So.
The new The Spirit trailer. I reserved judgement, with great difficulty, and sat on my thoughts until I could go home and sit through another viewing of Sin City, which I hadn't seen since its theatrical release.
Thankfully, it's still a good movie.
My personal take has always been that Robert Rodriguez was the real director of SC and, even though Miller shared co-directing credits he was really more of a consultant, providing insight into what kind of visual look he was striving for in the comic. But this trailer sort of muddies the water a little bit, by thoroughly aping the visual motifs of SC.
So now I ask the question, was Miller driving the cinematic look of Sin City, and as such, just transferring his own personal style to The Spirit? Or is he just copying Rodriguez's style having seen it in action?
Unfortunately the trailer really isn't long enough to make that call.
On the whole, I was disappointed with the trailer. It felt unfinished. Some of the stunt work and CGI look pretty phony and the scratch track they stuck to it is fairly generic. It's from The Untouchables isn't it? I've never read the title this movie is based on, and probably never will, so I've got no hangups about this film being true to the source material. Essentially, I'm the best kind of audience this film can hope for. No expectations.
Do I care that it looks like SC redux? Hell no. Directors have been ripping visual stylistic traits off each other since the movie camera was first invented. If Miller is able to do some interesting with the look, I'm willing to let him try.
So, in summary, weak trailer, but still I still have an interest in seeing the final product.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Give me my coffee, now.
I’m a Tim Horton’s junkie. Actually, to be accurate, I’m a coffee junkie. Ever see a man go through twelve cups of coffee on a Saturday morning? It’s not for the weak of heart I promise you. Although S and I try our best to save a couple bucks by brewing up our morning coffee at home, we’ve got a wedding to plan for people, I still fall prey to occasional java buying jags. Timmy’s ‘Roll up the Rim to Win’ campaign usually provides me with an annual excuse to fall off the wagon.
Unfortunately, coming back to Tim’s also provides me with frequent Hulk-like bursts of rage, complete with clothes tearing and gnashing of teeth.
The problem is that there is no convenient Tim’s location for me to get my fix. The closest outlet is a block away and tucked inside a convenience store in a busy downtown gas station.
It’s more of Tim’s-lite really. They do coffee, some bagels, a donut or two. But they only have two tills and a workspace smaller than my bathroom, so they aren’t very good at getting things done quickly under ideal circumstances. And if they ever have to deal with a large order the places fills up almost instantly and you can almost guarantee you’re going to be late to work that morning.
(By contrast there is a full service Second Cup across the road that is always deserted. Seriously no one ever goes into that place)
And it is then that the rage overtakes me. I live in a world where I demand instant satisfaction of my caffeine cravings. I go nearly ballistic with anger if I have to spend more than five minutes waiting for my morning coffee. The service in this place is horrible, through no fault of their own, but because they’ve got a customer demand for their product that can’t properly be met by the reduced circumstances of their location. If you had a packed store each and every day would you not think that opening up a bigger store so you can serve more people is the way to go? I watch people get out of the coffee line every day because they simply can’t afford to wait any longer. These are willing customers who want to give you their hard earned money. For the love of me I cannot figure out why Tim’s doesn’t expand this location. I know the area, I know there is retail space available.
If you see a cop in line at this Tim’s you can add ten minutes to your wait. They’re usually picking up a couple rounds for their buddies at the station. See a construction worker in line, add twenty minutes, easy. I’ve seen construction workers and city employees show up with milk crates in tow because they’re buying a ridiculous amount of coffee and bagels. But I go through this song and dance every time. I bitch, I moan and I still dutifully put in my time in the line.
Because Tim Horton’s is worth that much to me. I don’t know what it is they put in their coffee, my suspicion is crack cocaine. All coffees are not created equal. And while I may have a rep as a coffee snob I have found no greater coffee exists than a large Tim’s double-double.
Unfortunately, coming back to Tim’s also provides me with frequent Hulk-like bursts of rage, complete with clothes tearing and gnashing of teeth.
The problem is that there is no convenient Tim’s location for me to get my fix. The closest outlet is a block away and tucked inside a convenience store in a busy downtown gas station.
It’s more of Tim’s-lite really. They do coffee, some bagels, a donut or two. But they only have two tills and a workspace smaller than my bathroom, so they aren’t very good at getting things done quickly under ideal circumstances. And if they ever have to deal with a large order the places fills up almost instantly and you can almost guarantee you’re going to be late to work that morning.
(By contrast there is a full service Second Cup across the road that is always deserted. Seriously no one ever goes into that place)
And it is then that the rage overtakes me. I live in a world where I demand instant satisfaction of my caffeine cravings. I go nearly ballistic with anger if I have to spend more than five minutes waiting for my morning coffee. The service in this place is horrible, through no fault of their own, but because they’ve got a customer demand for their product that can’t properly be met by the reduced circumstances of their location. If you had a packed store each and every day would you not think that opening up a bigger store so you can serve more people is the way to go? I watch people get out of the coffee line every day because they simply can’t afford to wait any longer. These are willing customers who want to give you their hard earned money. For the love of me I cannot figure out why Tim’s doesn’t expand this location. I know the area, I know there is retail space available.
If you see a cop in line at this Tim’s you can add ten minutes to your wait. They’re usually picking up a couple rounds for their buddies at the station. See a construction worker in line, add twenty minutes, easy. I’ve seen construction workers and city employees show up with milk crates in tow because they’re buying a ridiculous amount of coffee and bagels. But I go through this song and dance every time. I bitch, I moan and I still dutifully put in my time in the line.
Because Tim Horton’s is worth that much to me. I don’t know what it is they put in their coffee, my suspicion is crack cocaine. All coffees are not created equal. And while I may have a rep as a coffee snob I have found no greater coffee exists than a large Tim’s double-double.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Spring Tune-up Tourney
So,
We had our annual ultimate spring speed point tournament this weekend. I'm hoping the team name change to Shuffle Monkeys was a fortuitous omen as we did phenomenally well, especially in comparison to some of our previous Longshot showings. We played four round robin games, came in first in the pool, then we had two playoff games. Unfortunately we lost our pool's Championship game to a team that we had just eked out a win against in regular play.
The last game could honestly have gone either way, but the other team's captain made a smart call when choosing which end of the field he wanted to start the game from. He put the wind behind him and we had a really tough completing passes as the wind started to pick up. We battled back from an early deficit, but weren't able to close the gap. It happens.
And this is the first time I've played in one of these tournaments and haven't been completely exhausted at the end of it. I know it's not because of my fitness level, which is somewhat of a joke right now.
One of the crappy things that keeps coming up with this tourney is that there are always teams playing out of their division. Nobody wants to be the Intermediate team getting the snot wailed out of them by a Competitive team, but somehow one always sneaks in. Or, conversely a Recreational team signs up, because they just really want to play, and then they get upset because they're used as a punching bag by all the other teams. This is a recurring problem, and our group has been on the receiving end of it once or twice. No one likes paying money to get humiliated on the field.
Here's my suggestion on how to fix that.
When you create an electronic profile with our league, which is mandatory already, you have to put down what you think your skill level is for whatever sport you’re playing. That way if you sign up for a tournament the league can look at your individual skill levels and surmise what kind of team you think you are and attempt to schedule your games against teams with similar skill sets. It’s not a perfect solution. Some teams and players will have skill levels on the cusp between levels and you’re relying on people to be honest about their abilities. But when you’ve got a whole sport based around self refereeing I think you can rely on the majority of people to be truthful. They want to play against teams in their division.
That’s my two cents and I don’t think it’s that hard to implement.
That’s my two cents and I don’t think it’s that hard to implement.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
NCD #4: Where I talk about stuff I bough this week, again
Batman #675
Oh Grant Morrison, even your run-of-the-mill stories are anything but. You’re one of the three or four writers that my gf actually recognizes because a) I have so much of your stuff lying around the house and b) I get a little weak in the brain every time something you write comes out. Final Crisis just might kill me.
Anyway, Batman. A fairly straightforward story here. Bruce Wayne is having dinner with Vicki Va…Jezebel Jet who is in the process of breaking up him because she doesn’t feel that he opens up to her enough. During dinner bad guys come in and kidnap her and Bruce is forced to take them down without his batsuit. We’ve all heard this plot before right? Bruce Wayne forced to fight crime in street clothes because he can’t change into his tights in time. This motif is a fairly regular staple in Bat-comics.
Only this time supermodel, politician and international activist Jezebel Jet sees through the thousand dollar suit to the crimefighter beneath and pegs him as Bats. It feels like Morrison is using this issue as a lead-in to Batman R.I.P. It’s good for what it is, but it doesn’t show us anything we haven’t seen before.
The art was a little weak. Repeated readings of the dinner scene didn’t make it any clearer as to who some characters were supposed to be, where they came from and what side they were fighting on.
I was also a little mystified by the appearance of Merlyn, alongside Talia and Damian, in the B story. I know Merlyn as primarily a Green Arrow villain, although I hear he spent some time with the League of Assassins. With some of the dialogue being kicked around I couldn’t be sure if Merlyn was aware of Bruce’s double life or not. Given some of his history in the DCU I’m not sure that this makes sense. Merlyn strikes me as the type of character that if he knew about Bruce’s alter-ego he’d either try to profit from it or start spreading it around the underworld.
Am I the only one who thinks this?
Death of the New Gods #8
A fitting, if albeit temporary, end to the New Gods saga. I was surprised at how melancholy I was after finishing this issue. It felt to me that I wasn’t saying goodbye to the New Gods, rather I was saying goodbye to Jack Kirby himself. With this title almost all of Kirby’s ongoing DC characters have been taken off the board. I know that with FC the role of the New Gods will be substantially revamped but I’m not sure what that ‘Fifth World’ will look like yet.
This issue hits the stands a week after Countdown #2 and answers some of the questions that issue left us with, such as how Orion came back from the dead and why Superman was content to let him stagger off, alone and dying, after killing his father (because he was already dead apparently) Unfortunately it also highlighted some fairly notable discrepancies as well, like where did Dark Side’s Celestial power go to, why can Orion speak now and a host of others mysteries.
However, overall this series has been pretty consistent throughout. I’m not a huge fan of Starlin’s art or his writing, but there was nothing overly offensive about either that was going to drive me away from this book. It’s a little unfortunate that so many characters had off-screen or unseen deaths. In a perfect world we’d have seen more of their personal stories before they were shuffled off into parts unknown. But DNG touched on enough of the really prolific characters to make reading the story worthwhile.
Next stop, Final Crisis.
Justice League of America #20
Hey, who’s that? It’s the Queen Bee. Last seen, by me anyway, in the now defunct title, JLA, durign it’s World War III arc. Apparently she’s no longer slurring her words by adding z’s onto everything but is still trying her level best to take over the world.
This is one of the steadier League stories in a long time. I’m one of the rare few who don’t foam at the mouth when you bring up Meltzer’s run on this title. I freely admit some of his decisions on the title were downright crap. But I think Meltzer gets a bad rap for being, well, Meltzer. It almost feels like there’s a prejudice against him because he doesn’t believe writing comic books is the holy grail of his career. I notice the same scorn whenever someone talks about a television writer trying to cross mediums as well.
Anyway, this story is a done-in-one, team-up style tale where the Flash and Wonder Woman join forces to kick ass and take names. Wally lays some science on us as he’s putting out fires and Wonder Woman tries to talk him into making the League more of a priority. And somewhere in there they find the time to foil the Queen Bee’s plans.
I enjoy how McDuffie writes Wonder Woman. I find that he was able to make her sound like the warrior diplomat that she’s supposed to be. Van Sciver’s art was highly enjoyable, much more engaging than I usually find it. I guess he just needed a break from drawing the entire rogue’s gallery of the Green Lantern Corp.
Checkmate #25
So long Greg Rucka. And with your departure I’m officially dropping this title. I first started reading this book a year ago on a lark because I had a light week in comics and was looking for something else to read. I was hooked on the series pretty quickly. Enough so that I even trolled through some back issue bins to see what I’d missed.
Rucka’s final issue reveals the identity of the rooks, Checkmate’s heavy hitters in emergency scenarios. In order to function as a team, the rooks inject alien DNA from Starro the Conqueror in order to maintain a telepathic link and improve their efficiency.
What I like about this series is that it’s part of DC continuity yet outside it as well. This is a comic where soldiers do all the things traditional spandex heroes aren’t supposed to do. They kill, shoot guns and hurt people badly. Yet Rucka never shied away from bringing in name heroes on occasion and doing so in a way that was seamless, suited the story and didn’t seem like a callous sop to boost sales. That’s never an easy thing to do.
Rucka is in his element with this title. He’s always paid meticulous attention to detail, working hard to bring us the flavour and terminology of a world wide para-military counter-intelligence unit. Nowhere was this more evident than in this issue. I really enjoyed the little dialogue bubbles that he created to show how the rooks were in constant three-way communication with each other. It was a neat little extra that showed a willingness to think outside the box a little.
From some of his recent statements it sounds like Rucka is not all that happy with life at DC. He recently let his exclusive contract with the company expire without resigning. Best of luck on your future projects Greg, I look forward to reading them.
Oh Grant Morrison, even your run-of-the-mill stories are anything but. You’re one of the three or four writers that my gf actually recognizes because a) I have so much of your stuff lying around the house and b) I get a little weak in the brain every time something you write comes out. Final Crisis just might kill me.
Anyway, Batman. A fairly straightforward story here. Bruce Wayne is having dinner with Vicki Va…Jezebel Jet who is in the process of breaking up him because she doesn’t feel that he opens up to her enough. During dinner bad guys come in and kidnap her and Bruce is forced to take them down without his batsuit. We’ve all heard this plot before right? Bruce Wayne forced to fight crime in street clothes because he can’t change into his tights in time. This motif is a fairly regular staple in Bat-comics.
Only this time supermodel, politician and international activist Jezebel Jet sees through the thousand dollar suit to the crimefighter beneath and pegs him as Bats. It feels like Morrison is using this issue as a lead-in to Batman R.I.P. It’s good for what it is, but it doesn’t show us anything we haven’t seen before.
The art was a little weak. Repeated readings of the dinner scene didn’t make it any clearer as to who some characters were supposed to be, where they came from and what side they were fighting on.
I was also a little mystified by the appearance of Merlyn, alongside Talia and Damian, in the B story. I know Merlyn as primarily a Green Arrow villain, although I hear he spent some time with the League of Assassins. With some of the dialogue being kicked around I couldn’t be sure if Merlyn was aware of Bruce’s double life or not. Given some of his history in the DCU I’m not sure that this makes sense. Merlyn strikes me as the type of character that if he knew about Bruce’s alter-ego he’d either try to profit from it or start spreading it around the underworld.
Am I the only one who thinks this?
Death of the New Gods #8
A fitting, if albeit temporary, end to the New Gods saga. I was surprised at how melancholy I was after finishing this issue. It felt to me that I wasn’t saying goodbye to the New Gods, rather I was saying goodbye to Jack Kirby himself. With this title almost all of Kirby’s ongoing DC characters have been taken off the board. I know that with FC the role of the New Gods will be substantially revamped but I’m not sure what that ‘Fifth World’ will look like yet.
This issue hits the stands a week after Countdown #2 and answers some of the questions that issue left us with, such as how Orion came back from the dead and why Superman was content to let him stagger off, alone and dying, after killing his father (because he was already dead apparently) Unfortunately it also highlighted some fairly notable discrepancies as well, like where did Dark Side’s Celestial power go to, why can Orion speak now and a host of others mysteries.
However, overall this series has been pretty consistent throughout. I’m not a huge fan of Starlin’s art or his writing, but there was nothing overly offensive about either that was going to drive me away from this book. It’s a little unfortunate that so many characters had off-screen or unseen deaths. In a perfect world we’d have seen more of their personal stories before they were shuffled off into parts unknown. But DNG touched on enough of the really prolific characters to make reading the story worthwhile.
Next stop, Final Crisis.
Justice League of America #20
Hey, who’s that? It’s the Queen Bee. Last seen, by me anyway, in the now defunct title, JLA, durign it’s World War III arc. Apparently she’s no longer slurring her words by adding z’s onto everything but is still trying her level best to take over the world.
This is one of the steadier League stories in a long time. I’m one of the rare few who don’t foam at the mouth when you bring up Meltzer’s run on this title. I freely admit some of his decisions on the title were downright crap. But I think Meltzer gets a bad rap for being, well, Meltzer. It almost feels like there’s a prejudice against him because he doesn’t believe writing comic books is the holy grail of his career. I notice the same scorn whenever someone talks about a television writer trying to cross mediums as well.
Anyway, this story is a done-in-one, team-up style tale where the Flash and Wonder Woman join forces to kick ass and take names. Wally lays some science on us as he’s putting out fires and Wonder Woman tries to talk him into making the League more of a priority. And somewhere in there they find the time to foil the Queen Bee’s plans.
I enjoy how McDuffie writes Wonder Woman. I find that he was able to make her sound like the warrior diplomat that she’s supposed to be. Van Sciver’s art was highly enjoyable, much more engaging than I usually find it. I guess he just needed a break from drawing the entire rogue’s gallery of the Green Lantern Corp.
Checkmate #25
So long Greg Rucka. And with your departure I’m officially dropping this title. I first started reading this book a year ago on a lark because I had a light week in comics and was looking for something else to read. I was hooked on the series pretty quickly. Enough so that I even trolled through some back issue bins to see what I’d missed.
Rucka’s final issue reveals the identity of the rooks, Checkmate’s heavy hitters in emergency scenarios. In order to function as a team, the rooks inject alien DNA from Starro the Conqueror in order to maintain a telepathic link and improve their efficiency.
What I like about this series is that it’s part of DC continuity yet outside it as well. This is a comic where soldiers do all the things traditional spandex heroes aren’t supposed to do. They kill, shoot guns and hurt people badly. Yet Rucka never shied away from bringing in name heroes on occasion and doing so in a way that was seamless, suited the story and didn’t seem like a callous sop to boost sales. That’s never an easy thing to do.
Rucka is in his element with this title. He’s always paid meticulous attention to detail, working hard to bring us the flavour and terminology of a world wide para-military counter-intelligence unit. Nowhere was this more evident than in this issue. I really enjoyed the little dialogue bubbles that he created to show how the rooks were in constant three-way communication with each other. It was a neat little extra that showed a willingness to think outside the box a little.
From some of his recent statements it sounds like Rucka is not all that happy with life at DC. He recently let his exclusive contract with the company expire without resigning. Best of luck on your future projects Greg, I look forward to reading them.
Muzak: The Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely
So,
I’m really digging the new Raconteurs album. Personally, I suck at doing music reviews, as my University elective will show. I find it really hard to articulate what it is I like about a particular, song or album beyond…
“You see how s/he rhymed those two words there? Watch and splotch? That’s good writing”
I’m impressed that after something like seven or eight albums Jack White is still able to consistently turn out something like this. Considering, in this musical age, some bands never can’t make it beyond their sophomore release the fact that White is still going, and going strong, is definitely worthy of note.
He’s like the marathon man of the music scene.
My musical tastes tend to lean towards darker and grittier singer\songwriter stuff. (I’ve got the new Dresden Dolls on pre-order and I can’t wait to get my hands on that) It’s not that you can’t be a great musician by performing someone else’s songs. I don’t believe that for a second. But, as someone who’s dabbled creatively from time to time, I like the idea of taking a song from concept to finished product and have the quality of the end result rest entirely with you. I find that few things in life are as satisfying as pulling something like that off successfully.
Anyway, according to my iPod, the two songs I’ve starred as being worthy of note are “Carolina Drama” and “Rich Kid Blues”.
Enjoy.
I’m really digging the new Raconteurs album. Personally, I suck at doing music reviews, as my University elective will show. I find it really hard to articulate what it is I like about a particular, song or album beyond…
“You see how s/he rhymed those two words there? Watch and splotch? That’s good writing”
I’m impressed that after something like seven or eight albums Jack White is still able to consistently turn out something like this. Considering, in this musical age, some bands never can’t make it beyond their sophomore release the fact that White is still going, and going strong, is definitely worthy of note.
He’s like the marathon man of the music scene.
My musical tastes tend to lean towards darker and grittier singer\songwriter stuff. (I’ve got the new Dresden Dolls on pre-order and I can’t wait to get my hands on that) It’s not that you can’t be a great musician by performing someone else’s songs. I don’t believe that for a second. But, as someone who’s dabbled creatively from time to time, I like the idea of taking a song from concept to finished product and have the quality of the end result rest entirely with you. I find that few things in life are as satisfying as pulling something like that off successfully.
Anyway, according to my iPod, the two songs I’ve starred as being worthy of note are “Carolina Drama” and “Rich Kid Blues”.
Enjoy.
Monday, April 21, 2008
1 year down, 2 to go
So,
Another semester draws to a close. Hard to believe that it’s only been a year since I decided to go back to school part time and get a certificate in Public Relations. A lot has changed in that time. Since I made that call I got engaged to get married this summer and I landed a PR job well in advance of completing my certificate.
I have to take nine classes to get a certificate in PR. For me, that works out to one class per semester for the next three years. No time off for good behaviour. Because I’m working full time I opted to take the bulk of my courses online, which automatically doubles your work load.
A regular class is much easier. Beyond the usual assignments, just showing up to class and raising your hand every now and again is enough to prove to the prof that you’ve read the texts and understand the work. With an online class you have to turn in three assignments every week, one initial post and two response posts, in order to prove conclusively to the prof that you’re getting your work done. That means you’ve lost three nights a week to school.
1 night for reading.
1 night for writing your initial post.
1 night for writing your two response posts.
So, for one class, the work load can be a little oppressive.
Which is why I’ve decided that my next course will be in-class.
I’ve been lucky that most of my online profs have been on the ball. Any questions I’ve asked are usually answered within the next couple of days. Unfortunately this wasn’t the case with the last prof. Questions would go unanswered for weeks, grades would take months to be returned (for a four month class, that’s saying something) and very quickly problems began to fester as it was obvious the prof had checked out. Essentially students got pissed with the lackadaisical attitude of the school and started writing letters and making angry phone calls.
So I when I signed up for my summer course I made sure to keep an eye out for in class options. But I sort of pooched myself. The best option I found for me was a two month intensive course which doubles the weekly work load but finishes up in two months as opposed to four. The upside to all this that I’ll be done class on June 23rd, which gives me a month before the wedding to help out, without any other obligations on my time, as well rescuing a little bit of my summer. It’s not the ideal choice, but a little short turn pain may turn into some long term gain.
Another semester draws to a close. Hard to believe that it’s only been a year since I decided to go back to school part time and get a certificate in Public Relations. A lot has changed in that time. Since I made that call I got engaged to get married this summer and I landed a PR job well in advance of completing my certificate.
I have to take nine classes to get a certificate in PR. For me, that works out to one class per semester for the next three years. No time off for good behaviour. Because I’m working full time I opted to take the bulk of my courses online, which automatically doubles your work load.
A regular class is much easier. Beyond the usual assignments, just showing up to class and raising your hand every now and again is enough to prove to the prof that you’ve read the texts and understand the work. With an online class you have to turn in three assignments every week, one initial post and two response posts, in order to prove conclusively to the prof that you’re getting your work done. That means you’ve lost three nights a week to school.
1 night for reading.
1 night for writing your initial post.
1 night for writing your two response posts.
So, for one class, the work load can be a little oppressive.
Which is why I’ve decided that my next course will be in-class.
I’ve been lucky that most of my online profs have been on the ball. Any questions I’ve asked are usually answered within the next couple of days. Unfortunately this wasn’t the case with the last prof. Questions would go unanswered for weeks, grades would take months to be returned (for a four month class, that’s saying something) and very quickly problems began to fester as it was obvious the prof had checked out. Essentially students got pissed with the lackadaisical attitude of the school and started writing letters and making angry phone calls.
So I when I signed up for my summer course I made sure to keep an eye out for in class options. But I sort of pooched myself. The best option I found for me was a two month intensive course which doubles the weekly work load but finishes up in two months as opposed to four. The upside to all this that I’ll be done class on June 23rd, which gives me a month before the wedding to help out, without any other obligations on my time, as well rescuing a little bit of my summer. It’s not the ideal choice, but a little short turn pain may turn into some long term gain.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Movie Review: 88 Minutes
So watching 88 Minutes is akin to placing a steaming turd in the middle of the kitchen and letting the smell slowly seep into everything important to you.
Watching this movie is like seeing 24 by way of the Scream series. This is nothing more than Al Pacino showing us his take on Jack Bauer.
Starring the aforementioned Al Pacino and a vertiable who's who of B-list talent including Leelee Sobieski, Amy Brenneman, Neal McDonough, the angry kid from the OC and the criminally underused William Foresythe this film doesn't have the slightest idea about what it really wants to be.
88 minutes practically begs to be released straight to video. Instead the poor thing is forced to shuck and jive in the big leagues and, as a result, it comes off looking tacky and cheap. The plot is stale, essentially a who-dunnit serial killer retread (why is it always serial killers these days, don't people just kill one-offs anymore?) Al Pacino, as psychiatrist Dr. Jack Gramm, has 88 minutes to find out who is copying the murders of a serial killer he helped put in jail before the unseen killer comes after him.
The film is reduced to relying on this hackneyed plot device, in order to add a sense of drama and urgency to the story. However, it fails even to accomplish that base urgency satisfactorily. While visually trying it's best to be slick and edgey the film trips itself up and insists on dropping minding numbingly dull expository scenes into the action, presumably to heigthen the tension by giving all the ensemble characters slightly suspicious backgrounds.
In reality all this character building is patently absurd. The film is full of red herrings, and very quickly any actual plot becomes irrelevant. We're left with a not-so-amusing shell game of trying to seperate the valid information from the useless chaff chucked in to make the story seem more complicated than it really is. After about twenty minutes the only reason you're still watching is because you're waiting to see which one of the 'name' actors is going to turn out to be the baddie.
Al Pacino is one of the great acting talents of our time. But in this role he seems more like Morgan Freeman, performing in films that require a physiciality from him that he can no longer deliver on. You can practically see him falling over from exhaustion as he runs, because this is a thriller goddammit, from one contrived set piece to the next. As if making up for his lack of vitiality he has decided to surround himself with pretty, youthful, sexy actors, most of which you'd recognize, even if you're not quite sure from where.
If you're looking for a real, as it happens type story, I'd recommend just going out and watching 24. For lesser known, and liked, examples there is always Nick of Time, Phone Booth and Rope.
Don't waste your time on this film. Let's all remember Al Pacino as a great actor who usually does great parts. Not as someone who fills up his off time by taking any script that is slipped to him under the doors of a bathroom stall.
Watching this movie is like seeing 24 by way of the Scream series. This is nothing more than Al Pacino showing us his take on Jack Bauer.
Starring the aforementioned Al Pacino and a vertiable who's who of B-list talent including Leelee Sobieski, Amy Brenneman, Neal McDonough, the angry kid from the OC and the criminally underused William Foresythe this film doesn't have the slightest idea about what it really wants to be.
88 minutes practically begs to be released straight to video. Instead the poor thing is forced to shuck and jive in the big leagues and, as a result, it comes off looking tacky and cheap. The plot is stale, essentially a who-dunnit serial killer retread (why is it always serial killers these days, don't people just kill one-offs anymore?) Al Pacino, as psychiatrist Dr. Jack Gramm, has 88 minutes to find out who is copying the murders of a serial killer he helped put in jail before the unseen killer comes after him.
The film is reduced to relying on this hackneyed plot device, in order to add a sense of drama and urgency to the story. However, it fails even to accomplish that base urgency satisfactorily. While visually trying it's best to be slick and edgey the film trips itself up and insists on dropping minding numbingly dull expository scenes into the action, presumably to heigthen the tension by giving all the ensemble characters slightly suspicious backgrounds.
In reality all this character building is patently absurd. The film is full of red herrings, and very quickly any actual plot becomes irrelevant. We're left with a not-so-amusing shell game of trying to seperate the valid information from the useless chaff chucked in to make the story seem more complicated than it really is. After about twenty minutes the only reason you're still watching is because you're waiting to see which one of the 'name' actors is going to turn out to be the baddie.
Al Pacino is one of the great acting talents of our time. But in this role he seems more like Morgan Freeman, performing in films that require a physiciality from him that he can no longer deliver on. You can practically see him falling over from exhaustion as he runs, because this is a thriller goddammit, from one contrived set piece to the next. As if making up for his lack of vitiality he has decided to surround himself with pretty, youthful, sexy actors, most of which you'd recognize, even if you're not quite sure from where.
If you're looking for a real, as it happens type story, I'd recommend just going out and watching 24. For lesser known, and liked, examples there is always Nick of Time, Phone Booth and Rope.
Don't waste your time on this film. Let's all remember Al Pacino as a great actor who usually does great parts. Not as someone who fills up his off time by taking any script that is slipped to him under the doors of a bathroom stall.
Friday, April 18, 2008
NCD #3: Better late than never
I missed my weekly ritual this week because of a work thing. As a result my reviews are a day late and thus woefully dated.
Countdown #2
In lieu of a review I've decided to substitute my words with the sound of me repeatedly smashing my head against my desk.
I figure that this course of action is still less likely to kill brain cells than actually reading this comic. But it's my own fault really, I haven't enjoyed a single issue of this comic and yet I continue to buy it. I'm my own worst enemy. However I take solace in the fact that Final Crisis is mere weeks away and that Grant Morrison will soon soothe my troubled soul.
The art on this issue is a little better than some of the stuff I've been subjected to on this title in recent weeks. But that still doesn't make up for the atrocious plotting, poor characterizations and weak writing that has plagued this series. If you haven't caught the scuttle butt on the internet already this issue was meant to tie together some loose ends that Jack Kirby left dangling a quarter of a century ago and open the door for Morrison's Fifth World, a concept he introduced in his final issues of JLA.
The Brave and the Bold #12
On the flip side of the quality scale B and B wrapped up it's inaugural plot arc. There's not much to add here. Waid, Perez and Ordway have done a fantastic job in shepherding this story, with a multitude of heroes from several different eras of the DCU, into a single mostly coherent storyline.
It's a fun comic that absolutely reeked of nostalgia and I'll be sorry to see the current creative team part ways and move on to new pastures.
Superman #673
Speaking of parting ways, this issue marks the end of Busiek's run on Superman. Busiek is on to bigger and better things, a year long stint at Trinity with Mark Bagley being one of them. I've read a lot of good Superman stories, a lot of blah Superman stories and some pretty terrible Superman stories. I'm glad to say that Busiek falls firmly into that first category.
His Camelot Falls plotline almost felt like retro Superman storytelling. It was a nice decompressed story that deftly managed to weave multiple plotlines into one coherent overarching story.
Plot synopsis, Superman takes on Paragon and a trio of Daxamite priests. There's some pre-requisite fighting and the standard Superman solution of managing to take on the baddies without having to dirty his hands. In this story he lets Paragon do all the dirty work, and the majority of the heavy lifting, only really doing anything constructive at the end of the story.
Speaking of Camelot Falls we see the last dregs of that plotline wrap up here with the creation of Alexandria II, a super-library of sorts containing all of Earth's scientific knowledge so that even if the planet is thrown into chaos the knowledge of mankind will never be lost.
Good luck Kurt, I look forward to see what you have to offer with Trinity.
Flash #239
This Flash story kind of felt like an old school Mark Waid tale.
Countdown #2
In lieu of a review I've decided to substitute my words with the sound of me repeatedly smashing my head against my desk.
I figure that this course of action is still less likely to kill brain cells than actually reading this comic. But it's my own fault really, I haven't enjoyed a single issue of this comic and yet I continue to buy it. I'm my own worst enemy. However I take solace in the fact that Final Crisis is mere weeks away and that Grant Morrison will soon soothe my troubled soul.
The art on this issue is a little better than some of the stuff I've been subjected to on this title in recent weeks. But that still doesn't make up for the atrocious plotting, poor characterizations and weak writing that has plagued this series. If you haven't caught the scuttle butt on the internet already this issue was meant to tie together some loose ends that Jack Kirby left dangling a quarter of a century ago and open the door for Morrison's Fifth World, a concept he introduced in his final issues of JLA.
The Brave and the Bold #12
On the flip side of the quality scale B and B wrapped up it's inaugural plot arc. There's not much to add here. Waid, Perez and Ordway have done a fantastic job in shepherding this story, with a multitude of heroes from several different eras of the DCU, into a single mostly coherent storyline.
It's a fun comic that absolutely reeked of nostalgia and I'll be sorry to see the current creative team part ways and move on to new pastures.
Superman #673
Speaking of parting ways, this issue marks the end of Busiek's run on Superman. Busiek is on to bigger and better things, a year long stint at Trinity with Mark Bagley being one of them. I've read a lot of good Superman stories, a lot of blah Superman stories and some pretty terrible Superman stories. I'm glad to say that Busiek falls firmly into that first category.
His Camelot Falls plotline almost felt like retro Superman storytelling. It was a nice decompressed story that deftly managed to weave multiple plotlines into one coherent overarching story.
Plot synopsis, Superman takes on Paragon and a trio of Daxamite priests. There's some pre-requisite fighting and the standard Superman solution of managing to take on the baddies without having to dirty his hands. In this story he lets Paragon do all the dirty work, and the majority of the heavy lifting, only really doing anything constructive at the end of the story.
Speaking of Camelot Falls we see the last dregs of that plotline wrap up here with the creation of Alexandria II, a super-library of sorts containing all of Earth's scientific knowledge so that even if the planet is thrown into chaos the knowledge of mankind will never be lost.
Good luck Kurt, I look forward to see what you have to offer with Trinity.
Flash #239
This Flash story kind of felt like an old school Mark Waid tale.
The Flash is dealing with fallout from the bad vibes being pumped out by Spin, a new villain on the scene in Keystone. One of the perennial Flash III tales is that poor Wally West never has any money. Unlike Flash II, he's never really had a secret identity that required him to be duly employed, thus he's never really had a credible excuse for where he gets his money from.
Geoff Johns tried to address this by giving Wally back his secret identity and giving him a job (mechanic). But previous Flash writers have let the Flash win the lottery or start up a super-speed courier service.
Either way the "where does Flash get his money" story line is a bit hackneyed. Not as bad as "Superman gets hit with Kryptonite" or "Batman gets punchy" but it's in the ball park.
I'm fairly sure Peyer is just trying to knock out a quick story before DC gets caught up in Final Crisis mania. It's not a bad story, or even badly done. It just feels like everyone is putting in time here before we get on to the BIG things, oh say, like the return of Barry Allen.
Stay Tuned
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Cover Shoot
So,
I oversaw the cover shoot for our next issue of the Mag. Oversaw might be stretching it a bit. The photog was all over everything and there really wasn’t much for me to do except make encouraging sounds in the back of my throat every now and again.
Normally our cover shoots are no more than an hour and consist of our usual photog trying to find interesting things for our cover model to do in his studio space.
But this time we decided to kick it up a notch. We had a makeup artist, a wardrobe stylist (who mistook me for one of the photog’s assistants) and a jewelry designer who all graciously devoted their time and skills to the shoot.
The problem is we couldn’t possibility afford to pay the real costs for a day like yesterday. Almost everything we got for the day was because the photog was owed a favour. But the quality of the pictures we got was so far above our normal fare that I suspect a serious protracted discussion is going to be held about the nature of our cover photography. And rightly so. I suspect we’ll end up somewhere in the middle, between our usual game plan and this bright and shiny new plan.
The photographer was great, our profile was magnificent and the pictures were the best I’ve ever seen for the mag. It was a long day, but totally worth it.
And about 30 seconds after the last frame was snapped I had to run to my wedding tasting. So I missed out on NCD.
Temporarily.
I oversaw the cover shoot for our next issue of the Mag. Oversaw might be stretching it a bit. The photog was all over everything and there really wasn’t much for me to do except make encouraging sounds in the back of my throat every now and again.
Normally our cover shoots are no more than an hour and consist of our usual photog trying to find interesting things for our cover model to do in his studio space.
But this time we decided to kick it up a notch. We had a makeup artist, a wardrobe stylist (who mistook me for one of the photog’s assistants) and a jewelry designer who all graciously devoted their time and skills to the shoot.
The problem is we couldn’t possibility afford to pay the real costs for a day like yesterday. Almost everything we got for the day was because the photog was owed a favour. But the quality of the pictures we got was so far above our normal fare that I suspect a serious protracted discussion is going to be held about the nature of our cover photography. And rightly so. I suspect we’ll end up somewhere in the middle, between our usual game plan and this bright and shiny new plan.
The photographer was great, our profile was magnificent and the pictures were the best I’ve ever seen for the mag. It was a long day, but totally worth it.
And about 30 seconds after the last frame was snapped I had to run to my wedding tasting. So I missed out on NCD.
Temporarily.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
30 Second Movie Review: Doomsday
So,
Awesome called. Awesome called and it said you should watch Doomsday.
And you know what?
Awesome was right.
This is the kind of movie that I absolutely would have loved as 13 year old. There would have been multiple viewings, armed with a VCR control, to capture every glorious beheading and graphic fight scene in the film. The tape would have lasted about six months before I’d have worn it out.
And it would have been glorious.
Even as a 29 year old I think this movie is pretty goddamn fun. It name checks a lot of my favourite classic horror and genre movies from the past 20 years like Aliens, 28 Days Later, Underworld, Escape from New York and The Road Warrior. It’s like these films were dropped into a blender and Doomsday is the end result. The acting is barely passable, the story and visuals absolutely cliché ridden and you’ll absolutely destroy your brain if you seriously try to make sense of anything you see on screen. (There is a serious cow overpopulation in this film and yet cannibalism is rappant)
Directed by Neil Marshall, of The Descent and Dog Soldiers fame, this movie doesn’t care what you think about it. With a plot grafted onto the thinnest of premises, futuristic soldiers must enter an apocalyptic wasteland in search of a cure for a deadly disease that threatens all of mankind, it’s really just an excuse for the director to throw whatever he thinks will look cool up on the screen. Thankfully he’s got a vivid imagination so movie goers, ill advisedly expecting coherency from this story, won’t have to wait long before the next little bit of eye candy pops up to keep them entertained.
There’s no point in even trying to do a straight forward review of this film. It works hard at not taking itself seriously. If you’re looking for insightful social commentary or hidden levels of meaning, you’ll never find it here. A potboiler, in the purest sense, Doomsday is all about turning your brain off for a little while and remembering what its like to be a kid again.
Hells yeah.
Awesome called. Awesome called and it said you should watch Doomsday.
And you know what?
Awesome was right.
This is the kind of movie that I absolutely would have loved as 13 year old. There would have been multiple viewings, armed with a VCR control, to capture every glorious beheading and graphic fight scene in the film. The tape would have lasted about six months before I’d have worn it out.
And it would have been glorious.
Even as a 29 year old I think this movie is pretty goddamn fun. It name checks a lot of my favourite classic horror and genre movies from the past 20 years like Aliens, 28 Days Later, Underworld, Escape from New York and The Road Warrior. It’s like these films were dropped into a blender and Doomsday is the end result. The acting is barely passable, the story and visuals absolutely cliché ridden and you’ll absolutely destroy your brain if you seriously try to make sense of anything you see on screen. (There is a serious cow overpopulation in this film and yet cannibalism is rappant)
Directed by Neil Marshall, of The Descent and Dog Soldiers fame, this movie doesn’t care what you think about it. With a plot grafted onto the thinnest of premises, futuristic soldiers must enter an apocalyptic wasteland in search of a cure for a deadly disease that threatens all of mankind, it’s really just an excuse for the director to throw whatever he thinks will look cool up on the screen. Thankfully he’s got a vivid imagination so movie goers, ill advisedly expecting coherency from this story, won’t have to wait long before the next little bit of eye candy pops up to keep them entertained.
There’s no point in even trying to do a straight forward review of this film. It works hard at not taking itself seriously. If you’re looking for insightful social commentary or hidden levels of meaning, you’ll never find it here. A potboiler, in the purest sense, Doomsday is all about turning your brain off for a little while and remembering what its like to be a kid again.
Hells yeah.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Toronto Comic Convention
Scottie and I hit up the Toronto comicon on Sunday.
It was full of cheap comicy goodness. I think I bought somewhere in the realm of 50 - 60 comics and plugged some fairly decent holes in my collection. I STILL can't find Morrison's run on Flash or the end of Ennis' Hitman. I must have gone through just about every back issue box in the place looking for them.
Somewhere along the way though I did find a pretty sweet run of Action Comics and Hellblazer. (I know I should probably just buy every HB comic in TPB form, but I just can't bring myself to do it, I'm a comic snob at heart, I want the singles)
It's only my second Comicon but I'm already noticing a handful of repeat fans. One particularly....aggressive...fan is absolutely fascinating in his singleminded domination of every space he inhabits.
I got some Green Arrow comics signed by Mike Grell, half a dozen Invincible issues signed by Ryan Ottley and a mixed bag of stuff signed by Leonard Kirk.
I actually laid out 60 bucks to get a sketch by Leonard Kirk. I got him to draw Supergirl and Buzz from his time on Supergirl. It was absolutely amazing. I like it so much I think I'm actually going to spring to have it framed. Kirk and Peter David's Supergirl was one of the few comics I actually kept up with in University and a lot of it had to with Kirk's art. He's got nice clean lines and actually draws realistic representations of women, as opposed to stick figures with breasts that I see in so many comics.
I'd say that I'd scan it and upload the picture, but that'd just be a lie and I think we're closer than that.
It was full of cheap comicy goodness. I think I bought somewhere in the realm of 50 - 60 comics and plugged some fairly decent holes in my collection. I STILL can't find Morrison's run on Flash or the end of Ennis' Hitman. I must have gone through just about every back issue box in the place looking for them.
Somewhere along the way though I did find a pretty sweet run of Action Comics and Hellblazer. (I know I should probably just buy every HB comic in TPB form, but I just can't bring myself to do it, I'm a comic snob at heart, I want the singles)
It's only my second Comicon but I'm already noticing a handful of repeat fans. One particularly....aggressive...fan is absolutely fascinating in his singleminded domination of every space he inhabits.
I got some Green Arrow comics signed by Mike Grell, half a dozen Invincible issues signed by Ryan Ottley and a mixed bag of stuff signed by Leonard Kirk.
I actually laid out 60 bucks to get a sketch by Leonard Kirk. I got him to draw Supergirl and Buzz from his time on Supergirl. It was absolutely amazing. I like it so much I think I'm actually going to spring to have it framed. Kirk and Peter David's Supergirl was one of the few comics I actually kept up with in University and a lot of it had to with Kirk's art. He's got nice clean lines and actually draws realistic representations of women, as opposed to stick figures with breasts that I see in so many comics.
I'd say that I'd scan it and upload the picture, but that'd just be a lie and I think we're closer than that.
Friday, April 11, 2008
Shuffle Monkey logo
As promised, here's a first draft of the new Shuffle Monkey's logo.
I'm fairly happy with the text and banana, although in Scott's own words, the frisbee needs a little work.
I think right now the frisbee looks a bit like an upside down dinner plate.
But we're on the right track.
I've been a bad boy
One of the weird quirks about Ultimate is that its self refereed.
90% of the time this isn't a problem, but when you have a close game, or your spot in the standings is in trouble this can lead to some really 'interesting' calls.
Aggressive teams will call anything, in order to try and win an advantage by being litigious. We're generally a pretty easy-go-lucky team, if we feel the call is in a gray zone we'll gladly restart the play.
Well last night didn't go quite as smoothly as I would have liked. The previous week we managed to tie the team we were playing, effectively knocking them out of contention to play for first in the playoffs. This week, due to a scheduling quirk, we played the same team. Only this time, they were a little pissed about being knocked out.
So they decided to call EVERYTHING. Every disc that was on the line, every field movement that might have been a pick, every point that was to close to call.
One of the unwritten rules of the game is when a call is made, only the people on the field can argue. People on the bench stay out of it.
However, there was one player on the other team, we'll call her 'Trucker X' who decided this unwritten rule didn't apply to her. She decided to open her yap and throw in her two cents from wherever she was, the bench, the field, buried underneath her defender. Sarcastic comments, just loud enough to be heard by everyone were her forte.
So everytime she opened her mouth so say something nasty, I shot a sarcastic comment right back across her bow.
We won the game, barely. But it sure wasn't my greatest moment on the field.
90% of the time this isn't a problem, but when you have a close game, or your spot in the standings is in trouble this can lead to some really 'interesting' calls.
Aggressive teams will call anything, in order to try and win an advantage by being litigious. We're generally a pretty easy-go-lucky team, if we feel the call is in a gray zone we'll gladly restart the play.
Well last night didn't go quite as smoothly as I would have liked. The previous week we managed to tie the team we were playing, effectively knocking them out of contention to play for first in the playoffs. This week, due to a scheduling quirk, we played the same team. Only this time, they were a little pissed about being knocked out.
So they decided to call EVERYTHING. Every disc that was on the line, every field movement that might have been a pick, every point that was to close to call.
One of the unwritten rules of the game is when a call is made, only the people on the field can argue. People on the bench stay out of it.
However, there was one player on the other team, we'll call her 'Trucker X' who decided this unwritten rule didn't apply to her. She decided to open her yap and throw in her two cents from wherever she was, the bench, the field, buried underneath her defender. Sarcastic comments, just loud enough to be heard by everyone were her forte.
So everytime she opened her mouth so say something nasty, I shot a sarcastic comment right back across her bow.
We won the game, barely. But it sure wasn't my greatest moment on the field.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
NCD #2: The good and the not-so-good
Green Arrow\Black Canary #7
Despite all the hate that Judd Winnick seems to inspire whenever he puts pen to paper I honestly don’t mind the majority of his work. Every now and again he can write a real clunker but for the most part he’s a capable writer.
Except for this week.
GA goes to London may have sounded great in theory put in terms of practical application Winnick blows it. The story is dry and dull. And except for an oh to short conversation between GA and Hal the humour is completely lacking.
Green Arrow is one of those characters that I have a blind spot for. I’m willing to give his title a lot of latitude. And over the years that flexibility has come into play, a lot. Unfortunately this week pushed my tolerance to the limit.
I found it incredibly difficult to get past the flat art and the muddy colouring. The solicitation may have said art by Cliff Chiang, but that sure as heck wasn’t Cliff manning the pencil. But it was the colouring that I really disliked. All the interior colours were either mud brown or pea soup green. I don’t know if they were in a rush to get this out the door, or if they were just doing it on the cheap, but there is no shading in this comic. It’s like the colourer put away his box of 64 Crayola crayons and decided to colour with the 8 colour econo-pak instead. And unfortunately, it shows.
This comic was a chore to read.
Booster Gold #8
I feel the need to add my voice to the chorus of disappointment that Geoff Johns is leaving this title. Hell, if Johns ever left DC the sucking sound that you’d hear is the utter implosion of half of DC’s current lineup.
But making me like perennial backup character Booster Gold is a feat worthy of celebration. Johns has completely revitalized this character in a way that keeps Booster true to his roots and doesn’t involve a complete re-think of his origins.
This week’s title is just as solid as the 8 that proceeded it, with appearances by Zero Hour era Green Arrow and Hawkman as well as Wild Dog, Anthro and Pantha. It says something that I’m actually curious as to how Anthro ended up in a modern era DCU story. How did that happen? Perhaps Johns just wanted to give a nod to his upcoming appearance in Final Crisis.
Only three issues left, so savour each one as it comes. It won’t be long for this world.
Green Lantern Corps #23
Finally, back in the saddle again!
Peter Tomasi returns to the Mongul\Sinestro plotline that he started just before we got pulled into the Alpha Lanterns arc.
The Guardians decide to send off a select group of Lanterns into a previously off-limits sector of space in search of some wayward Sinestro rings. While Mongul is out doing some recruiting of his own for the Sinestro Corps, with a coffin full of Black Mercys in tow.
Its always nice to see the Black Mercys being used, even if they are on the verge of being overused. It’s great to see that a one-off story concept by Alan Moore is still relevant to the DCU, some 25 years later.
Anyway, this is a long overdue return to form for this title with Tomasi and Gleason helping the Corps do the two things they do best, kick ass, and take names.
Fantastic Four #556
It may be Ultimates-lite but its still head and shoulders above what is actually being printed by Loeb and co. over in the Ultimates.
Essentially this story is all about Hitch doing what he does best, giant splash pages of fight scenes. Hitch throws in just about every major character he can think of currently knocking around Marvel these days.
There’s just enough ‘plot’ in this issue to justify the wall to wall face stomping that occurs, but I get the feeling that Millar is simply following his standard plan of attack, hinting at a greater plot just below the surface and hoarding all the cards until he plan his big reveal.
When Millar and Hitch are on their game, there’s nothing else I like to read more.
Despite all the hate that Judd Winnick seems to inspire whenever he puts pen to paper I honestly don’t mind the majority of his work. Every now and again he can write a real clunker but for the most part he’s a capable writer.
Except for this week.
GA goes to London may have sounded great in theory put in terms of practical application Winnick blows it. The story is dry and dull. And except for an oh to short conversation between GA and Hal the humour is completely lacking.
Green Arrow is one of those characters that I have a blind spot for. I’m willing to give his title a lot of latitude. And over the years that flexibility has come into play, a lot. Unfortunately this week pushed my tolerance to the limit.
I found it incredibly difficult to get past the flat art and the muddy colouring. The solicitation may have said art by Cliff Chiang, but that sure as heck wasn’t Cliff manning the pencil. But it was the colouring that I really disliked. All the interior colours were either mud brown or pea soup green. I don’t know if they were in a rush to get this out the door, or if they were just doing it on the cheap, but there is no shading in this comic. It’s like the colourer put away his box of 64 Crayola crayons and decided to colour with the 8 colour econo-pak instead. And unfortunately, it shows.
This comic was a chore to read.
Booster Gold #8
I feel the need to add my voice to the chorus of disappointment that Geoff Johns is leaving this title. Hell, if Johns ever left DC the sucking sound that you’d hear is the utter implosion of half of DC’s current lineup.
But making me like perennial backup character Booster Gold is a feat worthy of celebration. Johns has completely revitalized this character in a way that keeps Booster true to his roots and doesn’t involve a complete re-think of his origins.
This week’s title is just as solid as the 8 that proceeded it, with appearances by Zero Hour era Green Arrow and Hawkman as well as Wild Dog, Anthro and Pantha. It says something that I’m actually curious as to how Anthro ended up in a modern era DCU story. How did that happen? Perhaps Johns just wanted to give a nod to his upcoming appearance in Final Crisis.
Only three issues left, so savour each one as it comes. It won’t be long for this world.
Green Lantern Corps #23
Finally, back in the saddle again!
Peter Tomasi returns to the Mongul\Sinestro plotline that he started just before we got pulled into the Alpha Lanterns arc.
The Guardians decide to send off a select group of Lanterns into a previously off-limits sector of space in search of some wayward Sinestro rings. While Mongul is out doing some recruiting of his own for the Sinestro Corps, with a coffin full of Black Mercys in tow.
Its always nice to see the Black Mercys being used, even if they are on the verge of being overused. It’s great to see that a one-off story concept by Alan Moore is still relevant to the DCU, some 25 years later.
Anyway, this is a long overdue return to form for this title with Tomasi and Gleason helping the Corps do the two things they do best, kick ass, and take names.
Fantastic Four #556
It may be Ultimates-lite but its still head and shoulders above what is actually being printed by Loeb and co. over in the Ultimates.
Essentially this story is all about Hitch doing what he does best, giant splash pages of fight scenes. Hitch throws in just about every major character he can think of currently knocking around Marvel these days.
There’s just enough ‘plot’ in this issue to justify the wall to wall face stomping that occurs, but I get the feeling that Millar is simply following his standard plan of attack, hinting at a greater plot just below the surface and hoarding all the cards until he plan his big reveal.
When Millar and Hitch are on their game, there’s nothing else I like to read more.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Longshots? Shuffle Monkeys.
So.
The Longshots are dead.
Long live the Longshots!!!
In their place? The Shuffle Monkeys.
That’s right I’m folding the Longshot team name for Ultimate Frisbee. Too many of the people I first started playing with have left the game.
One couple had a baby, half of another couple now commutes between Canada and Oz (not the country, the mythical land) and half of yet another couple has been racked by injuries and can’t afford to take the risk of injuring themselves again. Even S has hung up her cleats for the summer, not wanting to risk an injury herself with the upcoming wedding. Essentially the core is has broken up and only a handful of original Longshot-ers remain.
I thought the time was right to start from scratch. So for the upcoming Speed Point tourney and regular season we’re getting new shirts with new logos.
I’d post our old logo, but it’s buried somewhere on my hard drive.
I’ve got Scottie W. working on a new logo which I hope to have sometime in the next couple weeks. I’ll post photos when I have them.
The Longshots are dead.
Long live the Longshots!!!
In their place? The Shuffle Monkeys.
That’s right I’m folding the Longshot team name for Ultimate Frisbee. Too many of the people I first started playing with have left the game.
One couple had a baby, half of another couple now commutes between Canada and Oz (not the country, the mythical land) and half of yet another couple has been racked by injuries and can’t afford to take the risk of injuring themselves again. Even S has hung up her cleats for the summer, not wanting to risk an injury herself with the upcoming wedding. Essentially the core is has broken up and only a handful of original Longshot-ers remain.
I thought the time was right to start from scratch. So for the upcoming Speed Point tourney and regular season we’re getting new shirts with new logos.
I’d post our old logo, but it’s buried somewhere on my hard drive.
I’ve got Scottie W. working on a new logo which I hope to have sometime in the next couple weeks. I’ll post photos when I have them.
Monday, April 7, 2008
Wild Weddings
So.
We hit up the florist on the weekend. We knocked boutonnières, bouquets and corsages out of the park in no time flat.
We're going with a red and white theme. Original we're not. But as long as the tableclothes don't look like a cheap pizzeria we're good with it.
Unfortunately the one thing we have yet to agree on is centerpieces. I like a simple flower arrangement and S wants lanterns. We couldn't be more diametrically opposed to each others preferences if we tried. But while we were at the florist she showed us some possible floral centerpieces and I saw a couple I really liked.
It's funny, when we were outlining which designs we liked the best, I found they were really indicative of our personalities. I preferred to just let it all hang out. I liked the arrangements natural and unforced, a little messy even. While S preffered a more subdued, artistic take on them. It was eerie just how easy it was to match each arrangement with each person, personality identification through floral arrangement.
We hit up the florist on the weekend. We knocked boutonnières, bouquets and corsages out of the park in no time flat.
We're going with a red and white theme. Original we're not. But as long as the tableclothes don't look like a cheap pizzeria we're good with it.
Unfortunately the one thing we have yet to agree on is centerpieces. I like a simple flower arrangement and S wants lanterns. We couldn't be more diametrically opposed to each others preferences if we tried. But while we were at the florist she showed us some possible floral centerpieces and I saw a couple I really liked.
It's funny, when we were outlining which designs we liked the best, I found they were really indicative of our personalities. I preferred to just let it all hang out. I liked the arrangements natural and unforced, a little messy even. While S preffered a more subdued, artistic take on them. It was eerie just how easy it was to match each arrangement with each person, personality identification through floral arrangement.
The Great Purge
So.
The great comic purge continues.
I gave a friend of S's about 20 or so comic books today. Apparently her kids love comics so much that at recess they write their own.
Damn.
That's a comic book fan.
If they're drawing their own comics I almost feel kinda bad that I unloaded a buncha mid 80's Marvel on them. If anything will crush the creative spirit it's Big Two corporate greed. I'm taking unbridled creativity and hemming it in with form and structure.
But these kids will probably appreciate them a lot more than anyone else. And I'd rather give them away to them, than make a couple bucks for on Ebay. They strike me as the type who'll read em to pieces about a million times, lose the covers, cut'em into pieces and remember
em forever.
So the next time I come back from Port, these kids are going to hit the jackpot.
The great comic purge continues.
I gave a friend of S's about 20 or so comic books today. Apparently her kids love comics so much that at recess they write their own.
Damn.
That's a comic book fan.
If they're drawing their own comics I almost feel kinda bad that I unloaded a buncha mid 80's Marvel on them. If anything will crush the creative spirit it's Big Two corporate greed. I'm taking unbridled creativity and hemming it in with form and structure.
But these kids will probably appreciate them a lot more than anyone else. And I'd rather give them away to them, than make a couple bucks for on Ebay. They strike me as the type who'll read em to pieces about a million times, lose the covers, cut'em into pieces and remember
em forever.
So the next time I come back from Port, these kids are going to hit the jackpot.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
NCD #1: What I dun read...
ACTION COMICS #863
The story thus far. Superman’s friends from the future, The Legion of Super-heroes, need his help in stopping a xeno-phobic 31st century Justice League. The only problem is, Earth’s sun has mysteriously turned red, meaning Superman is far less super than he normally is.
This issue wraps up the whole arc and the whole thing wasn’t too shabby. On the whole, I’m fairly clueless as to who\what the Legion are. Although with all their exposure recently in the DCU I’ve picked up enough by osmosis to follow a conversation, even if I can’t chip in intelligently.
Geoff Johns is a capable writer, so he’s able to keep things moving at a fairly decent clip, despite the burgeoning amount of heroes on the page that he needs to make time for.
Gary Franks’ art was solid and I enjoyed seeing him sneak in a DCU version of Doctor Zoidberg, a la Futurama, strappy sandals and all.
Only one thing bothered me in this issue. Johns split up the first act of the story, having the Legion attempt to ‘fix’ the sun, while Superman and Earth man duke it out in orbit. Even though it doesn’t say so explicitly it’s strongly implied that these two events are taking place simultaneously. The problem is that when they fix the sun Superman is instantly re-powered, despite the fact that it takes 8 minutes for sunlight to reach Earth.
This may not have bothered me as much if I hadn’t watched Sunshine recently and had that little fact re-inserted into my brain. It’s an easy fix, with a text box to label the Legion story has happening “Eight minutes ago” and the Superman one as taking place “Now.” I’m pretty sure I’m just quibbling over details.
On the whole, I approve.
COUNTDOWN TO FINAL CRISIS #4
I stopped reading this series about a month after it first started and I only picked it up again recently because I want to know how they’re setting things up for Morrison’s upcoming Final Crisis.
It says nothing good about me as a fan that I’m reading a terrible comic book only so I can understand what else is happening in an entirely fictional universe.
In all fairness the art wasn’t as bad this week, as it has been in this title’s recent history. But the writing and dialogue is just atrocious. I won’t bother with repeating any of it here, mostly because I don’t hate myself enough to read this issue again.
Suffice to say if you don’t like making your brain bleed, don’t read this comic.
THE WALKING DEAD #48
I read this and you should too.
I love this comic. I love it enough that I employ passive-aggressive techniques, and flat out begging, to get my girlfriend to read it, and she really doesn’t care for comic books.
I expend a massive amount of relationship capital every month just so I’ll have someone else to talk to about it. I love it that much.
I probably shouldn’t gush this much, it destroys my objectivity.
But an open ended zombie story that refuses to let itself get drawn into making all the safe choices, yes, I’ll have some of that please.
This month? A lot of people die. A lot. Many of them who’ve been around for a very long time.
And one death that still has me on the fence.
Yah, you know the one I’m talking about.
ANNA MERCURY #1 (new pull)
I’m almost always willing to try out a new Warren Ellis comic, considering that he’s told some of my favourite stories over the last four years.
If you subscribe to Bad Signal or visit his website at all then you’ll quickly discover that Mercury is visually just the kind of protagonist that Warren would design. Smart, smart-mouthed and wearing skin light leather.
This one is pretty much Warren doing his thing.
We jump into a story already in progress, throw in some clipped techno-babble, a graphic beatdown (or two) and give readers just enough of the bigger picture to draw them in.
So yes, I’ll be reading this.
The story thus far. Superman’s friends from the future, The Legion of Super-heroes, need his help in stopping a xeno-phobic 31st century Justice League. The only problem is, Earth’s sun has mysteriously turned red, meaning Superman is far less super than he normally is.
This issue wraps up the whole arc and the whole thing wasn’t too shabby. On the whole, I’m fairly clueless as to who\what the Legion are. Although with all their exposure recently in the DCU I’ve picked up enough by osmosis to follow a conversation, even if I can’t chip in intelligently.
Geoff Johns is a capable writer, so he’s able to keep things moving at a fairly decent clip, despite the burgeoning amount of heroes on the page that he needs to make time for.
Gary Franks’ art was solid and I enjoyed seeing him sneak in a DCU version of Doctor Zoidberg, a la Futurama, strappy sandals and all.
Only one thing bothered me in this issue. Johns split up the first act of the story, having the Legion attempt to ‘fix’ the sun, while Superman and Earth man duke it out in orbit. Even though it doesn’t say so explicitly it’s strongly implied that these two events are taking place simultaneously. The problem is that when they fix the sun Superman is instantly re-powered, despite the fact that it takes 8 minutes for sunlight to reach Earth.
This may not have bothered me as much if I hadn’t watched Sunshine recently and had that little fact re-inserted into my brain. It’s an easy fix, with a text box to label the Legion story has happening “Eight minutes ago” and the Superman one as taking place “Now.” I’m pretty sure I’m just quibbling over details.
On the whole, I approve.
COUNTDOWN TO FINAL CRISIS #4
I stopped reading this series about a month after it first started and I only picked it up again recently because I want to know how they’re setting things up for Morrison’s upcoming Final Crisis.
It says nothing good about me as a fan that I’m reading a terrible comic book only so I can understand what else is happening in an entirely fictional universe.
In all fairness the art wasn’t as bad this week, as it has been in this title’s recent history. But the writing and dialogue is just atrocious. I won’t bother with repeating any of it here, mostly because I don’t hate myself enough to read this issue again.
Suffice to say if you don’t like making your brain bleed, don’t read this comic.
THE WALKING DEAD #48
I read this and you should too.
I love this comic. I love it enough that I employ passive-aggressive techniques, and flat out begging, to get my girlfriend to read it, and she really doesn’t care for comic books.
I expend a massive amount of relationship capital every month just so I’ll have someone else to talk to about it. I love it that much.
I probably shouldn’t gush this much, it destroys my objectivity.
But an open ended zombie story that refuses to let itself get drawn into making all the safe choices, yes, I’ll have some of that please.
This month? A lot of people die. A lot. Many of them who’ve been around for a very long time.
And one death that still has me on the fence.
Yah, you know the one I’m talking about.
ANNA MERCURY #1 (new pull)
I’m almost always willing to try out a new Warren Ellis comic, considering that he’s told some of my favourite stories over the last four years.
If you subscribe to Bad Signal or visit his website at all then you’ll quickly discover that Mercury is visually just the kind of protagonist that Warren would design. Smart, smart-mouthed and wearing skin light leather.
This one is pretty much Warren doing his thing.
We jump into a story already in progress, throw in some clipped techno-babble, a graphic beatdown (or two) and give readers just enough of the bigger picture to draw them in.
So yes, I’ll be reading this.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
thunder, Thunder, THUNDERBOLTS! HOOOOO!!!
When Bad Signal stumbled into my inbox sometime over the weekend I was marginally disappointed to see that Ellis had decided his time on Thunderbolts had come to a close.
The only reason I picked up that title in the first place had to do with his name on the cover. His immanent departure means that I can safely drop this title with no remorse, which goes perfectly with the theme of yesterdays post.
No harm, no foul.
So I was a bit surprised to see that a couple of other blogs that I browse chose to take him to task over his decision. Apparently the recent Siegel ruling on the ownership of the Superman trademark made Warren’s whole creator ownership angle in his email particularly relevant. Some people found his tone arrogant, others questioned the viability of some of the other pro-creator rights names he dropped.
My two cents.
If Warren has the power, influence and pocketbook to be able to survive on only doing brief stints at the mainstream publishers, good on him. He’s fairly straight up when he says that working for Marvel bumped up some of his numbers on his old material. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to own the rights to your own characters in your personal sandbox and making a buck at the same time playing in the sandboxes of others, that’s his right too.
As long as there’s a market for his work and someone is willing to pay him for it, he’s free to write for whomever he wants for whatever length of time he wants to do so.
The only reason I picked up that title in the first place had to do with his name on the cover. His immanent departure means that I can safely drop this title with no remorse, which goes perfectly with the theme of yesterdays post.
No harm, no foul.
So I was a bit surprised to see that a couple of other blogs that I browse chose to take him to task over his decision. Apparently the recent Siegel ruling on the ownership of the Superman trademark made Warren’s whole creator ownership angle in his email particularly relevant. Some people found his tone arrogant, others questioned the viability of some of the other pro-creator rights names he dropped.
My two cents.
If Warren has the power, influence and pocketbook to be able to survive on only doing brief stints at the mainstream publishers, good on him. He’s fairly straight up when he says that working for Marvel bumped up some of his numbers on his old material. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to own the rights to your own characters in your personal sandbox and making a buck at the same time playing in the sandboxes of others, that’s his right too.
As long as there’s a market for his work and someone is willing to pay him for it, he’s free to write for whomever he wants for whatever length of time he wants to do so.
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