Anniversary Post

Well, what can I say. I've been doing this off-and-on now for six years and, while I have focused a little more on the Twitter and the Facebook of late, I do plan to continue with the blog for the foreseeable future. I still like having it around, for some reason. Possibly because those other forms of social media are not compatible with long thoughts or rants. 140 characters won't cut it when I want to go on about boxing day shopping, to use the last post as an example. I also still like the online record that I've left. You can go back through status updates or tweets, but nothing is quite like going back and reading through blog posts. It's like going through your old diary, looking back at what you've done, what you were interested in, and what you thought about it. A little meatier than the photo essays on FB.

Anyway, I'm not saying anything anyone with one of these doesn't already know. Just wanted to mark the occasion, blow the proverbial noisemaker in celebration and to wish everyone a Happy New Year and all the best in 2011, the Year of the Rabbit, which promises to be pretty darn good for a lot of us.

Thanks for reading if you have been. Your patronage is appreciated.

With that, I take my leave to begin year 7. Maybe lucky number 7, eh?

mike

Boxing Day Shop-a-Thon

As per usual on Boxing Day, I and the rest of the family head out and grab some decent bargains on the kinds of things we enjoy: DVD/BD for me, electronics for the wife, games for the boy, and clothes for the girls.

Among my many other acquisitions, I finally managed to complete the Star Wars saga on DVD for very cheap. I have always had the prequel trilogy and the box set for the original trilogy, but when they last released the original trilogy in the two-disc packs with the theatrical releases included as a bonus disc, I only bought Episode IV. I felt the whole 'Han shot first' thing was important to have since the Special Edition version of events drive me batshit crazy. I passed on the other two, however, due to their few alterations and figured I would pick them up when they became available for a reasonable price (reasonable for a double or triple dip, anyway). Four years later, here we are.

One thing I have enjoyed about the box set and these discs is the fact that they are covered with different kinds of Star Wars art, poster or otherwise. The covers are photo mash-ups of the original poster art, then there is different poster art, or possibly production art, on the sleeve inside, and more art on the discs themselves. I remember there being a very expressionist style to the inserts on the box set. Just very nice efforts on the packaging, overall.

So, I now have one set of original trilogy on VHS and two on DVD, but I have a strong suspicion that the BD release in the next year or two will not include the theatricals as a bonus feature since George would rather they be forgotten, hence my desire to grab these while I still can.

Among my other boxing day treasures, I mostly upgraded many of my DVDs to BD versions. I always make sure there is something different about the BD before I do so, otherwise I just feel like a tool for spending money again. There has to be new features, or exclusive features or being totally remastered or something to justify it. So, I grabbed the X-Men trilogy, the first 30 Days of Night, Star Trek II, IV, VI & First Contact, V For Vendetta, The X-Files: I Want to Believe, Chocolat, Hellboy II, Terminator Salvation and a couple others I'm probably forgetting.

Also grabbed some books over the holiday season like Joe Sacco's Footnotes in Gaza, the second book in Stefan Petrucha's Timetripper series, and George Lucas' Blockbusting, which I've had my eye on for a while.

Oh, and Jen bought me Homicide: Life on the Street as my Christmas present this year. A good haul, overall.

Until next year!

mike

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

The Indiana Jones Comic Book Revue #5

All books are rated on a 0 to 5 Fedoras system.

The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones #6
(Marvel Comics Group)

Plot/Script by: David Michelinie (from an idea by Archie Goodwin)
Pencilled by: Howard Chaykin
Inked by: Terry Austin
Cover by: Howard Chaykin & Terry Austin

"I actually enjoy saving a person's life twice in one day for no gratitude whatsoever."

Dateline 1936

"Club Nightmare!" reintroduces Marion Ravenwood to the world of Indiana Jones as our hero joins her in New York for the opening of their new business venture, The Raven. With all the money Marion received from "that lost ark mess", and Indy as a silent partner, she decides to open a club in New York. Eventually, she runs afoul of local gangster, Emil Marko, who wanted to be a partner in the business in order to use it as a front for a gambling setup. Marion tells him to go suck an egg and Marko puts the squeeze on Marion, jeopardizing her life and opening night!

This is a pretty good story and stands as one of the best since the Byrne issues right off the top. Michelinie shows some classic pulp sensibilities, giving the affair a nice '30s New York feel and populates the story with characters that remind me of many of the cast of Casablanca. The wonderful art by Howard Chaykin (also the best in the series since Byrne's departure) only serves to enhance the period look and feel of the story and he does an excellent job with the action sequences. It's a shame that he's only here for a single issue fill-in. At least we get to enjoy Chaykin's work in the future when he lends his considerable talent to some excellent covers for the series.

This issue was a really solid installment in the series. It was nice to see a straight up Indy adventure that did not take place in a jungle (unless you want to argue a concrete one), had no supernatural elements and worked like gangbusters (no pun intended) without relying on Nazis, communists or the occult for an antagonist or a MacGuffin. It was also nice to see Marion return even though this story (and this whole series, for that matter) clearly takes place outside of Indy canon. She was consistent, in character and a really good foil for Indy. From what I can tell, Marion continues on in the series for a few issues so we'll see if that trend holds.

Now That I'm On GoodReads...

Tintin: A Biography by Harry Thompson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Not a portrait of the artist so much as an analysis of Hergé's work. Granted, Hergé was not a person who spent a lot of time doing interviews or talking about his life, so the source material Thompson used to inform his book is sparse. Add to that the fact that the author did not have access to Hergé's estate and you have a book that is big on enthusiasm but lacking in any real meat-and-potatoes biography. The analysis of each album in the series does give Thompson an iron-clad structure and he manages to offer up some valuable information for the art/cartoon/comic historian/enthusiast. Still, for as much as it says about the artist and his work it still feels lacking. An enjoyable read, overall, and a good primer for the TINTIN neophyte, but I'll probably keep looking for the Hergé bio that sates my appetite. Not a bad thing, necessarily.



View all my reviews

Later!

mike

Ghostbusters Completed

About a week ago I was overcome with ennui and decided to throw in my Ghostbusters video game into the PC and finish it once and for all. When I stopped playing it a while ago I had left off on one of the last levels, I was sure, as the story was kind of wrapping up in a climaxy kind of way. I don't remember what it was that stopped me from playing it through at the time, but I'm sure it got overly difficult and I got bored and busy or something. Anyway, it had been sitting on the shelf for some time and I decided to dust it off and get it out of the way.

Overall, it's probably some of the most fun I've had gaming. Really. The story, acting, graphics, all were top notch!! And, as far as I'm concerned, the game was written by Aykroyd/Ramis, stars the original cast (even Atherton and Potts) and continues the story as if it was the third in a trilogy bringing everything back to Shandor, Gozer, and explaining some of the stuff from GB1. And the new character you play doesn't intrude at all on the story. Even without saying a word he is seamlessly interwoven and actualy interacts with the other characters.

This, folks, is Ghostbusters 3. Make no mistake.

Anyway, now that I'm done the game I seem to still have a bit of a GB jones so I'm probably gonna grab some IDW Publishing GB comics and get an extended fix. I was buying and following all the GB comics but kind of dropped off there for a bit. A lot of one-shots seemed to be coming out that looked hastily conceived and quickly produced, so I sort of stopped buying, but I'll probably go back and re-examine. I just bought the Halloween special written by Peter David which wasn't bad. There's a time-travelling mini written by Scott Lobdell which I'm sure I should be checking out, so that's probably the next step.

Take care!

mike

Check It Out

Watch the pilot episode of The Walking Dead courtesy of AMC. If you like drama, zombies or good storytelling, give it a shot. The books it's based on are great and I'm hoping Frank Darabont gets this right!



Later!

mike

Lap Time

This is getting to be a flattering and, ultimately frustrating, habit of one of our housemates. Whenever I sit down to work or play at my computer, Starbuck finds her way here, gives the weepy-eyed look and jumps up. Not only does my leg fall asleep, not only does hair get everywhere on me and my computer, but I can't really function while she's there. Maybe that's the point.

Oh well, Jen tells me it's adorable.

Later!

mike

Trick-or-Treat

Another Halloween come and gone again for another year. I didn't really do anything myself, per se, on the day (does seeing PSYCHO in a snazzy big theatre count?) but I took the kids out and they trick-or-treated in their costumes with their friends. Costumes are beginning to get more interesting as the years go on because of their changing/evolving interests and because they've started assembling them themselves instead of having us do it exclusively. Kate (with a little help) cobbled together this Hogwarts student outfit and Emma went as Buffy the Vampire Slayer after an aborted attempt at trying to put together an Envy Adams cotume (an expensive error in judgement, too). Simon used an old costume we had which was the Brandon Routh Superman tights with the colouring and fit from Superman Returns.

Overall, it was a good time, a good haul, and the yard has never looked better. I wish I had some pics to show it off. The last few years we've been collecting up decorations at Halloween sales and things have been shaping up nicely. We can finally start celebrating one of our fave holidays in a way we haven't really done in the past.

Anyway, pics of the kids below. Kate is the Gryffindor girl on the far right.



Later!

mike

Fringe Reading

This afternoon I finished reading the collected Fringe comic that Wildstorm put out a while ago. I picked it up because of my interest in the show and I'd heard that it was a not-bad read that did, in fact, enhance the viewing experience somewhat due to its exploration of the pasts of William Bell and Walter Bishop.

Well, the main story featuring the two oddball scientists was pretty lackluster so I was, overall, disappointed with the experience. I'll definitely keep to the show and avoid any more 'hidden tales' from the fringe. The shorter back-up stories, however, were pretty decent in a Weird Tales or Strange Science-Fiction Stories sort of way. In fact, it looks like the publisher is following this format for their second Fringe series called Tales From the Fringe which appears to be all shorter stories with twist endings and weird situations. The only real difference is the new series actually stars characters from the show like Broyles, Dunham and Peter, so it's a little more interesting to read.

Anyway, just wanted to get some thoughts down on the experience. Not really recommended for anyone but the most die-hard of fans, so reader beware.

Until next time.

mike

What's Going On?

It's been a busy and somewhat hectic couple of months here at Jozic HQ. For starters, Jen has moved back from Regina (where she was working at the Provincial archives), my job has been downsized something awful, I've started the process of putting a business together with my brother, had some family health issues, and read and listened to a lot of really cool stuff.

Looking back on my TwitterFeed (yes, I really do have to look back to remember) the kids and I celebrated Groucho Marx's birthday on the 2nd of Oct. by watching A Night at the Opera and it was received very well by middle child, Kate. Emma had already seen it and Simon remains uninterested in anything B&W, so to hell with him. Anyway, Kate got a lot of the jokes, which is impressive considering how much of it is wordplay, and I've even caught her quoting lines every now and then. "And if not, I'll be back. And with squeaky shoes!"

The kids and I also finished Season 3 of Doctor Who and started the fourth, and final, Tenant series. We've been having a blast with these episodes and if I could just convince them to explore some Eighth Doctor goodness with me, that would make things just perfect. It's a work in progress, to say the least.

I debated on starting a Human Target podcast. Could be fun, but am I really committed to the idea? Give it some time to simmer a bit, I think.

I kinda went off on Steve Rude in 'his time of need' on Twitter. In fact, you probably can't even call it going off on him, since he probably doesn't know about it. Comics journalist Tom Spurgeon did reply with some commentary, trying to put some perspective on my irk, which prompted my Rude post a week ago, but I just received a print that I ordered from the Rude Dude store and it was in rough shape so I'm pissed off again.

Started up with Netflix, which has been a ton of fun. Lots of docs and foreign films I've been wanting to see. Watched some other stuff, too. Well worth the $8 CAN so far. I urge anyone who hasn't to try it out.

Everything kind of wraps up with Thanksgiving, some DVDs and BD's I've bought and watched, and that brings us up to the current situation.

So, with that, I'll take my leave. There are some things I'd like to post about and they're just itching to get out but for whatever reason, they're not there yet. As soon as they are, I'll be back here in a flash.

Toodles!

mike

Help a Dude Out

Okay, so I posted a new banner up top of the page and will continue to do so throughout the series of auctions being put on by Steve Rude and his wife Jaynelle. See, they're in a rough patch and their house is in danger of being foreclosed on and these folks are trying to unload a bunch of comic art and other merch in order to help pay some of the bills.

Steve is one of the finest artists to ever work in comics and his Nexus series with Mike Baron is possibly one of the finest series ever produced. There was a recent attempt to relaunch the book under Steve's creator owned imprint but for whatever reason that didn't pan out for the long-term, much to the dismay of all of his fans, this one included.

Anyway, if you are a fan yourself, love comic book art or just wanna maybe help a guy and his family out, click through at the top of the page and take a gander at what's being offered.

Take care!

mike

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