was actually read by Wallace himself at I believe a book signing. Not one of my favorite works of his, probably my least favorite from the collection. It’s about a baby that is accidentally scolded. It ends in a bizarre way that is open to interpretation. The story is painful to read, but on the plus side it is very short.

The Interior Castle – I’ve read this story a few times and I’m still not quite sure what it is about, but I think this fogginess is intentional and also well used given the circumstances. The story is about a woman who has survived a car accident and is in a hospital going through surgeries and so on. You never really find out who the woman is, no friends or family seem to come and visit her, etc. If the intention of the story is to mimic the haziness an accident victim is wont to experience, then the story is highly successful and deserves to be in the BASS century collection. To me, this one is worth a few more reads .

It Grows On You – this is another good, but somewhat weird, story from Kings “Nightmares and Dreamscapes” it’s not really all that scary, and has a high literary value to it. There is actually a whole lot that goes on in this story even though almost nothing actually happens, kind of like a Seinfeld episode. It’s basically about a haunted house and all the townsfolk speculations about it.

The Ivory Acrobat – this is a story about an American woman living in Greece working as a teacher and dealing with the aftermath of an earthquake. The name comes from a gift that the woman’s friend gives her, a small statuette of an acrobat jumping over a bull, the original statue (according to the story) had been destroyed in an earthquake some 80 years before. Like most of DeLillo’s stories, it is very vague and difficult to understand.

The Jelly-Bean – I’ve read this story before, a few times I think, and never really understood it or liked it, until this go around. It’s more or less about wealthy college and post-college hedonism, like a less disturbing 20’s era Less Then Zero. (Maybe it was more disturbing and controversial for the time it was written). It’s one of Fitzgerald’s better stories (now that I’ve had time to digest it) and certainly better then the choice from BASS-Century.

Jerusalem’s Lot – easily the best story from King’s “Night Shift” and clearly the one he spent the most time on. It’s also the longest from the book, and I would put it easily in his all time top ten best stories. I was a little disappointed to find out that a lot of things from the story were taken from Lovecraft, but not greatly. The story is told in Epistolary form about the strange Abandoned town of Jerusalem’s Lot. Evidently this is the same place as ‘Salam’s Lot (note the parenthetical mark at the beginning of the title) for which the novel and movie of the same name take place. The story is about the spiritual remains of a satanic puritan splinter group, which is a pretty interesting idea in itself. Definitely worth the read, and it is a little more spooky then most of his stories.

John Billy – one of the stories from Wallace’s “Girl with Curious Hair” collection. I have mixed feelings on this particular story. It’s written in a southern dialect and it’s about a guy named Chuck Nunn Jr. who’s superhuman exploits are highly reminiscent of Chuck Noris Jokes. That’s the down side to the story. The plus side is that it is a pretty interesting story, and is told in an interesting way. One of the characters in the story T. Rex Minogue, has throat cancer and has to talk through a synthetic voice box, which the narrator uses in order to affect the voice, which is a nice touch, Robert Petcoff (Wallace’s Standard Reader) is quite a good voice actor.

The Killers – this is actually my favorite Ernest Hemingway story, at least from all the stories I’ve read by him (which isn’t a huge amount of them). it’s based in part on a painting I really like called “Nighthawks” by Edwin Hooper. The story is a very early example of minimalist writing, both in them and writing style, little happens in the plot and the sentences are generally very small and simple. Personally, having spent a lot of time in diners, I like the back and forth with the two gangsters trying to order dinner when only the breakfast menu is available: “I can make you ham and eggs, bacon and eggs, liver and bacon, or I can cook you a stake.” what a great line.

Killing – a John Updike story that deals with divorce and the death of a parent. The main character has taken her father off life support and is waiting for him to die. After the funeral her ex-husband comes to visit and support her and the kids and the two end up sleeping in the same bed, but he is unable to perform sexually and finds this to be a vindication that he is truly in love with his current wife. It’s good but not Updike’s best.

Winter Movies

21 Tuesday Mar 2017

Posted by zachhsmith23 in 2017 Review, Movie

≈ Leave a comment

I make a lot of goals or intentions for what to do throughout the year, most of which I don’t fulfill, but this one I have been. last year I tried to watch one movie a week, and I ended with well below half of that goal, this year I am well on pace to achieve this and maybe even make up for the quantity I missed last year. Here are all the movies I’ve watched so far this winter (starting on January 1st).

 

The Short List:

  • God’s Gun^
  • Bulldog Drummond’s Peril ^
  • Time Raiders
  • Bulldog Drummond’s Revenge^
  • The Front Page^
  • The Pale Face^
  • Grumpy Old Men^
  • The Flying Deuces^
  • Groundhog Day*
  • What’s Up Tiger Lilly*
  • Airplane*
  • British Intelligence^
  • His Private Secretary^
  • Palooka^
  • False Pretenses^
  • Fando Y Lis
  • The Milky Way^
  • Dead Again
  • Conan the Barbarian
  • The Last of the Wild Horses (MST3K)

Key:

* = Movies I’ve seen before

^ = Movies from Bargain Bin DVD Boxes.

 

Commentary:

 

God’s Gun – A very good western starring Lee Van Cleef (in two roles) and a very young Leif Garret. This is the 4th movie I’ve seen off my Western 20 movies for 5$ DVD, and all 4 of them have been great so far, and I didn’t even think I liked westerns that much, but I guess I do.

 

Bulldog Drummond’s Peril – Noir/Comedy, not bad, not the first Bulldog Drummond movie I’ve seen and probably not the best either.

 

Time Raiders – interesting Chinese kung-fu/adventure/fantasy/archeology movie. My wife read the book that the movie is based on and then made her mom and I watch it. It was pretty good.

 

The Front Page – a Pre-Code Comedy based on a play of the same name about Tabloid reporters. The movie is too long and convoluted to be good, but it gets an extra star for being pre-code and a very good punch line ending.

 

Grumpy Old Men – Never saw this movie before, though I think I saw a few small pieces when they first showed it on TV.  Right at the beginning, when Walter Matthau greets Jake Lemon with “Mornin’ Dick-head” you know this is going to be a funny movie, and it was. Extra points for Burgess Meredith (in my opinion one of the greatest most underrated actors of all time) in the roll of Lemon’s rakish and hard living 90 year old Father. I am adding this movie to my cannon of movies to be watched during the Christmas season. The others of which are: National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, The Polar Express (recently added), What’s Up Tiger Lilly, It’s A Wonderful Life, The Bank Dick, The History of Mankind, my 1988 Xmas Tape (several times-blog entry forthcoming), Rifftrax Starwars Holiday Special (also several times), 1995 Cartoon Box.

 

The Flying Deuces – when I first got into old comedies (back in 2001), I came across Laurel and Hardy and wanted to see some of their films. My mom said “you might not like their stuff,” well it turned out she was right (it happens once in a while), because it sucked. Most of it I didn’t find funny, and half of it I couldn’t even tell what was supposed to be funny. The famous flying sequence for which the movie is named is only maybe 10 minutes at the very end of the film, whereas the rest of it is about Hardy joining the French Foreign Legion to get over a girl.

 

Fando Y Lis – I’ve wanted to see this movie for years, it’s frequently put on lists of very bizarre movies, and it is unarguably the weirdest movie I’ve ever seen. Not bad, it’s definitely one to look into and think about and discuss long after watching it, but it is not for the weak of heart. The film is so strange that when it was first shown in Mexico (the director’s native country) the audience literally rioted.

 

The Milky Way – the first Harold Lloyd movie I’ve ever seen, and not bad, definitely willing to check out his other films. This one is about a boxer (one of several boxing related movies this season).

 

Dead Again – we did this movie for the film club, I had never heard of it before and I don’t know who recommended it, but I really enjoyed it. Magical Realist Historic Noir Rom-Com, I never head of a combination like that before. And it works really well, 5 star movie all the way. It may have only been a 4 star, but the stellar performances of minor characters played by Robin Williams and Wayne Knight, and the few unlikely plot turns puts the movie easily into the highest of ratings.

 

Conan the Barbarian – really liked this movie. The acting is pretty universally bad (James Earl Jones notwithstanding) however the Score, Scenery, Action and Plot make up well for the words that the actors struggle to deliver. I immediately noticed that Subotia’s theme music is almost the same melody as “Firewings” by Aquaria, and the Orgy Temple Attack is again very similar to “Epicus Furor” the opening song off “Symphony of Enchanted Lands” by Rhapsody of Fire. Check out the links to see the similarities, they are striking I assure you, and there are probably other musical homages by later power metal bands, but I don’t know what they are off the top of my head. I don’t know how often I’ll be rewatching this movie, but I am looking forward to the sequel (included in the same DVD Box)

 

The Last of the Wild Horses (MST3K) – Not one of MST3K’s best episodes. I was hoping it would be good because the first quarter or so of the movie is actually watched by Dr. Forester and TV’s Frank, while Mike and Crow are evil and conducting the experiment due in part to a switch between an alternate universe. However the jokes fell a little flat throughout, audio was not good and hard to make out at points, and the movie also seemed like it might be okay, certainly not one of the worst they did (though that could just be my predisposition towards Westerns, also this is one of the few if not only western they ever did).

Every Woman in the Afterlife Hates You

04 Saturday Mar 2017

Posted by zachhsmith23 in Published Works

≈ Leave a comment

Greetings loyal readers.

First I’d like to apologize for the lack of blog posts so far this year, hopefully this is the end of the two month long dry spell, and I can/will post things more frequently in the future. I’ve been working on some things, but there hasn’t been as much time to write this year as I was hoping for, oh well.

Anyways I am pleased to present the first newly published story of this year. Its part of the winter 2017 issue of the Corvus Review, which is a publication I have not been published in before. The story is a flash fiction, of the magic realism/humor variety, and was inspired in part by Stephen King’s “Afterlife,” Andy Weir’s “The Egg” (he’s author of novel that the Martian was based on), and one of the ending sequences from “A Scanner Darkly.”

Like the story “Syphon Theory” this is another story that was written and edited and in the form you see it here within a single hour.

You can find the new story here on page 42 of the issue.

Enjoy.

P.S. it has recently come to my attention that this is my first published F-Word. Not sure why I’m proud of that but I am. I try not to use a lot of profanity in my writing, though sometimes it calls for it, and if used sparingly the few times it is use, it hits well, kind of like using exclamation points.

Subscribe

  • Entries (RSS)
  • Comments (RSS)

Archives

  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • December 2019
  • October 2019
  • August 2019
  • June 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • December 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • July 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014

Categories

  • 2016 Review
  • 2017 Review
  • 2018 Review
  • 2019 Year in Review
  • 2020 Year in Review
  • 80's August
  • Book
  • Collecting
  • Drink
  • Movie
  • Music
  • Published Works
  • Seinfeld
  • Stories
  • Uncategorized
  • VHS Review
  • Video Game

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in

Blog at WordPress.com.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy