Sharing a Little Grace

It was on this day back in 1982 that Grace Kelly, Hollywood icon and Princess consort of Monaco, died when she lost control of her vehicle and drove off the road and crashed. I've never considered myself a huge Kelly fan, but I've enjoyed several of her movies, particularly To Catch a Thief, and have always appreciated her class and stunning beauty.

Grace was recently reintroduced to me through a Vanity Fair article which discussed he fashion sense (which I have always adored), and touched briefly on her life which, subsequently, stirred some interest in me to seek out a biography to get a more thorough picture of her, and her time in Hollywood. In the process, I ran across High Society by Donald Spoto, which seems to be pretty good so far and also subscribes to the same sort of interviewing and biography ethos I personally follow. There's a great deal of respect for the subject, and that's something I like to see. Torrid tell-alls are not mu cup of tea.

From what I've seen so far in Spoto's book, Grace was a genuinely nice, generous and real person, despite her status and fame; another thing I like in my celebrities.

I'll also never forget Lauren Bacall tweeting from the Oscars when she referenced the young girls there who all had beautiful gowns but also terrible posture and little refinement. She said Grace would be rolling in her grave.

So there it is, my odd little tribute to Grace Kelly. Maybe I'll watch TCaT again tonight. Or grab one I haven't seen. Either way, I'm gonna squeeze a little Grace into my day.

Later!

mike

Mobile Databasing

I downloaded a new app for my iPhone which is a database for my DVDs and BDs that I can take around with me. It's not a really important thing to have on me at all times, but I am asked often enough about my movies (a collection that is 1500+ unique titles strong) when I'm not at home that I thought it might be nice to have something like that available at my fingertips. I also kind of loved the fact that I can use my camera to scan each and every one of my movies and it automatically adds them to the database. So far, I've only run into a few that have stumped IMDB and those are easy enough to add manually. I was kicking around, relaxing and listening to some Fringe commentary and scanned, like, 100 discs into the database in the time it took to finish one episode. Not too shabby.

A lot of other stuff was done today, but for whatever reason the database app is the one thing standing out to me right now, so that's what you get on the blog.

Later!

mike

Image Worth a Thousand Words

This image and cover makes me ridiculously happy.

mike

Thinking of DS9 Again

Just started watching Star Trek: Deep Space Nine again and decided to look back at some of my earlier DS9 posts from, like, 2005.

Originally I made the decision to watch the series in its entirety, since I never had before, and since I was probably looking for content at the time figured I would do reviews of the episodes as I watched them. Looking at them now I'm actually happy with what I was doing at the time but I also noticed that I stopped reviewing episodes after Season 1. I'm sure that it had something to do with nobody commenting on them at the time and me deciding that it wasn't worth the time and effort, but I'm considering going back and doing Season 2 and catching up to where I currently am on Season 3. Right now I am, literally, in the middle of watching episode 17, "Prophet Motive", so there would be a bit of catching up to do, but I am finding that every time I come back to this show after a lengthy hiatus it never gets stale, I'm never not in the mood, and the stories and characters keep getting better and better.

I was just talking to my wife about guilty pleasures or junk food TV (she watches Grey's Anatomy and Friday Night Lights for her silly fix, for example, while I have been known to occasionally watch Smallville) and I also mentioned how I used to consider DS9 just that. But the quality of the show (despite dragging along 30 years of franchise history and the baggage and clichés of two previous series) and my enjoyment of it elevates it beyond that, I think.

So, I'll give it some thought, maybe revisit the idea as I continue to run through the series. If anyone has any opinions on the matter, feel free to voice them.

Until then...

mike

Cleaning Up

I noticed that I have a crapload of links that I've snagged and left in my bookmark folder and decided to clean a few of them out with a good ol' fashioned linkblog. Haven't done one of these in a while so I'll just get started and perhaps there may be something of interest to someone herein:

This post by Valerie D'Orazio is from her blog Occasional Superheroine. It's a couple of years old but I always loved the story and the punchline is gold.

A few months ago I was on a big Hannah Georgas kick and this Q&A grabbed my attention for some reason. It might have been the description of the song meanings or perhaps the story about the children vocalists. Either way, if you're a fan or a curious observer, there may be some tidbit of interest there for you.

This link will take you to a Rian Hughes video where he talks about his career in design and comics. If you're interested in graphic design, comics, typography, that sort of thing, it's worth checking out.

After The Golden Compass hit theatres, I found this interview with the author of the Northern Lights trilogy, Phillip Pullman. I quite liked the interview at the time and thought Pullman was an interesting subject.

The Cerebus: A Diablog site is the brainchild of Laura Hudson and Leigh Walton where they read and discuss each issue of Cerebus from #1 on. It's pretty interesting to read, to be honest. I think they are at #11 or #12 at the moment, I could be wrong. I suppose I could always click on the link to find out, couldn't I? Well, so could you if you were so inclined.

This is an article from RodSerling.com discussing the adaptation of Planet of the Apes from novel to film. It discusses changes made and what-not. I was on an Apes or Twilight Zone kick a bit ago and dug this up around that time. Kind of interesting reading for those interested in the film series or Serling. I also remember digging up Pierre Boulle's script for the proposed sequel, Planet of Men or something like that, but that's another link for another time.

The Magic of Shazam! blog was created by Mark Kunkel to document his experience while creating the first 5-or-so issues of that series. It's a good read if you care about that series or Kunkel in any way, shape or form.

io9 gives you 13 Alien Languages You Can Actually Read. 'Nuff said, I think.

John Adcock wrote an article called "Runyon on Herriman" which, if you recognize any of those names, is worth a read.

On a more recent note, Bryan Singer talks Matthew Vaughn and the upcoming X-Men: First Class movie over at AICN.

Eddie Campbell interview with Forbidden Planet International. He talks about the big Alec book and other stuff.

Hmmm, that's a few of the links that are cluttering up the ol' PC. I hope some of them are of interest to people. At the very least, they're not taking up space on my end and I can hit the blog whenever I want to check one of them out, which is the whole purpose of doing this anyways, isn't it? Perhaps I will attack with another set in the near future.

Cheers!

mike

Kudos To Red Hood

I gotta give credit where credit is due here, and the bulk of the success of Batman: Under the Red Hood lies in Judd Winick's screenplay which he adapted from his own work on the Batman comic books (I think it was in Batman but it could have been Detective, I don't know). I mean, sure, the show looks good, and has some good action sequences, and decent art direction, and great sound design, and pretty good music, and the cast is not bad, but I honestly think it's the pacing and structure of the story that really makes this thing work better than most of the D2DVD Warner/DC animations to date. Everything from Superman: Doomsday to Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths suffer in one way or another and never truly feel like a fully fleshed out and complete story. Every one of them, with the exception of Green Lantern: First Flight and Batman: Gotham Knight because of its anthological nature (is that even a word), feel compressed, rushed, and squeezed into their limited running times.

Despite my previous misgivings, I have to concede that Under the Red Hood was an entertaining experience and had many good moments in it. The only weak points it really has stem from some lame CGI and my own lukewarm reaction to the Red Hood storyline when I first read it a while ago.

Anyway, disjointed and rushed though they may be, those are my thoughts on the movie and I'm moving on to work on some other stuff. I just wanted to sound off while this was fresh in my mind.

Take care!

mike

Under the Hood

Not looking too forward to this although I cannot deny some curiosity:



Probably a renter rather than a purchase. Haven't really embraced any of the DC Animated films since Wonder Woman, which wasn't all that strong. Actually, Green Lantern: First Flight was pretty good, now that I think about it, but I haven't bought any of them since WW.

Anyway, time will tell. Released on July 27th, if I'm not mistaken.

Later!

mike

Not Sure What To Post...

...but I sort of have a bit of momentum going. I think I've posted something just about every day this week. Considering my previous output, I consider this nothing short of a miracle.

Anyway, not much going on right now.

I could mention I went to the Star Wars: In Concert show a bit ago, which was cool. The performance itself was solid and one tended to stare at the big screen as opposed to the orchestra so it wasn't much in the way of concert experiences, really. Seeing Anthony Daniels was a treat, though, and getting to see the traveling exhibits was also very, very cool.

Each case was incredibly crowded and it was almost impossible to get any photos of myself with them since I was alone, but I snagged a few and took straight shots of everything else for the ol' FaceBook album. I had to use my iPhone so they didn't all come out great, but at least I have a record of the event, which is more than I can say for many other things I've seen and gone to in the past.

If you're a FaceBook buddy of mine you can head over and check them out. If not, I'll maybe post more pics another time. For now, though, here's me and the Dark Lord of the Sith, himself.



Peace!

mike

Thank You BRMC

I've gotten a bit of a respite from my disastrously bad mood in the form of some kick-ass BRMC tunes. I don't know what it was, exactly, that lifted me from my funk, but lifted I am. It could be temporary, and I'm prepared to take that as it comes. For now, though, "Bad Blood", "Howl", "Promise", "Weight of the World", "Shadow's Keeper" and a few others are life-savers of the best kind. Whether it's the lyrics or the music or a combination of the two, I don't care. I've been enjoying the last few hours and this is good.

I just thought I would share.

And speaking of sharing:



Later!

mike

Something That Made Me Go Hmmmm

So, I'm sitting in the car after work, having just driven up in front of the house, and I started putting some touches on another poem that I started writing at work (yeah, don't even ask) and waiting for the rain to die down before going in. I had Death Cab For Cutie playing on the stereo because I had been listening to them all day, off and on. So, they're right in the middle of "The Ice Is Getting Thinner", right when that agonizingly lonely guitar comes in for the solo, and just as I stopped writing the sky opened up and down came the the rain in a torrent. I couldn't see out the windows, I couldn't very well get out of the car, and there was just me, the music and the weather. It was an interesting moment. I'd use the word poetic but that would just seem like a crass pun.

Although it is entirely unintentional, I'm also finding it not entirely coincidental that I'm in the middle of reading a Nick Hornby book and listening to a lot of DCFC. Hornby has always been the one writer who seems to know me better than I do. Alternately, Ben Gibbard has quickly become a favourite songwriter for writing many, many lyrics that seem torn from the pages of my life, thematically if not literally. I've always had a passing interest in the band but their Drive Well, Sleep Carefully DVD sort of put it all over the top for me. Now they are on heavy rotation in the ol' iTunes.

Anyway, I'm kind of trying to organize a snack run of some kind so I'm gonna blast.

Later!

mike

Recent Acquisitions

Among other things, this weekend involved some new acquisitions which I thought I would make mention of here. While out and about with Jen we hit a local used bookstore and I found a very nice copy of Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch, something I've been meaning to buy but never have gotten around to. I took the book out of the library once, years ago, and had to return it before finishing it so I look forward to taking another crack at it. Maybe I'll watch the movie when I'm done. Not the Farrely Bros. one, the one starring Colin Firth.

I also grabbed the first issue of what appears to be a new Batman Beyond series. I had not heard of this (which shows how unplugged I am from mainstream comics these days) but I curious and excited to explore what lies within. Writer Adam Beechen knows his animated properties and the artist, Ryan Benjamin, looks pretty decent so I have high hopes for reading it. I was, and still am, a huge fan of the television series this comic is based on and any chance to see Terry McGinnis again (as long as it's not complete shit, anyways) is a nice surprise.

Update: Just read it and I'm pleased! Art and story were well done. A little out of my comfort zone style-wise to really embrace it as 'of the series' but I'm very much looking forward to seeing how this six-issue series pans out.

I also grabbed an official guide to Battlestar Galactica which covers the relaunch, the mini-series and the first season, if I'm not mistaken. So far, from what I've read, it's pretty darn good. Moore is not pulling any punches and, short of covering all the failed attempts to bring the series back, it's an informative read coming from primary sources.

Nabbed a couple of albums by Pinback, which were recommended to me by Jen. The jury's still out on the band but so far I'm liking what I hear.

Kate picked up Lego Rock Band and we have been rockin' out for most of the evening to some cool tunes by some of our favourite bands. I have to say I'm happy to see The Kooks, Vampire Weekend, Glasvegas, Blur and Phoenix all represented amidst the Big Ones that you expect to see. It warmed the cockles of my heart.

Oh, and while she was doing that I picked up a discount copy of Mothra vs. Godzilla for, like, $5. I haven't opened it yet but I doubt I'll return it. Simon might have fun watching it with me, he's a bit of a Godzilla nut. I mean, he's 9, what do you expect?

So that's it. I could mention the cannelloni dinner I made today, which was fabulous, but that's less of an acquisition and more of a 'see what I DID today' kind of thing. Maybe post on it later. I'll be taking some samples in to work to let the proles sample some of my wares.

Anyway, on that note, I will depart. Take care, stay warm, keep fit and play safe.

mike

Packaging Fubars

For an explanation of what this is and means, click through to Jerry Beck's post at the Cartoon Brew blog.

This is almost as good as the "Rob Liefeld's Shaft: 7 Inches, fully poseable" ad that ran in Diamond Previews several years ago. Although, only comic book people saw that so I guess this is not as funny but more universal.

Anyway, 'til next time.

mike

To Airbend, or Not to Airbend?

I was planning to go to The Last Airbender this week (being a huge fan of the animated series) but the reviews are kind of scaring me off. I look at the Tomatometer and it has a 9% fresh rating right now. That's terrible. Still, the last X-Files movie had a 12% and I loved it to bits, so maybe TLA isn't that bad. But then I hear the fans responses, and Ebert's review which was painfully scathing in its dislike of the film (Ebert, btw, loved the last X-Files movie) and I have to wonder. The Avatar community is also pretty heated in its hate for the film. I don't know if it's just expectations that were too high or what but it's enough to keep me away, possibly until it hits the discount theatre or the kids push us to take them.

Every time I try and overcome a negative with this movie I always manage to find something to make me pull back and away, again. Maybe that's enough reason to stay away.

mike

On a Happier Note

I`ve been listening to a lot of Charlatans lately so I thought I would share this live version of `Oh! Vanity`.

The Charlatans@Ray Ban Unplugged Primavera Sound 2010 from VICE España on Vimeo.

And, if anyone cares, the mood is a little better today than yesterday.

Cheers!

mike

Seriously?

I'm not gonna explain why, or who is involved, or what it's about, but I'm so angry right now I want to break things. It's times like these that I wish I boxed or belonged to a gym or something and that I could just go and punish myself physically or beat on something for an hour until I couldn't muster the energy to bother anymore.

I don't remember the last time I felt quite this way. I suppose I could get a lot of cleaning done around the house with all this anger built up inside.

And with that I take my leave. I just had to verbalize it, or say it publically to help take the edge off and that mission is accomplished.

Hopefully there will be something more cheerful next time you hear from me.

mike

Surprise Return

Just when you thought you'd seen the last of me for another two months, here I am.

I'm kind of sitting here at my computer, doing not much. I'm waiting for someone to contact me who I'm beginning to suspect will not, in fact, contact me, so I decided to head over to NPR and stream the new Stars album which is bloody fantastic!!! I also figured I'd pop on and do another posting. Go figger.

I don't have much to say, really. A lot of weird stuff has been going on at Meanwhile... HQ and I'm still trying to figure out exactly what that is, but there's been some soul searching, some examining of life changes and choices, and lots of other boring stuff that nobody wants to read about, I'm sure. It's part of the reason that I haven't been blogging. I've never made this much of a personal forum, reserving it for my pop cultural predilections, so this end kind of gets neglected when I'm in one of these moods/phases.

Anyway, That's all for now. Will post again soon. Promise. Hopefully it will be more interesting than this.

I will leave you however with this:



mike

Been a While

So, yeah, like the title says, it has been a while since I've posted anything here. That's partly because of my other online social networking accounts, but also because I'm just finding I have less patience for sitting and posting on here. I figured I would pop on and do something, though, since I've left it to flounder for something like 2 months.

Since coming back from Ottawa I had this really strange dream which may or may not be slightly influenced by being at the National Gallery only days before. It was this weird amalgam of a Jacob's Ladder type surreal experience with a They Live like twist for flavour.

I was in this enormous gallery/mall where there were doors on certain levels that would take you to another dimension where everything was red or everything was blue or yellow exclusively, and each colour would correlate to a behaviour or mood. Red being aggressive, maybe yellow was passive or cowardly, I don't know what the rest were anymore. So, occasionally a person would slip through accidentally and they would be prized by the denizens of these alternate worlds because they wanted to use the openings that you accidentally created to slip through into our world and take your place.

I remember there was this large open area, like an arcade or square, that was enclosed in glass. There were these giant dancing female creatures with crazy twisted/monstrous features which I think only I could see. This may or may not have been an effect of what eventually led me to the other world or not. Possibly a precursor of the walls breaking down, or something. Now that I think about it, the gallery art and certain details would change as well depending on the world you were in.

I somehow slipped into the red world and everyone there had transparent skin so you could see the musculature and bones and eyeballs underneath. They knew that I was wrong when I reacted to their appearance. I'm guessing if I kept my cool thay might not have clued in but they ended up chasing me, trying to capture me, before I could get back to where I came from.

Sounds kind of silly typing it up but it was pretty weird and discomforting while I was in the dream.

Maybe there's a story there.

Anyway, that's perhaps not what one might expect from a comeback post but that is what I have got, so...

Take care and we'll see you later!

mike

You Gotta Take Your Medicine Where You Can Find It

Kinda rediscovered a little band by the name of Medicine not too long ago. They're probably most widely known for contributing a song, "Time Baby 3", to the soundtrack album for The Crow. It is, in fact, the first place I ever heard of the band. Their stuff is a pain-in-the-ass to find but I did run across these videos which give you a taste for what they sounded like (and looked like, I guess).


Medicine - The Pink (1993)

Medicine | MySpace Music Videos


Medicine - Never Click (1993)

Medicine | MySpace Music Videos

It was always difficult to listen to an album all the way through without getting a headache, but when the mood struck it was brilliant chaos blasting through the speakers. Still is, really.

Anyway, I'm so freakin' tired I'm falling asleep in my computer chair so I'm gonna sign off.

Cheers!

mike

Small Update to the Site

Just went in and updated the sidebar with new items from the Amazon store which, of course, is all stuff I have worked my grubby paws, eyes and ears through over the last little while. I've also added an old friend's blog to the sidebar links. Just check under Citric Sugar and click through to see my friend Carly's regular updates, projects and thoughts.

As for casa Jozic, not a lot happening around here right now. Spent a lazy Saturday watching Hot Fuzz with my eldest daughter and a late night last night watching (500) Days of Summer, which is now also my absolute favourite rom/com of all time. Just trying to keep things on the downlow, overall.

There may be some news to share soon but until then I'm gonna keep mum on the subject.

Oh, and I guess I could mention that I've been writing a bit these days. Even tried my hand at writing song lyrics, but that proved painful and I abandoned it after a day or so. Still, I've made some progress on the forever unfolding Smitten and look forward to seeing where things go from there.

And last, but not least, I just went and spent a schwack of dough on some comics at a big sale at my LCS. I completed a number of sets including Seaguy: Slaves of Mickey Eye, Savior 28 (although the 5th issue has a buggered cover), Agents of Atlas (the proper monthly as well as the X-Men cross-over), got current with Mike Allred's Madman up to #17, I think, most of the first year of X-Statix, X-Men: First Class: Finals, some issues of Incognito, B.P.R.D. 1947, the last three issues of Millar and Hitch's FF run (although Hitch didn't actually finish it), and some random singles and magazines. It was a good haul. Gonna be reading for a while, I think.

I guess I could mention that I purchased the new Gorillaz album and The Flash Season 1 for a steal, but I'll maybe comment on those at a later date.

So, until then...

mike

"I am not a number!"

I know it's yet another video post but I've started watching AMC's Prisoner remake and it's got me in a McGoohan state of mind. AMC is also streaming the original series and I thought I would link to it here.



Cheers!

mike