As many of you know, Frank Miller’s incredible comic Sin City was recently released as a feature-length mainstream film. Alisa and I saw it on opening night, and my review is the same as most film critics’ reviews. I’ve been reading Sin City since about 1995 or so (when only the first three story arcs were published as graphic novels), and it was everything I wanted it to be and a little bit more at times. Aside from some stiffness in the beginning of the That Yellow Bastard sequence, it was pitch-perfect, making concessions for the medium of film in all the right ways and in very few spots. It’s so close that there are side-by-side comparisons on the web.

As a fervent fan of the comic, watching the film was very satisfying, as some of the most artful moments in the comic were faithfully recreated on screen. Obviously, I enjoy the comic and the movie, along with Miller’s work.

I feel no need to defend Sin City as a good movie or a good comic. But I ran across a review (of sorts) on Be A Design Group’s website, and it really bothered me. I’ll explain.

On Friday, Alisa, Becca, and I went to the Philly SPCA and adopted a 3–5 year old cat. Her name, the one we gave her, is Leto (get the backstory on her name at Wikipedia). She’s small and grey and very shy, or perhaps afraid. It’s hard to tell, since she spends most of her time avoiding us or eyeing us up from afar. And apparently that’s the norm, as much as there is a norm.

Well, Alisa and I deal with this situation in very different ways, which makes sense, considering that she was the real motivator for getting a cat in the first place. I pretty much ignore Leto. She skitters by or edges around the couch and I glance up at her and continue doing whatever I’m doing. It’s not as though I don't want her to hop up next to me and start discussing typesetting, or just sit there and purr. I do. But, I don’t expect it, or need it, and this is the important part. Alisa, on the other hand, radiates intense need, supernova levels of desire and longing for the least bit of acknowledgement, of progress.

And I think Leto knows this.