I am a believer. Vendela Vida and Dave Eggers are my heroes. McSweeny’s* changed my life. Away We Go did not. The film had good intentions but I had high expectations. My heroes’ first screenplay directed by Sam Mendes! Admittedly, I have only a few Mendes moments, such as beautiful/sexy Alan Cumming’s in Cabaret (1994), American Beauty of course, and this year’s production of The Winter’s Tale at BAM with Ethan Hawke and Rebecca Hall (cool). That said, I had the same expectations as one gets when they read the book before the film, it’s the ol’ book/film argument. In this case, the experience was flat, neither prevailed but I am still a believer.
* I am packing my McSweeny’s issue #19 (2006) as I write. The issue is an actual cigar box filled with printed matter, burn marks and tears included, containing “old facts, new fiction”, a novella by T.C. Boyle and a copy of A Pocket Guide to the Middle East published by the US Government in 1957.
