Imran Malek

• By Imran
•  on Nov, 10 2009
•  in General

I’ve recently begun reading a series of books that I first got turned on to from a PopCrunch list of the Top 10 Most Disturbing Books of All TIme, when I read the list, the first book that I wanted to take a look at was American Psycho. I admit that I saw the Christian Bale movie before I ever thought about getting the book, but the movie – although disturbing in its own right – does not hold a candle to the overall level of insanity presented in the book.  Just a fair warning before I go any further – this book has some seriously disguising imagery. I grew up on Mortal Kombat and Robocop and I have no problem with the level gore presented in either Hostel or any of the Saw movies, but this book actually made me turn my head away in disgust a few times.

The book is about Patrick Bateman, a human representation of American excess. He was born into a family of wealth, had an Ivy League education, and currently work at a prestigious Wall Street firm where his work day mostly consists of selecting new business cards and making lunch and dinner reservations for himself and his other trust-fund baby friends. The author, Bret Easton Ellis, goes into excruciating detail in describe every aspect of Patrick Bateman’s life. Patrick obsesses over “fitting in” – he knows exactly what designer clothes anyone is wearing and by the time you’re done reading the book, you’ll have heard the term “double breasted sport coat” more often than you will ever need to. The first bit of the book discusses Patrick’s daily routine, he wakes up, works out (and brags to the reader about his chiseled physique), takes a shower, applies all the latest fashionable colognes/face masks/ointments to make sure that his face looks young (even though he’s 26). His apartment is expensive and is full of ridiculous knick-knacks – including a $15,000 tea set. Occasionally, Patrick needs to rub elbows with the “common people”, and he makes the experience seem almost like pulling teeth, like his interaction with his building’s security guard – whom Bateman silently chastises for the donut that he see’s on the guard’s desk.

As the book progresses, you start seeing bits of Patrick’s dark side start to bubble up – from muttering threats to kill waitresses under his breath (in graphic detail), to elaborate descriptions of human anatomy, to moments of bone chilling depravity. Towards the middle of the book Bateman see-saws between boring descriptions of his day or his friends and completely violent and unbelievably disguising acts including, but not limited to – decapitation, cruelty to animals, consumption of human flesh, and describing Phil Collins (I’m serious, if you’ve seen the movie you know what I mean but Bateman’s rant on Genesis is so out of place that it almost cracked me up.) You really start to feel like you’re in the mind of a completely insane psychotic killer, and by the time you’re done with the book you’re left with no resolution – almost as if the book has made you crazy yourself.

I think what really makes this novel good is the fact that by the time you start to near the end of the book, you become just as schizophrenic about Bateman as he is himself. Your feelings towards him bounce between disgust to esteem at the drop of a hat and it’s not until he does something completely inhuman that you realize that he’s sucked you in.

• By Imran
•  on Nov, 3 2009
•  in General

It’s been awhile since I’ve updated my blog, but I figure if I schedule some time every day to update it, I’ll have something regular in no time. This post is about a very fun subject, and it’s my completely impersonal look at the rise of one of my favorite comedy writers – Dan Harmon. Dan’s currently the creator and executive producer of the show Community on NBC, a show that I am an absolutely huge fan and to be it feels like the best comedy to come on TV since The Office. Strangely enough, I had never even heard of the show until I heard an interview with Dan Harmon on NPR as I was surfing through radio channels and I heard Dan’s voice. I had a little bit of joy in my heard when I first saw his executive producer credit, mostly because I’ve seen some of his past work and it was about time Dan got the recognition he deserved.

I was first exposed to Harmon through Channel101.com an internet tv network where anyone could submit a 5 minute “pilot” episode for a show that would then be voted by current show runners (of which there is a maximum of 5 currently running shows). Every month I was treated to some really great videos that circulated around our college apartment. Some of my favorite shows from Channel 101 include Groove Fighters, Yacht Rock, Your Magic Touched Me, Your Magic Touched Me: NIGHTS, and the ever popular House of Cosbys. With Cosbys, Channel101 got some moderate celebrity when the official Cosby camp filed litigation. Dan himself frequently used some of his celebrity connections (mainly Jack Black) to create some high profile content on Channel 101, but something tells me the site has yet to really “make it big”.
While working on 101 and probably other projects, Harmon wrote the movie Monster House with Channel 101 co-creator Rob Schrab. While I’m not sure how many re-writes the script went through before it got on screen, Harmon probably got a nice paycheck out of it and I can only assume he parlayed that success (and a relationship with another well-known comedy celebrity), to produce The Sarah Silverman Program on Comedy Central. Harmon stayed on the Viacom bandwagon and he tried to create a version of Channel101 on VH1, Acceptable.TV. The show was good, but the concept wasn’t ready for prime time as the show was unceremoniously dumped after 7 episodes (in favor of some reality show knockoff of another reality show I’m sure). Still, Acceptable.TV had some good gems, like this one starring Dan Harmon himself:

I like to pretend that throughout all of this Dan Harmon lived in a cardboard box with a netbook until one day he discovered a Community college, where he, despite his alcoholic breath and disheveled looks, was able to blend in with the student body and come up with inspiration for this crazy new comedy series on NBC. In reality, he probably just rolled up with a script, made it funny, and cast Chevy Chase (also, I’ve never been part of the “HAHA CHEVY CHASE ISN’T FUNNY” craze, but I am so glad to see him back).
So, do Dan and I a  favor – watch Community on NBC, keep a good show on TV because you know they’ll just replace it with a clone of The Office if it doesn’t work out. I really love the show, and you might as well.