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

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 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Life's Little Disappointments

I got word on Friday on that Red Cross job I posted about the other day. Turns out I came in as a strong second and they chose, instead, to hire someone who had some previosu history with the organization. Fair enough. It's their NGO and they can do what they want with it. ;)

Normally I wouldn't even blink at this. I've been rejected many, many times before and by less than the RC, but I was kind of putting all of my eggs in the one basket there, so I'm a little disappointed in myself for being such an idiot, and I'm also nursing a bummed ego because I didn't get the job and it was actually a pretty cool position - something I was looking forward to sinking my teeth into.

I know they say that you have to get 100 or more rejections before you get the job you want, and that I'm supposed to just hammer the market with my name and papers, but I'm just so tired of the whole process. With the wife and I being students for more years than I want to think about I've been in and out of seasonal jobs and contract positions for so many years that I wish, just once, that a half-decent opportunity would just drop in my lap.

"Oh, are you looking for something to do with the next few years of your life? Well, it just so happens I know the perfect thing. Here you go. You can have this job."

I just feel like banging my head against a wall for a while. Then, maybe, some sleep. Or a good book, that might do the trick, also. Then, back to the job postings and the résumés.

And, hey, if anybody out there in the MySpace community happens to know anybone who may be looking for a publicist or an events coordinator or a freelancer - something along those lines - I'm all ears. ;)

Onwards and upwards!

mike

World On the March

A couple of things in the news caught my attention today.

First off is this bit off of CBR News talking about the return of Jon J. Muth's adaptation of the Fritz Lang classic, M. I'm really looking forward to this reproduction because I never have gotten around to picking up the old series in the back issue bins even though I check them out from time to time.

Next up is the news that Spielberg and Dreamworks are working to bring Hergé's Tintin to the big screen. Personally I'm not so sure these are the folks who should be working on the project but we'll see how it all turns out. Maybe Transformers will be the acid test to see how SPielberg and his people adapt an existing property.

mike

1300 Words and Counting

It would appear that the oft commented on screenplay/comic script for Smitten has muscled its way into becoming a short story. I'm not entirely sure why, or what makes me think I can do prose, but I was in the bathroom, the source for all truly great ideas, when the first line came to me, fully formed and ready to be typed:

"It was dark in the room except for the thin slivers of dawn that forced themselves through the slats in the closed blinds."

Sure, it's not Shakespeare, but it didn't completely suck and it was a great jumping off point. It should come as no surprise that 2 hours later the line now rests somewhere in the middle of the fourth paragraph rather than kicking off the whole affair, but the chain reaction it set off has been both surprising and gratifying for me. I'm not usually comfortable writing outside of an interview or screenplay format so I'm really happy so far with how things are turning out. I may even start posting sections of it here as I smooth out the rough edges.

Onwards and upwards!

mike

Only the Lonely

Recent statistics place the number of users on the internet at close to 900 million cyber savvy souls. That's a heck of a lot of people when you sit down and think about it. Especially when you consider that, out of those 900 million people, not one of them has made a comment on my blog. At least, not for weeks. And there was, like, no activity before that last Speed Racer related comment.

I was talking to my wife the other day regarding the lack of comments on the ol' blog and how it reminded me of how difficult it was to generate any kind of feedback when I was the Features Editor for Silver Bullet Comicbooks. At the time, I would look at the other sites and there would always be a discussion going on about this interview or that, but over at SBC it was like pulling teeth getting anyone to even acknowledge they were at the site. Heck, I even arranged to get the creators we interviewed to come on the message boards and answer extra questions provided by the fans, adding a bit more interactivity to the mix.

But, despite all my efforts, and the probably 600 million poeple on the internet at that time, we were still unable to generate a more vocal fanbase.

Which brings me back to the blog.

It's not the reason I do it, for sure, but it does surprise me sometimes how quiet things get in my corner of the blogosphere. I'm sure there are tons of other bloggers out there who experience the exact same thing, and I'm not trying to cry and bitch that more people should be talking to me, but there is a certain degree of reach out and touch someone mentality when a person gets out on the web and does something like this.

Or maybe I'll have to write more interesting posts.

Onwards and upwards!

mike

Making Buffy Season 8

I ran across this neat feature at the Dark Horse website showing the process of how a comic book gets made from script to lettering. I'm sure most of is on the comics blogosphere know what that process is by now, but if you don't I guess this would be cool to you for that reason. Mostly it's cool because you get a sneak peek at 6 pages from Buffy the Vampire Slayer #3 by Joss Whedon and Georges Jeanty which comes out on May 2nd.

I'm enjoying the series so far, although I was a little disappointed in the second issue. It's filling the Whedonverse void that IDW attempted but never quite succeeded at (some valiant tries, but their Angel books just aren't quite right), so kudos to Whedon and Scott Allie at DHC for making this happen.

mike

'The Music'

David Usher has a new video from his latest album. The song is called 'The Music' and, while not groundbreaking or even deeply moving, it does have a nice melody that I find myself toe-tapping and head-bobbing to, so I thought I would give it a shout-out on the blog.



mike

Iconoclast dies at 84

Slaughterhouse Five was handed to me by my english teacher in high school when he learned I liked Tom Stoppard, Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett. He took me down the hall to the supply room one afternoon and he gave me a little paperback book (pictured right) that he picked up off of a large pile of the same and said, "read this, I think you'll enjoy it".

I read it and somehow it went over my head. Maybe I read it too fast, maybe I wasn't paying attention, maybe I was expecting it to be exactly like Terry Pratchett or Douglas Adams, I don't know.

I picked it up again years later when I stumbled upon the film version on Movie Central one rainy afternoon (I don't really remember if it was raining, but it fits the story so ...). There was some spark in the film that inspired me to go back to the source material and this time, I got it and I enjoyed it - immensely, to be perfectly honest. I had finally begun to appreciate Vonnegut as more than just an important literary figure, I now had my own personal experience with his work to reference and a desire to read more from the guy.

Anyway, news is out that he passed away yesterday at the age of 84 as a result of complications from brain injuries incurred when he fell in his home. He will be missed. He had a good run, 84 is certainly nothing to sneeze at, but it's always hardest when you lose the brightest lights. Hell, I'm still reeling at the loss of Eisner, Toth, Altman...the list goes on.

My very sincerest condolences to his wife, Jill Krementz, and to his family in their time of grief.

mike

Moline on Loners - Woo-Hoo!

I mentioned it a post or two ago, I picked it up yesterday, read it last night and I'm here now to say that I'm very, very glad I did.

I didn't know anything about Loners until about a week or so ago and not having read BKV's Runaways in its entirety yet I was unfamiliar with the premise and the cast of the book. Once I picked it up and read a few pages I was running into familiar characters like Lightspeed from Power Pack and the unforgettable Darkhawk whose origins lie back in Marvel's Dark Ages (also known as the '90s). Ricochet is also a member (coming out of a Spider-Man storyline from a few years back), the new (well, fairly new...maybe second-to-last) Spider-Woman is there and another character whose name escapes me. All of them are living in and dealing with a post-Civil War world and going to a support group which is trying to help them give up the spandex life for good.

Considering how absolutely tired I am of Civil War and all of its tie-ins (and all the after effects, for that matter) I'm thrilled with how writer C.B. Cebulski is handling the scripting of this book. The tone of the past year in the Marvel U is there, the knowledge of the consequences of using their powers in public and unregistered is there, but it's not like they're referencing it in every second panel. Overall it's just an entertaining story about a group of kids with powers who are trying to figure out who they are and why they do what they do.

As for the art, I can't even put into words how thrilled I am to see Karl Moline drawing again. I was crushed when Rogue ended with its 12th issue since I knew it would be some time before I saw Karl's line work in a comic book again. My Google News alerts were proof of that, too. I've deleted so many e-mails regarding athletes in the U.S. named Moline fro this college or that pro team, but I kept the alerts coming just in case something surfaced. It's how I heard about Loners, so I guess the waiting paid off.

I would classify Moline as one of the premiere artists currently working in the industry today. His storytelling is superb, his character bits are priceless and his stuff is just so darn pretty to look at that it's a shame he's only on this series for 6 issues. Maybe if the mini does well Marvel will spin it off into a monthly and officially franchise Runaways.

I can only hope.

I'd be in it for the long haul even if it was just for the artwork, but Cebulski's natural dialogue and burgeoning mystery definitely has my interest piqued. I think I'm going to enjoy watching this story play out over the next five months and I highly recommend checking this book out.

If I had an official rating system (somehow a sliding scale of points based on the ellipsis in the site title seems apropos, but...), it would be something that rated pretty darn high on the charts.

Onwards and upwards!

mike

Potential Job Prospect

I'm not sure if I've mentioned the Red Cross job before but I did an interview today with them for a Public Affairs Officer position that they have open. A friend used to occupy the position within the organization but she has since left to join the military to, as she puts it, "blow shit up."

Hey, more power to her.

She didn't leave, however, without leaving behind some impressions of me with the staff there and putting in a few good words on my behalf, bless her heart. She was instrumental for helping me get the interview which I do appreciate, especially since this is exactly where I want to be at this point and time. A nice juicy communications position in town that can springboard into something else sometime in the future. Working in an area I enjoy, getting paid well and working up some practical experience that I otherwise would not have gotten toiling away on the internet.

The interview itself went pretty well. They nailed me on one or two areas (there was no way to talk around a few of the things they asked me about) but I'm not sure it's really a big issue. We'll see, I guess, if I ultimately don't get the position. Maybe it was more important that I figured it would be. Ah well, it's in their hands now. No point obssessing.

I'm pretty sure that there is one or two other people who are in the running but Bonnie (my 'friend on the inside') says that I have a really good shot so, fingers crosed, knock on wood and all of that nonsense.

The job search continues but if lady luck is smiling down on me, it will end by the close of next week. That's when I'll know.

Maybe I should rub my cat for luck.

Onwards and upwards!

mike

Janjetov is In & Charest is Off of Dreamshifters?

According to Charest's own MSN Group it appears he will not be finishing the Dreamshifters Metabarons graphic novel he's been working on for the past 6 years. Longtime Humanoids alumn, Zoran Janjetov, looks to be stepping in to finish whatever pages are left currently undone for the book (probably 20-30).

In one of his posts he states:

Let me clear up a couple of things, I choose, unwisely, to try do the book, fully painted. The reason I redid pages was because in my opinion I messed up the first time, not because I was told to. Don't throw any pity parties for me, this is a clear cut case of an artist getting a little too precious with the work and forgetting the realities of publishing completely.

I'll be the first to say that Charest has taken his sweet-ass-bloody-time with this story, but I'm still of the club that wishes to see him finish it. He hasn't been a total prima-donna about it and I appreciate his honesty in the statement above and in others he has made on his group. Still, like he says, there are certain realities to publishing and it's totally understandable that Humanoids will not let him continue on the project in the same capacity. It would be nice, though.

And no offense to Janjetov, either. I love the guys stuff, I really do. If there has to be a go-to guy to finally get this project finished than I can't really think of anyone better to do the job.

Either way I'm looking forward to this book no matter who is doing it.

mike

The Mimzy Incident

While browsing through Cinematical the other day I ran across this post. In a nutshell, a bunch of parents brought their kids to a screening of The Last Mimzy but received a bit of a surprise when there was a projectionist mix-up and The Hills Have Eyes 2 was shown instead. The latter movie has a pre-credits sequence depicting a chained naked woman giving birth to a mutant baby, so there was no warning for those seated in the theatre.

I'm assuming that this is a demographic of the movie viewing public that would not notice the difference between a New Line logo and a 20th Century Fox logo when it hit the big screen up above and wonder to themselves, "hey, am I in the wrong theatre?"

Anyway, I can only imagine what the kids must have been thinking. Even though the story does have a 'happy ending' with the group eventually getting to see Mimzy after all, those images may be imprinted on their minds forever.

My wife, who is constantly arguing that horror/thriller movies serve no purpose made the point that we wonder what seeing the opening to THHE 2 will do to these little guys psychologically yet 20 years down the road we consider it a perfectly decent popcorn movie for the same group of kids now all grown up.

Personally, I think this whole sub-genre of torture porn movies like Saw, Hostel, and Michael Bay's remakes of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Hills Have Eyes are giving good horror films a bad name and I'm pretty sure that most of her objections to the genre stem from this little group of movies (although, really, she is no fan of any movie or show that depicts anyone preying on women or children). I can't really blame her, either. I mean, if ruthlessly torturing, maiming, violating and, finally, disembowling naked teenagers in the most graphic ways possible is the future of the genre, I don't see myself partaking in the ol' cinema scare much in the days to come. I like a good scare just as much as the next guy, and I have a pretty high tolerance for graphic stuff, but these movies are usually just too much to stomach.

I guess my problem with these movies are the same with many of the slasher flicks I grew up with in the '80s. Elaborate, or even not-so-elaborate, set pieces with no story or substance just makes for a stupid movie. If any of the above movies had any truly redeeming qualities, I would probably give them a reprieve. Mostly, though, they remain as appealing to me as curdled milk.

Onwards and upwards!

mike

Brosgol Made Me Feel Like Dancin'

I was over at Vera Brosgol's LiveJournal and I stumbled across this site as a result.

What you do is you draw your own picture and then the site makes it dance for you. A mindless waste of time, I know, but perfect for blogging, don't you think?



This is only a first attempt. I think I'll go back and try one more now that I know a little better how the whole thing works.

Onwards and upwards!

mike

"Jenny Finn, Jenny Finn, Where You Been?"

It's taken some time but, as of today, I've finally finished reading the complete Jenny Finn series.

Not that finishing it is some major achievement, I just remember way back when the series first debuted from Oni press, the negative review that I wrote of it and the surprise I got from Troy in San Diego 2000 when he came up to me and said, "So, you didn't like Jenny Finn #1, eh?"

And it's true, for the most part I didn't like the first issue. There were too many things left hanging, the dialogue led the reader nowhere as far as moving the plot along and, although the artwork was typically and wonderfully Troy's, it looked very cluttered and the line weight didn't do a good enough job of distinguishing between objects without colour or texturing. If you've ever seen Troy's Bacon or Trout stories (which ran in 3 or 4 issues of Oni Double Feature and Dark Horse Presents, respectively) they were better composed and executed as black and white stories, in my opinion.

Anyway, thanks to BOOM! Studios, Jenny Finn got a new lease on life as a two-volume prestige format series that reprinted the first two published books as well as the two that never saw the light of day.

Having read the whole story in its entirety, I think I have a little better appreciation for it. I still don't think it's the best thing I've ever seen from Troy, but the plight of the main character, Joe, now has some genuine purpose to it and that goes a long way to making a 'meh' story all right. I would also say that hindsight is 20/20 when it came to the overall strangeness of the background characters and environments. Before you just got a sense of oddness for oddnesses sake, but, again, seeing how Jenny's and Joe's story has played out has given me reason to go back and give it at least one more reading.

One disappointent with the new version is that the fourth chapter is not drawn by Troy at all. It's unfortunate that he was unwilling or unable to complete the book to maintain some visual continuity. Farel Dalrymple, while an adequate replacement, doesn't seem to be giving this last bit his all and it comes off feeling a bit rushed and pushed off. It takes something away from the big finale, as it were, but if it came down to Farel drawing it or never seeing it at all, I think Troy and Mr. Richie made the right choice in publishing it as it is (and for the record, I do actually like Dalrymple's work elsewhere, so I'm not just bashing the new guy).

Not a glowing review, I know, but I did think I owed it to Troy and the book to give it one more pass with a review since I never was able to see the complete picture back in '99 or 2000 when it first came out.

Oh, and before I forget, I should give kudos to BOOM! for a) bothering to publish it all and b)giving it such a decent presentation. The two Mignola covers and the squarebound format are very attractive and did play a role in my picking up the book this second time around.

Onwards and upwards!

mike

"Good News Everyone..."

Kudos to those of you who know where the subject line comes from.

I wasn't sure what to post today since I'm kind of in a downer mood. At the moment I'm sitting in the dark and listening to the 3000+ songs in my mp3 library on random and updating the sidebar on the ol' blog. The virtual picture of cool, I know.

On the plus side, the shuffle has just hit the Animals songs which is sort of fitting my mood right now and putting a smile on my face. For anyone who doesn't know who The Animals are, I linked to the Wikipedia entry a little bit back for the enquiring minds amongst you. They're best known for their song "House of the Rising Sun" but they did a lot more than that. Some of the best R&B to come out of the UK in the '60s.

Anyway, there were a few news items that I've bookmarked from a week or so ago that really got my juices flowing (sorry for the image) and I figured I would get them off the computer and get a posting out of it.

First up is the happiest bit of info I've heard in a while, and that is the return of Nexus to comic book shelves and helmed by none other than Mike Baron and Steve Rude, the only two guys who should be writing and drawing this guys adventures. I remember reading a while ago that Baron and Rude had tried to bring the character back but couldn't agree on a storyline that made them both happy. It might have been in a Comics Journal interview. I'm pretty sure it was Rude who said that their respective politics had grown sufficiently apart to make it all but impossible to do any new stories.

So, imagine me in that same pose you see Horatio in to the right when I got the news and you'll have an idea of how happy I am to hear about this. I'm waiting with bated breath, to be sure, and best of luck to everyone at Rude Dude Productions. I hope Steve does well enough to make an honest go of it.

Next up comes from the almost-as-excited category and it involves the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles DVDs that I and Indy fans worldwide have been waiting for since...well, forever. IGN reports from the Museum of Television and Radio's William S. Paley Television Festival that they are being worked on as we speak and they will be coming out sooner than later.

In a related bit of news, IGN gives the scoop on the new Star Wars television projects courtesy of the same talk at the same festival. The story can be found here.

Another bit of of fuzzy newness that I picked up about a week ago was the news that Karl Moline, one of my favourite artists and all around swell guy, has not in fact died, been abducted by aliens or given up comics to join a reclusive sect of monks in the Ozarks. What he will be doing is a new series based on a set of characters first introduced by Brian K. Vaughan in the pages of Runaways. These guys are called Loners and the book will be written by C.B. Cebulski. COMICON>COM has the info here, as well as some beeyootiful Karl Moline pencilled pages.


And last but certainly not least, Kitchen Confidential, one of my favourite television shows of all freakin' time, is finally coming to DVD. For the life of me, I can't convince my friend Carly to watch the show despite being written with a razor-edge wit and featuring 4 or 5 very hunky looking guys in and out of kitchen gear, but I strongly urge each and every one of you out there in the blogiverse to check this show out if given the chance. Hell, if they're inexpensive enough when they come out some of you reading this may even get them as gifts from yours truly.

The only thing I think missing from them that they should have are audio commentaries but at this rate, I'll take anything they give me.

Click through the link above to get details and see a pic of the box art.

And with that I go back to my sulking and digital naval gazing.

Onwards and upwards!

mike

New X-Files Movie Close?

I never planned to be running with an X-Files theme but I saw this on SciFi Wire and I got a little giddy.

Former The X-Files star David Duchovny told IESB.net that the long-awaited second movie may come together as soon as this week.

Duchovny told the site that he was in final talks for the second X-Files film and should wrap them up this week. Plans are to start shooting in 2008 or sooner, the site reported.

Duchovny, who played FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder in the long-running Fox TV series, and his co-star, Gillian Anderson (FBI Agent Dana Scully), have previously said they would be willing to reprise their most famous roles for another big-screen adventure.

Duchovny spoke to IESB.net while promoting his next film, TV Set.

I'm hoping that there has been enough distance between the series and the last film to have this feel fresh and fun seeing as it is not supposed to be tied into the current mythology in any way. I guess we'll see what happens.

mike

Posting Quagmire

What does one do when they haven't posted in a week but don't have time at the moment to rectify the situation? Post a link from YouTube, of course.

When I noticed that the X-Files blooper link from a while ago was no longer active I stumbled across this clip while looking for it again. This is probably one of my all-time favourite scenes from the show and encapsulates the whole enchilada for me, from the character's relationship with each other to Mulder's quest and the purpose of the show.



Now, if I can just find the clip where Scully sings Three Dog Night's "Joy to the World".

mike

Marshall Rogers R.I.P.

According to Newsarama comic artist Marshall Rogers has passed away.

I first came to know Rogers' work through his brief stint on the new Silver Surfer monthly with Steve Englehart in the '90s which was followed shortly afterwards by a few issues of Justice League Europe (the JLE in the UK featuring the first appearance of The Beefeater). I really enjoyed his stuff, mostly because it didn't look like anything else being done by anyone at that time. Having caught my fancy I worked my way back and explored his Mister Miracle issues as well as some Batman and more recently read his Dark Detective mini, which re-teamed him with old collaborator, Steve Englehart. I liked what he brought to a book. It always had a nice texture and good pacing to it.

My condolences to his family for their loss.

mike

IF YOUR LIFE WAS A MOVIE...

I caught this meme over at Will Pfeiffer's blog and, while I don't usually participate in such endeavours, this one looked like fun.

IF YOUR LIFE WAS A MOVIE, WHAT WOULD THE SOUNDTRACK BE?
So, here's how it works:
1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don't lie and try to pretend your cool...
7. When you're finished tag some other people to do it!

Here are the areas that you need to fill out:

Opening credits: "Unicornio" by Silvio Rodriguez - I first fell in love with this song in Wong Kar Wai's BMW film, The Follow. I have no idea what the song is about as it is sung in Spanish or Portugese, I believe, but it's a real good mood setter and I can think of worse songs to kick off the movie of my life.

Waking up: "Forget About You" by Carey Brothers - Not too much of a mood upsetter, here. Brothers' track carries on the same basic vibe set by Rodriguez as it is equally sedate, equally maudlin and intimate.

First day of school: "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" by The Jayhawks - I've honestly never heard this song before. It is part of an unofficial Gilmore Girls 'soundtrack' that I acquired. Still, listening to it while I'm typing this up it has a sort of Rockabilly, Bob Dylan/Tom Petty-esque sort of feel to it which I don't mind. It also picks up the beat a little bit after a slow start and keeps that whole sentimental thing going.

Falling in love: "Makes Me Wanna Pray" by Christina Aguilera - Of course, the Falling in Love category has to be one of the cheesier songs in my library. In it's defense it is a kind of soulful and funky song and thematically does fit into the slot well. And, really, isn't first love full of melodrama and leaning a little heavily to the left on the cheese-o-meter to begin with? It's just sort of hard to take Christina seriously 90% of the time so I hang my head briefly in shame.

First song: "Your Rain (Rage Mix)" by Akira Yamaoka & Mary Elizabeth McGlynn - A Silent Hill track. Kind of dancy, not bad but I much prefer the original un-remixed version of the song.

Breaking up: "Window" by Fiona Apple - I couldn't think of anyone more appropriate for a break-up song than Miss Fiona.

Prom: "Relaxing With Lee" by Charlie Parker - Not really a song, more of an interstitial 10 second little talky bit, but seeing as I never had a prom, nor did I ever go to one, it seems somewhat fitting.

Life: "Saw Bitch Workhorse" by Don Davis - This track from The Matrix Revolutions is pretty much par for the course if you're familiar with any orchestral music from the series. Lots of horns going baa-baa-ba-ba-ba-ba-baa and swirling strings filling out the background. I believe the song is used in the section where Neo and Trinity are going to the machine city and have to fight off hundreds of Sentinels. Not a bad track but a little odd if I was to apply it to my life.

The title is an anagram for The Wachowski Brothers, by the way.

Mental Breakdown: "Water & Air" by Cat Power - Again, I couldn't hope for a more mental breakdowny sort of song than this one by Memphis artist, Cat Power. I guess there is some weird sort of synchronicity here, as well, since a different CP track was used in another Wachowski movie, V For Vendetta. Or maybe I'm just reading into things.

Driving: "The Azores and Mr. Costa" by Clint Bajakian, Peter McConnell & Michael Land - A quaint little track from the Indiana Jones video game, The Fate of Atlantis. Kind of plunky, kind of fun.

Flashback: "Hater" by Everclear - Not the Everclear track of choice but it's nice to see the power pop trio represented in the film of my life. Considering the dramedy undertones I'm picking up from the music selections this is possibly a very fitting flashback track.

Getting back together: "Fourth of July Parade" by Andy Sturmer - From the Teen Titans animated series. Mostly without words and very, very poppy. I can live with this selection. In fact, as the song continues to play I can think of no song better.

Wedding: "Get Here" by Oleta Adams - Oleta is a powerful vocalist best known for helping out Orzabel and that other guy from Tears For Fears on their Seeds of Love album. A little off centre musically but thematically appropriate: "I don't care how you get here, just get here if you can".

Birth of Child: "I'm Mad Again" by The Animals - After having three kids I can wholly support this musical choice!

Final Battle: "We're Here To Stay" by John Ottman - A selection off the X2 score. A bit more appropriate for an after-battle piece so it's possible my final battle was done without any underscoring, relying only on sfx.

Death Scene: "No One Love You" by Akira Yamaoka - A little surprised Yamaoka gets the honours of having two songs on my soundtrack but this piece from the Silent Hill series of games is, again, likely very appropos.

Funeral song: "U-Boat" by Kasabian - A good funeral song if I lived in an episode of Tru Calling or a Mark Steven Johnson super-hero flick. Or possibly a show on The CW network.

But I jest. It's a little dramatic but definitely could make a good funeral song.

End Credits: "Chrysallis (4)" by Christopher Franke - Ex Tangerine Dreamer Christopher Franke graces the big finale of my life with this song from the Babylon 5 television series. I think this is from the episode where Delenn becomes less Minbari and more Human. Judging by the tone of the song my movie didn't end very well but I think I can count on some lobby conversation regarding the meaning of it all.

mike

There Can Be Only One

Yet they keep making these.

I've kind of gotten into a little bit of a Highlander groove as a result of the new comic book from Dynamite (which I'm enjoying as of the end of #0 and #1) but I'm very skeptical about this movie, as I think anyone should be of a sequel regardless of medium. I like the idea of an animated feature but I was never a huge Ninja Scroll person so much of the lustre is gone. The trailer does look interesting but the whole future vibe has shades of Highlander II which doesn't bode well for the film, at least as far as my consumer dollars are concerned.

Like all things, only time will tell, I guess.

Now I just have to find me a copy of #2 from the Dynamite series with the Dorman cover and I'll be happy.

mike

Steve Canyon Classic Strips

I don't think I've mentioned it here before but I've been reading Steve Canyon reprints over at Humorous Maximus and figured I'd link to it for anyone who may be interested but unaware of this daily dose of Caniff. The strip started running on the site as of January 15th of this year and that is the day I've linked to so if you click thorugh you'll be getting in on the ground floor.

I've never read any Terry and the Pirates (supposedly the superior strip) but so far Steve Canyon is a relatively entertaining read. There's something off about the pacing for the first few weeks, in my opinion, but I'm pretty sure that's a case of daily strip meets 'let's introduce all the characters before our adventure' syndrome or pilot-itus.

The sunday ones are my favourite, so far, both because of their length and their larger sizes. I'm finding it a bit of a strain to read the dailies but I shall persevere.

Anyway, much thanks to Humorous Maximus for putting these up and click through if you're a fan of high adventure.

Onwards and upwards!

mike

Joe Shuster Awards Nominations

I hadn't posted the nominations for the Joe Shuster Awards assuming that everyone who was interested would find their way there, but I made the decision today to come on and post the list on the blog, anyway. It was an intense few weeks of reading many, many comics, some back-and-forth between the nominating committee and a lot of fun overall. I'm actually looking forward to seeing who ultimately gets picked by the fans in each category. After spending so much time deciding and voting amongst ourselves, it'll be interesting to see who ends up everyone else's favourite in the end.

The only disappointment with the process so far is that they have me listed as being from Manitoba instead of Saskatchewan on the website. A small oversight I know, but I'm pretty sure I did nothing to let on that I lived much farther west than I do.

Then again, I don't usually own up to living in Saskatchewan either.

Anyway, here are the noms...


Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Writer

* Ian Boothby for DCU Infinite Holiday Special (DC Comics), Futurama Comics 23-26, 28, Simpsons Comics 118, 119, 121, 123, Simpsons Super Spectacular 3 (Bongo Comics)
* Darwyn Cooke for Superman Confidential 1-2 (DC Comics)
* John Rogers for Blue Beetle 1-10 (DC Comics), Contributing writer for Cthulhu Tales 1, Ninja Tales 1, Pirate Tales 1 & Zombie Tales: The Dead 1 (Boom! Studios)
* Ty Templeton for Civil War: Choosing Sides (Marvel Comics), Revolution on the Planet of the Apes 2-6 (Mister Comics)
* J. Torres for Cartoon Network Block Party 22, Hi Hi Puffy Amiyumi 3, Teen Titans Go! 27-38, The Batman Strikes 23 (DC Comics/Johnny DC), Ninja Scroll 1-3 (DC Comics/Wildstorm), Degrassi: The Next Generation - Extra Credit Vol. 1 & Vol. 2 (Pocket Books), Love As A Foreign Language 5 (Oni Press)

Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Artist

* Adrian Alphona for Runaways 12-18, 22 (Marvel Comics)
* Darwyn Cooke & J. Bone for Batman/The Spirit (DC Comics)
* Pia Guerra for Y the Last Man 43-46, 49-52 (DC/Vertigo)
* Niko Henrichon for Pride of Baghdad (DC/Vertigo)
* Stuart Immonen for Nextwave: Agents of HATE 1-11, Ultimate Fantastic Four Annual 2 (Marvel Comics)
* Cary Nord for Conan 24-25, 29-31, 33-34 (Dark Horse)
* Steve Skroce for Doc Frankenstein 3-5 (Burleyman)
* Doug Wheatley for Star Wars: Dark Times 1 (Dark Horse)

Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Cartoonist (Writer/Artist)

* Scott Chantler for Northwest Passage 3 (Oni Press)
* Darwyn Cooke for The Spirit 1 (DC Comics)
* Michel Gagne for "Underworld" -- Flight Vol. 3 (Ballantine Books)
* Johane Matte for "Hunter" -- Flight Vol. 3 (Ballantine Books)
* Bryan Lee O'Malley for Scott Pilgrim Vol. 3 (Oni Press)
* Ty Templeton for Simpsons Comics 117 (Bongo)
* Jean-Louis Tripp & Regis Loisel for Magasin General Vol. 1: Marie & Vol. 2: Serge (Casterman)
* Rob Walton for Ragmop (Planet Lucy)

Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Publisher

* Drawn & Quarterly
* Mecanique Generale/les 400 Coups
* Mister Comics
* Planet Lucy
* Udon

Outstanding Canadian Web Comic Creator/Creative Team

* Paul Bordeleau for Troglodytes
* Rob Coughler & Ramon Perez for Butternut Squash
* Matt Forsythe for Ojingogo
* Faith Erin Hicks for Ice
* Stuart & Katherine Immonen for Never As Bad As You Think
* Dan Kim for April May & June, Kanami, and Penny Tribute
* Steven Charles Manale for Superslackers
* Kean Soo for Jellaby Shorts

Favourite Canadian Comic Book Creator -- English Language
This will be a write-in category on the ballot.

Favourite Canadian Comic Book Creator -- French Language
This will be a write-in category on the ballot.

Outstanding International Comic Book Creator
This will be a write-in category on the ballot.

Harry Kremer Award for Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Retailer
Non-voting category

Hall of Fame
Juried

Now go vote!

Onwards and Upwards!

mike

'Nuff Said

Digging the Mach 5

I mentioned my whole Speed Racer indoctrination a few posts ago so it should come as no surprise to anyone that I snagged a copy of Volume 4 the other day. One of the neat things about Volume 4 is the tiny little die-cast Mach 5 that they package with the set - a far cooler bonus than Volume 1's rubber-tire-textured packaging. Also cool in a lame sort of way because it's one of those cars where you pull it back and then it drives off on its own, which is great for getting the cat all worked up.

I'm actually kind of regretting not buying a much larger version of the Mach 5 when I had the chance, now. Wal-Mart was clearing out these scale versions of pop culture cars like the Monkee's car and the Mach 5. It only cost, like, $5 or something but at the time I couldn't give a rats ass for anything Speed Racer related, so I just ignored it. Probably bought myself a Big Gulp and a bag of chips with the money instead.

My son, Simon, loves cars and racing and all that jazz so he has a bit of a Speed Racer jones, now. The downside for him is that dad's not going to let him play with the car. Watch the DVD, sure, but no touchy the Mach 5.

Looking at the two pictures again I'm noticing that they both sport a '70s glamour glow like I had a filter on my phone or something. I'm convinced that there must have been some schmutz on the the little pinhole lens or something, but I'm kind of digging the overall effect.

You can catch a glimpse of my collection of animated DVDs in the background, too. Lining the car up with other Japanese shows was not intentional, by the way.

Onwards and upwards!

mike

How to Get Me to Buy a Comic I Don't Want

Courtesy of ToonZone and CBR:

Alan Burnett to Write "Superman/Batman" in June.

Always have been a big fan of the Batman Animated stuff and the work these guys do in the regular DCU tends to be pretty decent as well, so I'll probably check this out (although, now that I think about it, I never cared for Dini's Detective).

mike

Star Wars Lost Scenes

It's always surprised me that George has never made these scenes available as a deleted scene on any of the Star Wars collections or DVDs. The only place I had ever seen them prior to this was on the Behind the Magic CDROM which was a sort of encyclopaedia for the original trilogy, something they followed up with an Episode I set of discs and then gave up on the format altogether.

Pity, really. I kind of enjoyed them and hate surfing the Databank on the official site when I'm looking for obscure Star Wars info.

I ran across this clip of the scenes all edited up in chronological order the other day and thought I would post it, moreso out of novelty than any other driving concern. If you haven't seen these than they are kind of neat to watch, otherwise, you've got the whole story anyways and don't need me rattling on about it.



Onwards and upwards!

mike

Dylan Hears a Who

I don't know how many of you have already seen this but I got a kick out of it. My parents have been big on the Dylan love for a couple of years now and it has sort of brought me somewhat into the fold of late. You research, find and buy enough Dylan stuff for birthdays and christmas presents and you naturally develop a curiosity about it, I guess.

Anyway, it's worth linking to and checking out purely on the effort expended to put the site together. Kudos to the eyeberriedpall folks.

Onwards and upwards!

mike

New Music Worth Checking Out

Maybe new music is a bit of a misnomer since one of these is not what you would call a recent release, but I had never heard it before this week so they are new to me. There you go.

Anyway, I've added some new stuff to the sidebar that I think everyone should check out (at least in the music section) and I thought I would spotlight a couple of the CDs I've been listening to and getting all warm and fuzzy over.

The first CD that has really wowed me in a long time is Josh Rouse's second to last album, 'Nashville'. I loved his '06 offering 'Subtitulo' so when I saw this disc sitting there at the library I snatched it up, eager to pop it into the player in the car on the way home. Both Jen and I were absolutely smitten with the first track, "It's The Nighttime", and the trend continued on as we got deeper into the disc. As driving music goes, at least in my family, 'Nashville' is the best I've heard in some time.

It has quickly become the "Oh, you've gotta hear this whether you like it or not" disc that I'm pushing the most on my family and friends. It's invading CD players all over the Jozic sphere of influence.

I'm also enjoying the brand spanking new CD from Aqualung, 'Memory Man'. It's been a couple of years, I think, since I started raving about Matt Hales and company so I'm really jazzed about having 11 new tracks to pore over and enjoy. I haven't heard the whole album yet but so far I'm enjoying the tracks "Vapour Trail", "Cinderella" and "Pressure Suit", which is also the first single.

What initially attracted me to Aqualung back in the day were the sweeping, ethereal melodies that Hales would combine with the shamelessly romantic and honest lyrics. It reminded me a little bit of my favourite band in the universe, Stars, if you crossed them with Coldplay and Longview. This album is sit back on the couch or chair or wherever you're the most comfortable and just let the music wash over you kind of stuff.

On this album there's also a bit of a switch-up for Hales with the addition of some higher energy material that shakes up the balance a little. A track like "Something to Believe In" with it's pounding rhythm line and frantic pace is by no means a stretch for the artist, but based on his previous output it is a bit of a departure - albeit a welcome one.

So, that's it for me for the day. Be sure to check these out if you know what's good for you.

Onwards and upwards!

mike

Buffy Season 8 Has Landed

The wait is finally over.

I popped into my LCS today to pick up the latest issue of BSG and found, to my surprise, a copy of the first issue of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Eight in my file. I knew this was coming out this month but had no idea it would be today. A pleasant surprise, to be sure.

Anyway, both the wife and I read it and we both thought it was pretty good. I really shouldn't like the Nick Fury gag Joss worked into the story but something about Xander with an eyepatch directing an army of Slayers...it just screams for it to be said. I know I was thinking it before any of the characters addressed it.

After reading it it got me thinking about my Buffy Post Mortem and how great it would be to do a new round of interviews with the crew of the new book. I've been looking for something juicy to launch a new interview blog with and that might just do the trick. I'm still waiting on a bunch of answers from Steve Purcell from way back anyway, so I might as well do something constructive in the meantime.

Worth looking into.

Onwards and upwards!

mike

Two Interviews Worth Checking Out

I've recently run across these two interviews that I enjoyed quite a bit.

The first is with Alan Martin who is the co-creator of Tank Girl and is conducted by the always entertaining Mark Cardwell who runs the Bad Librarianship blog when he's not talking about Keith Giffen as a member of The Daily Dispatch (the Keith Giffen Newsgroup that I run).

Sorry, I couldn't help but throw in the plug.

Mark and Alan chat about the future of TG, the move to IDW and the addition of Ashley Wood to the names of artists who have had the pleasure of drawing Tank's wild and crazy adventures. To check out that interview, go here.

The second one is with 52 writer Greg Rucka. As someone who has just started getting interested in the series I found it to be an informative and relatively candid interview courtesy of Robert Taylor over at CBR. To check out that one, click through here.

That's it for me for now.

Onwards and upwards.

mike

State of the Union

I've been pretty quiet lately on the blog front. Part of that is because of all the work I have been doing on my parents' computer (makes me want to spend less time on mine) and part of that is a result of the reshuffling that my life has undergone in the last couple of weeks.

At the beginning of last week my tenure as a Retail Consultant with Saturn of Saskatoon came to an end. I'm not too broken up about it seeing as I'm beginning to believe that sales is maybe not my number one skill, but it does sort of leave me in a somewhat precarious position since I no longer have a regular paycheque coming in. I do have some time to find a new job because Jen's income right now is actually decent enough that we're doing okay, but the sooner I get back in the saddle the better for everyone.

It has been nice staying home. I've spent a lot of time with the kids, which is good, and I've been able to take a bit of a break from the whole work cycle which has been good for the mind and soul. I've tackled a few projects and set up a few more. Watched some long-ignored DVDs and read some equally passed-over books and comics. I've gotten a little more done in the way of household necessities than I normally would during the course of the week, although Jen says there's great room to improve in that area.

I'm thinking the dreaded laundry could use a good solid doing before the week is out.

Anyway, that's sort of where we're at for the moment. As usual I have some ideas of things I'd like to do online here on the blog and elsewhere and I'll post more info on it as I come to it. Until then...

Onwards and upwards!

mike

Go, Speed Racer, Go!

I'm kind of being indoctrinated into the whole Speed Racer thing. Well, maybe indoctrinated is a strong word, but I'm definitely getting the toes wet, for what it's worth. I never watched the show as a youngster and never formed any sort of attachment to it that lives on in my addled adult mind but I'd heard so many things about it, and it has achieved such iconic opop culture status that when I saw the first DVD collection from Artisan for $5.00, I figured I'd try the thing out, maybe watch it with the kids.

Shortly after buying the DVD I ran across the Tommy Yune mini-series at the public library and I thought it might be a good idea to read it and get up to speed, as it were, before diving into the episodes. The book was meant to be a prequel, and matched with my existing but limited knowledge of the characters and show, it should have been a good primer - which it was.

In fact, the comic book kind of surpasses the show in many, many ways. Tommy Yune did a masterful job of crafting the story and the art is superb. I particularly liked the annotations and the DVD style bonus features located inn the back of the trade - something I've long been a supporter of but haven't seen nearly enough of in the comic industry. Based on the strengths of Yune's Speed Racer mini I think I'm going to follow it up by checking out his sequel mini, Racer X. It really managed to leave an impression and got me excited to watch the series.

Needless to say, it was an experience making the transition.

I do understand that the show is, like, 40 years old but it has been hard for me to watch that style of Japanese adaptation since I got out of Robotech around age 13. They still maintain a lot of their charm, but the quick talking and the matching of American voices to Japanese mouth flapping, they tend to give me a headache now, more than anything else. I'd rather watch it in the original Japanese with subtitles, I think, but those are not available, as far as I know.

When I discovered that the Robotech episodes that I was watching as a kid were an 'adaptation' with heavy edits and story changes rather than a translated Robotech show that was actually being produced overseas and imported, I was crushed. It made me curious to see the originals but I never bothered. That was probably more a result of my feelings of being burned than anything else, but thinking about it now I may yet go back and explore Macross more thoroughly through the DVD releases.

Anyway, the show is primitive and noisy but we'll see how it goes. I never judge anything based only on its first two episodes so we'll see how things shape up with the introduction of racer X into the mix.

Onwards and upwards!

mike

Maybe a Little Less Cock and a Bit More Up

I've been transcribing the interview I did with Tad Stones over the last couple of days and I'm not feeling quite so bad about it now. It still has horrible audio quality and I'm definitely going to explore a new link between phone and recording device, but the questions and answers are actually pretty decent. I never got to finish the interview over the phone but Tad was nice enough to answer the remainder of the questions via e-mail and even said he enjoyed the chat and was sorry to bail (what can I say, duty - or the editing suite - called).

Anyway, I probably overreacted a bit in my last post. Considering my last few interviews have all been problematic for one reason or another, most of them never getting properly completed, I was genuinely disappointed with how the chat with Tad turned out at the time. With a little work, though, it should be a decent little Q&A to read.

Back to work now.

Onwards and upwards!

mike

What a Cock Up

Man, could I have been more amateurish?

This afternoon I interviewed the Supervising Producer/Director of Hellboy: Sword of Storms, Tad Stones, and conducted what was probably the worst interview I've done in some time. Tad showed up and brought his A-game but I, for some reason, despite much preperation, stammered and lost my place through most of the proceedings.

It just infuriates me because this is the sort of thing I can do in my sleep. To cock it up like I did just puzzles and confuses me. It actually bothered me so much it totally tanked my day from about 4:30 on when Tad had to leave to go back to work (on Hellboy: Blood and Iron, I'd assume).

Add to that the fact that I went to the bother of upgrading my equipment this morning (it's all digital now) and it's turned out to be just as disappointing as my interviewing skills. I was picking up some crazy kind of noise/snow on the line, too. I could barely hear Tad and when I did I had to concentrate really hard to follow what he was saying. I thought I was going to have clean audio, stereo output, and an overall experience that was easier than what I was working with before.

Unfortunately not to be so.

Now I sit and try to transcribe the interview, attempting to filter out the white noise and yank out Tad's comments regarding working on the Hellboy animated films.

I should just hit the sack.

mike

Be Kind, Please Rewind

I got a bit of a giggle when a coworker showed me this site for a DVD Rewinder.

Heh.

You gotta admire it.

Onwards and upwards!

mike

Who You Gonna Call on Valentines Day?

I wanted to give a shout out to all the lovely people in the world who are celebrating or are anticipating celebrating Valentines Day today. It has never been a 'holiday' that I've been able to give much focus to since having kids, but we moved into our house on February 14th seven years ago so there's always been that to celebrate if nothing else. I'm not sure what's in store for me this year, though, but I know Jen and I will be without children for the first time in...years...so we might get all romantical for a change. We've been hanging out and watching Veronica Mars lately so we may continue doing that. We even just saw the Valentines episode from Season 1 last night so there's some nice synchronicity there, I think.

And to spread even more love across the information superhighway I also wanted to link to this little tidbit before I lost the bookmark. Apparently there is going to be a third Ghostbusters movie with the participation of Aykroyd and Murray. Granted they're saying it's going to be CGI, but I'm beyond the point of caring. I just want more Venkman, Stanz, Spengler and Zedmore in my life and at the rate 88MPH Studios is going it won't be in comics.

Silly post overall, but there you have it.

Onwards and upwards!

mike

Oh, The Things I've Seen

One of the really great things I've discovered about being a part of the Nominations Committee for the Joe Shuster Awards is getting to go through all the fantastic (and some not-so-fantastic) work done by Canadians this year in comics. Not only are there a ton of great English works but some of the French albums I was sent to review are quite amazing to look at (alas, not knowing fluent french I find the actual reading of these books somewhat challenging). The works of Loisel & Tripp and Pascal Blanchet, to name a couple, have certainly caught my eye while on the english side I've just discovered Rob Walton's Ragmop. It's nice to get that injection of new books that you would never have found yourself every once in a while. Keeps things lively and fresh.

I've included a YouTube clip of some guys discussing Loisel & Tripp at Angouleme and a video done by Blanchet to give you an idea of what their stuff looks like.

Loisel & Tripp


Pascal Blanchet


Onwards and Upwards!

mike

Some Nice Editing Here...

They always have to bring in that third party in these homemade jobs. You'll know what I mean if you watched it through to the end.

Subsequent parts are available by clicking through to YouTube.

mike

Didn't See This Coming, and Yet...

I just read over on SciFi Wire that Joss Whedon is off he Wonder Woman movie. I can honestly say that I really didn't see this happening considering his clout with the fans, but after a moment of reflection I remmbered that Joss and projects that aren't his from birth tend to have problems if not outright fail. I generally believe that the studios want someone to come in, pump something cool out and get the ball rolling quickly. You can't blame them for wanting that, it's their money, right?

Anyway, it's too bad. I was interested in seeing what Joss would have done with the character.

Onwards and upwards!

mike

Paperback Writers

According to this test...

I am: Hal Clement (Harry C. Stubbs) A quiet and underrated master of "hard science" fiction who, among other things, foresaw integrated circuits back in the 1940s.

Which science fiction writer are you?

...or possibly...

I am: Isaac Asimov One of the most prolific writers in history, on any imaginable subject. Cared little for art but created lasting and memorable tales.

Which science fiction writer are you?

...depending on how I answer the 'glass is half-full or half-empty' question. I think I can live with either of them.

Onwards and upwards!

mike

Abbey Road Thoughts

While being a lover of The Beatles for many, many, many...many years, I have woefully few of their actual albums on CD. Part of that is because they've always been at a relatively high price point and I'm a bit of a bargain hunter when it comes to my media, but I also think my familiarity with the music is/was also a factor. It's often hard for me to buy something that isn't new or that I don't own in another format. Still, when I saw 'Abbey Road' at the local Future Shop for $10 I couldn't resist not picking it up. It's always been one of my favourite of their albums and the price was certainly right.

Anyway, I've sort of been rediscovering the music since then. Sure I know all the songs, but lately I've been really listening to them and letting them soak in. I've also been doing some reading on the making of the album and have run across a few quotes from the band on what they thought of the songs and the project. The band and the music has taken on an almost mythic quality over the last 30 years so it's a bit jarring sometimes for me to look at it as just four guys and a studio recording some songs at the end of their career as a group. The historian in me, however, is a big sucker for that sort of stuff, so I grounded myself and got over the awkwardness pretty quickly.

It's interesting to find out that John and Paul split the album, in a way, with John's desire for single tracks being used on the first side and Paul's desire to construct a medley being used on the second. Reading some of their thoughts on this was illuminating. Paul said some flattering things about John and the others while John was downright snarky when speaking to some of Paul's work. I did note that most of John's comments were from 1980 and I'm not sure what kind of a headspace he was in at that time so that may be a factor, but it disillusioned me just a smidge. I love the medley and always viewed it as a fond farewell by the band - a love letter, almost, to the end of an era, a partnership, and the fans who supported them for as long as they did. It always had great weight for me so it was just a bit surprising to hear John poo-poo the whole thing, including his contributions to it.

Snarkiness or not, it doesn't diminish it any in the end. I still think it's some of the best 16 minutes in music history, so I guess that's all right.

So, to close off, I'm going to link to the quote site that I took some of my info from as well as the Wikipedia entry I checked out. Click through if you're interested.

To close off in the words of Mr. McCartney, 'And in the end, the love we take is equal to the love we make'.

mike

I Could Do a Lot Worse

You are Superman

Superman 75% Spider-Man 75% Robin 60% The Flash 60% Green Lantern 60% Catwoman 50% Supergirl 45% Hulk 40% Wonder Woman 40% Batman 35% Iron Man 20%

You are mild-mannered, good, strong and you love to help others.

Click here to take the "Which Superhero are you?" quiz...


I'm thinking that my 'yes' answer to the flying question may have defaulted me to big blue, but seeing as Spidey is second on the list followed by Robin and the Flash (pretty much four of my favourite heroes of all-time) I'm thinking that not only is this the most acurate personality currently available on the Web, but I now know why I'm continually drawn to these characters.

Onwards and upwards!

mike