Into the Wild

FLICK Emile Hirsch totally embodies the spirit of 20-year-old Christopher McCandless in the engrossing film Into the Wild based on the nonfiction bestseller by Jon Krakauer. Rejecting the materialistic values of his parents (Marcia Gay Harden and William Hurt) McCandless searches for a peaceful existence living off the land. With elements of a road trip film, the film is more a portrait of an optimistic young man renaming himself Alexander Supertramp and exploring ways to become a better and more simplistic person.
The title suggests going somewhere savage. And literally McCandless finds himself naively in a few tough spots, being beaten while hitching a ride on a train and ending up in the middle of Alaska to live in a run down bus. But it also suggests venturing into the mind of a young man who can be seen alternately rebellious and a free spirit happily living an idealistic lifestyle. Chris is influenced by Henry David Thoreau's Walden, which helps to push him to achieve his goal and abandon not only his family's ethics, but also the family itself. (In a revealing interview with Premiere, Marcia Gay Harden considers McCandless' mother's point-of-view stating that though it was hard to accept his leaving it was crueler for him to leave them without saying goodbye.)
The entire cast is incredible, including Katherine Keener, Vince Vaughn and especially a heartfelt performance by Hal Holbrook.
While emphasizing a simplistic existence, Sean Penn's direction is ambitious going on location and showing vast landscapes from around the country and up to Alaska mirroring the beauty of Chris' intentions and the extent that he's willing to go to achieve it. The nonlinear structure of the story pits McCandless' solitude against a variety of people he meets, ultimately realizing too late that it's the connections we make that are truly valuable. My Score: 8.5 out of 10.

Jim Norton: Monster Rain

TELEVISION Popular words and phrases are easily found online in the Urban Dictionary, and the title of Jim Norton's HBO comedy special Monster Rain, airing Saturday night at 10PM, is no exception. The phrase comes from a childhood "game." Whenever it rains, someone screams "monster rain" and you run under the porch to get a blowjob. Norton said he played with at least 10 boys and girls by the fourth grade. Sound like fun? Check out the hilarious special!
His childhood encounters haven't hindered his adult experiences, and though it seems he prefers women, Norton's stories express that sex is sex no matter where it's coming from. He takes away the social standards and gets to the heart of what make most men tick. Though offensive to some, it's this all-inclusive hold-nothing-back brand of humor that makes him such a lovable little pervert.
Norton's book "Happy Endings: The Tales of a Meaty-Breasted Zilch" was released in the summer and went as high as #4 on the New York Times bestseller list for hardcover nonfiction. In it he shares a wide variety of memories in humorous essays that range from working on the Colin Quinn show Tough Crowd, hooking up with hookers, and obsessing about meeting Alan Alda.
Previously on the HBO sitcom Lucky Louie, he's still a busy fucker as a regular on the daily XM satellite radio program The Opie and Anthony Show.
Everyone and everything is a target in Jim Norton's world, including pop culture, race and Islam. As he says in tomorrow night's special: "Don't say the F word, don't say the N word, don't say the C word. How the hell is anyone supposed to know when you're addressing them?"