To Build or Buy?

That is the question I am now facing with my computer situation. Jen and I have been talking about 'upgrading' our computer but we can't decide on whether or not that means buying a new one outright, or purchasing the components to upgrade the one that we currently have. Normally in these situations, I would consult my buddy Brad and throw some ideas around before making a final decision, but it looks like I'll have to go it alone this time seeing as he's a province away and probably glad to not have to worry about me and my computers anymore.

The factory machine I'm looking at is nicely put together but has most of its hardware onboard. I could almost live with the non-component nature of it but also I found that there aren't any real TV outs to speak of (that I can see, anyway). The overall price of it would be around $750 so we started talking about what I could do if I hit the local computer store and picked up the pieces individually. I'll probably head down there Monday and see what I can put together with one of the guys there, but until then my head will be a little spun, I'm sure.

Jen is also trying to get the system out of the living room and into the bedroom (which I really do not agree with) but that's a rant for another time.

Onwards and upwards!

mike

The Comic Haul

My last comic haul post was about a month ago, so I figured it was time for another.

There has been quite a mix of books on my bedside table over the last 30
days, some new, some not-so-new. We'll start off with...

Annihilation Conquest: Starlord #2 - Giffen's still phoning it in with this mini-series but that's not really as bad as it sounds. This is all stuff we've seen before but Keith keeps it pretty lively with somewhat interesting characters who don't get along too well with each other and the artwork by Timothy Green is out of this world. There's an interesting contrast between the atypicalline work (which feels more European than American) and the cliché guys who don't like each other try to achieve the impossible hero story. I look forward to issue #3.

Giant-Size Marvel Adventures: The Avengers #1 - Fun fun fun fun fun fun! Although I am a big fan of Jeff Parker, I am not a great fan of Parker's
Marvel Adventures: Avengers run. Maybe it's the curmudgeonly old continuity troll in me having difficulty with Storm,Wolvie and Spider-Man on the team, or maybe it's just not my cup of tea. Still, team these guys up with the cast of my absolute favourite Marvel book of last year and you have a winner. The story is essentially a
What If...with Kang duping the Agents into freeing Captain America from the ice several years too early, thus changing history and allowing Kang to conquer the past. I'm going to scurry off to my LCS and nab the Spider-Man Family with the Agents. There is just not enough of these guys on the market.

Danger Girl: Back in Black #1 - I know this mini is a couple of years old, but I did say there was an odd mix on my nightstand, didn't I? Anyway, I really enjoyed the original Danger Girl series back in the day so when I found this in the dollar bins at myLCS I thought, what the heck, try it out. Nick Bradshaw is a great artist but he's still finding his way here, I think. The work he does on this issue is a little clumsy, which seems to match the writing of Andy Hartnell which fails to capture the spirit of fun that I remember from the Cliffhanger days. It may be due to the absence of Campbell but I don't know how much he contributed to the writing of the original series so I can't say for sure. The story seems like a venue for a lot of pointless cheesecake but lacking the tongue-in-cheek sense of humour that made such a ridiculous concept work so well. I have a few more of these on the unread pile so my opinion may change as the story progresses, but I doubt it.

Batman: Dark Victory - I liked this story much more than I did "The Long Halloween" partly because it didn't seem quite as locked in to a format as the holiday themed issues of its predecessor, and partly because I found the mystery far more compelling than simply, "Who is Holiday?" I did find the big extravaganza ending a little much, but the overall feeling about the book was definitely a positive one. Some of the better Batman stuff I've read in a while.




Ultimate Fantastic Four #45 - Definitely a step in the right direction as the Four go from doing absolutely nothing to doing something. I'm actually embarrassed to say that I never picked up on the bad guy as being Psycho Man. I think with the Surfer connection, and my relative unfamiliarity with the Ultimate universe outside of the FF and Spidey, I just assumed that this was a Galactus re-imagining. I like it much better knowing that it couldn't be farther
from the truth. It also makes me think I should maybe go back and reread the previous issue seeing as how it may have an entirely new spin on it now. At the very least, I am still enjoying this story and I'm looking forward to how it's going to end. That, and to see what Carey has up his sleeves for the next arc (not being tied into the
'must-have-a-Surfer-story' because of the movie and all).

JLA: World War III - I know the idea here was to have
Morrison go out with the biggest bang possible but all he really managed to accomplish with this storyline was 6 or 7 issues of total gobbledygook. It was no mystery that Morrison was taking the 'widescreen' approach with this book and he was playing to the fact that these are the Earth's mightiest heroes from the very beginning, but he was always able to tether these crazy ideas and epic battles to something real. The first story with the white martians ("New World Order") was
entertaining, the recruitment drive was entertaining, ConnorHawke running around the Watchtower fighting the Key with his dad's old trick arrows, pretty much everything right up to the World War III story had some balance and was fun on some level.

Not so much here.

And I don't even want to talk about the 'artistic contribution' by Howard Porter.

I guess if one is to look at the bright side of things, it did help with the overall transition to Waid as writer, although the darker tone of his run is something to be discussed at another time.

That's it for tonight. I should be back with some thoughts on Umbrella Academy #1, the new issue of The Flash and some other stuff.

Onwards and upwards!

mike

Worried About The Spirit

I just saw this article on ICV2 and I have to say that my worries about Frank Miller handling the Spirit film are not unfounded. That tagline, "Down these mean streets a man must come. A hero born, murdered, and born again.", and that image make me shudder. I never thought Miller was the right guy for the job and the more I see and hear about this project the more I feel convinced that I'm right.

Shooting starts next month and my opinion may change once I start to see stills and the early reviews eventually roll in, but I'm not going to hold out hope for this one. I know Miller is a huge fan of Eisner and The Spirit but I think I would have rather had Jeph Loeb stay on as screenwriter. Loeb's body of work is hit and miss with me but Miller's output since 300 (and in some cases, even before 300) has stunk to high heaven (Dark Knight sequels or All-Star Batman & Robin anyone?).

I guess I should hold out a little hope that Miller will not turn this into another Sin City and stay faithful to the (pardon the pun) spirit of the source material.

Ugh. I just can't stand seeing that picture.

mike

Full Moon Fever

How can I tell it's a full moon? Everyone around me goes a little wonky, that's how. My children and wife sleep restlessly, the customers at work get stranger and stranger as the day approaches, tensions in the workplace build to a boiling point and generally anything that could go wrong inevitably does. I've heard from some friends that they also see the evil and weirdness in their lives bubbling to the surface when the moon is full, so I know it's not just me. Our experiences are probably not as strange as, say, that of an ER or police services are, but the ER doesn't have to deal with my burnt out passenger side headlamp or my wife's retarded boss.

Anyway, it's been a bit since I've posted so I figured I'd give a bit of a State of the Union as my kids get ready for school (for anyone who cares).

September was birthday month for Jennifer and I and, as is usually the case, we had some fun for hers and mine sucked eggs. I posted about the long sordid history of my birthdays a couple of weeks ago, so I won't repeat the grisly details, but for Jen's we sort of celebrated all weekend. We had a very good and fun lunch at Montana's (a ranch-themed steakhouse in town) with a massive dessert that was the literal icing on the cake that afternoon. Jen also rented Bandidas (which turned out to be very entertaining and written by Luc Besson) and Rent (which turned out to be not-so-entertaining and proved that I just can't get into musical theatre). The weekend then ended with a successful supper over at Jen's parents, with mine also in attendance.

My crummy day was totally trumped, however, by the fact that I received the Emma Peel DVDs which have already brought countless hours of pure, unadulterated joy into my life and are apparently preferred by Jen as my late night viewing of choice since it replaced The X-Files in my DVD player (she hates the music and all the audio floating upstairs while she's trying to sleep). I'm 6 episodes and 2 discs into the set now which leaves my 15 to go. Woot! Right now my favourite episode is called "Death at Bargain Prices" and features some wonderful Steed and Emma dialogue and a perfectly written scene with Steed getting some information out of a female food clerk at a department store. As I told a friend recently, they don't make 'em quite like that anymore.

I also seem to have a convert to the Avengers fold. Jen doesn't care for them too much but her friend Jillian thinks they're pretty cool and stayed after Jen had gone to bed to actually watch an episode with me. It was called "Castle De'ath" and it was appropriately campy and fun to match the title.

Good times.

here's the opening titles for the show after they went to colour:



Actually, I should also mention that before I received the DVD set, I discovered that on the 9th of September, Lucasfilm announced the title of the new Indiana Jones movie, which I considered to be a gift since it happened right on my birthday. As a huge Indy fan, how could I not consider it deliberate?

The fourth film will be enetitled Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, for anyone still not 'in-the-know', and the actual press release can be found at the official Indy site.

I'm thinking this post is getting a bit long so I'm going to cut it off there. I have the day off, however, so I may be back in a bit to get some more stuff out of my brain and onto the e-ther. Also, I have to go make my kids lunches for school, so...

As always, onwards and upwards!

mike

Birthday Present to End All Birthday Presents

After much anticipation, window shopping, and web surfing, I've finally gotten my grubby little hands on the Complete Emma Peel Mega Set of The Avengers. 17 discs of Diana Rigg and Patrick Macnee and the bonus disc has such cool, fun stuff on it.

I'm in heaven, what can I say.



I'll post a review or something when my brain has stopped processing this.

mike

All Good Things...

Just to prove that the world is a cruel and unjust place, I've just read news that Abadazad book three, "The Puppet, the Professor and the Prophet", has been pulled by its publisher, Hyperion Books for Children, and will not be seen in bookstores this side of the Atlantic. To add insult to injury, they will also no longer be publishing any Abadazad books, effectively cancelling the series where it is at book three.

For more info, check out J.M. DeMatteis' Amazon blog here and to purchase your copy of book 3 go here.

I'm going to go soak my head or something.

mike

Pre-Birthday Address

Well, it looks like I'll be turning the big 3-4 tomorrow. Another year, another birthday.

More than likely it'll be a bit of an anti-climax as so many birthdays and 'special' occasions tend to be for me. I probably won't be doing much since I gave up on the idea of 'doing something' to celebrate the passing of years a long time ago. I know that sounds a little bleak but I still remember the last real party that my wife tried to organize for me. I think it was 4 or 5 years ago and nobody could come. Friends, family...absolutely everyone passed on the invitation. That was not one of my best years.

I keep my expectations prettyb low these days but I used to get kind of grouchy when stuff like that would happen. Birthdays were always a big thing with me. Christmas and birthdays were the two 'holidays' or celebrations during the year where I really cared about who was around and what I/we were doing. I figure Christmas is supposed to be about family and goodwill and togetherness (which so often gets lost during the chaos), and the purpose of birthdays is to celebrate a person's coming into the world. If someone has had an effect/impact on you or your life, birthdays are as good a time as any to pay tribute to them. There's also an intimacy there since usually only friends and family bother with the whole birthday thing, so I think that's part of what's always made it sort of special in the past.

Oh, and I should give some credit to my friend Karl. That year everyone declined, he was one of those who had decided not to come for whatever reason but when he heard that nobody else was coming, however, he dropped whatever it was he was doing and came anyways. We met at a local burger joint and had a really good time.

So, if you're reading this, Karl, you'll always have points for that one.

Yeah, so, not to be broody or anything, but the main point of this post was to mention the two 'gifts' I picked up today. I was at my LCS and found the first issue of Glister by Andi Watson and the third volume of Southland Tales by Richard Kelley and Brett Weldele.

Glister is about a girl of the same name who has supernatural experiences: haunted teapots, disappearing houses, that kind of thing. There's a slight nod, I think, to books like the Courtney Crumrin series (or at least the material that originally influenced Ted Naifeh) and Watson has adopted a different style which has a Watson meets Ed Gorey kind of vibe to it. Having a new Watson book for my birthday was a treat and a half and I adored the material, especially the Skeleton Key back-up story, 'Rock, Paper, Scissors'. I miss those characters like nobody's business and it was great to see them again. Also cool to see them in the new style. I am very much looking forward to the second issue.

I have yet to finish Southland Tales but it reads much like the second volume. Richard Kelly is a relatively new discovery for me and exploring this world so soon after seeing Donnie Darko for the first time is an interesting trip. A lot of similarities and a lot of differences. The art reminds me of Ben Templesmith's 30 Days of Night and Fell stuff. Looks like the movie will hit in November as well, so we'll hopefully make it out to that when it arrives.

And before I sign off, a tip of the hat goes to the mother-in-law whose monetary gift provided the means to purchase these two books.

With that, I'm gonna blow. I'll try and blog tomorrow as well.

'Night all!

mike

Favourite Videos 5

"Everybody Hurts" by R.E.M. always stood out to me as an exceptional song and video. The concept is very similar to "Just" by Radiohead with the running subtitles acting as dialogue while the song plays, and there's a bit of a performance from Michael Stipe keeping it from becoming a short film rather than a video, but the overall vibe and purpose of the two are different enough for me to include both on my fave videos list.

I like a lot of the shots and editing choices made by the director and editor and the slow but deliberate camera movement that keeps pace with the music is a nice touch. The ending of the video is also a nice little bonus.

I've been told that there is a goldfish cracker on Stipe's hat, placed there by the other band members. It pops off when he climbs up ontp the median or when the song hits its crescendo. I can't remember which, but I heard that if you watch for it you can actually see it go.

Enjoy.



mike

The Comic Haul

In my continuing effort to start a somewhat regular comic review post (something which I have yet to truly conquer) I bring you some thoughts on my comic haul for this week, with some carry over from previous outings and library stops.

The Flash #231 - I think I like where this series is going, but I'm not sure yet. I'm a loooong time Flash fan so I'm kind of excited about the new creative team, but considering prior hits and misses, I'm reserving judgment. I reluctantly gave up on the previous Bart Allen incarnation of the character after its first storyline and will give Waid and Acuna the same benefit of the doubt here. My main worry, however, is that I'm still seeing traces of the wishy-washy soap-opera crap that made me tire of the Geoff Johns stories that came post-Waid (the first time around) but before the Bart-as-Flash stuff. I mean, for a character that doesn't really offer up much in the way of...well, character, Linda Park-West has managed to occupy a lot of story time that could have better served past storylines by being greatly abbreviated. Having recently reread some of the issues between #206 and 213 (the stories that ran parallell to Identity Crisis, I believe) I'm hoping that Waid goes in the opposite direction, takes full advantage of this new start and the new characters, and just hits the ground running like he did so many years ago when he took over from William Messner-Loebs. Gone, I hope, are the countless pages of Wally worrying about his marriage or the Rogues talking, talking and doing more talking about what's coming in the next collectable 6-issue arc in favour of fun, adventure, interesting character developments and a some, but not a lot, of melodrama for flavour. So, far, this first issue has a strong start and the makings of a cool arc for Wally and the family so I'm crossing my fingers. I really hope these guys throw me for a loop for a change. I'd love to be buying a Flash book again after all this time.

The Batman Strikes! #36 - I haven't been paying a lot of attention to the credits lately but it looks like regular series writer, Bill Matheny, has been on an extended hiatus. According to the DC site, the last few issues have been written by the likes of Russell Lissau, Jai Nitz and J. Torres (that might go a long way to explaining why I've been unhappy with the series for the past 5 months or so) and #36 is no exception. The writer's credit for 'Gearhead 2.0' goes to Mail Order Ninja's Josh Elder who brings a welcome new voice to the book, and possibly the only Gearhead story I'll ever admit to enjoying. This issue was a vast improvement over the Harley Quinn disapointment in #35, and stood out as one of the better issues of the series in recent months. My interest in this title hasn't been what I'd call very strong of late, but Elder's managed to rekindle something and I can say that my curiosity for future stories from him, and other writers, is piqued. I look forward to checking out #37 (another Jai Nitz issue) followed by the return of Matheny a month after that.

Hellblazer #234 - This one improved for me on the second attempt. The first time I tried to read it I only got a few pages in before I had to put it down again. I was really hoping that it wasn't something indicative of Diggle's run so early on into the new storyline and that it was just me not being in the mood for a horror comic. As it turned out, it was the latter as a couple of days ago I gave it another crack and thought it was very remiscient of the very early Hellblazer books written by Delano and illustrated by John Ridgeway. Pretty grim subject matter but I am interested to see how this one plays out.

Ultimate Fantastic Four #44 - A definite downswing for this title as the Silver Surfer storyline hits its third, and most blindingly dull, chapter. Carey seems to be spinning his wheels in earnest with this issue and has the Surfer mumbling a lot of jibberish about how his master will do this and his master will do that while the FF and S.H.I.E.L.D. wander around and wonder how everything went so wrong. The only real 'event' that we needed to see this issue occurs in the last three pages. I know this is so Marvel can package it as a 6-issue story in an upcoming trade, but the whole deconstructionist style only works if your timing is right, and the characters carry you through the dead points. Carey's done the SciFi/Super-hero/Space opera thing in past issues so we know he's got the touch, it's just missing here. #45 is already out so maybe it picks up again. We'll see.

Annihilation Conquest: Starlord #1 - I shouldn't like this book but I do. As much as I love the writing of Keith Giffen this is not him doing anything even remotely new. Readers of his other work will recognize the overlapping chatter, the witty quips and comebacks, and the overused hackneyed plot contrivances that drive the story's main points: suicide mission, motley crew of misfits 'volunteer' for the job, no expectation of coming back, sounds like fun. The characters within the story even acknowledge the obvious Dirty Dozen parallels and there is a definite leftover resonance from Giffen's run on Suicide Squad. Still, the art is beautiful, the dialogue better than a lot of stuff out there, and the Rocket Raccoon jokes alone were worth the price of admission. I'll probably carry through with this 4-issue mini but I won't knock over old ladies and small children to get to it.

That's all I have time for just now. I'll try and come on again later tonight and post the rest of them.

Ta!

mike

Avatar: The Last Airbender

I finally got around to checking this show out and it has quickly - very quickly - become the animated series closest to my heart. All the things that made Teen Titans the Jozic family favourite are present here: great characters, cool music, sharp humour, beautiful design, and very nice animation.

I don't have too much time to comment on the show right now so I'll leave a clip courtesy of YouTube to give you an idea of what the show is about if you're unfamiliar with it.



mike

Harold Bloom's Genius

Jen showed me a book the other day called Genius by Howard Bloom. The idea of the book is that this English professor/literary critic has decided to celebrate 100 of the most creative literary minds in history. Naturally, having run across a section on Fitzgerald and The Great Gatsby, Jen figured I would want to have a look at what Bloom had to say about one of my favourite books and authors.

I should preface my comments by saying that I have a long history of not agreeing with English professors and generally find them to be cloth-eared nincompoops. I originally went into University with the intention of getting an English degree, but after a couple of years couldn't stand to be a part of that department, or deal with those professors, anymore. I'm sure that it's not indicative of English departments everywhere, nor of the UofS faculty (I'm open to believeing that there are even some good profs in our neck of the woods), but when you start to bend basic historical events to fit into your romantic, idealised version of the environment a literary work was produced in, I get aggravated.

I know I'm probably being overly sensitive but Bloom got off to a rough start with me by mentioning Hemingway right off the bat and making something of a direct comparison between the two writers. His first words are, "Like his equivocal friend, Ernest Hemingway, Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald has joined American literary mythology." Now, admittedly, I'm no great fan of Hemingway. I tend to agree with Dave Sim's analysis that he was a typist, not a writer, especially when compared to the lyrical storytelling of someone like Fitzgerald. So, I ask myself, why does Bloom find it necessary to enter Fitzgerald's world through a Hemingway filter?

Looking back I found no mention of Fitzgerald in the Hemingway section. Surely, as one of the preeminent literary critics, Bloom should already know that he is speaking about an author who is three years the senior of Hemingway, and whose 'genius literary contribution' was published a full year before The Sun Also Rises, Bloom's choice for Ernest's 'genius contribution' to literature. He should also know that Fitzgerald served not only as an equivocal friend to Hemingway but as something of a mentor until the two eventually parted ways.

Instead, Bloom treats him almost as an afterthought. Perhaps, like Hemingway, he has difficulty seeing beyond the excesses of F. Scott and Zelda. Many critics have commented on how Fitzgerald's drive to write was financially motivated, earning money by writing short stories for magazines rather than devoting his life to more artistic pursuits. Scott liked his quality of life and did what he could to maintain it. He wrote sometimes for the love of writing, and sometimes he did it because that was his job. No shame in that to my reckoning, but it does get the intelligentsia stomping their feet.

This was also part of the reason why the two writers stopped fraternizing. Hemingway didn't approve of how F. Scott conducted himself as a person and as an artist. He felt that commercial concerns had nothing to do with the process of 'writing' and left to make his contribution to the literary world and show his genius. Then again, it probably didn't hurt that he and Zelda couldn't stand each other, particularly after she accused Ernie of being a closet homosexual, and if you know anything about Hemingway, you know how that probably stuck in his craw.

Anyway, the whole point of this rant was to let off some steam and I think I've achieved that. I have to say that I was honestly surprised at how impassioned I was to post this after reading bits from Genius. I don't normally care enough to comment on things like this, especially when they have that ring of "who's stronger, the Hulk or The Thing?" to it. I just needed to get that off my chest, throw my two cents in and give Bloom the bird in the process.

I feel a bit better now.

mike

Busy Beavers

I actually felt a little lame leaving the blog with three birthday posts in a row, even if one of them was for my eternal crush, Diana Rigg, so I feel even more lame for having left it like that as long as I have.

Still, in all fairness, I have been busy with work, family and friends, and when I haven't been busy with those I've been flooding my brain with movies, movies and some cool television shows (with a few books and comics on the side for variety) to keep the insanity away. Kinda like shaking the bugs out of the ol' grey matter with some shock treatment.

I'll be changing the sidebar soon so if you're curious to know what bits of entertainment joy I've been getting into just mosey over to the left side of the page and there will be some new Amazon links up.

I have the weekend off so I'll probably post a bit more through that, and possibly even finish off my fave music video stuff that I started last month.

Anyway, that's it for me for now. Be back soon, hopefully with more stuff.

mike

Birthdays Redux

I never had a chance to go on last night and post so I'm giving belated birthday wishes, this time to the wonderful Dame Diana Rigg. She turned 69 yesterday.

I was going to hang out and watch some Avengers episodes (and post something on the blog, as mentioned before) but Jen wanted me to come with her to this ridiculous Harry Potter midnight book purchasing thing at a local bookseller so the opportunity was sort of squandered (and it wasn't all her fault because I did have time to watch the end of Ocean's Eleven when I got home, too).

Anyway, Happy Belated Birthday, Diana. May there be many more.



mike

More Birthday Wishes

The always adorable Kristin Bell celebrates her 27th birthday today. S'funny since Jen and I were watching Veronica Mars tonight.



mike

Birthday Greetings and a Treat

On this Friday the 13th I'd like to extend some birthday greetings, Meanwhile... style, to the man in the hat, Harrison Ford. He turns 65 today.



And to celebrate, the fine folks over at Indy 4 gave us THIS.

mike

More Than Meets the Eye?

I'm just gonna spout off here so if there's no coherent flow then don't worry. Also, there may be a spoiler or two, so if that concerns you, don't continue.

Anyway, I just got back from seeing Transormers with my brother tonight and I would say that the subject line is an apt description of what I saw. Considering it was a Michael Bay movie, I was expecting something more along the lines of Bad Boys or The Rock as far as style and attention to plot were concerned, but being apart from the Bruckheimer machine appears to make some difference because this is probably one of the best Bay movies I've ever seen.

Not to mention one of the most expensive GM car ads I've ever seen.

Was it the best Transformers movie I could have ever imagined? No, not really. There are some good ideas crammed in there and, technically, it's an extremely well done movie. It's definitely the best special effects I have ever seen from ILM (these robot fight sequences must have been like wet dreams for the animators) or any company currently working out there.

They also don't get bogged down with a lot of exposition, which is good since it would not only make the movie slow and plodding, but sound just a little foolish, as well. I mean, we used to get picked on for knowing about these toys and cartoons when we were kids (coincidentally by the same people who are flocking to the theatre and saying, "that's the coolest f***ing movie I've ever seen, man"). This is a pretty silly concept and they managed to sell it with bells on, so props to the marketing guys and the filmmakers.

Still, the movie does lose narrative focus somewhere in the middle. The human story, the one that's supposed to help us relate to these events and, really, the audience is supposed to be seeing the movie through Shia and Megan's eyes, gets sunverted by the Government knows there are aliens and we really need to wrap up all this set-up we've done in the next 45 minutes or else narrative.

That said, they do have a shitload of plot, character. action and dialogue to handle and they do a very good job of it, overall. I mean, they only introduce a fraction of the toy line so it isn't as top heavy as it could have been, and the Bumblebee/Shia story does go a long way to helping keep things anchored. Shia himself was convincing and entertaining and how cool is it that they got the cartoon voice for Optimus to be in the movie?

To sum up, for plain and simple entertainment value, I'd give it 3.5 points out of 5, and for sheer spectacle, I'd give it 4.5 out of 5. Definitely worth seeing in the theatre if you go and probably worth spending some hard-earned money on.

Autobots, roll!

mike

First Time Donnie Darko Viewer

I just watched Donnie Darko for the first time last night. It was reccomended to me a year ago by a co-worker so I went out and acquired a copy of the Director's Cut but never got around to watching it. Then, a couple of days ago, another co-worker at my new job sprung the "Have you seen Donnie Darko?" question out of the blue and it got me thinking about checking out the movie again.

Having the day off, and free reign of the house, yesterday, I got into a vibe of getting to some movies I haven't had a chance to check out. A friend gave me a copy of Saw a looong time ago and I figured with the family gone it was the perfect time to watch it. The same with Donnie Darko only, after watching 20 minutes of the movie, I was convinced that Jen would like it as well and decided to hold out 'til the evening and do it as a movie night sort of thing.

To make a long story short, we got inot it, I thought the movie was phenomenal (Jen liked it, too), that it was one of the best films I've ever seen and that I would highly reccomend it to anyone who ever had a curiosity about the movie but was afraid to pick it up.

I'll also probably go and track down a copy of the theatrical version to see it as it was originally presented because I enjoyed it so darn much. I think there may be an audio commentary on that version as well, and I think it would be neat to listen to that one after hearing the Director's Cut one.

Anyway, I just wanted to throw that out there and share the love as I am wont to do. I'll leave you with a fun clip from the film where Donnie discusses his thoughts about smurfs.



mike

Favourite Videos 4

This was Bowie's least 'interesting' video from Earthling but was, stylistically, the most appealing to me as a piece of mini-cinema. I can't argue that 'Little Wonder' wasn't a great, trippy little clip to watch, but everything in this video from the lighting to the composition to David's jacket and sweater combination and the use of Trent Reznor as the 'bad guy' left a lasting impression on me.

I think the fact that it was story based (something most of his videos from this period were not) probably had a lot to do with why this one stands the test of time and why it made the list.

Watch, enjoy, comment...



mike

Farewell, Moonshadow

First, a little history.

20 odd years ago, Epic, a mature imprint of Marvel Comics, published a 12-issue series, which was a coming of age sci-fi fantasy fairy tale for adults - Moonshadow. Created by writer J.M. DeMatteis and artist Jon J Muth, the book helped, along with its Epic brethren, to redefine American comic books and spearheaded the fully painted comic story, something that came to be en vogue a few years later. It was a difficult project to pigeonhole into any one genre and the creators operated under very few restrictions since nobody knew exactly what it was they were creating. As a result, what is arguably one of the finest comic book works to ever be crafted on this continent was produced, packaged and sold with little fanfare.

On a personal note, at this time I was just discovering John Byrne's Superman revival and the creation of the new DC Comics Universe post-Crisis, so I, unfortunately, missed this landmark book on its release. Not being a complete cloth-eared nincompoop, however, I did eventually discover it in the back-issue bins (through an ad in the back of an issue of Elektra: Assassin, I'm sure) and found myself drawn, first to the beautiful painted covers by Muth, and then to the magical, heartfelt and inspired writing of an author who's work I'd only ever seen in the pages of Marvel Team-Up, The Defenders and Justice League. This was good stuff. I made a point of buying up every issue I could find.

Before finally completing my Epic run it was republished for a new audience to discover with new covers, better paper, and supplemental material at DC's aforementioned Vertigo imprint (something DeMatteis and Muth apparently lobbied for). This was followed shortly thereafter by its sequel, Farewell, Moonshadow, which featured the original creators, DeMatteis and Muth, reuniting to tell the final chapter in the life of the young wanderer. Not a comic book, per se, the story was told in prose and comic format with spot illustrations and panel work done by Muth. It's a powerful, enchanting tale of found and lost love, and how an individual's journey to awakening never truly ends.

I just completed reading the maxi-series yesterday and about a half-hour ago I finished the sequel. I'm going to risk some cool factor by saying that the saga as a whole deeply touched me (as it has since the day I first laid eyes on it) and had me a little teary by story's end. I hesitated to put the book down for a few minutes because it would have meant the end of something that I wasn't quite ready to let go of just yet. I wanted to hold the moment for a few seconds longer, then proceeded to tell Jen that she should read it, too.

The only thing just as good as experiencing it yourself is seeing someone else going through it as well. Just as I encouraged Jen to try it, I throw out the invitation to you. Find a copy, crack it open, see what you think.

And if J.M. or Jon happen to stumble by this post, a humble and profound thank you to the both of you.

I'm going to leave this post with one of my favourite images from Farewell. It's a spot illo from a dream sequence and it features Moon's mother and the hat of his best friend, Ira. Both figure and object carry greater meaning when you've read the previous work but I think it's striking, poetic and just plain beautiful to look at. I want to make prints of them all.



mike

Things Are Looking Up

Or are they?

I'm not really sure, one way or the other, but I can say that today had some good points, for a change, that managed to outweigh the crappy ones. Work was a disaster, as usual, but I had a good chat with some of my workmates afterwards, I have an option of going in tomorrow if I want to and for time-and-a-half because of a scheduling error (which also gets me a 2-day weekend if I go that route), and I'm listening to JET: Rare Tracks, which is bringing me a lot of good feelings right now. A good shower, some clean clothes, a little decompression time and things are looking a little better than they were only 2 hours ago.

There were a couple of good customers who helped take the edge off, too. I should be sure to give credit to where credit is due, especially when I can so rarely ascribe it to that particular demographic. There was a lady who showed up right in the middle of a total clusterfuck wanting help with an air conditioner problem. Now, usually, I hear air conditioner and problem and I want to run, but this lady was really great to talk to and probably managed to keep me from snapping entirely before lunch.

There was also a younger girl who was working for a local television production, Rabbit Falls, who came in to get some materials for props that will likely be appearing in a future episode. She wanted these 4x8 sheets cut into 4x4's, so we had a good 20 minutes to chat about University, television, work, life the universe and everything.

They both acted like cooling rods in a nuclear power plant that keep the reactor from going poof, pop, ping! One in the afternoon before lunch and one just before the end of my shift. I'm wondering if there's some synchronicity or cosmic intervention involved there at all.

Another hopeful sign tonight was after the aforementioned good conversation with work people I walked out into the parking lot to go home and found a dollar lying on the ground.

If that's not the universe telling me that things are levelling out, I don't know what is.

Anyway, I'm going to go figure out what I'm doing tonight. Looks like going to see Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer is an option. I got a free pass, so...

mike