Archive for January, 2012

Kevin Hahn in his new glasses.

I’m a nerd. There are very few ways to avoid that fact. Sure, I try to publicly disguise that fact by writing a cool pop culture blog for The Local Q. I don’t go up to complete strangers and tell them how much I love “The West Wing,” “Firefly,” “Dune,” Battlestar Galactica,” “The Lord of the Rings,” “Star Wars,” “Skyrim,” random trivia, puns or going to school. I at least try to delay the obvious fact that I am a nerd through self-restraint, maintaining an operational knowledge of sports, and (I would like to think) functional interpersonal skills.

Sadly, my days of outwardly masking my nerdhood are at an end. I have glasses now.

I’ve always been on the cusp of needing corrective eyewear, but in the past I have always opted against glasses because of the cost, inconvenience, and I didn’t want to be called “four eyes.” However, this summer when I took the basic eye exam to get my driver’s license renewed, I could barely read the letters (please, nobody tell the Illinois Department of Motor Vehicles). That is when I began to realize I actually need glasses.

Now I have glasses. I like them a lot more than I imagined I would. Even though it’s a minor correction they really help my eyes. Everything is crisper and sharper looking. Plus I get complements like, “wow those really make you look smart.” I guess I didn’t look very smart before.

I guess now that I have glasses I can do dramatic things like take them off when I’m delivering important news or throw them down on the table in frustration. While this has taken some time to get used to I don’t think it will change my life considerably, aside from the mocking taunts of “four eyes,” which strangers walking down the street have started to hurl at me.

Also, I would really appreciate it if no one stole my lunch money.

Kevin Hahn

Gary Oldman in "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"

“Well it wasn’t as good as the book.”

This phrase has plagued my movie going existence for years. I like to read, and I like movies; therefore, I typically see movies that have been adapted from books. The result: disappointment.

Hahn

This past Friday, I finally got to see “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,” a film I have been looking forward to since this June when I read the spy novel by the same name. The book was terrific; an old-school, Cold War spy novel from the 1970s. I loved the book, and while I was reading it, I found out that it was being made into a feature film. Needless to say I was thrilled. I knew this was destined to be one of the best movies of the year. The book had everything that a blockbuster needed, yet it contained enough character development and highbrow suspense to be a commercial and critical success.

Friday, I saw the movie. (Friday was the first day it opened back home in Peoria). Now I sort of want my money back. I should clarify, the movie wasn’t that bad. It was pretty good. The pacing was slower than it needed to be, and the major plot points weren’t well signified, but on the whole, it was a pretty good movie. The problem for me was my expectations were way too high. I had been building this movie up in my head for over six months. My level of great expectations probably couldn’t have been met, at all.

Therein lays the key to the disappointment felt by fans of a book that is adapted to the silver screen. If we really liked a book, then there is an overall elevation of expectations, which are frankly unrealistic. Whether it is because of the limitations of film (time, commercial viability, or technological ability) or the nature of the written word, a film typically satisfies the unfettered expectations of an unrealistic fan, like me.

I had similar feelings for a lot of other film adaptations; however, there have been some exceptions to the overall trend. I read the “Harry Potter” books as they came out, and I devoured them, but I never really watched the movies. I saw the first when it was released and was disappointed. I kept reading the books but refused to watch the movies. Then this summer, I was convinced by my friends to watch the film series. I did and I enjoyed them. They were very entertaining, and I didn’t have that big of a problem reconciling the film with my memory with of the books.

The reason, I think, why I was so thoroughly entertained was the fact that I didn’t have insurmountable expectations to deal with, and I was able to enjoy the movies as complementary to the books, not a visual transcription of the book. This approach of restraining my nerdy expectations should be extended to other movies as well. “The Dark Knight Rises” comes out this summer. I need to start reining in my hopes of this movie being as good as I expect it to be. If I can do this, only will I be able to limit the chances of disappointment. If I can go into a movie with low expectations, then there is only room to be surprised.

Kevin Hahn