Settling Down

It's been kind of nice around the Jozic HQ as of late, partially because things have settled down somewhat since Jen got her snazzy new job, and partly because I've managed to get back in the habit of reading for pleasure and I've also been catching up on my backlog of DVDs I should be watching.

One of the books that I've picked up is Frank Espinosa's Rocketo. If you've never heard about this book, I would seriously reccomend checking it out. It's a great sci-fi adventure story with heroes, monsters, myth, mystery all beautifully packaged in a spiffy trade that is one of the nicest book designs I've seen in a while.

I've also finally read Warren Ellis' and Colleen Doran's Orbiter, which was a long time coming, I'll tell you. Something about watching Sunshine the other night just got me in the mood for a story like this one and the Ellis/Doran team did not disappoint. The only slightly off moment in the story was the abruptness of the ending, but I think I can let that slide in light of the sheer excellence of the rest of the 90 odd pages of the book. Again, if you haven't seen this one yet, go find it at your local comic shop or at the library. It is definitely worth it.

Novel-wise, I took a little break from Chrichton's Next due to lack of plot 250 pages into the story, and picked up Alex Garland's The Beach, again, based on the mad love I have going on for his film, Sunshine. I didn't like the movie too much when I saw it, but his writing style is pretty fluid and Nick Hornby gave him a rave review (and you all should know of my love for Nick) so I figured I'd give it the old college try. I'll probably go back and try to get a bit further along with Next today or tomorrow, but I doubt it'll be too productive.

On the DVD front, I caught the aforementioned Sunshine with my brother in a double bill rental with Eagle vs. Shark. Both were fabulous and I suggest you all go out and find them, of course. Sunshine was a little bit 2001, a little bit Alien and a bit of Solaris (all influences Boyle mentions in the commentary) and Eagle vs. Shark is Napolean Dynamite if it was from New Zealand, a romantic comedy, and as good as Eagle vs. Shark.

The Turtles buzz I mentioned a post or two ago continues as I finish up Season 4 of the new animated series. It's not the best cartoon that ever was, or anything, but there are definitely a lot of things that set it apart from other Saturday morning shows. There's a strong desire to stick to the original lore of the comics, it's light-hearted but characters do die (off-camera and bloodless, sure, but their dead, Jim...pushing up daisies) and they try and keep a running continuity/plotline instead of just doing one-off episodes which I respect and admire.

Jonny Quest: The Real Adventures has also been fun. An underrated show that includes George Segal and Robert Patrick among its voice actors. I'm one of the poeple who absolutely adore the original series and really enjoyed the 'update' it got in the '90s with this show. I have the original DVDs but am waiting patiently to see if they will ever release The Real Adventures. They probably won't, but if you can get Punky Brewster on DVD, you never know.

And with that, I say adieu.

mike