From Hell

I sometimes have to wonder about the synchronicity of some of the situations I find myself in. For example, this weekend while I was in Calgary, I picked up an inexpensive copy of The Hughes Brothers' adaptation of From Hell. I brought it home, watched the audio commentary, got my entertainment value out of it and set it up on the DVD shelf.

I then grabbed myself a copy of From Hell and began reading it to see how it differed from the film (I've heard conflicting reports), and seeing as how I'd never read it in its entirety before, this was the perfect opportunity to do so.

Then yesterday, while I was flipping through channels, I noticed that the History Channel had a documentary on Jack the Ripper. I thought it was kind of a coincidence and decided to watch since I had Jack and the Whitechapel murders on the mind. Then I find out through the documentary that August 31st is the 117th anniversary of Mary Ann Nichols' untimely demise and the first Ripper murder. The killings continued over the next 10 weeks and claimed the lives of Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, and finally Mary Jane Kelly on the 30th of November, 1888.

If you're at all interested in the case or just want a primer, go check out the Casebook: Jack the Ripper website. They've got everything there including scans and transcriptions of the original documents from the investigation.

mike

Monday LinkBlog

I'm back from vacation and I have a splitting headache. It was a good time overall and I managed to grab some cool swag while I was away, but for the moment I'm going to settle for a quick linkblog and hopefully make it back on later for some more substantial posting (I feel like I've been saying that everytime I've posted in the last month or so).

Star Trek may be getting a new lease on life soon according to TrekWeb and Dreamwatch magazine. From what I've seen in the interview there may be a hope for the 'new' prequel to succeed where the old one failed even with Berman involved. I'm not a huge Trek fan but I'll definitely be watching this develop.

Neal Adams did a curious interview with Metro a few days ago. I don't know what it is about this piece but it felt kind of awkward to me. I'm not sure if the interviewer wasn't sure how to handle Adams or if Adams was being a bit too "I don't do comics anymore, we do other cool things now". You decide.

For the Star Wars completists, I ran into this article at DVD Answers where Chris Gould compares and contrasts the any changes that have been made to the original trilogy over the years. He includes many screen captures and even audio clips plus some commentary on how he feels about each individual alteration.

Hmmm...a little less in the bookmark list this week than I thought.

I'm off to have some breakfast.

mike

Cat People

I hate doing this because it feels like a bit of a cop out, but I don't have time right now to post something more substantial and I hate to leave the Blog empty for another day or two. So, like many others before me, I resort to posting the picture of my cat, 'Bucky'.



The picture was taken the first day he arrived and, aside from some growing and evening out of colour, he pretty much looks about the same now as he does then.

Cute little bugger, eh?

I'll be leaving town again for the weekend so Blogging will continue to be slow for the next few days, but I'll try and get something decent up tomorrow.

Cheers!

mike

Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps

It's been, like, five days since my last post. I don't remember the last time I let the blog sit idle for that long but I have been busy so it's not like I'm just ignoring it. Well, not intentionally.

I just found out the other day that the BMW job I was applying for may not be a dead issue as previously believed, which is good news. So far, it seems the best opportunity (which maybe doesn't say very much about the job situation where I live) so I'm kind of crossing my fingers even though I'm trying not to keep my hopes up.

And with that, I leave you with a fun Get Fuzzy strip that gave me a chuckle a couple of days ago.

mike

The Job Hunt Continues

I got a call yesterday from the manager at Bema Autosport and it looks like I won't be selling BMWs anytime soon. You know, even though it was a car sales job, I really love the cars and was kind of looking forward to hanging around them all day, not to mention the BMW demo that I'd be driving in 3 months. Ah well, I guess it wasn't meant to be, right? I dropped off a couple of resumes today so hopefully I'll hear back from one of them. Considering there's almost nothing else with much substance left, I'm hoping one of them calls.

Man, after doing this job hunt it almost makes the freelance writing sound like a fun and profitable idea. Maybe the universe is trying to tell me something.

In the meantime, I'm playing with my new cat named Bucky (short for Buckaroo Banzai and various sundry others), listening to the Talking Heads and dusting my house. Well, the dusting is done, but I was doing it until just now, so...

You know, before I put in The Talking Heads, I was listening to 'Revolver', one of my all-time favourite Beatles albums, and it occured to me while listening to it that I had never actually sat down and heard it play from track 1 through 14 - never. I knew all the songs individually, but not as an album. It was a weird experience and not one I feel often when listening to The Beatles.

And just for the record, the Anthology version of "And Your Bird Can Sing" is better than the album version. I'm not sure which take it was on Anthology 2 but I liked where they were going with it.

Anyway, I'm going to go watch some episodes of Haunted or something.

See you next time.

mike

I'm Baaaack

That's right. I'm back from my so-called vacation and settling back into the regular everyday routine here at Jozic headquarters.

So far it hasn't been the most auspicious return since I discovered that a job interview I did before I left has amounted to nothing, but one must soldier on. I might bitch and moan a bit more on that later, but I'm in a bit of a rush right now so I'm just going to settle for a quick linkblog post and rush off.

Empire online has reported on early casting for Zack Snyder's adaptation of Frank Miller's GN 300, and it looks like Gerard Butler will be playing the lead character, Leonidas. More on that here.

It was nice to find out that, according to TV on DVD.com, The Flash television series from a decade ago is finally coming to DVD. No release date as of yet but one can probably expect it to coincide with a movie release.

Remix master Paul Oakenfold has apparently redone the theme for the new Transformers: Cybertron cartoon. This article talks about the theme, talks to Oakenfold, and links to the official Transformers site where you can hear the new mix.

Jay Stephens has an online strip site that you should check out. Jay is a pretty cool cartoonist I've been following since his small press mini-comix days.

As an X-Phile from way back I had to point out this bit on SciFi Wire about the second X-Files movie. Someone is holding the whole thing up and I wish they would just green light the damn thing. I've been without Scully and Mulder for too long.

So, that's it for now. I'll be back with more shortly, I promise. I've recently read the first six issues of Skeleton Key, Batman: Dark Detective and Damn Nation and I want to post some thougts on those, among other things.

TTYL!

mike

MIA

I'll be out of town for the weekend so there'll be no posts for a couple of days. Catch you on Monday, probably.

mike

Banzai!

A nice little surprise in my Moonstone update this week. Here's the press release for the new Buckaroo Banzai Preview issue and a cover image.

BUCKAROO BANZAI: The Preview

Story: Mac Rauch & WD Richter
Art: Stephen Thompson, Keith Williams
Cover: Dennis Calero

16pgs, b/w, 50 cents!

The man is back!

FINALLY, after all the talk, all the promises, all the possible scenarios…

A NEW BUCKAROO BANZAI adventure is here!

Written by the original creator and writer of the movie, and the film’s director this preview showcases the 3 issue color mini series that will be on the way next year: Buckaroo Banzai, in “Return of the Screw”!

Bad guys are a brewing to take over the whole planet, and its up to Buck and his crew to thwart the evil scheme…of course!

“-a bold, titillating mix of particle physics, rock n roll, super-sonic speed, beautiful women, and villains beyond redemption.”

This special intro issue will include pages of art from the mini series, back story on the characters, pin ups, and even an interview with the film’s director!

NO sci-fi/adventure film buff (or Blue Blazer Regular) will want to miss this!

PLUS, ITS ONLY 50 CENTS!!!

Sounds good to me. I'll be there with bells on.

Also, if you wanna see some pages from the mini, Johnny Bacardi ran across these these the other day and was kind enough to link to them.

mike

The New Comics 11

Once again, here's what I hope to find in my comic file this week...

SEVEN SOLDIERS ZATANNA #3 (OF 4) (I haven't grabbed a copy of #2 yet, but I'm working on it)

And, believe it or not, that's it. Slow week. Give me some time to catch up on other things, I think.

mike

Singer Panel at BlackFilm

BlackFilm has video clips from Bryan Singer's 2005 COmicCon panel. They're worth watching if you didn't get a chance to go out there this year (like me) and have some interest in the new Superman film.

mike

The New DVD 11

The Muppet Show: Who didn't watch this show as a kid? I used to love plopping down in front of the tube and watching Kermit, Fozzie, Miss Piggy and, my personal favourite, Rolf, entertain the masses week after week. The backstage antics with the guest stars, the crazy acts that would always go wrong, the songs, the gags...am I starting to gush?

There aren't a lot of shows I actually remember missing as a kid when they went off the air, and there are even fewer that I remember being worth the effort to track down episodes or catch them in reruns. With the exception of a few guest-stars (who might not be recognizable to some today), these shows are pretty timeless for a show whose first season premiered about 30 years ago.

The DVD set consists of 4 discs containing all 24 episodes of the first season completely restored and remastered. The bonus features for the set look pretty sweet as well and include:

1. The Original Muppet Pitch Reel - Presentation By Jim Henson That Started It All
2. The Original Muppet Show Pilot
3. Muppet Morsels -- Special Play Mode Filled With Fun Facts About The Muppets
4. Season 1 Promo Gag Reel

This is one set that I'm hoping to get my hands on sometime soon.

mike

Dead Like Me

It's taken a while for me to catch it but I've finally discovered the Bryan Fuller created, Dead Like Me. I'm a huge fan of Wonderfalls so DLM has been on the radar for some time but buying the DVDs was kind of cost prohibitive and I hate renting stuff I might want to buy. So, bless MovieCentral for starting the series again from the beginning of Season 1.

I'm on episode 3 right now and I'm really enjoying what I'm seeing so far.

Now if I can just get my hands on some Miracles episodes...

mike

Ghost Stories with Seth Fisher

I just received the first round of answers to my interview with Seth Fisher in my e-mailbox. This will mark the third time I've interviewed Seth, and I have to say that each time is better than the last. In a weird way, the number of questions are getting smaller but I'm getting more and more information out of him. Go figure.

For example, I asked him this inane little question about his work habits and he gives me this long bizarre tale of his experiences in this creepy old house in Japan. He ran across some pretty bizarre phenomena there. It had nothing to do with the 5-issue Batman arc he's doing, but it's great reading. I can't wait to get the whole piece posted.

I have to come up with some follow-ups now which just may be more difficult, for a change, than coming up with the original set.

If you're interested in my two previous interviews with the inimitable Mr. Fisher, they're both available at Silver Bullet Comicbooks here and here.

mike

McCreary Part Two Finally Up at Meanwhile...

Well, I finally got off my ass and posted Part Two of my interview with the amazing, and very personable, BSG composer, Bear McCreary. I feel really bad because it took 3 weeks longer than I'd hoped to get the dang thing up, but a number of non-internet-related things (not to mention a loss of personal momentum) kind of derailed me there for a while.

An official mention of the update has yet to go out, so this is kind of a sneak preview for anyone who actually bothers to check the Blog (and unless my WebStat is lying to me, there are at least a dozen or two of you every week, not counting me).

So check it out, hope you like it and feel free to make any comments you might have here on the Blog.

mike

Extra New Serenity Trailer

Unless you've been camping out at the Quicktime Trailer site you might have missed this newer, longer trailer for the latest Joss Whedon flick, Serenity.

I have to wonder if some of the jokes might alienate newer viewers since they seem targeted at viewers of the show, but a nice sampling of scenes from the movie. I'm looking forward to this more than ever, now.

mike

What to Post When Avoiding Doing What I Should Be Doing

I now have a cat. He hasn't told me his name yet. He's 3 months old and sitting in my lap as I type this. More on the cat to come.

In the meantime, check out this interview with Batman Begins producer, Michael Uslan. It has some interesting tidbits in it for Bat-Fans and a rare look at the 'character model' for Jack Nicholson's Joker.


Image shamelessly swiped from SuperHeroHype!

mike

Good News For Indy Fans

Fan run site The Indy Experience posted a news item with some 'updates' on the latest Indiana Jones film here. Nothing there sounds extraordinary or unbelievable, so I'm taking it on faith that the news is kosher.

Now if they can just get a move on with those Young Indy DVDs.

mike

The New Comics 10

Courtesy of the Diamond Shipping List for August 3rd, 2005, the comics I'll be grabbing this week:

SERENITY #2 (OF 3)
COMMON FOE #2 (OF 4)
AMAZING FANTASY #11
BEAR #9 (a few issues behind on this series, not like there's a continuity to follow)

mike

The New Music 9

Michael Penn - Mr. Hollywood, Jr. 1947 (Spin Art): It's been five years since we last had a full album from Michael Penn and from what I've heard of Mr. Hollywood, Jr. 1947, it was worth the wait. Unfortunately, I can't give a proper review of the album like I usually try to do as I haven't been able to hear the thing in its entirety, but the songs do seem a bit more well-rounded than they did on MP4 sporting a fuller and slightly more mature sound.

Early call on tracks to watch out for: "Pretending", "Walter Reed", "A Bad Sign" and "Denton Road".

mike

Astronauts Out of Trouble

I could have put this on the linkblog post but I thought it deserved its own spot.

NPR reports that astronaut Stephen Robinson has successfully removed the two pieces of fabric that would potentially compromise the heat shield below the space shuttle. They feel good that the shuttle is in good shape for its return next week and, despite having future flights grounded, this mission should have a happy ending.

mike

When the Going Gets Tough, Linkblog

I haven't really had the computer on much these last few days so, as a result, I haven't been blogging much either. So, in tried and true tradition, here are some links to bits on the internet that I thought were intersting to keep the posting drought from lasting any longer...

Fresh off of WENN: Garner and Affleck Plan Daredevil 2. Nuff Said.

David Cronenberg talks about his new film A History of Violoence which is loosely based on the Graphic Novel of the same name. I found it particularly interesting that Cronenberg didn't even know there was a Graphic Novel until some time after he signed on to do the project. I know he wasn't the first guy on the scene with this one, and that he was just involved with working with the screenwriter, but it still seems...funny.

I link to this bit from Embassy Online because any opportunity to bring attention to Joe Sacco is one wirth taking, but the piece itself is poorly written and not that interesting. Really, it's just a profile and then a mention of his new books title. Still, the moral of the story is: "Buy War's End: Profiles From Bosnia 1995-96!"

Top Cow has a free 22-page preview of The Covenant at their website. It's written by Aron Coleite and drawn by Tone Rodriguez. Haven't checked it out beyond a quick skim, but it's free comics so I figured I'd mention it here.

Simon Pegg of Shaun of the Dead and Spaced fame is lending his voice to an animated character. The UK magazine Chortle gives this brief note on the project and includes a link to the Norwegian film about a drug-addicted circus elephant called, Free Jimmy.

Gary Cole articles seem to be en vogue with the premiere of Harvey Birdman season 3. This one is a goofy interview with The Houston Chronicle which made me giggle with the Daredevil comment which won it a spot on the list.

Gorillaz have a new video for their song "D.A.R.E." posted at their website. Check it out here.

Comic book prequels are becoming all the rage and The Fog remake will be no exception. DHC have put together an original GN that will "expand the film’s story and features interior art by Todd Herman and a special cover by acclaimed comic book artist Mike Mignola." Carpenter is gung-ho for the book, or he could just be shilling for book because he wants to make some extra cash off of the film and its tie-ins. We may naver know.

It took me almost as long to post this link as it did for anyone outside the comic book industry to notice that DHC made comic books out of BMW's The Hire series of short films. Auto Week makes mention of the books here and if you haven't seen the films go here right now! I mean it.

That's it for today. I'll try and come back on later and post something more substantial if I can.

mike