The Sinister Specter

Man On Wire

2009-04-06T13:39:00.000-07:00

It's been some time since I blogged much of anything. There really isn't an excuse for it, I just didn't see much point in it whilst I was living my life, building a home office and working on some other things (writing a screenplay, co-writing and improvising in a successful advertising campaign, etc.). It's been a fairly productive year, considering I also have a full time job to contend with. Still, I had a nagging feeling that I wasn't doing enough. Then I watched Man On Wire and understood why.

Man On Wire is a documentary about wire walker Philippe Petit's historic tightrope walk between the World Trade Center's Twin Towers. The film is one of the most inspirational pieces of cinema I've ever seen. It documents, through interviews and recreations, the journey Petit took to make his dream come true. The man wanted to walk on air, and he did it. What he did makes all my dreams, and the dreams of nearly everyone I've ever met, seem so small, so insignificant and most of all, so attainable.

So, here I am, with a fire under my ass, writing a short blog about a massive amount of inspiration that was bottled in 1 hour and 47 minutes. If you have dreams of your own, watch this film. I hope it helps you as immensely as it has me.

We let him guard the base...

2009-02-18T12:44:00.000-08:00

Toy Fair has come and gone and now we get to see a slew of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen toy pics. Want to know who's in the movie? Well, just peruse the Transformers fan sites and you'll get an idea. That's what I did, and I came across a pic of Wheelie.
Yeah...Wheelie. You remember him from the cartoon, right?

No?

Here he is...

Remember now? He's annoying little Autobot that spoke in rhymes. Well, he's apparently in the new flick and he looks like this...

Wall-E anyone?

Camp Crystal Lake Reopens

2009-02-16T06:37:00.001-08:00

What was the best way to spend Valentine's Day Weekend? Why, watch the Friday The 13th remake, of course! Filled to the brim with gratuitous nudity, splashy gore and wooden acting; the movie is surprisingly better than it has any right to be.

Director Marcus Nispel and Producer Michael Bay decided to make this film closer to its inspiration than they did with their previous outing, Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

While Massacre was a remake of one film, Friday is a re-imagining of a series. The film starts with a flashback to the end of the original Friday The 13th, quickly explaining where Jason comes from and why he has his Mother's head by the bathtub. There are nods to different films in the series (look closely for the wheel chair towards the end) and the characters have the same motivations as those in an other Friday The 13th movie. They're all horny teens who want to smoke grass and drink. the new Camp Crystal Lake is a familiar place from a misspent youth at the horror movies.

For all the similarities to the original series, there is one difference that sets this film apart from the others. Jason is no longer a carbon copy rip off of the Halloween series' Michael Myers. Jason runs and kills. There is an unexplained bit where he keeps a girl chained up in an abandoned mine shaft, but hey, this is the same series that gave us the following gems...

and

The film has some laughably bad dialogue ("Oh my fuck!" and "Fuck you, gun!"), lots of topless women (saving the most "spectacular" for last) and PLENTY of machetes in the face. All in all, I'd say it's a great way to forget about stimulus packages and plane crashes for an hour and a half.

Separated at Birth?

2009-02-13T06:28:00.000-08:00

Jason X, the futuristic Cyber Jason that's spawned a series of spin-off novels and comics.

Is he really the twin of...

COBRA COMMANDER?!?!?!?!?!?!

Oh me, oh my, this is hysterical!

I survived...

2009-02-07T08:31:00.000-08:00

Yesterday marked the first day of the New York Comic Con. I spent most of the day hanging with some friends and talking smack on X-Men The Last Stand and Dalek porno. All in all, a fun time. I even scored some really cool swag...

Yes, that's right...a Micro Talking Dalek! Hearing this little garbage can robot scream "Exterminate the Doctor, the enemy of the DALEKS!" makes me happy. Very happy.

After the show, my friends and I wound up walking about 15 blocks (4 of which were avenues) to one of the best BBQ places I've been in a looooong time. Check out Rub BBQ when you get a chance. It's on 23rd between 7th and 8th I believe.

Now it's on to Day 2, wherein I attempt to find parking in Manhattan and try not to destroy myself after the Con.

25 things you probably didn't know about me

2009-01-29T13:12:00.000-08:00

I got tagged in one of those silly Facebook "things you didn't know about me" notes. So I figured I'd post it here.

Here you go...

1. It took me 3 viewings to realize I hate The Phantom Menace.

2. At the tender age of 12, I outwitted a man in a brown van. He was following my friend and I as we were coming back from the comic store. He drove slowly at first, following us up the street. We turned to take a short cut and he followed, gradually increasing his speed. We both saw the creep edge forward. We were approaching the cemetery near my house. We both had the same idea. We banked a hard left. We ran through a yard then hopped a fence and ran through the cemetery, no doubt disturbing the quiet dead beneath our pounding Nikes.

3. This is the first year where I actually have to pay to get into NY Comic Con.

4. At the age of 29, I learned I was willing to kill another human being in a life or death situation.

5. My favorite potato chip of all time is Utz’s Crab Chip.

6. I have an extensive collection of Silver Age Legion of Super Heroes comics.

7. I still own most of my original Star Wars toys.

8. I’ve never seen Buffy The Vampire Slayer

9. I once saw Sarah Jessica Parker HOUSE a Gray’s Papaya hot dog.

10. For an avid reader, I actually read pretty slow. I don’t have an attention deficit disorder, nor am I dyslexic. I’ve always been slightly annoyed by this trait.

11. The number 11 is always seems to pop up in my life.

12. I almost skipped my grammar school graduation so I could see Jurassic Park. Man oh man did I hate that place.

13. One of my best friends and I used to hang out at the same comic store and movie theater and shows when we were kids, but we only wound up becoming friends in our early twenties.

14. I think it would be awesome if Dinosaurs wore saddles, but that's scientifically impossible.

15. I corrected the title of this note 'cause it was grammatically incorrect.

16. I think Titanic is a laugh riot because it's so awful.

17. I have a black hole where my heart is supposed to be.

18. I once tried to build an entire wardrobe around the character of Dr. Who, complete with a sonic screwdriver.

19. I'd probably eat a bacon-wrapped scallop out of the garbage.

20. This list is tedious.

21. I think Rob Blagojevich is one of the most fascinating people ever covered on the news.

22. I'd rather be a European sewer adventurer than an office jerk.

23. I hate Anne Rice for emasculating the vampire.

24. I think Josie And The Pussycats is one of the funniest movies ever made.

25. I probably tagged more that 25 people on this. Whatever.

Funny Email

2009-01-27T12:57:00.000-08:00

Monster sent out its monthly newsletter today. The title was "What are the signs of a bad job?". I tried laughing, but I wound up crying on the inside. Yay. I wish I got this e-mail 8 years ago.

Holy welfare state, Batman!

2009-01-21T07:03:00.000-08:00

Saw this quote from the old Batman series and thought it apropos.

Batman: "Nobody wants war."
Robin: "Gee, Batman. Belgravia's such a small country. We'd beat them in a few hours."
Batman: "Yes, and then we'd have to support them for years."

Here comes tomorrow...

2009-01-20T10:13:00.000-08:00

Well, we have a new President. Let's hope he does better than the last guy.

Haven't blogged in some time...

2009-01-19T09:48:00.001-08:00

Sorry about that. I've been busy working on figuring the great mystery of life out. I have 2 unfinished blogs on Star Trek and my favorite movies of 2008, but I got lazy. Again, sorry about that to the 2 of you that actually read this thing.

That said, I recently read a blog that made me laugh and remember why I wanted to blog to begin with.

You can read it here. It's damn hysterical.

OK, I'm on my lunch break and I gotta read up on the Praxis.

Be seeing you,
Ian

Butter and Allah Give Man Strength of 260 Horses...

2008-12-03T07:44:00.000-08:00

Honestly, this is the most amazing thing I've seen all year.

In the following video, you will see a man with a life so amazing, you'll swear it must be a hoax. But I say thee nay! His heart is so faithful, he married 28 times. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Egyptian Hulk...

Battlestar Decepticon

2008-11-04T08:26:00.000-08:00

So, Rich Johnston over at Lying In The Gutters reported a rumor the following...

"I understand that one of the main Decepticons in Transformers 2 is a 'hot blonde girl with a giant tongue.'"

So, they're going straight for the Pretenders now, huh?

Pretenders, for those of you who don't remember, were a group of Transformers that disguised themselves with humanoid shells.

Here's Jazz...

Here's Starscream...

And here's Skullgrin...

OK, so maybe Skullgrin doesn't look human, but Transformers stopped making sense after a giant planet turned Megatron crazy.

The other, more probable possibility, is that Michael Bay saw Battlestar Galactica and thought, "oh, hot robots are awesome!"

The Curse of a Time Lord

2008-10-30T14:03:00.000-07:00

According the the AP, David Tennant will be leaving Doctor Who in the 2010, meaning that Steven Moffat and company will start their series with a brand spanking new Doctor.

I suppose it makes sense. After all, it's a new creative team, may as well have a new Doctor that they can shape and mold. Especially since outgoing show runner Russel T Davies is wrapping up his dangling plot threads in the upcoming holiday specials.

It still makes me a little sad though. I'm going to miss the wiry, smarmy bastard.

Kill Your Boyfriend

2008-10-29T17:44:00.000-07:00

I don't know how I missed this thrill killing gem, but I did (until today).

Grant Morrison, Philip Bond and company deliver a slam bang taste of anarchy, the hypocrisy of artists & suburbia and young lovers on the run.

The art and writing are so full of manic energy you can't help but get sucked into this lovely condemnation of consumer society.

It's my favorite comic of the week, and it's 14 years old.

I'm going to punch someone in the face...

2008-09-12T13:52:00.001-07:00

So, I got a call from a restricted phone number today. I picked up (I know, bad move), and was greeted by a recording from an outfit called Family Radio.
They're a listener funded radio station, like NPR or WFMU, only CRAZY!

The voice on the other end informed me that the Rapture will happen in October of 2011 and all those left behind will face God's fiery wrath. The voice then encouraged me to listen so I can prepare to let my soul be saved.

OK, first off, the Rapture ISN'T IN THE BIBLE!

Secondly, according to the book they thump, Jesus himself says no one save God the Father knows the date of the end times.
So, what the hell are these whackos babbling about?!

Now, I want to know who signed me up for that shit, 'cause I'm on that nifty do not call list.
Anyone? Anyone?

Ugh!

Withdrawal

2008-08-06T10:22:00.000-07:00

Well, Doctor Who Series 4 is over and I'm experiencing a bit of withdrawal. Thankfully, io9 just posted some great classic Doctor Who stories. So, I'll have to catch up on them.

Also, I picked up Paul Cornell's novelization of his Scream of the Shalka and I got my grubby little mitts on the Blood of the Daleks audio play. They're both pretty damn impressive and they're a fun substitute for the show.

'til Christmas,
Ian

A Storm Of Creativity

2008-08-04T19:26:00.000-07:00

OK, so I haven't been blogging anywhere near as much as I should. So, to all 5 or 6 of you that read this thing, I apologize.

I've been focusing my writing chops on a comic book pitch. It's an idea that's been floating around in my head for the past year and half or so and I felt it's about damn time I actually start developing the damn thing on paper.

So, The Sinister Specter's suffered a bit. Instead of writing about comics, I've decided to write my own.

That said, I've made a lot of headway on the pitch. I should be done with the lion's share of the work by this weekend, so I'll probably post more frequently. Who knows, it may even coincide with when I see The Clone Wars. Like everyone else in the geek blogosphere, I'm sure to have an opinion on that!

Be seeing you,
Ian

Jerk of the Week: Andrew Klavan

2008-07-29T20:29:00.001-07:00

I read a rather infuriating op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal that compared Batman, as portrayed in The Dark Knight, to President George W. Bush. Andrew Klavan is the grossly misguided author.

Mr. Klavan writes, "[t]here seems to me no question that the Batman film...is at some level a paean of praise to the fortitude and moral courage that has been shown by George W. Bush in this time of terror and war."

Did we watch the same movie?

Yes, Batman does display a lot of "conservative values," but if memory serves, he NEVER breaks his one rule. George W. Bush and his administration wiretapped American citizens without warrants. Not to mention Mr. Bush practically abandoned a war with a country that had a hand in attacking the United States so he could commit the US Armed Forces to what was basically a personal vendetta. That doesn't sound very much like the Batman movie I saw, Mr. Klavan.

Mr. Bush, like so many politicians, has taken a set of values along with some bumbling Orwellian rhetoric and used them to divide the country. If I was going to compare George W. Bush and his administration to any characters in a Summer Blockbuster, it would probably be Emperor Palpatine and the Empire. Now that's an article that needs some writing!

Twilight of the Heroes

2008-07-24T19:20:00.000-07:00

I heard a story about an aging movie star that’s outlived his body double by over 5 years and his co-star by over 24 years. He’s living a life most retirees dream of. He paints, plays the piano, takes the occasional run to the drive-thru for a hamburger and he watches movies on a nice, comfy sofa. He’s even writing a book! This Palm Springs resident certainly sounds like he’s living the life, doesn’t he?

Cheeta’s his name, and he’s a chimpanzee. Cheeta was the star of 12 classic Tarzan movie serials. He’s the oldest known living chimp, though his actual age is up for debate. Regardless of his age, he’s still living better than most human beings his age. He certainly has it better than my Grandfather did.

Angelo Mai was a first generation American. Named after a 19th Century ancestor (who also happened to be the chief keeper of the Vatican Library), he was the youngest of 11 children. He grew up in Hoboken, New Jersey where he eventually joined the city’s Fire Department. He married a nurse and they had 3 children. He was a stern man by all accounts. He strongly believed in God, country and family. The man was a grumpy force of nature.

“He was a strong man,” my mother said. “When he hugged me as a child, I was enveloped in these huge muscles. It felt so safe.” I suppose he had to be in great shape. After all, Hoboken was full of multi story apartment buildings and brownstones. It was like a gauntlet for firefighters.

When my mother was a child, Grandpa rose to the rank of Captain. He worked a city fireman's schedule and never took advantage of his rank. Once, when my mother and father were on a date at what's now known as the Malibu Diner. A building across the street was ablaze and who showed up and ran right in? That's right...Grandpa.

“I looked up, and somehow he got all the way to the roof fast,” she said. “Your father and I just sat in our booth and watched him. There he was, in full gear, on the roof of a burning building! He was smoking a cigarette, directing the firemen.”

After retirement, when he was in his mid 60s, Grandpa chopped his own firewood, mowed his lawn and tinkered all over the house. This was when I knew him.

When Grandpa found out I liked comics, he gave me a bunch of Evangelical Christian mini comics. The comics were black, white and light blue. The first one was innocuous enough, as it was about Jonah and the Whale. But the second one he gave me was the one that stuck out the most. It was about Armageddon. The thing that so vividly sticks out in my mind is a picture of a police motorcycle with a guillotine on the back. Apparently, the police would be the agents of the Antichrist and they’d use the bikes to behead the Faithful. He also gave me loose change in empty pill bottles.

He did all the work around the house until his early 70s. Then he was diagnosed with emphysema. He moved in with my Uncle for a while, but soon, the emphysema grew stronger than Grandpa and he had to move to a nursing home.

Grandpa spent his twilight years sharing a room with an invalid, and then with a man even more cantankerous than he ever was. The Nursing Home was clean and the staff was friendly. It was modest a modest place, but Grandpa would be happy with a crate to sit on, his Bible and a Mets game on the radio.

Grandpa was a stubborn man, which I suppose is why he was such a damn good fireman. At his wake, several of his fellow firefighters came up to my Mother, my Aunt and my Uncle and told them about how they would have followed Grandpa anywhere. They reminisced about the crazy things he'd do to make sure they got home to their families that night. I swear, it was like they were talking about a super hero. This man, who gave me pennies and dimes covered with who knows what kind of pharmaceutical residue inspired these men more than any British nobleman in a loincloth and a chimpanzee ever could.

Biff! Boff! POW!

2008-07-22T06:42:00.000-07:00

So, the blogosphere is filled with folks commenting on Christian Bale’s alleged assault on his mother and sister. It’s on Celebrity Gossip, The Huffington Post, Perez Hilton…all the usual suspects.

Like all developing celeb scandals, these jerks have very little to report. Mr. Bale’s family accused him of assault and the police arrested him…end of story. Yet they all feel the need to sink their venomous teeth into this developing story.

The ONLY thing this story will do now is breed speculation. And you don’t need to be Bear Stearns to know how unhealthy idle speculation can be.

Escape From Little Sea World

2008-07-21T10:12:00.000-07:00

John Carpenter and Kurt Russel really need to get back together and make a movie again. Those guys have a 3 out of 4 record, so I trust them enough with a fifth movie.

In fact, I'll even throw them a bone for a plot...

It's the far flung future of 1998. Snake Plisken and his deadbeat Uncle Jack Burton get together for a tailgate party at the burnt-out Newark Bears stadium. Somewhere along the way, they find out Lo Pan and Brain are looking for the "Fripper with green eyes" and all hell breaks loose.

We'll call it Escape From Little Sea World.

Sounds awesome, right?

Three things I'm looking forward to in 2008...

2008-07-14T19:23:00.000-07:00

Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog-It's a free Internet musical written by Joss Whedon and starring Nathan Fillion and Neil Patrick Harris. It's online for a week. How can one go wrong?

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed-I've read the Wired article, the AP article and even the Vanity Fair article about this game. Let me say this...I can't wait to use the Force to CRUSH Tie-Fighters and toss Stormtroopers down ventilation shafts!

Voting-We're in one of the most important Presidential elections in years. Who gets to clean up the neocon fascist mess George W Bush and company left? Educate yourselves and answer this November!

A Sinister Six

2008-07-12T05:22:00.001-07:00

This is the first of a (hopefully) weekly series of short comic book reviews.

Action Comics # 867-Geoff Johns and Gary Frank dive headfirst into the second part of their "Braniac" arc. It's a great issue that adds to Braniac's history while incorporating all or most of what's come before. It's Geoff Johns' specialty. Want to know why all Braniac's interpretations were slightly incongruent? Look here for the beginnings of an explanation. Also, it's nice to see someone use Supergirl well for a change since her reboot/resurrection.

The only thing that creeps me out about this run is Gary Frank's obvious use of Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder as references for Superman and Lois Lane. That said, his Steve Lombard and Cat Grant are spot on, and it's great to see them at the Daily Planet again!

Detective Comics# 846-The Heart of Hush begins, and it's a Batman: RIP crossover...well, it's sort of an RIP crossover. Paul Dini and Dustin Nguyen finally give us a worthy sequel to Jeph Loeb's and Jim Lee's seminal Hush arc. There's no reference to the neutered Prometheus or the retconned Killing Joke or the Hobgoblin-ish Hush. Hush is Tommy Elliot and he still wants revenge on Bruce Wayne.

Dini adds to Hush's story by expanding on what's already there. He plays with the Aristotle quotes, Tommy's career as a surgeon and just why he's obsessed with bandages. It's a great first issue and I'm sure it'll be a fun story. As for the RIP bits, Catwoman mentions Jezebel Jet and Hush mentions The Black Glove, so don't feel the need to know everything that's going on in RIP.

Final Crisis: Requiem-Disappointed in Martian Manhunter's unceremonious send-off in Final Crisis # 1? So's the rest of the Justice League. This one-shot features the J'onn J'onzz's final moments as he fights Libra and company with the last of his powers and sends one final gift to his longtime friends. The issue celebrates the Manhunter From Mars' rich history and conveys Superman's, Batman's and the rest of the DCU's grief. This issue brings closure to the little green man's life. That said, the heroes will still pray for a resurrection.

Indiana Jones & The Tomb of the Gods # 1-Do you miss our favorite two-fisted archaeologist at the top of his game? Rob Williams and Steve Scott do to. It's the 1930's and Indiana Jones is called to investigate a secret older than history!

While the issue is predominantly set-up, there's a great confrontation with Nazi occultists and a chase through the Empire State Building's new frame. This issue has everything save the girl (though I'm sure we'll see one in the next issue or so). Also, it reads great with Hellboy or the BPRD.

BPRD: The Warning # 1-It's been a while since Were-Jaguar Daimio tore through the BPRD's new Colorado base, but Abe Sapien's on his trail! Also, the ghost of a certain 1930's adventurer isn't done helping our favorite paranormal investigators stop the Fu-Manchu looking ghost from Liz's dreams (and The Iron Prometheus). Mike Mignola, John Arcudi and Guy Davis deliver another intriguing chapter in the Bureau's world. Oh, and there isn't a single damn frog in the issue. Whew!

Invincible Iron Man # 3-The Five Nightmares continue as Tony Stark follows the clues to Ezekiel Stane and his cannibalized Iron Man upgrade. The thing I like about this series is its accessibility. A reader doesn't have to know the whole intricate history of the character in order to enjoy the story. In fact, everything a reader needs to know is in the Iron Man movie. It's great marketing that's also great storytelling. Who thought the two concepts could meet in the middle of the road?

R'leyh The Message

2008-07-09T19:11:00.000-07:00

"Call of Cthulhu" is arguably the best known story written by master of horror, H.P. Lovecraft. It's a story about cults, ancient gods, dreams and strange coincidences. The story is told through a series of flashbacks within flashbacks. It's a difficult narrative technique to write, let alone film. So it's no wonder that so many filmmakers have declared the story unfilmable. Then came the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society.

With a haunting soundtrack, stark visuals and dream sequences reminiscent of Salvador Dahli, the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society's Call of Cthulhu film is a rare treat for fans of horror and Golden Age cinema.

One of the reasons that this film so smart is because the filmmakers filmed it as if it was produced in 1926. It's a silent movie! While the visuals are stunning, the film also uses an old silent movie conceit; title cards. The filmmakers do a fine job conveying the story and it looks fantastic.

The DVD is available through the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society's website. The movie runs at 47 minutes and there are some nifty extras. It's definitely worth a horror fan's skrill.

Great Wiki....

2008-07-09T13:17:00.001-07:00

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bug_chasers

I'm just saving it here so I can read it later.

The Good, The Bad and the...

2008-07-09T08:50:00.000-07:00

Good Photoshop...

Bad Photoshop...

Late To The Party: Outfoxed

2008-07-08T21:04:00.000-07:00

Like anyone with a brain in his or her head, I hate editorials that masquerade as news. Fox News, MSNBC, CNN and countless other TV News channels and shows are guilty of misleading the public by inserting a clever turn of phrase like "some people say" into a news broadcast as an excuse to inject their opinions. It's bad journalism. It's all too prevalent and I find it sickening.

The 2004 documentary, Outfoxed, takes on the news sham that is the Fox News Channel. The sad thing is, the filmmakers chose to interview equally distorted pundits like the head of Media Matters and Al Franken. Folks who love to twist facts just as much as Bill O’Reilly and Ann Coulter.

Don't get me wrong, the filmmakers bring up a lot of valid points, but they're slanted towards a very "left" viewpoint. It still stings to see George W Bush declared the winner of the 2000 Presidential Election BEFORE the votes could actually be counted. Outfoxed, like its subject, is guilty of poor journalism.

The film doesn’t stand the test of time too well. Robert Greenwald made the film in 2004. It breaks my heart to see the Fox News Senior Political Correspondent share laughs with W while talking about his wife campaigning for the man who probably stole the Presidency. The man was trying to get the message out to people at that time, in the 2004 election. Sadly, it was too late.

The people they kill get up and kill!

2008-07-05T09:34:00.000-07:00

I saw this on my friend's blog and thought I'd take a crack at it...

You are in a mall when zombies attack. You have"
1.) One weapon.
2.) One song blasting on the speakers.
3.) One person to fight along side you (historical or fictional).

What are your choices?

1) Desert Eagle 6" .357 caliber pistol with a lot of spare ammunition. Remember, when it comes to zombies, you MUST destroy the brain!

2) The Misfits' Bullet EP or Iron Maiden's "Run To The Hills" come to mind. I know that the Misfits EP isn't a song, but it's pretty damn short, so put that in your picnic basket.

3) Teddy Roosevelt, the manliest President of the United States of America!

A Metropolis Marvel!

2008-07-04T09:00:00.000-07:00

Paula Félix-Didier, a Buenos Ares museum director, traveled to Berlin with a long-lost piece of cinema history...Fritz Lang's original vision of Metropolis.

An edited version of film, or at least parts of it, has been shown in college film classes for years; always with a missing chunk in the middle. Film historians previously used production stills and the original screenplay to fill in the story's gaps.

Now, for the first time since May of 1927, an audience watched the the whole film.

Read more about it here.

I know it's a little early...

2008-07-02T20:39:00.000-07:00

I don't know if I'll be near a computer in the next few days, so...Happy Fourth!

So What If He Wears Briefs, Booties And A Yellow Cape!

2008-07-01T20:28:00.000-07:00

There's a piece on joblo.com that's not exactly flattering to The Boy Wonder. The author, who goes by the handle "Sturdy" spends most of his essay/rant babbling about Robin adding a homoerotic vibe to Batman. He also goes on to say Robin never works and all that other nonsense a lot of people bring up in regards to one of the oldest super heroes in comics. Give it up, man. Robin is cool!

Sturdy uses an argument similar to Dr. Frederick Wertham's in his infamous book, Seduction of the Innocent. Funny thing is, Dr. Wertham later eased his stance on comics and basically admitted he was wrong in the first place (thanks Denny O'Neil!). So, Sturdy's argument isn't exactly...well...you get the idea.

Robin is the third DC Comics super hero. First came Superman, then Batman and then came Robin. The character has a long history in popular culture. Is he the butt of numerous jokes? Yes. Does he deserve them? Yeah, some people really mishandled the character. He's a hard character to write after all. That said, at his essence, he's one of the strongest components of the Batman mythos.

Thing is, most of the people I've met who tear apart Robin tend to come from one of two cookie cutters. The first is similar to Sturdy's. Now, the homoerotic thing can be a valid argument (see Batman & Robin or The Dark Knight Strikes Again), but it's very rare that people use this in any intelligent manner. No, in my experience, it seems to come from an ignorant meathead philosophy that refuses to look at anything deeper.

The second cookie cutter is the group that says Robin lightens things up too much. Yeah, he does...that's the point of the character...sort of. Robin is a bright contrast to the Dark Knight. He's a squire bursting with enthusiasm who is driven by the same grief Batman carries with him.

The other thing about Robin is that Bruce sees himself in Dick Grayson. He sees a boy who's lost the two most precious people in his life, Bruce sees his frustration, his anger...everything that makes him Batman in this boy and he decides to intervene, help the boy through his pain (and recruit for his own army).

Robin as an ideal adds so much to Bruce Wayne's character. Through Robin, we get to see Bruce Wayne's compassion, Batman's strategic thinking and a little piece of what he was like before that fateful night in Crime Alley. Robin, when written right, enhances Batman on more levels than any of his enemies (well, except Two Face and the Joker). He's a hard character to write, but as people like Chuck Dixon and Grant Morrison prove time and again, it's entirely possible to write him well.

So, next time you go trashing Robin, remember...he's been at this a helluva lot longer than Wolverine.

A Still Tongue Makes A Happy Life

2008-07-01T10:41:00.001-07:00

AMC announced that Ian McKellen and Jim Caviezel are teaming up as Number Two and Number Six in Bill Gallagher's remake of The Prisoner.

While I'm impressed with the series's casting, I must say I feel a great trepidation. The original series is one of the most beloved cult TV series around and AMC has a rough road ahead to meet expectations.

Be seeing you...

Most Ridiculous Item Of The Day

2008-07-01T05:43:00.000-07:00

I saw an absolutely ridiculous advertisement on television last night.

Apparently, the marketing folks for Fox News pundit, Bill O’Reilly, think he’s bigger than The Cosby Show, E.T. and Elvis Presley.

Sounds like the work of a pinhead.

Raiders of a Lost Art

2008-06-30T19:04:00.000-07:00

I remember devouring Marvel Comics' Return of the Jedi movie adaptation for months after I saw the movie. The movie came out in May, and back then, it took a loooooooong time for a flick to come to video rental, let alone purchase. So, what was a kid to do? Well, play with the toys and read the comic book adaptation of course!

The 4 issue mini series was beautifully illustrated by classic Star Wars artist, Al Williamson. It covered all the movie's beats and it looked damn nifty to boot. It was an action-packed emotional rollercoaster echo of the film. I read that series until all the damn staples fell out!

“The Official Movie Adaptation” was a phrase that graced numerous comic books in the 80s and the 90s. Whether it was DC Comics' adaptation of Tim Burton's Batman (which is still my favorite Jerry Ordway comic), Marvel Comics' haunting Dune Super Special or Topps Comic's vision of Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula (filtered through the Mike Mignola), the comic industry released some top notch renditions of their celluloid counterparts.

Comics also have a history of continuing popular franchises. Hellboy publisher Dark Horse Comics made its mark with a series of fantastic Aliens continuations and Marvel continued franchises like Star Trek, Robocop, Doctor Who, Indiana Jones...the list goes on and on. I gotta say, the four colored funnies treated the movie biz a lot better than the celluloid moguls treated them. Hollywood churned out such piss poor adaptations like Captain America, Spider-Man & The Deadly Dust and Superman IV: The Quest For Peace. Dark stuff, my friends, dark stuff.

Somewhere along the way, my interest in “Official Movie Adaptations” waned. Maybe it was my burgeoning interest on video games, my growing (at a snail's pace) social awareness, or my discovery of the fairer sex, but somehow the art form was lost on me. Every once in a while, I'll take a look at stuff like Dark Horse's Indiana Jones and The Crystal Skull or the Superman Returns Prequels, but to no avail, it's as if there's a disconnect...somehow the doors to that particular pleasure have been closed for good. It's as if I've lost my taste for it, and that's a little bit sad.

The Threefold Man?

2008-06-29T18:42:00.001-07:00

After the events in this week's Doctor Who episode, "The Stolen Earth," one has to wonder why Sylvester McCoy appears on it's companion episode of Doctor Who Confidential. Just what is he doing with that umbrella?

Late To The Party: World War Z

2008-06-29T16:09:00.001-07:00

Max Brooks' World War Z hit in 2006 and quickly became a New York Times Bestseller. I got around to reading it this week.

Man alive does this book rule!

Brooks is able to do something no zombie film has been able to do; show the massive scope of a zombie infestation. By using several narrators, Brooks explores different points in the story's history. From the first outbreak to the aftermath of the war, Brooks grabs the audience by our shirt collars and thrusts us into a world where the dead rise not just in Pittsburgh, but in Kyoto, Siberia, Yonkers...everywhere!

It's something that's never been done before and hot damn, it elevates the zombie genre to whole new heights. I give it an A+!

Hellboy: The Science of Evil

2008-06-29T14:27:00.001-07:00

As a casual gamer, I tend to be pretty easily impressed. Give me something nice to look at, lots of things to smash and some witty or clever moments and I'm happy. Konami's Hellboy: The Science of Evil does just that.

The game is not as in depth as Grand Theft Auto or Metal Gear and it's nowhere near as terrible as that old PS2 fireworks game. It's just a beat-em up platformer with a ton of familiar characters and environments.

Hellboy is Hellboy and he's fighting through a world with English witches, vicious werewolves and monsters of all shapes and sizes. Overall, the game has a very old school feel. You run around a level, beat the tar out of all manner of mythical beasts and you solve a puzzle or two.

If you're a Hellboy fan, check it out. If not, you've probably seen this before and you really should move on to Katamari or something like that.

Let's Go Clubbing!

2008-06-26T10:31:00.000-07:00

Coming all the way from Japan (Dragonball Z, Sushi, Tora! Tora! Tora!) is the perfect gift for baby seal clubbers everywhere; PARO!

Paro Robots U.S. Inc. will start importing the popular Japanese robot, Paro: The Robot Baby Seal. The cute little bringer o’ doom will primarily be used in retirement homes as a substitute for pets. That said, we all know why it’s really coming to America. It’s here to fulfill humanity’s primal desire to club baby seals!

Read the cover story here.

Beards, Blondes & Bullets

2008-06-25T17:57:00.000-07:00

"There's no doubt that other Earths exist, simply due to the sheer vast numbers of other stars and galaxies in our universe."-Geoff Marcy, Planet Hunter

Between Final Crisis # 2 and the last episode of Doctor Who, I find myself neck-deep in Parallel Earth stories. So, imagine my astonishment when I saw an article entitled " Astronomers on Verge of Finding Earth's Twin" on Space.com.

According to the article, astronomers found 3 worlds more massive than ours but small enough to most likely be rocky. To make things more interesting, the planets are orbiting a single star. That's gotta be a pretty crowded solar system, especially of all 3 are somehow capable of supporting life.

Meanwhile, here on Earth, we're exhausting our resources at an alarming rate, overcompensating for our love of slaughter by humping the hell out of each other and cluttering the space outside our planet with garbage! Oh, and we get into petty squabbles over things that really aren't worth killing over. What if there's life on these similar Earths?

Um...why would we want to find 3 other planets like ours?

Oh well, it's really all just speculation. While not much is known about the Earths, one thing is for certain; they are not parallel worlds. If anything, they're more like siblings...triplets, actually. So, I guess we're all going to have to wait for facial hair, Billie Piper or 1940s super heroes.

Fuck The Cows

2008-06-23T17:11:00.000-07:00

We lost a legend on Sunday.

Sadly, the AIM homepage decided to link a clip from the mind numbing reality show, The Two Coreys. Oh, the things George Carlin would say about this. No, I take that back, he wouldn't talk about it. Instead, he'd look at the pillars of mediocrity that hold up this ridiculous celebrity obsession that's become America's culture and he'd tear them down with words more vicious than the bite of a rabid wolf yet more eloquent than Ginsberg.

God, I'm going to miss George Carlin. Rest in peace, motherfucker.

Akurō

2008-06-22T13:48:00.001-07:00

It's coming...

It's only just beginning.

Here's a trailer for the next episode, "Stolen Earth" and it's rife with SPOILERS...

You're out of time...

2008-06-20T10:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, 9 mixed and mastered songs leaked yesterday. They're from a rather infamous record. Many people have been waiting 15 years for the record. Some have come to think about it like the promise Jesus made to his Apostles upon the Ascension...

Want to take a guess as to what I'm talking about? It's pretty damn obvious.

A few of these tracks have popped up in the past, but they were usually demos or cleaned up soundboard recordings. These 9 songs are super clean, they're definitely mixed and mastered. For the first time, we have a real peek at the legendary (or is it infamous?) Chinese Democracy. "Madagascar" is my favorite track, though "There Was A Time" and "The Blues" are nifty. Thing is, it may be 'cause those 3 tracks are familiar since they were leaked a few years ago as demos. I have to listen to the tracks a couple more times.

Maybe we'll see the record before the end of this decade after all.

I saw The Happening tonight...

2008-06-19T22:49:00.000-07:00

I don't know what was worse for that movie; competing with The Incredible Hulk or Mark Wahlberg's douche-chillingly bad performance (and he's usually good!).

On the upside, there are a ton of mesmerizing shots of Zooey Deschanel's beautiful baby blues that made me swoon and some awesome shots of trees.

All in all, it's like watching a William Shatner episode of The Twilight Zone.

Late To The Party

2008-06-19T16:39:00.001-07:00

I've been aware of the BBC possible Time Travel/detective thriller, Life On Mars for about a year and a half to two years now, but I never had the chance to watch past the first episode. Today, I rectified the situation. I watched the first 3 episodes back to back and hot damn is it a great show!

The series is about DCI Sam Tyler (Doctor Who's John Simm). In 2006, he's hot on the trail of a serial killer, listening to David Bowie's "Life On Mars" on his iPod, when he gets hit by a car. He awakens in 1973, with the same song playing on his 8 Track.

Confused, Sam stumbles around believing he's in a coma, but the more he takes in of this world, the more he begins to think he may have actually traveled back in time.

The show dances the Sci-Fi Line with more skill and finesse than Lost ever has, partially because EVERY character sells the show's universe. Like Sam Tyler, the audience doesn't know what happened, but it's a helluva compelling ride!

Check it out before ABC butchers it this fall.

Say it like you mean it!

2008-06-19T12:58:00.000-07:00

Saw this quote on Gawker today and I thought I'd share...

"I walked through Union Square on my way to acting class and got offered loose joints. Drug dealing was a great tradition in this city. There are other traditions people can get involved with in this city. When I was younger, I used to get a bottle of wine and get drunk under the Staten Island Ferry... so there are things like that you can do." — Alec Baldwin, at a PETA event. He was suggesting an alternative NYC tourist experience. Now THAT is imagery.

Let all the children lose it, let the children use it...

2008-06-19T08:42:00.000-07:00

Today, Democratic presidential hopeful, Barack Obama, announced he will not partake in the public financing system for presidential campaigns.

“The public financing of presidential elections as it exists today is broken, and we face opponents who’ve become masters at gaming this broken system,” The junior Illinois Senator said. “John McCain’s campaign and the Republican National Committee are fueled by contributions from Washington lobbyists and special interest PACs. And we’ve already seen that he’s not going to stop the smears and attacks from his allies running so-called 527 groups, who will spend millions and millions of dollars in unlimited donations.”

The public financing system was created in 1976, after the Watergate Scandal. However, Theodore Roosevelt first suggested public funds in 1907 as a way to ban private contributions, discouraging graft, special interests and the like. Funny how things turn out, no?

Senator Obama's campaign is funded by all kinds of people through his website. According to Robert Gibbs, Mr. Obama's communications director, "more than 90% of the campaign’s contributions were for $100 or less." Many of Mr. Obama's contributers are young and first time voters. Now, while there's hardly a special interest in that group, I do wonder about that other less than 10%. Also, the sky's the limit on how much he can spend.

So, 32 years later, the proverbial pendulum's swinging the opposite way. If Mr. Obama's gambit is successful, private funding will break again, as the special interest groups will start providing private funding and the political arena will once more look like it did to Mr Roosevelt. Hopefully, they won't be during this campaign. It's messy enough as it is.

Guilty of Being [a] Wino

2008-06-18T20:21:00.001-07:00

I saw this on witz.org and I thought I'd share...

Best. Photoshop. Ever.

Get Down America!

2008-06-18T09:36:00.000-07:00

Back in 1976, the citizens of the United States were still reeling from the Vietnam War, Watergate and the tragic losses of men like John F Kennedy, Robert F Kennedy, Martin Luther King and Malcolm X the decade before. The great hope in the American Dream was replaced by something darker...cynicism. Just look at the movies of the time; Marathon Man, Network, Taxi Driver...the list goes on and on. However, there was a writer who saw the tone and turned his cynicism to satire. He was writing one of the most successful comics on the stands. His name was Steve Gerber. His comic? Howard The Duck.

The American people had a lousy choice ahead of them. They could pick political stooge, Gerald Ford, or they could pick the inexperienced peanut farmer, Jimmy Carter. Heck of a choice, right? No wonder we were so damn cynical!

At the time, Mr. Gerber was working on one of the more popular funny books on the newsstands; Howard The Duck. Howard hailed from an alternate reality where ducks became the dominant life form. So, he was no more or less ridiculous than the 2 choices presented to the American people. In issue number 8, Mr. Gerber decided to toss Howard The Duck into the political ring. As Gerber stated in Back Issue Magazine, “the nature of the character lent itself to satire,and being the first election after Watergate it was a very peculiar time in American political history.”

Long story short, Howard found himself working as a security guard at the All Night Party's national political convention. Howard saves one of their candidates and the party decides to nominate Howard for President.

There's a scene in Batman Returns that's very reminiscent of this story. Howard's Campaign Manager, G.Q. Studley, tells Howard and his friend that candidates don't think, they recite. Howard in turn bites Studley's nose. Remind you of The Penguin much? Anyway, the thing is, here was Howard The Duck, an absolutely ridiculous character, showing us how weak our politicians had become. Sadly, it's still true today. Sure, there's a lot of rhetoric, but said speeches tend to contradict both Senator Obama's and Senator McCain's records.

Howard The Duck's run for president, while short-lived (it ended with a bathtub sex scandal), cast a mirror on the shambling American political process. It's unfortunate that the book's audience was a bunch of kids who couldn't wait to see Howard fight a giant beaver at Niagra Falls in the next issue.

I miss Steve Gerber's work tremendously. I would have loved to see what he would do with Doctor Fate in our current political climate. At the same time, at least he's no longer trapped in a world he never made.

Great, Just Great!

2008-06-16T21:10:00.001-07:00

So, I decided to go to Vermont for a few days this August. I haven't had a real vacation in 5 years and, well, I just need to get away for a bit and refocus. Unfortunately, it seems I'm walking into the plot of a Lovecraft story.

The story in question is The Whisperer In The Darkness. In the story, the narrator uncovers old legends about monsters living in Vermont's uninhabited hills. These creatures, the Mi-Go, abduct people who venture or settle too close to their sinister territory. I haven't read the story in years, and truthfully, now I'm afraid to...Great, just great.

Want to see a crazy lawyer?

2008-06-16T20:15:00.000-07:00

I watched Michael Clayton this evening and I gotta say, what a helluva character piece. George Clooney got a lot of accolades for this flick, and with very good reason. That said, the real star was Tom Wilkinson.

I know, I know, Mr. Wilkinson was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, but the man's performance blew me away. He plays Arthur Edens, a New York Defense Attorney defending a monstrous, Times Square-advertising conglomerate that's been poisoning Middle America since the early 1990s. Edens is a manic depressive who stops taking his meds. Between succumbing to his own demons and seeing the innocence in a teenage plaintiff, Arthur Edens has a revelation: He's a glorified janitor for the bad guys. Mr. Wilkinson's performance is both subtle and brazen. At one moment, he's babbling about the best bread he's ever had and the next he's a shark quoting New York State law. Stellar stuff, definitely worth watching!

Live Every Week Like It's Hulk Week

2008-06-13T09:55:00.000-07:00

Don't make me angry, you won't like me when I'm angry.

When I walked into Universal Pictures' and Marvel Studio's The Incredible Hulk, I felt residual pangs of disappointment from Ang Lee's 2003 Hulk adaptation. I suppose it's only natural since it's only been 5 years since Hulk Dogs and Absorbing Dad. The original flick gave me douche chills, and douche chills make me angry. Thankfully, The Incredible Hulk's title sequence washed away the dread, much like an actual douche. Weird, no?

Director Louis Leterrier had a tough job with this flick. Mr. Leterrier had to make us forget the existential mess from 2003 and capitalize on the recent success of Jon Favreau's Iron Man. He did a fantastic job! The movie connects to ol' Shellhead's cinematic debut with a few references to Stark Industries and SHIELD as well as to a handful of Marvel staples. He delivers a slam bang action story with the heart of the TV series. This IS the Hulk!

The supporting cast is weaved together from the decades of comics continuity and even a TV show cameo in a seamless fashion. The movie moves at a solid pace, delivering the perfect balance of tortured Bruce Banner and the savage Hulk. So, please check out the movie and maybe you'll feel the same excitement as the kid above.

The Poor Man's Iced Coffee

2008-06-12T21:29:00.000-07:00

Given the economy and the heat, I thought I'd share a discovery I made on Monday morning...the Poor Man's Iced Coffee!

It was about 9 o'clock in the morning, I was thirsty and it was stifling outside. I desperately wanted an iced coffee, but I was too broke for Starbucks. So, I shuffled around the kitchen looking for a pick-me up that wasn't hot. Then I had an epiphany...instant coffee dissolves in water!

So, I present to you my recipe for Poor Man's Iced Coffee.

3/4 glass of water
1 teaspoon of instant coffee mix
1 fistful of ice
1 splash of flavored creamer

First, toss in your instant coffee mix. Then, pour the water into the glass and stir them together. After that, toss in your ice and to top it off, add some French Vanilla creamer!

I know it sounds gross, but it's pretty delicious. Enjoy!

The Uncontacted and the Flying Object

2008-06-10T09:25:00.000-07:00

Recently, the Brazilian government's Indian affairs department, Funai, took several bird's eye view photographs of an "uncontacted" Indian tribe in the Acre region on the Brazil-Peruvian border. The photos illuminate a world that we, in a "civilized society," have only seen in movies and read about in history books. It is evident in the photos that these Amazonian natives are ready and willing to defend their way of life against insurmountable odds. It's truly marvelous that these people exist.

Consider this, we all probably know someone's who's seen a UFO, a ghost or some other extra normal phenomenon. Generally speaking, these phenomena tend to scare the living hell out of the folks who see them. That's not the case with our uncontacted brethren. In the photo above, they stand ready to defend their ground. Who knows what they think the plane above is? One thing, however, is certain...to them, it is an unidentified flying object and they've deemed it a threat to their way of life.

Why is it that when we see something like that, we're filled with a mix of curiosity and dread while the Amazonians staunchly defend their makeshift rampart?

Endless Doctor

2008-06-10T09:23:00.000-07:00

I know the above image isn't of our current Doctor, but I really like it.

OK, onto the news...

Lying In The Gutters and IO9 are reporting that Neil Gaiman (Sandman, American Gods) may be joining the TARDIS' writing crew come 2010, when Steven Moffat (Jekyll, Press Gang) takes over as show runner.

Personally, I think this is great news. Mr. Gaiman, a pronounced Who fan, will most likely bring a nice touch to The Doctor, similar to Moffat's touches in classic episodes "Blink" and "The Girl In The Fireplace."

Moffat brings a distinctive feel to the character. Aside from introducing one of the best Who supporting characters (Captain Jack Harkness) since Romana, Moffat's episodes focus on who The Doctor is without overdoing the doom and gloom. They're the most balanced episodes in the revived series (I just want to note that I love what Davies and company have done, but Moffat is by far my favorite of the show's writers).

Neil Gaiman is the right kind of writer for a Moffat series. The man knows mythology and I think that's just what our favorite Time Lord needs right now.