Galactica and Sci-Fi Do it Again

CAUTION - MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS IF YOU HAVE NOT COMPLETED WATCHING SEASON 2

A couple of seasons ago I was posting about how awesome the producers of Battlestar Galactica and the Sci-Fi Network were for posting internet extras that directly relate to their show. Executive Producer Ron Moore would do podcast commentaries on a regular basis giving fans an inside look into the production of the show which had me, as a huge commentary nut, absolutely beside myself. They also included deleted scenes and blogs which just went 110% over the next guys' efforts which usually consisted of wallpapers and icons and screensavers.

Well, with Season 3 on the horizon (October 6th, everyone - stay frosty) they've done it yet again with a series of webisodes bridging the Season 2 finale and the Season 3 opener. The story is called 'The Resistance' and is comprised of 10 webisodes which 'air' weekly on Sci-Fi's website. They don't feature the main characters like Apollo, Starbuck or Adama, but Tyrol, Kaylee, Tigh and some others from the series do appear, hilighting the growing resistance against the cylons on New Caprica.

And as Ron Moore states on his blog, these are no throwaway promotional spots. They are written, directed and produced by the crew of the Galactica series in-between shooting the 3rd season's episodes.

This show, and the folks behind it, always seems to go the extra mile. Whether it's in the actual production of the series, or in the support and marketing end of things, they always seem to be outdoing their contemporaries. The love for it shows, too. Maybe that's why they won the Peabody.

If you live in Canada, you may not be able to view the webisodes on Sci-Fi's site, so I'm dropping the first one here on the blog courtesy of YouTube. The others are there if you want to go find them, or I could keep posting them here - I'm not fussy.

Enjoy and feel free to comment.



And, on another Galactica related note, here's yet another Robot Chicken sketch which my brother and buddy Chris love, so I'm posting it here as well.



Later!

mike

Crap!

If you've been reading any of the posts in the last week you've probably seen my wishy-washy feelings about the last chunk of money I spent - that being the $24 I dropped on the Limited Edition Star Wars DVD. I've never shaken the uncertainty over the purchase, even when I ripped the bugger open to check out my favourite unchanged scenes. In fact, I think I even mentioned how not comforting that whole process actually was.

Anyway, I found out another small tidbit of information that has driven the stake even deeper into the proverbial heart. It would appear that on the very same day as Star Wars' release, Teen Titans: The Complete Second Season was also hitting store shelves. I don't know how I missed it (heck, I still haven't seen a copy and I'm all over the DVD shelves whenever I hit a big box store) but there you have it. Something I've been waiting a long time for and would have been thrilled to have and share with my kids and I had to go and buy another copy of Star Wars.

Sigh.

I guess I'll just have to hang tough and pick it up with my paycheque at the end of the month. Man, and Sloan is putting out a new album tomorrow, too. September is not turning out to be a good month for me entertainment-wise. Well, it is but it isn't. You know what I mean.

Here's a Season 2 episode courtesy of YouTube...





Later!

mike

I Never get Sick of This

Later!

mike

Weekend Update

What to post, what to post.

It's been a pretty slow week at work and at home so there's not a lot of life changing stuff to report. On the keeping myself entertained side, however, I've gotten my fingers into a handful of things that have kept me from lying down, crying out 'purple hairy spiders' and ending it.

For starters, there's the new books that I'm checking out. After finishing Big Fish and Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant I had every intention of picking up Harper Lee's seminal work, To Kill a Mockingbird. Somehow, I managed to get a bit sidetracked and started reading a combination of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Tales of the Slayer, Walter Tevis' The Man Who Fell to Earth and Cromartie High School Vol. 4.

Cromartie has been a kind of 'today thing' and has been doing a good job of keeping me well humoured in the face of retail sales adversity. With nary a customer in sight I tried to grab stuff that would occupy me during the excruciatingly slow bits of the day. Vol. 4 has been sitting on my shelf for a while - pretty much since I grabbed it from the library - and is proving to be a life saver. Some of the strips are ones they used for the second DVD so they're familiar to me already, but the manga always does a better job of delivering the jokes, in my opinion.

There's also The Man Who Fell to Earth which came out of left field. I took the movie version out of the library the other day and since it was part of the Criterion Collection it came with the original book in the package. I read the little essays included in the liner notes and realized that the author was the same guy who wrote The Hustler, a movie I absolutely love and a book I've always wanted to read. I figured, if it's the same guy, how bad could the book be? I started reading it and now I'm hooked on the thing. I'm not thrilled to add yet another book to the list, but you can't complain when it's something you enjoy.

As for what's coming up, I picked up Agents of Atlas #2 and The Escapists #3 yesterday so I'm looking forward to getting into those, as well as some DVDs I picked up from the library that I've been waiting to dive into.

I could go on and on but I'm sure no one wants that. Since I'm working I'll leave the blogging at that for the day and pick this up at another time.

Later!

mike

More Star Wars Stuff

So, I cracked last night and opened my Limited Edition of Episode IV, 'A New Hope'. I was pretty eager to see what the video would be like after everything I'd heard about the transfer's quality (or lack thereof). After the initial announcement that these would be coming out this month, many fans criticized LFL for not doing a complete restoration in anamorphic widescreen with 5.1 Dolby Digital sound, but I wasn't too bent out of shape about it. I was just happy that I would finally have a copy of the movie that was easily accessible and featured the Han shooting first scene as well as the Death Star explosion I prefer. As a bit of an unexpected added bonus for Star Wars or cinema geeks, this version also does not feature the 'Episode IV A New Hope' tag above the scroll, preserving the way it was originally exhibited in 1977 before all the changes and fuddling started.

Technically, I think there's still an argument going on about whether the audio mix on the DVD is '77 accurate since it features a looped dialogue bit with Aunt Beru as opposed to the rare, but very real, un-dubbed scene. For the sake of your sanity and mine, I'm not even going to get into that.

On the downside, after about 10 minutes (the amount of time it took to watch the 2 or 3 scenes that I bought the thing for) I was bored and done with it. Not the best way to spend money, but I guess I'll probably be starting to watch the last three episodes with my daughter soon so I'll be able to give her the option of original release or special edition (I know she'll choose the special edition but I'll probably get her started early on the geek train and show her the scenes I bought the damn thing for).

Ah well, at least the Lego Star Wars demo will be fun. I've read some really good reviews of the game already and my kids thought the trailer was a blast.

And, keeping with all my other YouTube posts of late, a Lego Star Wars video...



Later!

mike

Luc Besson to Retire

Not too long ago I was lamenting the lack of Luc Besson directed product. He's done a lot of producing and a good deal of writing since making The Messenger, but most of it has been in Europe and films like The Transporter and Unleashed don't move me in any capacity. The Fifth Element, Léon: The Professional and my first Besson film, The Big Blue, have left their indelible mark on me (as well as the incomparable music of Eric Serra) and I was not at all happy to learn yesterday that the man is retiring after the release of his latest movie, Arthur and the Invisibles (previously known - at least here - as Arthur and the Minimoys).

Apparently, he plans to devote himself to civic projects in his native France and will still produce through his production company, EuropaCorp - Ruby Tuesday being an example of just that.

I'm looking forward to this movie now more than ever, but it's going to be a bittersweet experience for me when it finally hits cineplexes.

Here's the french trailer for the film...



...and here's a clip from the aforementioned Fifth Element which also shows off Eric Serra's wonderful music just for fun.



Later!

mike

Star Wars Redux and a Return from Regina

Sorry, but I really couldn't think of a nifty title for this post.

I'm back at work today and back from Regina where I did a one day orientation seminar for Saturn. It was pretty decent and I learned a few things about the company that I didn't know before so I guess you could say it was a raving success. I wouldn't have minded taking the Consultative Sales seminar as well since I think that's probably where I need the most help, but my manager decided that we didn't have enough people to cover the sales floor with me gone for a few days so I got bumped until November.

Possibly a strong sign that I'll still be here at the end of the year, or perhaps an omen that my time here is limited? You decide.

After driving back into town I swung by the local Wal-Mart and grabbed myself a copy of the newfangled 'same-but-different' Limited Edition of Star Wars on DVD. Out of the three original Star Wars movies, I feel that the most unwarranted changes were made to 'A New Hope' so I've been waiting for this puppy to come out for a while, now. Still, I should note that I haven't opened it yet because I haven't convinced myself that I'm going to hang on to it just yet. I remember saying during one of those Lucas Sucks arguments with a friend that George should just release them to have them out there for the purists, and if he did, I would certainly buy one to show a little support for the idea. You vote with your dollar, right?

The only problem is that I already own three or four versions of this movie in one form or another, and while I want to put my money where my mouth is, the only really enticing thing about this new disc at the moment is the Lego Star Wars XBOX demo that is included on disc 2. I know my kids will love it and I don't want to buy the official XBOX magazine for $13 to get it.

I guess there's also the pure joy I will feel when I see Han toasting Greedo without a second thought in the cantina, but is that really worth $24 to me right now? These new DVDs will be available until Christmas, so there isn't a huge rush to get one of these into the house. I also decided when they announced them in May that I was going to wait for the other two until I have some money to burn so would it kill me to wait on this one as well?

Looks like it'll be a slow day at work today so I'll have time to contemplate the issue a little before returning home. Feel free to post any yay or nay votes in the comments. You might just save me $24.

mike

Note on Image: It was the only one I could find on short notice. I am aware that it is the second movie and not the one I'm actually posting about.

"You Say It's Your Birthday!"

You kind of have to imagine that title as if Paul McCartney was barking it in your ear or the effect is totally lost on you.

Anyway, I'm sitting here at work (as usual), manning the phones (not as usual), nursing a cold and letting the fact that I'm now officially 33 sort of sink in.

Actually, I'm not that weirded out or phased by my age. I know that, typically, I'm supposed to be a little freaked out that I'm climbing that 30+ ladder but I'm not. I remember all the 'rite of passage' ages - 18, 20, 25 and 30 - and I think the only time I ever stopped to think about any of it was when I hit 22 or 23 and wondered if I'd accomplished enough in my lifetime up to that point.

The answer to that question, of course, was 'not by a long shot', so perhaps that's why the benchmark years pass by largely unnoticed.

Ah well, to dwell on it would be to talk about overly depressing things and this is supposed to be my 'happy' day.

Instead I should mention how my brother, Ed, took me to see A Scanner Darkly which finally reared it's celluloid head at a local arthouse theatre. A slow-moving but overall entertaining film with some decent performances by Reeves, Harrelson, Downey, Jr. and Ryder, of all people. For a lot of the movie I wondered where things were going but it ended up being one of those movies that has the big reveal at the end, making the movie more fun to watch the second time 'round.

Another early birthday present was from Jen. Yesterday she bought me Millennium Season 3, completing my Chris Carter/1013 DVD colelction. She felt that it was only appropriate since I finished off her Sex and the City collection a couple of weeks ago. Naturally it's spun me off into a Millennium viewing spree, but that's fodder for another post.

I should probably get back to the work of selling cars, but before I go, here's another wacky Robot Chicken video to chew on. This one's rated 14A so if you're afraid of a bit of sassy language, don't click below...



Later!

mike

Who You Gonna Call?

I was surfin' the web the other night when I found myself at the website for 88MPH Studios. I check in from time to time to see the status of the Ghostbusters: Legion hardcover I advance ordered from them, like, a year or so ago. The publisher, Sebastien Clavet, has stated on several occasions that there have been problems with money and that he was dedicated to getting this hardcover out there to all the fans who supported it and ordered it.

Having corresponded with Sebastien on a few occasions and finding him a straightforward and fairly nice guy to chat with, I had no reason to suspect anything different than what he claimed in numerous posts on the GB message board Weaver Hall and in various direct e-mails to HC customers.

Still, from everything that I've been reading of late, the prognosis does not look good. Not only that we won't be seeing the HC coming out anytime soon, but that the money we all sent to 88MPH will likely never be returned. Clavet, it appears, has gotten himself involved in a lawsuit with toy manufacturing giant Hasbro over another book, Transformers: Genesis.

The delay has always been a nuisance, but this news is just a bit disheartening, especially after seeing all the angry mob posts demanding their money back from 88MPH and the threats of legal action against Clavet for perpetrating fraud. There had always been a hope in the back of my mind that one day this nifty little bit of GB lit would grace my bookshelf someday. The introduction by Dan Aykroyd is reason enough for any GB fan.

Knock on wood, I guess.

Later!
mike

Long Weekend

Labour Day weekend has come and gone. What, pray tell, do I have to show for it?

Well, I got a couple of days to just hang around and veg in front of some Farscape and original Trek, which was nice. I had a pre-birthday party at my in-laws. Purchased myself a copy of Young Guns (which I still haven't seen) and Birth. I finished reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe to my kids and watched the movie with them - finally! It was pretty good and I look forward to the extra special edition they're going to put out. I think I also watched Firewall with Jen, which was fine but doesn't really warrant any more commentary than that. I also started re-reading The Books of Magic. Not the mini-series but the monthly. I'll post more on that later.

My goal for this week is to finally post some of the things that have been rattling away in my head. Like my thoughts on Agents of Atlas, for example. Or the strange connections I'm making between classical music being played at bus terminals and how it might be creating a new Clockwork Orange breed of malcontent. I'm also going to mention how much I would like to get my ass in gear and write those BOOM! reviews for the Giffen Newslist since I haven't really embraced that task yet. Maybe if it's in writing I'll feel more inclined to do so.

Actually, that probably addresses an overall creative insouciance that I'm experiencing, but that's more for another time.

Anyway, since that last cat post continues to freak me out, and is beginning to freak other people out as well, I'm going to add this video of a feline with a completely opposite disposition...



Later!

mike

Dinner With Friends

Jen and I just celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary last weekend, so it was somewhat fitting that we also recently watched the Norman Jewison movie, Dinner With Friends. Based on the play of the same name, the story revolves around two couples who have been best friends forever but are pushed to the point of 'breaking up' when one of them ends up splitting. Loyalties are divided, friendships are strained and the whole thing is kind of an interesting meditation on marriage and living life with (or possibly without) a long-term partner.

It was actually a movie that I had suggested on several previous occasions but Jen never really paid it any mind until she picked it up and read the summary on the back of the case during a recent library stop. The couple that split in the movie had been together for 12 years so she felt a certain degree of synchronicity or something, I guess. Now that I think about it, we may have watched The Seven Year Itch around our 7th, so maybe it's a numbers thing with her. Or just checking in to see whether or not we're doing better than the movie couples.

I guess it doesn't really matter what Hollywood thinks since we've outlasted most of our friends and extended families' marriages.

Either way, it was a nice, quiet and entertaining show. I'd recommend it for anyone looking for a talky couples movie without the Woddy Allenisms.

Later!

mike

Placeholder Post

My blogging of late hasn't been what one would call...timely. I've had so many posts just pop into my head these past few weeks but I've never quite managed to get them on to the blog for one reason or another. Work, family, all the usual reasons for not getting things done, mixed in with a little procrastination, is ultimately to blame, but I do feel bad that I haven't been keeping up with things here.

I'm managing to get this post up because it is essentially being done while I'm sitting in front of a computer anyway to order pizza, and since the ol' blog is my Firefox homepage I got a nasty reminder of when it was last updated in any sort of...'real' or noticable way.

Not that this post will change that fact, but at least I can say I made the effort.

In the meantime, you can watch this Robot Chicken parody of Star Wars. Reminds me of the Kevin Rubio stories like Troops or Tag and Bink Are Dead.



Later!

mike

This Little Pussycat Needs a Nap

All I can say is...Holy crap!



Later!

mike

Always Listen to Recommendations From People You Trust

Some time ago the guy who works at one of my local comic shops was talking up a little anime show called Cowboy Bebop. 'What a fantastic series', he would tell me, 'with one of the best English dubs that he's ever heard for an anime series'. Even though I was never a really big anime fan, he urged me to try it out, believing that if I only sat down and watched a few episodes it would open my eyes.

Grudgingly, I took his advice and downloaded a couple of episodes. I didn't want to pay to see something I was sure I wouldn't like so I figured I'd grab a few off the 'net and if I, by some miracle, did like it I could always rent or buy them later.

Needless to say, I was floored by the show. It was not only the best anime I'd ever seen but one of the best animated series' I'd ever seen period, Japanese or North American.

Having this experience follow so close on the heels of my discovery of the late, great Doom Patrol monthly by John Arcudi and Tan Eng Huat (which came through the late, great Seth Fisher) I decided that I was never going to poo-poo a friend's recommendation from then on. If someone was excited enough to say, 'You should try this', I was going to endeavour to do just that.

My latest experience with this comes from a list of Nick Hornby's favourite authors and books. I was looking for something new and diffreent than what I was accustomed to, and I remembered reading in an interview somewhere that Hornby (whom I love for his books About a Boy, Songbook, High Fidelity and How to Be Good) really liked Anne Tyler of Accidental Tourist fame. He specifically mentioned Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant as a favourite. Seeing as my wife also likes Tyler and happened to have a copy of same book handy, I gave it a chance and started reading it this week.

It started off a little rocky, but by the second chapter I was pretty much hooked. I can see why Hornby and my wife like her writing so much. It's very real, very descriptive and the characters, though generally sedate in their overall natures, come alive on the page as if you were, or knew someone, just like them. It's a pretty easy read and the words just roll off the page once you get the rhythm of it. It's pretty good stuff.

Having also been in a somewhat DeMatteis-ish mood, I'm debating now if I'm going to try and conquer one of his favourite author's, Dostoyevsky, next. A little Brothers Karamazov to shake off some of the cobwebs, perhaps? Or maybe Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. It's been years since I read that one. I guess we'll see when I finsih with Tyler.

Later!

P.S. - For the chronologically minded, this post was actually started on the 24th, but I've been adding to it off and on at work for the last 5 days.

mike

Much Overdue LinkBlog

My bookmarks - like my house, my stress levels and my mind, of late - runneth over!

I haven't done a linkblog in quite some time and I have a number of things I've been collecting up for the last few weeks, so without further ado...

Paul Reubens of Pee-Wee Herman fame has announced that he will be making more Pee-Wee films springing off from the reruns of Pee-Wee's Playhouse which have shown up on Cartoon Network this year. I loved Pee-Wee's Big Adventure so I'm really looking forward to seeing what they can come up with and pull off with this movie.

A little past the DVD release date but here's David Lloyd talking about V For Vendetta and his crime noir comic, Kickback.

One of my favourite writer/artists, Keith Giffen, talks about his new mini-series, Annihilation, over at CBR. I haven't picked it up yet, myself, but like everything else I'm getting to it.

I think I blinked and missed the actual release of A Scanner Darkly in my area so I was happy to see that IGN had the first 24 minutes of the movie streaming off of their website.

To celebrate the 15th anniversary of Batman: The Animated Series, Comic Foundry writer, Amy Payne, subjects herself to a 16 hour viewing marathon. I'm tempted to try this myself.

This is a moldy oldie, but I haven't linked to anything from Andi Watson in a while so why not this June 2003 interview for Bookslut?

Since I may never see the completion of my Hitchcock/Parker interview, I give you a nice article about John from GoTriad.com.

Although I haven't seen the fruits of their labours just yet, my kids will be happy to know that Warner Bros. is relaunching some of their animated websites with original downloadable content. I'm looking forward to the new audio mysteries on Scooby-Doo.com - if they ever materialize, that is. The launch date was supposed to be August 15th, but...

I recently discovered a band that's made me perk up my ears somewhat. They're called Boy and operate out of Toronto, I think. I've only heard a few songs so far but I'm kind of digging their sound. Check out their website here.

Salon.com talks about Jaime Hernandez' Ghost of Hoppers book.

And last, but not least, Sci-Fi has confirmed that Stargate SG-1 will end with its record breaking 10th season.

That's it for LinkBlogging today. Have a good one!

mike

Following The Path of Neo

As part of my recent struggles to piece together the herky-jerky narrative of the Matrix trilogy and actually enjoy it as one film/idea/story, I completed the Wachowski Bros. and Atari's Path of Neo game which ties all three of the films together, simultaneously trying to fill gaps in the storyline and giving players a chance to finally play Neo. Atari's earlier attempt, Enter the Matrix, was an enjoyable game and did a lot to increase my enjoyment of the second film, Reloaded, but while playing secondary characters like Niobe and Ghost I think you ultimately lost some of that Matrix buzz that you got off of watching Keanu do his wacky wire-fu moves in the films.

The Path of Neo goes a long way to correcting that. Although it gets off to a slow start it quickly starts to pick up as you get more accustomed to the controls and the story eventually goes beyond the first Matrix film and bridging the 72 hours between The Matrix and The Matrix: Reloaded. In order to make the game more interesting, and the film story more playable, they (the game designers and the Wachowski's) added environments and characters to enrich, or pad out, the existing storyline. Sometimes this works beautifully but sometimes you feel as though the game has strayed too far from what you know the overarching plot to be.

Regardless of this, if you're playing this game for more than a few levels you already know that it exists in a kind of parallell Matrix universe and you either have to get over it, or put the controller down, go watch the movies and sulk. A perfect example of this being the end of the game which is prefaced by a neat little video introduction by the Wachowski's themselves - or at least their residual digital self images. They explain that the martyr thing in a video game kind of sucks and they helped create a big boffo finale that fits with the game and is, ultimately, more fun to play than just letting Smith absorb you, dying and having the Matrix rebooted. There's even a new CGI ending they put together to follow-up the final battle.

I had loads of fun while playing it but I'm just about all Matrixed out. My oldest daughter Emma has shown some interest in playing now that I'm through so it may not collect dust on the shelf for long.

Later!

mike

Abadazad

I just found out a couple of nights ago that JM DeMatteis and Mike Ploog's Abadazad books have already hit store shelves - sometime in July, if I'm not mistaken. This little tidbit of information came courtesy of DeMatteis himself, having posted something to the effect on his brand new author's blog on Amazon.com. Being 2 AM, I did a quick internet search to find out more about the books, their retail selling price and overall availability through sites like Amazon.com, .ca, Chapters/Indigo and McNally Robinson.

Since we actually have a standing McNally Robinson in town, and they claimed to carry the book on their website, I figured the most prudent course of action would be to wait until the morning and see if they had any in stock. Then I could just pop out of work at some point, or even stop by after work, and pick up a copy. I gave them a dingle in the morning and, after some searching, they found both books in their young readers section, just where they should be.

I'm kind of pumped about getting in on the ground floor with this series. I enjoyed the short-lived comic series from CrossGen and I'm looking forward to seeing if it lives up to its pedigree - with influences ranging from L. Frank Baum to Lewis Carroll to C.S. Lewis, DeMatteis has his work cut out for him. Still, he is a very capable storyteller. Comic book people will probably think of him as that 'bwa-ha-ha' guy that worked with Giffen on the funny Justice League, but anyone who has picked up a copy of Moonshadow or Brooklyn Dreams or Seekers Into the Mystery knows what he is capable of given the chance to let his imagination run wild.

Another reason I'm looking forward to the Abadazad books is because of my oldest daughter, Emma. We've sort of made it a thing between us to read the classics together. Jen started her on Beatrix Potter when she was younger, I brought some A.A. Milne to the table and she's enjoyed having me read the first Oz book to her, as well. She now loves Harry Potter, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is keeping her interest so far and, even though Alice in Wonderland was a bit of a head trip for her when we first tried it a couple of years ago, she does like the Disney version of the story so we'll probably be trying it again sometime soon.

She got a bit of a preview of Abadazad in its comic book incarnation, but nothing serious. Just some random images and a brief outline of the story from me when the issues first started rolling in.

Hopefully she'll take to them. If not, I still enjoy them so it's really a no harm, no foul situation.

Anyway, I'll post some rections to them when I pick them up.

Later!

mike

Copping Out

I'm getting snarled at for making the clackity clack noises on the keyboard as Jen watches Sex and the City next to me so I'm going to post a YouTube video and be done with it. It's a preview of Battlestar Galactica Season 3. Not sure how I feel about using a Nickleback song to promo it, but what the hell. It looks better than I expected it to be.

Enjoy...



mike

Holding Pattern

Man, I can't remember the last time I felt quite so...stationary.

Have you ever had one of those days or weeks where the number of things you'd like to accomplish far outnumbers the number of things you've actually done or have the capacity to do? But knowledge of that in no way dissuades you from trying or feeling guilty when you fail to achieve what you set out to do?

Historically, it's at moments like these where I get struck by an epiphany or two, so we'll see what happens.

I should also acknowledge that it could just be the full moon today putting me in this mood. Whenever there's a full moon it always makes for a weird week.

So, in lieu of anything brain tinglingly interesting from me, I give you, 8 Mile courtesy of Robot Chicken.



Later!

mike

Selling Cars, Building Furniture, Watching DVDs

That pretty much sums up my weekend. On top of getting my first sale of the month (yay!) and watching all the very cool and very new DVDs in my collection, I spent the weekend building some new furniture that Jen picked up to house all of our stuff that we were sorely lacking in room for. Our House Runneth Over may have been a more apt title, but I'm not changing it now.

She bought a room divider and a buffet with the former going to my stuff and the latter hers. We turned the room divider into a basic wall unit and I've filled it with a bunch of DVDs, books and other paraphernalia. Things are definitely looking more organised and I'm finally able to display some of my statues and collectibles without fear. We've never had a proper way to display them 'til now and it's unlikely that thye kids or cat will damage them in any way.

Other than that I'm just sort of coasting. I'm waiting for some things to come together and until then there's not much else to do.

Posting from work again so I'm going to run.

Post again soon!

mike

Let Me Tell You About The Matrix

I find it a bit funny that after a week of being internetless, I'm complately out of the habit of logging on from home. I think my last three or four posts have all been added during work hours. To be perfectly honest, I don't remember the last time I've even turned my computer on. I think I had it on a few days ago to burn a copy of something for my brother but that's pretty much it.

Anyway, I'm rambling.

The only new info to report is interview and entertainment based. On the interview front, I'm still in communication with Walter Simonson who tells me that he is busy at the moment but assures me that we will hook up by phone sometime in the near future. I think he's out of town with Weezie or something family related like that. I'm also still putting together my Jeff Parker/John Hitchcock interview for the Dear John book that, apparently, came out on the 26th of July. My comic shop never got any copies and since I cancelled my file service a while ago, they never ordered one in. I'm going to try and snag one from wherever I can find one. On the plus side, I love a good hunt so I'm not totally crushed I missed it, just disappointed.

I'm still waiting on some answers from Jeff before I post the thing, so it should be going up in a little while. Originally I was planning to have the interview and the book time out together but I've missed the launch date now and I'm not in a grand rush to post it. Still, I'm aiming for something timely so we'll see. My only regret so far is that Jeff has sworn off phone interviews. I was hoping to converse with the man phone to phone after corresponding by e-mail for a while, but it appears that the fates are not with me.

Ah well.

On the entertainment front, I've purchased a new DVD set, The Ultimate Matrix Collection. I've been playing The Path of Neo so I ws in a Matrixy kind of mood and it was on sale...what can I say.

So far the features look decent. I was worried that the commentaries would be lamer than lame but the one with the critics (the names of which escape me) trash talking the movies are pretty decent. I'm still not holding out hope for the philosophical commentary, but you never know.

I have to run back to work so I'm going to leave it at that. I'll definitely post on this at another time, probably from home where I won't be dragged away for anything.

Later!

mike

Back Again, Jiggity Jig

Finally got the Internet brouhaha sorted out at home so the service has returned! I'm still posting this from work, but that's more of a time thing than a technical issue.

Anyway, I've been keeping busy over the last week. Work has taken up a lot of my time but the kids have been staying with my folks and Jen's folks for the last little while so there has been some free time and relaxation between juggling late cheques, long days and Saturn's hours of operation. We see them on weekends, which is cool, then send them off again on Monday as we head back to work.

This past weekend was fun because I picked up a couple of new things for the little buggers. Simon got one of those 14" Hulk poseable figures which he thinks is pretty cool and I got the girls the Zathura board game. I also picked up a sweet copy of the movie previously viewed and we watched that on Sunday afternoon. I'm a bit of a fan of the Jumanji film, so I was hoping Zathura would have the same charm and it did. It was a pretty fun show.

Also grabbed some new music and movies for Jen and I. Oh, andf I finished Men of Tomorrow by Gerard Jones. Great book. Highly reccomended. I'll probably talk more about those as I get back into the habit of posting.

Well, I'm-a-gonna get back to work, here. I'll post something tomorrow if I have a minute.

Later!

mike

No Time Toulousse

Internet's down, been busy like a beaver and haven't had much time to come on and post, hence my tardiness in getting anything new up on the blog. I'm posting from work right now while I watch the phones for the receptionist. If things slow down here I might sneak a quickie post in a bit later.

Until then...

mike

Update: Holy crap! The good news is that the car business is looking good for me right now. The bad news is that I haven't been able to stop for a second today. On top of being the secondary scab receptionist whenever the primary scab receptionist has to leave, I have calls and appointments coming in up the wazoo. Probably means that I'm going to be busy tomorrow, too. Like I said, good news and bad news.

This month I did three times what I sold last month, hopefully this is a sign of what to expect from month three. The goal is to always do a little better than the last time, right?

Later!

mike

Stargate in the News

Not only has MGM's Stargate SG-1 started its record breaking 10th season on the SciFi Network (beating out The X-Files to be the longest running science-fiction series in America) but there's been some fresh news out of the San Diego Comic Con that bears repeating for fans of the original film and the show.

According to ComingSoon.net Dean Devlin has signed a multi-picture deal with MGM and would like to make two sequels to the original Stargate, completing his mythological space saga the way he and co-creator Roland Emmerich had always intended to. Apparently, like every other filmmaker since Lucas 'pre-planned' the whole Star Wars saga, they originally envisioned the Stargate story to be a trilogy taking a good, long, Conradian look at mythology and its origins and how they all tie in together through the Stargate.

Could be interesting, could be the next Matrix sequels.

On the plus side, Devlin admitted that the Stargate SG-1 series is an international success and commented on how the third Stargate film would ideally end where the series takes off with its first episode/telefilm, "Children of the Gods". Considering he's also stated 'on the record' (through the wonders of DVD commentary on the special edition of Stargate) that he thinks the show is total crap, I'm kind of enjoying the about face.

Later!

mike

Frank Miller to Adapt The Spirit

I honestly don't know how to feel about this news courtesy of SciFi Wire regarding the upcoming Spirit film. I was somehow more comfortable having Jeph Loeb behind the wheel. I'm not a huge fan of either creator's ouvre but between the two Miller is definitely the unfavourite, as far as I'm concerned.

On the plus side, I know Frank has an absolute reverence for the work and knew Eisner for years, so maybe it won't be a complete disaster. Still, I can't shake the nightmare image of Denny Colt flying through a twisted, grim and gritty Millerian cityscape spouting poorly cribbed Dashiel Hammett dialogue and calling The Octopus 'Punk'.

Brrr.

Only time will tell, I guess.

mike

Putting the Screws to Bryan Fuller

There's a not-too-shabby interview with Bryan Fuller over at Newsarama regarding his recent adaptation of Mike Mignola's absurdist comic book, The Amazing Screw-On Head.

There were some interesting comments made by Fuller - like when he said Mignola probably hasn't even seen the pilot yet - which was enough to whet my appetite, but it reads like a tweaked e-mail interview since the interviewer never follows up on the juicy bits that Fuller gives him.

I've been there so I'm not trashing the guy, just pointing out the missed opportunity. I mean, my only history with Fuller was giving him a call-in question during a web conference when the Wonderfalls DVD hit the market, so...

Anyways, if you're a fan of uller or Mignola it's worth checking out.

Later!

mike

Toth Tribute?

As some of you may know I am in the process of interviewing Jeff Parker and John Hitchcock regarding the upcoming Toth sketchbook, Dear John: The Alex Toth Doodle Book. While doing so it has occurred to me that it might be an interesting idea to create some sort of tribute to Toth, much in the same way that I created a tribute to Will Eisner a handful of years ago. Really, it sort of occurred to me because of a comment Chcuk Dixon made to me via e-mail when I was soliciting tributes from various comic creators for the event. He said that while he recognised Will's contributions to the medium, he was more of a Toth fan and that if I ever did a tribute for him he would, I believe the words were, sing me an opera (don't quote me on that).

Anyway, those two things, combined with my eternal regret that I never interviewed the man himself, sort of mixed and jumbled in my head until they congealed into a 'sort of plan' as to how I could do it. I wanted to stay away from anything that would take too much time web-wise, so I would probably stick to the format of my Eisner tribute and fill-in-the-blanks, so to speak. I could send out a handful of e-mails again and get some more industry tributes and if I could think of one other thing (on top of the Parker/Hitchcock Dear John interviews), I would have myself a decent little presentation I could post over at Meanwhile....

Release it all to coincide with the release of the book from Octopus Press and I have myself a mini-event.

I also kind of like the idea of having two of my favourite comic book legends represented like that on my website.

Man, I think I'm starting to talk myself into it.

I'd be curious to hear if anyone would be interested in seeing this happen.

Later!

mike

Superman Returns Redux

Just saw Superman Returns again with the wife tonight. She hadn't seen it yet and since the kids were gone we decided to go out on the town, so to speak, and hit a movie after I was done work. She thought it was pretty good (although I don't think anything will capture her heart quite like Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest this summer) and I enjoyed it even though I was going in predisposed to finding something wrong with it. I walked away from it the first time absolutely spellbound but after reading so much criticism of it online and in the blogosphere I figured it was my duty as a critic, a blogger and a Superman fan to put the film under greater scrutiny.

Sorry to say, I'm even happier with it now than before having now, officially, accepted Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane and embracing Frank Langella as Perry White (looking back on it now I don't think Hugh Laurie would have made as good a Perry as Langella). I noticed little nods to continuity and Superman fandom that I hadn't before (like the ripped page in the encyclopedia) and appreciated the iconography a little more than the first time.

Since getting home I decided, freak of nature that I am, to read the DC Comics prequels that they published just before the film's release. They didn't look like anything special on the shelf and I largely ignored them because it's pretty rare that anything of any value ever comes of these adaptations and tie-ins. Still, the buzz was strong and they were just sitting there so...

The first issue was essentially a primer for folks who maybe don't own the DVD of the 1978 Donner film. It's all scenes cribbed from that movie's first 20 minutes and operates under the pretense that it is setting you up for watching the new film by giving you the critical backstory. Aside form some really nice Ariel Olivetti artwork, this inaugural issue was largely a waste of time.

The second prequel dealt with Ma Kent - how she's coping with Clark being gone, what she does with her time now and showing us some more backstory through flashbacks to the Donner film, bits of deleted material from the new movie and stuff that I believe the writer, Marc Andreyko, made up from whole cloth. It's readable and even enjoyable in some parts, and the artwork by Kerschl is very nice to look at. While reading this story will do little to enhance your viewing experience of Superman Returns, it's a pleasant digression or sidebar that fills in a few of the gaps left by the filmmakers.

I was looking forward to seeing Luthor take the stage for the third prquel issue, especially since there's a lot of stuff that we didn't get to see in the film (like the fact that Luthor planted the info that Krypton may still be there sending Supes off on a 5 year journey), but instead we get an absolutely gastly comic book and story that loosely fits the continuity of both Donner's film and Singer's. The art by Leonardi was lacking and there wasn't really much there to latch onto as a reader. Maybe there's a Luthor fan out there who thinks the book rocks, but I have to give it a big thumbs down.

As for the fourth one...I don't seem to have it. I was sure I did but I can't find it anywhere at the oent so I'm going to hold off on the Lois Lane issue. I'm not holding out high hopes for it, but you never know. Regardless, I'm going to go and get some shut-eye and try again tomorrow.

Later!

mike

Screw It On!

I have been waiting about 24 hours to be around a comp[uter long enouogh to post about THIS. The Sci-Fi Network is, in their infinite wisdom, previewing Bryan Fuller and Mike Mignola's animated The Amazing Screw-On Head pilot on their website for all to see long before it actually hits the airwaves. All they ask is that you fill out a viewer survey. Doesn't sound too bad to me.

I haven't had a chance to watch it just yet, but I'm planning on heading over soon. I'm a big fan of Bryan Fuller's from his Dead Like Me and Wonderfalls days, and Mignola's Screw-On Head is one of my all-time favourite single issue storylines ever. I can't help but think that combining the two of them can only lead to more fun than should be had on TV.

So, of course, you realise, this will be cancelled.

But until then, click through on the text link or on the image and go check it out for yourselves.

Later!

mike

Chuck Jones: Conversations

Okay. Amidst everything I'm supposed to be doing and everything that I'm actually doing, I've managed to get a bit of reading in. In the case of reading Conversations, I think I managed to do the bulk of it at work during a dry spell where the options were to either stand around and talk, throw a tennis ball into a garbage can for cans of pop or sit at my desk and read something I find really interesting. I would have dealy with customers if we had any, but alas...

Anyway, the book was really quite good. As many of you know, I'm an interviewer myself so I'm usually drawn to interview books. Sometimes it's the subject that interests me and sometimes I'm looking at other writer's techniques, but there's usually a format and way about them that I seem to like over your usual biography or historical text.

Conversations was a collection of interviews with animation director Chuck Jones from 1968 to 1999. From right around the time that he was being discovered by the critical establishment to his triumphant return as an animation director. Having read Chuck Amuck, his semi-autobiography, a lot of what he said to the respective interviewers was not anything that I had not already heard or read from him before. In fact, many of the stories were told just the same way in 1968 as they were in 1999, but they never became boring or trite. But with each retelling or each new interview there was always something to take away that added to the overall tapestry that is Jones' career and life.

The interviews cover a goodly chunk of Jones' career so you get to hear some of his thoughts on the occasional new project (somethihng you don't get too often) as well as the odd project that never made it out of the starting gate (one of the first interviews is with Jones and Bradbury who were to collaborate on a Halloween feature together), but most of the interviewers seem only interested in focusing on his Warner Bros. output. Definitely stuff I wanted to read and hear, but I was hoping for something that showed a more personal touch - an interview that dug a bit deeper than the usual "where did the Coyote come from?" question.

The closest the book came to something like that was the final interview which, I guess, was literally saving the best for last. Ron Barbagallo's unpublished interview was a treat to read. He was well informed, had clearly done his research and wasn't wasting his time with tired old inquiries. And to Chuck's credit, he was clearly in a good and talkative mood and freely discussed every question Ron had to ask. This is, by far, my favourite of the book and was a great one to go out on. You always want to leave them satisfied but wanting more, right?

If you're a fan of animation, Chuck Jones or interview books in general, I would seriously recommend checking this book out. It's not a really long read but it's an entertaining one, and if there's one thing Chuck can do it's keep a reader's attention for a couple of hundred pages - I'll guarantee you that.

On a bit of a side note, I've since moved on to reading Gerard Jones' Men of Tomorrow which is wonderfully entertaining but slow going as a result of the car business getting a bit of a boom at the dealership. I'm looking forward to talking about that one here when I make some more headway on it.

And with that...

mike

Busy Beaver

Just popping on to get a post in before I become too delinquent with the blog entries. I'll try and post something from work today but I can't guarantee anything.

And by the way, if you haven't seen Dead Man's Chest go to it. Very fun, very entertaining. I was really impressed and can't wait for the third, and final installment, now.

Later!

mike

TWW Officially on Life Support

So, like I said, the wife and I were going to give disc 2 a try and try we did. Last night we watched episodes 5 and 6 from Season 5, titled 'A Constituency of One' and 'Disaster Relief' respectively.

Eli Attie, a name I recognise from earlier seasons was the writer of 'Constituency' which featured some, but not all, of the things I listed in my previous post as having gone AWOL from the show. It was comforting to see the walk-and-talk back and the characters were behaving more 'on model', to borrow an animation term for a moment.

I still believe, however, that CJ hasn't said or done anything of any merit since before her trip back home episode in Season 4 (which was under Sorkin's supervision, so I'm not pointing fingers) and I forecast that things are only going to go downhill for her character from here. My wife claims she received an Emmy for this season. Probably since she was allowed to act up and yell at the president and tackle 'real' issues for a change, something her character really shouldn't be doing, in my opinion. There were other more interesting places they could have gone with Janney's character. This wasn't one of them.

Seeing Josh take one on the ego after losing a member of the party to the Republicans was a nice touch. Seeing Will take a new job for the VP was interesting. Seeing Toby go to bat for 'the message' and be slammed down by Leo was, not my favourite thing in the world, but a logical and interesting way to go with the character. Seeing Leo running things while the President remains lost and unable to give leadership is a little lame, but provides a new dynamic which gives them some opportunities to play as long as it doesn't drag on too long.

Something I don't believe it will since the next eisode, 'Disaster Relief' (a fitting name, all things considered), went a long way to letting some of the pressure out of those tires. It pretty much looks like Bartlett will become Mr. President, leader of the free world again by the end of the disc so our hope is renewed, at least temporarily.

That's not to say the show has been given any kind of a free pass, just a reprieve. The life support has been switched on and things have stabilized, but the plug can be pulled any day.

On an unrelated note, I'm reading a great collection of interviews with animation director, Chuck Jones, which I want to post about soon so if you're an old Warner Bros. cartoon fan, you may want to check that out.

Later!

mike

West Wing Season 5 - DOA

So, after burning through 4 seasons of The West Wing on DVD the wife and I sat down to watch disc 1 of season 5 with some trepidation. We knew that Aaron Sorkin and Tommy Schlamme were gone. We knew that John Wells had taken over and was left with a relatively lame cliffhanger to resolve (TWW was never really good at doing the season openers and closers). We knew that weird things were going to develop in future seasons (we caught little bits here and there and saw CJ as the Chief of Staff) so, overall, we were cautious but going into it with an open mind.

What we discovered? Many of the show's trademarks were gone. The snappy dialogue, the exposition on the run, the constant running off of statistical information and the strong women characters had all gone into hiding for some reason. In their place we saw verité style camera work, soap opera shenanigans, a greater emphasis on character's personal relationships, Toby wandering around looking lost, Will also wandering around and looking lost and more Martin Sheen in one episode than I remember seeing in all of the first four seasons. Oh, and CJ just walking in on the president to get the Cosby Show summation of events in the season's 4th episode, 'Han'. In any of the previous 4 seasons, you'd have to get through secret service agents, Charlie or either of the president's secretaries before you could actually go in and have an audience with him.

We're going to try disc 2 and see what the next four episodes hold for the show, but we're not holding out any hope for it. It's starting to look like a Gilmore Girls style washout for TWW proving all those 'the show was better than ever' reviews on Amazon wrong.

And if you're going to jump in and say, 'Oh, but you just don't like change', remember that I actually really liked the last three seasons of The X-Files.

Later!

mike

Superman Adventures

After watching a couple of discs worth of the Superman animated series I decided to hit the ol' bookshelf and drag out the first trade collection of the comic book based on the series.

I originally bought the book for my son (having already purchased all the individual issues and finding it for a steal in a bargain bin somewhere) only to rescue it several days later, stashing it with my books until he gets a little older. I like to give him comics buy he mostly just looks at the pictures and tears pages out or covers off and then throws them in a corner when he's done with them. Yeah, I'm hoping that changes as he gets older.

But anyway, I digress.

I dragged out the trade because I remembered really enjoying the stories the first few times around. The first issue was written by Paul Dini and was a direct follow-up to the pilot movie, 'Last Son of Krypton'. It kind of featured the aftermath of Superman's batle with Metallo and Luthor's desire to measure the abilities of his newfound nemesis. It syncs up beautifully with the show and is a great introduction to the the next 5 issues which were penned by none other than Scott McCloud.

McCloud may have been an uncharacteristic choice in the minds of some, but if you think of what he was doing before Understanding Comics and becoming the poster boy for the comic book intelligentsia (mainly his Zot! series which was great fun) it's really not that much of a stretch. In fact, the first year of Superman Adventures was probably better than the first year of Batman Adventures (apologies to Kelly Puckett) and definitely the best Superman stories being published at the time. I didn't follow it very closely after McCloud left, but for thirteen glorious issues I had the Superman that I had always wanted to read.

I should also mention the artwork by Rick Burchett which, if you're familiar with his work, is one of the go-to guys when you have one of these animated books to do. His ability to work in the animated style as well as his storytelling skills are top-notch. Actually, his regular comics are pretty fantastic, too. If you've never tried a book by Burchett, go do it now.

Another neat aspect of the monthly was the use of actual series backgrounds on the covers. Burchett would do characters and any objects that were important to the overall 'story' of the cover image, and that would be put over top of one of the Metropolis backgrounds painted for the television show. It was a neat effect and a nice tip of the hat from one medium to the other, kind of saying, you're not the red-headed stepchild of the family, you know?

You can click on and enlarge the images if you wanna get a peek at what I'm talking about.

Anyway, I'm just about to start the fourth issue (a cool Superman's mass is getting out of control story) and thought I should post about the fact that I've dusted them off, maybe turn someone else onto them. Spread the fun, if you will.

Later!

mike

White Limousine Remixes

It's been a while since I've checked in on Duncan Sheik's website and blog so I swung by today to see what was new and discovered this nifty little site dedicated to fan remixes of Duncan's latest album, White Limousine.

When Sheik released Limousine there were two discs in the case - one labelled 'Mine' and one labelled 'Yours'. The 'Mine' disc was the album, there for you to listen to and copy and post on the internet like all the kids are doing these days. The 'Yours' disc had all the individual tracks for each song so that you could mix and remix the songs in whatever form or order you wished. Thus LimoRemix.com was created as a dump point for these fan remixes. A place to upload your personalized versions of White Limousine tracks and make them available for everyone else to hear.

If you like Duncan, and/or the latest album, go check it out. You might liike some of the work being done.

Later!

mike

Cobble Me This

Man, it occurs to me occasionally that were I not to stay up all hours of the night watching cartoons, surfing the internet and reading I may not ever run across things like this:



For anyone who knows anything about Richard Williams or his masterpiece (magnum opus?), you know what I'm talkin' about. For those of you who don't, check out this blog post from one of my new favourite web destinations, Cartoon Brew.

If you do go and visit the site, browse around for a bit. There's more cool stuff to read and see there than just the Thief and the Cobbler news and links. Go to town for a spell and soak up the animated goodness.

Man, I'm so glad that I can finally see a close approximation of the true Director's Cut of this film. On top of watching it on You Tube I'm downloading it off of mininova.org, as directed to by the restorer, Garett Gilchrist. I guess it's supposed to have some DVD style features on it and the like.

I just stopped vibrating after Superman Returns (did you see it yet?) and now this. My poor dear wife. If she survives July she should be up for some sort of sainthood.

mike

Freelance Police Story

There's been some activity on the ol' Sam and Max front since the announcement of the latest game's cancellation. The current buzz, though, says the game is back on the schedule only not through LucasArts as previously planned. Arune Singh at CBR has the scoop.

You can also check out the new game and some nifty webcomics by clicking through HERE.

Later!

mike

Brave New World

I just finished reading the new DC preview book, Brave New World, and thought I would post some thoughts on it.

Now, I'm kind of predisposed to not liking any of it, so if I get a bit judgmental, keep that in mind. I'm not terribly happy with how the Big Two are trying to make their comic book universes suddenly 'relevant' so this 'change-for-change's-sake' attitude they have going on is leaving something of a bad taste in my mouth.

That being said, I will admit that my curiosity has been piqued (as evidenced by my previous post on the subject) and I'm going to try and keep an open mind about all of this. Somewhat open, anyways.

Okay, here goes.

Brave New World starts off with a preview of the all-new, all-different Martian Manhunter. Overall, this little vignette was enough to make me wonder how this series will turn out but not quite enough to make me actively seek it out, either. A.J. Lieberman earned the benefit of the doubt from me with his absolutely fantastic run on Harley Quinn, so it gets some points for that, too. I'll probably look at this one in the shop but, again, I don't see money exchanging hands over this one.

Next up is the new OMAC. If there was one thing I didn't like about Infinite Crisis it was the retooling of the OMAC concept and its execution throughout the event. It was one of the weakest Crisis tie-ins at the time and remains fairly weak in this brief promo story. The art by Renato Guedes is wonderful but unfotunately, Bruce Jones doesn't offer up anything of real value here. A definite passola.

Uncle Sam is a character I liked seeing in special projects like Alex Ross and Steve Darnall's US prestige mini from a few years back, but I am unsure as to how he (or any of the Freedom Fighters) will fit into current continuity. The story did manage to grab my attention for the length of time I spent reading it, and the art was very nice to look at (if a little dark, at times) so I'll probably pick this one up just to satisfy my curiosity, if nothing else. It could have some promise (which shocks me since it's written by Palmiotti and Gray).

The Creeper by Steve Niles and Justiniano. Nothing here interests me. I liked Justiniano on Day of Vengeance but I don't see anything redeeming in this particular vignette.

The new Atom has me torn. I didn't mind Byrne's pencils, and the character has always been one I liked, but Gail Simone's writing felt disjointed, gimmicky and, overall, kind of bland. I know she gets a lot of attention and kudos for being a great writer but you know, Villains United was also not one of the strongest Crisis tie-ins and none of her work to date has been able to grab my attention. The premise for the book is based on an idea of Grant Morrison's, so I may peer at it in the shop, but I'm not planning on having a copy in my house any time soon.

Lastly, The Trials of Shazam! looks all right but, again, just not enough there to really grab me by the ears and make me want to have a copy in my file every month. The artwork by Porter was good (his new painted style gives him a Kubert-esque feel) and Winnick's script has me wondering what has happened to the Marvel family so another one to peek at in the store but not something I'll actively seek out.

If you want to check out the book for yourself it's a steal of a deal at a buck a copy (a buck thirty-five if your a canuck like me), or you can snag a sneak peek from DC's website HERE.

Now I'm going to go and reread my copy of The Flash #1 by Bilson, DeMeo and Lashley since it has yet to make any sense to me. I'll be sure to comment on it here when it does.

mike

It's Enough to Make Me Weep

I read about THIS 10 days ago but put it off until the Superman week could run its course.

According to Steve Rude, Nexus, the ultra-cool sci-fi/super-hero/adventure series from Mike Baron and Steve Rude is officially dead in the water. I know everybody who read the book in the past was hoping for one more trip to the well for these guys, but as the quote says, the two couldn't find any common ground to revisit the character.

I'm getting a little teary even as I type this.

mike

Props to a Real Supergirl, Allison Mack

Possibly the only thing worth watching on Smallville.

As anyone who has read my blog in the past might know, I am an irregular viewer of the WB show, Smallville. Although I was a huge fan of it in its first season, subsequent efforts have left me wondering how a show that is consistently this retarded can stay on the air for as long as it has while other shows which show so much more promise get canned after 4 episodes or less (Kitchen Confidential and Love Monkey anyone?).

Still, being the comic geek that I am and the kind of person who, if convenient, will watch just about anything that's put in front of me, I continue to watch the show hoping above all hope that it gets better than it is.

And sometimes the show surprises me by firing off a real cracker of an episode, renewing my faith ever so briefly. This has happened about a half a dozen times so far (the big Christopher Reeve episode being a good example of that), but in the end, disappointment usually follows and I go and find something else to watch before eventually becoming bored enough to try, try again.

When I decided to do another Smallville post (running with that Superman theme again, there) I was pretty much just going to rant on how there hadn't been much improvement since my last entry on the subject and how I didn't have high hopes for the final half-dozen episodes based on what I'd been reading and seeing on the internet. But it was while watching the 14th episode of the show's fifth season ('Tomb') where I was given a clear reminder of what it is that probably keeps me watching despite all of the 'meh' episodes. It is the one aspect of the show that, over the course of five years has almost never disappointed me: Allison Mack.

The character of Chloe Sullivan has pretty much been a favourite of mine from day one and I've always stood by the belief that, compared to the annoying and gaspy Lana, she is the more interesting character. I can understand the producers/writers wanting to create a love triangle, I can understand how fans want to see Clark and Lana get together. Like Angel and Buffy, they have that forever love. However, also like Angel and Buffy, they are horribly annoying whenever they are together and are, at heart, a bad match for each other. Considering the chemistry Mack has with her co-star, Tom Welling, it amazes me that the writers have yet to truly flirt with the idea of Clark and Chloe getting together. The fact that they've forced the Clark/Lana relationship to blossom then end then blossom again (and probably to end again, I've lost count by now) shows the shortsightedness of Millar and Gough and the writers. It's almost like they made some rules at the outset and are afraid to go places their actors and stories are taking them. That's never a good thing.

In this last episode (the last one that I watched, anyway), there was a strength and intensity to her performance that was further evidence that the writers should give her more to do. Mack has proven that, even at her most bizarre (and Smallville gives everyone a chance to do something truly odd), there's a quality that she can bring to the table that few of her co-stars display as prominently or as consistently. She is the audience's anchor in the show. Everyone else behaves like soap opera characters while Chloe has moved on and gotten her life in order.

CHLOE: What's that Clark? The brother of a meteor freak that you put away has kidnapped Lana (who has turned into a witch) while she was stealing secret alien ship blueprints from Lex who is obsessed with discovering your secret and is also secretly in love with Lana but doesn't want to lose her by destroying you?

Sure I'll help. But on my lunch break, OK? I'm kinda busy working full time at the Daily freakin' Planet here.

And on top of all that, she's just absolutely adorable. I mean, just look at that picture.

And with that, I'm off to bed. I've ranted enough for one morning.

mike

Still a Year Away, but...

Heh. Just watched this over at the Quicktime trailer site. Click on through for the first glimpse at Spider-Man 3.

Later.

mike

Zero Hour

Just got back from watching the movie with my daughter and brother and all I can say is, "WOO-HOO!!!"

I can't remember the last time I came out of a summer blockbuster and was completely satisfied with absolutely everything about it. I, mean, I have absolutely no complaints. This is me we're talkin' about, here. And I gotta say, sitting in that darkened theatre tonight, watching those credits rolling by, I was frickin' six years old again sitting in the Towne Cinemas on 20th Street watching the original for the first time (which always makes me think of Miss Teschmacher taking the chunk of kryptonite off of Superman's neck which is my most vivid memory of that day). I was totally immersed in the experience and I'm almost embarassed to admit that I giggled like a schoolgirl during certain parts of it, too. Especially the in-jokes (one of which I seem to be the only one geeked out enough to have caught) that referenced the previous films.

KITTY: Lex, you act like you've been here before.

Heh-heh. Lex in the Fortress of Solitude. I remember that one.

Anyway, Singer did with this movie what he did with X-Men only times 10. It's bigger, it's more iconic and it's got more heart but at its core he kept the spirit of the idea and characters, updated them a bit, enriched them a bit, and gave the viewers a rollercoaster ride of a movie with fantastic set-pieces and amazing production design. Routh was sublime as Clark/Superman, Spacey was deliciously diabolical as Luthor and everyone else did an equally bang up job with their roles. Hell, even Parker Posey had me rooting for her by the end (and I'm usually the one in the audience hoping she'll die in the first five minutes of any movie she's in).

I'm still just...vibrating from the experience. I'm going to drive my wife nuts in the next few weeks, just you watch. She knows to duck and cover when I'm kinda meh about a movie. I think she'll hit the bunker on this one.

Oh, and since she's still up, I got a quick 1 minute review from Emma who had this to say about the film:

"It was GREAT! I thought the story was pretty good, the acting was so good you couldn't even tell they were, and the effects were great. I liked the whole entire thing.

Woo-Hoo!"

The apple doesn't fall too far from the tree.

It's late, I work tomorrow and I know I'm going to have a hell of a time getting to sleep, so I'm going to leave it at that for now. Maybe I'll post again from work.

Until then I have just five words to say:

Go. See. This. Movie. NOW!

You owe it to yourself.

mike

1 Day Remaining

That is if you don't count the sneak previews which are playing all over the place at 10 tonight. I'm actually considering going tonight but I have a feeling that it'll be either packed or too late for my daughter to go and enjoy the movie.

We'll see what happens.

In the meantime, I missed posting yesterday due to not turning the computer on at home so I figured I'd throw out a couple of last chance links before the big day hits.

Oh, and I should also mention I'm not posting at home so any 'cool' links in my bookmarks won't make it on here until tomorrow or later tonight.

To start with, everybody should go and check out Bryan Singer's video blog. These fun little videos have been posted throughout the duration of filming and post production to give fans a peek behind the curtain on the making of the movie. Some of them are dull and boring, but the majority of them are quite entertaining.

Next up is the official site which, if you're interested in the movie, you've probably hit already.

Lastly, Wikipedia has an interesting entry on the film sporting some pics and lots of info on the history of the project, budget...all that sort of nonsense.

I'll try and come on again later today or tonight but if not, we'll see you tomorrow.

Update: I just got home after buying my tickets for the 10 PM showing, tonight. One for me, one for my daughter Emma and one for my brother who wants to tag along, the big galoot. ANyway, this probably means a review either in the wee hours of the morning or later tomorrow. Have a good one!

Later!

mike

3 Days Left and a 24 Hour Archived Show

I'm not going to waste any time here and just link directly to the KGO810 radio show featuring Noel Neill (Adventures of Superman's Lois Lane) and John Ottman, composer for the new film and longtime collaborator of Bryan Singer.

The whole program is supposed to be 4 hours, so you'll have to click through on each new hour of the program as you go.

You can listen to the first segment with Noel Neill in either Real Media or Windows Media.

You can also listen to the second hour (the John Ottman segment) in Windows Media or Real Media.

Hour three is kind of a Superman hodge podge with various Superman sound clips in Real Media and Windows Media. Of particular interest is the audio clips with Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel talking about creating Superman.

Hour four continues the discussion and the clips in Windows Media or Real Media. It's nice to hear some of the interview clips from the late Christopher Reeve discussing some of the choices he made in portraying the character of Superman and his alter ego, Clark Kent.

Be aware that the show is archived for only 24 hours so there should only be, like, 5 hours left on the clock.

Check it out!

mike

4 Days and Counting

Hello, hello! I'm back from work and nursing my aching feet as I sit in front of the computer, sipping from my Super Big Gulp and getting to the business of doing my 'daily' blogging.

The Superman fever that I mentioned yesterday has yet to abate (although in its defense, it hasn't gotten any stronger, either) and I have a couple more links to share.

The first link is to an early review of the movie by Owen Gleiberman over at Entertainment Weekly's website. It pretty much tells me evrything I wanted to know about the movie, believe it or not. My big questions were, "how much of the Donner universe did Singer appropriate?", "How does Routh, Spacey and Bosworth compare to Reeve, Kidder and Hackman?" and "How does the movie play, overall?". I'm pretty much all geared up to see this baby, now.

Second is another AICN link showing how Rhythm and Hues put Brando's lost scenes 'back' into Superman Returns.

Lastly, here's a link to the website Superman Through the Ages and their Fleischer animated Superman cartoon page. After much searching, I finally found a copy of the Bosko Video DVD for my collection, but these downloads kept me in un-'improved' Fleischer 'toons thorugh that lengthy process. I figured if anyone out there had a hankering for some 'Up, up and away!' goodness they could click on thorugh here.

And those are the Superman links for the day.

I should also mention that I decided to read the Superman: Birthright series that Mark Waid and Leinel Francis Yu did a while ago to reimagine the Superman origin for DC Comics so I'll be posting some thoughts on that when I'm done.

Later!

mike

Superman Returns in 5 Days

I've just caught Superman fever and am excitedly awaiting the films premiere on the 28th of June. Up until yesterday, I wasn't all that excited. I'd almost go so far as to say I was 'eager to, but in no hurry', to see the movie, but something clicked in the back of my head the other day and now I'm all primed up for it.

Maybe it was the new trailer they ran when I saw Nacho Libre.

Anyway, I figured since everyone and their dog is counting down to the film, I'd do a similar thing only with links to Superman related material or sites I think are cool instead of a timer running down the minutes.

The first of my inaugural Superman Links is to the Superman Returns Yahoo! Movies page where they have a slideshow of some storyboards and production artwork. There's not a lot of stuff there, but what I've seen is kind of cool.

Next up is a text interview between Harry Knowles of AICN and Brandon 'Superman' Routh that I found particularly entertaining.

Lastly, here's an interview with Kevin 'Lex Luthor' Spacey on playing the Man of Steel's arch enemy:



Later!

mike

Brainiac Attacks

Being a huge fan of the Bruce Timm produced DC animated shows I was elated to find out that they were making a new Superman D2DVD movie. The fact that they brought Tim Daly back as the voice for Supes was even more exciting since he hadn't done the voice work since the show went off the air in '98, or whenever it was.

Yesterday I realised that the DVD had been released and took a run down to my local Wal-Mart to check it out and with high hopes to buy it, bring it home and devour it.

The cover art was pretty underwhelming (picture at right) but Warner has never been known for truly impressive packaging on their D2DVD releases, so I was going to let it slide. Unfortunately, after looking over the disc, I was also underwhelmed by the fact that there were no bonus features to speak of despite sporting a price tag of $18(CAN). Sure, there's still a movie there, and one I've been really excited about seeing, but even the most lackluster WB videos have at least a few lame trailers on them. I just assumed for a show that was broadcast on CN a couple of nights ago, there'd be some added value content.

So, I decided to let it sit for a day or two. I'm always happy about shaky purchaes when I sit on them for a day or two.

This has created a problem, however, because in the meantime I've seen a trailer for the movie which has left me...wanting, for lack of a better word. Granted it's just a trailer, but it looks like this one was done very much on the cheap and as a cash grab to tie into the whole Superman month thing. There's no doubt in my mind that I'll watch it, and eventually own it, I'm just disappointed, that's all.

More whining, I guess.

Anyway, I have to get ready for work.

Later!

mike

Losing Control

While it is awesome that I've finally settled into a line of work where I'm no longer looking over my shoulder for the other shoe to drop I have found that I have sort of lost track of some of the things that I kind of need to do. The effort of getting out first thing in the morning and not getting back in until 7:30 or 8:00 at night appears to be taking its toll.

On the top of the list is to get back to my previous supervisor at my old job (which they wouldn't let me quit) to let him know that I am mostly unavailable to work, but will be able to cover one morning shift while he's on holidays. Next on the list, in no special order, are my BOOM! reviews (kindly doing what I said I would do when Gianluca sent me all of that free BOOM! stuff), my pending Walter Simonson and Jeff Parker interviews and I think I'm due a call to Keith Giffen, as well. It's not a long laundry list, but it hangs over my head and the guilt is starting to really settle in.

I guess I should just start the ball rolling on everything and just get it over with. Not to make it sound like any of this is unpleasant work (well, that's not true, I don't want to call SuperStore again), but that's usually the cure for procrastination/distraction, isn't it? Just put it right there in your face and do it. Once things start moving forward it'll be like snow down a hill.

I just sound like a whiny bitch, don't I?

Later!

mike

Work Post

As the title says, I'm doing this post from work so I'm going to keep it short. I just wanted to report that all is going well, the new job appears to be a nice fit, and that I think I've sold my first car today. A white Ion, to be precise. She's a nice lady who works at one of the banks we do business with, so it was a pretty decent experience overall. She's happy, we're happy...everybody's happy.

Anyway, I have to run. I'll try and make a more significant post later in the day or, at the very least, Friday (which is also my day off).

Later!

mike

First Day on the Floor

Today is going to be my first day on the selling floor. Well, not technically, because I've been there all week, but definitely my first day where I'm supposed to be selling. Up until now I've been reading product knowledge, taking test drives, bugging the other salesman (all three of them) for walkarounds and tips, chatting with the receptionist and working out some of the finer details for myself. It's a good environment to work in so I'm not expecting there to be any real difficulties, but when dealing with the buying public you always have to brace yourself for surprises.

One benefit I'm finding already is the dead time you have on slow days. If you don't have sales calls to make (being new and all) and nothing else to do you can kill time however you want. Some of the ways I've chosen to do so this week have been the aforementioned test drives, finishing my Rogue Squadron book (finally!) and working up questions for the Walt Simonson and Jeff Parker interviews I have on the table. I have high hopes for future slow periods.

Anyway, I'll post a follow-up tonight or tomorrow with all the gory details.

mike

Superman's Girlfriend

I'm just on my way out the door at the moment, but I wanted to mention that I recently acquired this...





...which normally retails at $139.95(CAN) for a whopping $10.00! She's standing right next to my computer monitor until I find her a better home.

I am definitely having a good week.

More on this later.

mike

Busy Week

Wow. When it rains it pours.

To start with, I quit my job at the ol' Superstore this week (well, quit is a relative term - something I'll explain at length in a longer post), got hired on as a car salesman at Saturn (my brother's old job), got a reply from Walter Simonson that he'd be interested in doing an interview, and remembered that I arranged another interview with Jeff Parker regarding his Alex Toth sketchbook that he's publishing (I really hope it's not too late for that one). Add to that the fact that I've completed Evil Dead: Regeneration and the Buckaroo Banzai comic book is finally out (hey, it's important to me) and you have an avalanche of good news over here.

As I mentioned before, I'll get into some further details in another post. I just wanted to make some noise today since I'll probably be too tied up with some shopping and running kids around today to say anything overly meaningful.

Things they are a changin'.

Later!

mike

Primal Hunting

Just to show you how primitive my game tastes are, I've added a link on the sidebar to Planet AvP, the one-stop source for Aliens vs. Predator info and files for as long as I can remember. While everyone else and their dog are playing XBOX 360 or waiting for the PS3 to arrive, I'm sitting in front of my computer and playing the expansion pack to a game which is fondly remembered but probably considered obsolete.

The reason for even mentioning it is because, aside from having nothing else to post about today, I've started using my computer for more than musing on the blog and watching videos again. Essentially, I got a little bored with doing the same old thing to unwind all the time - watching movies, watching TV shows, reading books or comics. I was looking for a change and since my brother had the XBOX I figured it might be a good idea to dust off some of my PC games and give them a whirl.

I used to be a fairly regular gamer. I played Half-Life, AvP (and it's sequel), Counterstrike, Day of Defeat and a number of others while they were still considered 'cool'. But as the games got more hi-tech, and the ability to upgrade my system grew more limited, I sort of gave up on the whole thing and turned to the XBOX my brother and I purchased together for my electronic kicks.

You know, now that I think about it, having the last Indy game play like shit on my PC might have had something to do with it as well. It seemed to be designed for a platform system, so I just sort of got in line, I guess.

Anyway, I hadn't played the expansion pack for AvP2 yet and figured that nine missions (3 per species) would be enough to keep my brain stimulated for brief spurts of time here and there throughout the week. So, I installed it, have been playing it, and remember how much I enjoyed doing this way back when.

I'm on the second mission of the Corporate (a.k.a. human) character's storyline right now which is pretty decent. The game is a prequel to the original AvP2's story and the game creators claim that secrets will be revealed and unanswered questions from AvP2 will finally be put to rest but, unfortunately, I can't remember the original storyline beyond some xenomorphs, a Predator creeping around and a bunch of Marines sent in to clean up after all hell breaks loose.

Maybe if I could find a summary of the original somewhere.

Anyway, there may be some good news on the pocketbook situation after this week (job interview #2), so who knows, maybe a system upgrade isn't too far into the future for me after all and I can start playing with the big boys again. Get a headset and everything.

Ah well, back to my day.

mike