Thursday, March 12, 2009

Doomed

Today was not a banner day at work. Not awful, but... just a day, I guess. I shall summarize by saying I have a printer in my office that is not dissimilar to the fax/ printer of "Office Space" fame.

So tomorrow is Friday the 13th. It's rainy and cold out. And walking out of work today, late, between Jester and the PCL, a frikkin' Black Cat shot out of nowhere and walked across my path. A black cat. On the UT campus. It was just weird.

I am so doomed.

Tomorrow I go to Waco for a while. Which means I need to leave the house by 6:30ish. Which means this post is short, as: I'm going to bed.

No, I still have not seen Watchmen. maybe on Saturday, if you want to go really, really badly.

But at this point, I'm not sure why. I'm beginning to get over my curiosity now that I accidentally learned how the movie ends (differently than the book), and my only interest is seeing how the heck the plot ties together. And why they made THAT change.

Oh, well. Here's Lynda Carter w/ Muppets.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Some Comic Book Stuff

John Hamm as Luthor!


It helps to have seen Superman I, Superman Returns and Superman IV...

I think I heard Jamie say "I want to go to there..."

So What Comics Should I read after Watchmen?

The answer is: I have no idea. Watchmen is sort of an island unto itself. But DC is here to help.

If you're DC Comics and you have an idea of what you think you could sell people, you launch a site on the topic.

Its a nifty site, and it mentions many of my personal favorites, from We3 to Preacher to All Star Superman.

What strikes me is that Marvel, while a terrific publisher, has not really operated in the same marketplace. "Alias" (no relation to the Jennifer Garner show) was the most DC/ Vertigo-esque of the Marvel titles. They have no Preacher, Swamp Thing or even All Star Superman. And really have no wing to publish something like We3.

Huh.

But they used to. In the 80's, Marvel used a wing called "Epic" to publish mature reader and creator owned work, including the superlative "Elektra: Assassin", and "Alien Legion" (which never, ever should have died). And, I think, maybe, the Shadowline of books, which was just tragically ahead of its time. Doctor Zero was a little bit of brilliance.

Creators now tend to take those books to Oni or Image these days, I'd guess.

Bam! Pow! Watchmen not for Kids!

Moore and Gibbons' Doomsday clock may be ticking down in a way WB wasn't expecting.

After the weekend crush of fanboys had bought up all the tickets, the usual superhero audience has trickled into the theaters, typically unaware of the ratings or reviews on the movie they've paid $10 a head to see.

This Chicago Tribune article decribes one theater where 1/4 of the audience walked out.

Let me run that by you again: One quarter of the audience WALKED OUT.

The truth is, I am not surprised. At some point, translating a massive tome, that plays with narrative structure as much as Watchmen does, with as many characters, scattered all over the timeline from the 1930's to the 1950's, is bound to create some problems for Joe Audience who wants to see that Blue Dude kicking a bad guy in his junk. He does not want to see the Blue Dude waxing rhapsodic about the nature of time while butt-naked on the moon.

Further: no matter what WB was going to do, people were going to show up with their kids, as most people see a cape and a mask and nifty Owlship, and assume a movie is for the kiddos. Perhaps not wrongly.

Yes, you kind of have to wonder how someone missed all the press on the movie and still showed up, or that theater employees aren't being warned not to sell tickets to children... but its also not an NC-17 movie. (which also raises the question: Still haven't seen Watchmen, but what's with all this I hear about gore and exploding bodies? Snyder just couldn't help himself, apparently.)

PREDICTION: The same thing comics went through in the 80's and 90's is about to happen to superhero movies. Studios will learn all kinds of wrong lessons from Watchmen and its adult content. Brace yourselves. It gets pretty stupid before it gets better.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

No post today

For some reason I thought of Jim D in this get-up walking around town, going to work with a briefcase, and I laughed and laughed and laughed.

Watched episode 1 of "The Wire" tonight. ate dinner at Jason's with Jason, Jamie and Nicole.

Work is busy.

I tried to think up questions to challenge you guys, but nothing is coming to mind.

May I suggest "Look Around You" from the BBC, currently on Adult Swim?

Going to bed.

EDIT: You ask me questions, and I shall strive to answer them.

ALSO EDIT: Extraordinarily good news for Comic Nerds.


One panel, and its already my favorite depiction of Robin since the 80's.

Monday, March 09, 2009

President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho




Sunday I watched about twenty minutes of the 2006 movie "Idiocracy". The movie wasn't terribly popular, but:

(a) the more times I stumble across it, the funnier I find it
(b) it's kind of stunning how swiftly we're all moving towards the world Mike Judge predicted. Gleefully so. Which is most likely why we didn't find it funny.

The problem, I think, with the poor showing "Idiocracy" had at the box office is only partially that its not a bad-ass dystpoian future of motorcycle gangs and gun fights or robots to fight against. It wasn't one single-source who doomed us who is looking for a savior. It was us who defeated us by acting pretty much how us acts. There's nobody to blame in Judge's future but ourselves, and his predictions aren't wild speculation, but the logical extension (although satirical) of how we deal with politics, shopping, entertainment, healthcare, mega-corporations, etc...

Welcome to CostCo. I love you.

The twenty minutes I watched included the part of the movie where President Camacho has appointed Luke Wilson's literal everyman Joe as Secretary of Agriculture or something so he can figure out why the crops aren't growing. Joe learns that its because they're spraying fields with a Power-Ade-like energy drink rather than water.

The people give Joe's solution of using water instead of Power-Ade on their plants about two days (at which point, the Power-Ade company goes bankrupt, because farmers were spraying large quantities of it on their plants, assuring the profitability of the energy drink company), and begin to riot outside the White House, which leads to Joe's trial and attempted execution by Monster Truck.

And as I watch CNN's headlines tick by, I can't help but note... We are Idiocracy.

Obama has been in office for about 6 weeks. We've had about 9 years or more of absolutely horrendous lending and financial practices which Obama is now being asked, both explicitly and implicitly, to fix. And watching the headlines, it all seems inevitable that he will be blamed if things don't begin a turn-around by 2011.

I sort of predicted that when Obama took office, people were going to be shocked that he couldn't magically fix everything by smiling at it and giving us a confident nod.

What's eye-rollingly irritating is that the press seems to kind of assume there's some obvious, single solution to our current dire financial straits, and that while THEY might not know what the solution is, and despite what every financial analyst they stick a micropphone in front of says its going to be years, there's an implicit suggestion in the headlines that its the job of the president to flip a switch and make it okay again. We're not to learn lessons, look within ourselves as a nation to see how we got here. We're to start buying houses we can't afford again and to make everything just how it was if you rolled the clock back to 2007 (when signs were beginning to show trouble, anyway).

We're seeing stories about how gray Obama has already become, how he's been working late, and that his budget isn't some miracle cure-all.

I guess my question is, sure, the former Pro-Wrestler, machine gun toting Camacho is a satirical stereotype... But you can't help but think "hey, the press and certain parties would be touting how Camacho was taking action and making decisions that were popular in the polls", so how far are we from "Ow, My Balls" and a push-button healthcare system where self-examination has been bred out of us all together?

Sunday, March 08, 2009

The League Watches: Wonder Woman



This evening Jamie and I watched the latest release from DC Comics' animated films, "Wonder Woman". It's the fourth movie from the DC Universe studios, following Superman/ Doomsday, Justice League: New Frontier and Batman: Gotham Knight. And, in my opinion, its possibly the best of four. That's my way of saying I thought the movie was pretty darn good.

Some of this is tempered by the fact that Superman/ Doomsday was a first attempt and, unfortunately, seemed to climax in the first act with the animated battle between Superman and Doomsday. Justice League: New Frontier took too many shortcuts with the phenomenal comic and Gotham Knight was a beautifully rendered but ill-executed experiment.

Wonder Woman is only adapting the origin story of Wonder Woman, which isn't terribly well known by the general public, and which has only really been refreshed once or twice even in the comics (I would gladly see an all-new origin story mini-series sometime). They've used bits of the George Perez post-Crisis on Infinite Earths reboot, the classic origin, a hint of Amazons Attack! (but don't hold that against them), and it's a nice, lean origin story. The truth is, I think us fanboys are pretty forgiving of changes in our stories if its reasonably well done, and I think this movie qualifies.

As with the other movies, this one could have stood to be about 20 minutes longer, filling in a lot of details. It would have been phenomenal to have had more exploration of Wonder Woman seeing more of New York and maybe DC, establish more about Etta Candy (I'm a fan of the Perez-era Candy), more on Steve Trevor, and some explanation of the Invisible Jet.

On that last note, I'm also a fan of how the comics portray the Amazons, which the movie does phenomenally well in spirit. I've always liked (well, since I was in college or so) the idea of an island full of heavily armed, ageless female warriors, philosophers and poets who can produce someone like Wonder Woman, and who all are her peers in spirit if not in strength. Unlike the movie, the comics have always suggested that the Amazons were not still stuck in the ancient Greek era as per technology. While they might dress in robes and wear Spartan helmets, left alone on Themyscira, they've come up with all sorts of crazy gear which suits their needs.

They don't directly address this here, but... Invisible Jet.

So having had got my geek-cred stuff covered, how's the movie itself?

Firstly, let me salute long-time WB animation star Lauren Montgomery for her directorial effort on the movie. There's a lot of love here, and Montgomery and her creative team obviously had a pretty strong idea of what was possible with the character in terms of both character and action. To cut to the chase, this movie has some of the best animated action sequences I've seen in a long while. Where Superman is a flying Sherman tank, and Batman (animated) is either a boxer or ninja, Montgomery's Wonder Woman is a sword wielding Achilles who can kick over a Cadillac. Mix that with a PG-13 level of post-300 and Lord of the Rings monsters and mayhem on the battlefield, it's some crazy stuff from the first 20 seconds of the movie.



While I did wish they'd been able to fill in some of those aforementioned spots, the movie is still well written, giving Diana a chance to struggle both with her disappointment that "Man's World" hasn't improved over the stories she's heard growing up on Themyscira, and accepting the world for what it is, in part thanks to a slightly wackier-than-normal take on Steve Trevor. I was never concerned that the movie would land on some side of the coin that would over-do the possible "Girl Power" message. What could have come off as twee or hollow (see: Spice Girls + Girl Power), instead comes off as a viable way of life in the context of Themyscira and the ensuing cultural exchange. Montgomery had worked on Justice League and JLU, and is seasoned enough to know how to make the message work through character and story development rather than speechifying or dumbed-down chauvinism.

Wonder Woman, like Superman, is a very public superhero in the comics. She's not Batman skulking in the night, or Green Lantern doing his thing off in deep space. I admit I would have liked to have seen some crowd reaction to her public debut, and some hint that she was on her way to being the important public figure she becomes in the comics and in the Wonder Woman TV show. But the final sequence does suggest a future for the character (I won't spoil it), so who knows? Maybe in Wonder Woman 2?

The animation is mostly very good, with a few trouble spots (there's one walk sequence for Ares that just doesn't look good at all), and the production design is mostly very good. I'm not someone who sweats the Wonder Woman togs as being unfit for a lady unless they cut the star-spangled shorts into a g-string in the comics. That's not done here, and the minor design change, in my eyes, made total sense.

I'd heard some grumbling about Keri Russell (TV's "Felicity") as Wonder Woman, but I think we can suppose Diana is a young, young woman here. Virginia Madsen plays Hippolyta perfectly, and were this a movie about modern-day, more mature Wonder Woman, she'd have been perfect for that role, but botha ctors do their parts justice. Stand out performance from geek-girl heart-throb Nathan Fillion of Firefly fame as Col. Steve Trevor. Fillion is just plain funny, even as a voice actor. And the always great Alfred Molina plays super-nasty God of War, Ares.

The movie is about 80 minutes, and I don't think you'll be disappointed. If youa re, it'll be over quickly. For Hollywood producers looking to translate the Amazing amazon to the big screen, here's how you do it. Use the elements of the comics, check your memories of Super Friends at the door (but never, ever dismiss Lynda Carter), and aim the movie at people who'd pay to see something like Troy. Just know you're setting it in the modern world.

I picked up the 2-disc set, and haven't made it through all the extras, but it looks like good stuff. The docs on the other DCU movies I've picked up have been as interesting as the features. And with William Moulton Marston to talk about... should be fun.

If nothing else, it reminds a non-comic reading public who and what Wonder Woman is. Not some frail model or pop-singer diva or helpless princess in a tower. She's as smart as she is strong, an ambassador of peace who isn't afraid to lift a sword to protect others, and, like Superman and Batman, a character with a vast and rich story that gives the character surprising depth.

Much of my excitement with the movie comes from seeing the comics I've liked for years brought to the screen, I'm sure. But it's also in seeing it brought to the screen with such care and, honestly, being better than I expected. It's what I've liked about the character that I've tried to express to others, for years. This has been fellow comic geeks who believe reading Wonder Woman will somehow make them seem less macho, people who refuse to get past the Lynda Carter show and Super Friends, and many a non-comic reading friend who has complained that there are no (good) female superheroes.

Sure, the character has waxed and waned over the years in some cyclical fashion, but at its core, but since 1941, she's been out there. It's nice to see Diana get her due.

Grey Lady calls League "finicky fan type"

Sweet.

My old man screed on Watchmen merchandising posted at Comic Fodder a few weeks back was linked to by a NY Times blogger.

Of course, its now stated in the The Paper of Record that I am a fanboy. Hooray?

Nifty.

Back to Austin

I'm home. Not in some metaphorical or romantic sense. I am quite literally back in Austin, decamped to the sofa.

For those of you who are wondering: No, I have not seen Watchmen. No, I don't know when I'm going to see it. I've been a little busy, and I don't know when its going to happen. Maybe next weekend, but that's just a guess.

Lubbock was... interesting.

Look, I didn't see much of the town at all. What I will say: Texas Tech is a lovely campus. I was actually glad to see that the campus defied my expectations of being several squat, lowest contract bidder government issue buildings against a bleak landscape. Instead, its actually a very pretty campus of large brick buildings in the style of its Eastern counterparts.

Off campus, Lubbock is a low-slung town of about 200,000 people cutting out their part of the American Dream, I guess. Last night I hung out with longtime pal Heather, starting at Orlando's Italian, a family restaurant, where the portions were generous and the folks eating seemed as if perhaps they were a bit more immune to the passage of time than the folk of the big city.

Lubbock, being a dry county, serves liquor and beer in the restaurants, but you can't buy your own stuff at liquor stores or the grocery. So, of course, just across the county line, a five minute drive from Orlando's, sits a street filled with huge, flashing neon signs and warehouse-style liquor stores and drive-through liquor marts.

There's a culture and economy that's sprung out of the tradition of pretending that people don't drink or that Carrie Nation was a raging success. It basically boils down to the outskirts of many a town marking up liquor and encouraging people to drink and drive. And for there to be a scale model of a 70's-era Vegas in the Great Plains. But oddly free of "gentlemen's clubs". The only one I saw was about ten to fifteen minutes outside of Lubbock. You know, far enough out that your wife or church elder wasn't likely to spot you unless they're at "Playmates" themselves.

We also hit two fabulous Lubbock night spots, which I won't pretend are indicative of the actual Lubbock night scene. But "The Silver Bullet" and "Adolph's" share the same burnt-out building, the vision of whose creator is lost to time. But I suspect someone thought this was going to be an office park at some point in the distant past.

Lubbock has also not instituted the smoking ban in their bars, which I realized I've come to take for granted. So, yes, I had an awesome voice as if I'd been smoking half-a-pack myself. Which might have served me well had I gotten on the list at Adolph's to sing karaoke, tucked between locals warbling country songs with which I was utterly unfamiliar, and an awesomely bad cover of "Hotel California".

Woke up this morning and drove the 6 hours back.

I might add, I haven't checked e-mail since about 8:00 AM Friday, so I apologize if you really missed me. I detoured before dinner on Friday and picked up a Garmin Nuvi 255 at Target, which was selling the model I chose for quite a bit off MSRP.

After my near-disastrous drives on Tuesday and Thursday, I decided I need to relax a bit more when I'm driving, so the soothing voice of the Garmin Lady assisted me in the drive home, taking me on a great route I never would have picked myself by looking at the Rand McNally map I picked up near Ft. Worth (and which kept me from driving East by Northeast into Oklahoma by accident).

Anyhow, I'm home. I'm tired as heck. I'm going to bed.

Thursday, March 05, 2009

Lubbock and Dallas

So. Okay. I'm buying a @#$%ing GPS.

Driving and trying to read directions off a printout from Google Maps in the middle of Texas, twenty miles from anything resembling a landmark just sucks. Especially once it gets dark.

Today I drove from Dallas to Lubbock, using the directions provided me by my faithful admin. I knew I was kind of screwed when the directions took me in this weird partial loop around part of Dallas, and I drove back past my hotel fifteen minutes later.

I'll be doing a lot of driving for this job, so from now on, I will have a polite lady's voice telling me where to go.

I didn't see much of the Llano Estacado or whatever driving in as the sun dipped around 7:00ish, and I arrived about 9:10. So, Wow, Lubbock. Nice, terrifying dark roads you got going on out here.

SMU's campus is very nice, btw.

Tomorrow is Tech.

I had a dinner at the bar where I made the bartender tell me her life story. The BBQ was okay, but very salty. Still, for getting a BBQ plate at 9"30 at night, it was okay.

Dallas Radio

So Driving around Dallas I was having trouble finding rock or classic rock on the radio, but I did find a number of religious stations and a metric-ton of Tejano. It was kind of an interesting juxtaposition of listening to Sarah Vowell's discussion of our forefathers, Puritanism, etc... and then listening to the confluence of religion and politics on the radio, and how political issues aren't actually up for debate. The debate has been settled by an interpretation of the Word of God as channeled from the chosen radio DJ.

It's not exactly news that the endgame here isn't entirely different from how law was decreed and interpreted by the separatists and Puritans who fled England to set up shop far from the Papists and not-as-pure-as-themselves Englanders. Its still a fairly crude set-up of abject paranoia and ego manifested as decrying anyone not onboard with your viewpoint as sent from the devil (let alone finding a flock that will buy into your line). And seeking to rule based upon God's authority (ie: your authority, because only you have the "correct" interpretation of scripture, current events, etc...).

It's just kind of kooky to listen for a while and hear the repeated insistence that there's a conspiracy to silence Christians, how many people aren't really Christians (ie: do not listen to this radio show), and how Obama's spending versus Bush's equally reckless spending (if we want to talk deficit numbers) is somehow a sign of the end times. Oh, yes. The end times. Everything is a sign that the end times are drawing nigh.

Bear in mind, I only listened to this for under an hour and heard these messages repeated over and over. This is on every single day, all day.

Anyhow, having had my earful of people calling in to talk about how nobody else is as Christian as the caller and DJ are, I tuned around until I found some classic rock.

On my way out of Dallas, I was listening to ACDC's "Back in Black". I don't particularly care for ACDC, but they'll do in a pinch. And the DJ came back on the air to announce, "You know what's black but won't be back? Terrell Owens."

Well, yes, technically, TO is African American/ black, and he was just released from the Cowboys' roster (setting them back $9 million). But, still... wow. I don't even know what's specifically wrong with that, but I think there's plenty there to work with.


Something else

Here's something new: My pals in Seattle, The My and Bryan have put together yet another musical act. Here's a link to a sampling. Behold, its the dawning of Jupe Jupe.

So where the hell is your latest, T-Jeff?

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

In Dallas, rockin' your face off

I'm in Dallas. Today's workday was okay but weird.

Not much to report other than that I finally went to a Starbucks to use their free wi-fi, and it wasn't free. I wound up paying $4 to use the internet. And while I felt I needed to use the internet, I was somehow maybe a little offended that it cost me money. This hotel isn't charging me for internet. I was always under the impression Starbuck's wi-fi was free... and yet... maybe I was wrong? That seems impossible.

Anyway, no big worries, but it messes with how I think of my access to technology and what I will and will not pay for.

It sounds like Jamie had her hands full with Cassidy last night. I'm usually the one who is up and down with Cassidy at night her first night at the house. I don't mind. She's so spunky when she wakes me up, its sort of jolly.

I'm off to work some and read. Have a good night.

I leave you with the ROLCats

Late Edit: This from "The Onion". Lovecraftian School Board Member Wants Madness Added To Curriculum



And, apropos of nothing... a DITMTLOD Microburst:

Juliet on ABC's Lost is just a good idea all the way around.

Tuesday, March 03, 2009

In Denton, KareBear Birthday

As the title says, I'm in Denton, Texas this evening at a lovely Holiday Inn.

I really don't get the deal behind paying a lot for staying in a 5 star hotel. If the place has fresh towels and a bed, I'm good. If there's a restaurant in the actual hotel, usually that's very good.

I get it if the hotel is, say, on the beach, such as Las Brisas del Pacifico where we stayed in Costa Rica. or the place at Arenal where we could lay in bed and listen to the rumblings of the volcano and watch it from our balcony. But when you're just moving from place to place? Meh.

That said, I had an absolutely terrible cheeseburger for dinner. Awful. I don't even feel well now.

Driving up I listened to about half of the unabridged "The Wordy Shipmates" by Sarah Vowell. I've only read one of her other books, and I think I listened to the audio book of "Assassination Vacation". I need to see if we still have that anywhere.

Vowell is an interesting writer in our blogging age. She's certainly not writing in the David McCullough or Stephen Ambrose style (my "way back from Lubbock" book will be "Flags of Our Fathers", btw). She kind of jumps all over the place, tells personal anecdotes to cement home points about how we carry a spirit or history with us, and often relates history through the eyes of the typical white-bread American suburbanite (we know our history through sit-coms more than school). And it works. It sticks with you far more than a prattling off of names, dates or even reconstructing complex paths to historical events.

She's not going to win over any Reaganites with her deconstruction of The Gipper's use of Winthrop's "City on a Hill" sermon, aka: A Model of Christian Charity. But she does bring to life (thus far, I'm only half-way thru) the spirit of the Puritans, their perspective, etc... And just as we accept that we may not always comprehend cultures separated from a distance for their different ideals, Vowell is excellent at delineating the differences between what a modern reader might see and our founding culture, separated by time.

Anyhow, if I'm going to be on the road, I prefer I find a good way to spend the time, and audio books always seem to fit the bill.

Man, the air conditioner blower in my room is enormous and hangs half-way over the bed. When it comes on, it totally mutes the television. Unreal.

I am going to sleep like a log tonight.

Tomorrow is my mother's birthday. I hope she has the happiest of birthdays, and I hope I can manage to get her on the phone, which is always hard on her birthday. She's usually off and running as friends or my dad take her out and about.

Spoke with her tonight, and she related a story that sort of sums up my mother.

They now own a house in Austin as well as their other place in Spring. Upon returning home Sunday, Karebear realized she might have left the oven on in Austin. Rather than ask Jamie, Jason, Susan or I to go check, she got up at 5:00 or so on Monday morning and drove all the way to Austin. The stove wasn't on, so she turned around and went home.

My mother, ladies and gentlemen. This is, I might add, the second 1 day trip like this she's made in recent memory. The last was when we needed someone to be in austin in October to be here when we moved the furniture out of the downstairs. Maybe a 30 minute job.

The Karebear would make an excellent long-haul trucker, I think. Especially if she had Peggy riding shotgun.

Anyhow, Happy Birthday, Mum. See you this weekend. Jamie and I love you.

Monday, March 02, 2009

A Post Before Driving

I need to start reviewing more old movies

If I started reviewing more old movies I watch on cable, would that be fun for you guys? I kind of got a kick out of the "Breakfast Club" review, partially because at least Steanso seemed to get a charge out of defending the flick from my grouchy, old man's ways. And just as "Pump up the Volume" seemed to spur a conversation, perhaps we could find more 80's or 90's teen-flicks?

What else should I watch and review? I'm up for any movie we once held dear. Just not Ferris Bueller. For all I can about that movie is that its awesome. It always has been. It always will be. And it cemented Jeffrey Jones in my mind as an actor who I'm still pumped to see when he appears in anything.

One movie I've really been meaning to watch again is "3 O'Clock High". It's basically "High Noon" in a high school setting, for those who haven't seen it.

What else? Dare I take another look at "Heathers" in a post-Columbine world? Are we ready for me to review "Teen Witch"? Help me out.



Heading out to the northern lands

I'm out of Austin as of tomorrow afternoon. If any of you can take Jamie and Jason under your wing while I'm gone, please do so.

I'll be in Denton, Dallas and then Lubbock. Lots of driving. I picked up a couple of audio books on iTunes. We'll see how it goes.

Don't worry about me being bored. If push comes to shove, I'll call for Emergency Homeboys.


If I don't post or get back to you, all you Leaguers take care.

Start of a Wacky Week

Either very light blogging or very heavy blogging this week. Depending on how bored I get and what's available in my hotel room as per an interweb connection in my room.

Pinnochio is coming to Blu-Ray

I can't stress how much that movie freaked me out as a very young kid. I want to see it again, but I'm kind of nervous to do so.

Comic Store Geeks

RHPT has suggested I link to this article in Wired. It's interviews and pictures of comic shop employees.

I guess my only beef with the article is that its, of course, done in successful comic shops, and only on the coasts. I would very much liked to have seen a wider array of shops, as the very successful shops with lines around the store on Wednesday are far the exception to the rule in my experience (although Austin Books on Wednesdays and weekends is pretty hoppin').

I'm also sort fo amused that the guys all identify as "non-nerdy" because they have girlfriends. Dude... I'll be the first to tell you, having a girlfriend or wife isn't non-nerdy. It just means you've found someone willing to put up with your nerdiness.

Weekend

Very slow, but Matt and Nicole joined us over the grill this evening. I sort of screwed up the chicken.

We bought the food at the new Newflower Market, which Jamie discussed elsewhere. I think my initial impression was far more favorable. It's a nice mid-point between typical HEB grocery and Central Market product, but with HEB prices. And, its, like, two blocks away.

Yesterday was all too lazy, but it was good to spend time flopping around reading comics if this week is going to be away from home, Lucy, Jeff and Jamie.

Comic Fodder

I posted a Signal Watch column
.

Saturday, February 28, 2009

DCU Online Preview with Doomsday

DC is working with Sony Online entertainment to create a massive multi-player game, similar to World of Warcraft.

I'm very excited about the game despite the fact that playing means I will need either a new computer or a PS3. It looks like everything I was hoping City of Heroes would be, but because it didn't employ DC (or Marvel) characters or storylines, I just never got all that into CoH in the 6 months or so I played.

The latest out of the DCU Online dispatches is a trailer for a scenario in the game in which Luthor's team tries to liberate Doomsday from STAR Labs. I'm no gamer, so don't go buying the thing on my say-so, but it's neat to look at.

New Krypton

In case you haven't been following the Superman books, here's the nickel catch-up.

Brainiac came to Earth, Superman beat him and disabled his ship. In the proces, he freed Kandor, the lost city of Krypton.

What Superman didn't know was just about anything about Krypton or Kryptonians, and its been a rocky ride since. Kandor took to the other side of the solar system with a new world (using that nifty crystal technology you remember from Superman: The Movie and Superman Returns). They've dubbed the world New Krypton.

DC has put together a snazzy video trailer for the upcoming story arc. Here.

New Leaguer: samax

hey all. I've been chatting a bit in an old comments section with a guy from here in Texas who goes by the handle of "samax". Apparently, we're both fans of Amanda Waller.

I was looking at samax's user profile on blogger, and I encourage you to check out the sites with which he's associated. samax is a writer, an artist, a movie fan/ critic, a gentleman, a scholar, and into comics, and we salute him.

Anyhoo, wanted to extend a welcome and give samax's blog(s) a plug.

Friday, February 27, 2009

The League Re-Watches: The Breakfast Club

Another sign I am getting old:
I watched about 80% of the seminal 1980's teen movie "The Breakfast Club" on cable last night. And I found myself identifying far more with Dick Vernon than those crazy kids.

My first thought when tuning in was whether, in this day and age, anyone would cast a movie about teen-agers in an American high school with such a lily white cast. Or keep issues such as sexual identity completely off the table.

It's almost pointless to critique a movie more than 20 years and when its aimed at a much younger, more cloistered audience who more closely resemble the five characters. I recall liking the movie quite a bit myself, watching it repeatedly into high school, but its been years since I watched more than a snippet on TV. The film isn't aimed at 30+ state employees, but at kids who do believe in the trials and hardships of being upper-middle class and showing up for school (b-o-o, h-o-o).



And I also came to the startling revelation that I have no idea what the title "The Breakfast Club" means. Is it a little used term? Does it have historical connotations? Did it just sound good? I have no clue. Someone throw me a bone.

I will give Hughes credit. When one sees the endless parade of assembly line teen comedies and tween-aimed movies starring teen-agers, which were just as common in the 80's, its a miracle anyone ever bothered to take a look at high schoolers as people. But one also finds the ending of the movie to be more than a little pat.

The jock and basket case find romance? Based on what? The prom queen sneaks into the closet with the thug and possibly has sex with him? And the principal accepts one, single-page paper which would seem stunningly out of context for ol' Dick Vernon?

There's a huge amount of fantasy that creeps in around the edges of The Breakfast Club, and that's okay. The intended audience is more likely to buy it, and it helps to cement the notion of the film that we've all got something in common once you move outside of your tribal identity. And believing it can end in smooching isn't so bad, I guess (unless you're "The Brain", in which case, no smooch for you).

Its easy to be cynical with so much water under the bridge, and looking back at your own high school career with what feels like a permanently etched wince.

I guess what struck me on this viewing was how much the script stacked the deck for John Bender. Nobody ever really challenges Bender, aside from Vernon, who more or less seems to freak him out completely. In most ways, he's a bully who dominates the conversation through shouts, an actual threat of serious physical violence, and often random humiliation. But as he's a bit charming, the audience is meant to root for him. Right up to the point when Molly Ringwald, who he's badgered, berated and made unwanted sexual advances upon for the duration, for some reason slips into the supply closet to make special time with Judd Nelson.

It speaks poorly for "Claire" as written that, apparently, any attention at all seems to be enough, and she seems to be heading into what will surely be an emotionally one-sided and possibly emotionally abusive relationship by film's end.

Brian, who admits to suicidal feelings, is more or less dismissed because he didn't do it this time. But what happens when he can't light the next elephant lamp?

Perhaps 2 hours is too little time to fit in any exploration of the more-or-less real-life issues (although I still have no idea what was supposed to be up with Ally Sheedy. She's never really given any story), but its surprising how well the movie has succeeded despite the fact it doesn't really try to close the loop on the situations thrown out to move the characters beyond their stereotypes.

Perhaps the staying power stems from the fact its a movie that acknowledges its intended audience as having an inner-emotional life that isn't the usual, cheesy fair one sees in after achool specials, or that goes beyond the "will the cheerleaders win the cheer-off?" plots that most teen-oriented films contain, the film has held up for over two decades.

The movie acknowledges sex, overbearing/ suffocating parents, finding out someone gets hit at home... a lot of the messy stuff that pops up in high school but for which the audience doesn't have a serious tool-kit yet for managing. And so, in many ways, its appropriate that we don't know what happens on Monday morning, or even Saturday night with these characters. There's no American Graffitti style conclusion.

I wish today's kids the best with the movie. They'll never believe the soundtrack sold like crazy, or that the Molly Ringwald dance became sort of a thing, but there you go. But I would honestly like to see the movie re-made. Or something along those lines, if for no other reason than so that maybe teen-agers can see some reflection of high school on the screen that doesn't come from "The Hills", "Gossip Girl", or the latest teen-sex romp. It'd be nice to acknowledge at that age that you're a human, and not just so you can be marketed to, pitched a lifestyle, or given some small thrills with your cheap laughs.

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Action #1 on the Auction Block



Time to start shopping for my birthday

NTT pointed it out, so I should mention that Action Comics #1 is going on the auction block.

In case you don't know (and I find it hard to believe you've been reading this site for any length of time and somehow missed it, but whatever...) Action Comics #1 is the first appearance of Superman from 1938. Its not the first appearance of a super-hero, in my opinion, but it DID manage to launch 70 years of superheroes as a part of American pop culture, and, I'd argue, culture in general (remember how Spidey is hitting Broadway?)

Here's an article that manages to incorporate a screen-grab of Superman Homepage, which we mention here from time to time. It gets a little into the restored/ unrestored issue in collectible comics.

So, if I had the $400,000, would I buy this comic?

Well, no. I like my Superman comics, but, come on... give me a little credit. If I had a few extra million lying around, probably not even then. It's just a very different thing than, say, my Jimmy Olsens, which I pick up anywhere from $4 - $15 and I doubt are ever going to turn me a huge profit. That's my personal enjoyment from both a story and collector's perspective, not an investment.

And you may not have my Jimmy Olsens anyway.

My co-workers accidentally opened up a whole can of worms yesterday when they asked me a few leading questions about Superman. Anyway, it ended poorly (for them). But, at least they now know better than to ask about that one again.

But, hey, now they know all about the publishing history of Superman, and perhaps that will serve them well in the future.

What is funny is how people have such strong opinions of Superman as a character, even if they really haven't ever touched the character in anything but the most tangential ways. And nobody is ever shy about telling you what's wrong with Superman. I don't know if its years and years of articles, pre-Superman Returns, that seemed intent on instructing why Superman was irrelevant. And with the Watchmen movie hitting the screen and the press trying to explain the relevance of the original Watchmen comic, its easy enough to imagine that Watchmen was a cosmic shift from the hands-on-hips goofiness of the 1950's and that Superman comics hadn't really changed in that whole time, which is both true and not true (Superman was very firmly a kid's book until the mid-80's. I'd still hand a kid a modern Superman comic, but I'd want them to be fourth grade or so.).

Anyhow, as a dime comic it somehow seems fitting as a reminder of the value of inexpensive fantasy can have in troubled times, 70 years on.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

We're ready to believe you!

I think the reason I've failed to get my ghost-hunting career off the ground is that I haven't been treating it like a business. Or, in fact, actually turned it into a business.

I've never owned my own business, so I'm not sure all what I'd have to do.

But

A) what kind of insurance do I buy for a ghost hunting enterprise?
B) can I incorporate my ghost hunting business?
C) do I list it as an entertainment business so as to avoid suits in the rare occurrence when I'm unable to locate a ghost?
D) how much is a TV ad? I sort of think I'm more likely to get business through a TV blitz driving people to my easy-to-use web site.

What else should I be thinking of? Franchise opportunities? Merchandising? Telvision rights?

I'm thinking of it a bit like the professional palm reader. How do they get set up in a business of which many are skeptical?

And how much should I think of charging so I can make a tidy profit?
Spider-Man: The Musical

I thought I'd talked about this before, but given Jamie and Jason's reaction to my mention of the show at Freebird's this evening (mmmm.... Freebirds...), I may have neglected to talk about the upcoming big-budget Broadway musical.

So... yeah. It sounds like Spidey is coming to the Great White Way. And the music is being written by U2.

I'm going to point you to The Beat, as Heidi's got a nice bit on the musical today.

So, if I wanted more hits, I'd write some column complaining about a Spidey musical
and how it kind of figured that U2 was finally making their way to Broadway... But I'm sort of oddly, cautiously optimistic about this thing. I have no idea what the musical will be about, but I'm imagining a scenery-chewing solo performance by the Green Goblin as he sings his plans for ol' Web-Head. I love that kind of stuff.

What I may be less excited about is someone trying to sing through a mask. But, hey, we'll see.

As per special FX: I don't think they'd be doing this unless they were going to make it pretty cool. And I'm sure they've figured out how to make Mary Poppins fly on Broadway, so Spidey should be possible.

Travelin' Man

I am hitting the road next week. Don't look for me in Austin from Tuesday to Saturday. I am headed for the Texas Tri-fecta of Denton, Dallas and Lubbock. That's a lot of miles on old Babar, and I am going to be pondering audio books to help me kill the time between towns.

Wonder Woman on DVD next week

Turn down your audio before clicking here...

Just a reminder that the Wonder Woman DVD arrives (or as the kids, say, DROPS) next week. Don't worry, I'll do some sort of review once I've watched it. I love the way they drew Diana already, though.

My Friends are Falling Apart

First Nicole had some sort of canoe-related injury that I wasn't clear on, but landed her some nifty pain killers. Randy has had complaints of late. Thanks to his karate, Matt is almost always injured. And now Juan G. has a herniated disc that could keep him from going to France next week.

Jesus, we're getting old. When Lauren begins complaining about the vapors or some such, I'll know we're all really cooked.

I, myself, am fine. Which has just doomed me. My only complaint is that my hands are so baby-soft from my job at a computer that the little bit of work I did left two, stigmata-esque marks/ blister on my palms.

New B Baby

Cousin John and his wife, Julie, have had a kid. Little Ben will be joining John, Julie and Brandy. Very happy for them, but I don't think most of you know them, so this is just a little "huzzah" for me.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Some stuff

I did post. It's just over at Comic Fodder.

Its, honestly, the post I'm least happy with to date. But I just haven't felt the comic-blogging vibe that much of late. So no link to it.


Preview for this week's Batman: brave & the Bold


This is the cartoon for kiddies. I need to do a post on it.

I love the retro-Batman stuff, and this episode seems to be making the most of the Dick Sprang inspired look of the show.

Here.

Obamafied

Watched the State of the Union. Did not watch the post-speech spin-doctoring. I'll catch the highlights tomorrow on The Daily Show.

I more or less am in the bag for the guy right now, so the speech worked for me and hit the points I wanted to hear.

The real question is: what will they be saying about Michelle's dress...?