I know I promised proper blogging with words and everything, but I found this video for Aqualung's 'Pressure Suit' and I just had to post it. Ben Hales is a Meanwhile... favourite and has made the blog a few times in the past, so it should come as a surprise to no one.
And for those of you still paying attention Stars have released a sneak preview of their new album, In Our Bedroom After the War, with this track called "The Night Starts Here".
Download, preview and enjoy.
And now, Aqualung...
mike
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Friday, June 29, 2007
One Last Addition to the Love In
I know my last two posts were both Indy-related and lacking in what could be termed 'original material' but I'm still feeling the buzz from that pic earlier this week and with no other outlet...You get the picture.
Anyway, Shia LaBeouf (soon to be on big screens in the new Transformers movie) chats briefly about being cast in the new Indy movie courtesy of, who else, IndianaJones.com.
Back to our regularly scheduled programming shortly.
mike
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
It Just Gets Better and Better
Browsing around the IndianaJones.com site I stumbled upon this video of the first day of shooting.It's gonna be a good year.
mike
Monday, June 25, 2007
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Monday, June 18, 2007
Besson to Un-Retire?
A little while ago I talked about Luc Besson's comments regarding his retirement from the directing business. As a big fan of his films, this was not a great thing to be reading or hearing, but according to an April article on Sci-Fi Wire that may change. Besson claims to have another Sci-Fi project in mind, a la The Fifth Element, only better.Fingers crossed, and knocking on wood that he'll not only write this one but direct it, too. Nothing against Ronny Yu or Pierre Morel, but I'd just like to see him back in the saddle again, you know?
mike
Saturday, June 16, 2007
He's a Demon On Wheels...
I'm not sure if I'm going to get a chance to post today seeing as Friday sort of got away from me, so I thought I would leave you with this:
Click through for the story.
mike
Click through for the story.
mike
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Things I've Been Reading
I've had the opportunity to do a little bit of comic book readint in the last week and I thought I would post some thoughts here.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8: It was awaited with much anticipation, it was greeted with much adulation, what soon followed was a brief capitulation which ended with some grand celebration. That pretty much sums up my experience with the first four issues of the series. I was thrilled with the first issue, found the middle two a bit lagging and loved the conclusion. For a while there, I honestly thought I might not be keeping up with this revitalized version of the comic book franchise, but I'm happy to say Joss pulled it off in the end and I happily await Brian K. Vaughan's 4-issue Faith storyline. If they manage to keep the quality up and the other TV writers revive the magic, this could earn it's way up to 'top-o-the-pile' reading like its predecessor.
John Constantine Hellblazer: I had been absent from this series for a very long time (I bought 6 issues during Mike Carey's run and quit somewhere during Azzarello's) but the coming of Andy Diggle caught my attention. I liked some of his work in the past and I really wanted to see where fresh blood would take the character since the previous writer left a bad taste in many poeple's mouths and I was sure that there was very little left to do with the guy after years and years of the same-old same-old.
His first issue was simple, predictable John but a nice read overall. It featured a guy who wants to do nasty things to our John that suffers an enjoyable Tales From the Crypty sort of bad end. The second starts off seeming redundant, continuing the story from the first which you thought was completed, but ends with a nice hint as to where Diggle will be taking the series for the immediate future. The third has some big things happening but I think on first reading it lacks the satisfying build that the first two had.
Overall, I'm enjoying where this book is going more than the stories themselves so I'll stick with it for a while.
Ultimate Fantastic Four: My favourite new book, really. I've been catching up on back issues and picked up the latest, #42, because I liked the art and wondered how they'd introduce the Surfer into the Ultimate Marvel U. I find this book endlessly entertaining and Mike Carey does a great job of continuing what Mark Millar, Warren Ellis and others have set up before him. The ideas are big, the science is wild, the threats are interesting and the characters are, arguably, better and truer to their roots than their adult counterparts. I think I'll be picking this one up monthly from now on.
Loners: Cebulski and Moline continue making me happy with their retired super-hero support group tale. Cebulski's writing is very real and the dialogue comes off as effortless and individual to each character. I honestly wouldn't care if these guys had no previous connection to the Marvel U, I find their story interesting and truly hope that they get a monthly book out of this mini. It seems to be selling well so who knows.
That's it for today, probably more to come.
mike
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8: It was awaited with much anticipation, it was greeted with much adulation, what soon followed was a brief capitulation which ended with some grand celebration. That pretty much sums up my experience with the first four issues of the series. I was thrilled with the first issue, found the middle two a bit lagging and loved the conclusion. For a while there, I honestly thought I might not be keeping up with this revitalized version of the comic book franchise, but I'm happy to say Joss pulled it off in the end and I happily await Brian K. Vaughan's 4-issue Faith storyline. If they manage to keep the quality up and the other TV writers revive the magic, this could earn it's way up to 'top-o-the-pile' reading like its predecessor.John Constantine Hellblazer: I had been absent from this series for a very long time (I bought 6 issues during Mike Carey's run and quit somewhere during Azzarello's) but the coming of Andy Diggle caught my attention. I liked some of his work in the past and I really wanted to see where fresh blood would take the character since the previous writer left a bad taste in many poeple's mouths and I was sure that there was very little left to do with the guy after years and years of the same-old same-old.His first issue was simple, predictable John but a nice read overall. It featured a guy who wants to do nasty things to our John that suffers an enjoyable Tales From the Crypty sort of bad end. The second starts off seeming redundant, continuing the story from the first which you thought was completed, but ends with a nice hint as to where Diggle will be taking the series for the immediate future. The third has some big things happening but I think on first reading it lacks the satisfying build that the first two had.
Overall, I'm enjoying where this book is going more than the stories themselves so I'll stick with it for a while.
Ultimate Fantastic Four: My favourite new book, really. I've been catching up on back issues and picked up the latest, #42, because I liked the art and wondered how they'd introduce the Surfer into the Ultimate Marvel U. I find this book endlessly entertaining and Mike Carey does a great job of continuing what Mark Millar, Warren Ellis and others have set up before him. The ideas are big, the science is wild, the threats are interesting and the characters are, arguably, better and truer to their roots than their adult counterparts. I think I'll be picking this one up monthly from now on.Loners: Cebulski and Moline continue making me happy with their retired super-hero support group tale. Cebulski's writing is very real and the dialogue comes off as effortless and individual to each character. I honestly wouldn't care if these guys had no previous connection to the Marvel U, I find their story interesting and truly hope that they get a monthly book out of this mini. It seems to be selling well so who knows.That's it for today, probably more to come.
mike
Saturday, June 09, 2007
I Owe It to Meryl
I've always been a watcher of people. There's something about the behaviour of people I know and people I don't that just gets the gears in my head turning. Some things are so very particular to one person while others are more generalized, some are cute, some are odd, others are downright perverse.
The reason I mention this is because I was at work the other day when one of the ladies from the administrative offices upstairs walked by me in one of the paint aisles while I was stocking the shelves. As she passed I noticed her hand go to cover her back end and she sort of waved it to and fro as if to brush away something. Normally I wouldn't even give it another thought but an interview I saw many years ago with Meryl Streep where she was talking to Gene Siskel about her career, and The Bridges of Madison County in particular, has permanently made me aware of this odd bit of female behaviour.
Siskel commented to Streep that he loved the scene where she was talking to Clint Eastwood on the porch because as she walks away and out of the scene, she brushes her hand behind her and ruffles the back of her dress. He thought it was a cute affectation and symbolic of how her character must have felt like a young girl at that moment, flirting with Clint and all, and that was an impish, youthful sort of thing for her to do in that situation. He wanted to know ehere the impulse to do it came from and if he was right in his assumption.
Meryl shyed away from answering at first but admitted that it had nothing to do with feeling youthful and instead was the byproduct of her character not wanting Clint, who she was flirting shamelessly with at the time, to see her fat ass as she walked away. That's what the impulse was for her to add that little moment to her character. They both had a laugh about it and life went on.
Almost immediately after seeing this interview, I was aware of this sort of thing going on all the time. Whether it was someone I knew, or a complete stranger walking down the street, probably 9 out of 10 women would do the little hand flap behind them as they passed you by. Probably assuming that you're, as a man, going to stare at their behinds anyway, it may not even be a conscious thing. Still, every time I see it (which is a lot) I get a chuckle and it always makes me think of Meryl and that ridiculous movie which I don't think I'll ever bother watching.
People, though, people I'll always bother with.
mike
The reason I mention this is because I was at work the other day when one of the ladies from the administrative offices upstairs walked by me in one of the paint aisles while I was stocking the shelves. As she passed I noticed her hand go to cover her back end and she sort of waved it to and fro as if to brush away something. Normally I wouldn't even give it another thought but an interview I saw many years ago with Meryl Streep where she was talking to Gene Siskel about her career, and The Bridges of Madison County in particular, has permanently made me aware of this odd bit of female behaviour.
Siskel commented to Streep that he loved the scene where she was talking to Clint Eastwood on the porch because as she walks away and out of the scene, she brushes her hand behind her and ruffles the back of her dress. He thought it was a cute affectation and symbolic of how her character must have felt like a young girl at that moment, flirting with Clint and all, and that was an impish, youthful sort of thing for her to do in that situation. He wanted to know ehere the impulse to do it came from and if he was right in his assumption.
Meryl shyed away from answering at first but admitted that it had nothing to do with feeling youthful and instead was the byproduct of her character not wanting Clint, who she was flirting shamelessly with at the time, to see her fat ass as she walked away. That's what the impulse was for her to add that little moment to her character. They both had a laugh about it and life went on.
Almost immediately after seeing this interview, I was aware of this sort of thing going on all the time. Whether it was someone I knew, or a complete stranger walking down the street, probably 9 out of 10 women would do the little hand flap behind them as they passed you by. Probably assuming that you're, as a man, going to stare at their behinds anyway, it may not even be a conscious thing. Still, every time I see it (which is a lot) I get a chuckle and it always makes me think of Meryl and that ridiculous movie which I don't think I'll ever bother watching.
People, though, people I'll always bother with.
mike
Saturday, June 02, 2007
The Descent
I thought I would make a couple of comments on this movie/DVD since I slapped it up there on the sidebar in my 'In the Spotlight' section.
For those of you who don't know, this movie was made by Neil Marshall, the same director who put together another fabulous horror flick, Dog Soldiers. Originally, I had no interest in seeing it despite my absolute adoration of his werewolf vs. SAS soldiers free-for-all, partly because of the poster (which makes it look like every bit of torture porn out there) but mostly because of a mention on the IMDB that referred to Marshall as a member of the unofficial "Splat Pack", lumping him in with the likes of Alexandre Aja, Darren Lynn Bousman, Greg McLean, Eli Roth, James Wan, Leigh Whannell & Rob Zombie.
Not a group of writer/director/producer/actors that I have a lot of respect for.
Anyway, I'd changed my mind somewhat when I heard Joss Whedon give this movie some major kudos in an interview he did with The Word Balloon. He, like I, is sick to death of all these Hostel and Saw movies and was just about ready to stop watching contemporary horror movies altogether until the lights dimmed down and he went on this journey with this group of women.
I sat through the first hour of the movie absolutely engrossed in their dark descent into an unexplored cave where the physical dangers and hardships mirrored those going on within the group. Watching these women start to fray at the seams and deal with the loss of supplies, direction and ultimately hope had me to the point where, if a creature never bothered to grace the screen, I wouldn't have cared. I wanted to see what happens tho these guys, first and foremost.
Like any good horror, Marshall saves the actual creature reveal until very late in the game and from that point on it is a roller coaster ride to the end of the film's 100 minute running time. The big moment also got a hop off the chair from yours truly, something which almost never, ever happens to me while watching one of these movies. But there I was, my brother and I, jaws agape and sitting on the edge of our seats as all hell breaks loose.
I've since purchased the movie and started to delve into its array of bonus features. There are a couple of commentaries, some featurettes and a making of documentary which is both informative and fun. Marshall is an interesting to guy to listen to. If I ever get the chance to interview him myself one day, I'll consider myself lucky.
I have yet to listen to the commentaries, but if they're half as good as the one on Dog Soldiers then it's all good.
In a nutshell, I loved this movie like I haven't loved a show in a long while. I highly recommend it and would be interested to hear what you think about it. SOme of the comments I see on other sights are indicating that a lot of people aren't getting the ending or even understanding the idea behind the whole movie.
I'm going to go back and watch some X-Files now. I need to plough through Season 2 so I can get to some of the juicier parts of the series. The end of 2 and the beginning of 3 is where things really start to kick off, as any X-Phile will tell you.
Onwards and upwards!
mike
For those of you who don't know, this movie was made by Neil Marshall, the same director who put together another fabulous horror flick, Dog Soldiers. Originally, I had no interest in seeing it despite my absolute adoration of his werewolf vs. SAS soldiers free-for-all, partly because of the poster (which makes it look like every bit of torture porn out there) but mostly because of a mention on the IMDB that referred to Marshall as a member of the unofficial "Splat Pack", lumping him in with the likes of Alexandre Aja, Darren Lynn Bousman, Greg McLean, Eli Roth, James Wan, Leigh Whannell & Rob Zombie.Not a group of writer/director/producer/actors that I have a lot of respect for.
Anyway, I'd changed my mind somewhat when I heard Joss Whedon give this movie some major kudos in an interview he did with The Word Balloon. He, like I, is sick to death of all these Hostel and Saw movies and was just about ready to stop watching contemporary horror movies altogether until the lights dimmed down and he went on this journey with this group of women.
I sat through the first hour of the movie absolutely engrossed in their dark descent into an unexplored cave where the physical dangers and hardships mirrored those going on within the group. Watching these women start to fray at the seams and deal with the loss of supplies, direction and ultimately hope had me to the point where, if a creature never bothered to grace the screen, I wouldn't have cared. I wanted to see what happens tho these guys, first and foremost.
Like any good horror, Marshall saves the actual creature reveal until very late in the game and from that point on it is a roller coaster ride to the end of the film's 100 minute running time. The big moment also got a hop off the chair from yours truly, something which almost never, ever happens to me while watching one of these movies. But there I was, my brother and I, jaws agape and sitting on the edge of our seats as all hell breaks loose.
I've since purchased the movie and started to delve into its array of bonus features. There are a couple of commentaries, some featurettes and a making of documentary which is both informative and fun. Marshall is an interesting to guy to listen to. If I ever get the chance to interview him myself one day, I'll consider myself lucky.
I have yet to listen to the commentaries, but if they're half as good as the one on Dog Soldiers then it's all good.
In a nutshell, I loved this movie like I haven't loved a show in a long while. I highly recommend it and would be interested to hear what you think about it. SOme of the comments I see on other sights are indicating that a lot of people aren't getting the ending or even understanding the idea behind the whole movie.
I'm going to go back and watch some X-Files now. I need to plough through Season 2 so I can get to some of the juicier parts of the series. The end of 2 and the beginning of 3 is where things really start to kick off, as any X-Phile will tell you.
Onwards and upwards!
mike
Thursday, May 31, 2007
End of May Report
Okay. I'm finally ready to get the 'everything up 'til now' post out of the way, so here goes...
It's been a pretty turbulent month in the ol' Jozic household. The job search, which had the Red Cross position as the place to be, turned out to be not exactly what I had hoped. After a long deliberation period the fine folks with the Canadian Red Cross (Saskatoon branch) decided to go with someone who had previous experience with the organization and I was given a cold reminder why one should never put all of his eggs in one basket.
I was feeling pretty spun afterwards and started firing résumés off here and there, mostly in the area of communications, with nothing resembling a reply but the sound of wee crickets in the wilderness. Jen, naturally, was going absolutely bonkers even though things were going better than ever with her job-related stuff. An impending possible promotion and extension of her contract were greatly overshadowed in her mind by the impending doom my job situation was presenting for the near future.
Add to this the Irish Dance Competition (from here on referred to as the Feis) that was building up a head of steam as its start date approached and we were really starting to pull out our hair in earnest.
My involvement with the Feis as hospitality chair meant that I would be tied up all weekend, working the Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but Jen's was more labour intensive. She had agreed to make and handle the printing for the program, which seemed like a weekend job at the time but grew to monstrous proportions as May 18th came closer and closer. Naturally, everything that could go wrong did and she was going on practically no sleep for those last couple of days before the event.
Then she had to ramp up and do it all over again for her boss as they were going to be attending/hosting the biggest academic conference of the year (that happened this week, by the way).
In the midst of all this we still had to ferry the kids around to all their practices and school events (the year is wrapping up and field trip season has begun in earnest) and with my parents gone on holidays we called in the in-laws to lend a hand with the younguns. This was a big help but did take some recoordinating since the system we had set-up with my mother was tweaked somewhat to better suit Jen's folks. Nothing major, mind you, but any change when things are that off-balance and you feel every twitch and twitter.
With all that stress floating around it's no wonder the homefront became a demilitarized zone. We got so far behind on so many things we're still scrambling to catch up, or at least get things back to a reasonable semblance of order.
Part of the reason I can be sitting here typing this is because when I look around at the room I'm in, I can actually see the couches and not huge piles of clean but untended laundry and the work area around the computer is more or less back to its usual state of disrepair as opposed to the vortex of chaos it had become over the last 30-60 days. The dishwasher is humming away in the kitchen doing what it does best and the kidlings are all upstairs falling asleep after a pleasant evening of tidying up and some quiet reading time.
All of these things are helping dial down the tension and I've got some sweet Charlie Parker playing on the media player right now, so the state of mind can be said to be good.
On the upside, there were some great things that came out of May that deserve acknowledgement. Like I said before, Jen has some sweet career climbing ahead of her and the conference led to another conference, this time only as an attendee and not a coordinator, program maker or go to girl when things go wacky. It's a pretty sweet deal, too, since the admission alone for this one is $450 per person. The fact that they spent the money to send her to what is, in effect, a huge networking opportunity means that they don't plan on getting rid of her just yet.
I finally snagged myself some decent employment with the Saskatoon Co-op. It's retail, and I'm not sure I know any more about selling plumbing and electrical goods as I did about cars, but the pay is decent, the hours are full-time with regular pay raises and there are benefits and a pension plan which all kick in after the 3 month probation. They're also looking at me as more of a management trainee candidate because of my degree and background, so the whole clerk thing could be a thing of the past in a little while.
The kids have been keeping on despite all the kookiness. To be honest, I think they were probably the best shielded from the chaos since their schedules demanded they spend a lot of time away from home and us. I know they saw the seams fraying and they had their share of getting balled out for missing some of the simple things but, as always, we did our best to keep their lives running smoothly, even if ours were falling apart.
Their school seems to be wrapping up nicely and both girls did great at the Feis, winning several medals and trophies between them. We're really hoping that Emma moves ahead a level after this year so fingers are crossed. Simon got to go to the lake with his grandparents and be pampered for a little while
Bucky also benefitted, somewhat. While I was off work and home, he got to go outside for around 30-60 minutes everyday, which he was sorry to see go when I started work again. That time outside with the cat was some probably part of the reason why I didn't totally cave under all the pressure. I would sit there with my book, whatever it happened to be at the time, and read a chapter or four while he prowled around and made sure he sniffed every corner of the yard. It was very calming. Even though things are lightening up a bit, I miss those afternoon yard brakes with the cat terribly.
Another good thing about May was appliance related. We toasted our old kitchen hardware and picked up a new fridge which has officially started the unofficial kitchen renovation of 2007. Jen's been wanting to replace those eyesores for, oh, 7 years and she finally got her wish. I won't get into details but with things finally rearranged, family dinners are now possible for the first time since moving in almost a decade ago.
There are some other things that made May an okay month after all, such as my acquisition of this Jonny Quest figure from McFarlane toys' Hanna-Barbera series and the purchase of the Ultimate Superman DVD collection as a 'you got a job' gift to myself, but those things will probably get their own post at some point. I'm sure one day I'll get around to addressing all the stuff I keep saying I'll post about.
Anyway, that's my rant on May and a 'keep you up to date' for anyone who actually cares about what goes on at Jozic HQ. I'll get back to the minutia of stuff as I settle into a regular posting schedule again.
Onwards and upwards!
mike
It's been a pretty turbulent month in the ol' Jozic household. The job search, which had the Red Cross position as the place to be, turned out to be not exactly what I had hoped. After a long deliberation period the fine folks with the Canadian Red Cross (Saskatoon branch) decided to go with someone who had previous experience with the organization and I was given a cold reminder why one should never put all of his eggs in one basket.
I was feeling pretty spun afterwards and started firing résumés off here and there, mostly in the area of communications, with nothing resembling a reply but the sound of wee crickets in the wilderness. Jen, naturally, was going absolutely bonkers even though things were going better than ever with her job-related stuff. An impending possible promotion and extension of her contract were greatly overshadowed in her mind by the impending doom my job situation was presenting for the near future.
Add to this the Irish Dance Competition (from here on referred to as the Feis) that was building up a head of steam as its start date approached and we were really starting to pull out our hair in earnest.
My involvement with the Feis as hospitality chair meant that I would be tied up all weekend, working the Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but Jen's was more labour intensive. She had agreed to make and handle the printing for the program, which seemed like a weekend job at the time but grew to monstrous proportions as May 18th came closer and closer. Naturally, everything that could go wrong did and she was going on practically no sleep for those last couple of days before the event.
Then she had to ramp up and do it all over again for her boss as they were going to be attending/hosting the biggest academic conference of the year (that happened this week, by the way).
In the midst of all this we still had to ferry the kids around to all their practices and school events (the year is wrapping up and field trip season has begun in earnest) and with my parents gone on holidays we called in the in-laws to lend a hand with the younguns. This was a big help but did take some recoordinating since the system we had set-up with my mother was tweaked somewhat to better suit Jen's folks. Nothing major, mind you, but any change when things are that off-balance and you feel every twitch and twitter.
With all that stress floating around it's no wonder the homefront became a demilitarized zone. We got so far behind on so many things we're still scrambling to catch up, or at least get things back to a reasonable semblance of order.
Part of the reason I can be sitting here typing this is because when I look around at the room I'm in, I can actually see the couches and not huge piles of clean but untended laundry and the work area around the computer is more or less back to its usual state of disrepair as opposed to the vortex of chaos it had become over the last 30-60 days. The dishwasher is humming away in the kitchen doing what it does best and the kidlings are all upstairs falling asleep after a pleasant evening of tidying up and some quiet reading time.
All of these things are helping dial down the tension and I've got some sweet Charlie Parker playing on the media player right now, so the state of mind can be said to be good.
On the upside, there were some great things that came out of May that deserve acknowledgement. Like I said before, Jen has some sweet career climbing ahead of her and the conference led to another conference, this time only as an attendee and not a coordinator, program maker or go to girl when things go wacky. It's a pretty sweet deal, too, since the admission alone for this one is $450 per person. The fact that they spent the money to send her to what is, in effect, a huge networking opportunity means that they don't plan on getting rid of her just yet.
I finally snagged myself some decent employment with the Saskatoon Co-op. It's retail, and I'm not sure I know any more about selling plumbing and electrical goods as I did about cars, but the pay is decent, the hours are full-time with regular pay raises and there are benefits and a pension plan which all kick in after the 3 month probation. They're also looking at me as more of a management trainee candidate because of my degree and background, so the whole clerk thing could be a thing of the past in a little while.
The kids have been keeping on despite all the kookiness. To be honest, I think they were probably the best shielded from the chaos since their schedules demanded they spend a lot of time away from home and us. I know they saw the seams fraying and they had their share of getting balled out for missing some of the simple things but, as always, we did our best to keep their lives running smoothly, even if ours were falling apart.
Their school seems to be wrapping up nicely and both girls did great at the Feis, winning several medals and trophies between them. We're really hoping that Emma moves ahead a level after this year so fingers are crossed. Simon got to go to the lake with his grandparents and be pampered for a little while
Bucky also benefitted, somewhat. While I was off work and home, he got to go outside for around 30-60 minutes everyday, which he was sorry to see go when I started work again. That time outside with the cat was some probably part of the reason why I didn't totally cave under all the pressure. I would sit there with my book, whatever it happened to be at the time, and read a chapter or four while he prowled around and made sure he sniffed every corner of the yard. It was very calming. Even though things are lightening up a bit, I miss those afternoon yard brakes with the cat terribly.
Another good thing about May was appliance related. We toasted our old kitchen hardware and picked up a new fridge which has officially started the unofficial kitchen renovation of 2007. Jen's been wanting to replace those eyesores for, oh, 7 years and she finally got her wish. I won't get into details but with things finally rearranged, family dinners are now possible for the first time since moving in almost a decade ago.
There are some other things that made May an okay month after all, such as my acquisition of this Jonny Quest figure from McFarlane toys' Hanna-Barbera series and the purchase of the Ultimate Superman DVD collection as a 'you got a job' gift to myself, but those things will probably get their own post at some point. I'm sure one day I'll get around to addressing all the stuff I keep saying I'll post about.Anyway, that's my rant on May and a 'keep you up to date' for anyone who actually cares about what goes on at Jozic HQ. I'll get back to the minutia of stuff as I settle into a regular posting schedule again.
Onwards and upwards!
mike
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Connor Hawke Bit of a Disappointment
Probably much like this post.
It's been forever and a day since I've posted on here and so much has been happening in my life right now that I thought instead of giving you guys a big 'what's been shakin' at the Jozic pad' I'd post on something smaller and easier to digest.
I posted some time ago how much I was looking forward to this limited series so I was a little surprised when I stared at it on the shelf and passed it over month after month until there was no point in picking it up. Connor Hawke replaced Oliver Queen in the pages of Green Arrow as the title character after Olly died a while ago and something about the combination of Chuck Dixon's writing and Rodolfo Dimaggio's artwork just hooked me completely on this book that I hadn't given the time of day since long before Mike Grell left to do other projects. Considering how jaded I've gotten in recent years with super-hero comics my hope was that this would be a cry back to the days when I was still excited about this character and the DC Universe as a whole.
When the book debuted there was just something about the presentation and the first impressions of it that didn't speak to highly for it so I always just left it alone.
I finally found a copy of the first issue for a buck the other day so I figured there was nothing to lose and picked it up to give it a try, only to find that all my reservations were well founded. I know that a first issue is supposed to be all set-up for the next 3, 4 or 5 issues, but Dixon doesn't really do a good job of making these characters live and breathe the way he did back in Green Arrow. For that matter, they weren't as good as when Dixon had Connor and Eddie do a guest-shot in Birds of Prey. Heck, when I hit the point where I just knew that this was going to be a hackneyed intro story I even tried to give it the benefit of the doubt so far as looking for a deeper hook in the potential for a cool continuing plot.
Alas, the effort was in vain.
I should probably mention that I did not mind the artwork of Derec Donovan whom I was first exposed to as a fill-in for Karl Moline on Rogue. He was no Rodolfo, to be sure, and there was a simplicity to the style that I don't think really helped the book, but it wasn't bad. It still looked like Eddie, Conner, Shado, and the whole gang, it just didn't excite me too much. Javier Pulido would have been a nice choice, as would Moline or ex-Green Arrow/Connor Hawke artist, Will Rosado.
So, that's my story, there's my review, and this is my big come back post. I hope it wasn't too much of a waste of time.
mike
It's been forever and a day since I've posted on here and so much has been happening in my life right now that I thought instead of giving you guys a big 'what's been shakin' at the Jozic pad' I'd post on something smaller and easier to digest.
I posted some time ago how much I was looking forward to this limited series so I was a little surprised when I stared at it on the shelf and passed it over month after month until there was no point in picking it up. Connor Hawke replaced Oliver Queen in the pages of Green Arrow as the title character after Olly died a while ago and something about the combination of Chuck Dixon's writing and Rodolfo Dimaggio's artwork just hooked me completely on this book that I hadn't given the time of day since long before Mike Grell left to do other projects. Considering how jaded I've gotten in recent years with super-hero comics my hope was that this would be a cry back to the days when I was still excited about this character and the DC Universe as a whole.When the book debuted there was just something about the presentation and the first impressions of it that didn't speak to highly for it so I always just left it alone.
I finally found a copy of the first issue for a buck the other day so I figured there was nothing to lose and picked it up to give it a try, only to find that all my reservations were well founded. I know that a first issue is supposed to be all set-up for the next 3, 4 or 5 issues, but Dixon doesn't really do a good job of making these characters live and breathe the way he did back in Green Arrow. For that matter, they weren't as good as when Dixon had Connor and Eddie do a guest-shot in Birds of Prey. Heck, when I hit the point where I just knew that this was going to be a hackneyed intro story I even tried to give it the benefit of the doubt so far as looking for a deeper hook in the potential for a cool continuing plot.
Alas, the effort was in vain.
I should probably mention that I did not mind the artwork of Derec Donovan whom I was first exposed to as a fill-in for Karl Moline on Rogue. He was no Rodolfo, to be sure, and there was a simplicity to the style that I don't think really helped the book, but it wasn't bad. It still looked like Eddie, Conner, Shado, and the whole gang, it just didn't excite me too much. Javier Pulido would have been a nice choice, as would Moline or ex-Green Arrow/Connor Hawke artist, Will Rosado.
So, that's my story, there's my review, and this is my big come back post. I hope it wasn't too much of a waste of time.
mike
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Jobless No More
What a difference a week can make. A couple of days ago I was given the word that I would be working again, full-time, as of this coming Tuesday (I think the 22nd). I just wanted to put up a quick note here since it's been forever since I was last on, but I will be back later with more details. This Feis (Irish Dance competition) thing Jen and I are volunteering for is sucking the life right out of us. It'll all be over by the weekend, though.
TTYL!
mike
TTYL!
mike
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Still Jobless
The search continues, although I'm starting to wonder if it's all in vain. I've put out a number of applications in the last little while and haven't heard back from any of them to date (well, that's not entirely true. I did get an interview with a local co-operative retail company, but I'm not holding out hope for that one). I know it can sometimes take a while to hear back, especially when you're dealing with competitions where you have to wait for the application deadline to hit, then wait for the selection process, but the whole soul-sucking experience is starting to take its toll on me. I'm starting to feel that mental exhaustion that comes from doing something unsuccessfully for a duration of time and I don't see that playing too well to the significant other when there are pressing matters bearing down on us over the course of the next 3 to 6 weeks.
In the meantime, my wife is starting to grasp at straws and encouraging me to join the RCMP who offer a great salary, good benefits package and are, apparently, desperate for candidates. They've had a lot of retirings in the last little while and have spent so much time and effort encouraging equal hiring practices that they are now in need of hiring some "big white guys" for the force. It looks almost attractive except for the part where I'm not all that physical a person and have no love of being shot at.
And so, the frustration grows and the days drag on and nothing seems to change.
Until next time.
mike
In the meantime, my wife is starting to grasp at straws and encouraging me to join the RCMP who offer a great salary, good benefits package and are, apparently, desperate for candidates. They've had a lot of retirings in the last little while and have spent so much time and effort encouraging equal hiring practices that they are now in need of hiring some "big white guys" for the force. It looks almost attractive except for the part where I'm not all that physical a person and have no love of being shot at.
And so, the frustration grows and the days drag on and nothing seems to change.
Until next time.
mike
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Lupo the Butcher Takes the Stage
It's been a few days since I've posted and I know it'll be a little while longer before I get anything new done on here so I figured I'd post a YouTube video that I caught a short time ago.
This clip is an animated short done by Danny Antonucci, the creator of Ed, Edd and Eddy, only this one's a little less work friendly than that show.
It's as disgusting as it is hilarious.
Enjoy!
mike
This clip is an animated short done by Danny Antonucci, the creator of Ed, Edd and Eddy, only this one's a little less work friendly than that show.
It's as disgusting as it is hilarious.
Enjoy!
mike
Friday, April 27, 2007
Room For Squares
Welp, I'm off to see John Mayer this weekend in Edmonton so I won't be blogging for the next couple of days. Also going to watch my daughters Irish dance in the Sherwood Park Feis (pronounced Fesh) while I'm there.
Should be a lot of fun.
I'll come back with a concert report, I'm sure.
Onwards and upwards!
mike
Should be a lot of fun.
I'll come back with a concert report, I'm sure.
Onwards and upwards!
mike
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Gorillaz Break-Up Not New
I ran across this article over at The Village Voice where writer, Tom Breihan, discusses the break-up of the animated super group, Gorillaz.
Now, the piece is dated for the 25th of April, and this has been pretty comon knowledge for, like, 4 or 5 months, if I'm not mistaken. The Gorillaz autobiography, Rise of the Ogre, was supposed to be the closing bookend on what was a wild and crazy near-decade of Gorillaz music and madness. I distinctly remember reading press on the book saying that the band was finished as of album #2 and the book is one last hurrah for the fans.
I checked the wiki entry on the group and it seems a little more vague on the whole notion of the band breaking up, as it were, but with Albarn having moved on to his new pet project, The Good, The Bad, and The Queen, one could say the writing was on the wall.
Anyway, there was no grand point to making this post other than to complain about Breihan's lack of spidey-sense when it comes to nailing the current events and to join in with the disgruntled comment crowd from the Voice site and say 'poo' for the ill informed and churlish comments he made regarding the band, their releases, and Albarn.
Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.
mike
Now, the piece is dated for the 25th of April, and this has been pretty comon knowledge for, like, 4 or 5 months, if I'm not mistaken. The Gorillaz autobiography, Rise of the Ogre, was supposed to be the closing bookend on what was a wild and crazy near-decade of Gorillaz music and madness. I distinctly remember reading press on the book saying that the band was finished as of album #2 and the book is one last hurrah for the fans.I checked the wiki entry on the group and it seems a little more vague on the whole notion of the band breaking up, as it were, but with Albarn having moved on to his new pet project, The Good, The Bad, and The Queen, one could say the writing was on the wall.
Anyway, there was no grand point to making this post other than to complain about Breihan's lack of spidey-sense when it comes to nailing the current events and to join in with the disgruntled comment crowd from the Voice site and say 'poo' for the ill informed and churlish comments he made regarding the band, their releases, and Albarn.
Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.
mike
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
More Interview Links
I found this great interview with David Simon, the writer of Homicide: Life on the Street and the creator of The Wire for HBO. It's conducted by Bob Andelman (Will Eisner's most recent biographer) and was a pretty decent read.
I'm trying to get the wife to watch the first season of The Wire with me but she doesn't seem to be budging. Everything I hear about the show is superb and everyone keeps calling it the best thing on television, so I figure I gotta at least give it a look-see. I love Homicide to bits so I'm pretty much expecting to love The Wire, as well.
Hmmm...maybe when I'm done posting I'll fire the first episode up.
The second link is one that I wasn't expecting to find when I cleaned out all the lingering Google News alerts that were sitting in my inbox. Apparently, the Star Bulletin (a Hawaiian paper, if I'm not mistaken) featured a very nice article on the inimitable Darwyn Cooke. It focuses mainly on the new Spirit stories Cooke is working on but the writer makes sure to mention Cooke's past works and adds a little bit of commentary, as well.
Overall, I was impressed with the piece. This sort of thing usually gets three or four paragraphs buried in the Arts section somewhere and someone is usually prefacing anything they say about comic book creators with a Pow or Zowie!. It's worth the read.
I was also going to post something about the new animated Doctor Who but I'll save that 'til next time.
Onwards and upwards!
mike
I'm trying to get the wife to watch the first season of The Wire with me but she doesn't seem to be budging. Everything I hear about the show is superb and everyone keeps calling it the best thing on television, so I figure I gotta at least give it a look-see. I love Homicide to bits so I'm pretty much expecting to love The Wire, as well.
Hmmm...maybe when I'm done posting I'll fire the first episode up.
The second link is one that I wasn't expecting to find when I cleaned out all the lingering Google News alerts that were sitting in my inbox. Apparently, the Star Bulletin (a Hawaiian paper, if I'm not mistaken) featured a very nice article on the inimitable Darwyn Cooke. It focuses mainly on the new Spirit stories Cooke is working on but the writer makes sure to mention Cooke's past works and adds a little bit of commentary, as well.
Overall, I was impressed with the piece. This sort of thing usually gets three or four paragraphs buried in the Arts section somewhere and someone is usually prefacing anything they say about comic book creators with a Pow or Zowie!. It's worth the read.
I was also going to post something about the new animated Doctor Who but I'll save that 'til next time.
Onwards and upwards!
mike
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Composer Yoko Kanno Interviewed
Over at the Production I.G. website there is an interview with acclaimed composer, Yoko Kanno. If you've ever watched an episode of Cowboy Bebop, Wolf's Rain, Ghost In the Shell: SAC or various other shows, you know her stuff and probably love it as much as I do.
The interview is translated from Japanese so some of the answers are a bit wiggy, but the general idea of what she's saying always gets across in the end.
A nice little peak into the process of this fabulous artist.
mike
The interview is translated from Japanese so some of the answers are a bit wiggy, but the general idea of what she's saying always gets across in the end.
A nice little peak into the process of this fabulous artist.
mike
Blood & Iron From Mignola and Stones
There's a getting blood from a stone joke in there somewhere but it would be too much work to tease it out so I'm just not gonna bother.
Anyway, the always well informed ToonZone has a nice interview with Hellboy Animated creators Mike Mignola and Tad Stones up on their site and if you have any interest in big red's animated adventures, than this'll be worth the price of admission.
I haven't seen Blood & Iron yet but it's on the list of things to do when I have an hour-and-a-half to spare. I've previewed it, though, and it looks pretty decent. Much darker than the first.
Seeing this actually reminds me that I should post my own interview with Tad Stones sometime soon.
mike
Anyway, the always well informed ToonZone has a nice interview with Hellboy Animated creators Mike Mignola and Tad Stones up on their site and if you have any interest in big red's animated adventures, than this'll be worth the price of admission.I haven't seen Blood & Iron yet but it's on the list of things to do when I have an hour-and-a-half to spare. I've previewed it, though, and it looks pretty decent. Much darker than the first.
Seeing this actually reminds me that I should post my own interview with Tad Stones sometime soon.
mike
Ramping Up to Spidey 3
Only a short time before the premiere of the the third installment in the Spider-Man series and the hype machine is working overtime. Not that I'm at all surprised by it, but I can't click anywhere on the web without seeing an interview with a cast or crew member who worked on the film.
The few I've read with Tobey, Kirsten or Bryce Dallas Howard generally leave me wanting but I love seeing the stuff on the usually quiet Raimi. Short of listening to his audio commentaries Sam has, in the past, been one to stay just outside of the spotlight. He does the press junket like everybody else but when you've got people like Bruce Campbell or Rob Tapert hamming it up for the fans, it's not a difficult task to sidestep the mob.
Moviehole has an interview with Raimi which I enjoyed and thought I would link to because I always share the love when I find an interview I enjoy. In it Sam talks about the movie, the choices they made with the characters, and the question as to whether or not he would return for a fourth film. In the past he has said three would likely be the end, but he doesn't sound convinced that the answer would be no this time around.
And while on the Raimi subject, check out this news item from FirstShowing.net which talks about Sam and a number of Pulp heroes who are looking to hit the big screen.
Onwards and upwards!
mike
The few I've read with Tobey, Kirsten or Bryce Dallas Howard generally leave me wanting but I love seeing the stuff on the usually quiet Raimi. Short of listening to his audio commentaries Sam has, in the past, been one to stay just outside of the spotlight. He does the press junket like everybody else but when you've got people like Bruce Campbell or Rob Tapert hamming it up for the fans, it's not a difficult task to sidestep the mob.
Moviehole has an interview with Raimi which I enjoyed and thought I would link to because I always share the love when I find an interview I enjoy. In it Sam talks about the movie, the choices they made with the characters, and the question as to whether or not he would return for a fourth film. In the past he has said three would likely be the end, but he doesn't sound convinced that the answer would be no this time around.
And while on the Raimi subject, check out this news item from FirstShowing.net which talks about Sam and a number of Pulp heroes who are looking to hit the big screen.
Onwards and upwards!
mike
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