• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • HOME
  • NEWS+OPINIONS
    • NEWS TO US
    • COLUMNS
      • APPARENT HORIZON
      • DEAR READER
      • Close
    • LONGFORM FEATURES
    • OPINIONS
    • EDITORIAL
    • Close
  • ARTS+ENTERTAINMENT
    • FILM
    • MUSIC
    • COMEDY
    • PERFORMING ARTS
    • VISUAL ARTS
    • Close
  • DINING+DRINKING
    • EATS
    • SIPS
    • Close
  • LIFESTYLE
    • CANNABIS
      • TALKING JOINTS MEMO
      • Close
    • WELLNESS
    • GTFO
    • Close
  • STUFF TO DO
  • TICKETS
  • ABOUT US
    • 5 DOUBLE-U’S
    • MASTHEAD
    • DISTRIBUTION
    • ADVERTISE
    • SUBMISSIONS
    • PRIVACY POLICY
    • Close
  • BECOME A MEMBER

Dig Bos

The Dig - Boston's Only Newspaper

READ CURRENT STREET ISSUE

DIG Year End 2020

REVIEW: THE LAST PROJECTOR BY DAVID JAMES KEATON

Written by TONY MCMILLEN Posted December 9, 2014 Filed Under: A+E

Projector-Banner-600x300

“You’ll either love it or hate it. Although, in my experience, if something is ever described as ‘love it or hate it,’ it is, without fail, fucking terrible.”

—The Last Projector

 

I don’t usually like being confused this much.

 

Are you familiar with choogling? No? Good. Shut up, seriously,  I don’t care anymore. The Last Projector is a time-choogling rabbit punch to your skull candy that never forgets to keep the conversation interesting.  It’s also David James Keaton debut novel following closely on the heels of his collection Fish Bites Cop! Stories to Bash Authorities.

 

It feels like a long hibernating story that’s only gotten weirder and more pissed off, whatever it is, the longer its been kept from civilization. I’m paraphrasing John Carpenter’s masterpiece The Thing here for good reason; not only is The Last Projector partly a meditation on cult movies of the ‘70s and ‘80s it also contains a rap song written about John Carpenter’s The Thing. The song is called The Rap Is The Thing ( Or Your Blood’s Gonna Scream) and yes, it is excellent, and yes, you can hear it here:

 

But that original rap song is only like the 5th coolest thing about this novel. Some books define categorization, and then some books like The Last Projector actually wriggle free from your grasp like greased up marmosets furiously doing the Sprocket’s dance. Ostensibly the book is about a paramedic named Jack who now goes by Larry and who directs porn while also guerilla filmmaking a straight movie on his off hours about his former life as a paramedic. Larry the porn director is losing what’s left of his mind along with his artistic integrity and both of these seem to revolve around his obsession with tattoos and how they’re destroying the authenticity and continuity of his porn movies. Sounds reasonable, right? There’s also another story about two teenagers who might as well be auditioning for Christian Slater and Wynona Rider’s roles in Heathers that are grimly fixated on a local cop and his K9 partner.  Still with me? Then there’s a whole thing about a woman named Jacki who survived a very strange car crash years ago who might be tied up with Jack/Larry the paramedic turned porno director. And everyone seems to have a doppelganger or a doggerganger (dogs are important to this story) for some reason. Confused?  You’re welcome.

 

The disparate elements and characters begin to coalesce after a while but just as soon as you start to think you know where this fucking book is headed the plot points and the story beats metastasize, turn corrupt and grow gnarled on you. That’s a compliment. Because Keaton’s voice, his direction is solid. Even if we’re lost it feels like it’s because he wants us to be. And most importantly, yeah, we’re lost, but the author isn’t. Time and identity is played very slippery here, you’re never quite sure what decade things are taking place in or who anyone really is. Or if they’re only one person.  Aiding and abetting this swirling dream state feel here are mentions of the movie Saw Part VXIII and when one character sees a poster for Cronenberg’s The Fly and remarks having no memory of ever hearing about the film existing.

 

“Music, movies, and books followed you forward and back. Time was broken when it came to media objects. Occasionally, time could break when it came to music. But time would always be broken when it came to movies.”

 

Underneath all this ornate dressing and psychedelic framing is a story about identity, regret and the peril and untrustworthiness of memory. How nothing is the way you remember it and if all we really are is merely a summation of that unreliable memory how can we really be sure who we are in the first place? All this existential digging and the book’s other ruminations on gritty and brutal topics like rape, murder and insanity might be excessive and depressing if not for Keaton’s knack for Altmanesque dialogue and angular, swift prose. His screwball characters easily drop into exchanges that seem like back alley sonnets or dive bar philosophical debates  with aplomb and flourish. The dialogue reaches that perfect teeter-totter between stylized and natural. No one talks like this in real life per se but it’s not far off. More like the way you remember some of your best tangents and conversations than how they  were actually spoken.

 

Likewise the narration is never stymied by too much over production or is it too stark to be inviting. Like a good rhythm section it knows when to hang back and support and then, when the time is right, it knows when to make with the flashy fills.

 

“Heart pounding in panic, he went back to something a little more high-end instead, safer, shriller. Squier.”

 

Judging from the title of his first collection of stories author David James Keaton has a bit of a problem with authority figures and this trend is thankfully continued with The Last Projector where it reaches its unavoidable conclusion. And I’m not talking about Officer Bigbee, the dipshit, belligerent cop that the two teenager characters in Projector are considering using a bomb on,  he’s  a fascinating fascist but he’s not our endboss. No, with this novel Keaton sets his sights on the ultimate authority figure: himself, the author. The idea of an author, an all knowing, information controlling, giving and at times withholding fictional godhead, this is what Keaton seems to take umbrage with the most and poke fun at with his unorthodox, convention shirking stylings.  With his tense changes and reality warping. He doesn’t so much break the fourth wall as much as he slaps a big fat ass against it and asks how much it likes its fresh pressed ham.

 

Learn to enjoy confusion, get familiar with choogling.

 

THE LAST PROJECTOR |BROKEN RIVER BOOKS| AVAILABLE NOW

 

 

TONY MCMILLEN
More from author
  • TONY MCMILLEN
    https://digboston.com/author/tony-mcmillen/
    WELL SEAL'D: BATTLE OF THE COMIC SHOP STARS 2015
  • TONY MCMILLEN
    https://digboston.com/author/tony-mcmillen/
    REVIEW: HELLBOUND V: END OF COMICS

Filed Under: A+E Tagged With: 80s movies, awesome new books, broken river books, broken river books review, crime ficiton new review, cult movies, dacvid ajmes keaton, david james keaton review, drive in movies, fiction bizarro, heathers, indie fiction, j. david osborne books, john carpenter fiction, john carpenter's the thing, last projector book, last projector book review, last projector review, neo noir, new indie fiction, old movies, porno humor, rap song john carpenter's the thing, rap song the thing, the last projector, the last projector david james keaton review, the last projector review, the thing, tony mcmillen, tony mcmillen last projector review, tony mcmillen review david james keaton, weird fiction new

WHAT’S NEW

Aerial View Parkman Bandstand at Boston Common. CC BY-SA 4.0 2017 by AbhiSuryawanshi.

NO HONEYMOON FOR BIDEN: 1/20 PROTEST ON BOSTON COMMON, 4 PM

IT'S HARDER THAN EVER TO FIND A BATHROOM IN BOSTON. WHAT'S THE CITY DOING ABOUT IT?

IT’S HARDER THAN EVER TO FIND A BATHROOM IN BOSTON. WHAT’S THE CITY DOING ABOUT IT?

ON NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION, PROTESTERS CALL FOR EVICTION MORATORIUM

ON NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION, PROTESTERS CALL FOR EVICTION MORATORIUM

WU AND CAMPBELL TO SPEAK AT MAYORAL CANDIDATE WEBINAR

WU AND CAMPBELL TO SPEAK AT MAYORAL CANDIDATE WEBINAR

Hard right wingers casually tour the Capitol during last week's attack. Via C-SPAN.

HOW TO DEFEAT THE HARD RIGHT

BAKER URGED TO SIGN GAME CHANGING CLIMATE BILL

BAKER URGED TO SIGN GAME CHANGING CLIMATE BILL

Primary Sidebar

HEMPIRE FREEDOM PACK 25% OFF

FEATURED EVENT

Most Popular

  • APPOINTED SOMERVILLE OFFICIAL SPURS OUTRAGE WITH TWEETS FROM DC MOB SCENE by MARC LEVY
  • VIDEO: COP WHO BRAGGED THAT HE HIT PROTESTERS SHOWS HOW BAD APPLES THRIVE IN BOSTON by CHRIS FARAONE
  • STATE LOOKS TO SPEND $75K TO PREVENT FUTURE STORROWINGS by DAN ATKINSON
  • IT’S HARDER THAN EVER TO FIND A BATHROOM IN BOSTON. WHAT’S THE CITY DOING ABOUT IT? by ZACK HUFFMAN
  • INSIDE THE FIGHT TO DOCUMENT THE HORRORS AT AMERICA’S OLDEST WOMEN’S PRISON by SHELBY GREBBIN AND ISHA MARATHE

READ CURRENT MEMBER EDITION

DIG Member 1.9 – 11/26/20

READ CURRENT STREET ISSUE

DIG Year End 2020

Footer

digbos

Light and sweet and hoppy, we’re loving this lat Light and sweet and hoppy, we’re loving this latest incarnation of a #beer that’s been in the making for months. https://digboston.com/video-jacks-abby-x-boston-celtics-pride-and-parquet-hoppy-lager-unboxing-tasting/ #fun #video #review #Boston #Massachusetts
Jostling for position and influence are the disadv Jostling for position and influence are the disadvantaged candidates, existing industry participants, and municipalities … https://digboston.com/the-road-to-home-delivery-pt-5-dogs-in-the-fight-identifying-the-players/ #cannabis #politics #analysis #Massachusetts
The candidates will be interviewed about the upcom The candidates will be interviewed about the upcoming race. https://digboston.com/wu-and-campbell-to-speak-at-mayoral-candidate-webinar/ #politics #mayor #campaign #Boston #Massachusetts
Participants took to the streets in the hope of sw Participants took to the streets in the hope of swaying the Biden administration. https://digboston.com/on-national-day-of-action-protesters-call-for-eviction-moratorium/ #housing #justice #protest #national #Boston #Massachusetts
“They refuse to respond to this humanitarian cri “They refuse to respond to this humanitarian crisis where people really need them. We’re just ignoring this problem and it’s getting worse and worse.” https://digboston.com/its-harder-than-ever-to-find-a-bathroom-in-boston-whats-the-city-doing-about-it/ #politics #unhoused #homeless #bathroom #public #health #Boston #Massachusetts
Environmental #justice and #climate change advocat Environmental #justice and #climate change advocates are pushing for its passage. https://digboston.com/baker-urged-to-sign-game-changing-climate-bill/ #environment #globalwarming #legislation #politics #Massachusetts
In short, it’s amazing. For details, check the # In short, it’s amazing. For details, check the #video … https://digboston.com/video-night-shifts-tea-party-is-subtle-love-for-people-who-hate-most-hard-teas/ #review #fun #beer @NightShiftBeer
HOW TO DEFEAT THE HARD RIGHT: Some thoughts on the HOW TO DEFEAT THE HARD RIGHT: Some thoughts on the Capitol attack and building a more democratic nation. The latest from DigBoston's @jasonpramas. https://digboston.com/how-to-defeat-the-hard-right/ #democracy #politics #Capitol #US #America #attack #Biden #Trump #grassroots #movement #analysis #strategy #MAGA
“Should Mayor Walsh be confirmed by the Senate, “Should Mayor Walsh be confirmed by the Senate, I am ready to take the reins and lead our city through these difficult times.” https://digboston.com/walsh-to-wash-janey-to-become-1st-black-boston-mayor-1st-woman-to-lead-city/ #politics #Boston #Massachusetts #BlackLivesMatter
APPOINTED #SOMERVILLE #OFFICIAL SPURS #OUTRAGE WIT APPOINTED #SOMERVILLE #OFFICIAL SPURS #OUTRAGE WITH TWEETS FROM DC #MOB SCENE: Mayor Curtatone says “We’re taking it seriously and doing our due diligence” https://digboston.com/appointed-somerville-official-spurs-outrage-with-tweets-from-dc-mob-scene/ #politics #controversy #Massachusetts #Capitol #Congress #WashingtonDC #MAGA #Trump
Load More... Follow on Instagram
Social Buttons

DigBoston facebook DigBoston Twitter DigBoston Instagram

Masthead

About

Submissions

Advertise

Privacy Policy

Customer Service

Distribution

About Us

DigBoston is a one-stop nexus for everything worth doing or knowing in the Boston area. It's an alt-weekly, it's a website, it's an e-mail blast, it's a twitter account, it's that cool party that you were at last night ... hey, you're reading it, so it's gotta be good. For advertising inquiries: [email protected] To reach Editorial: [email protected] For internship opportunities: [email protected]