The Importance of Being Idle

A Life of Quiet Desperation

So I've just finished reading Mark Millar's rather excellent Wanted (the inspiration for the film of the same name folks!), and I'm left wondering about it's sub-Fight Club message, which seems to be something on the order of "real men solve problems with violence". I say sub-Fight Club, because whilst that seemed to be all FC was saying on the surface, really it was saying a lot about personal responsibility and rejecting consumerism and a pre-packaged life, and it just happened to say it through the medium of punching. Whereas a couple of times the anti-hero of Wanted talks about murder and rape as though they are activities that he enjoys and is worried when he really isn't in the mood. Now I suppose you should accept that the hero/anti-hero/protagonist is the son of a supervillain and therefore has some pretty extreme appetites, but the story sells is almost like a wish fulfilment power fantasy and... actually as I'm writing it I suppose it's just taking that fantasy to it's extreme. You don't just escape from your boring life, you escape from human morality all together; you don't just learn to defend yourself, you snuff out random lives like turning off a light; it's the power fantasy without a moral centre. What is disturbing about it is that I find it so oddly attractive, and that's what compelled me to write about it now. Whether that's the persuasiveness of Millars writing, or just some short-circuit in my head... now that's the really disturbing question.
On another seemingly random note, I see that one of the two players in the final at Wimbledon today invited Gwen Stefani, for she sits in the players box. With her idiot husband, Gavin Rossdale in tow. Now, I'm just taking a wild guess here, but if I were to invite the lovely Gwen anywhere, there is almost no circumstance that Rossdale would be welcome. I realise they're married, have a child and so on, but seriously, why him? Why not, just for the sake of argument, me? Anyway, just seemed to me that Gav, your presence isn't required mate. Anywhere.

posted by BadMonkey @ 6:33 PM