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VicGranata
Over the years, Vic has had the opportunity to work with such prestigious brands as Heineken, Kraft, Disney, Banana Republic, Pepsi, and most recently, Hudson Yards New York. With regard to his favorite type of projects, he says: “I love creating event posters, particularly for theatre. Print is my preferred medium. I like the reliability of it — knowing that the visual integrity of my work will be maintained. The web is certainly not without its charms, but I’ve never had a client open a brochure, and see a 404 error.”
When he’s not working, Vic indulges in his passions for architecture, movies, music, photography, and creative writing. He’s a fan of dystopian fiction, the art of Maxfield Parrish, and the Oxford comma. Whatever you do, do NOT hand him a bourbon (he takes it neat, BTW), and ask him where George Lucas went wrong with the Star Wars franchise unless you’re willing to give up a good hour of your time.
Pastimes: The never-ending search for the perfect dry gin martini (preferably with three bleu cheese-stuffed olives), anything to do with The Poseidon Adventure (1972), waxing philosophical about why Jan is the misunderstood Brady, collecting examples of great mid-century design, and speaking parenthetically (once in a while, at least).
Reviews
Cucumber (2015)
This Show Holds Up an Unpleasant Mirror to the Reality of Gay Life
Anyone who vilifies this show because they feel it paints a "stereotypical" or "negative" portrait of what gay men are like are either painfully naive or living in denial. This show is not only frighteningly accurate but smartly written, beautifully shot, superbly acted and stylishly edited.
As a 47 year old gay man, I found this (unlike many other gay-themed TV series) to, at long last, finally depict characters with which I am familiar and with whom I identify on many levels.
It's both raw and honest and yet tempers the darker aspects of gay life with humor and respect.
As much as we would like to be perceived as no different than our straight counterparts, the reality is we are different. And for good or ill, most of us gay folk do indeed behave in the manner that is depicted in this show. It was refreshing to not see our lifestyle sugar coated.
In our fight for equality, too often we try to pretend that things are not what they appear. But they are. They always have been, and they always will be. Gay men are, after all, men. And men have a single-mindedness when it comes to behavior and desire. If this show was about straight guys, we'd all say, "Well yeah. Men behave like that." But because it's specifically about gay men, so many would like to say "gay men don't really behave like that." But we do. That is the harsh reality we need to accept.
I've been out since I was 20 years old. In the 27 years of being an out (and proud) gay man, I have seen and encountered all of these characters in my life and still, to this day, see and encounter them. Stop cry-babying that this show perpetuates negative stereotypes. If you don't like what you see in this show, then don't watch the show. But you will see no different in the real world. This is gay life. We love, we lose, we win, we make mistakes and we have sex... a lot of it if we're lucky. And when we're not having sex, we're looking for it. Not because we're gay. But because we're guys. Cucumber depicts what men do and how men behave when those men happen to be gay -- the joy, the misery, the heartache, the loss, the triumphs, the failures, the sex and the never-ending quest for it.
That is the reality of the world we live in. Sorry if you find that harsh. That's what happens when a mirror is held up and you don't like what you see. I personally had no problem with what I saw when I watched this show. I make no apologies for who I am and what I do. I'm far from a minority of one in that respect.
The problem is not with what this show portrays. The problem is that the portrayal is accurate. And that problem is, quite frankly, our problem and no one else's.
Learn to live with it.
Brave New World (1980)
Aldous Huxley's ashes were probably whirling in his grave when this aired
I have to say I'm surprised at the number of people here who loved this adaptation of Aldous Huxley's masterpiece. Although it was true to the basic storyline, they strayed so far from the mood and tone of the novel.
The production design was quite simply wrong. This is a society of people (the Alphas and Betas at least) who frolicked in luxury. They weren't confined to the indoors or lived within a warren of pipes and tubes and industrial architecture. Huxley went to great lengths to describe an environment replete with spas, golf courses, towering apartment buildings with comfortably furnished rooms, floodlit buildings, the skies dotted with personal transports, expensive clothing of silks, brocades, velvet (always thrown away rather than mended -- "The less stitches, the more riches!"). These people socialized, danced, played games, dined out, indulged in their "soma holidays" as well as their vacations and weekend excursions all over the world.
Huxley was creating a juxtaposition of opposing themes -- all of that luxury and yet no free thought, no philosophy, no love, no personal loyalties.
None of that is adequately conveyed in this adaptation.
Further, the way the characters in this movie spoke so frankly about the structure of their society would never have happened. They would not be so self-aware of what their lives were like versus how different it used to be. Only the very higher-ups had such awareness and even they kept that awareness hidden.
Taking John Savage's back-story from the middle of the book and placing it at the beginning as part of the linear story was a needless distraction, not to mention insulting to the viewer by "dumbing down" the series of events.
Bud Cort was perfectly cast but his portrayal invited too much sympathy. He was an outcast yes because of his physical shortcomings but his character was written to be very reactionary to that, resentful of those around him. He was selfish and bitter, and later even vain in his triumph of discovering the savage.
Nor was he the tragic romantic hero who sought out his individual love as depicted in this movie. His character sought acceptance by a society of Alpha Pluses who turned their noses at him. He wanted to be handsome and dashing and take as many women as he liked -- all that was denied him by "too much alcohol in his blood surrogate" while bottled.
I could go on, but my point is to not cite differences. All movie adaptations differ from their source material. The trick is make the best possible interpretation of the novel while still holding true to the basic themes expressed by the author, maintaining the integrity of his story, characters and artistic intent.
This movie did none of that. It was Buck Rogers in scope, caliber and execution. I was thoroughly disappointed.